“No wonder the curd hasn’t been setting,” Amma grumbled as she flipped through the newspaper, “Bengaluru has had the coldest November temperatures in 10 years!”
Gobbling up her breakfast so as not to miss the school bus, Radha added, “Yeah Amma… The curd rice you packed for lunch yesterday just didn’t taste right.”
Amma confessed, “What to do, sweetie… I made that with store-bought curd.”
On his way out, Appa gave both of them a hug, promising, “Don’t worry. Till it gets warmer, I’ll pick up this thick organic curd from the shop close to my office. I’ll bring some on the way home tonight.”
But that evening, Radha remembered how her Avvaiah (Grandmother) used to set curd through the cold winter in Kodagu. She would wrap the curd bowl in a thick cloth and leave it near the just-put-out embers at the old-fashioned wood-burning stove. And every morning, however cold the Coorg winter nights became, the curd would set miraculously.
So Radha trotted off to her parents’ room and rummaged about in their cupboard, looking for an old shawl or warm dupatta of Amma’s. Instead she found a grandpa-looking scarf, with checks like those on their blankets. This seemed ideal since she’d never seen anybody wear it. Triumphantly she sailed into the kitchen with it, reminding Amma about Avvaiah’s ‘wrapped curd-setting’ technique.
So that cold winter night, when Bengaluru temperatures dropped to 13 degrees, they wrapped the curd bowl in that boring old scarf and put it into a warm cupboard to set, instead of leaving it on the icy, granite kitchen counter.
And like Avvaiah’s curd in Kodagu, the next morning, Radha too found a perfectly set, firm bowl of delicious curd just waiting to be turned into Amma’s famous ‘mosaranna’.
Naturally, Amma shared this miraculous curd-setting trick with the neighbours. Many tried it out but failed — it seemed there was something special about that grandpa-looking scarf that Radha had found.
One day, Appa invited his boss, who was visiting from the UK, for dinner. As Radha helped her parents set the table, she noticed Appa looked a bit flustered, dashing off into the bedroom to rummage through his cupboard, every now and then but she forgot about it soon.
Mr Hayden, Appa’s boss, arrived. And Radha noticed his scarf as he stepped out of his cab. It looks just like the grandpa-scarf that she’d been wrapping the curd dish with every night.
She couldn’t believe her eyes!
As she helped Appa and Amma serve piping hot cutlets, she asked Appa if he’d been searching for his scarf earlier. And when he nodded emphatically, she asked him to open the kitchen cupboard where Amma’s large curd bowl had been placed.
Appa’s look of shock at seeing his scarf there set Radha off in a fit of silent laughter. He quickly unwrapped the bowl- the curd had set perfectly, thankfully. But the scarf, unfortunately smelt of all the masalas in that cupboard!
Radha dashed into the bedroom and returned with Appa’s after-shave, which she sprayed on the scarf. And within minutes, Appa stylishly tossed it around his neck, winked at Radha and left the kitchen armed with two plates of hot snacks!.
Later, Mr Hayden sat chatting after dinner. He told Radha that one winter, in the UK, when executives at Appa’s company from all over the world won a big project after much slogging, the CEO had taken the team to Harrod’s (the most expensive store in London) to celebrate. He asked them to pick whatever they wanted - so Appa’s Furbury scarf (and the boss’ too) was worth over £1500! They wore it like a trophy, with pride, to remind themselves of their big win.
Later, when Mr Hayden complimented Amma and Appa on the excellent food, Amma fake-innocently asked him, ‘And did you like the curd too, right at the end? It’s very, very special...!’
Before he could reply, Radha noticed Appa hurriedly leave the table, as he struggled to suppress his laughter. After that, the £1500 price tag did discourage Radha and Amma from using the Furbury scarf for curd setting. But as Bengaluru’s nights got colder and no other wrap worked so well, Appa too insisted that the scarf could do double duty — as a curd-setter on most cold nights and a stylish scarf when the boss came home.
(Kavitha is a children’s author)