Mix It With Fingers Poem by Neethu Prasanna

Munch on the banana chips and jaggery snack,
As the wait goes on, gingery and sweet smack;

They come in a haste with palm leaf baskets,
To enthrall us for it is the start of the banquet!

The piping hot brown rice stoops to the leaf,
Don't spill, learn to hold banana leaf edge lief;

A green cascade of parippu is next to be seen,
Garnished creamy coconut soup of mung bean.

The golden ghee drop falls to the top of the stack
Now break the pappad to hear the crispy crack;

To the grand predecessors, make it bound
Mash them all and mix them to make it round

Raise it all scratching a tint of leaf also to it
Thus the first yummy balls of feast are ready to eat

'This is dirty, yucky, beastly.Stop it'.

Nut brown sambar is oared by drumsticks
Mash the taro to know the mushy flesh thick;

Avial drags her gown over the midrib as you grab,
Enjoy the veggie hodgepodge in dribs and drabs;

Know the difference of kichadi and pachadi in savvy
Both made in yogurt and rich coconut gravy,

Mix it all with a pinch of big lemon pickle,
Eat a bit faster for the empyrean juice may trickle;

Thorans in white, orange, green and maroon colour
They are of cabbage, carrot, beans and plantain flower;

Slurp the seasoned buttermilk, yellowed by turmeric
Together with raw mango pickle would be mesmeric;

You get a big flat sweet boli to be astonied
It is thinnest and softest of all, can't be denied

Then there is a rain of various warm desserts,
You have to deal with semia twines as they assert;

Golden brown ada swims there as chocolate
Just forget which dessert you completely ate;

All of which you could gather, journey to your mouth.
Add baby bananas to the mix and swallow it routh,

Lean back to the chair, that you never realized, existed
Be sorry for the food, left in the leaf and some inside fisted.

'This is pure, organic and human.Feel it'.