karandi for tempering this karandi is my mamiyaars ammas it is a sort of handmedown now she laughs and adds ever wondered why women back then never had iron deficiency it is because this tempering in the iron karandi or cooking in the iron kadhai gave them their daily dose of iron along with the food we also use the vengala panai though not on a regular basis we use it on special occasions to make swami neivedhyam and all in the same way keera masiyal was always made in the mann chatti the reason being the uneven and slightly rough insides of the chatti would naturally mash the keerai even as it is stirred which meant all the nutrients were intact ammi kallu is another implement that is regularly used in their household says sundari kothamalli tohayal adhula dhaan arapom she avers even as she shows off all the other utensils of yore she has collected and proudly displayed all over the house most of them are used on some occasion or the other she says living an almost bygone way of life is also nagappan ramasamy a retired government employee who says he loves to light the logfire in the backyard first thing in the morning and wait hes been regularly doing it ever since he and his family shifted to vandalur in 1978 this was practically a barren land back then and the well and the aduppu were a necessity back then electricity was well it still is a problem here and so the well and the aduppu helped nowadays in the morning the first thing i do is heat water for my bath on the aduppu and we use waste from the thenna maram and other biowaste we generate at home to light the fire we also love to cook certain dishes over the aduppu adhakku oru vera taste says ramasamy who is also particular about taking care of the water in the well rainwater harvest panni that water is channelled into the well that keeps it full even during dry seasons when there is no electricity even the neighbours come to draw water from the well says ramasamy proudlyhowever one way of life that sundari rues is gone forever is the custom of women taking bath in the water drawn from the well in the backyard or kollaparam as it is called andha kalathla every house would have a well in the backyard linea irrukum enga mamiyaar athula ellam appudi dhaan and all the women would talk to each other across homes and take a bath the men would follow dharmam and not even come that side these days if i want to take a bath by the well the entire apartment in the next lane will peep she says but even as you lose some you win some making a strong comeback riding the organic wave is the enna chekku places where edible oil is extracted using huge