Part 1: Kali Pujo r mela (fair) in Behala and discovering Mathura
Cake ( recipe at the bottom)
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| Kali Puja |
Although, it has been a
while that I am back from home (where is home? Kolkata. Always!). Yet my body is engulfed by laziness of being
home, eating too much and being over loved.
And I am so, so loving it. Kolkata is an amazing place during the
festive time and around the end of the year with so many things happening.
Initially, I had made plans to write everyday on the places that I visit and
the things that I do. I did actually manage to take a lot of photographs. However,
writing was out of questions- it was too much of an over ambitious project. I
gave up and no regrets. Period.
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| Add caption |
Now I am back- well to be
honest forced to come back! I hate my office( I love my work!!!!!!!) and I am forced
by my friends to write who think it is important that I try to be regular to
make my blog popular. Do I need to be? I
do not think so. Hence, I have decided only write when I feel like. And being
popular- ohhhhh I would love to be! Super star!
But not at the cost of losing the joy of writing and cooking. Therefore,
from now on I might be very irregular or too much regular. Let the passion flow
without rules. Period. Please bear with me.
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Puja Pandal
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| Lighted gate leading to the Pandal |
Ligting at the Mela/Fair
Now back to Kolkata and to what
I wanted to share. My first day at home was the next of day Kali puja. So the
house was still glittering with ‘tuni’ bulb ( LED lights actually but I like to
think they are tuni bulb), prodip ( diya or clay lamp) and candles. My niece,
nephew and brother ready with tarabatti, tubri, chorki, rong moshal (various
kinds of firecracker that gives light but not sound). And of course the famous Kali pujo r Mela (Fair
during Kali puja) of Parnasree just 2 mins away. Nothing is a better start then
this.
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Chorki
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Kali the Hindu goddess is associated
with empowerment. The name Kali comes from the word Kala meaning black, dark, or
time. Hence, Kali-the violent and dark goddess is known as the goddess of time
and change. In addition, Kali is the consort of Shiva who is known as the
eternal time. In Bengali depiction of Kali, she is often seen standing on the
body of Shiva who laid himself on her path to subdue her anger. She is also
time manifestation of other Hindu goddess like Durga, Sati, Chamunda and
Parboti to name the few.
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| The Crowd at the Mela |
Apart from being worshiped
in various form ( eg The Bhavatarini
form of Kali is worshiped at
Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Kolkata or the Poteshwari form by some ) within
households and temple, Kali is also
an essential figure in Bengali literature, with devotees
as Ramprasad Sen noted for his shyama Sangeet.
To listen to his music, you can visit the following link but may want to ignore
the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jLYr0qH-wg)
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| the father-son moment at the mela |
Kali Puja in Parnasree is
very famous with some or other famous tollywood star coming to inaugurate the
puja every year. There are three major puja pandal in Parnasree, which people
around Behala never miss to visit. One of the pandal, by Parnasree club takes
place near a lake with boating facility. Lights all around the lake with
colored shadow over the flowing water, happy couple boating, tugging into each other’s
arm, screaming excited kids with their parents, long queue of thrilled and
waiting people makes a sight in itself. It sort of breaks the monotonousness of
London life, brings color, sound and people closer to you. And not to mention
the cultural programme every evening for three days starting just day after
Kali puja. With each pandal competing with the other to get the best of
singers, dancer or theatre artist of
west Bengal to perform, the residence( given priority for seats) as well as outsiders have a opportunity see
their favorite people perform, that too free of cost.
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| Dokra Ear Rings |
Kali Puja, which coincide
with Dewali in rest of India, is also accompanied by fair in various localities
in and around kolkata and outside kolkata. The Kali Puja fair of Parnasree,
Behala, is a special attraction among the residents and flocked by tourist from
across various parts of the state as well by foreign tourist visiting the city
of joy. Vendors from all over West
Bengal, set up stalls to exhibit and sell their handicrafts. You will see stalls for clay pottery, ceramic kitchenware,
brass artifacts, Dokra jewelry (Dokra is the art of metal crafts amongst some tribes
of eastern India. The tribes were initially nomadic in nature, but later on
settled down on the planes of Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. They continue their
artisanship in making tribal jewelry, natural themed figurines of plants,
animals and god they worship. Bronze is melted with lac and resin is solidified
into alloyed wires, rods, and plates. Then the figurines are made with them.
