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

1. 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.

7. Add sugar and salt to it.
8. Add the potatoes to this cooked tomato paste.
9. Mix in the roasted ground masala. 

10. Add amchur. Stir for a while on low heat.

Enjoy ......
Thank you Madhabi for such a wonderful timeless recipe...

The husband and Chingri-Chamatkar

Making the husband go close to the dishwasher is a challenge. 

There are the occasional days (saying "once in a blue moon" may not capture the right "occasionality" I am talking about) when the dishwasher is lucky to be loaded/unloaded by him without a word said by the wife. 

Then there are the more frequent days when the wife says..

" Amakei shob kaj korte hoy...keu ektu dishwasher tao khali kore na"[goj goj goj]
(I have to do all the work, no one helps me to even unload the dishwasher)

OR

"Amakei shob kaj korte hoy...keu ektu dishwasher tao khali kore na"[goj goj goj]

OR (this time a few decibels higher)

" Amakei shob kaj korte hoy...keu ektu dishwasher tao khali kore na" [goj goj goj]..

You get the message. So does he. In most cases.

;-)

Recently the doctor has asked the husband to be more conscious of his health and added the challenge of making him go for a walk/gym to lose some weight. Wife is happy if he does go for that walk/gym. The happiness shows.

So one day wife comes back from work, husband comes back from work...dishwasher needs to be unloaded. No response from husband. Wife starts unloading it...making some EXTRA noise with the dishes and the pans to make sure that husband hears that she is unloading the dishwasher. AGAIN...

Husband hears it , walks up to the wife and asks..

"Shall I unload the dishwasher OR go for a walk?"

Wife is speechless.  
After a moment answers back, "Don't you think your sentence has an error? Shouldn't it be AND in place of OR?"
Later on, she picks up phone to relate this "dialogue of the day"  to her best friend and cannot stop laughing after that!

Btw, this story has nothing to do with MY husband or MY dishwasher...

Anyway, today I am going to cook something which is A-senior's absolute favourite.
If done properly, the dishwasher may be unloaded by him tomorrow !

I learned to cook prawns from Bouma. She is this fantastic lady whom I met in Japan. Within no time she became "my Bouma" from a total "stranger".The moment it became known that I love prawns in any form, it became a "must have" for each and every weekend at her household. Dada got the prawns and Bouma cooked. Who says only blood relations are family?
I ate lots and and Bouma packed more for me to take back to my hostel room.

So I started cooking prawns in Japan. A-senior does not like fish at all, not even prawns. I tried to explain how prawn is not a fish and hence should not be part of his "dont-eat-fish-thingie". But he remained unmoved like the sage Vishwamitra infront of Menka (the analogy is fishy, I know). He did ask me to eat prawns as much as I like but then I did not feel like cooking for myself only. With both of us working full time it is almost always a one-pot-meal. So life continued.....

Till I made "Chingri-Chamatkar".

He has started eating prawns (ONLY Chingri-chamatkar). He has also proudly announced (even infront of my mother-in-law) that he will eat prawns (Chingri-chamatkar) if and only if I make it !!

I have even caught him red-handed trying to eat COLD chingri chamatkar directly from the fridge late at night!!!

This should be enough inspiration to make you rush out immediately and grab a pack of prawns.

Chingri Chamatkar

I used:

• Tiger prawns : 1 kg
• Mustard paste:  3-4 tbsp
• Coconut milk:  1 can 
• Grated coconut: 4-5 tbsp (frozen will also do)
• Cinnamon: 2 " piece.
• Cardamom: 3-4
• Green chilli: 5-6
• Mustard oil: 3-4 tbsp (you can also use sunflower oil but the taste will not be the same)
• Salt ( to taste)
• Turmeric

Ready steady cook: 

1.  Marinate the prawns with turmeric and salt. Keep it for 30 mins.
2. Heat mustard oil in a  pan. When it starts to smoke, add the cardamom and cinnamom.
3. Reduce heat to medium and add the chopped chillies ( 1 or 2)
4. Add the prawns and fry them for a few minutes. Be careful, prawns are delicate creatures...overcooking can make them rubbery. So just fry till they change colour to pinkish.
5. Add the grated coconut and cook for a while.
6. Add the mustard paste, turmeric and salt.
7. Cook for only a minute and add the coconut milk. Let it simmer with a cover.(4-5 mins)
8. Switch off the heat. Add a spoon of mustard oil on the top and garnish with more slit green chillies.
9. Please have with steaming white rice. DO NOT EAT COLD FROM THE REFRIGERATOR.

