Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai

A few weeks back,I read an article in TOI about China being a "soft" superpower capturing not just our markets with cheap electronic goods but also dictating how we think.. from Mumbai wanting to be the next Shanghai to martial arts movies , a number of examples were cited.Looking back , the writer missed the obvious ..the ubiquitous Chinese food centre.I returned a few hours back from my neighbourhood mobile restaurant..a little cart with a cook and a cooking gas somehow inserted into it with a big sign outside carrying the words" Vaibhav Chinese centre". I am sure after Panditji talked of Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai nobody took Indo-China brotherhood so seriously as the cook at this restaurant.With a name like " Vaibhav Chinese centre" the cook and staff at this mobile eating joint has left no stone unturned to ensure the customers that they trully believe in globalisation.Just an hour back I had a plate of Singapore triple-fried rice..now its a dish nobody in Singapore or whole of South-east Asia may have ever heard of..but here in India people will swear by it.From "Hong-Kong hakka noodles" to "Shaghai veg fried rice" they have ensured that all regions to the east of the country are well represented.Fried deep in oil with cheap sauces added on top , these dishes are bound to make a Chinese forget his Mandarin, but for the Indian palate they are just about perfect.My only worry is that they will soon run out of names of places to coin their new inventions of this Indo-Chinese fusion cuisine.Maybe " Bangkok noodle" and "Kualalampur egg rice" are next in the line.
My only request to the these Chinese food centres- Now that you have no dearth of afficanados for your hotch-potch cuisine , please return back to your roots and call the "Schezwan fried rice " as "Kolhapuri fried rice",else you are insulting two great civilizations at the same time.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Polka da,
    Me Sujoy...hostel#4(part-time quizzer,cricketer and full time Kaushik da's pal).
    Great to see ya on blogger and greater is the fun in reading you Hindi-Chini-Bhai-Bhai piece.
    Will keep visiting ur blog...do have a look at mine.

    ....why the CAPTCHA???

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  2. tnx polka..for lightin up my otherwise very mundane day.....and making me survive thru it.
    n this comment goes for da whole blog....
    u may sometimes lose ur smile....but never lose ur sense of humour....
    cheers

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