I don’t remember Seetamma’s face. Was she dark? Maybe yes, from all the dust that was being collected on the creaks & fine lines of her broken dreams. Also, she used to walk all the way from ambalakulam, cross Krishnettatan’s peedika (pick up some chillu kuppiyile murukku), and pass the maithana maavu. So, yes, she was dark and tall, and frail.

She used to make the best chutneys. Seetamma’s garlic chutney was and still is better than anything I have ever tasted. “You have to make things with love, Chinnu, you will learn more when you grow up.” Seetamma used to say.

She used to add all the powders to the steaming hot kadai and cover her face with her mundum veshti. Smelling it all in and coughing to this was one of my favorite things to do. When did we stop being so simple? Anyway, Seetamma would work her magic and have the red-maroon chutney ready in no time. Matta ari choru, thick curd, payarum kaayem upperi, and THE chutney, ahhh!

Seetamma was known for never sharing her recipes and yet, when she was leaving us to join her family in Coimbatore, she handed me a crumbled paper that listed the ingredients of the chutney. I was coughing again but this time, not cos of the oil. She passed away recently and now that I am all grown up, I am revisiting the “You have to make things with love, Chinnu, you will learn more when you grow up” and I don’t think she was talking about cooking. The efforts, the kunji conversations, the relationships, everything has to be made with love!

Gotta cough a little, Love.