Moghlai Paratha, the vanishing dish of Bengal

I dont know how Moghlai Paratha is known as Moghlai........it is a creation of Calcutta and a pure Bengali affair.My tryst with this paratha started when I joined IIT,Kharagpur.I am from Delhi which is famous for all kind of Moghlai preparations for obvious reason of being the capital of Moghals......Daryahgaunge,Chandni Chowk area is having hordes of shops selling moghlai preparations but definitely not Moghlai paratha of the kind available in Calcutta and especially in Anadi's cabin.Sadly this paratha is losing out to other fast foods like rolls,chowmin,piza,burger etc.The old die hard fans of Moghlai paratha like me ,my wife and my son still frequent Anadis for his double egg Moghlai paratha.I was surprised when I found this young group is savouring the world famous paratha in Anadi's cabin,Calcutta. I hope this generation would see to it that this wonder paratha does not become extinct...now it is in the list of endangered foods of Bengal.
I have collected the recipe of the paratha and pasted it for those who are not in Calcutta and want to try out.This is not recipe of Anadi's moghlai.Enjoy



Ingredients:
Maida : 300 Gms Egg : 2 nos Oil to cook Baking powder: 1 teaspoon Salt to taste
Direction Mix well the flour, baking powder and salt. Rub the flour with 2 tablespoons of oil and add little water at a time and make it into a smooth dough. Divide the dough into 8 balls and and roll them into flat thick rounds. Apply little oil, sprinkle some flour and fold it into semicircle. Again apply some oil and flour and fold it lengthwise. Roll it, press down and roll out into square of 8 inches by 8 inches. Brush the surface of the paratha with beaten eggs and turn all four corners towards the center. Heat a girdle and apply oil liberally. Cook the paratha in it applying oil along the edges. Fry on both the sides till brown patches appear and serve hot with salad and curry.

My sadhu time

My sadhu time
.....................
The sadhu maharaj was there on the dias.The hall was crowded. All bhaktas were on the durri which was spread in front of the dias.There were kitsch pictures of Krishna,Ram & Sita,hanuman in the back.Low key ramdhun could be heard from a distance.I entered the hall and took my seat in the back.The low key kirtan with the incense burning at strategic corners created a mesmeric atmosphere. People were whispering there was no loud talk. All eyes were fixed on the sadhuji as though a miracle was going to be performed. There was an atmosphere of great expectation.I leaned side ways and whispered to my neighbour,"What is going to happen?" "Levitation", he replied benovalently. I was quite excited as I have watched in TV the magician David Blain levitate in the streets of New York. I eagerly waited.The ramdhun was being sung in a faster mode,all the devotees closed their eyes and raised their hands.I could not follow how these people would watch levitation with closed eyes.I thought to myself "Is it that in our mental screen we have to imagine sadhuji is levitating.Be it then." I also closed my eyes and raised my hands. Suddenly I felt as though I was holding a bar in my hand and I was being pulled up.Oh my god this was a reverse process we were levtating.I must have risen to a height of a foot or so above the ground when my cell phone started ringing.I forgot to put that on silent mode.I huriedly reached for my cell phone in my pant pocket and released that invisible bar.I fell with a thud.I was lying on the floor of my bedroom and the alarm clock was ringing,it was morning ,but the dream was so real.

Get set..go get married...the marriage...enlarged family...mission completed on 28th December,2005....casts Bonny(Anish) and Aimee.

The marriage and the family.....all united..

Bhimbhetka in Madhya Pradesh...40 km from Bhopal...recently discovered 600 caves and rock shelters dating back to neolithic age..there are prehistoric rock paintings.....one of the major tourist attraction of the state..

Feeling

Once there was a very small person who had feelings. They had many feelings and felt them every day. Their family liked them when they showed their feelings, so the very small person started to wear their feelings on their sleeve. One day one of the small person's parents said that they didn't like to see the FEAR feeling any more, so the small person tried to pull it off. The parent said that they would give the small person some TOUGH to cover over their FEAR. The small person found it very difficult to cover the FEAR with the TOUGH, so the other parent and the grandparents all helped. It took many days. "Now you look wonderful," said the parents when it was done. "We've covered some of your feelings with TOUGH, and you'll grow into a strong person."
The small person grew a little older and found a friend. The friend also wore their feelings on their sleeve. The friend said one day, "My parents want me to cover up my LONELY feelings, and to be different from now on." And they were. The small person decided to cover over their LONELY feelings too, and they got ANGRY from another adult. The small person put big patches of ANGRY on top of their LONELY. It was hard work to cover over the LONELY feelings.
One day when the small person (who was now not so small) went to school some of their LONELY feelings started to show. So the teacher kept them behind an gave them some GUILT to cover their LONELY feelings. Sometimes when alone at night the person would look at their feelings. The would pull off the TOUGH and ANGRY and GUILT to look at their LONELY and FEAR. Then they would have to take a long time putting the TOUGH, ANGRY and GUILT back again.
One night the person noticed that their LONELY and FEAR were growing, and beginning to stick out from under the patches. So the person had to go out to find some more ANGRY to cover the LONELY, and got all the TOUGH that their parents could spare to cover their FEAR.
The person grew older and became very popular because everyone said that they could hide their feelings well. The person's parents said one day that they had a PROUD feeling because the person had been so TOUGH. But the person could not find anywhere to put the PROUD feeling because the TOUGH was getting so big. The person had trouble finding room on their sleeve for any other feelings - the TOUGH and the ANGRY were all that showed.
Then after a time the person met another person and they became friends. They thought that they were a lot alike because they both had only TOUGH and ANGRY feelings that showed. One day the friend told the person a secret: "I'm not really like you - my TOUGH and ANGRY are only patches to cover over my LONELY and my FEAR." The friend pulled back the edge of their TOUGH and showed the person their FEAR; just for a second.
The person sat quietly and did not speak. Then carefully they too pulled back the edge of their TOUGH and showed their FEAR. The friend saw the LONELY underneath. Then the friend gently reached out and touched the person's FEAR, and then the LONELY....... The friend's touch was like magic. A feeling of ACCEPTANCE appeared on the person's sleeve, and the TOUGH and ANGRY had become smaller. The person then knew that whenever someone gave them ACCEPTANCE, they would need less TOUGH, and then there would be more room to show PROUD..... SAD ....... LOVING.... STRONG.... GOOD.... WARM... HURT... FEAR....
I came across this story in the net.............