They are handcrafted, therefore, the shapes are not perfect), stalls of dry
flowers, flower plants, garden equipment, plastic kitchenware , stalls of bits
and bob needed for puja like stone plate and bowl, brass and copper plates,
bowl, glass etc. it is like a treasure hunt-you name the object and you most
likely will find it in the mela (fair). There is also dedicated area for rides like
toy train, nagordola (Merry go round), Russian boat, and giant wheel and of
course the trampoline for the little one. The mela also had, u la la, gambling
stalls. Not sure, about the legality, I was so tempted.
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| Glass Bangle Stall |
However, the major attraction
of the mela are stalls of the mela are
the food stall selling all kind of street food of Bengal- Puchka, churmur,
batata puri, bhel puri, chop, shingara, fish fry, ghugni, alu kabri, roll ( the
famous kolkata roll) and not to miss, the ‘ all fair incomplete without it’, Hojmi and Aachar stall ( pickle stall) and the
pan shop. We have a batata puriwalla who puts his stall right at the end of the
road leading to my house. I have no idea for how many years we have eaten from
him, but he knows all of us just like any other member of the family. Every
year he would come, ask about me, my mashi, my mother, didon & every one
possible. We never tell him what to make for us and how to make. He just knows
it. Sometime he would send them home without worrying about the money, as he
knows he will get it before going home. Of course, we always get special price.
And we face his anger in case found eating from someone else. We always do a
little to irritate him, he knows that but still get angry. Now we eat from his
son who have a permanent stall in Parnasree Bazaar. In mela, we made family
with someone and I am sure everyone of the visitor have done the same with
someone or the other.
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fish fry
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| frying Jibeli |
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| A fuchka stall |
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| Pan stall |
Among all these treasure, I
discovered ‘Mathura Cake’ –recipe of cake will come soon. Let me tell you about
the taste. It is awesome, melts in the mouth, sweet and fluffy. I do not know how
many I eat. The stall was run by two Bengali boys from Mathura. They mixed
their ‘Krishna love’ as they said in making it and it seems we will not be able
to make anything close to that.
The motivating part of such
fair is, the artisan can sell their handicraft directly to the buyers avoiding
the intermediaries. This also affects the price of the product making it much
cheaper than buying them from shop. The artisan also get the price of the
product directly with not having to give any cut to the middleman and hence
increasing their profitability.
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| Mehendi/Hena artist |
The celebration, the color,
the crown, the eating together and the hunt for the perfect shaped pottery
makes it a special day out. Children hanging on to the hands of parent and
eager to go to the rides, foodies flocking the food stall, mothers busy buying
the kitchen ware, boudi’s ( sister in
law) buying plastic flower for bedroom, and teenagers, dressed in their best
busy trying to catch eye of their
heartthrob – makes it all the more fun. Nothing could have been a better start
of the holiday then visiting the fair right across my home.
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| and they smiled at me |
To see all the photos from
Kali Puja and Mela, please log on to my Facebook page, Pet Pujo and Adda
Now
sharing the recipe for Mathura cake as shared by the cook himself :
Ingredients
(The measurements are as given by the maker. It is not a tasted
measurement by me. I made with the ingredients but did not take a note of the
measurement. Just used my sense. They came beautiful. So feel free and use as
you please)
200g flour
100 g milk solids (khoya)
250 g sugar
250 ml milk ( little more if needed to make the dough)
1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/4 cup cashew, chopped
¼ cup almond, chopped
¼ dry cherry, chopped
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| Mathura Cake |
Lots of oil for deep frying
Method:
1. Add milk slowly t to khoya, stirring
continuously and cook over low heat
2. Add sugar and cook. Till will be a thick, semi
liquid dough
3. Add the flour and make bread like dough (so that easy
to make rounds with hand)
4. Add cashew and almond and cherry and combine well
5. Make round and shape them like doughnuts
6. Fry then in deep oil until golden brown
7. Serve them hot, sprinkled with sugar dust
You can sprinkle cinnamon sugar dust I believe and
they should taste nice actually. Hmm.. I will try that. It can also be a good
start to Christmas eating spree.
