Oh Deer!

Uma was seriously bummed out! She had been out watering her favorite flowering plants—a few annuals that she had planted just a week ago. She came in very upset because overnight some deer came in and chewed off a few of her begonias and petunias. That really is a shame, as these plants give out beautiful flowers throughout the summer and fall with very little care.

Newly planted flowering annuals

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Our family comes from the Guntur region of Andhra Pradesh in India. This region is known worldwide for the hot chili peppers grown there. Our grandparents and uncles used to farm these. I have fond memories of my grandmother arriving at our place in Hyderabad with copious quantities of assorted pickles and spice powders made with these Guntur chilies. One of my favorites was uppu mirapakaaya, which translates to Salted Chili Peppers. These are made by soaking green chilies in buttermilk and salt, and then drying them under the sun. When ready to use, they are deep-fried and then served on the side as an accompaniment to sambar rice or yogurt rice.

I can guarantee you that if you open the luggage of the Indians streaming in through JFK or Newark airport daily by the thousands, you will see that a big fraction of it is homemade pickles! No… these pickles have nothing to do with cucumbers at all! They mostly resemble the Chili oil you see in Chinese restaurants and can burn holes in your intestines if you do not have the appropriate South Asian cast-iron stomach for them!

When I first brought them with me in 1983, the oil that leaked from the mango pickle made such a mess that I was afraid they would kick me back to India right then and there! Since then, India has progressed a lot in pickle-packaging technology. For the last 25 years, we have been bringing these pickles and powders in thick plastic bags that have been sealed tightly, and never once have they failed and ruined a suitcase full of clothes. The only problem with bringing massive quantities of these (lovingly packed by our parents, who must think that we eat these pickles 3 times a day, every day) is that we now have piled up packets of these, methodically cataloged by Uma (with name and year). If I am not wrong, we are still working on our 2015 supply of mango pickle, while more recent supplies are patiently waiting their turn.

Uma vs Bambi

This morning, as I stepped out for my walk, I was surprised to see a yellow powder sprinkled around the annuals in the garden. Upon close examination, I realized that this was the crushed Uppu Mirapakaaya powder. That was brilliant! Uma confirmed that she opened up a package from the 2006 vintage and decided to try this home remedy in the hope that it would work and gently coax the deer to move along to the neighbor’s yard. I sure hope that it works as well.

My worry is that word will spread far and wide through the deer family WhatsApp groups that now the tender plants come with a side of yummy imported hot and spicy condiment, and we will end up with a horde of deer feasting on the begonia buffet!

What these deer don’t know is that Uma has a backup arsenal of deadly pickles that have been marinating in airtight plastic bags since 2004 – Aavakaaya (Mango), Usiri kaaya (Gooseberry), Tomato, Ginger! If these don’t work, next it will be an unrelenting barrage of Sambar kaarum, Goddu kaarum, and the appropriately named – Guntur gunpowder!

I thank the deer for nudging Uma towards this spring cleaning of the fridges, thereby making room for more supplies to be imported from Guntur on our next trip.