The chulah

 I wonder how many of you know what a 'chulah' is.

I know your smiling and using Google or ChatGPT at the same time and that's fine  ,as this is not a quiz.

Have you ever seen one ? Have you seen it being used.

When making my morning cuppa a short while ago my memory went back to those chilly winter mornings when I was growing up in Allahabad. 

I vividly remember going to the kitchen in the railway quarters where we lived.

And there was our cook. We called him 'boy' although with his gaunt face , white hair and turban he looked about 100!.

It would probably be around 5.30 or 6 am. 

He would be out in the back yard firing up the 'chulah'.

For the uninitiated - it was a claypot stove which served all if not households . Remember there were  no gas stoves back then so we used chulahs and coal! 

Hopefully you know what coal is.

No not just charcoal that you barbecue with but the 'real hard black coal'.

So the coal was put into the bucket shaped chulah along with a few bit of charcoal if available. 

At times a few pieces of wood were added to the mix- old newspaper too.

Once lit from the bottom through a grill it started smoking.

'Boy' would fan the chulah vigorously  , coughing and choking on the smoke while simultaneously smoking a ' biri' .

At times the coal was of inferior quality and the smoke would be excessive.  However, usually he had a beautiful flame up and running in under ten minutes and tea would be ready.

This chulah was refuelled throughout the day and all 3 meals were cooked on it.

It was also used as a heater in the biting cold Allahabad evenings.

Boy would bring it into the hall and place it strategically- warming our hands over it and then placing those warm hands on our cheeks was fun.

At the end of the day,the ash wa removed and disposed after keeping some to scrub greesy vessels. 

From time to time , fresh wet clay was applied to the chulah and it was put out in the sun to dry for a few hours. It then looked good as new.

Another variation was a high platform with a built in chulah so one could stand and cook- that was a more modern version if you can call it that.

I tried to light the chulah a few times but the smoke would get me coughing and tears would stream down. 

I must add that anything cooked on a chulah tasted terrific. 

Those were the days and we somehow enjoyed them.