Tea with Salt, Some Pride and More Prejudices !

"All generalizations are wrong", said some wise man, "including this one !". But we all tend to generalize when it comes to what is right and what is wrong, according to us. We were chatting about the nice Tea served in our Hospital canteen. I casually told, "In certain parts of Himachal Pradesh, they drink Tea with salt". Immediately a sister shot back, "Ayyo God, what is that horrible taste ? Yuck. Thulasi sister gave tea with salt to her husband on April Fool's day !"

This put me in thinking mode. It is true that most people in the world drink Tea; with milk, without milk, with sugar, without sugar and with a lot of flavors. But not many drink Tea with salt. But does that make it wrong ? It just represents the taste of a population or perhaps an ethnic group. But very heavily opinionated are we and thus we think what others do is weird ! This has been discussed on this blog earlier.

People have no problem with Jasmin Tea, Masala Tea, Lemon Tea, Orange Tea, Iced Tea and many more flavors. With or without sugar has been accepted without much problem. But talk about Tea with salt and a lot of people go, "Yuck !". I questioned the wisdom of ridiculing something without tasting. I said, "We can't say like that. Taste differs from region to region, time to time and from people to people."

The sister gave me a lecture, "See Doctor, there is a proportion and combination for all ingredients in everything we consume. We can't add chillies to Payasam and we can't add sugar to Sambar. You can't prepare chicken sambar, it has to be chicken curry. Similarly, vegetables can't be eaten without some coconut grates. blah blah..."

I replied patiently, "Sister, you have got it all wrong. Udupi Brahmins add jaggery to Sambar and they believe Sambar is incomplete without that. You've never tried adding chicken to Sambar. Try that and then decide. I agree we need proportion but combinations can vary. Many people eat pickles with Payasam and you Malayalees eat pappadam with Payasam. Why is that ? You need something extra to the taste, right ? We can never say someone else has yuck taste. To each his or her own"

I must admit, I wasn't quite brave and didn't taste tea with salt when I went to Kullu and Manali in 1999. Looking back in time, I realize I have been terribly judgmental. One of my relatives used to eat jack fruit dipping in coffee and everyone in our ancestral home used to ridicule his tastes and I was one of the everyone. A little teenager I know, loves mangoes with yoghurt and her younger brother thinks that is sick and I did agree with him.

I always wondered how could Gujarati people eat 'jalebis' first thing in the morning and how could Malayalees start a day with 'beef and porotta' when "Idlee - Sambar" was the only thing worth eating for breakfast ! I also have never dared to try the Kerala pickles because they are 'damn too spicy' according to me !

Watching Fazil's "Kaiyethum Doorath" in 2002, I had passed my judgment on Shanu Fazil that this one is a dud. I had even blamed Fazil for trying to make a completely useless son into a star. Almost a decade later, the reinvented Fahad Fazil is on a roll today and being vegetarian, I hate the idea of eating crow !

I have come to understand it is extremely wrong on  anyone's part to decide what is right and what is wrong for others. Well, I am not talking about issues like legal system and such. But generalizing 'our' ways as right and 'their' ways as wrong is plain and simple, wrong !

This exactly is why I have come to distance myself from religions and moved towards free-thinking. I refuse to be bogged down by people who preach about gods and rituals. But I also refuse to interfere with their right to do what they love to do without bothering me. If something gives someone happiness and peace without infringing upon someone else' rights or freedom, so be it !

Satire and sarcasm are two things I have inherited along with the A-Positive blood group. I have often hurt people without intending to and looking back at such instances makes me cringe. But, everyday in life is spent in trying to rise above the superstitions, prejudices and stupidities without trading upon the toes of others. It is tough but I think it is worth trying than live with vainglorious pride and petty prejudices !


Dr. Punned-it

The Beggar of Hampi, Pride and Pricked Prejudice !

The Hampi Viroopaksha Temple

Being in Bellary and not visiting Hampi is just not possible. Early days in Bellary, I had heard enough about Hampi. Our primary school history lessons too had given us enough reasons to visit Hampi. Finally I did visit Hampi with a group of friends sometime in 1989 winter. Murali, Vishwanath, Jagan, Shadrak, Umesh, Vishwanath Nayak, Azeem, Thara and me were there on that tour.

Our group in Hampi

A lot has been written about Hampi and I can't better any of that. What stands out for me after 23 years is an experience that made the raw youth feel proud about our heritage that day and a lot more wiser for life.

We were going around the famed Viroopaksha temple. There was a bunch of noisy youth a few paces ahead of us. Being doomed to be Doctors, we were less noisy or perhaps relatively so. When we came to the western part of the temple, we were directed to a small dark corner room by some people. We all went there and saw this...

The Pin Hole Camera !

This is the famed pin-hole camera of Hampi where an inverted image of the main tower of the temple is seen on a wall of a small dark room through a hole in the roof of the outer fortress on the western side. As we were marveling at this piece of architectural wonder of almost 750 years history; the loudest of those boys from that group proclaimed loudly in Kannada, "Hey this is all fraud. Someone has drawn this here and that too inverted. How can people fall for such con ! blah blah blah".

There was a sun burned unshaven man appearing to be in his seventies, sitting just outside that room. He had unkempt silver hair, shrunken cheek lined by sharp bony jaws to his face and a frail body. He was clad in worn off saffron robes with an equally weather beaten towel spread on the floor. That must have been white some time in history but looked brownish yellow. He was obviously begging and there were a few coins on his towel.

He suddenly got up pulling his towel in a hurry, scattering his coins all over the place in the process. He didn't seem bothered, but went directly to the young man and called him out to follow him. He crawled to the darker corner of the dark room and asked the youth to hold the other end of the towel so that it was positioned in front of the shadow. All of us could see the shadow of the tower appearing on the towel.

We couldn't see the face of that boisterous boy in the darkness that prevailed in the room. But a lot of darkness must have been driven away from his mind in that beautiful moment. Though I had a camera on me, I couldn't capture the magnificent moment on camera because it all happened in such a hurry and the darkness in the room just didn't allow me to click the event. Alas !

Coming out of the room, the saffron clad man gave a lecture to the youth and his friends. It was as good a lesson to all of us blinded by the arrogance of our modern life. He said, "Oh you the pant and shirt clad city bred youth of today, young men; pause before you proceed to mock anything that you don't know. This is a construction that is almost 1000 years old and has stood the ravages of time like many of those marvels in this great place called 'Haalu Hampi' [Ruined Place]. This was the Vijayanagar empire where gold and diamonds were sold in the road side shops. Over 50 generations of yours must have turned into ashes since this place was constructed. Look at every stone, pillar and idol of this place. They were constructed when there were no machines and cranes and such things. If they managed to construct such a magnificent place at that time, what does it say ? Those people were far more intelligent, wiser, stronger and talented than you, me and all of us. Never again make fun of our heritage. You are a nobody who has done nothing precious yet and will achieve nothing in life if you continue with this attitude. God bless you with better sense in future !"

I could see the pride in the eyes of the senior gentleman and the pricked prejudice on the sheepish face of the youth. And was I having goosebumps ? I still get them thinking of that day. Ever since, I have made it a rule not to mock anything that I don't know or understand. Questioning anything is fine, including the concept of God. No progress can be made if we believe everything without questioning. But before you sit on judgement, make sure you are qualified enough to do so and you know the truth. Else, it is better to be cautious. The world is a lot more intelligent and wiser than a single human being can normally aspire to be !




Dr. Punned-it