Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Water Break

Water Break watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015 

Selling fresh betel leaves directly to the customers at the street market, this lady seems to have a good business sense for displaying her goods and controlling her expenses. All she needed was a small blue stool to sit on and a big basket  of fresh leaves stacked in neat piles! Behind her were clay pots balanced carefully and the rickety table held small clay pots etc. The Betel leaves are important in Hindu religious ceremonies, a main ingredient in 'pan' for chewing pleasure, and also used for medicinal purposes. So the business is usually brisk for leaves and the pots as it’s much simpler to stop by a stand while commuting to work or running errands than to plan a special trip to the store.   


Water Break  5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal

5 comments:

Sue Clinker said...

We saw lots of Betel leaf sellers in the various markets we visited during our recent trip to India - its definitely very popular but isn't that the leaf that stains teeth and lips red?

Meera Rao said...

@Sue Clinker, betel leaf by itself does not turn anything red and has medicinal qualities. Betel leaves are used as a stimulant, an antiseptic and a breath-freshener.

But in 'paan' several ingredients added to the leaf - like small bits of betel nut, lime and catechu (katha). cardamom, shredded coconut, cloves. The red comes Katha. It is obtained from the stem of a tree called 'Khaira' (Acacia catechu). It is pink in colour and turns red when boiled with water. The resulting thick paste is used in paan. When a coat of katha is applied above the lime layer, a chemical reaction takes place which makes the colour of katha redder. When paan is chewed, the saliva in the mouth also aids in bringing out the red colour and stains the teeth and lips.

padmaja said...

Love the stories behind your main characters Meera! We have lovely betel leaves at home spreading up and all around so well. We dont need to go to the store to buy them!

Meera Rao said...

Thanks Padmaja! We too have a couple of small plants here in US -- growing for the novelty mostly as they are quite finicky about being indoors half the year !

Sadami said...

Hi, Meera, your warm eyes to people always makes me happy and smile. Keep it up. Your work will send important messages of life and people. Best wishes, Sadami

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