SoulFood and SoulMates

‘SoulFood and SoulMates’ is a tribute to silver couples (above 55 years of age). It is a column about life & food & love. About living together, about the joys & challenges of sharing a common space for decades, about the favourite foods that unite their hearts further. We (Jigyasa & Pratibha) write this as a monthly column for Harmony Magazine.

July 2011: Padmini & Ram Mani, Kodai; as featured on Harmony website and on our Blog Pedatha.com. Recipe: Poricha Kootu
August 2011: Surya & Parameshwar Natarajan, Chennai; as featured in Harmony Site and on Pedatha.com.
Sep 2011: Anita & Maj Gen (Retd.) Randhawa, Chandigarh; as featured in Harmony Site and on Pedatha.com.
Oct 2011: Merle & Kumar Dodhia, Chennai; as featured in Harmony site and Pedatha.com.
Nov 2011: Ammini & Rama Ramachandran, Texas, USA; as featured in Harmony site and Pedatha.com
Dec 2011: Jaya and Narain Mahbubani, Chennai; as featured in Harmony site and Pedatha.com.
Jan 2012: Neeta & Sumtimal Lodha, Ajmer, Rajasthan – as featured in Harmony site and Pedatha.com.

When Harmony ~ Celebrate Age Magazine invited us to write a monthly tribute column, we decided to call the column ‘SoulFood and SoulMates’. The reason for this can be seen in our email to the editor:

Dear Meeta,
Sorry for the delay in response. Some work took us to My School Satya Surabhi, our school in Kodai. The signals are weak and hence we were not able to respond. All for a good reason, it seems, because on the long drive back last evening, both of us were brainstorming & came up with an idea which is in tune with ‘harmony’.

We believe that many of our elders live in a certain shared peace with each other, not really wanting private space, not really wanting to establish each one’s individuality. The question is – how does one identify such persons? How do we really know? So just as an exercise, we made a long list of silver couples we know. And our joy knew no end when we realized that we knew many such silver couples who fit the bill. Imagine we interview them and ask them to share a favourite recipe. We believe that they can teach us more than just a recipe, they can give us tips for staying together in harmonious co-existence.

We must confess that this idea emerged as a result of our trip to Kodai – where we lived with Padmini & Ram Mani – the couple who began that magical space of My School Satya Surabhi. Padmini also happens to be one of the pioneers (along with a few others) who started the ‘No Plastic’ in Kodai. If you ever happen to visit Kodai, you must meet them. It will be an unforgettable experience. A couple who may argue, disagree, quarrel; but are bound together with their common vision of bringing quality education into the lives of the underprivileged people in their area.

Hope you are excited by the concept as we are.
Jigyasa & Pratibha

Meeta Bhatti responded enthusiastically and as a result, we have had the much needed impetus to meet some of our favourite silver couples. The column published from July 2011 onwards, started with Padmini & Ram – obviously!