Summer in a glass

A grocery store that’s almost a century old sells what’s arguably the best mango drink in the city

It’s 2 pm and the sun roasts us as we hop off the scooter to grab a drink at C Kunhiraman General Stores under Royapuram Bridge. An unlikely place for such a stopover, one would think. But the humble shop has built a reputation for its mango milk, badam milk, and lemon and grape juice. There are hardly any customers inside the store, but there’s a small crowd at it’s entrance — bikers, pedestrians, women travelling by auto — they’ve all stopped by for the juices.

Most of them are regulars and swear by the drinks, which — though available through the year — sell by leaps and bounds in the summer. The store sells 50 litres a day during this season, informs K T Ashok who runs the store. Equally popular is the in-house mango ice-cream. “We’ve been selling the juices for over 50 years,” explains Ashok.

Served in plastic cups, the juices and ice-cream are sold at a counter at the entrance. Chunks of the fruit float inside the mildly-sweet grape juice. The tangy lemon juice, though nothing spectacular, is pretty refreshing. But the thick, sweet mango milk is the most sought-after of them all. The drink, served at just the right temperature, is perfect for the summer.

We down two cups of mango milk and wonder if we should order one more, when K Surendar, who assists in preparing the juices, catches our attention. He ladles the juices from the freezer for customers — it’s peak hour and he works non-stop, with almost mechanical precision. Ladle, pour, serve; ladle, pour, serve.

Surendar is clearly proud of the antique freezer. The rectangular metal structure has six compartments for cylindrical containers that stores the juices. “This freezer can maintain the temperature of the drinks for a full day, even if there’s no electricity,” he boasts. The mango milk is his favourite, too. So, how many cups of it does he drink a day? “I don’t keep count,” he laughs.

The store sells 50 litres of juice a day during this season, informs K T Ashok, who runs the store. Equally popular is the in-house mango ice-cream

The great Indian millet loaf

INGREDIENTS

·         Wheat flour 600 gm

·         Ragi flour 100 gm

·         Millet flour 100 gm

·         Broken wheat soaked 200 gm

·         Salt 20 gm

·         Dark  jaggery 30 gm

·         Olive oil 45 ml

·         Ginger powder 5 gm

·         Fennel crushed 5 gm

·         Honey 10 ml

·         Yeast 20 gm

·         Water 450 ml

METHOD

Put all dry ingredients into a bowl.

Add water and knead till smooth dough is formed.

Shape and put into moulds or roll into 60 gm balls to make burger buns.

Let the dough rise to double the size, or till dough bounces back when you poke it gently.

Bake at 220c for 25 minutes for the 300 gm bread mould or 14 minutes for the bun.

Best had with home-made butter, malai, or extra virgin olive oil.

Recipe courtesy vishak chandrasekaran, chef

Karaikudi antique market

* The Karaikudi antique market (Muneeswaram Kovil Street) is a tourist staple, but we enjoy strolling through the Kallukatti Main Bazaar (Koppudai Amman temple area). Featuring a host of artisans, you can find jewellery, metal work and traditional woodwork here. It is a reliable source of authentic craft.

* Workshops of Chettinad’s famous Athangudi tiles — inspired by the early 20th century mosaic tiles made in Maastricht, Netherlands — are everywhere. Try your hand at making them at Sri Ganapathy Tiles (Athangudi road), the first workshop to start producing the colourful glazed cement tiles in the 1950s. All the rooms at Saratha Vilas are laid with tiles from them.

* Stop by the chariot makers (Pallathur road, next to Sathiyan Theatre) to admire their meticulous work, and also make time to observe the artisans at the Bronze Workshop (Palanivel East Street, Ariyakudi) firing their pieces.

Your own money manager

Pick any of these four books and you will be well on the road to becoming an investment expert

Today’s column is meant for the DIY folks. A number of young and not so young readers of this column had asked me for inputs to get started in investing. Earlier, we saw that investing in index mutual funds is a no brainer. But some of you may not want to outsource all the adventure that comes with investing. You may want to do the actual investing yourself instead of handing over your money to the “experts” — the professional money managers. You know what? This is actually not such a bad idea.

Today, I am going to recommend four books. Understand the contents of these four books and you will be way ahead of 90% of the crowd — and some of this crowd includes professional money managers.

Take your pick

The first recommendation is The Little Book that beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt. This is really a little book and in this book, the author — a successful hedge fund manager, teaches his schoolgoing son how to invest. It is delightfully simple and yet it doesn’t dumb down the reader. You can start your investing in education by reading this book.

The next book that I recommend is One up on Wall Street by the legendary, now retired fund manger — Peter Lynch. In this book, Peter shows how to use the insights that you have as a consumer of products and as an observer to trends to buy stocks that will make you money. You are seeing Maruti Suzuki cars all over the road? You know what stock to buy! You are impressed with the customer service of XYZ bank? Are you seeing a huge waiting list for buying a particular product? You know these companies are going to be hot investments. This book again offers lot of insights and shows that investing is primarily a common sense game that even school students can excel in. The next book on this list is The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. This is a book that inspired Warren Buffet to successfully launch his investment career. If it is good enough for Warren, surely it is good enough for us? Once again, you will find a lot of practical wisdom and insights that you can straight away put to use. 

The final book in this list is A random walk down Wall Street by Princeton academic Burton Malkiel. An investment classic that has seen several editions, this book is still evergreen and is full of wicked humour. But with all the jokes in it, it is a really serious book and is a must read if you prize critical thinking.

So, dear readers, hopefully you will be writing to me about the insights that you gained reading these books. Of course, you good people will also thank me for my recommendations. The writer is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore and the co-founder of Money Wizards.

New drug may help treat hearing loss

It targets the cochlea in the inner ear Scientists have developed a new approach to repair cells deep inside the ear, a potential remedy that could restore hearing for millions of elderly people and others who suffer hearing loss.

A study, published in the journal Bioconjugate Chemistry , demonstrated a novel way for a drug to zero in on damaged nerves and cells inside the ear. The research was conducted on animal tissues in a petri dish. The drug targets the cochlea, a snail-like structure in the inner ear where sensitive cells convey sound to the brain, according to the researchers from University of Southern California in the U.S.Hearing loss can occur due to various reasons like ageing, noisy machines and too many loud concerts.

 

Over time, hair-like sensory cells and bundles of neurons that transmit their vibrations break down, as do ribbon-like synapses, which connect the cells. The researchers designed a molecule combining 7,8-dihydroxyflavone, which mimics a protein critical for development and function of the nervous system, and bisphosphonate, a type of drug that sticks to bones.