Just like that

    One of the comforting sounds at home for me is the whistle of the pressure cooker. Not just for the fact that it is a handy appliance that helps me scoot out of the kitchen at the earliest but also for the reason that it has been my sole companion who still gives out a naughty whistle even as I get older. I take great pleasure in keeping count of the number of whistles that it lets out.  I don’t think I can ever imagine any Indian home without this ubiquitous vessel occupying its rightful place on the shelf. It came as a surprise to me when I learnt that pressure cookers had invaded the Indian kitchens only as late as 1959 when both Hawkins and TT Private Ltd (now called TTK Prestige) introduced their products into the market.   The idea of using steam pressure to cook made its first appearance in 1679 in the form of Papin’s Digester, a vessel named after its inventor, Denis Papin, a French-born British physicist. But the concept paved way for greater i...

Reams have been written about the sanctity of a mother’s love. Every culture portrays mothers as reflections of God,  and their love as an unselfish and unconditional one. No doubt! There are many poems and songs singing the glory of motherhood. In fact, a very poignant  song  from a 1958-Tamil movie, Thai Pirandal Vazhi Pirakkum, says it all. When you hear M.S. Rajeswari croon to Kannadasan's lyrics, one’s heart melts away. It goes like this: Manukku maram barama,      (Is a tree burden to earth?) marathukku ilai barama,         (Is a leaf burden to a tree? kodikku kai barama,                 (Is a fruit burden to climber?) pettradutha kuzhandai thaikku barama,    (Is a child burden to mother) While basking in the warmth of the song one morning, it was an irony that I ended up reading a  news report...