Khari, the flaky , crumble-and-melt-in-the-mouth-while-awaiting-the-tea-onslaught biscuits, for some, are nostalgia , and all about having tea at chai tapris , with a plateful of these sourced from a big glass bottle. Some even enjoy it for breakfast...
My friend , Nutsure Satwik, probably posted this photo, in between , crackles of these interspersed with sips of amrut-tulya tea....
Growing up in a house where maida was persona-non-grata, and we had an electrified stone grinder (जातं ) , long before it became a commercial product, there was a certain sense of earthiness in what one ate then, whole wheat, veggies and home made butter/ghee (in controlled quantities) , dal khichadi with veggies and poha papad , for breakfast and so on .
And so Khaaris , do not inspire a longing in me.
They inspire poetry . :-)
A wheaty parentage,
cousins
of the roti-phulka brigade,
but these are a class apart,
obsessed and hi fi ,
sifting out
the hoi polloi earthy browns
and the wheat germ types.
They are like that only.
A craze for Fair and Lovely,
thin translucent skins,
slathered with
face washes of tumultous ghee,
and folded over and over
in an effort
at not leaving anything out
in a effort
to impress.
A societal "coming out" party,
a blooming
in a hot oven,
and a pose
displaying the layers and innards
stiff with fashion.
And a Paratha,
rich with
onion, mint and mooli kids,
smoulders in a plate
next to the dahi
and pickle,
and says,
"When will these
powerful refined folks learn,
that life isn't about
sitting safe and uncrushed
in a bottle,
with special security,
pretending to slum it
with cutting chais in tapris;
but about honestly mixing
with
other green children of the earth
and creating
a new useful day
with them,
on the Tawa of your Life ...."
As the alu said to the dahi,
"It is all
about convenience and show;
Did you see
how they used me for votes
with Samosabhai in Bihar ?"
:D stiff with fashion. I hear that.
ReplyDelete