I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always! -- Part XXV - Conversations Across The Radcliffe...

Ecstatic after spending an hour in the sky, At The Top, we were famished. We made a dash across to the Dubai Mall, and guess what...

We found Le Pain Quotidien, right here...

LPQ as Neeti and I call it, is a Belgian restaurant that we had fallen in love with after we first we visited their branch at Mumbai, BKC's Maker Maxity in September 2013...

Turkish pottery on display at the LPQ...

"Welcome to LPQ"

We were greeted very warmly by a smart young man - a guy from the subcontinent and we were  ushered to our tables...

Cooking pots from all over...

We got into a conversation with the guy. He asked us where we were from and we said India. "I am from Sialkot. My family shifted there from India in 1947" he said in Hindustani.

Conversations with people from across the Radcliffe Line are always difficult, given the difficult history that is intertwined with the lives of most North Indians, like us, whose families were severely impacted by the Partition, and all the shenanigans that those guys have been up to ever since. And I was reminded of the conversation we had with a Pakistani family in Istanbul an year back.

I was determined not to get into anything controversial and have a lovely evening.

But this guy, Faisal, was rather nice. He tried to make a connection as though he had had a blast from the past and treated us like long lost family when Neeti mentioned that her grandparents were from Sialkot. 

Faisal went out of the way to give us those extras. A complimentary dip platter with breads and soups and then we were ready to order...

Ready to order some fishy!

I went in for a grilled salmon with quinoa risotto...

And over the last few years quinoa has been recognised to be a health food - another one of those gifts that the New World has given us. Quinoa originated in the Andean region of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile, and was cultivated 3000-4000 years ago for consumption in the Lake Titicaca basin of Peru and Bolivia...

And for me, it was a wild mushroom and spicy seafood risotto...

As always, LPQ didn't disappoint, and we felt as though we were back home in Mumbai, sitting in Maker Maxity or in Hiranandani, Powai, enjoying a lovely meal. We felt quite homesick!

But with lovely seafood like this, there is no reason why I shouldn't say "I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always!"...

A Tale of Two Cities!!!!!

I have been in Bombay for the last 4 years and 9 months and have loved every moment that I have spent in the city. One cannot but help admire and respect the high energy levels Bombay has. I had yearned for years to be a part of this energy and am happy to be a part of it.

But increasingly, I, as any North Indian, have faced incessant comparisons that Bombayites do with Delhi. These comparisons often border contempt.

Sample this:

"Delhi people", a term, which is a term interchangeably used for North Indians, are arrogant, flashy, have an attitude and are ostentatious...
Delhi is a brash, uncouth, unfriendly, inhospitable city
Delhi neither has a culture nor a "character"
Delhi hides its dark underbelly

The list, is long, very very long. And surprisingly, these rants come from educated, well read, well travelled "liberals", who would claim to be open and rational.

What hypocrisy?

Delhi as a city has its own character. Let us not forget Delhi's attitude has been defined by the Punjabis who inhabited the city following the Partition of the country. We as, a community, faced what no one else faced in the rest of the country. (I have blogged about this nearly 8 months back in a blog titled Saluting the Punjabi Spirit.)

What we went through in 1947 had defined how Delhi had evolved, over the years. The homeless, penniless Delhiites, Punjabis, or North Indians of 1947 have slogged to achieve what they are today and they are proud of it. The result - we Punjabis or Delhiites live today to the fullest. This is what most Bombayites mistake for an attitude, arrogance or whatever. Shouldn't Delhites be proud of what they have achieved? Shouldn't the whole country, including Bombayites, be proud of us?

Delhi may seem to be brash, uncouth and unfriendly to a visitor. But there is more to it, that perhaps has never been explored. Hasn't Delhi fallen in line whenever it was required? Look at this - the Metro in Delhi is a grand success. Delhiites have respected the Metro they got and are extremely orderly while using it. But in Bombay, while the commuters crib about inadequate suburban trains, they have actually misused and damaged the modern rakes which were acquired under the MUTP scheme.

