.
I called my maid just now. She had not taken the rice I had kept for her, today. She said that she had taken the rice in a vessel which was kept on the kitchen counter. I told her that that was yesterday's rice and she had left today's rice here itself. Since she feeds the rice she takes from our house to her children in the evening at about 7 pm, I felt bad and asked her if the rice was OK. In our Chennai hot weather, the rice which is cooked in the morning becomes watery by night, if not, the next morning. We mix water with the remaining cooked rice at night and make curd rice out of it the next morning, sometimes. It is supposed to be good for health. The rice which was cooked yesterday morning is still good, she says. I am scared now! What are we eating nowadays? Just poison, I think. The situation is worsening day by day.
Last month the paalak bunches I had bought had chemical stench. It was so bad that nobody could eat. We threw away all the paalak paneer subji. Then the bhendi had the same stench. I complained to the vendor and he said that it happens sometimes! The vegetables come from the surrounding villages and sometimes the people who grow them, who are illiterate (!), spray more chemicals and it is not easy to check! He laughingly gave me another information. His father is a farmer. They have grown rice, this time, it seems. The agent who bought their rice asked the farmer to add one chemical to the fresh rice grains which will turn the look of the rice from new to old rice! He got Rs.250 per bag extra! 'Chemical illaama yeduvum illamma ippa', he says. 'Nothing is there now without chemicals'! I just don't go to that shop now. I don't know which shop is better now.
One security man who works in a famous vegetable vendor shop, to whom I tip every time I go there (he has got problem with his one foot, so I tip him) asked me not to buy watermelon which is bright red! 'Veluththa pazhama vaangunga' he said (buy a bit colourless melon!). They inject colour into the fruit, it seems.
I am scared to eat mango. Got once from an organic shop, that is all. Scared to eat mangoes now from normal vegetable and fruit shops. Most of them are ripened with calcium carbide. I get ulcers in my mouth if I eat them.
A few organic shops have opened in our area now and they keep limited vegetables, twice a week. Everybody seem to run there and buy them. It is over by 11.30 - 12 pm! I think people are becoming scared slowly.
How much can the govt. prevent this? People who do not have conscience are just after money. This is going to affect the coming generations too. The ground itself has become poisonous. I have started roof top gardening. But we get very limited vegetables. All of us should join together, I feel, to do something.
Milk also doesn't get spoiled even by 11 am even if it is not kept in the fridge.
Hmmm...what can we do?
P.S.: I have started buying organic pulses now. I keep the unopened packets in the fridge. After opening, I store the remaining pulses in Tupperware boxes. Still, I see worms and insects within a week (this shows they are really organic!). What to do? I remember keeping dried neem leaves in the rice boxes, before Tupperware came home. Should I start using that method now, for these pulses?
.
I called my maid just now. She had not taken the rice I had kept for her, today. She said that she had taken the rice in a vessel which was kept on the kitchen counter. I told her that that was yesterday's rice and she had left today's rice here itself. Since she feeds the rice she takes from our house to her children in the evening at about 7 pm, I felt bad and asked her if the rice was OK. In our Chennai hot weather, the rice which is cooked in the morning becomes watery by night, if not, the next morning. We mix water with the remaining cooked rice at night and make curd rice out of it the next morning, sometimes. It is supposed to be good for health. The rice which was cooked yesterday morning is still good, she says. I am scared now! What are we eating nowadays? Just poison, I think. The situation is worsening day by day.
Last month the paalak bunches I had bought had chemical stench. It was so bad that nobody could eat. We threw away all the paalak paneer subji. Then the bhendi had the same stench. I complained to the vendor and he said that it happens sometimes! The vegetables come from the surrounding villages and sometimes the people who grow them, who are illiterate (!), spray more chemicals and it is not easy to check! He laughingly gave me another information. His father is a farmer. They have grown rice, this time, it seems. The agent who bought their rice asked the farmer to add one chemical to the fresh rice grains which will turn the look of the rice from new to old rice! He got Rs.250 per bag extra! 'Chemical illaama yeduvum illamma ippa', he says. 'Nothing is there now without chemicals'! I just don't go to that shop now. I don't know which shop is better now.
One security man who works in a famous vegetable vendor shop, to whom I tip every time I go there (he has got problem with his one foot, so I tip him) asked me not to buy watermelon which is bright red! 'Veluththa pazhama vaangunga' he said (buy a bit colourless melon!). They inject colour into the fruit, it seems.
I am scared to eat mango. Got once from an organic shop, that is all. Scared to eat mangoes now from normal vegetable and fruit shops. Most of them are ripened with calcium carbide. I get ulcers in my mouth if I eat them.
A few organic shops have opened in our area now and they keep limited vegetables, twice a week. Everybody seem to run there and buy them. It is over by 11.30 - 12 pm! I think people are becoming scared slowly.
How much can the govt. prevent this? People who do not have conscience are just after money. This is going to affect the coming generations too. The ground itself has become poisonous. I have started roof top gardening. But we get very limited vegetables. All of us should join together, I feel, to do something.
Milk also doesn't get spoiled even by 11 am even if it is not kept in the fridge.
Hmmm...what can we do?
