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Kitchen craft | The Hindu
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Nostalgic
trip down memory lane - in a world of
old cooking vessels at Shilpguru Jagdish Prashad’s workshop
Cooking
in today’s age is convenient thanks to a host of modern gadgets – be it cooking
equipments or vessels. The vessels range from non-stick cookware, copper
bottomed steel, microwaveable dishes and more. Harking back to another era are the age old
cooking vessels fashioned out of brass, copper and bronze. A common sight once
upon a time, these have now slowly faded from memory, being replaced by more
high tech glistening substitutes. Laxmi Narayan Jagdish Prashad, Master
Craftsman 1974 and Shilpguru 2007 is a wizard at the crafting of brass and
copper vessels and is a fountain of knowledge of the times when every village
boasted of a thatera or a brass / coppersmith. Given the dictate of the market,
his work now borders more on decorative pieces finely engraved and enamelled
and hardly any utensils. After a lot of reticence and much prodding what
becomes evident is his fondness for old vessels, their unique shapes and how it
was used.
Jagdish
Prashad says with a lot of feeling, “purane bartanon ki baat hi kuch aur
thi”(old vessels are literally a breed apart). They were heavy and shone like
gold when kept properly. What is there today? A vegetable gets cooked in four
whistles in a pressure cooker. Where is the taste? Earlier food was cooked
slowly in copper or brass vessels simmering on a Chula or a coal based stove.
The taste was different.”
Prashad
is a hereditary craftsman who learnt the art as a child. What got him
recognition was the combination of this hereditary skill with the art of
decoration – chitai. He says, “chitai I learnt from Mohammadans. All their
utensils especially copper have beautiful chitai or engraving on it. Our
profession was just to make the vessels.” Even now in traditional Muslim families, copper
utensils are given at the time of weddings. He elaborates saying in earlier
times there were no aluminium, plastic or steel, so utensils were made of
copper and brass. Copper is also used in rituals for its purity. Drinking water
stored in a copper cup overnight is beneficial for health. For cooking in
copper or brass vessels it has to be coated with tin. In North it is called
“kalai” and there are specialists who do it. This involves giving a tin coating
to the inside of the brass and copper vessels. A small amount of tin is heated
and exploded into the vessel and when it is still hot rubbed into the metal
with a rag cloth. Prashad says, “without this coating, cooking in such vessels will
be equivalent to poison. Cooking in utensils which have kalai not only adds to
the taste but lets the food absorb small amounts of the metals for natural
intake. There are a lot of benefits.” Today, such kalai valas are a rare breed with
a few present in the bylanes of Old Delhi.
Tracing
his ancestors, he adds, “many of the older generations worked in palaces of the
royals. They would turn out new vessels giving vent to their imagination and
this was encouraged by royals. Usually, since a lot of space was required, so
thateras were spread on the outskirts of the city. It probably explains such
presence in Old Delhi also.” Everything
was made, gharas (pots), kanastars (jars with handle), parath (plates in which
atta is kneaded), paan dans, buckets and more. Today, he grins, “an old paan
dan becomes a jewellery box by removing the insides, the old gharas become
flower pots or planters. Copper is a wonderful metal which does not corrode
with time. Which is why during excavations, copper jars are unearthed after
centuries with their contents intact.”
His
little workshop has several items tucked in everywhere, huge cauldrons, plates,
pots in various shapes, sizes. What stands out is the versatility of the
utensils and their utilisation. Prashad shows a dish which he explains was used
for serving raita from Punjab. It has a little handle to carry with a pointed
nose or spout through which the raita can be poured directly on to the plate. It
is known as Punjabi Gagar. A modern day adaptation could be as a serving bowl
at the dinner table, where it can be directly poured into katoris or plate.
With its design it does away with the need for a spoon. A little bucket with a
collapsible handle was an interesting travel companion along with a rope. The
traveller could use it at any well or pond to drink water or bathe and simply
move on. A very light weight travelling companion! He describes the copper
boiler from Amrtisar called the Amritsari Hamam. The ones from Amritsar were made in copper,
brass and a combination of copper and brass which was called Ganga Jamuna
because of its two colouring. Similar ones are also made in Maharashtra but
these are taller and longer. Today, he rues, “they have virtually disappeared.
One could spot them at all Railway Station.”
He
collects many of the old pieces and reinvents them by working all over it with
chitai. The pot is filled with lac and worked on. It is then further plated to
a look alike copper, silver or gold finish. Such pieces are used as planters or
flower pots and in demand in spas and resorts. An old vessel is salvaged from
the scrap yard and is put to a decorative use. He adds, “no one makes old
vessels like these now. The joints in the vessel were done on fire, bhatti. Now
it is soldered. The old joining lasts centuries. Copper was cheap then about
Rs. 2 a sear, now it is several hundreds a kilogram. It makes a difference to
the workman and the buyer. Maintenance of these vessels is high which is why no
one wants to use them.”
With
pride he says, “I have travelled thanks to the Government of India to various
countries and have seen cooking vessels across the world. But their repertoire
is not a shade to the variety and diversity of cooking vessels that we have
here.” Cooking utensils then were another ball game altogether!
