Genie in the bottle

  

My dad lived a long happy life.

As far as my memory goes he never bothered much about our report cards and hardly gave me or my brother sermons like normal dads. At the very end, his magnum opus, he finally stamped out his lesson for me to decipher ,by playing out his adieu on my birthday.This Christmas Eve he might want us to carol Happy birth and Death day in the same breath.Frivolity of birth and life , the yin and yang juxtapositions hardly meant anything at that point of time. Every time I go sit with mom  he peers down ceremoniously from his frame with that quizzical smile so as to say...Did you guys get my cue?

The only cue we got was absolute freedom to lay hand on two bottles he had brought down from Bahrain . My dad was a teetotaller and this was one of his 'spirited' ideas of sanitizing the  customs officials, as he came down for good.The bottles bobbed into Kochi shores unscathed and he kept it uncorked for forty long years till this very moment!!It was perhaps kept as a medal of honour to celebrate his 25 years of survival in the Gulf keeping his vir'gin'ity intact. In his final days he finally gave consent to take them out of the cupboard as he was clouded by his dementia stricken mind.We told him that we would mark the occasion of his next birthday with vintage spirit. Perhaps he never wanted another birthday.

We are now caught in an ambivalent equation. To let the genie out of the bottle or to keep him bottled up as our treasured family heirloom.The Haig scotch whisky and the French Bisquit cognac brands have reason to feel insulted .Perhaps one day a company guy might read this blog and offer a kings ransom for its deliverance.Amen.Wishful thinking doesn't cost us anyway.

Keeping the genie corked up is deep rooted in the malayali's psyche. Unlike his northie cousins the malayali is reserved , laid back,non aggressive and in a way diffident to free the genie in him.Anything that churns out of the malayali cauldron necessarily needs to be of some thick cerebral sauce . This conscious restriction has reflected a lot in our culture,dance,music,cuisine,literature and even plain humour.It's tough to make a mallu laugh with mediocre content.Never to follow the pun laced conversation of a mallu in the literal sense as it can lead to misunderstandings. My marathi wife to this date has not come to terms with this mallu trait and gets on a trigger happy mode often.   The few places where the malayali finds his free rhythm are in these quaint toddy shops where the mind is without fear and the head held high ,where toddy flows free (apologies to tagore). The average mallu is aware of the constipated genie within him and finding out the right laxative seems to be one of the prime public initiative these covid days . These rescue missions finally seem to be helping only one cause...... the state beverage corporation.Cheers anyway!!!

There is not one dance form in Kerala where you have both the genders together on the podium!!!While for the rest of the world its about swaying in rhythm with your partner,in Kerala its more about the sensual rhythm with one's own self.If we had popped the cork in the dancing arena the genie might have conjured mind blowing fusions like perhaps the enchantress of 'mohiniyattam' grooving along with masculine macho 'kathi' kathakali figures. Even after all these years when we see the mollywood stars trying hard to ape their bollywood counterparts in the art of gyration ,it seems more like an aberration. 

Other than the western ghats, Kerala is insulated from India by one tongue twisting barrier...malayalam...our mother tongue.   Poetry is one thing which we look  in a serenade and to make it sound appealing we need it to be tuned with  classical intonations as the language is not that lyrical like tamil or hindi. In short, the song is so heavy that most of the listeners don't have the steam to go behind the meaning of the lyrics.The mallu psyche must be such that even in a serenade ,the hero is least worried about whether the heroine can digest his lyrical overtures. It’s the sauce that matters!!!Singing with finesse is a divine gift as you need to understand the poetry to get into the right mood and must be trained in classical music to do justice to the tympanums in the firing line.The rest of the crowd who have managed to uncork their genies croak away to glory.

My dad’s skill when it came to kerala cuisine was quite well known.When I asked him to teach me the basics he played it down outright.He said cooking was all about wielding your spices and following your heart. Smarting from a snub, the Ekalavya in me started off with Sanjeev Kapoor recipes and kept going till one day I broke even with dad. I had made Chettinad chicken and my brother's father in law who had come for lunch that day broke his resolve to stay away from non veg.It took a little while for my old man to acknowledge that I can cook. My dad used to cook the whole sadya single handedly during festival occasions and with his passing there is a void I need to fill.

Unlike most dishes and fares around the world where you just chomp and chew with a linear mental frame,  the sadya is more like a chess game with yourself . On the banana leaf you marshal your forces and the first move is often orchestrated by the charge of the foot soldiers (rice) spearheaded by the yellows (dal,pappad,ghee). The avial, erissery,kaalan.olan ,pachadi,kichadi,kootukari and other specialized regiments are sent in random to surprise and quell the enemy pangs .The foot soldiers lay scattered all over in a pool of sambar.The final surge of payasam drowns all the might of the ‘hungarian’. The banana leaf is folded away from you after the battle when you want to proclaim victory.Peering down at the leaf you notice that it resembles the state of Kerala which you have conquered. Hail Emperor of Kerala!!!!!!

Its about time that the malayali sheds his inhibitions and not be overly anxious of the mistakes made while courting  his inner genie.We have all the while weighed down our achievements with oodles of simplicity and modesty be it in literature,art,fashion,music or architecture. Bottled up genies have been passed on to us from our parents and ancestors.To let the spirit be uncorked once in a while, in deliberate calibrated doses, will bring life to the people around you and make you exude positiveness.The whole life should be treated as one amalgam of celebration be it birth or death. 

Dad??Did I get the cue right ???????