A crab feast

Six of them will fit in your palm. Ground together with a little chilly and salt, they will make a tasty dish. So Ramprasad and his teenage friends have trapped the mud crabs (Scylla serrata) in a plastic bottle, and are now getting ready for a feast.

The boys settle down under a thick canopy of trees, a welcome relief from the burning sun here in Malakavaripalli Thanda – a settlement of Banjaras in Sri Sathya Sai district of Andhra Pradesh. The star of their dish – the mud crab – is also known as ‘green crab’ and ‘mangrove crab’ and is found on India’s east coast.

This quiet spot in Amadagur mandal lies in a valley – paddy fields, tomato, and chili plants are framed by low hills. In stark contrast to the lush view, we are told that borewells go down 800 to 1,200 feet. Even so, crop irrigation is limited to eight hours a day.

A parent, Ramesh Nayak, a Banjara farmer, told PARI that he travels nearly 700 kilometers to Kochi in Kerala to work in construction or sewage cleaning. “We do sewage cleaning. It smells a lot, but the pay is good.” he says.

Lack of water and other resources forces farmers to migrate for work after the harvest ends; their children are sent to boarding schools. With only a primary school in the village, most of the children from Malakavaripalli Thanda attend schools in nearby towns and cities such as Amadagur, Thummala, Obula Devara Cheruvu and Kadiri.

The Dussehra holidays have ended and the boys are headed back to school the next day. Their childhood play of cooking crabs in the fields will be done one last time.

M. Motilal and Srikanth Nayak have brought salt from a farmer who lives nearby; it’s neatly wrapped in a piece of old newspaper. Around us, several farmers have gone to a neighbouring hamlet to gather sand for a temple construction, while others are in their fields, running water pumps.

Bhanu Nayak and Likith Nayak add a handful of freshly picked chillies to the salt.

It’s time to cook.

Ramprasad turns into a whirlwind of activity: he pulls out the crabs, plucks off the claws and legs, and gathers twigs, dry leaves, and grass. Lohith, Bhanu, Likith, Srikanth, and Motilal also help. Ramprasad places the crabs in a pile of dry grass and sets the grass alight. Within minutes, the fire burns out, and he carefully retrieves the charred crabs from the ashes.

Lohith rinses the handle of a shovel to grind the chutney of cooked crabs, chillies and salt. Dhogadavant! Dhogadavant [crushing! crushing]!” they chant. ‘Dhogadavant’ is 'crushing' in Goar-boli (also known as Lambadi).

The crabs are now ready and are quickly eaten up by the band of boys.

“Inka kaavala [do you want more], sir?” asked Lohith. Our hesitant responses sent two of them darting towards the pond; they returned with a large crab and eight medium-sized ones.

Charan Nayak, the eldest teen, told us about the medicinal properties of crabs. A handball player, he studies at Araku Sports School near Visakhapatnam. Bhanu studies in an English medium school in Obula Devara Cheruvu town.

“We’re all going back to the hostel tomorrow. My father will drop me and my brother at Obula Devara Cheruvu, then take a train from Kadiri to Kochi,” he said.

As rain threatens, the boys run through the fields toward their village and home.