“KITS ALL”  ERA

Kits have become part and parcel of every event or occasion especially in the Gods Own Country. School kit containing notebooks, pencils, pens, eraser, umbrella etc. is very common at the time of re-opening of schools. Avial and Sambar kits are available in all vegetable shops. At seminars/conferences, kits containing all sorts of things such as sachets of shampoo, Kohinoor, coconut oil, toothpaste, readymade payasam mix, pet bottles, etc. are given as an incentive for advance registration. During festival seasons textile kits which include Double Mundu and a shirt for men and Kerala Saree for women, are available of course at a price.  Kits containing kitchen provisions and a set mundu and double mundu are supplied to members of the BPL category by the wealthy during important festivals.

Onam, the most important cultural festival of Kerala, has arrived and along with it various Kits have also sprung up. Food kits with particular reference to Thrissur, pronouncedly announced by leading caterers, during the Onam season are much sought after.  Various such kits are available at different rates depending upon their contents. Payasam Kits (three popular variants) at different rates with a common extra charge for the container,  sadya kit with all curries and full sadya kit including cooked rice and plantain leaf as well as individual item kits and the taker is at liberty to choose there from. 

Modern day nuclear families are very much in favour of going in for such kits. The husband N wife only category finds it an exercise in futile and waste of time to prepare full Onasadya and so to say enjoy themselves, with their children far far away unable to join them on account of geographical  and personal limitations.   With the soaring prices of vegetables and provisions, economies of operation also strongly recommend kits. With all the advantages weighing heavily in my mind, when my wife suggested that we go for a Kit on Thiruvonam day, I readily accepted it. As a test dose, on the earlier day, I bought a kit containing palada, pulienji and vadukappuli achar. The containers I carried with me were not used as they were readily packed in separate containers.  So far so good!

On the Thiruvonam day with greater enthusiasm, I started early morning and stood on a long and serpentine “Q” waiting for my turn. The number of curvaceous cuties on the Q was in single digit, perhaps they are busy with other activities than preparing a sumptuous meal.  The Q was disturbed by micro trucks and auto rikshaws of bulk purchasers going in to and coming out of the kitchen premises. The movement of the Q was very slow and the tail was growing longer and longer. People on the Q were gradually getting impatient. Some observed “reaching the order counter, men ask their wives over cell  for how many, how much payasam, is plantain leaf required, do I order some extra rice for the unforeseen” and the like “thus slowing down the order process and the girl at the counter takes her own sweet time to write down the items so ordered and collect the charges”. Some as usual curse their wives for making them wake up early morning and asking them to do this job, not allowing them to sleep a little longer on a holiday. Some, on the other hand commented “it is better to stand on the beverages Q”.  A teetotaler was quick in his oblique remark “there you buy poison and here you buy payasam.” Thanks to all concerned, this Onam has been made relatively dry.

At last I reached the counter. I ordered one kit containing full sadya except cooked rice and plantain leaf, paid the cash and moved towards the delivery counter with the coupon where there was utter chaos. With the earlier day experience, I did not carry any containers. But the first question asked here was weather I had brought enough vessels and the boy attending on me was annoyed at my negative answer. He began to execute my order, item by item,  using small plastic bags and rubber bands. Another half-an-hour standing and he spread, in all, 9 small bags before me. Luckily I had carried a complimentary carry bag received on the earlier day on purchase of textile items. I put all these things into the bag, took a deep breath and quickly returned home.   A mission successfully accomplished in 3 hours!

By the time I reached home, I was at my wits end and hurriedly gulped a tumbler of cold water. I then entered into a friendly fight with the breakfast items when my wife unwrapped the contents of the small packages into apt glassware. She had every reason to be annoyed at the small quantities and commented that they were like offering  alms to the poor. She noticed that papadam was immersed in pulienji and the banana chips were no more crisp. Sambar was missing (this was not supplied for want of a suitable container) and the achar sachet was torn and thus the contents spilled into the main carry bag. Pazhaprathaman was transferred into a nice glass bowl, the quantity being just adequate for two, a consolation indeed!

Meantime, rice was cooked and by 12.30 p.m. my better half managed to get two small plantain leaves from the recent plantings,  on which were laid all the items of Onasadya. We gradually began to eat the food with tears rolling down, and hoped that the children would join us for the next Onam. The fact that some of the items prepared perhaps the previous night were spoilt, was not noticed as the taste buds were less  active because of several streams of thought gushing in about the days of yore.

Yet another Onam passed off quietly.