FOOD.

The Endemic Parfait. 

Kolhapur, my home town is well known for its spicy, hot and zesty food. But it is piquant only to the Kolhapurians. The food there is awesomely pungent and spicy. Only they can stomach it. It's a land of passionate meat eaters. It comes as a surprise to a lot of my friends that I hail from such a place and yet be  a  vegetarian. Once,  I read somewhere that you are what you eat... Does that make these people caustic? Or hot headed? I wonder... 

Famous for wrestlers. Could it mean that possibilities are u will be a pulverized pulp if you accidentally collide into some behemoth? It is also a land of high quality milk and milk products. So just imagine the human produce that emerges from consuming this lardy food from the child hood. 

The Akhaadas (Sandy  patios for wrestling practices) are found everywhere. Traditionally, a wrestler has his ear broken by keeping a beetle nut behind it. A freestanding ear is a wrestlers' Achilles Heel. Also, this process makes him tough enough to endure pain of all kinds. It emboldens him into a free- swinging fighter. 

Descendants of Shivaji Maharaj, and worshipers of  Tulja Bhavani Mata... Who has bestowed upon them the legendary Bhawani Talwar known to demolish the demons and enemies. Has all this brought in the man-at-arms who emerges  into a warrior of the ruthless, bravest and the most indurate kind?  Does this mean that people here are sans emotions? A stolid heartbreaker who understands nothing of heartbreak?

 No. 

There is a flip side to this story of the great warriors. 

The Sugar Lobby. Huge, broad, and the most fertile belt. Sweet as ever. With help of which emerges one of the most delectable of the desserts. The famous "Fruit Cocktail." I have gone through the menu cards of so many restaurants around places. But I have never come across this unique name offering such a unique dessert. You can only find it in these small Parlors that dot most of the streets in Kolhapur.

As a child, the outings taken  to Bhawani Mandap were memorable. We looked forward to gorging down Bhel with square paper spoon made of thick cardboard, in news paper cones. A takeaway consisted of it expertly wrapped in paper, tied all around in thick white thread and the spoon would be tucked in under the layer of wound thread. After bhel came the most interesting part. A walk down the road to the most famous Imperial Ice Cream parlor for the Fruit Cocktail. My cousins from Mumbai,who visited us in May vacations, swore that they ate nothing like this one. As we would enter the parlor, the aroma of the Ice Cream  would fill our  brains and send  us all in a tizzy. A wait for the cocktail to be served took only a few minutes since that was the only thing on the menu, and people visited the parlor only to slurp down this delicacy. All the waiters had to do was count the heads at the table and ask "4?"It was understood that u are to be served the Cocktails. And it took only minutes before he walked briskly towards our table with four tall glasses in the tray, expertly dodging other waiters and the customers, swaying the tray form one side to the other. But even that wait was unbearable....like spending eons and eons of yearning....

The glasses placed on the table would bring  instant smile to one and all... The sight was sheer ecstasy. And the empty glass which stood in front of you within minutes after consuming it was sheer agony. It was an Herculean task to persuade Ma for another one. "You will have a tummy upset",she would warn us. But we would not settle down for anything less. Come home. Throw up. Rest of the night would be one spewing hell.(with inputs of,"I TOLD you so!" From Ma!) But it was worth every luscious dollop that we downed into our stomachs. 

The other day, on one of my trips, we all visited the Ice  Cream  parlor. The ambience sent me into gamut of stances.  The waiter approached us.. What would you like to have? Obviously a lot of new things had been added to the menu card. "5 Fruit Cocktails, please".

When it arrived, I realized, it was served in  a similar beautiful, colorful  tall glass. I stared at it  for a long time. Times had changed. But not this. The city had changed, but not these parlors.  The streets outside smelled of petrol and smog, but inside was this distinct aroma of the indigenous home style Ice Cream, Milk shakes and the  likes made out of rich local Milk. This colorful glass reminded me of the people here. They were just the same. Strong hearted, spice-eating brave warriors. But like this cocktail, they were sweet, soft and transparent to the core.  In the glass I could see the people of Kolhapur. They had all the goodness of the fruits. Layered by the sweetness of the Ice Cream in their hearts, and the softness of the cake in their souls. Down the crevices ran the creamy custard filled with the warmth of their genial disposition. All this topped up with the temperament of the jiggly jovial Jelly ...and a splash of colors. Something simple, yet adorable, that epitomizes the people of Kolhapur...

The Fruit Cocktail.....

You need..

A tall parfait glass.

1. Assorted fruits...seasonal or otherwise which will fill up 1/3 of the glass.

2. Two scoops  Ice cream. You can use in combination of two different flavors.

3. 1/2 a cup cake. (Plain Butter Vanilla).Crumbled roughly with fingers- not cut. 

4. 1/2 cup Custard made of plain Custard powder,Vanilla flavor. 

5. Jelly of any colors of your choice. Again, mashed coarsely. 

Layer the ingredients in the order of 1 to 5. 

Variations  can be made according to the fruits used. Eg. If you use Mango fruit, you can use Mango Ice Cream and plain custard, or visa versa. 

Mixed fruits of all sorts can have a combination of Rose-Vanilla Ice Cream. 

The concoctions are limitless....

The possibilities are endless...

The only possible concoction that limits the goodness of these people is yet to be discovered.....