ELLARUM VAANGO

 



“To win the people, always cook  them

some savoury that pleases them.”

Aristophanes, The Knights

 

Some months ago, when I first came across a YouTube video by the name ‘Village Cooking Channel’, I instantly fell in love with it. Village-cooking videos on YouTube are not a novelty… There are thousands of them. But, this one was distinct and special in many ways. It was brisk, it was authentic… and, it filled the viewers with energy and joy. So much so, one felt like not only visiting such villages, but settling down there, permanently.

 



 


 

I remember watching a couple of videos from this YouTube channel some days ago… It was late night, and I was feeling extremely low. These guys brought a smile back on my face, and fired energy back into my heart! The very night, I wanted to blog about them. Somehow, the night passed and days, too, without a blog on them. And, just a while ago, I watched this one, their latest…




So many of us wish to showcase our talents on a platform like YouTube. We make videos – singing, playing some instruments, speeches, poems, stand-up comedy, acting, dancing, drawing and painting, cooking, teaching, training, sports, even weddings, birthdays and anniversaries, funeral services, adorable babies and pets… anything and everything, these days, walks into YouTube videos. It doesn’t end there… like true humans, we are desperate to have more and more viewers, more and more subscribers.

Then?

Some videos go viral… Some YouTubers make lots of money.

Well, personally, I do not know how it all works. I think, videos like the ones from ‘Village Cooking Channel’ become popular – viral – organically. I mean, on their inherent merit. They are inherently – and unmistakably – unpretentious and unpolluted. Hence, they touch most of us, cutting across our ethnic, linguistic and other barriers. For example, I don’t understand a word of Tamil. But, when I watch these video, I understand everything. I am sure, the pure vegetarian people, when they view the non-vegetarian cooking from these guys, may love them for their enthusiasm and talent.

What makes most of us salute these guys is what comes at the end: They serve the freshly-cooked food to the destitute from the nearby orphanage!

And, they do it is quietly…

That is a tough act to follow, Sir!




Our talents are like lamps. “No one lights a lamp and then hides it under a basket,” said Jesus Christ, “It is placed at a high stand so that it can give light to others.”

God has endowed each one of us with one talent or the other. Rightly, we call them ‘God’s Gifts’. Recognizing these gifts and using them to spread light around us – making people around us feel happy or enriched – is what the true purpose of God’s Gifts. As it’s said, “Our talents are God’s gifts to us; but, what we do with our talents is our gift to God.”

The infectious love and energy, with which this grandpa and cousins from the  village Chinnveeramangalam in Tamil Nadu are using their ‘gift’,  is a testimony to this. They cook food with a great heart and they serve it, too, with one. And,  they serve it to those around them, who God wants them to…

“Ellarum Vaango”… “Always welcomes you”…

 

https://www.onmanorama.com/food/features/2021/01/25/grandad-cousins-rocked-youtube-village-cooking-channel.html


GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic.: www.onmanorama.com

 

Videos: Village Cooking Channel

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