The smell of rotis.......

When was it that I ate a chappathi for the first time? I think it was in 1962. Wheat came to Kerala during those days. May be people knew about it, but the scarcity of rice due to India-China war was the reason for us Malayalees to introduce a new dish made of wheat to our kitchen. Though Chappathi is said to be of Dravidian origin, it was less known to South Indians especially the Malayalis of Kerala.

Rice was our staple food in the old days. When I was very young, I ate many varieties of food made with rice. Our family, as well as most of the families at that time had their own Paddy fields. Most of the houses had underground wooden airtight chambers [Pathayam in the Nilavara] where paddy was stored. When we needed rice, paddy was boiled in huge copper vessels [chembu] and dried in the sun. When it was properly dried, it was pounded at home, husk was removed and cleaned. Everything was done at home. Wheat was something unknown to us.

I think it was in 1962 after the India-China war, we came to know about Chappathi made of wheat flour. My father was working in Bihar before that and my mother might have seen people making rotis there.

Anyway during or after the war, food grains were too costly or even unavailable. Our family’s paddy fields might have been sold by that time. Somehow we children too knew that food was very costly. I think we had to buy rice, wheat or sugar only through ration shops as they were by then rare commodities and not available in open market.

One day father brought the wheat allotted to our 7 member family. We curiously watched mother washing the whole wheat in water, removing the dirt and stones, and drying it in the sun. Then the servant took it to the mill and brought the wheat flour.

As mother had watched the Bihari women making the dough, she had an idea how to knead the flour into chappathi dough. Somehow she succeeded and then the herculean task of rolling them started. All the dough was made into small balls and rolled into shapeless chappathis and spread on the newspaper kept on the floor. The iron tawa was kept on firewood and each chappathi was made pouring a lot of ghee on it. The first attempt was not so successful though mother became an expert in chappathi making, in no time.

We all started loving chappathis. Potato stew was served with it to elders while the younger ones ate it soaked in milk and sugar. For a long time we believed chappathis are eaten only with potato stew….May be no one knew how people of Northern India ate the chappathis.

My parents had travelled out of Kerala, to Bihar, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. So mother learned to prepare many different foods. As days passed, mother made chappathis for dinner everyday. Sometimes she made non-veg dishes too. We all loved chappathis more than any rice preparation. But the process of making wheat grains into flour was very tedious. Gradually we learnt to make those rotis, chappathis, puris and parottas.

Now during the past few decades, I have made an infinite number of chappathis, in many forms as breakfast, lunch or dinner. I try many different side dishes, but today after a long time we had breakfast of chappathi and potato stew. That reminded me……………..