TO FAST OR TO FEAST: A few popular temptations of the monsoon months…steaming hot corncobs smeared with lemon juice, salt and red chilli powder; pakora or fritters of various greens of the season (in Goa it is the Goa mirsang); chai adrakwali is always welcome, also sizzling adventures with good old Maggi noodles! Yet many Hindu faithful make it a point to fast during the Chaturmas months which are extra sacred for them…it’s better to fast than feast naturally for remember the monsoon months woo in a host of infections and ailments too if you eat out indiscriminately!

By Tara Narayan

DON’T know about you but come the monsoon months I feel like I want to stuff myself with food …peppery rasam, or creamy mushroom soup, or hot and sour veggie soup, followed by burnt garlic rice (millet now) with a dollop of Manchurian balls with gravy (redolent of garlic, ginger, laced with chopped green onions or better still parsley) and what else! I could die happily stuffing myself to the gills listening to the orchestra of Goa’s July monsoon rain some midnight hour…okay, to stop being fanciful, a month of birthdays has seen me doing a re-take of my favourite Portuguese-styled bol sans rival which few can make nowadays with any finesse and using the original ingredient of almond instead of caju crumble!
Bol sans rival (cake without rivals) is Goa’s prettiest ivory coloured buttery cake with a rich crunch, much loved, so buttery rich you may not eat too much of it. Memorable, never forgotten bol sans rival. I will eat it only once a year when someone’s birthday comes around!
Only Nostalgia’s late Chef Fernando could do a perfect bol sans rival, then Clive of the Mandovi hotel’s La Patisserie obliged a couple of years (now closed down) and today in Panaji I think only Sylvia of Truffles can do the best bol sans rival, but you may have to get her son Zion to run interference for you for Truffles cakes are much in demand in Goa — a state of cakes galore for every occasion!
Confectionary is pure refined carbs and very high glycemic, be warned. Never mind that the monsoon months are ruinous months, killer months, I always remember fondly my two maternal aunts in Ahmedabad urging everyone to do the one meal fast strictly for at least Shravan mahina, daughters-in-law were under strict instructions to observe some dietary rules like no onion, garlic, some spices, when preparing the day’s one meal. If anyone felt hungry after that iat was “eat a banana or drink a glass of milk. This is because in Hindu tradition the so called monsoon or Chaturmas months are sacred to Lord of Destruction Lord Shiva or mahadeo. You never know, if annoyed the good Lord of Death Yamadev may come calling on you and you may not be ready to go, may want to live a little longer to tie up frayed edges of something or another – this is to say the wise will fast and walk down the straight and narrow road of piety, or just plain good sense for wellbeing.
Never mind that Goa in the monsoon season is a delight for the senses and I am not at all surprised that connoisseurs of listening to the monsoon come holiday in Goa month of July (when many Goans seek to go away abroad to escape the rain, but then rich little Goa has money to burn on holidays all the year around) – if I living say in the Middle East where many Indians now live I too would come to Goa for a monsoon holiday. A friend of mine from Saudi Arabia comes with her hubby to put her hair down at a five-star resort and says, “I come for the magic of such falling rain and to eat keema omlet!” Eat, of course, Goa with its new and newer eating out places offers a razzmatazz banquet of international cuisine…tourists do come to eat in Goa too and not necessarily during the monsoon months. Still this is to remind readers here that in Hindu tradition the monsoon months are for a fasting and engage in seeking health and wellbeing in Ayurveda down south India.
I can never forget in one conversation the late Leela hotels baron Capt Krishnan Nair telling me he owed his smooth complexion to the fact that annually he takes a monsoon Ayurveda holiday somewhere in one of the Kerala retreats, where they work on his body beautiful and get it into shape with panchkarma, starving him more or less for the better part of a month – before he went home to feast anew on all the treats his chefs cooked up for him!
Well, a lot of strict yoga gurus will frown on that because perhaps that’s use and abuse of Ayurveda principles and disciplines which are enshrined in religious faith, which does demand you imbibe Ayurveda and practice it, breathe it, 24×7 around the clock and year, till it becomes part and parcel of your mind and body, heart and soul.
I know several families who can afford to go away for a month-long or at least 15-day wellbeing holiday upmarket or not so upmarket or perfectly free…yes, there are some more or less free wellbeing holidays to which you may look up if you are so inclined. (Sigh) The years when I could have run away with just any excuse are over and I’m thinking maybe I can try living on just one meal a day for the rest of the monsoon months since the birthdays are almost over now for some time!
When friends ask where they may go for a wellbeing holiday I usually recommend Jindals or Mathias in Bangalore or may be Uruli Kanchan and the Karjat Farm near Mumbai which I love too much. It would be nice of course if like one of my richi riche friend I could for once go to one of those top upper crust wellness retreats in Austria where I am told they first for a few days teach you to chews on a dry bone of bread loaf to get your mouth exercising again. All food served here demands you chew. You are a few pounds lighter of course by the time you’re free to leave – happily ever after for some time at least before the need to come back arises anew.
Nobody says the road to fighting fit health is easy. Still it is never late to make a beginning to study all that goes into the making of wellbeing…so just don’t just think about it, begin today.