Who cares about Assam and Assamese?
Every morning I face a great problem: what to eat for breakfast? Early morning I don’t feel like wasting too much time in the kitchen. If I get up late, I cannot decide if I should go for lunch directly or opt for a quick breakfast. That I do not like bread add to my confusion.
I reached office early today and out of habit logged on to the TOI website. You can imagine my excitement when I saw a story on 15 best Indian breakfasts. I thought I could get a solution to my problem.
The excitement, however, vanished soon. Those were, by no means, regular breakfasts. A singleton like me can never prepare them in the morning during weekdays. I guess the same is true for couple too. As I waded through the slide-show, I gradually lost my zeal. Towards the end of it, I just wanted to wrap up the whole story.
But, there was a big surprise waiting for me!
I was shocked to see what TOI wrote about Assamese breakfast. Fish and papaya with Khar powder! For those who don’t know what Khar is let me explain. It’s simply alkali or base. It’s always in liquid form. And the writer says Khar powder!
There’s no doubt that we love fish. But, that’s not in the breakfast menu. There are many delicious dishes, which we Assamese people devour in the morning. It can be pithas, xandah, mudi, chira…anything. It can be luchi tarkari, which we have imported from Bengalis. But no fish in the morning.
I pointed out the mistake twice to the Editor. But, none cared to rectify it. At least, till 6: 30 pm. Who cares about Assam?
Some days back Sony TV said Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara was directed by famous ‘Oriya’ director Jaanhu Baruah. Zoom Television, again of TOI group, went one step ahead and said Baruah was from Korea!
I reached office early today and out of habit logged on to the TOI website. You can imagine my excitement when I saw a story on 15 best Indian breakfasts. I thought I could get a solution to my problem.
The excitement, however, vanished soon. Those were, by no means, regular breakfasts. A singleton like me can never prepare them in the morning during weekdays. I guess the same is true for couple too. As I waded through the slide-show, I gradually lost my zeal. Towards the end of it, I just wanted to wrap up the whole story.
But, there was a big surprise waiting for me!
I was shocked to see what TOI wrote about Assamese breakfast. Fish and papaya with Khar powder! For those who don’t know what Khar is let me explain. It’s simply alkali or base. It’s always in liquid form. And the writer says Khar powder!
There’s no doubt that we love fish. But, that’s not in the breakfast menu. There are many delicious dishes, which we Assamese people devour in the morning. It can be pithas, xandah, mudi, chira…anything. It can be luchi tarkari, which we have imported from Bengalis. But no fish in the morning.
I pointed out the mistake twice to the Editor. But, none cared to rectify it. At least, till 6: 30 pm. Who cares about Assam?
Some days back Sony TV said Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara was directed by famous ‘Oriya’ director Jaanhu Baruah. Zoom Television, again of TOI group, went one step ahead and said Baruah was from Korea!
posted by Writwik | 8:05 pm
3 Comments:
Lot of things to write on this topic.Just to inform on the food part-ET travel(again from the Times group!) carried a good article on Assamese breakfast, lunch and dinner some time back(most probably in June) this year.
Coming to to your principal theme,no one will bother about us, I think, until or unless we impose ourselves on others some way or others!
Yeh dil hai mushkil, jeena yahan
Zara hatke, zara banche ke
Yeh hai Delhi...
Delhi is the big anaar. Go to New York, the original Big Apple. where are the Italians? The Russians? The Scotsmen? The Jews?
Delhi doesn't care, Delhi shouldn't care.
Do you know what is the favourite breakfast of Delhi?
I think the ignorance abt Assam and Assamese is due to the fact that Assamese people are normally happy being in Assam. Unlike Bengalis and Punjabis Assamese people stay out side Assam only if he does not have an option to go back to Assam.
We are the first generation of Assamese who has come out of the state in large number and started settling down in different parts of India. I think this is a good sign.
Unless we come out and let others know about us its natural for others to form wrong impression about us. I don’t think there is any point in blaming others for this ignorance.
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