Who is the brainiest of all. It's time to test yourself. This is the right opportunity. Please tell me a story which should include Andhra Pradesh's art /culture /people /places /traditions /food etc
Answers
Andhra Pradesh is home to Hindu saints of all castes. An important figure is, Sant Yogi Potuluri Veerabrahmam was a Viswa Brahmin that even had a Brahmin, Sudhra, Harijan and Muslim disciples.[1] Fisherman Raghu was also a Sudra.[2]
Several important Hindu modern-day saint are from Andhra Pradesh. These include Nimbarka who founded Dvaitadvaita, Mother Meera who advocated Indian independence and Aurobindo Mission, Sri Sathya Sai Baba and Swami Sundara Chaitanyanandaji.
Pilgrimages places
Sacred Tirumala Temple
Tirupati or Tirumala, where the main temple is dedicated to the Hindu god Venkateswara
Simhachalam is said in mythology to be the abode of the saviour-god Narasimha, who rescued Prahlada from abusive father Hiranyakasipu.
Srisailam is dedicated mainly to Shiva. It is one of the locations of the various Jyotirlingams.
Festivals
Makara Sankranti in January.
Maha Shivaratri in February/March.
Ugadi or the Telugu New Year in March/April.
Sri Rama Navami celebrated in March/April 9 days after Ugadi.
Varalakshmi Vratam in August.
Vinayaka Chaviti in August.
Dasara in September/October.
Atla Tadde 3rd day in bright half of Aswiyuja month (falls in September/October in Gregorian calendar)
Deepavali in October/November.
Deepothsavam during the Deepavali season.
Vadi Biyyam
Vadi Biyyam is a traditional ceremony performed for married couples in Rayalaseema, Telangana and parts of Andhra Regions. The ceremony starts before the marriage. After marriage, the ceremony is performed at least once in three years, wherein the parents of the married woman invite all the relatives for the ceremony celebration.[3]
The Process
Parents of the married woman give money to buy clothes for the ceremony. A good quantity of rice is mixed with turmeric, dried coconut core etc. Five married woman (not widowed) come one after and another and put rice in the cloth wrapped around the neck and spread out in the front.
Cultural institutions
Andhra Pradesh has many museums, including the Archaeological Museum at Amaravati near Guntur City that features relics of nearby ancient sites, the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad, which features a varied collection of sculptures, paintings, and religious artifacts, the Visakha Museum in Visakhapatnam, which displays the history of the pre-Independence Madras Presidency in a rehabilitated Dutch bungalow and Victoria Jubilee Museum in Vijayawada, which has a collection of ancient sculptures, paintings, idols, weapons, cutlery, and inscriptions.
As my daughter was growing up and started liking varied dishes, I developed a keen interest in cooking, followed by food blogging. I like to document traditional recipes via my blog. This is a memory from my childhood—the tale of dibbarotti, a traditional Indian ‘stout’ bread.
In those days, my Ammamma lived with my maternal uncle, his family and his sisters, in a joint family. We visited them, every year, during our summer holidays. It is here that I witnessed many of life’s ‘firsts’. Every day was a revelation for us.
For instance, I realised that here was a separate room to store pickles. It was always dark, and only Ammamma would enter this room to replenish the stock of varied pickles for daily consumption. We used to sneak into this room in the afternoons. It was always very cool, and a respite from scorching May summers.
One day, Vanaja, my cousin, took us to a farm in the village. I saw water being drawn from the well with the help of bulls. Again, this was a first-time experience for me.
Cut to April 28th one year. The kids were scampering around and playing ‘catching cook’. Today was their mother’s birthday. One of the girls stepped stealthily into the kitchen. As a rule, kids were not allowed in the kitchen when cooking was on, especially in the mornings. She asked her grandmother, “Today is Amma’s birthday. Will there be cake in the evening?” Her granny smiled and said “Yes.”
In the evening, all the three sisters and their two cousins, gathered near the small table with a candle, matchbox and knife. They were waiting eagerly for Ammamma to bring in the cake. Finally she emerged from the kitchen with a cake-like dish and placed it on the table. I exclaimed, “Ammamma, this is not cake!”
This is an Indian cake,” she said softly. That was the day I fell in love with dibbarotti
Dibbarotti’, when translated from Telugu to English, means ‘stout’ rotior bread. A type of traditional pancake, it’s made from granular rice mixed with soaked urad dal (split black gram) and fermented overnight.
I ate my first dibbarotti, doused with copious amounts of that tangy coconut chutney that Ammamma made best. Nibbling the crunchy edges, soaking in the warm earthy flavour of the bland rotti—it was a wonderful culinary experience.
There are two methods of making dibbarotti. One is the traditional way, wherein split black gram and rice is used (with cumin seeds). A modern and simpler version is made with idli batter, known as minapparotti. Ginger and green chilies are added to the batter to spice it up.
Minapparotti
Ingredients
2 cups idli batter
1-2 green chillies
½ inch ginger
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
Salt as per taste
Take idli batter in a bowl. Chop green chillies and ginger finely. Add to the idli batter. Add jeera and salt. Mix well. Heat a small kadhai/wok or a griddle for a minute or two. Add 1-2 drops of oil and spread it with a spoon. Now pour two ladlefuls of batter onto the heated kadhai or griddle, and spread lightly to form a small pancake, around ½ inch thick. Lower the flame. Cover with a lid and let it cook for 3-5 minutes. Check in between whether it is cooked as it may blacken if overcooked.
Once cooked, flip this ‘rotti’ over and let it cook for another minute for two. Do not cover it. Now, turn off the heat and savour this warm ‘flat bread’ with spoonfuls of tangy chutney.
Traditional ‘dibbarotti’
Ingredients
2 cups granular rice
1 cup split black gram (urad dal)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
Salt as per taste
2-3 teaspoon oil
Granular rice is readily available in South India. It can be made at home too. Grind regular rice coarsely. Sieve off the finer particles and use the granular rice to make this ‘pancake’.
Soak the granular rice in water for 1-2 hours. Soak urad dal in water for 2-3 hours. Add cumin and salt to the dal and grind it to a fine paste. Mix with the soaked granular rice, and keep overnight (5-6 hours so that it ferments).
After the batter is fermented, use it to make the dibbarotti, using the same process as the minapparotti.