There was a lot of food for thought at the Deepavali recipe contest prize distribution ceremony of chennailivenews.com that took place at the elegant Accord Metropolitan hotel in T Nagar, Chennai, on November 18, 2010.Since it was a prize distribution ceremony of a recipe contest, it was decided to invite celebrity musician Chinmayi, a self-confessed ‘discerning’ foodie, and her mother T Padmhasini, who has done major research on Indian herbs.
Mother and daughter complemented each other very well by talking on diverse aspects of food: Padmhasini, who was requested to speak on Indian ingredients being herbs, delved deep into the strengths of Indian cooking and Indian ingredients like dry ginger (sukku), pepper (melagu) and castor oil; Chinmayi, whom we had wanted to speak on being a foodie and the foods she likes, gave a humorous account of life with a mother who used to feed her with all kinds of kashayams and her own budding interest in baking – mind you, eggless!
Padmhasini, an Indologist and a musicologist gave useful and magical health tips. She stressed the need to have chukku kashayam in the morning on an empty stomach as it cleanses the stomach. She felt the joint family system, which is no longer in vogue, was ideally suited for families. Padmhasini also elaborated on vegetarianism and declared that she and her daughter were votaries of vegetarianism.
Chinmayi, who enthralls the world with her ‘Kilimanjaro’ song in the blockbuster ‘Endhiran’, but sporting a girl-next-door look, stressed the need to be a vegetarian and how she used to take adathoda kashayam as her mother was particular that she drank it without hesitation. She hilariously narrated how her mother give her juice of leaves that even ‘aadu’ – goats - will never touch.
In her usual style, peppered with humour, Chinmayi said her mother has given her all sorts of concoctions to improve immunity and help her voice be what it is today. Her voice has become so conditioned that she could bite an ice cube, eat ice cream and immediately sing without any problem.
Chinmayi recalled her Italian sojourn with maestro Ilayaraja – another strict vegetarian - and how she had to sustain only on yoghurt and apples for a gruelling 10 days.
Regarding the prize winners, though there were several entries for the Deepavali recipe contest, the judges picked three winners and a consolation prize winner.
We had also simultaneously held a contest for a memorable Deepavali and the prize for that went to an 84-year-old woman who celebrated her Thalai Deepavali before Independence. She had come in person to collect the prize which was heartening.
The prizes, sponsored by Sri Andal Stores, Madurantakam, and A Ganapathy of Balasubramaniam Enterprises, Nanganallur, were given away by Chinmayi and Padmhasini to Sripriya Venkatraman (surakkai halwa), Lalitha Mahadevan (rosagulla) Chandra Vasudevan (porivilangai urundai) and Prathima Giri (chakkali).
Sangita Sridhar’s prayer song drew an appreciative nod from Padmhasini who imparts voice training which has benefited many students of Hindustani music, not to mention Chinmayi herself.
Nanganallur B Sridhar gave a brief acceptance speech on behalf of the prize winners.
Usha Raja, chairperson of Newsreel Media Services Pvt Ltd, welcomed the gathering.
