Churning

Malli and Valli take the train to Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. The sun is rising and it is getting hot. On the way to their Maasi's home they stop at a dhaba (a roadside eatery) and drink chhach, buttermilk.

A big painting hangs on the dhaba's wall. The shopkeeper explains that it shows a woman churning curd with a big mathni (a churner) to separate butter.

When curd is churned, it is stirred round and round, hard, with the mathni. The butter separates out. Butter is lighter, so it floats to the top. What is left behind is the buttermilk: the chhach the children drank. Many homes now use electric churners, but the idea is the same.

So churning is a method of separation used to get butter out of curd. And both parts are useful: we eat the butter and drink the buttermilk.