“Would you please let me know the principle underlying the making of jalebees by our halwais?” Let me quote the answer: “Actually it does not follow any special principle, but is a clever discovery, probably made by some inventive grandmother a long time ago!... As the halwai goes on making the jalebee patterns with the outflowing dough pouring into the pre-heated oil (or ghee), the thin tube of dough becomes a little tough on the outside and is expanded by the steam generated inside the tube.
The heated surface becomes brown, stiff and a bit porous. Soon after that, pre-jalebees are transferred into another karhai (vessel) containing hot syrup. The inside of the pre-jalebee is now ready to soak in the syrup and soon we have piping hot jalebees …. I am sure there are tricks in making the dough just right, but I would not know much about those”.
Reading this question and the answer, another set of questions popped in my head. Is this the same with making rasa-vadai ? How about dahi-vada ? and murukku or thenkuzhal (where there is no soaking)?
Value for money
The jalebee question is Question number 244 in the book “Random Curiosity”, written by Professor Yash Pal and his biologist son Dr. Rahul Pal. It was released by former President Abdul Kalam in Delhi two weeks ago. Published by the National Book Trust and priced at the affordable Rs. 140/-, it is excellent value for money.
You can turn any page in the book and start reading it. There is no starting page, ending page, chapters or a story with a beginning and an end. The title phrase “Random” is appropriate.
It is a collection of 274 questions, posed to Prof. Yash Pal by curious readers, young and old, which he has answered in his inimitable style. They appeared first in Malayala Manorama and in The Tribune , and have been collected in a book form.
The questioners range from a class 2 student from the Jharkand town of Jhumri Telaiya (a place made famous by All India Radio's Vividh Bharati) the grandfather of a 11-year-old.
And the answers are not at all didactic, cut and dry. You cannot commit them to memory and spill out when asked. This is not a guide book for EAMCET or IIT JEE. In fact it is useless for such purposes. Each answer is long-winded in a friendly, inclusive and conversational way. It is a book to be enjoyed. The papa and son Pals have followed what the pop-singer Madonna once sang: “Papa, don't preach”. What they does is reach.
The basis behind the book has been set forth right in the preface. “Education is not delivered; it is constructed or created by each child. Observation and curiosity to understand what is observed is an integral component of living and growing up.
And “our systems with rigidly defined syllabi and fixed ways of transacting only that which is in the syllabus wipe away all natural curiosity. Most of the unconventional questions can be dismissed by saying that “they are not school questions” or, an over-encompassing dismissal by saying ‘no need to know.'
Random curiosity is a subversive book. It cocks a snook at the syllabus. But it does so in a subtle, seductive manner. It reminds us of the manner in which our grandmothers taught us mythology, family values and the like. We lapped it up, since we were soaked in her affection. Grandpa Yash Pal does the same with science, changing himself into a grandma.
I have had the pleasure of working with him off and on over the years. One of the most enjoyable was the TV show “Turning Point”, where we both answered questions and posed some to the audience.
We would get postcards filled with questions, answers to which spanned the fields of chemistry, physics, and biology. Some of the best were those which stumped us. “Why does the Poori balloon up into a hemisphere while being fried in hot oil?” was one that needed considerable thinking, live experimentation and heated arguments before we answered it.
I cannot resist quoting another, question number 136, which asks “during the winter season, water in the river and water tank feels cold while that from the well is warm.
Why?” I shall not write the answer here, but ask you to think and find your own. Compare your style and words with those of the Pals. It is this comparison that makes us appreciate and admire Professor Yash Pal.
The style
It is this style of engaging the questioner as a partner in seeking the answer, and talking not in jargon but in everyday language that makes Random Curiosity must buy.
I have two recommendations to make. My first is “go, buy the book and enjoy it”. My second is that it should be translated into all, not some but all Indian languages, and not in textbook language but conversational — informal and inclusive. And that is a tall order. (Indeed, even the colleagues who answer readers' questions in English in The Hindu might consider such a style).
Are there takers? If yes, I am sure Professor Bipan Chandra, Chairman of the National Book Trust, will be just as accommodating as he has been to me (allowing me to quote verbatim from some parts of the book). And I hope the next edition has more on life sciences.
dbala@lvpei.org
