Human beings, by nature,are curious. So am I. That day, out of
sheer boredom and keen curiosity, I sat down in front of the TV to watch
a cookery show. This show, people tell me, gives out great recipes and
the garnishing is awesome. So I sat down with a bowl full of Bengali
staple favorite muri, to watch the programme and understand what the “hu ha” is about.
Recipe of the day was pretty interesting-crisp eggplant fritters
in exotic Indian spicy batter. Along with the main ingredients, you
needed coriander and parsley leaves for garnishing. With the
pleasantaries between the host and the cook over, we delved into the
recipe. First the exotic batter,then the thinly sliced eggplants…by the
time the host was announcing the first break, my handful of muri was
waiting patiently to be put in my mouth because I was staring at the
accompanying eggplant fritter in exotic batter I was already
having beguni(species),telebhaja(genus).
Had my grandmother been alive,her reaction would have been “maron,mukhporar..beguni sekhache amake“. So I got up,seen enough of it and started thinking about this cottage industry of Bengal-telebhaja.
We Bengalis have a long history of enjoying telebhaja. Which
king,queen or raibahadur started this, I am yet to find out but for us
Bengalis, it is staple diet whether we suffer from acidity or not. If
you have acidity, there is a simple remedy. No, ofcourse you cannot be
expected to stop having telebhaja, just do not drink water immediately
after having alur chop, phuluri etc.
I remember Ashwini dadu. If you are from Howrah and never heard of
him, you are not worth a second glance, because we have already decided “oi je choturdike flat bari uthche aajkal…“with
a smirk on our face. People from far and near used to come and taste
the heavenly flavors of the alur chop, phuluri and beguni that he
created. Yes, those were artistic creations. He would not talk to anyone
while making them so no one disturbed him. The patience of the buyers
during those times were legendary.
He only had one reservation. If you ever asked him “amish noy toh”
your fate was sealed. He would refuse to serve you,not only that
day,but ever again. Asking him that you actually raised a question on
his integrity and the intention of all the old-world widows who were not
allowed to have non-veg food. His was the only shop where they bought
telebhaja from. It was because of his consideration for them that he did
not open his mouth while making telebhaja-if something fell from his
mouth into the batter…”eto hoye jabe je. Ma ra khete parben na go“,that was his concern.
His son could not maintain the standard after his death and the shop closed down.
Then there was Natobar, but lets keep it for later…
--Debjani Dutta
Wondeful...r o chai
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