When Happiness Could Be Found In A Jar Of Pickles!

The search for happiness is a tricky affair. When you try to search it consciously, you won’t find it. But at the most unexpected of times, it rises in your heart unbidden and uncalled for and gives a high that you will find difficult to come down from.

I found my happiness in the memory of a jar of pickles named as Bharani.

April – May used to be ‘pickle season’ in my home and was taken very seriously. I remember my visits to a market in Kalyan with my dad to buy mangoes.  Kalyan is a suburb very near to my city Dombivli. There used to be an open market near the station and its specialty was, there would be numerous types of mangoes - cut mangoes, tiny mangoes slightly bigger than peas, large mangoes to be slit diagonally for pickles, and so on. You can imagine what a sensory delight it must have been. I can still smell the delicious aroma of raw mangoes that greeted you the moment  you stepped into the road where the market was.

So Dad would carefully scrutinize mangoes and buy various types of the same. I became an un-official taste tester for the mangoes. Many a kind-hearted vendor gave me mangoes for free tasting. It was a delightful experience buying mangoes!

Special towels were reserved in my home for the pickle-making activity. Dad would carefully wash all the mangoes and dry them out on the towels overnight.

The next morning, I would wake up to the tangy aroma of mangoes. That would be the day of the pickle-making activity. Cut-mangoes turned into a pickle termed Aavakaay, a delicacy the likes of which I have never experienced anywhere. This pickle went with almost everything - Roti, Dosa, rice, you name it! I remember eagerly opening my lunch box in the school and relishing roti with Aavakaay. Best. Meal. Ever!

The small mangoes turned into kanni-maangai, another drool-worthy pickle that went with all kinds of dishes, but formed a perfect-10 relationship with Upma. That combo is one to die for!

And there was another pickle simply called Maangai-curry. Seriously this should come with a warning label - Highly Addictive. A special variety of raw mango would be diced into small pieces and marinated with salt, chilli powder and turmeric powder. Some seasoning of mustard and hing would be added to it. One only had to try a small portion of this pickle for tasting. The hands would keep reaching for the jar, as if having a mind of their own. I remember my mom's admonition to spare some of the pickle for others too.

All these pickles would be carefully put in special jars which we called as Bharani. These jars were ceramic and had a white base and a brown coloured lid. We had these in various sizes. Summer meant lots and lots of these jars in the kitchen!

My best friend was extremely fond of Aavakaay. Once this pickle was prepared at home, my Daadi would tell me to give some to her. Before leaving for her home, Daadi would remember all of a sudden. 'Wait a minute!' She would rush inside the kitchen and bring a small packet of sugar, saying, 'It is not appropriate to gift spicy food to anyone. When you give this, you should give something sweet along with the spice. That would ensure that relations do not spoil between you two!'

The pickle-making activity decreased to a great extent after my Daadi passed away. One by one, we all left our separate ways and gradually the pickle-making activity came to an end. I remember my mom saying – “There is no one in the house to eat pickles. There is no point in preparing in lots just for the two of us to eat.” (referring to her and my dad).

I keep making some pickles on my own. Green chilly pickle is my husband’s favourite. My mother-in-law prepares Avakaay every summer.

Of course now you get ready-made pickles of many flavours. They are delicious. But they do not give the same happiness of my childhood; many things are missing:

-The trip to Kalyan to buy mangoes.
-The sensory treat of the aroma of mangoes.
-The hustle-bustle from the kitchen where my parents and my Daadi would be talking while preparing various types of pickles.
-The ceramic, brown and white coloured jar named Bharani.
And mostly, no best friend to give a jar of the pickles to, along with some sugar!