Stone (age) implements

S Balakrishnan *

Crispy dosas and fluffy idlis are indeed everyone’s favourite dishes. But do you know how much labour is involved in preparing them. It was especially more laborious in the years past when we did not have the electric-operated wet grinders & mixers but only granite stone implements.

Now these stone aids are almost museum objects whereas in the past they were an integral part of every household in South India. Looking back, they appear to be stone-age implements. They were four – for wet grinding, for making chutney/masala paste, for pounding, and for dry grinding.

The batter for idly and dosa is a combination of soaked para boiled rice and black gram (urad dhal). These two are ground separately in a short stone mortar (called aattu-k-kal in Tamil) that has a cavity in the centre; a short pestle (called kuzhavi in Tamil) is used to grind the paste.

The whole process would take an hour or so; if this itself was a boring task, washing the stone both before and after use was the most boring one. Just think of the days when we did not have the aid of fridge; the womenfolk had to grind it almost daily! Now they use the wet grinder and store the batter in the fridge for a week’s usage. What a great relief !

This boring chore is best done jointly by two women by gossiping/chatting. If the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law (saas & bahu) is smooth, they happily carry out this task by chit-chatting; else, the neighborhood ladies alternate to assist in the less labourious task of pushing the paste into the cavity while the main task of grinding is taken care of by the lady of the house.

People who did not have a grinding stone of their own at home used the stone in neighbors’ houses. Some ladies took up this tedious task as a part-time job to secretly earn extra money without the husband’s knowledge. In some houses this grinding stone would be permanently fixed to the floor/sunk into the floor.

Some magnanimous house owners let out their house for rent with these stone implements installed–at least the wet grinder and masala grinder. This was a great relief for families like ours which frequently moved on transfers. These days, grinders with timer are also available so that the lady of the house can peacefully enjoy the TV serials while the grinder keeps grinding.

Persons caught eating in restaurants without money were made to grind the batter to recover the bill amount. This was a popular theme for jokes in the past. So, before entering an eatery, I used to double check if I had enough cash. Now, with the arrival of electric wet grinders, I wonder how the restaurants recover the bill amount!

Of course, one has so many options to pay in these days – by swiping cards, G pay, net banking, QR code, etc. So, instead of checking my money purse, I check if I have my smart phone. So smart of me !

The second must-have implement of the past was the stone for daily grinding of masala/chutney, though for bulk chutney preparation aattu-k-kal was preferred. As this was needed for repeated daily use, it was found in almost all the houses. Comparatively this is less heavy. The flat base stone is called ‘ammi-k-kal’ and the pestle-like stone is again called ‘kuzhavi’.

This kuzhavi has two ends to hold by both the hands to grind on the flat surface of the ammi. This ammi stone plays an important part in Hindu weddings where the groom places the delicate right foot of the bride on this stone and puts on a ring to her toe.

Hence the wedding halls mandatorily have this ‘ammi’ stone. Probably they will be charging for it as a hidden charge! Where a house owner owned a row of houses (called ‘colony’), common aattu-k-kal and ammi-k-kal were installed for use by tenants. The modern electric mixi/mixer has sidelined this ammi-k-kal.

The mortar & pestle is a pan-India implement used for pounding grains. While the pestle is usually made of wood with metal casings at the ends, the base is either made of wood or stone. The mortar is called ‘ural’ and the pestle is called ‘ulakkai’ in Tamil language. If someone is not reacting/replying, he/she is chided as ‘standing like a ulakkai’.

To avoid spilling while pounding, a detachable attachment is placed on the ural to increase its height. Miniature version of this mortar-pestle combination in metal is used by elders to pound betel nut for chewing betel (paan) leaf.

As I was roaming footloose in West Sikkim’s Geyzing in 1984, I saw two girls pounding something in the mortar. As I clicked, one hid her face behind the slender pestle while the other could not hide her charming giggle despite bending down. Then I realized the omnipresence of ural & ulakkai, the mortar & pestle.

The last of the foursome is the ‘yanthram’ (machine) or ‘thirugai’, used to break grains or dry grind to make powder. The top circular stone has a central hole into which the grain is fed in to the flat surface of the circular base for manual grinding. The top stone has a handle to rotate it.

We had such a small version which travelled with us from one town to another until my mother disposed it of. As a small boy, I loved helping (?) my mother grinding with this yanthram. I would have loved to showcase it as an antique piece in the drawing room!

Despite the changing times, there are some male chauvinists who keep repeating like a scratched gramophone record that hand-ground barter /masala with the aid of these heavy granite stone implements is always the best and that only gives soft idlis and crispy dosas and flavor to masala ! In that case let them grind the barter/masala themselves in the grinding stone.

They also claim that it is a good exercise for the womenfolk as if they don’t have enough chores at home ! On my part, I voluntarily undertake to clean the electric wet grinder, including its stone, because my wife would anyhow delegate that boring task to me. By doing this bit, I can consume any number of idlis/dosas without guilt conscience.

Getting these new stone equipments ready for usage involves a lengthy process. Rice bran/husk is repeatedly ground in the new equipments to remove the fine stone particles/dust caused by chiselling. When continuous usage makes the granite smooth, they are finely chiseled for reuse.

This is usually done by the Gypsy people. After such re-chiseling, the same process, as involved in preparing the new equipment, has to be undertaken for reuse.

Coimbatore city in Tamil Nadu is well known for manufacturing grinders of all sorts and sizes. These granite stone kitchen aids of the past still find a place in the toy kitchen sets made of wood and soft stone as a reminder of the past.