Madras Music Mela 2001 - Features - Oh! That Banana Leaf

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MADRAS MUSIC MELA 2001 - FEATURES

Oh! that Banana Leaf

A piece of Chennai culture has passed into history. The traditional banana leaf at the Music Academy’s annual music festival canteen has been abandoned, yielding to the customary plates. R Rangaraj takes a look at the canteens of the music sabhas, so much a part of the December season in Chennai.

The canteens provided by the Sabhas for the annual music festival are as keenly awaited by the rasikas as well as the gourmets. Thatched sheds pass for the roof, rickety chairs provide uncomfortable seats and ventilation is just passable. Yet, the eats are so tasty one wonders why this kind of stuff can’t be made available throughout in such a big city like Chennai. The make-shift canteens carry the aroma of typical South Indian filter coffee (strong, if you don’t mind), coconut chutney and sambar, and a variety of dosas, iddlies and vadas, not to mention the seemingly endless list of sweets. Peppered by typical Brahmin service (Annakku enna venum or enna sapidrel), the accent sometimes seems put on and highly exaggerated. But all that is pardoned when the stuff is placed before you.

	As in the international football arena, canteen transfers also make news. The transfers are certainly not worth millions but make news and waves too. The news item that makes the headline this year and is certainly the talking point at most canteens is the movement of Arusuvai Natarajan from the prestigious Music Academy premises to the Parthasarathy Swami Sabha festival at Vidya Bharati. It is difficult to pinpoint any particular reason for the shift except that the Academy has felt uncomfortable with Arusuvai’s disposal methods and the problems caused by the huge crowds which his canteen attracts every year.

Come afternoon, and there used to be long queues in the parking lot of the Academy complex, posing parking and other logistics’ problems for the Academy managers. The Arusuvai canteen would be packed like sardines while there would be queues outside for nearly two hours. More than 90 per cent of this crowd comprised the non-rasikas; people who just turned up straight at the canteen for some good food and couldn’t care less what was happening inside the Academy hall. Some of the rasikas too were complaining that they couldn’t get seats and order food while outsiders enjoyed the benefits. However for the Academy managers, a crisis broke out last year when there were constant problems regarding disposal of the banana leaves and the waste material. Arusuvai’s trademark was the banana leaf. Food served on the leaf tasted different, appeared different and attracted crowds. The banana leaf turned out to be the bone of contention ultimately. The Academy insisted on quick, prompt and clean disposal as dumping the leaves outside created a stink. The rasikas, many of them from abroad, complained about the “unbearable stink”. With Arusuvai Natarajan insisting on the banana leaf and the Academy wanting the cleaner and more hygienic system of plates, they parted ways this year. The result was that a new set of caterers -- Ronak Caterers, -- entered. And this lot came all the way from Mumbai, would you believe it.

A chat with the young Raja, the owner of the catering service, revealed that they were not unconnected with Tamilnadu. In fact, he hails from Kallidaikurichi in Tirunelveli district, a place known for good cooks. His father, Venkatarama Iyer, was a good cook. No surprise that his son has taken to this profession too. Raja is a B Sc (Chemistry) graduate, who was born and brought up in Mumbai. He provides eats regularly for the Tamil Isai Sangam functions in Mumbai. More importantly, he gets contracts for all styles of food - North Indian, Western cuisine, Chinese and South Indian.

He looks upon the Academy contract as a landmark in his career as he wants to establish his catering service in Chennai too. Although, they had started a branch in Chennai in May, progress was slow. They were not well known unlike in Mumbai.

“Work in the Academy premises has helped us gain a good foothold in Chennai. It is a good entry for us. That is why, we are going out of the way to provide good food at reasonable rates,” he says.

38-year-old Raja, has now been joined by his wife, Rajashree, who hails from Karnataka, and his son, Ronak, after whom the firm is named. “Rajashree was looking after the Mumbai catering this last week or so, while I came down here. It is now Christmas holidays there. So, my wife and son are also here, enjoying the experience of running this canteen here during the festival.”

Contrary to expectations, the canteen provides all kind of cuisine - chat items, Chinese, and South Indian. “Times have changed. People want variety, especially the youth. They want this kind of stuff and not just the dosas and the iddlies.” Ronak’s stuff is good, yet what one misses are the variety in chutneys.

Raja confessed that he wouldn’t have minded serving food on the traditional banana leaf. However, the Academy was against it and “we used modern plates. It is good because it is easy to clear the wastes and dispose them neatly. We pack the waste into disposal bags and drop them into bins outside so there is no stink anywhere.”


The response from the rasikas? “It has been good. We have received no complaints so far. If anything, the people like the hygiene. Plus, we use ghee in our preparations and keep out Dalda and soda. People can feel the difference. Our rates are low too,” Raja adds.

“The success lies in the repeat orders we get,” he says. What is more, the parcels are good, wrapped in neat, air-tight containers. A large number of customers for lunch are from corporate offices nearby, he admits. (Things haven’t changed much although those long queues are missing). All said and done, an unforgettable part of the traditional music festival, of the banana leaf, at the Music Academy has seemingly passed into oblivion, sadly. As customers troop in and out, whatever be the merits of the present canteen, a wistful longing for the banana leaf does linger. The dosas, the oothappams, the chutney and the hot sambar, did taste better when served on the banana leaf. Given the availability of modern disposal methods, surely it should be possible to revive the banana leaf system. The rasikas, many of them affluent, turn up at the canteen, more for the atmosphere than the stuff. Modernisation, beyond a point, robs such venues of their sheen, the very foundation. Is anyone listening? - R Rangaraj


Posted on December 31, 2001

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