Marinated Tiger prawns

The prawns are cooked

Some steaming rice to enjoy and you are done...

'Wireless'-less days and Indian Pancakes

This time I have a SOLID excuse for not being able to blog for the last few days. The usual excuses of being busy and being busy and being busy which make people quirk their eyebrows and think "oh really?" will not be used this time. Neither will I complain about the weather or the pollen allergy or the impact of watching Skyfall. I have a SOLID-er excuse!
Our wireless betrayed us. Do you hear me? No wireless at home!!!

My regular end of the day routine of sitting on the sofa in the living room and dumping my brains on my blog got messed up totally. The evening mood in the house substantially deteriorated after Arno went to sleep. It consisted of A-senior watching TV (nothing much changed there!) and his wife grumbling about how the wireless does not work and more importantly how HE was not doing ENOUGH to get it fixed!
So yesterday, sacrificing weekend TV, the man put on his "enough is enough" looks and got the wireless fixed which restored the smile on his wife's lips. I agree that his unhappiness without the wireless was not so verbal as mine. But his  happiness when the wireless was restored was crystal clear from his questions.."it is working on the first floor?" "do you have full signal in the attic?", "take the ipad and check the signal in the kitchen" ..He himself moved around  the remotest corners of the house checking the signal and returning to the living room with a satisfied grin that said "All for you my dear"!
The relief in the household was refreshing. Even my 8-yr-old looked up from his toys and said, "O Thank God, You Tube works!" . Poor God! getting thanked for all the wrong reasons!
Anyway, to cut the long story short, we all realized how much of our lives are now taken over by these machines. No machine, no smiles!

Thank you God for creating such beautiful things and thank you Man for inventing the camera to capture it!

The other day I also had a "pleasantly surprised" (read "embarassed") moment with my son. It was his first presentation at school. First exposure to Microsoft Powerpoint. The class teacher asked them to choose any topic. No surprises there, Arno chose "Ferrari". (Between you and me, for a moment I did feel that he is taking it too lightly! Offcourse I did not expect him to talk on global warming or world population or the economic crisis but still....FERRARI??Seriously??)
Anyway the deal made was that first he was going to make a 5-slide presentation TOTALLY on his own. After that Mummy would look over his shoulder and share some "tips" to make it better! The excited boy got busy for two evenings and on the third day, I sat with him to have a look.
The first impression was WOW! 
The second impression was that the spellings needed serious correction.
The third impression was...
Okok....Impressed Mom asked him to correct the spellings one by one.
When he was done with three spelling corrections, I said with the I-am-the-mother-I-know-it-all-looks,
"Arno, why dont you SAVE? Look, here is the save button. Click on this from time to time , otherwise you might lose your work...then it is a waste of time...it feels so bad...you have to be careful"
Arno let me finish my whole knowledge base on "saving" and then said,
"Mama, why dont you do a SAVE AS? That will allow you to put a name and a place to this file"
Thank God , He gave me enough strength to make a proud face and say,
"Oh, how wonderful ! you already know about SAVE AS!!

In a confused state of pride-cum-surprise-cum-embarrassment, the happy mother proceeded towards the kitchen.
Arno shouted.."Mama, you promised Indian Pancakes".

Indian Pancakes - very easy and hit brunch recipe at my place

Pancakes are an integral part of dutch cuisine. Arno loved them. 
.......Till he tasted the Indian ones.
;-)

I used:

• All purpose flour:  1/2 cup
• Eggs:     3   
• Rice flour: 1/2 cup 
• Onions:  1/2 cup (chopped)
• Tomato: 1 (chopped)
• Green chilli:  acc to taste (chopped)
• Ginger:  1 tsp (chopped)
• Fresh coriander:  chopped
• Black pepper
• Salt

 Ready steady cook

1. In a bowl mix all ingredients and make a batter.
2. The consistency should not be too thick .
3. In a non stick pan, heat 1 tsp of oil.
4. Spread the batter ( like an omelette) on the pan.
5. Cook till light brown and a bit crispy.
6. Enjoy with sauce or kasundi.

The batter

Indian Pancake

Howzat* and Alunia : A cannot-go-wrong combination.

It was a cricket weekend.

First the match in Utrecht on Saturday. Then the match in London on Sunday.

A loss. A win. A realization that Arno is growing up very fast.

