A tour in Happy Rural Bhutan

Some herbs for the spa treatment ....water in wooden tubs is heated up by sovelling in heated rocks collected from the river bed fir their mineral content . The herbs are added . And a good soak is recommended for rejuvenation ! 

What a grind !

Once upon a time , cooking was heavy duty physical work .......

Lets make sugar !

First , You need a shed ofcourse . Tiled , three walled , dirt floor , huge cauldron over woodfire . 

Collect your sugarcanes 

Crush ! .....manual or motorised . 

Collect the juice and Filter out scum :

Pour into cauldron and boil ......boil ....boil ...

About an hour and a half .......add the "additives " 

Sometimes, detergent too , to  lighten  the brown  sugar ! 

Keep the fire going. Feed it  the dried Cane waste left over after juice extraction. 

Mounds of ready fuel ! Some of it might go to make paper . 

Pour the thickened syrup into wooden moulds . 

Jaggery / Gud / Bella / raw sugar ready ! Pack in palm or banana sheaths .

There's always space for a cow or two....they can snack on cane leaves . 

Beaded Dolls of yore.

Vintage : first quarter of 1900s . Imported porcelien dolls dressed up by  grandmothers,  with woven beads ..

And beaded dolls , hand stitched from scratch .

Kitchen Kreatures

Sometimes, what is seen is not what it is ....

Pareidolia : "the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one sees a meaningful object where there is none".

In short "seeing things" . Classic examples being  shapes seen in Cloud formations ,  ink blots , tree trunk knots etc. 

Sometimes, images are suggested by shapes . And then , with some imagination , recognisable forms can be built. 

On a lazy boring day , this : 

In Honour of Ancestors......

Some facts gathered :

These memorial stones are not Veeragals, but Ancestor Stones or Veeragara Kallu , honoured by the Kuruba clans. Regular ancestral worship takes place in all the kuruba shrines scattered across Bengaluru. Kurubas have subsects , each group following a particular temple ( somewhat like the concept of " parish " ) , the sects are called Vokkalis. There are six or seven Veeragara gudis in and around Bengaluru,most of them, like this one, modernised. The other locations where Veeragara gudis are located : Benson Town, Begur, Ranasingapet , Bommasandra, Sarjapur. The Bommasandra temple stores all the holy copper and brass vessels (used in ancestor worship ) belonging to all the shrines of Bengaluru.  Some priests can sing the ancient kuruba legends / puranas which are all Oral Traditions and only very recenty written down. Scriptures  differ by  " Mathas" ( based on regional and cultural differences ) Halumatha ( Milk ) followed by shephards, Jenumatha ( honey ) followed by those who live off forest produce....etc. 

Interesting to see at least a few indigenous, aboriginal traditions still being preserved , though Vedic hinduism has swallowed up all ancient, tribal beliefs , homogenising them as a Pan-indian  "Hindu  Religion ".