Made using ingredients available in our backyard, are an ideal way to beat the heat
Native summer coolers,
raditional aam paana can be whipped up in three minutes – blend kilimooku manga pieces with curry leaves, crushed pepper, naatu sakkarai or palm jaggery and a pinch of salt and the drink is ready to savoured. “Raw mangoes are cooling, are a great digestive, believed to prevent heat stroke, and have vitamin C, which we need in plenty during summer,” says Sreedevi Lakshmi Kutty, co-founder of Bio Basics, an organic online retail store that brings diverse grains, organic ingredients including dals and jaggery, vegetables and fruits to families. “Everybody wants ripe mangoes, but no takers for kilimooku manga which is surprising. Children are drawn by advertisements of aerated drinks which are nothing but empty calories. How many
Tt Kaber Vasuki’s concert in Chennai, the rst stop of his maiden tour titled Oorvalam, everyone is friends with the artiste. At least that is what it feels like. What else can explain elaborate conversations and silly little jokes between the artist and his audience of over 400, as the guitarist changes patches on the side?
Kaber says that people often discover his music when things are not working out for them. “They tell me that the music helps. If we were to classify me as an artiste in a Jungian sense, I would be slotted under ‘the healer’, but I didn’t intend for things to be that way.”
While the artiste’s impactful lyrics and vivid imagery provide solace for most, Kaber’s tracks are also riddled with mischief, often eliciting jeers. He says that before releasing his independent songs, he often asks himself “Is this who I am? Is this what I feel?”.
Is it this authenticity that makes him among the most celebrated rockstars in the Tamil indie music scene?
Cheeky lines that are sung in an instance however, are not written on a whim. Kaber says that his songs often stew
Achildren have had cut mango sprinkled with chilli powder and salt? Salt also replenishes lost sodium in the body. Raw mangoes can also be used to make chammanthi or a single pot mango rice,” she says adding that Bio Basics has also stocked up on kokum nectar and dried kokum rhinds that can be used to make a cooling drink, rasam, juice, or solkadhi.
Native coolers are easy to make, and are healthy too. For
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ARRANGEMENT and marinate for a while. He scrawls lines on his notes app or in a book to keep track and pulls it together when it vaguely resembles a song. ‘Suthanthiram oru dabba’ was written over two years, he says, with bits of the pallavi and charanam ghting for a place in the scheme of rhythm and meter.
His music in uences
Lyricists like Kannadasan, Pattukkottai
Kalyanasundaram and Vaali have inuenced him. “My father and uncle are huge [former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister] MGR fans. Songs from that era are accessible. The words are not from Sangam literature, but the ideas behind the songs tend to punch you in the face,” he says. He adds that early music inuences including rock bands, and rappers like Green Day and Kanye did not try to be extraordinarily literary. “They wrote in the language they spoke, and that is what example, vegetables like pumpkin, ash gourd and bottle gourd that are readily available in summer can be used in everyday coooking. A bowl of grated and cooked gourd added to curd rice helps one stay hydrated. “I also recommend a drink with ash gourd, curry leaves, a piece of raw mango and naatu sakkarai. You can blend them together and consume without ltering. These drinks are naturally cooling for the body and replenish minerals lost through the day because of profuse sweating.”
You can also shop for roselle owers worked,” he says.
While he is continuing to work on lms after Captain Miller and Aelay, he is ready with four new independent songs that will be released by KYNrecords. Several surprise collaborations can be expected, he says.
What is life like shuttling between Chennai and Canada over the last ve years? “Moving there forced me to do other things. I produced, arranged and directed about eight songs there. It didn’t reach the audience and I wondered if it was all over, if I was forgotten. But I experimented and thought di¢erently about writing,” he says. Coming back this year with the tour ought to have boosted the artiste’s sense of self though. Here, “Ooru poora parakudhu annan car-u. Annan dhan da rock star-u”.
On May 11 at Kasthuri Sreenivasan Auditorium. Tickets on www.bookmyshow (gongura ower petals available as dried petals and powder form) that can be used to make chutney, cold tea, or a drink with crushed pepper and jeera thrown in for good measure.
To know more on organic ingredients and native summer drinks, call 9790516500 or visit @biobasicsin on Instagram
Summer drinks at Sandhai
Alageswari S, founder of Iyal Vaagai, a 10-year-old environmental movement that
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Choose from gooseberry, raw mangoes , gongura flowers and rose milk made from rose petal and coconut milk. R RAGU, GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK, NAGARA GOPAL drives home the message on sustainable living, brings Namma Ooru Sandhai, an eco-friendly monthly market that promotes organic produce of farmers from the region. Besides shopping for vegetables, fruits, native rice varieties, and millets, sweets, snacks, and savouries, people can also try native drinks like rose milk made by blending together paneer rose petals, grated coconut, cardamom, and grated beetroot. “You have to lter it, add a dash of honey and a complete summer drink is ready,” says Alageswai adding that the drink has calcium, builds immunity and the rose petals are cooling.
While at the Sandhai, also try manjal paal. This drink also has grated coconut, a piece of turmeric, ginger, and cardamom. “When ground together and ltered, you get rich and creamy milk that packs a punch. You can add naatu sakkarai if needed,” explains Alageswari.
Another drink is the nelli malli loaded with the goodness of gooseberry and coriander. “Farmers also add a slice of ginger, salt, naatu sakkarai, and red chilli to it. It is refreshing, nutritious, and cooling. Mint and coriander drink along with ginger, lime and a dash of honey, panangalkandu or naau sakkarai is another healthy summer drink.”
There is also thennai neera,(that has to consumed fresh) nungu-elaneer-sabsa seeds drink made with almond milk or milk from grinding sprouted ragi or soaked kambu. Are you game for sembaruthi ice cream? Head to the Sandhai to know more.
Namma Ooru Sandhai is on May 12 from 10am onwards at Corporation School, Cross Cut Road,Gandhipuram. Call 9942118080