Give Credit where Credit is due - Dahi and the men behind the scenes

If you have lived in India or well, any place where the mercury has expanded beyond 40 degrees, you can jump to the next paragraph now. But for those of you that haven't - its hot here in India. And by that I don't mean 'its-warm-today-so-lets-head-to-the-park-and-bask-in-the-sunshine' type of days I looked forward to for the past 6 years. I mean show-stoppingly, can't go out in the daytime, can't sit for 2 minutes without a fan or an AC HOT. To reiterate its H-O-T!

So its in this climate I have forced myself to write the second in this series of tribute posts (I told you there would be more). This one is for two things. Let me start with the second and end with the first!

When I said it is show-stoppingly (is this not a real word? well it ought to be!) hot I meant that for the normal mortals amongst us. I was not including the guys who actually make the real show go on - the construction workers, the little shop owners (no AC or fans in these makeshift little things), the rickshaw wallahs, even the policemen! I say that because the upholders of the law in this great land are known more for their incredible lethargy in all climes. But to just be out there standing in the heat, even pretending to care two hoots about the traffic (pun intended!) is a super human effort. Those poor security guys standing in front of buildings, how they must yearn to duck inside the air conditioned interiors of the buildings the guard. Construction workers take the cake (a solely proverbial one mind you) for doing hard labour in the baking heat. I hasten to add that these people are only the tips of the iceberg (extremely proverbial!)... a few instances that I have observed and felt a surge of sympathy for.

But then that leads me to my other credit-ee! Yoghurt. Just plain and simple tasty old yoghurt. No pretence, no fruits necessary, just that awesome better-than-ice-cream stuff. I honestly could not write that last sentence without my mouth watering; that's how much I love the stuff. Have it with your rice (like 96.25% of all South Indians - based on a survey I conducted in my head), have it with parathas (like 73.84% North Indians - similar sources) or even churn it a bit and have it as butter milk or lassi (everyone in India has had that) and its great. It is the base for a million different recipes, helps blend a variety of spices and yields another plain yet wonderful classic - the humble raita! Man I need me some yoghurt!

Anyways so my contention is that in its many beautiful forms it energises and keeps the masses going on one of these aforementioned HOT summer's days. Through most of my childhood I would have connected summer's gastronomical highlights with mangoes. Trust me its still up there, but with age comes maturity (or so they say) and with it the realisation of the true queen of summer cuisine - DAHI!