Millet revolution

Bajre ke sikko jaise bete ho jawaanthodisi zameen thoda aasmantinko ka bas ik aashiya Poet Gulzarrsquos lyrics sung by Lata Mangeshkar in the film Sitara haunted my adolescent mind way back in 1980 I was impressed by the comparison of the pearl milletmdasha cereal crop thriving in arid weathermdashwith healthy progeny That was many years before the title track of Bajre Da Sitta captured Mumbairsquos airwavesThe bajra number dormant in my consciousness for four decades came back to me as I recently attended the Millet Festival organised in Mumbai by the Marketing department of the Government of Maharashtra much in keeping with the 2023 United Nations International Year of Millets the Government of India had notified millets as nutricereals in 2018Bajri bhakriThe festival which also coincided with the launch of the book Know Your Millets edited by Principal Secretary of Cooperation and Marketing Anoop Kumar celebrated traditional grainsmdashnine fibrerich gluttenfree superfoods cultivated in Maharashtrarsquos soil for agesmdashand brought together farmers who specialised in processing and selling these magic millets in the form of easytocook readytoeat retail productsI stood amid 50odd pandals selling bajra chivda bajra puffs bajra cookies bajri papdi bajri kharvadi roasted bajra and not to forget the flour made of coarse grainThe poor manrsquos crop also used as cattle feed was showcased as sustainable and lowmaintenance meal fare for the urban consumerrsquos awareness So were other millets vended in creative formsmdashjowar appams nachni vermicelli noodles and banyard millet semolina or vrat ke chawalIllustrationUday MohiteAt the base of these modern avatars of fritters batter malt wafers and biscuits are grains These essential everyday cereals recur in Maharashtrarsquos folktales saint poetry popular myths health and lifestyle advisories and most importantly in culinary traditions which pride on the use of millets The references to Lord Vitthal helping in household griding chores ldquokari dalankandanrdquo are educational Be it Saint Dnyaneshwarrsquos seminal work Dyaneshwari 1290 or Saint Tukaramrsquos abhang poetry 1632 the nofrills grains are mentioned with fondness In Bahinabai Chaudharirsquos kapni harvest references the swaying crop is nothing but jowar or bajraSaint Janabairsquos shivar farms also dwell on the millet crops The ofttalked about ambil served to the family and guests a hotcold concoction is made of either jowar bajra or nachni When guests arrive at Rajairsquos house Saint Namdevrsquos wife also a poet she wonders how suddenly a grocer arrives from nowhere with a bagful of proso millets varaichi goni kalali rajaisi Well that was the allknowing Lord Vitthal who replenishes the stocks destressing his devotee the woman of the house with meagre resources at her disposalSaint poets articulated a pride in simple culinary delightsmdashjowar bhakri made of semiground grains peethlahi for faral puffed varai for fasting days and the stale bajri bhakri which hardens overnight In fact some saint poets define themselves in agrarian kunbi settings where wheat and rice are not part of kitchen stocks Saint Tukaram says ldquoBare deva kunbi kelonahi tar dambhe asto melo Thank God for the Kunbi birth else I would have died of duplicitous behaviourrdquo This indicates his gratefulness for a birth in a humble land tillerrsquos family as against an upper caste arrogant clan Millets form the core of being a kunbi by birth Polished rice recipes and wheat chapatis entered Marathi kitchens post Independence but mostly after 1970s The supposed higher castes and upwardly mobile classes particularly Brahmins in urban settlements were among the first to embrace the soft wheat poli as against the thicker coarse bhakri The rolling pin was a convenient tool to achieve the evened out golakari poli as against the handmade bhakri which required skillful handlingIt is another story that in todayrsquos Maharashtra wheat is slowly losing its clientele to the coarser millets This shift is driven by health considerations mainly due to the low glycemic load and high antioxidant properties in millets Digesting a wheat roti is harder as against the ragi or bajri bhakri claim nutritionists like Rujuta Diwekar who inaugurated the Millet festival Millets form the backbone of Diwekarrsquos fitness project 2023 in which she concentrates on preparations that optimise rather than lose out on milletsrsquo health benefits Experts like her advocate against ragi tacos or jowar nachos or multigrain breads because these products only use the millet label to sell rather unhealthy stuff which aggravate further lifestyle ailments like hypertension and diabetesIn this context I was pleasantly surprised by the recipes recommended by the Indian Institute of Millets Research earlier called Directorate of Sorghum Research Amazing are the 90odd sorghum jowar ragi bajra varai dishes which hold experiments with millets on such an imaginative scale For instance the jowarbarley sharbat with the citrus twist is quite an achievable health shot Bajra vermicelli kheer is a lowfat option for those with a sweet tooth so is the dehulled proso millet in the payasam Little millet also serves as a great alternative to rice Proso goes well with mint or tomato garnish and becomes a good substitute for a tangy pulao Multimillet khakra or bhel are also colourful delights which add to the healthy items on the table This columnist is taken in by the simple steps and miminal time required to make these millet preparations Be it millet upma or ladoo or chuduwa flaky chivda no recipe involves multiple chores some demand an overnight soakThe panIndian vocabulary provided by millets across states is also worth an academic dissertation Just as millet crops are diversely spread across geographies nomenclature also differs regionwiseKodo millet mistaken for finger millet is minor millet or cow grass in English It is kodra in Marathi and Gujarati and harka in Kannada While the foxtail millet is a lyrical shyama in Bengali it is a bit prosaic kangnirala in Marathi But Marathi goes closest to Bengali in defining banyard millet as shamul which is shamula in Bengali and sama in Gujarati In Maharashtrarsquos millet lexicon finger millet has four Marathi nounsmdashragi nachni nachna or nagli Varaivari proso millet is called mordhan barti sava and bhagar Indiarsquos powerhouse adivasi lingo has even more unheard evocative names for millets which should be embraced in the year devoted to milletsIn Maharashta the morning temperatures of March have risen to 31 degree Celsius Monsoon is two months away water scarcity is an impending reality In this seemingly bleak scenario lowmaintenance millets offer hope Millet farming even done on hillocks by small land holders augurs well with the mood of the moment It gives a new meaning to the adage The growing millet does not fear the sunSumedha RaikarMhatre is a culture columnist in search of the subtext You can reach her at sumedharaikarmiddaycom