Khaan - Paan

There are people who eat to live and then there are people who live to eat. I would fall in the category more weighted towards the latter. Food and I feel good. Food and life looks beautiful. By mere smell which is caught by our air cooler, I can tell you what is cooking. I even start dreaming of food. Gluttony is my trait.

They would say I follow what I am. A Maithil. My partner's family had got a crash course before the marriage on the expectations of food habits of Maithils. I have heard and seen people eating and competing to eat .One of my cousin had a bet of eating maximum rasgullas without taking the ras out of it. And jolly he, he ended up eating 70 rasgullas. Not that he was full but the restaurant had no more stock left. There are infamous tail of Maithils and their food habits. And quotations. Even a bland khichdi has its proverbs... "Khichdi ke chaar yaar, dahi, papad, ghee achaar.

Then another one says "Aadi ghee aur anta dahi, ohi bhojan ke bhojan kahi" which means a food can be called food when it starts with a ghee and ends with curd. Some typical food items being a hearfelt delight for Maithils are Dahi chuda, Cheeni roti (paratha stuffed with sugar), Maach (fish curry), baigan bharta, rasgullas kaccha and pucca (kaccha being gulab jamun and pucca being rasgullas), Aam chura, aaloo dum and makhaana ka kheer. No food will end without paan. I would stop at these as my mouth is already filled with water.

Well Litti chokha is not a mithila ka food, though it has to be most famous cuisine of Bihar. That would go as Bhojpuri food and so will be Sattu. So what makes me write this blog here. First our gas cylinder is over. Second the plight of chinese food taking over.

I remember my early childhood days when I would go to bus stand in hazaribagh and get some delightful dhuska, kachri and bari with bilauti ka chutney,( these are fried stuffs, local delights of Jharkhand, bilauti being tomato) there would also be typical jharkhandi style Anda chop, fish chop and cutlets. Not to forget amazing litti chokha. Today when I go there it is very hard to find, the stalls for kachri and dhuska. They are all replaced by Chinese foods (what is so great about noodles). My all time delight was a special kind of Thekua which an old lady near to my home made (they call it khajoor in Jharkhand). She passed away and her son has opened a noodle shop. Today it is so difficult to find a good Chhola Bhatura joint in Delhi, market flooded with momos shops.

For people falling in second category it is a huge setback. Delhi, thankfully still has good food joints and going to Chandani Chowk is mesmerizing. In Bokaro , there was (still is) coffee shop at ram mandir, and I used to love the Sambhar Vada. Well , I was lucky enough to go to Vizag to have varities of those and better chutneys. While I talk of Vizag, I cant forget the Biryaani of Andhra, amazingly spicey but a must for anyone who eats non vegetarian stuff. I guess I need to stop now as mouth is just full of salivas only to pick some rusk.

My partner had a wish that her husband be tall, sings well and is not so crazy about food. Alas God does not give it all. :)