Summary: Memories are Made of Buttermilk
In this text, the speaker explains why she associates buttermilk with very fond
memories. She begins with a scene from when she was five or six years old. She
walked into the kitchen and found her grandmother sitting there, with the pot
and the churner, pulling the rope back and forth to churn the milk or the yogurt.
She slipped inside her grandmother’s arms, and sat and worked with her. She
loved sitting with her grandmother, quiet but comfortable. After churning for
some time, butter lumps began to form. Grandmother formed the lumps into a
big ball. Then she collected the leftover lumps of the fresh butter and gave them
to the speaker.
The speaker loved tasting the butter. Some years later, grandmother made
buttermilk with a food mixer, but even then, the butter tasted heavenly to the
speaker. She describes how buttermilk, the liquid left after butter has been
churned, is enjoyed all over the country. As sambaram in Kerala, majjige or
neer-mor in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, as chaas in North
India and as lassi in Punjab, buttermilk is popular everywhere. It is simple and
cheap, so anyone and everyone can drink it.
The speaker has even seen pushcart vendors selling buttermilk to passers-by.
She herself likes it better than yogurt. She wishes she could drink the buttermilk
that her grandmother made. Especially on summer days, she remembers the
childhood scene and thinks of setting up her grandmother’s old wooden churner.
The text is written from the point of view of the first-person narrator. The tone
and style of the text is that of an anecdote or reminiscences. The text has several
elements, such as childhood memory, family bonding, traditional cooking, and
Indian culinary heritage.
The setting is Indian. The text opens on a domestic scene that the speaker
recollects. From the fact that she remembers the scene so vividly we understand
how precious the memory is to her. During the whole scene in the kitchen, the
speaker and her grandmother never talk, but we can understand how close they
are by reading how well coordinated their movements are, how comfortable
they are with each other and how they understand each other without speaking.
This theme of love is brought back at the end of the text when the speaker signs
off by saying that she treasures her grandmother’s butter-churner and thinks of
setting it up, as if to recreate the childhood scene. Just as the speaker has moved
on from childhood to adulthood, the text moves on from the close, domestic
setting to the wider backdrop of the entire country when the speaker discusses
the nationwide popularity of buttermilk. She highlights one of the many food or
drinks that are consumed across India in different forms, thus serving as an
example of unity in diversity.
UNIT 9 MEMORIES ARE MADE OF BUTTERMILK
Embedded Questions 1:
Free response
Embedded Questions 2:
Suggested answer (accept any logical answer): The speaker remembers the childhood scene so well
because she was very happy in that time and place, churning butter with her beloved grandmother.
So the scene became a favourite memory.
Embedded Questions 3:
Free response
Embedded Questions 4:
Suggested answer (accept any logical answer): Pushcart vendors also sell sugarcane juice, fruits and
street foods like bhelpuri or panipuri.
Comprehension
A. 1. butter churner
2. she was waiting to see when lumps of butter would start forming
3. the speaker’s grandmother made it in a food mixer
4. sambaram, majjige or neer-mor and chaas
5. that it is excellent for digestion and helps to cool the body
6. lassi and mishti dahi
B. 1. When, as a child, the speaker entered the kitchen, she saw her grandmother sitting on the floor, her
legs spread out and resting against the wall. Soft light filtered through the window. Between her
knees was a heavy mud pot. A tall, wooden butter churner was placed inside this pot. When the
speaker walked into the kitchen, her grandmother turned. Her beautiful face crinkled into a smile
but she didn’t say anything.
2. The speaker slipped under her grandmother’s hands. She rested against the C-shaped curve of her
grandmother’s body. She leaned against her grandmother’s soft belly. Both their legs were spread
out and their hands were level with each other’s. Together, they pulled the rope back and forth,
producing butter from the milk or the thick yogurt.
3. a. The speaker was in the kitchen.
b. The ‘best part’ was when the speaker’s grandmother collected the smaller lumps of butter,
made a small ball and put it in the speaker’s mouth.
c. The speaker says that the freshly churned butter tasted of the saltiness of her grandmother’s
hand, the sweetness of cow’s milk and the slight sourness of the yogurt cream.
4. Buttermilk is enjoyed in different forms across the country. In Kerala, it is watered down and
flavoured with curry leaves. In Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, buttermilk is spiced
with green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, asafoetida and salt. In North India, buttermilk is enjoyed
with roasted and ground cumin, salt, lemon juice and crushed mint leaves. In Punjab, thick
buttermilk is blended with fruits to make lassi.
5. a. Buttermilk is for everyone as it is found in every part of India. It is a simple drink which is not
costly to buy or difficult to make, so anyone can enjoy it.
b. By the ‘beauty’ of buttermilk, the speaker means the wonderful quality of buttermilk which
makes it a drink for everyone. Buttermilk can be enjoyed in many ways by people from all over
India. That is why it is special and beautiful.
6. a. The speaker prefers her grandmother’s buttermilk because it was delicious and tasted like
buttery heaven. She also prefers it because she loved her grandmother and wishes that her
grandmother was still with her so that they could churn buttermilk together as they used to.
b. The speaker still has her grandmother’s wooden churner. On hot summer days, she thinks of
bringing it out and setting it up with two coils of ropes, just as it was in her grandmother’s
kitchen.
C. Suggested answers (accept any logical answer):
1. Although the speaker and her grandmother did not talk while churning butter, the speaker
felt very safe and comfortable because she loved her grandmother very much. They were busy
churning butter and did not need to talk. They had to be careful, yet they could relax too. The
speaker loved spending time with her grandmother. She felt loved and protected when she sat
within her arms.
