First published in ‘The Economic Times.’ It is a storm that the high court of Kerala has kicked up recently when it observed why the government should consider banning toddy, a traditional beverage of the state, given the kind of spurious liquor that flows galore by its name. Can a drink be wiped off with the swish of a wand? Have we ever witch-hunted any other drink like this before? That Green Fairy A pair of green eyes peers us … Continue reading
Continued from Part 1 The Ten Commandments of RRR Well, my friends, we have come a long way from the Vedas. I don’t have the patience to read references to wine in Ayurveda which also reeks with alcohol (perhaps we can do that on another occasion). RRR is happy. And is back on its course. It finds that it is not far from the tradition when it waxes on drinks. But like all good scriptures, RRR also has a moral … Continue reading
Behind every good brew there was once a woman. We go back 4000 years before Christ, to Babylon and Sumeria, where ale (a sort of beer) was the chief drink, young, yummy, and hygienic. The alewives, as brewsters were known, were the rallying point for men who banded together every evening after a hard day’s toil. This was the time when the King of Hordoland was so carried away that he married an alewife. He never had to go out … Continue reading
The air is permeated with the smell of blood and death in a mount somewhere in Palakkad. Welcome to the abode of Malaippothy. When the annual festival arrives, people from all walks of life gather on the holy mount with pots of toddy and live chicken to appease the Malai Bhagavathy(Malaippothy). The poojari will rip the head of the cock that you have brought over a stone idol now soaked in red. Now settle down somewhere in the mount and … Continue reading
