LT COL NOEL ELLIS
22/XII/2022
December is galloping fast. Christmas and New Year are almost there. It is indeed a hectic time in every Christian family. There is a different kind of energy and synergy to see. Let me say “Compliments of the Season to all, may this Christmas be joyful and peaceful for everyone.”
Let me narrate the story of a typical Christian family.
Planning starts from mid-November. Shopping is the highest on the agenda. Dresses, shoes, cosmetics, and you name it. Men are working on the feasts. ‘Roast’ kab banana hai is the biggest tension. Moreso the meat has to be soaked in an earthen pot for a week to ten days in ‘Shora’ and ‘fresh lime’.
Cakes are the mainstay. Walnut cake hoga, Plum cake bhi hoga, Rum ke bina Christmas ho hi nahi sakta. Faujis are in big demand. Every family needs two bottles at least. One for soaking the cake fruits in rum and one to keep the ‘spirits high’. Fauji rum ki purity ki surety hoti hai, is what everyone believes in, aur kick bhi achha marti hai.
Around fifteenth December there are too many things to do and too little time. Folks participate in door-to-door choir singing for three nights on the trot. Manging office and work, plus Christmas preparation has to be managed. Ritual of annual cleaning of the house cannot be ignored. Thanksgiving & Charity boxes and so many other things have to be organized.
Christmas Star, Christmas tree decoration & lighting around the house is a major work. Some light strings won’t work, some plugs won’t work but finally some Jugad and those things are put on road. How hard you try hanging Christmas balls, a few of them always fall and burst, but there are reserves always up the sleeve. If not, then the last year's decoration is mixed with the fresh ones.
‘Pakwans’ cannot be left out. My favourite ‘Gujia’ is on top of the list. Shakkar para, Namkeen para, Mathri, Matthi, Bajre ki tikki and you name it. All these are served with a spread of dry fruits. For me it is ‘Chilgoza’ or pine nuts. Every pocket should have some.
Thank God these days we have families making pakwans for us. In the good old days, pakwans were made at night. Someone rolling the dough, someone cutting, someone slicing, someone filling and someone would fry. Pakwans were left to dry on newspapers overnight. In case you were late to go to bed, there used to be a possibility of sleeping on the floor as the bed would be occupied with pakwans. Next day Dad and mom would fry all of them. We kids used to be the official tasters.
There was a time when cakes were baked at home, now things are available off the shelf. Some family’s cakes are still baked at home. The ‘traditional’ families have family Bakers. A day is set to buy all ingredients for the special cake and taken to a baking house. Here we have a Sikh baker, who has employed Muslim workmen since ages. He knows most of the families and that is the spirit of India.
This year our cakes have come out super ‘Yummilicious’ raised to the power ten. Let me share our recipe. If you propose to make a two kg cake, it means that everything will be in proportion of two kgs. Butter, flour, cake fruit and sugar are all two kgs each. In case it is with eggs then two trays. There is a closely guarded secret ingredient, passed down from generation to generation which only my wife knows. It turns out to be ten Kgs plus cake.
Two bottles of ‘vanilla essence’, some ‘nutmeg’ and ‘garam masala’ powder is also sprinkled and then churned in the beater till everything is evenly mixed. Finally, the topping is done with caramel, some people put cocoa powder, we prefer molasses instead.
An expert comes and fills the batter in baking trays. Our baker has a wood fired oven. The cakes crust absorbs the smoke adding to the flavour. The technicality is in sticking ‘Parchis” of your name on each cake box, lest your cake gets mixed up with someone else’s.
You may not meet Christians in church but you get to meet them at the bakers. Catching up for the whole year gone by is a good pass time while the cakes are put in the oven. Once, I mixed up Albert's cake.
Someone from the family had gone for the baking and I went for the collection. How would I know that there was another set made for another Mr Albert. Albert Saab ka cake dena, and they handed it over. Those were the best cakes one ever ate. I am not sure if the name’s sake of my Father-in-law could also say so.
It was the handwriting on those parchis that the other people recognised. Luckily it was just after Christmas that all the chaos happened. My chutti had got over, so I pushed off with my quota of the other Albert’s cakes.
How did those guys deal with it? I wonder!!!!!!!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
JAI HIND
© NOEL ELLIS
Comments
Post a Comment