2. The speaker shows that a simple drink like buttermilk can bring different parts of the country
together by explaining how every part of the country uses this drink. Buttermilk is a simple, cheap
and delicious drink, so everyone, no matter where they are from, can drink it. In fact, people in
different parts of the country use it in different ways, according to their tastes, so the drink is
similar and familiar, yet different and unique across the country.
Grammar
A. 2. play 3. has 4. is 5. go 6. is 7. live 8. are
B. 2. solve 3. makes 4. is 5. Are 6. have 7. is/was
Vocabulary
2. by and large 3. peace and quiet 4. short and sweet 5. law and order
6. safe and sound
Listening
Listening text
Hello, I am chef Sunayana Prabhakar. Today, I am cooking some vegetables and a dessert. First, I will
clean and dice the vegetables. To dice is to cut into small, square pieces. I can roast the vegetables in
an oven, but I have decided to stir-fry them in a little oil and on high heat.
While cooking, I will season the vegetables. That is, I will add salt and spices to give it flavour. When I
am serving the dish, I often garnish it to make it look and taste better. Different things can be used as
garnish. Over a plate of curry, I can scatter a few coriander leaves. If it is a pudding, I can add a bit of
cream or a few pieces of fruit.
Dessert can be anything sweet after the meal, so I could make pudding or pie or ice cream. But I want
a chocolate cake. So I am going to bake it in the oven.
Answer:
1. c 2. a 3. b 4. b 5. c 6. a
Spelling
A. 1. division 2. admission 3. digestion 4. solution 5. combination 6. decision
7. duration 8. revision
B. 1. famous 2. delicious 3. precious 4. enormous 5. anxious 6. humorous
7. dangerous 8. cautious 9. nervous
MEMORIES ARE MADE OF BUTTERMILK
A. Answer in brief.
1. What did the narrator do as soon as she entered the kitchen?
Ans: The narrator was very happy to see her grandmother who was busy churning butter. The
rhythmic movement of the butter churner tempted the narrator to slip under the hands of the
grandmother and sit resting against her body. The narrator too pulled the rope back and forth
along with her grandmother making the milk give up its butter.
2. How was using a mixie to take out butter different from churning butter with the hand?
Ans: It would take a lot of time to churn butter out of yogurt in olden days as it had to be done by
hand. One had to be patient as they had to churn on without a break. The mixie made churning
much easier and it took hardly five minutes to get lumps of butter from yogurt.
B. Answer in detail.
1. How does the narrator describe the making of butter by her grandmother?
Ans: After churning the thick yogurt for some time, heavy butter lumps would begin to form.
Grandmother would then pour cold water into the mud pot and continue churning. Within
minutes butter lumps floated on the top. Grandmother would collect all the lumps together in
her hands and shape them together into a round ball. Then she would put the big round ball into
a vessel filled with water where it would float like white planets. She would then collect smaller
lumps of butter that floated inside and made small balls of the butter and would put them in the
mouth of the narrator.
2. How is buttermilk different in different parts of India?
Ans: Buttermilk is made differently in different parts of India. Mostly in southern India, it is made
delicious with herbs and spices which are used in daily cooking. Curry leaves, ginger and salt
are used to make buttermilk in South India which is also called neer-mor. In the northern states,
buttermilk is usually made with cumin powder, salt, lemon juice, crushed pudhina or mint leaves.
Buttermilk is also called lassi in some states where it is served with cream and sugar.
C. Read the lines and answer the questions.
1. No matter how rich or poor, all of India enjoys this drink.
a. Why does everyone enjoy the drink?
b. What is it made of?
c. Why is it available everywhere?
Ans: a. This drink is stomach friendly and is excellent for digestion and cooling of the body.
Hence it is liked by everyone.
b. The basic ingredient is milk, which is made into yogurt and then churned to get butter.
After the butter is removed, what remains is the buttermilk.
c. It is available everywhere because it is a milk product and milk is easily available
everywhere.
2. Every now and then, particularly on hot summer days, I think of bringing it out and setting it up with
two coils of ropes, just as it was in my grandmother’s kitchen.
a. What does the narrator want to bring out?
b. Why does she want to set it up?
c. Why did she enjoy doing this?
Ans: a. The narrator wants to bring out the wooden churner which her grandmother had in her
kitchen.
b. She really loved her grandmother’s buttermilk. Her grandmother was no more now but
the narrator felt like setting up the butter churner which belonged to her grandmother
and she wanted to make buttermilk just the way her grandmother did.
c. She enjoyed doing this because she loved the experience she had with her grandmother
and the memory made her very happy.
D. Answer in brief. (Think and answer)
1. Why does the narrator call the last lumps of butter buttery heaven?
Ans: Grandmother always had the practice of giving the small remaining lumps of butter to the
narrator since she was a child. The practice continued even after ten years when she would churn
the butter in the mixie. The lumps that remained went into the mouth of the narrator. That was
heavenly as she relived her childhood.
2. Why does buttermilk have an important place in the life of the narrator?
[Free response] Suggested answer: The narrator had a lot of fond memories associated
with buttermilk. She was very attached to her grandmother and whenever she visited her
grandmother she would spend time with her while she churned butter from yoghurt and made
buttermilk. Even after her grandmother was gone, the narrator preserved the churner which her
grandmother used.
E. Answer in detail. (Think and answer)
Write briefly about your memory connected to a particular experience or food that you can never
forget even after you grow old.
Ans: [Free response]
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