Bitter Sweet

First, the bitter. It has been fourteen years today that my beloved grandmother, the lady who was the first person to introduce me to the beauty of stories and songs, passed away after a full life. I wasn't near her at the time, but had met her just two weeks before she breathed her last. I cannot say that I remember her only on certain days; she is never far from my mind. I have a picture of her just inside my wardrobe, where I can see her in the privacy of my mind. For some strange reason, this year, I can sense her love very close to me. Maybe it is my imagination, but it feels very real. As if she wants to convey something to me, her favourite and oldest grandchild. Maybe it has something to do with getting older. My oldest memories of her are of when she was around my age. She would have been close to 90 if she had been alive today. She could have been.

Next, the sweet. Today is Sankranti. The day is celebrated all over India in different forms of the harvest festival. Sankranti, Pongal, Bihu, Lohri- all forms of the same joyous feeling of plenty. Plenty to eat, after a long, cold winter. The hope of spring and new beginnings.

The kid and I made tiL-guL today, a sweet made of roasted sesame seeds and jaggery, both rich in nutrients, warming foods. She wanted to actively participate in the making, so she cleaned the sesame seeds, broke the jaggery up into pieces, greased the plates, helped stir the roasted sesame seeds into the melted jaggery, and patted down the hot mixture before cutting it into squares. Maybe we could shape the mixture into laddoos next year or the next, as the mixture was too hot for her to handle.

So, as we say in Marathi, tiL-guL Ghyaa, goD goD bola!  A Happy Sankranti to all.