Do not attack a burnt pan with steel wool straight away. Pour in hot water with a spoon of salt or baking soda, leave it half an hour, and the black lifts with a wooden spatula. Scrubbing first only polishes it in.
RasoiHalf a dried coconut shell, sanded flat on the rim, scrubs burnt kadhai bottoms better than steel wool and never rusts in the sink. Free with every coconut.
A pinch of hing in the tadka makes rajma and chana noticeably easier on the stomach. Add it to hot oil for a second only — burnt hing turns bitter and there is no rescuing it.
PaaniFit a cheap plastic whistle into the tank's overflow pipe. The moment the tank fills, the escaping water blows the whistle and you hear it from inside the house. Saves hundreds of litres a month and no motor gets burnt.
MausamWhen the submersible pump in the desert cooler burns out, pour half a bucket of water directly over the khus pads every hour. Not elegant, but it gets you through the night until the electrician comes on Monday.
RasoiMaking Indian bread. You dont need gas or burner, all you need is an iron box and ofcourse some creativity.
Burn a small piece of kapoor in a closed room for a few minutes, then air the room before going in. Never sleep in a room with it burning, and keep it away from children and curtains.
A strip of tape on a translucent tank at the level where you should switch the motor on saves guessing and saves running it dry, which is what burns motors out.
SurakshaDry neem leaves smouldered in a steel plate for five minutes clear a room of mosquitoes without a coil. Do it with the windows open and step out while it burns — smoke in a shut room is not the goal.
That is all 9 of them. बस, इतना ही।
हर मुश्किल का देसी हल
287 jugaads from Indian homes. No shopping list, no subscription — just what people already do with what they already have.