Joney Bellaaa.....

"Your grandma feasted on the joney bella ( fluid jaggery) today," announced my mother, with a smile just after I returned from work yesterday.
"Oh! Is it?" I looked at my grandmother with a mischievous glance.
"No...no," my grandmother said in defence, " I just had a few drops along with avalakki ( south indian dish )".
"No, your grandma pretty much feasted on the bella," insisted my mother playfully.
I narrowed my eyes on my grandmother, with a look suggesting that she may better tell the truth.
Suddenly, she burst out in laughter, her lips parted revealing a funny toothless hollow, adding to the sparkle in her eyes. She had been caught. She was never the one who would easily give it up. But, it looked like the fluid jaggery had an amazing effect on her. I felt it cute.
"Your father and sister have been attacking it too," added my mother.
"What about you?"
"How can I stay different?" she gave a toothy smile.

Earlier that day, my guru of trekking, Mr Shastry had called up. He had been insisting that I pick up the original fluid jaggery that he had brought in one of his trips to west coast of Karnataka. Fluid Jaggery is a very important part of the breakfast of the Havyakas of Sagar (maybe Havyakas of other parts too). The fluid jaggery is pretty much different from the fluid jaggery that can be prepared by boiling the solid jaggery in water. The original fluid jaggery is completely sweet, without the traces of salt/limestone that is added to jaggery to make it solid. The original fluild jaggery, called the joney bella, is obtained by the direct processing of the juice obtained from squeezing the sugarcanes. This processing is done in certain farms, in a location called 'Alemane'.

My first memories of this wonderful liquid goes back eighteen years. In the summer of '89, "Joney bella, joney bella, joney bella," screamed the kids at the breakfast table, at my grandpa's place in Talaguppa, near Sagar. My two cousins, and myself sat waiting and screaming for the joney bella to come. My chikki (aunt) brought the liquid marvel in a plastic container, and placed it on the table for us to rampage. As we drew several helpings of the thick fluid, I found a thick ant floating in the joney bella on my plate. I was horrified looking at the size of the ant. It was unusually big. I could imagine that a bite would have been fatal.
But, it appeared like it was dead. It was not making any movements.
"Don't worry, that is just 'Bellada Godda'. It won't bite" told my grandmother.
"What is Bellada Godda?" I asked, curiously. I was sure that my grandmother from the village didn't know how dangerous the ants were. She did not know about my experience of having worn the cotton vest that was left for drying, in the path of red ants, due to which I had to bunk my school that day, two months back.
"These are a kind of harmless ants. The are fond of joney bella. They somehow make it to the container, but most of them die, drowning," told my grandmother.
"What do I do now?" I asked like a punctilious brahmin, afraid to touch anything that has been in contact with animals/insects.
"Don't waste the bella. Take the ant out, and have it," she said.
What??? God knows how voilent was the insect's death, and what are the fluids that might have come out of the insect while dying. I could only simulate this to the underwater adventures that my friends and myself were involved in the pool, during swimming classes. What if the ant had pissed or puked in the container?
"Don't you think it will be dirty?" I asked.
"Don't be silly," said my grandma, as she fished out the corpse out of my plate. "I just said a mantra that has purified the bella in your plate. You can eat in peace," she added to my satisfaction.
As I began to relish my idlis with joney bella, my grandpa, sitting at the other end of the table called out to my aunt. "Get me some sugar please," he said.
He added a spoon of sugar to the joney bella and relished it further.
Now, do you blame me for the sweet tooth?? ;-)

My trekking guru had been insisting me for sometime, to go to his place and collect the joney bella that he had got for me and for some of his other disciples. I drove to his place today, and met up with him. As he gave me the container full of joney bella, he told me that he had obtained it from the island of Igunda. This is an interesting island near Honnavar, in Karnataka, which has 40 Havyaka families. The island has some farms, and farm houses, and the only means of coming up to the main land is on the boat.
He told me that they prepared the best joney bella he knew. He had bought a hundred kilograms of the bella, and had brought it to Bangalore to give it to friends and trekking team. I had thanked him for his benevolent gesture, and had brought it home.

It really did bring about a new excitement in the family.