Pazhampori(Banana fry) craziness

I am damn sure, that I don't have much readers, so don't have much motivation to post and keep this blog, but this I am doing out of sheer boredom.

Well, I study at Gandhinagar(it is more of a village than of a city), Gujarat, I have to travel for 36 hours to reach this place from the one and only Thrissur. I usually take the trains such as Okha, Happa and all other weird named trains, which has led to 1001 questions from relatives and acquaintces, (as in when i say i am going on this and this date...they will ask which train...i will say as a good boy.. happa express..then comes the typical Malluism comment of "Actually happa is some what north of jamnagar, i had gone once in 1965 sometime and all that story" and it will end with more questions on how is happa..how often you been there and my god, i want to say kill me...)

But the story I wanted to tell is about the Banana fry(pazhampori :) ) and how crazy Mallus are for it... One incident I remember ..I don't have the privilege of travelling in the IInd A/C..but I dont miss the opportunity to sneak in to meet my friends who usually travel in IInd A/C...this time also as usual i am coming back from thrissur to gandhinagar(after a grand farewell from family and friends at the railway station...)... i was chatting in the IInd A/C compartment with my friend, it was usual time when our pazhampori comes, even i am waiting for this, but usually by the time it reaches the a/c compartments it looses all the charm :)... and putting an end to our wait, the pantry person came shouting 'pazhampori' .....we jumped to get the first grab, but there was only two left, that too of the type,which will be a true disgrace to the species of pazhampori's .But suddenly, a middle aged uncle jumped from behind, beating the kungfu panda style, putting a claim for pazhampori..he claimed that he had told the pantry fellow yesterday night itself at Cochin station(my god ..how crazy can one get for pazhampori)... i was in no mood to let go that pazhampori which could have been one of the last pazhampori for at least 4 months before i go home again.. We fought for ten minutes and finally we won, I and my friend had that pazhampori in a victorious mood, as if we won a battle. But the scene that i could never forget in my life is the facial expression of that poor man, he got so dejected, his face shrank as in a Adoor goapalakrishnan movie, he spend the rest of time cursing us and making faces at us.
Look what a pazhampori has done in a train journey.

Second incident, the same situation, i am going home from Gujarat, this time, I saw the greed for pazhampori, this military personnel, from Kerala, he was sleeping the entire time, for at least for 1o hours, but as soon as the pazhampori comes, he jumps up and shouts "Give me 8 pazhampori", very one looks at him to see this amazing personality , he smirks and he start eating as if he is just released from concentration camp .


What ever said and done, I had enough Pazhampori experiences to come to a conclusion that it is also an integral part of Malluism.

Mallu’s and Gulf

Every time I come back to Kerala during my semester break,one thing is inevitable; I will invariably come to know about such and such fellow has gone to Gulf. Well, what can I say of Gulf, it is the ultimate destination of Mallus, it’s like home away from home. At this rate of migration, the time wont be far when the Gulf (refers to Middle East) area have more Mallu population than that of natives.

Main reasons to go to gulf are that it has become a status symbol in itself, then because of our great relatives (chumma vittil irukkuvan sammathikkumo), then to improve one’s scope in matrimonial market. Akara Akara movie is an epitome of Gulf craze, that was prevalent in Kerala, which still continues to a great extend.Going to gulf is an event in itself, and once the person leaves for Gulf, then starts the awaiting period, poor chap will have to come with some gift for all the relatives (nadakkana karyam vallathum anno).

Slowly the craze for migration to gulf is becoming less due to the newer destinations which Mallus have hunted down.Someone was telling that when Christopher Columbus reached America, there was a Mallu tea shop(nammude chaya kada) there(Ollatha..chumma alla). Whatever it may be, Gulf still continues as a dream destination.


Quote on Gulf mallus: All the puli's(machu's ennum visheshikapedunnu) go off to Gulf to become just a mere eli's.B'cas nattile kalikal avide nadakkumo.enthu puliyalalum nanni pokum..allenkilum nattil ninnum poyal malayalikal manyanmar alle.

First response and my response

Hurray!!! I got my first response for the blog and happy that it came from a fellow Mallu. Vivek menon( thanks a lot man) commented on my first post Malluism as follows
"Malluism as you say is such an integral part of us- whether its the Tattukada Porrotta Beef fry or the ubiquitous Lungi - We are the "Sophisticated Country fellows" "

Thanks a lot for reminding me of the Tattukada parrotta beef fry and the lungi. It was an year back this happened. I took one of my close friend home, he is a Northy, and a so-called Brahman. I played the role of good host and took him all around Thrissur, he was fascinated by the greenery and slow pace of life in Kerala. In the evening I thought of treating this Bhramin to some good non-veg and parotta(non-veg in North begins with Chicken and ends with Mutton), and after ordering him parotta and chicken,I thought of treating to our own Mallu delicacy of parotta and beef.He took one beef slice to taste, that was the end of the world, he just can't stop, he went on to eat 6 parotta and at least 2 and half plate of beef (Tendi). After this atleast every semester break I bring a couple of to-be beef eater's to Kerala . Every time I go back from Kerala now it is a practice to carry beef roasted. My friends believe the staple diet of Mallu's is beef and parotta.

Tata's new car and Maruti 800

Maruti 800 is the 'mallu' car, no doubt, I had seen all Kerala family aspiring to have one 800 car. It was a status symbol till recently in Kerala, till the advent of foreign cars and people started shifting to mid-segment cars. But still a drive on the road's will fascinate you at the number of Maruti 800's you could count.

While talking about the Tata's new 1 lakh car I commented to my friend that this will be the new big thing in Kerala,which is know for the high consumerism, but as my friend told me gone were those days, when a Mallu dream was all about a Maruti 800, now no one thinks below a Santro. Mallu's are too status oriented, they will say "you can't even buy a Santro,Phooo, better suicide"(ya, Mallu's may do also,they just need a reason to suicide)

But ya, it may help the lower income group to make the dream come true of having a car. I just can't imagine our plumber Das ettan coming in new Tata nano to repair the motor.

Malluism

Mallu as the Malayali/Keralite diaspora is know outside Kerala. A lot of traits are associated with Mallus, such as the peculiar accent in which they( actually we,I am also one) speak English, their political thought( no were else can see Communist and Congress parties existing together with equal footing) , their love for own food made in the coconut oil, a true Mallu shall be either the fan of Mohanlal or Mamooty(the Super stars of Malayalam movie industry), and this list can go on and on.

You can find a Mallu at any conrner of the world, a popular joke is that there is a tea shop opened by a Mallu at Moon(Tea shops and Barbar shops forms an important part of Mallu life) also and he was heartly welcoming when Neil Amstrong set his foot on moon, and that latest one of Misbah(mind the spelling) didn't remember this fact that no corner in the world one can find without being infested by Mallu's, that what happened when he played the unorthodex shot tyring to clear the outter feild by playing an upish sweep shot, but the proud of all the Mallu's, Sreeshanth was very much there,to seal the victory for India at the final's of T-20 World Cup

As of my personal experience, I came across a road side Omlette seller at Gandhinagar,Ahmedabad, having the good mirchi omlette gave me a deja vu feeling , which forced me to enquire the reason behind the feeling, leading to the revelation that he himself is a Mallu and very recently I been to the Mood Indigo fest at IIT ,Mumbai; the rock show by Thermal and Quarter, had a song dedicated for a mallu they knew from Christ college. As usual as other Mallus, I head banged without understanding much of the lyrics, all I could make out was that a Mallu could force them to compose a song. I am proud, and this is all the part of phenomenon, Malluism.