 No stopping the food festival
Hundreds of people heaved a huge sigh of relief when the Music Academy controversy was resolved, elections were held in a proper manner and a new body of officials was elected. Last year too the annual music festival was held, but under rather strange circumstances under court orders. This year a fully empowered establishment is conducting the festival. The good news that cheered the hundreds of people I refer to here is that Arusuvai Arasu Natarajan is back at the Academy, serving them ‘ilai sappadu’ fare for Rs 45 per meal.
These hardy perennials who come from all parts of Chennai to savour the delicacies on offer at the Academy, Narada Gana Sabha, Parthasarathi Swami Sabha or Mylapore Fine Arts Club, are there with the specific objective of fulfilling their gastronomic needs. Most of them can’t tell the mridangam from the kanjira, ragam tanam pallavi from ragamalika or Hamsadhvani from Hamsanadam, but they can tell a good rasam from the vapours wafting from the kitchen towards the car park even as they descend from their air-conditioned sedans or battered old Kinetic Hondas to march purposefully towards the canteen.
Some of them are connoisseurs who will wrinkle their noses at any concession to popular taste. Not for them the seductive allure of garlic and masala; nothing short of the best traditions of Tanjavur cooking will please their palates. The coffee has to be just right, with the ethereal aroma of freshly ground seeds masking any suggestion of anything as earthly as the taste of milk. Idlis have to be soft and melting, dosas golden brown, yet not crisp, the podis, chutneys and sambar again suggestive rather than pungent.
The food festival reached its high water mark on 26 December, the first anniversary of the tsunami of last year. There were no cutcheris scheduled, leaving the Music Academy auditorium free for two concerts by a Bavarian orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta to raise funds for tsunami relief. All activity was brought to a standstill by the authorities around noon to make it safe and comfortable for the visiting artistes (I presume) and facilitate the elaborate preparations for the performance by such a huge ensemble.
Overheard was a conversation at the canteen desk that indicated that the lunch arrangements made for so many devout worshippers of Arusuvai’s divine fare could under no circumstances be suspended for the day, so a request from the authorities to do was truned down firmly.
Looking at the attendance at the canteen, a first time visitor might have been forgiven for imagining there was a concert in progress inside the auditorium. A notable triumph for the caterer’s culinary excellence, no doubt, but perhaps a donation of the part of the proceeds towards the tsunami relief fund may not be out of place! And it won’t be the first act of generosity by this tickler of the taste buds par excellence.
V Ramnarayan
vramnarayan@gmail.com
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