Bengali Jolkhabar [breakfast and evening meal]

Part 2

I was born and weaned in India. Grandma was shocked to discover that I had started to hate the same Indian food that I had once relished. She said, “You either have a Bengali breakfast or skip the meal.” One’s tummy gets used to a different diet and it’s hard to suddenly change. She didn’t understand that. She could have given me toast which I was used to eating.

The only person in the house who in the early 1980s was allowed to have a Western breakfast was her husband and my grandfather. He was a retired engineer from the Indian army during the British Raj. He was obsessed with the bygone British way of life and how the military operated under them.

They were very strict about timetables that included having your meals on time. He missed the intrinsic English breakfast which comprised of sausages, bacon, eggs, mushroom, fried potatoes, tomatoes, bread, pudding and tea. Our kitchen could hardly recreate this breakfast except for bread and butter, toast and an egg that had to come in an egg cup.

While going downstairs after having announced a hunger strike, I’d wistfully watch grandpa eating what I wanted to eat every morning. My uncle who had studied in the USA would debate with him that American breakfast was better but never mention their pancakes.

Post breakfast, grandpa would bask in the sun seated upon the day’s newspaper after having read it as he wanted to flatten its folded form to perfection. Meanwhile, he’d vigorously rub some copper and wooden inexpensive souvenirs that the British army had given him with a dirty rag and then disinfect them in the noon day’s sun. My tummy growling with hunger, I’d go upstairs for lunch.

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https://pixabay.com/photos/english-breakfast-breakfast-tomato-1623936/: Image by Stefan Vogt from Pixabay 

https://pixabay.com/photos/pancakes-pancake-honey-fruit-3529653/: Image by RitaE from Pixabay