As a mother, (offcourse) I do not need cricket to realize that my son is growing up. (We are supposed to have eyes on the back of our head, remember?) But from time to time there are situations or  comments or actions which make a lot of implicit things more "visible". 
Even for a mom. 

Once upon a time....

Match 1: Voorburg Cricket Club (VCC) playing Utrecht. Under 9.

The morning had a bit of a chill but the sun was shining brightly. Both teams were dressed up in their club gear ready to hit the ball. (I will not mention or discuss the grumpy look on the parent's face who had to wake up at 7:00 am ON A SATURDAY morning and drive 80 kms to reach the grounds on time. But being the cheerful good parents that they are, once the match started, the father got real busy with the score board while the mother did the cheering and the photographing).

While bowling, his shoe laces came loose. I was expecting him to run out of the field to me and get it tied (like he usually did). But no, he bent down on his knee, carefully tied his laces and continued playing. (He was not able to do that even last Thursday!!)
I looked on. A small incident. Big implications for the mother at the sideline who does not have to tie shoe laces anymore. The boy is definitely growing up.

We had a wonderful time and at the end our grumpy faces changed contours even though our team lost by 17 runs.

 "Winning is not everything, its all about good playing and giving in your best". 
As long as we parents say this it, it is fine. But not all the time. Your kid might start taking this sentence too seriously.
;-)

After Saturday match

Match 2: India playing England.  
The match started after a lot of uncertainty due to the rains. But it was a match worth waiting for! The family enjoyed every moment of it. A few packs of chips disappeared and a few bottles of beer vanished. I also fried some lovely Alunias...scroll below for recipe.The match went on to a nail biting finish. Arno refused to go to sleep at his usual bed time. His pleading looks and the tension in the match made me grant him permission to watch the last bit of the match. Yippeeee..he shouted and settled down happily on the sofa.

The Indian team did not have a huge score to defend. At one point of time England actually started looking quite comfortable. Suddenly, the Indian captain (MS Dhoni) called Ishant Sharma to bowl (which I heard from the learned commentators was not the "usual expected move"). This tall lad (I envy him for his SunSilk-y long hair) immediately took two wickets turning the game in favour of India.

Last two overs. England struggling badly. Nervous running between wickets. Adrenalin pumping. We are biting our nails. A-senior is pacing back and forth with a serious frown on his face. Suddenly the eight year old lazing on the sofa seriously said, "Papa , I think MS Dhoni took a good decision!!!"

8 year old....born in Holland....joined cricket only a few weeks back...Commenting on MS Dhoni's decision?

It was almost funny-ly serious. Not what he said but how he said. 
When young boys start discussing sports or cars or girls in a serious tone, they surely are growing up. 
The parents exchanged glances. The boy is indeed growing up! ..
India won. The excited boy rushed to the TV trying to interview the winning team!
Not so grown up after all!!!!

After Sunday match

*According to the Laws of Cricket, an appeal is a verbal query, usually in the form of, "How's that?" to an umpire. Since the taking of a wicket is an important event in the game, members of the fielding team often shout this phrase with great enthusiasm, and it has transmuted into the slightly abbreviated form, "Howzat?"

Now I need food. 

Alunia - The potato crisps
 (Totally made up name , influenced by the reknowned "Beguni".  So Aluni.  Adding "a" at the end just sounded so much more tasty--Alunia!) 

I used:

• Potatoes: 2 ( grated/ chopped into very small pieces)
• Onion: 1  ( chopped very small)
• Green chilli: 2 (chopped)
• Ginger: 1 inch  (chopped)
• Fresh coriander: chopped
• Eggs: 2
• Rice flour : 2 heaped spoonful
• Flour(maida): 6-8 heaped spoonful.
• salt : to taste
• Red chilli powder: optional

Ready steady cook:

1. Mix all ingredients together with water to make a batter.(not too watery)
2. Heat oil in a pan.
3. Fry these lovely golden Alunias in batches.

I served some while the family was watching the cricket match.
Served the rest with khichuri --- a cannot-go-wrong combination.

Warning: If you start serving them while frying,  almost nothing is left for dinner later.

Alunia with khichuri

Rong-Chong-e Daal & Mother's Day

Mother's Day definitely deserves a post, some stories and some food.

The reason for creation of a mother is clear from my last post, right? 

