Why does throat itches after eating patrode ( taro leaves ) ?

 Today my mother prepared "patrode ( ಪತ್ರೊಡೆ )" from taro leaves. ( ಕೆಸುವಿನ ಎಲೆ ) . It is usually prepared during rainy season .

My mother prefers tiny and young taro leaves when preparing patrode . I asked her the reason . She said grown leaves when eating makes our throat itchy .

Even I had experienced itchy throat once when eating patrode . I was curious to know why it is ?

Taro leaves are low calorie leafy greens which are high in fiber , potassium , folate and vitamins . 

But there is one major precaution to be aware of when eating taro leaves ,  their toxicity level .

Taro leaves have a high oxalate content which is a naturally occurring compound  found in many plants . Many vegetables such as spinach , beans and others also contain this oxalates but in very less amount that we won't experience any poisonous effects .

Older taro leaves contain more amount of oxalates than the younger ones . But both are poisonous when consumed raw .

To deactivate the poisonous oxalate content of taro leaves , they must be cooked properly till the leaves become soften .

That's why my mother steam cooks the patrode . 

How did Birbal identified the real king ?

 Once Birbal was assigned the job of going to neighbouring kingdom as an ambassador . Birbal never had been to that kingdom earlier nor he had met with the king of that kingdom .

The king of neighbouring kingdom had heard many stories of wisdom of Birbal and how Birbal manages to find a solution for each and every problem

King wanted to test Birbal . He asked all his ministers to dress up like him . The challenge for Birbal is to find out who is the real king amongst them .

Birbal was unaware of all these . He entered the court . He was surprised by watching all the persons present in the court room to be dressed as king .

He watched everyone closely . Finally went near a person and greeted him as the king . That person himself was the original king !!

The king was very curious to know how Birbal had managed to identify him ?

Birbal explained , " Only your face was beaming with confidence which is the unique character of a king . Leaving that behind , other men were looking at your face for further instructions and that made my inspection easy ! 

Neighbour king was speechless after hearing the inspection story of Birbal .

You are slave of my slaves !!

We know about Alexander , the great . He was very ambitious . He wanted to win whole world and be the invincible man .

Likewise he started from his place , Greece . He went on winning the countries in the eastern direction . Finally he came to India .


Alexander had learnt about sages of India . He believed that they have special powers . He wants to take one sage along with him to his country .


As soon as he entered ancient India , he came to know that in the neighbourhood there lives a sage . Alexander instructed a soldier to bring the sage to his court .


Soldier went near the sage and informed him that Alexander  , the great wants him to come to court . But the sage refused to do so .

Soldier returned to court and informed Alexander about the same . Alexander got angry by the indecency of sage and went near him with all of his force .


Alexander entered the hut of the sage . Sage had noticed the arrival of Alexander with all of his force . But he didn't move .


Alexander got furious at sage . He held his sword pointing to sage and asked the sage does he  know who is Alexander , the great ?


Sage replied with smile , " YOU ARE THE SLAVE OF MY SLAVES " . 

Alexander didn't know what to say . But now he has little calmed down and asked the sage to explain his saying . Then sage replied " I have gained control over my feelings . Hence they are my slaves . But you didn't conquer them . You easily get captured by them . That's why you are the slave of my slaves . "

Cyclone Tauktae leaves ....

 Cyclone Tauktae after doing lot of damage in coastal areas of our state finally left in the direction of Maharashtra and Gujarat States. It is expected to do landfall in Gujarat .

That means all this time , it was roaming over Arabian sea . But the cyclonic clouds has covered the sky of our area completely since 2 days .

Since 2 days , it was almost total darkness in our area . Whatever people say about the damage caused by cyclone , I am thankful to cyclone Tauktae .

It is the middle of the month of May . Only the people live in coastal areas know the heat of scorching sun along with humidity . Result is unbearable sweating .

Now since 2 days , climate of our place has suddenly changed . Now it is very cool outside . 

Our place has become ANOTHER OOTY !!!       all thanks to the cyclone .

Why we don't use copper vessels for cooking ?

 In ancient India , people were using copper utensils for cooking . But nowadays we don't use . Why ?

There is an interesting story behind this . During last century , Indians were using copper utensils for cooking . Children who had food often fell ill . Nobody came to know about the cause .

Finally we discovered that this illness was due to consumption of copper . The copper particles found in more than usual amount getting accumulated in liver .

What actually happened was Indian mothers used to heat the milk in copper utensils . When milk was boiled for the first time , small amount of copper got mixed with milk .

All Indian mothers have the habit of using the same milk which was bought from the shop in the morning through out the day . So in the above said case also , milk was heated again and again and was given to children for drinking .

Though small amount of copper got mixed with milk whenever milk was heated , these copper particles started to get accumulated in human liver .

It is bad to have anything in excess . The accumulated copper in liver was the cause of illness children were facing . But it was not the food poisoning .

That's why nowadays we don't use copper vessels for cooking .