P.S.: I have started buying organic pulses now. I keep the unopened packets in the fridge. After opening, I store the remaining pulses in Tupperware boxes. Still, I see worms and insects within a week (this shows they are really organic!). What to do? I remember keeping dried neem leaves in the rice boxes, before Tupperware came home. Should I start using that method now, for these pulses?
.
17 comments :
yes nothing is safe to eat or drink in INIDA
everything is Rambharosay
Gives a scary picture.A very relevant post that should set the government think of ways to curb this menace.
SM: This attitude is worsening day by day!
Thank you, sm!
K PARTHASARATHY: Govt. can't do anything unless the people themselves get involved. Thank you, Partha Sir.
How many can afford to buy from organic shops and how many of such shops are there?There should curb on sale of chemicals,strict punishment and such.I agree this may touch the fringe of the problem.
K PARTHASARATHY: Very limited shops are there now. If there is no other go, people will be compelled to go in for these shops. Yes, they are expensive than the normal shops' fruits, vegetables and provisions. Overheads will go sky high, esp. when we have got small children at home.
Thanks for the interesting and informative post. We were thinking of visiting Chennai on vacation in January 2016. Now we will rethink.
Keep your pulses and flours the ones which you don't use so often in the freezer, that way they remain fresh without any insects. Buy vegetables from Reliance fresh/ Food World and other such supermarkets, they are not only cheap, but their quality too is good.
SG: We are all 'living' with all the drawbacks, SG! We can't run away. We get immuned to everything! I might be too sensitive, so don't consider my opinion seriously. But this is happening...
RAMA ANANTH: I buy from reputed vegetable fruit markets. Rice was bought from a Rice mandy where I had been buying for the past 28 years. Hmmm...everything is changing now... I am keeping the pulses in the freezer but after opening it, I transfer to Tupperware, which is becoming useless now, I think! The insects will bite away the plastic, I have seen!
Things are turning so bad that going hungry seems to be the only choice
What you write in this post is only the scary prelude to what is going to follow.
I recall my mother talking about days when people were even afraid to add water to dilute milk and sell for some small extra pennies.
However,today we have lost all sense of proportion and killed that which is called ANTARAMANAM -conscience.I just cannot imagine what is in store for our grandchildren and their children in the not too far future.
Yes-all of us especially women have to get together for this cause which calls for extreme priority and join forces like Vandana Shiva and bring about change.
Then we may feel that we have done our bit for something that really concerns the future of our generations.
These are matters of real import.
ONKAR: Yes, that might be the only option:(:( i.e. if we just sit and watch.
VC MOULI: Welcome to my space, VC Mouli! Thanks for the detailed comment too!
Yes, more than us, it the next generations will get affected more, starting from the children yet to be born. Our whole body is becoming poisonous. So many types of/unheard of skin problems have started coming. And we eat more poisons via medicines to 'cure' them. Very scary. Now, I must check about Vandana Shiva, sorry, I am ignorant about her.
Thanks once again.
I am trying to shift to organic foods as far as possible. But even with organic, we need to be careful. Some people are trying to take advantage of the trend and try to sell anything in the name of organic! But I found one shop where the shop keeper was not only knowledgeable but also has some good checking/evaluating methods. Of course, we are yet to buy vegetables and such stuff from organic shop, but may soon. I too want to learn terrace gardening. I am waiting for the summer to end, to continue with growing some more veggies.
Destination Infinity
There used to say marunthe unavu unave marunthu (medicine is food and food is medicine) but what’s happening now seems quite against the phrase. However we are careful in buying vegetables, fruits and groceries unless the seller is conscious we can’t do anything. My father usually buys fruits from a particular woman and being a regular customer she got some good attachment with us and give fruits that are only good.
DESTINATION INFINITY: We have got some 2-3 organic shops in our area and surrounding areas. But they get vegetables on Tue and Sat...two days a week and limited varieties of vegetables. Hope we start getting more vegetables. Organic vegetables or fruits should be consumed early.
JEEVAN: That is better, buying vegetables from a known person. We cannot question big shops. We can just stop buying from them. I had one near my old house. He used to say that Morris banana and nendrampazham are literally dipped into carbide mixed water to ripen them. He was asking me not to buy them ever. This, he was telling in front of his other customers. Still I saw people buying golden coloured beautiful morris bananas even after hearing him say like that. He was laughing and said that he buys and sells that banana most! People are dumb, he said!
Although this is scary, this is also bitter reality.
In April, I carried some apples from my hometown. It stayed the same for more than 2 weeks. I was too scared to eat it. Its the same with the mangoes that I buy.
The question is, how much care can we take? After a point, it becomes lets face it. From air to water and food, everything is contaminated. I am concerned about our successive generation more!
LOCO MENTE: Some of my relatives say the same, 'lets face it when the problem comes'. The organic carrot doesn't stay for more than 3 days even in the fridge. The ones which I had left in the fridge (I had forgotten to give it to the maid) before leaving abroad was there nearly as I left when I came back after 3 weeks! All these poisons will come out slowly later like skin problem and then major problems. Like you, I am also more worried about our children and their children. They will be weak by birth itself.
heaven to hell is the transition that we al going through..thoughtful post..
Post a Comment