The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

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#341 கேளடி என் பாவையே
(கோபுர வாசலிலே, 1991)

'kELadi en pAvaiyE' of gOpura vAsalilE

It's funny that I've listened to this song a few times while visiting TN but during the same time period never had a chance to pay attention to other better numbers of this movie Ofcourse, I never knew what movie this was from and neither cared to ask - as this was not that much impressive to me those days.

It's a nice song with the thuLLal singing by SPB as usual - but something was / is lacking. To me, it simply does not have the "IR feel" to it and sounds like a 60's song. I'm even reminded of the GR classic yAradi nee mohini in the second line of the pallavi ('mOgam koNda pOthum thAgam vandha pOdhum' = 'AsaiyuLLa rANi anjidAmalE nee'). So, this song is like 'uLundhanganji' to me Since that comparison comes to mind each time I listen to this, let me write a para about that dish, which most of my associates (i.e. outside of my mother-side-relatives) weren't aware of.

Perhaps most TN-ers know the two uses of uLundham paruppu ('urad dAL' as called by northies, sold with or without skin):

a) As an important ingradient of idly-dOsai batter
b) mixed with kadugu for the 'thALikkal' process of dishes like sAmbAr

Northies have their more important third use :
c) As an ingradient in dAL makhAni (and other mixed dAL curries)

What only few TN-ers know (perhaps the south-TN speciality) is the fourth use of this paruppu - a quickie dish called 'uLundhanganji'. My mom or mother-side relatives prepared that dish when they didn't want to spend a lot of time in kitchen. Since this is a "take alone" dish - essentially a kanji, with uLundu main - requiring nothing extra to go with, the job gets done pretty fast and whether the consumers liked it or not they didn't have a choice

I always felt it was a "punishment dish" (like jail kaLi) to which a lecture also was often added when we protested (that uLundu strengthens the hip of girls / required for them to have strength later on during delivery etc).

This is a uLundhukkanji song by IR standards!