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A
puchka seller's life in Jaigaon |
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Bhutan's
People |
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Bhutan's
People |
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Puchkas:
Bahur Kamti's (right) only income
to
pay for his daughters' weddings |
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Every
morning at around 3 am, 35-year-old Bahur Kamti gets down to knead a lump
of dough and make small flat circles which are fried and fluffed up into
small brown balls, the size of a table tennis ball. Then he mashes boiled
potatoes along with various spices. Next he stirs his 'teteri' soaked water
with yet another round of various spices carefully measured to bring out
a sour but delectable taste. The whole process takes Bahur about four hours.
Leaving his shack at about nine in the morning he makes his way to a spot
right next to the Bhutan-India border. He has been selling 'puchkas' on
this spot for the last 20 years. "It's been 25 years since I came here
from Bihar and I have been selling puchkas for these many years," Bahur
says. |
During
a brief stint as a water boy and a chana seller in the beginning, Bahur
used to carry water from the Toorsa river to Jaigoan when the small town
did not have enough water supplies. He sets down his pile of load consisting
of a box displaying his puffed balls through a glass frame, a tiffin holding
his mashed potatoes and an earthen pitcher containing his teteri water.
Customers for Bahur and any other puchka sellers in Jaigaon range from
a small child to older people. He offers the customer a small empty plate
and deftly makes a small hole with his thumb in the puffed ball, pushes
in a small amount of mashed potatoes and fills it with teteri water to
the brim. The customer has to eat the balls as soon as it reaches his plate
for the small plate cannot hold more than two puchkas.
It
is interesting to see how the customer eats. The customer has to stand
upright, hold his own plate and eat as much as he can and, more importantly,
as fast as he can. There are many Bhutanese who very often come there to
eat. One of them said, "I come down here as often as I can to have puchka
because it has got a unique taste and you get hooked to it." "I just
like its sour taste and it also quenches my thirst," said a young boy.
"It's a great snack." Yet there are some who eat puchka as a full square
meal. "It is cheap and fills up the stomach really well. Take about 10
rupees worth of puchkas and you have treated yourself to a nice and cheap
lunch," said a rickshaw driver. Bahur sells two pieces of puchkas for a
rupee.
But there are many who consider these roadside food vendors dirty
and unhealthy. "The area is smelly and full of dust and the puchka water
may be contaminated, too," said a by-stander. "It's not really a good idea
to eat these and get into serious stomach problems." "My parents
and teachers tell me not to eat roadside foods but then I really love puchka
and we cannot make it as good at home," said a seven-year old boy residing
near the border. "I like eating on the street and this snack does
not consume too much time to eat," said a busy business man and a puchka
lover. "Therefore, I throw away caution in the air and head for the master
chef's special recipe."
Bahur
proudly claims that he learnt the art of making puchkas by observing
others. "I learnt it myself and I have been feeding my family of seven
children from its proceeds." Sometimes Bahur manages to sell
the whole of his ware and makes a profit of Rs 100. "The raw materials
cost me about Rs 400 and it is tough to make ends meet," he said. "I have
five daughters and therefore I am a poor man." He had given away Rs 50,000
each for his two daughters as dowry. "I have three more daughters and I
am saving every paisa for them." However poor he may be, among his circle
of friends Bahur is known as a silent, hardworking man.
As
the day wears on he stands there looking for his customers. Finally around
nine PM he folds the stand, places his wares on his head and leaves for
home where his 10-year old daughter awaits him for dinner. The rest of
Bahur's family lives in Bihar. Bahur said that he will have to keep on
selling puchkas for the rest of his life for an opportunity to earn a small
profit and save it for his daughters' weddings. "This is my only dream,"
he said. "After that I might think about myself but that day will never
come with my youngest daughter not even in her teens and my earning being
so meager."
| This
article was contributed by KUENSEL, Bhutan's National Newspaper |
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