Residents keep alive tradition of cooking ‘rauh di kheer’

Keeping alive the tradition of cooking “rauh di kheer”, a staple Lohri dish, city residents thronged at stalls selling sugarcane juice on the festival day today. The rates of per litre cane juice remained high to an unusual Rs 40 to Rs 50 per litre.

But that did not prove as deterrent as long queues of residents waiting for their turns at all sugarcane juice stalls were seen from the early morning today. Even local traders had set up extra number of stalls to cash upon the opportunity.

“We ordered for two tractor-trailers of sugarcane for today. Last year, we had only one and were out of cane juice stock by afternoon,” said Harminder Singh, a local farmer, who set up a stall on the Majitha road, especially for Lohri celebrations.

Gurdial Kaur, a senior citizen and a resident of the Batala road said, “The Lohri celebrations are not complete without the cooking of kheer. There is an old saying about the tradition of cooking kheer. “Poh ridhi, magh khadi” (Cooked in the month of Poh and eaten in the month of Magh). Lohri is celebrated on the last day of the month of Poh and Maghi. The first day of Magh month marks the beginning of new year as per Punjabi calendar.”

Even as children and youngsters celebrate Lohri by flying kites, which is usually accompanied by loud music played on DJs on the rooftops, elders still feel that there could be no better way to celebrate the festival than by sticking to the old tradition. The kheer is also a way to welcome summers as it is kept all through the night and served cold on the next morning.

For oldies, eating “rauh di kheer’, which is served cold with curd mixed with red chillies to beat the sweetness, also marks the beginning of summers. “It is served cold as temperature starts to increase and Maghi marks the beginning of summers,” explained Jagtar Singh, a Punjabi teacher.