Kitchen tales from Jharia
When I was young, soaps were not used to wash vessels. Coal and wood fire cooked our food. The ash from this fire was used to scrub dishes. Most eco-friendly options, India has. Now we get eco-friendly non polluting soaps abroad. But any soap or detergent is full of chemicals and bad for the soil and rivers and seas , that our drainage flows into. I remember the 'chulha' being lit in the morning by Mom or Aunt as soon as they woke up. There was an art to filling the chulha with wood and coal and little kerosene. We had two chulhas of medium size and a big one when we had guests. I mean to cook the food. The chulha was made of iron and coated with mud to keep it a little cool on the outside. The fire was on top and the ash fell down. We used only one matchstick to light a piece of old paper and that was put on the coal which ignited fast due to the kerosene. Or we soaked a piece of wood in kerosene and put in under the coal. The fire caught in about twenty minutes. We could not bring the chulha in the kitchen if the smoke was coming out as the house would get filled with smoke. The coals had to be red hot and then the chulha was brought in for cooking.The chulha was kept in the 'aangan' or the open courtyard area of our first floor house. The morning chulha was used to Grandmother's evening tea, which was prepared by 2.30 pm. Then we kept this chulha back in its designated place in the angan and allowed the fire to dry out. This was for the kitchen to cool down for the evening cooking to start. The evening chulha was lit by four thirty pm as tea and milk were made/heated. Then dinner cooking started by five. All children at home ate by seven pm. The servant cleaned the afternoon's cooled down chulha, in the night and filled it for the usage for the next morning.
Mom would take her 'Neem ka Datun', the Indian natural tooth brush in her mouth and then take on lighting the chulha. Datun was a stick from the Neem tree which was chewed for long. Non plastic and non chemical way to clean teeth and with better results. We never had cavties or needed to get out teeth cleaned by dentists, due to usage of Neem Datun. Neem datun also has digestive properties and helps to purify our blood. In those days, Dad never had tea . So if he had an early morning train to catch, it was okay. But Uncle was a tea drinker and he would not travel outstation without his morning cuppa. Then some coal was added at around ten pm to the night chulha, so that it simmered thru the night and would have enough heat to make tea in the morning. On some days, the chulha would just not light up. Some days, the fire would be too hot. We would add more coal to cool the fire, but that resulted in smoke in the house. The rotis were made and dal was boiled when the fire was really hot. In the night, water was put in the chulha to cool the fire energy. A kitchen window was always kept permanently open, as in grilled but without a window door, as we had the chulha at home. Some days while trying to light the chulha in the morning, the match sticks would get over. I don't know how Mom managed after that. We had two open tanks in the aangan for the coal and the wood. During rains, these tanks were covered with plastic sheets. Invariably, water would still seep in the coal and the wood. The fire took very long to light in the wet fuel. Dhanbad had occasional rain showers but they were enough to trouble Mom about her wet wood and wet coal. My early memories of rain are being with Mom alone in the big house and bathing in the rains on the terrace. It was such a happy memory. Having my Mom totally to myself. This was before the joint family had expanded and the siblings were born.
One day Mom decided to put asbestos sheet over this work station in the aangan. The sheet was to prevent the servants from the scorching sun as they washed the afternoon vessels and to protect water from getting into coal and wood. There was a separate big stone slab put to wash clothes on. There were no washing machines those days in our town. One tank was made for the garbage and it had one side open. this was to facilitate the 'Jamadaar' to remove the Kachra/ garbage. I told you, ours was a fancy well equipped home. That was the end to sunlight in our kitchen. Smoke did not go away through the asbestos sheet. Jharia was a coal town full of buildings with barely a metre gap between two houses. The weather was extreme but we craved for sunlight, breeze and greenery.
