Pallankuzhi – Seethakkali or Seethayattam – A Game for the Times

Manjadikkurus in pallankuzhi

According to legend, when Seetha was imprisoned in the Ashokavana by Ravana, she was allowed just one form of entertainment – a Pallankuzhi. A game with a wooden/metal board with shallow dips and red seeds. And on the Pallankuzhi, there are several two player games you can play; but either because none of the rakshasis (demonesses) guarding her wanted to have anything to do with her or because Seetha didn’t want anything to do with her scary guard detail, she played only a single player game. And this was a game that would never end. She just went on and on with her endless game, all year till Rama and his ragtag army of monkeys built that bridge to Lanka, slayed the demon king Ravana and his army, routed his magnificent city, and set her free.

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Amma

“Take my saris,” you plead,

“I no longer wear these.”

But I always refuse.

Of Slippers, Rings, And Other Such Trinkets

The philosopher Blaise Pascal once remarked, “Cleopatra’s nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed.” Something tells me it wasn’t just the nose that would have changed the history of the world. A nose ring perhaps.

Just take a gander through history and literature and look at the havoc created by the various accessories women use to adorn themselves. Maybe it wasn’t havoc all the time, but you have to admit that the various trinkets women wear have played significant roles in many tales.

അങ്ങനെയൊരു ‘ഉത്രാട’പ്പാച്ചിൽ

Picture Courtesy: Rishikesh Damodhar

തിരുവോണത്തിന്റെ തലേന്ന് ഉത്രാടമെങ്കിൽ, ഓണപ്പരിപാടിയുടെ തലേന്നും ഉത്രാടമല്ലേ – by extension? എന്തായാലും പാച്ചിലിനൊരു കുറവും ഇല്ല. 

How to Make Momos / Dumplings / Potstickers- that come in a Box, from a Freezer – in 42 Steps

Sometimes you’ve got that craving you’ve just got to take care of. And sometimes you’ve got to resort to those frozen thingamajigs. But who said it was just, shove ’em in the microwave and zap’em?