Tasting Avial At Bangalore

Aviyal (Malayalam: അവിയല്, pronounced [aʋijal]) is a dish that has a unique place in a typical Kerala Cuisine. It is a thick mixture of a lot vegetables, curd and coconut. It is seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves.It is supposed to have been invented by Bheema (one of the Pandava brothers) during his agnaathavaasa. According to the legend, Ballav (Bheem's name during this time) when he assumed his duties as the cook in the kitchen of Virata, did not know how to cook. One of the first things he did was to chop up many different vegetables, boil them together and top the dish with grated coconut.

[Courtesy http://www.wikipedia.org]

But the best part is, it tastes good. And during 24th and 25th of April, people in Bangalore tasted Avial and found it good, in fact better than many of the things that they had tasted till date.

This time, the Avial mentioned here is not a rich mixture of boiled vegetables topped with curd and grated coconut, but an amazing rock band which hails from Kerala which sings rock in Malayalam. As Bhima did while making Aviyal for the first time, mixing things that no one believed can co-exist, and coming up with something that tasted so good. The band provides an awesome rich blend of Kerala folk music and rock.

I had been familiar with the music of Avial for some years and this time decided to follow the band to Bangalore to catch them playing live. For starters, they sound and feel so amazingly different from any other Indian band. Let it be the tones that come out from Rex’s Les Paul, the steady bass lines from Benny, the metronome named Mithun or the spontaneous acts that Tony pulls up on the stage still singing in his straight-forward voice-they are different by miles.

Since I am not good enough to write, here is a coverage for you through my lens.