Celebrating Passion for Food
As soon as the Diwali’s hustle & bustle settles down, the people especially from Bihar get ready to rejoice the much awaited ChhathPooja. Chhath is an important festival in Hindu religion. Celebrated mostly in Bihar and Nepal’s Mithila, Chhath Puja is dedicated to the worship of the Sun god and his wife Usha. Devotees perform the puja to thank the Sun god for supporting life on earth and also to seek his blessings.
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Food has always been pivotal to human existence. The history of human evolution can be traced and understood through several different studies. Food has played a significant role in this evolution and has been more than a medium of sustenance.
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Folks, it’s that time of the year when Celebration is in the air. For next few months until year end India will embrace fun frolic and festivities, which will be part of our daily life.
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Diwali mornings, every year similar scenes would be played out in our one room kitchen home. Mom would cajole me, threaten me and finally forcefully drag me out of bed. I would be required to find my way to bathroom and get ready before Mom lights up the house with clay diyas. I would trudge across laboriously taking a slight detour and make my way to kitchen instead. I would find it on the corner of a table kept in a large vessel, tightly covered.
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He would come pretty early in morning, cycling laboriously, with his paraphernalia that would add to the weight on his bicycle. He carried a big kadhai (pan), no not just big, a gigantic one, a large iron ladle, a fuel stove and enough fuel to last him the day. He would start with simmering the milk in that pan. I would mostly be in my slumber and would wake up to the pleasant aroma of milk, the milk that would had simmered for some time and filled up the streets with the aroma emanating from the pan.
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Phirni or Firni is one of the most famous dessert recipes globally. It is essentially a rice pudding that is made world over in different forms and has several variations. Let’s talk about rice first. Rice has been the staple food for many cultures all over the world. How the word ‘Rice’ has originated and evolved over centuries travelling from one country to other is a fascinating tale.
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I was born in Mumbai and grew up in the city. I ended up romanticizing the city for anything and everything that it had to offer me. My parents however would often miss their rural roots. They would narrate me and my sister several funny anecdotes of the village where they were born, they grew up, where they shared laughs and grief with their cousins and uncles and aunts, and which they left with heavy heart for the city of Mumbai in search of better opportunities. I still remember, though not as clearly, but my memory still is fresh in parts, my first trip through the dusty bylanes on an open jeep leading to my ancestral home in a small village in Uttar Pradesh.
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