Veranda Tales-Sattu is delicious

Storytelling has been an integral part of my life since childhood. I grew up listening to stories during the hot summer evenings and nights with my cousins. Mothers and grandmothers would gather all of us children for story time. It was usually pitch dark except for a very faint light coming from the flickering candle. Power cuts were as frequent as the hot and humid summer days. We all spread out on a cool concrete floor or on bamboo mats on the veranda intently listening to fascinating stories about kings, queens, princes, princesses, and peasants alike. Stories about love, life, families, and people entertained and taught us life skills. These stories transported us to distant worlds which were strange yet familiar. Often the same story told by two people sounded different as storytellers added new twists and turns adding their personal style and flair to the stories.

Storytelling wasn’t limited to summer evenings and bedtime. I was surrounded by adults that didn’t pass up an opportunity to share their wisdom using the art of storytelling. The rich and vibrant oral traditions include songs, poems, stories, and సామెతలు (Sametalu are proverbs in Telugu). Men and women sing songs as they work in the fields, grind grains and spices and other daily chores at their homes. Stories are often used to teach important life lessons, interpersonal skills, and survival skills. These stories and the time spent listening to them made our lives richer leaving an impression on me. This series is all about reliving those memories as I share these stories.

सत्तू मन भट्टू (Sattu mana bhattu)

Once upon a time two men from a village, Veeru and Jai embarked on a long journey. They didn’t own bullocks or bullock carts. They set out on foot with food for the road, a few clothes, and a stick to ward off wild animals. They would stop along the way by a river or stream at midday to eat and rest. They would continue their journey until sundown to rest for the night. The journey was several days long.

They stopped for lunch the first day. Veeru started on getting his meal ready, mixing Sattu he brought with him for the journey with water from the stream. Jai brought धान (dhan means rice stalks in Hindi) for the road. Jai wanted to know about Veeru’s lunch. Veeru said he was preparing सत्तू (sattu). Jai wanted to know what सत्तू (sattu) was. Veeru explained what सत्तू (sattu) was and how he prepared it by simply adding water to it.

सत्तू (Sattu) is a mixture of finely ground roasted chickpeas and a few spices. Sattu makes delicious protein-filled meals. It is easy to carry on a long journey. It doesn’t spoil and just adding water is enough. Veeru finished his meal and asked Jai about his meal. Jai said he wasn’t hungry and they resumed their journey.

Jai realized bringing dhan wasn't very smart on his part. Dhan requires a lot of work. First he had to dehusk it by beating it, he had to gather firewood, make fire and cook it before he could eat. He was jealous that Veeru was smart to bring sattu with him. He was desperate to get his hands on this delicious looking sattu.

They stopped for lunch the second day and Veeru was getting his lunch ready. Jai walked away, filled his stomach with water from the stream and came back within a couple minutes. Veeru did not have time to get water from the stream, mix his sattu in it and eat by then. Veeru was surprised that Jai came back so quickly from lunch. He asked Jai if he ate his meal. Jai responded:

This routine repeated for a few days. Veeru was hungry as he couldn’t eat his sattu. He couldn’t understand how Jai could get his rice ready to eat that quickly. After going hungry for a few days, Veeru decided to trade sattu for Jai’s dhan as they were resting for the night. Jai agreed after making Veeru beg for a while. They traded and Jai was nowhere to be seen when Veeru woke up the next morning, leaving Veeru high and dry with rice.

Veeru realized too late that Jai cheated him out of sattu by pretending to cook and eat rice quickly while going hungry himself and putting pressure on him to leave. Jai managed to scam Veeru out of his sattu. It was too late and Veeru was stuck with rice and without a traveling companion.

My spouse told me this story and taught me the poem. He heard it when he was growing up. His family would recite this poem as they prepared and ate sattu. This is an अवधी (Awadhi) or ब्रज भाषा (Braj Bhasha) poem, both dialects of Hindi, a North Indian language widely spoken in India. This poem carries a cautionary tale about people scamming others and how to keep ourselves safe from scammers. I now can’t help but recite the poem about sattu, feeling sorry for Veeru and getting mad at Jai as I enjoy a delicious bowl of sattu with cardamom and a generous amount of jaggery for breakfast.