Siddhi Dharmadhikari, Third Year, BA.JMC, Journalism Specialization
March 14, 2022
The diversity of India is reflected in its food. Equivalent to its culture, the food is also considerably diverse. One of the main reasons is that it has been infested by many foreign rulers such as Mughal, Afghans, Persians, Turks, Portuguese, English, etc. It is said that the regional cuisine in India evolved more in the Mughals era.
Indian spices were world-famous and they impacted International Trade. Especially in Greece, the cuisine was pretty widespread in European Countries in the 15th century. Scholars of that time named it “Yavan Priye” (Greek’s love). Indian cuisine reflects a 5,000-year history of diverse groups and cultures interacting with the subcontinent, directing to the diversity of flavors and regional cuisines found in modern-day India.
In Maharashtra, the different cities are famous for their specialty of food. For example, Nagpur is famous for its oranges, Kolhapur is famous for its Misal, Nashik is famous for Grapes, Mumbai is famous for Vada Pav, etc. But can Kadhi Khichadi be a specialty of a city? Parbhani, a part of the Marathwada region, is famous for Kadhi Khichadi and Pakoda.
There are lots of stalls and Dhabas one can find in Parbhani which are apparently famous for Kadhi Khichadi. Even restaurants sell Kadhi Khichadi as their prominent menu. But yet Rajabhau Deshmukh’s Khichadi Pakoda’s stall is very popular amongst the citizens of Parbhani. The stall is located at a roadside 1.5 kilometers from Parbhani Railway Station.
Just one year ago, Rajabhau started his own Khichadi stall because he lost his job in the second lockdown spread due to the coronavirus. Rajabhau used to work in hotels for 25 years.
He said that in one of those hotels, the manager asked everyone to add something to a menu list and also present the dish for testing. Rajabhau presented his dish; Kadhi Khichadi and Pakoda. From that day, Rajabhau got his very own stall on the hotel premises.
But due to Covid-19 lockdown, Rajabhau lost his job and so did his stall. He decided to open his stall afterward. On the roadside, Rajabhau opened his stall once again with more menus that will complement Kadhi Khichadi like Chai, Samosa, Aloo Vada, etc.
Rajabhau uses Prabhakar Rice for his Khichadi. He said that the rice type may fluctuate according to his monthly income. Along with this, Rajabhau has made a deal with one of the milk-seller. The milk-seller gave all his remaining milk to Rajabhau in the evening and then Rajabhau made Kadhi out of it. “We still believe in Humanity, Didi”, said Rajabhau.
Rajabhau used to earn Rs fifteen thousand at the end of the month when he was working in the hotel. Now 400-500 customers visit his stall on a daily basis and he earns Rs three thousand to four thousand every day.
Rajabhau said, “No one will ever say this but I am thankful to COVID-19. Corona gave me the reason to step out of my comfort zone and open my very own stall rather than working for someone else. Now my family and I are way happier than we ever were.”
Picture Credit: Siddhi Dharmadhikari
I would like to thank you for the efforts youve put in writing this blog. I really hope to see the same high-grade blog posts from you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own website now 😉
Happy everyday！