The "brash, uncouth and unfriendly" city of Delhi has had a decent prepaid taxi system working at the airport, railway stations and bus terminals for as many as 15 years now. But Bombay has not been able to get such a system running at all. Ever tried taking a taxi from Bombay airport or Bombay Central? I will bet a million on this. The probability of getting fleeced and facing an arrogant, aggressive cabbie will near 100%, while the police will be quiet onlooker!!!

We talk of Delhi not having a character. What c**p?

Take a round of Connaught Place, Chandni Chowk, Darya Ganj, Delhi University, the Mall. You will be inundated with oodles of culture and the so called character, you will find in Fort, Kotachiwadi, Girgaum, Tardeo, Bandra, etc. What's the difference, guys?

Delhi doesn't hide its dark underbelly. Delhi doesn't ghettoise communities. Who's more "advanced" and open in that sense?

Talking of style, anyone who has spent even a week in both the cities would realise that the style quotient on Delhi streets, among ordinary Delhiites is way higher than anywhere else, Bombay included.

These debates are endless, but ultimately pointless.

We, in Bombay, have to realise that both Bombay and Delhi are great cities, but complementary. These two cities do define what India is and will be, in the future, as a world superpower. India cannot be what it can without these two cities. Bombayites have to realise this and look at Delhi and Delhiites with an open mind and a wide open heart, the way Delhi welcomes Tamils, Bengalis, etc. etc..

Saluting the Punjabi spirit...

About three weeks, while channel surfing, I chanced upon the movie "Pinjar" showing on World Movies. The movie Pinjar is about the ordeal of a young Punjabi girl, Puro (Urmila Matondkar), in pre-partition Punjab. And I bet I have never seen a movie that has haunted me, touched me and affected me as much as this one.

Despite being a movie that unsettles the audience, it is a must watch for all those who want to know the ordeals the Punjabis went through during the partition era.

When I spoke to my parents about the movie, they also told me tales about the partition that they had heard as kids and the problems their families faced after they migrated to India. Neeti told me similar stories from her side of the family. And it's not just our families that have stories to tell - almost every Punjabi family has some or the other painful story on the partition.

It is even hard to imagine the hell Punjabis went through in 1947. And after decades of patience, hard work and a never say die attitude, they came out of it as winners. Who could have imagined that the relatively infertile part of Punjab would be turned into India's wheat and bread basket? Or the belt from Amritsar to Delhi would be turned into a belt of unparalleled prosperity?

Our grandparents came here to independent India after losing everything in Pakistan with nothing more to lose but with a will to survive and succeed. And that will prevailed.

So coming to the Punjabi attitude that made it happen - of working hard, playing hard and of living life kingsize. This attitude has been unmatched in the rest of India - the rest of India which was unaffected by miseries of partition.

Often we get to hear of malicious comments on the ostentatious nature of Delhiites (read Punjus), but have we ever got to the bottom of what makes the Punjus of today what they are? Have we ever heard any Punju say that they don't accept any outsider in Punjabi majority areas of the North? Never till date, and never in the future - I can bet my reputation on that. Despite being proud as a community, the Punjabis have always seen themselves as Indians first - look at the contribution of the Punjabi community to the Indian armed forces.

My hypothesis is that all Indians secretly admire the attitude of the Punjus and aspire to be like them. The proof of this lies in Bollywood - almost 90% of all Bollywood movies show a Punju background, bringing out all the giggles from the audiences. Why? Because it sells. Why do these movies sell? Because Indians aspire to have an attitude like the Punjus.... Admit it or not!

But as they say 90% of the iceberg is below the water, this ostentatious Punju attitude is only on the surface. Deep below, there is a warm heart, waiting accept all with open arms and a deep sense of pain for all our Puros, who were left behind and snatched away from our forefathers in Pakistan.

I salute the Punju attitude and would love to be reborn as a Proud Punjabi!!!!!!!