#Bhopal and #Lucknow…they started as small towns and today bustling with population and increase in their geographical boundaries, somewhere between teenage and adulthood.
Few hundred kilometers, away from both these cites lies my current abode, a more historically popular city…. for me Bombay for the world Mumbai.
And seldom my two worlds of Lucknow and Bhopal collide in this city…
My husband is a Lucknow boy and I am from Bhopal…so there has been constant tussle about cultures of both cities, food, Tehzeeb, clothing, art, architecture, style vagirah vagirah….
It’s a tiring endless list of bickering about whose city is more refined, popular and culturally conscious also to add the political fervor- well we both have lost on that front in today’s scenario.
When it comes to food, popularity of the cuisines I have grown up with don’t really make the cut in my own house because of various reason, first being instant recognition.
Bhopal and Lucknow both had royal lineage and had extraordinary rulers pushing the envelope from development of their region to also indulging in cultural expansions.
Cuisine of Awadh was always more refined then Bhopal but what I love about Food in Bhopal apart from bias towards my taste buds is its robustness, packed with flavors ranging from subtilty to almost screaming.
Overs years Food of Awadh became popular in public memory given the constant conversations, narratives build by the residents themselves and their militant love for their cuisine be it small jagirdars/ Zamindars, small principalities, feudal lords or just the common men….
The food was different from class to class but the love was constant for all, and the cross-cultural amalgamation between communities kept it alive.
And the eateries which kept to the tradition and almost made mausoleums out of their hole in the wall culinary delights.
Where patrons came rooting for their favorite shops, they became the hall mark of Awadhi Khasa.
And that’s where I feel Bhopal lost it.
Post-independence a small kasba of 33000 people was to become the capital of one of the big state, Vindhya Pradesh.
Many people had to be called to the city from different parts of the country to be part of the administration service.
Somewhere the residents became the custodians of their own food and kept to themselves, officers who came from outside build their own small community, this resulted in Bhopal becoming a city with no cohesive food to talk about.
Every community kept to their cuisine, save guarded it, enhanced it and so you could only eat each other’s food at home then outside.
But today I see things changing, there is a surge to know about the food of the city, people residing today who came post-independence are now grooming their 3rd generation so there is loyalty towards the city and I can only hope that sooner Bhopal will have more people loving her food and being proud of it.
Coming back to #Bombay, in my house food was all #Awadhi or Khatri, there was no speck of Bhopali food or dishes from various cuisines of #MP barring days when I decided to cook for myself or occasionally since the palate profile was drastically different…
But somewhere I feel the noise about my city’s food is creeping in, through mediums of TV, writing, conversations …
And it all culminates on a Sunday morning when I am about to marinate chicken with Tandoori masala a request to make a "Rezala" is all I needed to warm my heart and thank my stars that may be slowly but gradually this food will shine under the hundred culinary stars….
With its whole garam masala coming in the mouth, the khatta which is not accounted for or the splash of coriander in everything ……
Ko khan ….picture toh abhi baki hai …
Love form an eternal Bhopali ….
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