The Epic war of spices (Part 1)

Andhra did not get Chennai, or Madras as it was known then. The states were reorganized, boundaries fell, capitals rose and new states were formed. But, Andhra did not get Chennai. The newly formed states, Tamil Nadu (madras state, back then) and Andhra Pradesh though, never forgot what had transpired. There was residual anger under the surface of this uneasy calm,fanning up petty fires.

But, the animosity as it is today, between the two clans has nothing to do with the partition. It has innocent beginnings. It is also linked strangely to the sweetness of sambar in Karnataka (Who woud have thought sambar could be a bone of contention?).

Madras, a long time ago, took the sour and mildly sweet bisibelabath of Udupi and did away with the sweetness. The sambar, without its sweetness was hot, and spicy, and mildly sour. Gone were the sweetness of thoughts, actions and taste.

The first instance of this spicy sambar as always, can be traced back to a cook's smarts. Varadhachari, The head cook at the Chief Minister’s bungalow, Madras wanted to be rid of the ant problem in the kitchen. As he was tidying the place up, he saw his understudy slipping a few slabs of jaggery into a cloth bag.

“Edhuku da?” (for what?) he snarled. He was a man of quick temper and was generally as sour as tamarind rasam and as bitter as bitter gourd fry.

“Sambar ku na…” (for sambar / Anna,also na, are words for elder brother)

“Cha! Throw it out of the window; I have had enough with this nonsense. Today we are cooking sambar without jaggery.” 

“It will be too hot Anna”

“Nonsense!! Throw it!!”

“without jaggery?”

“Aama da” (yes)

Legend has it, that night, the Chief Minister’s bungalow glowed extra bright with the lights of the bungalow and the tummy of the occupants. The next day though, the bunglow and its occupants realised that this was actually tastier and that adding jaggery was in fact “nonsense”. They forgave Varadhachari but cautioned him to watch his temper and that his next transgression would be his last.As he was leaving the hall, after the inquisition, the matron of the family remarked “Varadhu, Please reduce the spice, but don’t add jaggery to sambar ever again”.

All was well. For the next few months at least. But, Varadhu, being Varadhu had to lose his temper again and this time it had consequenses. He became the unwitting protagonist of the fateful evening that started this cold, pile bleeding war.

The events of the day are mostly documented only through word of mouth. By stitching together the anecdotes of the many hands in the chef’s kitchen, the following has been agreed by most scholars as the most plausible story of that day. On that fateful summer  night though, no one spoke, and on the next day, most of them stayed in, refusing to come out. (rather, they stayed out, refusing to come in - the toilet complex was outside the premises). 

It is believed that Varadhachari had missed his afternoon kapi (coffee). His wife had fought with him over some domestic issue and had refused him his afternoon kapi.

andha round pathrathula pala sudavekadhengo nu eththandhadava sollirken?

How many times have I told you not to boil milk in the round bottomed vessel?

Mathadellam thekkanum di…

Others are already used and are to be washed

Thechu eduthukkapdadha?

 Can’t you wash them?

Ippo enna aachu?

What’s wrong with this now?

Neenga velila pongo, ongalukku coffee kadayadhu…

Get out no coffee for you today

He was actually angrier at not having kapi on schedule than he was with her for denying it. He stormed into the CM’s kitchen.

“What is all this?”

“Guests have come from Andhra na, I'm making our famous sweet free bisebelabath”

“Seri, for that you will waste this much rice a?”

“Anna… 4 people more”

“They won’t eat even half of this… remove some rice...”

“Anna, the spices are already...”

“Ennada noinoi nu, I said get some rice out of this Anda” (Anda- A large vessel)

“Seri na…”

What happened after that as they say is history. And the last line, as they say, is a cliché.

The main ingredient in the Sambar responsible for this, the powder of spices: Extracted, enriched and reduced into a highly spicy concoction was not sufficiently controlled by the heat exchanger (Rice). The nuclear fission instantly brought tears to the eyes, steam through the ears, mucus through the nose and other miscellaneous things from other miscellaneous orifices. 

In other circumstances, the incident at the bungalow would have evoked laughter, derision and a string of bad toilet jokes. Not this time, this was different, this was war. The “guests” from Andhra would take this personally.... 

.... To be continued