DRINKING WATER AND EATING FERMENTED RICE

Amma has told me “drinking water in the morning is good” and appa has said “eating old fermented rice in the morning is good”. These are two of many other practices that has been practiced for many many years...from my great grandparents to grandparents to parents. Unfortunately not common within my generation.

First thing in the morning, my mom drinks luke warm water, she has been practicing this for a long time. It used to be a difficult task for me. I always gave up in 3-4 days of starting this practice :) After several attempts, now I'm following it on a daily basis. Logically, drinking 1-1.5 liters of water first thing in the morning cleanses our body by removing the toxins which we accumulated the previous day. Today, scientific studies have found that it prevents and controls several diseases. Just type “water therapy” in your search engine and you will find the advantage of drinking water in the morning.

The other good thing is “Pazhya Saadam” (old cooked rice). My dad said that he grew up eating pazhya saadam. He told me that this dish is the daily food for the poor people. He said that the vitamins (if I remember it is “vit B”) in this dish keeps a person in good health. I remember, when I was a kid, during my summer vacation at my relatives home, my cousins used to compete for this simple but delicious dish, I usually don't get the chance to eat it. However, back from my vacation I used to ask my mom to make it for me. It is a simple dish because the leftover rice is soaked in water and allowed to ferment overnight and next day morning little buttermilk and salt is added and eaten along with raw shallots or small onions. Usually, people drink the leftover liquid at the end.