maharashtrian – devayani tirthali

Facebook is inundated with Diwali faral photos and recipes. First it was exciting and now I can’t stand it. So when Angat Pangat a facebook group posted its Diwali ank link I was excited. Reading Diwali ank was integral part of my Diwali holidays. I wasn’t able to keep it up after moving to NYC.

At first glance, thought this Pravaas: a Degustation by Swapneel Prabhu might be just the antidote I needed. Boy was I right. 🙂 Swapneel has taken the essence of key ingredients of different regional/ethnic Maharashtrian cuisines and presented it in surprising combinations of taste, texture, and presentation.

I was floored going through just the first two courses. The ingredients and the stories Swapneel shared reminded me of my summer and Diwali holidays at my grandparent’s place in Khanapur (Close to Belgaum) and one carefree summer spent in Savantvadi at my mavshi’s house. I can still remember the first time I saw mori masa (Shark) in the maasali baazar (fish market) and the texture of the flaky flesh in the first bite.

Varanaphala in the main course/pasta course moved me from ecstatic/nostalgic to introspective. Varanphala is a contentioys issue in our house. It is the most favorite comfort food for Parag and his family. Equally revolting for me. Swapneel’s take on it captures the essence of varanphal for Parag while giving it that suprising element of filling like a tortellini uplifiting it to something I can enjoy as well.

Many other beautifully conceptualized and plated dishes inspired by Nagapuri, Kolhapuri, and CKP cuisine. I don’t know the cuisine or do not feel passionately about these dishes so I better not comment.

Ending with kharavas and kunda crisps was a master stroke.

As I was about to post this comment I started thinking about my latest couple of posts talking about Indian food and cultural appropriation. I was aghast when I found the vanilla flavored ghee; livid when Saheli shared the Samosa Doughpods. So why is Swapneel’s “PB & J (Pavta Bharit aani Jondhala) Cornetts” inspired by bhakari, bharit, dahi and lahya were so exciting in spite of being presented in a completely alien way to the traditional items it points to?

Is it because he is Indian/Marathi (or thereabouts) and the doughpod person isn’t? How Indian or xyz ethnicity a person needs to be? I think it is more than just being Indian or having some connection to Indian. If that was the only criteria, I would not be so irritated with the Indian fusion at ‘India’ in Providence while I still talk about Chauhan Ale House in Nashville as the best Indian food I ever had this side of the world.

Chauhan had dishes that you would never see on any Indian restaurant menu. The most memorable dish they served was fried Calamari, a staple in New England restaurants but not in India. The herbs and spices used for seasoning however captured the essence of the way I cook and the ingredients I use – like the aroma of kadhipatta crisped in the oil for chivada and the crunch of the rice flour+rava coating on a fish fry making you salivate with anticipation of the soft inside.

Question still remains: Who decides if a reimagined dish captures ‘the essence’? I am still muddling through this particular jumble of thoughts/questions. Any help/opinion/comment is appreciated.

PS: Happy Diwali

Now that we have Whatsapp in addition to Facebook and a growing number of people back home using it, we don’t need Kaalnirnay. As any important festival or religious day dawns in India earlier than in US, we start getting whatsapp messages the previous night.

It was Gudhipadva on March 28. I received plenty of images of gudhi and wishes for the new year. What surprised me this year was the number of messages that said Hindu Navavarshachya Shubheccha. When did Gudhipadva become Hindu newyear? At best it is Marathi new year.

Gudhipadva is the first day of the first month (Chaitra) of the year, making it the new year’s day. But this calendar is not ‘The Calendar’ of India or Hindus. To start with there are regions that follow the amaant system and others that follow pournimaant system. In north India the month ends with a pournima or a full moon day while in the south it ends with amavasya i.e. no moon day. This clearly makes the first day of month 15 days apart so how can we have the same new year’s day?

Secondly, there are regions that follow a completely different calendar system other than the lunisolar calendar that we use in Kalanirnay for example. The Malyalam calendar is a solar calendar. First of each month is based on the movement of sun through the zodiac. When I started digging more I realized that there are other regions that follow a similar method. Read more details about different calendars in India here. I have not even started digging into conventions in different communities that start the year in different months or seasons.

People calling Gudhi Padva, hindu navavarsha or Hindu new year wipes out all these differences. These are not nuances. These are completely different practices.

I wondered where the ‘Hindu nava varsha’ nomenclature came from suddenly as I had not seen it before. Seems that RSS always referred to Gudhi Padva as Hindu nava varsha. I wonder if the copy paste and forward system of whatsapp made it so ubiquitous that it finally reached me. The question is whose new year is it then? Mostly Marathi upperclass hindus pretending that their practices are the practices of Hindus of all shapes and sizes.

You might think it is a small thing, it is just wording but for me it showcases homogenization of hinduism and what it means to be a Hindu. It is disturbing.

Tag: maharashtrian

Reimagining Maharashtrian/Marathi Cuisine

Gudhipadva and the Hindu New Year