The Gift Of Life.....: Memories with Madhabi-r Mon-matano Alu-r dom

Makeup "happened" to me only a few years ago. Before that I was clueless.

[I can see some heads nod in agreement.;-)]

So much so that the first time my mom saw me with eyeshadow on she commented,
"Tor boro khatuni jache..Chokher charidike ki kali poreche ! naki shei liver er problem ta abar?"
(You are working too hard...you have black circles around your eyes , or is your liver problem back?)!!

I screamed.."Maaaaaa, that is make up"!

Now, with more years added to life, a bit of make up has become quite "normal". Some people may also say it has become a "necessity", but such people are not my friends on FB.
Anyway, it reminds me of a conversation I just had with Arno.

[Scene]:

Early morning. Mother son duo in the bathroom. Son is brushing his teeth while the mother is in front of the mirror trying to apply her "normal" make up. It requires lot of concentration from the mother to gently apply the eye liner on the eye lid which recently has started showing some rough contours. Again some people might call them "wrinkles". These people are also not on my FB friends list. Mother's concentration is broken by a sudden question from the son. She realizes that all this time son was observing her with full focus.

A: Ma, meyera eye rong kore, lips rong kore, naak rong kore na keno?
(Girls colour their eyes, their lips, why not the nose?)

Me: (No clue how to answer this + the sudden question also disrupted the focus and the eyeliner goes out of line..not a happy situation, hence not a good answer!!) Naak colour korle to clown lagbe, tai kore na!!

Arno looked pretty satisfied with the answer. I was not.

Can someone give me a better answer?
;-)
The recipe I am going to share with you today has a very special memory attached to it.
I call it Madhabi-r Mon matano alu-r dom.
Many many years back, in the hostel of BHU, some girls became very close friends. Some girls from Durgapur bonded specially with some girls from Ranchi. (no jokes please, Ranchi is also famous for the lovely waterfalls they have!!)
;-)
They shared their lives 24/7 in the hostel which made them "friends forever".
Luckily I am one of them.
We needed to take the night train to reach Varanasi from Durgapur or from Ranchi. The night journey required our mothers to cook and pack dinners for us to eat in the train. I can still remember the grey sleeper berths, the dimly lit train interiors, the whole night chats, the antaksri sessions , the pinch of homesickness, the excitement of meeting friends again, the black coat ticket checkers, the pitch darkness outside the windows, the smell of the packed food, the monotonous sound of the wheels on the tracks as the train chugged towards Varanasi....
At some point of time, we dozed off only to be woken up early morning by the "Chay-O, CHAY-o" of the tea vendors as the train entered the station of Mughalsarai.
Once we Durgapurians reached the hostel we waited eagerly for the Ranchi girls to come in.
Firstly it was the excitement of meeting them after so many days of vacation. Secondly the left overs from the dinner packed by M's mom. Whatever M had left over in her tiffin box vanished in seconds as we hugged each other with shrieks of delight and happiness.
Madhabi mostly packed "daal er kochuri and alu-r dom".
[Masi mero na please...your name makes the recipe more romantic]
I can still see myself using the last piece of the kochuri to wipe off the remnants of the alu-r dom from the remotest corners of the tiffin box. This Alu-r dom had an unique taste. Even today if I close my eyes and think very hard about it, I can taste it on my taste buds.
So getting the recipe of this alu-r dom was like a dream come true. Thanks S for collecting it from M and sharing it....

I cooked it. It tasted delicious. It reminded me of Mashi (Madhabi). It reminded me of Varanasi. It reminded me of the fantastic hostel life I had. It reminded me of my "friends forever".

Madhabi-r Mon-matano Alu-r dom

I used:

Baby potatoes : 1 kg
Tomatoes :- 4 large ones

For the dry masala :

Sauf/ fennel seeds : 2 tsp
Jeera /cumin : 2 tsp
Dhania /coriander seeds : 2 tsp
Methi/ fenugreek seed : 5-6 seeds
Dry chillis : 3
Hing/ asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Amchur/ dry mango powder - 1tsp (Optional)
Salt to taste

Ready steady cook

Boil potatoes and peel them .

2. Dry roast the seeds for the masala separately, starting with dhania seeds and let them cool

3. After they cool , grind them all together.
4. Grate the tomatoes and throw the skin.
5. Heat oil in a pan and fry the potatoes to a golden brown colour.
6. Remove them from the pan and in the same oil fry the tomato paste till oil leaves the paste. Add a pinch of asafoetida.