A meeting with East in the West!
Matar-Paneer and Naan followed by a Ras-Malai! It's a dream food here and the dream came true yesterday. Thanks to that Pakistani shop in Brussels!
Yesterday, I happened to visit a Pakistani shop and looking at the stuff they were selling, I felt so homely. Daal, Rice, Pickles, Samosa, MDH Chat Masala and "Heat and Eat" stuff like Daal Makhaani, Baigan Bharta, Dum Aaloo, Matar-Paneer... and what not! I immediately added Bombay Biryani to my cart (just because its name sounded very homely - in India I never heard anything by this name!). After sometime I realised that cart was too heavy to carry, so I stopped picking more things. Best was yet to come... my conversation with the shop-keeper in "Hindustani". He told me that most of the things they sell, come from Karachi, Bombay and London. I was happy to realise that a political wall raised long back on a land did not divide the culture, food and life-style of its people. While making the bill, the shop-keeper realised my taste for sweets (since I had picked so many sweets!) and asked "Bhai, aap gaajar ka halwa nahi lenge kya"? Yum, yum (I thought) and said "kyon nahi, lekin mujhe dikhai nahi diya ki kahaan rakha hai halwa, deejiye na 250 gram". He smiled and said "aap poochhiye to har cheez haazir hai", turned around and shouted "Arif Bhai, 250 gram halwa lagaana". Again some familar words went into my ears!
It was a great experience. Would love to go that place again and again. By the way, gaajar ka halwa was simply fundoo!
Yesterday, I happened to visit a Pakistani shop and looking at the stuff they were selling, I felt so homely. Daal, Rice, Pickles, Samosa, MDH Chat Masala and "Heat and Eat" stuff like Daal Makhaani, Baigan Bharta, Dum Aaloo, Matar-Paneer... and what not! I immediately added Bombay Biryani to my cart (just because its name sounded very homely - in India I never heard anything by this name!). After sometime I realised that cart was too heavy to carry, so I stopped picking more things. Best was yet to come... my conversation with the shop-keeper in "Hindustani". He told me that most of the things they sell, come from Karachi, Bombay and London. I was happy to realise that a political wall raised long back on a land did not divide the culture, food and life-style of its people. While making the bill, the shop-keeper realised my taste for sweets (since I had picked so many sweets!) and asked "Bhai, aap gaajar ka halwa nahi lenge kya"? Yum, yum (I thought) and said "kyon nahi, lekin mujhe dikhai nahi diya ki kahaan rakha hai halwa, deejiye na 250 gram". He smiled and said "aap poochhiye to har cheez haazir hai", turned around and shouted "Arif Bhai, 250 gram halwa lagaana". Again some familar words went into my ears!
It was a great experience. Would love to go that place again and again. By the way, gaajar ka halwa was simply fundoo!
1 Comments:
Agreed... the mindset of people at "that particular" moment might have lead to the division. But this mindset is very much influenced (rather forced to be like that) by politicians and leaders. It is almost impossible for future generations to undo whatever has already been done (possibly under some influence or in wrong impression) by ancestors. And remember... no one asked a common man or a poor while drawing new lines on the map in comfortable rooms with coffee sips!
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