THIS year’s festival of lights may carry a different feel but the glow it brings remains undeterred by the continuous updates of social distancing restrictions received the past weeks.
For many homes celebrating, it’s all about family, fun and FOOD!
Smiles and treats
One residence making the most of the current ‘need to retreat’ spell is Madhusudhan Shammugam’s family abode.
Sharing precious images and videos of his household making muruku, a sought-after savoury snack, in preparation for the celebration to Facebook friends, which for a moment subdues the problems and sorrow of the pandemic, Shammugam or Dr. Madhu – as most of his patients and peers would call him – notes: “We make things fun [at home] for the kids.”
“I have a nephew and niece to keep entertained, and my niece especially is particularly interested with what goes on in the kitchen.
“She’s a very curious 5-year-old and always very eager to get involved, so whenever there’s extra dough left, we’ll simply let her join in and have her make her own treat. It keeps everyone happy,” said the doctor, who is also a Commonwealth Points of Light award recipient for his efforts in setting up the Teddy Mobile Clinic, a free medical care service for the homeless and less fortunate.
An annual bonding activity done together as a family, he shares: “Usually everyone involved in making the muruku will have specific roles and stations assigned.”
“One will help to prepare the fresh dough, and another would be handling the pressing and shaping a.k.a. muruku-maker – a tough job if I’m being honest as you need the strength.
“Of course, there will be ones that will help with the frying and usually it’s between my mom and sister,” he noted, adding: ”It takes a few hours to make and we'll normally take turns depending on how many Murukus we are making.”
“Every home prepares muruku differently and each has its unique taste, so it’s quite hard to say whose is the best, but I will proudly say that I love the ones we make at home.
“We usually make two different variations - one with water and one (with) coconut milk but there are times that we get experimental. So apart from making a spicier version, we even made options with cheese – we tried it with mozzarella, but I would say cheddar is more preferred as the taste is sharper and flavourful.”
According to him, the homemade murukkus usually fill-up four big tins but since there will be no open houses and guests this year, “we are only preparing around 7-8 bottles for our own consumption and have some shared with the staff at the clinics,” he said.
A particular tradition that will unfortunately be missed is his family’s visit to Jalan Tengku Kelana over at Little India in Klang, every Deepavali eve.
“We would usually have dinner somewhere around there and wait up until midnight to catch the fireworks set up by the shops. It’s almost like a full-blown festival with all the last-minute shopping and bargain hunts happening.
“Obviously that is not going to be the case this year due to the pandemic because most outlets are going to be closed by 10pm,” noted Dr. Madhu.
Shopping is not a big focus for his family’s celebration this time, but he did however purchase new clothes for an orphanage to extend and brighten up the festive mood to others outside his home.
“I believe we’re going to have a memorable celebration regardless of the situation for as long as we have our family to celebrate with together. There is really nothing much more that we can do other than staying safe and be grateful that we have people we love close to us.”
Packed with love
Thevanesh Rao S. Prabaker, plans on spreading the festive joy by “sending food to our neighbours and loved ones’ homes instead, since we can’t proceed with our usual tradition of inviting them over,” adding that his family will send biryani and “this fusion seafood pasta with crab meat that I can’t seem to get enough of.”
The emcee and host who goes by T.V. said: “Deepavali is a festival of light, which for me means kindness – all the more reason for us to be sharing it to the world especially now.”
“My mom personally feels bad celebrating anything this year on a large scale when there are many out there who have suffered due to this pandemic, which is why we are keeping celebrations rather low-key,” he added.
Nevertheless, T.V. encourages those celebrating to “not feel sad despite being unable to enjoy like previous years.”
Similarly, like Dr. Madhu, preparing delicious traditional Deepavali food is a family tradition.
Recently he shared with social media followers how his family usually makes muruku. Seeing how much effort is needed to make a good batch certainly has one appreciate the deep-fried snack more than before.
Other types of good eats that he looks forward to that are usually served during Deepavali is his mother’s thosai – apart from the muruku, biryani and the not so traditional seafood pasta he mentioned.
“Deepavali in my house is never complete without my mom’s thosai for breakfast – I personally missed it the second most (first being my family) when I found myself celebrating abroad about 2 years ago.”
“I never thought it was the best cause I’m so used to it until friends who came over started noting it as restaurant quality.”
“I think this year it’s just about taking that moment to truly spend quality time with the fambam,” said T.V.
“Appreciate all the blessings that you have in life and spend your time wisely.
“For me, it will be (spent) cleaning the entire house at every inch and every corner seeing how my parents are such neat freaks,” he quipped. – The Vibes, November 13, 2020
