I, Iyer, myself

Over and above the traditions and customs that are distinct to the Iyer community, one aspect that really stands apart crying for attention is the amount of importance this bunch attaches to food and everything associated with it.

The true Iyer is a foodie above all else. He can be living in a non-descript town in Kumbakonam district or in downtown California. Doesn't really matter.
Give him his daily quota of Paruppu, ghee, vetta kozhambu, potato curry, curd rice and oorgai and he doesn't ask for much more. I myself have grown up on countless kilograms of curd rice-pickle combo packed in 'eversilver' tiffin boxes during my school days. In fact that was my de facto diet for lunch for around 14-15 years, not counting sundays, saturdays (being half days and hence no tiffin) and holidays.

Pages and pages have been written by pen happy Iyers on the joys of relishing fermented curd rice and pickle/thovayal. You just need to visit any Iyer community on any one of the networking sites for you to find numerous threads dedicated to the virtues of this dynamite combo. All written by contented Iyers, no doubt. Easy on the stomach and extremely filling, the curd rice and oorgai will rank right up there on any Iyer's list of most preferred foods.

Giving curd rice intense competition and coming a close second is the vetta kozhambu - roasted potato curry combination. (Excuse me a minute here while I finish drooling). You have the option of adding a liberal dose of ghee or gingely oil to the rice-VK mixture. Mashing the rice along with dollops of VK with your bare hand, you need to hear the swish-swash of the oil jostling with the viscous VK and take in the wafting aroma. Help yourself to a generous helping of the golden brown potato curry and off you go. I leave you to imagine the rest.

I have the sambar-avial combo and morkozhambu-brinjal kootu vying for the third spot. It's like asking who is better - Pele or Maradona.
After intense deliberations, I'll have to pick the sambar-avial combination.

These are just the top three in my laundry list of dyno combos. This in no way reflects adversely on the erisheri-VK combo or the Paruppu Porucha Kozhambu and pulivendasaar combos in any way. Another day, another time, another list.

If you have a combo to which you think justice has not been done, leave a message here and I will take up cudgels for you ;)

Have you seen God ?

Have you seen God ?
An cliched question asked by and of believers and non-believers alike. I had the opportunity of seeing God Himself in flesh and blood when I visited the Kanchi Mutt some 15-20 years back. Yes, you guessed it. I'm talking about the Maha Periyaval HH Chandrashekarendra Saraswathi.

He must have been into his nineties then. His health had deteriorated. To give darshan to the people, He used to be physically carried - chair and all - into the courtyard and placed there. That was the only time I saw Him.

Of course I did not know enough about Him then to treasure that moment. It was much later that I came to understand the true brilliance and the divinity of this individual. A pity really. But then, I suppose I need to look at it as half full. I'm lucky that I saw him that once.I won't even attempt to describe the greatness of HH. This piece is not about that. Not that I'm qualified enough ! I've read and heard enough about this great person that I'm convinced that He was God Himself.

A realised soul. May His grace be upon us all.