The vessels were never washed in running water. Rather due to shortage of water, we stored water in tanks and buckets. Each house had a designated area for the washing the kitchen utensils. This area was in the aangan outside the kitchen and never in the bathroom. The vessels sparkled with the coal and wood ash. Water was kept in the tubs. First water was to remove the food particles from the vessels. The utensils were then scrubbed with coconut husk and ash which is called 'chhai'. No plastic and steel scrubbers or sponges but the coconut husk definitely made our vessels sparkle. The vessels were put in a wooden sieve type tub called a 'Tokri'. It was made of tough wood which did not break with water and the weight. Lifting the 'tokri' full of washed utensils was no mean feat. As children, we washed the one odd steel spoon required at the dinner table. Steel was in big demand. Most people used aluminium cooking vessels and we had steel. Servants were perpetually stealing the glasses, spoons and small bowls called 'katoris'. Now we see the servants/maids/lower income groups use steel in the kitchen and the rich have moved to using non eco friendly glass as utensils.
Mom would take her 'Neem ka Datun', the Indian natural tooth brush in her mouth and then take on lighting the chulha. Datun was a stick from the Neem tree which was chewed for long. Non plastic and non chemical way to clean teeth and with better results. We never had cavties or needed to get out teeth cleaned by dentists, due to usage of Neem Datun. Neem datun also has digestive properties and helps to purify our blood. In those days, Dad never had tea . So if he had an early morning train to catch, it was okay. But Uncle was a tea drinker and he would not travel outstation without his morning cuppa. Then some coal was added at around ten pm to the night chulha, so that it simmered thru the night and would have enough heat to make tea in the morning. On some days, the chulha would just not light up. Some days, the fire would be too hot. We would add more coal to cool the fire, but that resulted in smoke in the house. The rotis were made and dal was boiled when the fire was really hot. In the night, water was put in the chulha to cool the fire energy. A kitchen window was always kept permanently open, as in grilled but without a window door, as we had the chulha at home. Some days while trying to light the chulha in the morning, the match sticks would get over. I don't know how Mom managed after that. We had two open tanks in the aangan for the coal and the wood. During rains, these tanks were covered with plastic sheets. Invariably, water would still seep in the coal and the wood. The fire took very long to light in the wet fuel. Dhanbad had occasional rain showers but they were enough to trouble Mom about her wet wood and wet coal. My early memories of rain are being with Mom alone in the big house and bathing in the rains on the terrace. It was such a happy memory. Having my Mom totally to myself. This was before the joint family had expanded and the siblings were born.
One day Mom decided to put asbestos sheet over this work station in the aangan. The sheet was to prevent the servants from the scorching sun as they washed the afternoon vessels and to protect water from getting into coal and wood. There was a separate big stone slab put to wash clothes on. There were no washing machines those days in our town. One tank was made for the garbage and it had one side open. this was to facilitate the 'Jamadaar' to remove the Kachra/ garbage. I told you, ours was a fancy well equipped home. That was the end to sunlight in our kitchen. Smoke did not go away through the asbestos sheet. Jharia was a coal town full of buildings with barely a metre gap between two houses. The weather was extreme but we craved for sunlight, breeze and greenery.
The vessels were never washed in running water. Rather due to shortage of water, we stored water in tanks and buckets. Each house had a designated area for the washing the kitchen utensils. This area was in the aangan outside the kitchen and never in the bathroom. The vessels sparkled with the coal and wood ash. Water was kept in the tubs. First water was to remove the food particles from the vessels. The utensils were then scrubbed with coconut husk and ash which is called 'chhai'. No plastic and steel scrubbers or sponges but the coconut husk definitely made our vessels sparkle. The vessels were put in a wooden sieve type tub called a 'Tokri'. It was made of tough wood which did not break with water and the weight. Lifting the 'tokri' full of washed utensils was no mean feat. As children, we washed the one odd steel spoon required at the dinner table. Steel was in big demand. Most people used aluminium cooking vessels and we had steel. Servants were perpetually stealing the glasses, spoons and small bowls called 'katoris'. Now we see the servants/maids/lower income groups use steel in the kitchen and the rich have moved to using non eco friendly glass as utensils.
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