I was neither joking nor did I make that up. It is a fact and I believe in it strongly. Usually this belief and realization only comes much later in life . Not at 8 or 16 or 25! Things which I took for granted as HER DUTY when I was young, gradually metamorphosed with years and experience into genuine admiration and thankfulness. I realized (specially after giving birth myself) that this is a relation which is far beyond anything as mundane as duty. ...it is the umbilical bond that is designed to love and care and fight for her child..expecting nothing in return. 

A mother with her unconditional love- God's best gift to mankind.

This is getting a bit filmy, I know. But honestly if the above script reached the hands of a 1970s hindi movie director, this would have been the scene when the child would be singing "meri ma..achhi ma..bholi ma..." while the mom (Nirupa Ray, in most cases) would be coughing away to glory due to poverty and lack of medicine. 

Typical but hit. You would be watching with tears in your eyes.
If I had continued writing a few more lines on these lines, it might have even ended up in a more glamorous one like the one and only "Mere paas ma hai!" scene. 
Super hit! You would be clapping and watching the movie 25 times.Who knows?
(Unrelated, unnecessary information, but have to share: I love Amitabh Bachchan!!)

However, nothing like that happened.

It was Mother's Day. My parents are visiting us in Holland. I went to meet my Mom at my brother's place. She looked at me and said,

Ma: Ektu janla-r kache aye alo-te. Mukh ta dekhi. 
(Please come towards the window in the light, let me see your face)

I did.

Ma: Tor chokher opor abar ki shob jeno hoyeche....shei liver er problem theke noyto? 

(There is something on your eyelids, hope it is not the liver problem you had before!)

Me: MAaaaaa..that is MAKE UP -- Eye Shadow Ma!!!

So much so for wearing eye makeup on Mother's Day.

After the initial laugh is over, I have to say (in her defence) that she has not seen me so much with eye make up before. I never NEVER used it in my youth.

But things have changed. With the years (some of you might call it AGE) came wisdom and eye shadows. Part of life.

I also got a wonderful gift for Mother's Day. It is a hand painted clay piggy bank painted by the small hands that I love the most in this world. With the lovely gift came a lovely letter, heart shaped, pink, best handwriting..what more does a mother want? Opened the letter with lots of excitement.It read:

"To the world's best mom..from the WORLD's BEST SON"

and I thought it was MOTHER'S DAY!!!
;-)

Ideally this post should have a recipe from my Mom. But she will come to stay with me next week...so once she is with me...Lights ..Camera ..Action! I promise you.

Till then, lets eat something I cooked for you.
I cooked something very tasty, very colorful and very healthy (like a good mother should especially on Mother's Day).

Rong-Chong-e Daal 
Daal (Pulses), in my home is another gift of God to mankind! (Ok,ok, after Mothers unconditional love, Mutton Biriyani, Red wine, waterproof eyeliner, TomTom, etc....)
If there is a bowl of daal in any form in my fridge, I feel very relaxed. I solve problems at work, I attend meetings, I pick up Arno from school, I phone my car garage etc --all of this with a smile on my face just because there is "daal in the fridge". The reason for such relaxed mood is because even after a busy day I can just make some white rice, cut some salad and with the "daal in  the fridge" , I can serve a super dinner. If my mood permits, I can even convert the super dinner to a bit of a Michelin-starry-type-dinner by  just frying an omelette with it!
.....and on top of all that, if like a "good" mom, you can add some vegetables to your "daal in the fridge"..
Wa-La. you are SUPER MOM certified. For sure!

I used:

• Yellow Moong daal : 1 cup
• Fresh Spinach  leaves: 1 bunch
• Carrots:       2 large (chopped in big pieces)
• Green peas:  1/2 cup (optional)
• Tomato: 1 large
• Ginger: 1 tsp (cut in very small pieces)
• Whole cumin: 1 tbsp
• Sugar: 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric powder: 1 pinch
• Cooking oil: 1 TBSP
• Ghee:  1 TBSP (optional but surely makes a difference)

Ready -steady- cook:

1. Dry roast the moong daal till a few of the grains change to brown. Be careful not to over cook. Switch off heat as soon as you get the lovely smell of the roasted moong.

2. In a large bowl boil the carrots , spinach , tomato and the dry roasted daal with some salt, turmeric powder and sugar.

3.Let is boil till the daal becomes totally soft.
4. In a separate pan heat the cooking oil. Add the whole cumin seeds and the ginger. Saute for a few seconds and add the boiled daal .
5. Let it come to a boil.
6. Adjust salt to taste and switch off heat.

