Adhiyaman's gift to Avaiyaar

Of the seven philanthropists, believed to have reached Tamil Nadu during the Sangam era, Adhiyaman was very popular.

His act of sharing the only rare gooseberry fruit with the wise Avaiyaar has earned him a very respectable place in history.

He was a part of the velir clan and one of the kadai Ezhu vallalkal. 

Adhiyaman Neduman Anji belonged to a prolific Tamil horseman tribe and ruled over modern day Dharmapuri and Salem. His capital was situated at Tagadur.

Adhiyaman was fond of the wise old Tamil poet Avaiyaar and the two became great friends. Their friendship is believed to have begun with Avaiyaar’s anger on the well-meaning king.

Adhiyaman used to delay giving her gifts to prolong her stay in his court. Not knowing the king’s true intentions, Avaiyaar got angry with him. But when he explained his true intent, the two became good friends.

One day Adhiyaman got a rare variety of a gooseberry (Nellikani). The King came to know that the fruit had the power to extend one’s life. He immediately chose to offer it to Avaiyaar.

Adhiyaman gave the rare fruit to his best friend...

“Oh, wise lady! Thousands of Kings come and go, but the wisdom of a poet like you is more precious to earth than the valour of an ordinary king like me,” said the great philanthropist, offering the fruit to the grand old lady of Tamil literature.

Author’s note:

The gooseberry fruit is termed as the healthiest of fruits as it has the highest Vitamin C content. It is an antioxidant and helps in boosting protein metabolism. Here is a recipe that you can try out with Indian gooseberry.

To prepare this you will need:

1 cup rice (cooked)

Urad Dal (2 tablespoon)

Red Chilli (3-4)

Asafoetida power – a pinch

Black Pepper – 5-6

Mustard, Jeera (cumin seeds), Kadipatha, groundnuts – for seasoning

Gooseberry – 3-4

Mint leaves (optional)

The ingredients...

Roast the Urad Dal, red chiilies. Dry grind them with the pepper. In a small wok, add 1 spoon of oil. When the oil is sufficiently hot add the mustard seed. Wait till it splutters. Add Jeera, kadhpatha, asafoetida powder and the groundnut. When the groundnut is roasted well, add the seasoning to the rice. Add the chilli/urad dal powder, salt, mint leaves. Mix well. Grate the gooseberries and add to the rice and mix well again.

This rice can be served with plain curd/raitha or pickle.

The rice can be served with pickle or raitha...

Since the gooseberries are not cooked, the vitamin and other nutrients are preserved.

Recipe courtesy: My aunt, Mrs. Varalakshmi Krishnamurthy who retired from the catering institute in Chennai.

This is what happened that day…

My uncle and aunt had to rush to visit an ailing relative. They dropped their son at my place. With three children, I was at wits’ end by afternoon.

I decided to catch a short power nap, which turned out to be a mistake! When I woke up I saw the floor completely covered with face powder and the threesome were skating on the surface. The noise that filled the house drove me mad.

For an instant I lost my cool. I quietly ordered them to wipe the powder off the floor. The three scared kids went on their knees and soon their little hands were filled with powder.

“Chitti, what should we do with this now?” asked my nephew innocently.

“Just rub your face with it,” I roared.

Instantly the three children covered their face with the powder that they wiped off from the floor.

Three innocent faces covered clownishly in white powder, acted like hot knife over butter, melting my anger.

I burst out laughing, which was exactly what the kids wanted. I asked my daughter to get the kajal and drew a thick black mustache on the boys’ face.

As I took out the camera in my hand and turned around, I saw three happy faces posing for the click!

Troublesome threesome!

We are back in form!

Trust, the basis of life

Aryan was getting cynical. The traffic was getting worse by the day and monsoons did not help on a road that had more potholes than the black tar.

The heavy monsoons did the bikers no good either...

Vivek managed a smile before trying to pacify his irate friend.

“Aryan, things will get better,” he managed to shout above the noise of the vehicular horns.

“Vivek, we have been talking about this for long. But I do realise that we will not be able to see progress and I do not wish to fool myself anymore. Maybe, I shall pray to God to take his next avatar soon and repair the roads,” an extremely frustrated Aryan poured his heart out.

“For a change, I will tell you the dohe written by Saint Kabir,” said Vivek to his friend. 

‘Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande

Mein To Tere Paas Mein

Na Teerath Mein, Na Moorat Mein Na Ekant Niwas Mein’

“Well, Vivek, what does that mean?” Aryan sounded calmer.

Vivek told his friend that the verses meant that God is within each one of us and there is no need to search for Him in any other manner or any other place.

“But, Aryan, for every problem that we face in life, I think the solution is within us. We go around in circles for years and find ourselves coming back to square one!” exclaimed Vivek.

“Wait, so you mean that when we come back to square one, it is an indication that the solution lies exactly at the place from where we began the search?” Aryan had hit the bull’s eye.

“Precisely. I think we are both on the same page now. The last line of the doha goes like this, 

‘Kahet Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho Mein To Hun Viswas Mein’ 

If we tried to solve our problems with trust in ourselves, therein lies God,” Vivek sounded positive.

“Vivek, tonight I shall read the dohe of the great Saint Kabir. He does make a lot of sense. There is so much knowledge around us, like there is so much traffic around us. What we discuss is purely our choice. Thanks my friend for making my day positive,” Aryan said, patting his friend on his shoulder!

“By the way, Aryan, I am planning to meet the town planning authorities tomorrow. If we can convince the office-goers of this area to take off from work for a week, we can help the authorities in repairing the road. I believe this can be done,” Vivek’s voice carried confidence and conviction.

“Done!” Aryan echoed Vivek’s confidence.

In a month’s time, Vivek did not have enough time to complete the story as it took them just about 10 minutes to reach office!

Head Strong Humans!

Intelligence was becoming a commodity,

As physical work stood banished from reality!

Humanity was running a bitter race against itself,

Competing madly to excel without self-help!

“Machine, machine,” cried men to make life easy,

The hands that held the machines became greasy!

Flesh and blood were quickly replaced with steel and oil,

And soon, humans forgot all about sweat and toil!

Walking became cycling, before cycling lost to driving,

And then in a jiffy, man-made machines started thriving!

The world was soon seized by nuts and bolts, chips and wires,

As they were ably supported by wheels and tyres!

“Human, human stop your slumber and wake up soon,

Look at the sun and the stars, I have made you a beautiful moon!”

The Maker screamed at us in many ways, whenever He possibly could,

But alas, mankind was running, and had no time for food!

When bones and joints cried out loudly in pain,

The machines were called to repair them, though in vain!

The body weakened while the intellect became stronger by day,

Until the heavy head made the frail body, sway!

Evolution, as they say, does what it has to do,

And soon humans were born without a body, save a few!

The earth looked like a battle field, with heads rolling everywhere,

As reality was nothing more than a night-mare!

A balanced life style is the need of the hour!

Slowly, the physically tough took over the lead role,

Taking the heads in their hands, they marched towards their goal!

The intellectual taunts, they knew, they had to ignore just for now,

As they had to restore the world and that was their vow!

They made themselves strong and toiled like before,

To make healthy and strong, the children that they bore!

In a few decades, things slowly became as they had once been.

Very soon, intellectual laziness was never to be seen!