THIS IS a story from the times when each house had an atta chakki, or a flour mill. Grains like wheat, maize and pearl millet would be ground fresh each day and all women in the family would take part in this daily ritual to ensure that healthy rotis could be served to everyone.
While there are various types of traditional mills in different parts of the country, the chakki in my maternal grandmother’s house in a village near Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, was made up of two flat, round grinding stones placed one on top of the other. This was fixed on a slightly raised platform in an airy but windowless room at the back of the house. The top stone had a rectangular piece of wood (galua) fixed at the centre in which a metal rod (attached to the stone at the bottom) was adjusted to provide the pivot for stones to move over each other. Grains would be poured from the top and a fancy wood-carved handle— placed on the top—was used to turn the top stone clockwise to make flour. Bigger the stone, faster would be the process and finer the flour. But the fact that it has to be turned by hand is a limiting factor. Usually the diametre of the stone is less than the length of a person’s arm. Two persons can sit facing each other and move the chakki handle together to ease the work. The processed atta falls off the lower stone into the bhir—a circular receptacle below the chakki, which is made of mud and coated with multani mitti (fuller’s earth).
この記事は Down To Earth の August 01, 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Down To Earth の August 01, 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Trade On Emissions
EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, a tariff on imports, is designed to protect European industries in the guise of climate action.
'The project will facilitate physical and cultural decimation of indigenous people'
The Great Nicobar Project has all the hallmarks of a disaster-seismic, ecological, human. Why did it get the go-ahead?
TASTE IT RED
Popularity of Karnataka's red jackfruit shows how biodiversity can be conserved by ensuring that communities benefit from it
MANY MYTHS OF CHIPKO
Misconceptions about the Chipko movement have overshadowed its true objectives.
The politics and economics of mpox
Africa's mpox epidemic stems from delayed responses, neglect of its health risks and the stark vaccine apartheid
Emerging risks
Even as the world gets set to eliminate substances threatening the ozone layer, climate change and space advancement pose new challenges.
JOINING THE CARBON CLUB
India's carbon market will soon be a reality, but will it fulfil its aim of reducing emissions? A report by PARTH KUMAR and MANAS AGRAWAL
Turn a new leaf
Scientists join hands to predict climate future of India's tropical forests
Festering troubles
The Democratic Republic of Congo struggles to contain mpox amid vaccine delays, conflict and fragile healthcare.
India sees unusual monsoon patterns
THE 2024 southwest monsoon has, between June 1 and September 1, led to excess rainfall in western and southern states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, while others like Nagaland, Manipur and Punjab recorded a deficit.