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Monday October 12, 2009

North meets South in couple’s celebration of the Festival of Lights

By K. KASTURI DEWI


GEORGE TOWN: The Festival of Lights is known as Deepavali among the South Indians and Diwali to the Northerners.

But in administrative assistant Ramesh Sharma’s home, North meets South and the “marriage” of both cultures comes alive each Deepavali celebration.

Ramesh, 48, of North Indian origin, is married to Sumathi Sharma, 48, a Tamil, and for the past 24 years they have been entertaining friends and relatives from both sides with a wide array of South and North Indian delicacies.

“My wife adapted well into my culture and over the years she has mastered the art of cooking North Indian dishes handed down by my mother as well as the South Indian ones.

Delicacies delight: (From left) V. Visharti, six, Kirti, Yogeeta and Sumathi preparing Indian sweetmeats at home in Lintang Gangsa, George Town. With them is Ramesh.

“On Deepavali day, Sumathi performs early morning prayers while I do them in the evening as practised by other North Indians,” he added.

For Ramesh, his wife and three children — Rohini, 23; Kirti, 21; and Arjuun, 19 — Deepavali is special as there is no meat served on that day.

“Deepavali is an auspicious and partly religious festival for us.

“We prepare a variety of vegetarian dishes from both cultures with a blend of Chinese dishes such as ghee rice, vegetarian mutton kurma, Chinese stir-fried vegetables, brinjal sambal, egg sambal (for the non-vegetarian guests), ulam, poori, thosai, putumayam and aloo gobi (fried potato and cauliflower), which is a must-have dish for North Indians,” said Ramesh.

He is passionate about cooking and plans to set up a restaurant specialising in briyani dishes.

Each year, at least a week before Deepavali, Sumathi and her family prepare the traditional sweets and snacks at home in Lintang Gangsa.

Among the North Indian delicacies she will be serving are gathiyaa (a mixture of cashew nuts, green peas, potato chips, raisins, aval, peanuts and dried cherry which is later sprinkled and mixed with a dash of sugar, salt, chilli powder, garam masala and mango powder); meeti (a deep-fried snack made of flour, black pepper, salt and omam — also known as caraway seeds); shakhar pare (a sweetmeat made of flour, ghee and a pinch of salt, which is deep-fried and soaked in thick syrup while still hot); and gulab jamun (a milky confection soaked in syrup).

Sumathi said the South Indian must-haves were murukku and nei urunde (ghee balls).

“I usually prepare the sweets and snacks about a week before Deepavali to ensure the freshness and crispiness of the snacks,” she said, adding that her niece S. Yogeeta, 35, would be helping her this year.

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