Memories from childhood

I grew up in a suburb in Mumbai where space was limited but life was abundant. Summer vacation meant that we would get hours and hours of playing in the "compound" of our "building". There was a garden in front of the "badi building" and that is where some very hard-working, nine-yard saree clad women with big bindis would get to work in the hot sun working on the dried red chillies grounding them to the fine powder which would become an integral part of our meals and memories. It was usually a group of four-five "masalewalis" (spice ladies if you will) who would come right about the time our summer vacation would start. "S aunty" would happily take on the responsibility of preparing a list of which spice powders each of the families living in the various "flats" wanted and by when they would be able to fill huge "barnis" to last them till the masalewalis would return to replenish our pantries with quintessential spice powders. This brings to mind the daily spice container-a round steel "masale ka dabba" with little "dabbas" filled with "lal mirchi" (red chilli) powder; "haldi" (turmeric)powder, "dhania" (corriander seed) powder, garam masala (a spice blend made with some of the finest spices from a famous local dried fruit and spice shop called ramanlal and vithaldas); "jeera" (cummin seeds), roasted jeera powder and rai (mustard seeds). The unground seeds and chillies would be dried in the sun on sheets. The haldi, lal mirchi and dhania powders would then be processed in our compound, filling the air with colour and zest as the ladies would use huge stone mortars and pestles to ground up perfect spices! Unfortunately, as the days of my summer vacation became another cherished memory so did the masalewalis. Life's pace moved from fast to instant and we moved from huge barnis of hand-ground spices to packaged spices ground in factories. Did that change the simplicity of everyday meals? Did the "masale ka dabba" change? Luckily no. Thus, to celebrate the masale ka dabba , I will start my journey to the world of spices from here; from what makes everyday cooking home to me.