#SoCS June 4, 2022

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “iron(y).” Use “iron,” use “irony,” or use both. Use them any way you’d like. Bonus points if you use both. Have fun!

I make dosas four times a week for breakfast. And I make them on cast iron ‘tawa’ or pan. Many prefer to use a non-stick pan, they say it is easier to lift the dosa when it is cooked. But I like the cast iron one. I know it is in the mind but I believe the dosas taste better 😊. These tawas last for a long time. Mine are more than twenty years old. I have a ladle made from cast iron to season curries and other dishes. It is believed that they add to the nutrition value of the food.

We use curry leaves in the seasoning. They are a good source of iron, necessary for our body. We have these plants in our garden. All green leafy vegetables are nutritious.  We have some herbs in our garden. I use them too. They add their distinct flavour to the dish.

Curry leaf tree with the light green leaves

The Yellow Gulmohur tree with its branches trimmed.

We all know that trees are very important for our existence. Their green leaves make life possible on this planet. But we continue to fell them in the name of development. Yesterday workers of the electricity department were cutting  branches of the tree in front of our house. The branches were touching the wires. I asked them whether they were going to cut the tree. They smiled and said no, only the branches. I was relieved.

I am reading a very interesting book, Escaping the land by Mamang Dai. The story is set in Arunachal Pradesh. There is a green space in the heart of the capital. But within a year the small hillock with graceful trees was flattened and a big squat building came up. The same happened in our place. Some of our neighbours who have lived here since the sixties said there were many trees and very few houses in those days. They did not come out of their houses after dark due to fear of wild animals such as the leopard. We have been seeing changes over the years. But were shocked to see trees on the sides of a valley being cut down. Mud was brought thousands of times to fill up the place. Inox cinema, a hotel  and shops were built. We see hardly any people in those buildings. Huge apartments have come up in other places in our small town. A concrete jungle has taken the place of a real green forest. The height of irony is that they are named Regal Woods, Blueberry Woods and so on !!

14 Top Curry Leaves Benefits That You Shouldn’t Miss Out – Bodywise (bebodywise.com)

24 Amazing Benefits of Trees – Tree Vitalize