Saal Mubaarak Bawaji !!
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Here... for the Recipe of Dhansak
On the 21st of August this
year falls the Parsee New Year. The whole team of
Indias- Best.Com greets all the Parsees "Saal
Mubarak" and wishes them all a very prosperous
New Year.
What are Parsees like? Why do they
cover their head and not allow non-Parsees to enter
their fire temple? What is the secret ?
The secret of being a Parsee is....Well,
there's no secret! They are just like that only!
Known for their direct approach and bang-bang nature;
they are like all normal Indians are. Since their
ancestors had migrated from Persia or Iran, they
are distinct in appearance. You could easily mistake
a Parsee for a European!
"Large-hearted
people' and 'with a hilarious sense of humour' are
the two phrases, which I got to hear from more than
a dozen people when describing what a 'Parsee-bawa'
meant to them. Known as the most generous, well-mannered,
and jolly people who enjoy life to it's fullest",
says Kiran Roy.
Parsees are European in their tastes
but speak Gujarati and English. Their houses are
spick and span, with beautiful flowery curtains
adorning every window and door, the furniture is
mainly wooden and antique British in quality. Every
Parsee inevitably owns a piano. Music, food and
the occasional drink make for all occasions; New
Year or not! Parsees are known to live the longest
lives. Anyone born a Parsee lives at least twenty
years more than a non-Parsee! Though women generally
outlive their male counterparts!
To
preserve their culture, Parsees prefer to marry
only within their caste. Their population being
a bare minimum, they end up marrying their first
cousins or far off relatives.
My paternal grand-aunt is a Parsee
lady, my best friend at school too was a Parsee
and also my first crush. Well, I would definitely
miss them if they got extinct! But knowing their
temperament, few would worry of the extinction of
their race!
Jokes apart, let's find out how
R Bharucha, a Parsee gentleman other than being
a well-known author and editor of an international
emag. plans to spend his New Year:
"On Pateti - which is the
last day of the previous year, we are supposed to
dwell on the wrongs or sins we may have committed
the previous year, and atone for them. The next
day is New Year and like all religious, ritualistic
Parsees do, I too shall - ' pehle Petoba and then
Vithoba ' - that is, have my breakfast first and
then go to pray! With my family of wife and my two
little angels, all dressed in new clothes, we shall
visit the Agiari closest to our home. We are expecting
guests at home for lunch and also plan to visit
a few of our close relatives and friends during
the course of the day.
It's not much of a celebration
now, but in the earlier days, a typical Parsee would
decorate his home with roses, marygolds, lilies
and sunflowers. Spray rose water generously, burn
incense sticks and burn sandalwood powder on live
coals kept in a censor and decorate the front porch
of the home in a very Hindu-like way, with designs
of white chalk powder. Donations and gifts to the
not so well-to-do-families is still in practice
though. Wearing new 'Sadra' and 'Kasti' is also
a part of the festive ritual.
For us Parsees, food and drink
plays a very important part in our lives- festival
or not! Parsee cuisine is a delicious blend of western
and Indian cooking. Meals consist of traditional
Parsee dishes, including dhansak with brown rice,
pulao dal, sali boti, and patra-ni-machchi. The
evenings are reserved for the theatre or a movie
or an outing with the family. The day ends with
good food and drink. This is how a Parsee would
celebrate New Years day - say till a decade back.
The people and the pallets have varied with the
times. Today going to a restaurant in the evenings
is more common."
On popular demand, we have for
our readers, a traditional Parsee recipe
of Dhan Sak.
Guarantee: You could win the heart
of any Parsee by cooking this right and serving
it with the most important ingredient - Love.
- Kamakshi Vyas
9:31:17 PM 
