Having slipped away from the clutches of Vancouver’s winter wetness, I’ve spent the last few weeks making the most of the reliable days of sunshine one tends to take for granted in India. At home in Mercara, watching the house mutt baking herself in the late morning sun, heaving her drowsy self over with a satisfied grunt every now and then, I was very tempted to join her on the grass!
The winter months in Coorg are simply gorgeous. Azure skies, cool breezes and mellow sunshine. Did I say mellow? Actually, it’s easy to forget that at that elevation (4,000 ft above sea level) the sun can get very intense. If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself light headed and dizzy, with a pounding headache from a little too much sun. Dress sensibly and wear a hat, and you can get your vitamin D fix without giving yourself sunstroke.
Speaking of vitamins, the markets were full of nellikai (Indian gooseberry), that wonder fruit, packed with more vitamins and virtue than you can shake a can of V8 at.
Like most grandmothers in Coorg, back in the day, my grandma made pickles with nellikai. Come gooseberry season, and large ceramic jars (baranis) full of brined fruit would be set out in the sun every morning. Naturally these were raided in the course of the day by gangs of grandchildren, looking for a handy thirst buster on the run! The real refresher though, was the juice my grandmother made from nellikai.