7. Add the ghee , stir well and cover.
8. Serve with white rice.  (Make an omelette if you have time...cut some salad for sure)

KALLOL junior in "Khelar Putul"

Yes, we "KALLOL junior" have done it again. After gaining confidence from "Abol Tabol Shopno", we the "Khude Kallol" have gone up on stage and rocked it again!

It was indeed fun. 

Fun to rehearse together.

Fun to play together.
Fun to perform together.

Fun to be applauded together.

ক্ষুদে কল্লোল   (Kallol junior)

একটু নাটক, একটু ছড়া,
আমাদেরকে জড়ো করা |
একটু কঠিন একটু সোজা,
অনেক কাজ তবে অনেক মজা|
কখনো বা বুঝি না মানে,
হাসছি কেন কেউ কি জানে?
তবে একটু মোদের বুঝিয়ে দিলে
 হাসি তখন সবাই মিলে ।
মনে মনে বাড়ছে টান ,
আবোল তাবোল-এর অবদান।
দূর বিদেশে থেকেও মোরা ,
বাঁচিয়ে রাখব মোদের গোড়া ,
পুরনো নতুন মিলে মিশে
সুন্দর দুনিয়া গড়ব শেষে ,
বিলোবো খুশী , ছড়াবো হাসি
আমরা global ভারতবাসী ।।

The target was to bring the kids TOGETHER and enjoy the TOGETHERNESS. I think we have succeeded. After the final performance, one child walked up to me and asked, "when is the next rehearsal?" .That is big evidence, right?
 

As the curtain opened and the lights switched on.....oh what a scene! A room full of kids dressed up as the most beautiful toys that you have ever seen. 
Smart, sweet, handsome, cute and beautiful ! --OUR kids !
Kids who put in so much effort to make this happen!
KALLOL junior! Khude Kallol! Well done...we are so proud of you.

Now for the plot and the performance.
With the advent of super technical games like Wii and Play station and DS and what not, the charm of simple toys are gradually vanishing. Kids have been exposed to so much action at their finger tips (literally) that simple, stationary and soundless toys do not appeal to them anymore. The plot is of such a toy shop in a small town where the shopkeeper is frustrated and unhappy because he cannot sell his simple toys anymore. Everyday, he and his wife still opens the shop with hopes of selling some toys. They look at each toy and wish that the toy  could do a bit more to attract customers. With each such wish, the toy comes alive and performs. Finally their wish is granted and a customer comes and buys all the toys of his shop!!!
What a performance !!!Each single toy, "woke up" at the right cue and walked up to the microphone and performed their best. Brilliant! We had flawless recitations, cool guitarists, smart keyboard players, humorous actors, beautiful dancers, classical violinists... 
Yes, the kids were undoubtedly the stars. 
But the adults who helped were no less.
A-da, makes sets with passion and it shows...brightened up the stage totally.
K, arranges and plays the music..one big box of flickering lights and buttons totally under his control.
T has personally visited each light (up on a ladder near the ceiling), hence he knows them so well that magic happens when he switches them on.
T, on my request became the prompter. But at one point , I was so so so off the script that she said, "ki prompt korbo, kono line-i to bolcho na script theke!!"[ What shall I prompt, you are not saying ANY line from the script]. I hope she will still prompt next time.
S controlled the curtains perfectly. No rehearsals...first time..instant hit!  I recruit him as our curtain-man from now on.

All the rest proudly and happily clapped and encouraged us from the audience.
Now, with so many kids, their instruments, the microphones, the set and the toys on stage.....the script demanded for adult presence on the stage...for control and safety. That is how Panchur baba (shopkeeper) and Khendir ma(his wife) were born, in the script. Both turned out to be equally bad in memorizing the script. Between you and me, one had his script in his "hisheber khata (notebook)" , the other had the script stitched on the back of her duster!!
Anyway,the way they were talking on stage, mainly about sharing work loads in the family, it was clear that they were both married people in real life, quite accustomed to the daily khit-khits and did not need a script to continue!! Their real life partners smiled from the audience as they recognized bits and pieces of the conversation.
Panchur baba struggled a bit with his moustache while Khendir ma definitely suffered from a very misfitting hair cut!
But all ended well and alls well that ends well.

Look at the fantastic toys we had in our shop....

Hoping to continue like this for years to come....ALL TOGETHER....
Are you guys with me??
 

The special recipe for Junior Kallol  will follow soon.....

No story is complete without food and no food is complete without story.