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Folks, it
is customary for us (and for many other people
from Bihar too) to eat "Choora - dahi" on the
day of Til-sankranti (January 14). It is also
customary to eat 'tilwa' (sesame laddus), 'lai'
(huge laddus made of puffed rice and bound in
jaggery), and most important of all "TILKUT".
Now, this requirement is adhered to by all
Biharis, Bihari NRB's and Bihari NRI's.
What self respecting Bihari can let
Til-Sankranti pass without Tilkut on the table ?
So this time when Til-sankranti rolled around, I
set about gathering all the 'samagri' needed to
prepare a proper Til-sankranti meal. In America,
you can find anything from anywhere in the
world. So, finding Choora, gur (jaggery) and Lai
were easy. But, when it came to Tilkut, I found
myself bumping against the proverbial stone
wall.
I asked the Gujarati grocer, "Bhai sahab, aapke
paas Tilkut hai kya". Now, I always start off
with any Indian businessmen in Hindi. They have
to amply demonstrate their ignorance of Hindi,
before they can drag me to speak English. The
ones that are smart, speak in Hindi, and, of
course, I patronize them. Anyway, coming back to
my original story, The "Gujju" bhai looked at me
with a blank face and asked, "Tilkut to kabhi
nahin suna... kya cheez hoti hai ?" I tried to
explain it to him first in words then through a
"dumb charade" - pounding my fist into my palm
to demonstrate that the til (sesame seed) was
ground. The look of puzzlement never left his
face. For more effect, I politely told him that
it was a Bihari delicacy and that if he started
carrying this item, many people would buy it.
Anyway, I left disheartened, but there were
other stores and how can a "Bihari" rest till he
has found his "Tilkut"?
I kept on drawing a blank store after store,
till finally, as I was able to hang my head in
defeat and walk out of the store, I noticed
something in a plastic jar that piqued my
interest. It looked white like tilkut, but was
shaped in rectangular soap sized pieces. I
picked up the jar. Immediately I knew I had
tilkut (in some avatar) in my hands. I turned
the jar and glanced at the label. It read, "Zaiqa
Sweet Gazak" on the label. It was a product of
Pakistan. I bought it. A few pennies to our
Pakistani friends. They made my day. They gave
me Tilkut so that I could celebrate the Harvest
Festival known in Bihar as Til-Sankranti.
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Comments: |
AARCEE,
in western part of our country and
in MP they call it Gajak. Its shape
is rectangular but it is the same
Tilkut that we have in Bihar. But
there is a little difference. Gajak
is more crispy while our Tilkut is
as soft as a Bihari. - Anjum
Parwej - Jan. 23, 2006
Good that you could find the nearest
relative of Tilkut in USA. Here in
India too, it is difficult to find
authentic Tilkut outside Bihar. But
"Gazak" always comes to the rescue.
So, back in Mumbai we too celebrate
Til-Sankaranti with Gazaks!
Gazak is a well known til delicacy
of Northern India (and now I learn,
also of Pakistan. May be, your Gujju
grocer would have comprehended the
word Gazak. Try it next time. you
may find some Indian gazak (Meerut
is famous for it). - Shitanshu -
Jan. 23, 2006
Recently one of our Mamajis brought
a rectangular type Tilkut of Gaya.
We received that on Friday. It was
in good quantity. My plan was to let
other non-Bihari friends also taste
that. Although I was eating that
ferociously I believed it will stay
at least till Monday so that I can
take a few pieces to the office.
Sunday afternoon we opened box and
guess what? It was gone. Not even a
trace. It appeared my wife was
helping herself nicely too. But who
can we blame? - Kaushal Das -
Jan. 23, 2006
Where should I start... my lips are
tasting the tilkut now. Tilkut from
Gaya is very famous--- not only in
Bihar, but in Jharkhand too. One of
my sisters lives in Jharkhand.
Whenever she visited us in Bihar or
my brother-in-law came, they would
make sure to buy Tilkut. I remember
the days when I was collecting wood
for Agja, and celebrating Holi with
my friends. I also remember my
friends asking me to invite them to
my house during Eid al Fitra for
delicious Sewai. It was not that
they did not have food or were
hungry, but this showed how they
wanted to share my festival. This
shows us the true meaning of harmony
in a small way. I went to their
houses and they came to my house. I
wish we could all learn to live in
peace and communal harmony.
Last year, during my visit to Bihar,
I bought Anarsa, as it was not the
season of Tilkut nor Khowa. I bought
2 kg of Anarsa. I asked the
shopkeeper to pack it nicely, as I
had to bring it very far. He did his
best. I had no problem bringing it
here. But I decided I must declare
it at Customs. So at JFK Int'l
Airport, I decided I went go through
customs. When I approached there,
the officer asked me, "What do you
have Sir?" I said I have some Indian
Sweets. Then, he asked one
Indian-American to come and see me.
He asked me politely, "What do you
have, sir, to declare?" I told them
I have nothing to declare except I
am carrying Indian sweets and I
think I must declare it. Without
opening my bag or my sweet pack, he
just asked me a couple of questions
about what is it and how it is made.
I told them I am from Bihar, and it
is a Bihar specialty. Then he
thanked me for reporting it, and let
me go. I know American customs
agents are not stupid, being a good
citizen, I wanted to report it. I
know processed food is allowed, but
reporting something is good. I
brought it home to share with
family and friends. I brought half
to my office and shared with my
American friends and co-workers. One
of them very much likes Indian foods
and desserts. I was happy to tell
him I had something special from my
home state. He loved the Anarsa and
with my permission, invited a couple
of his friends to try it. - S. M.
Khurshid Anwar, New York, USA - Jan.
24, 2006
The
intent of my article, apart from
sharing my experience and amusing my
fellow Biharis, was:
a. There is a need of good quality
packaged Tilkut abroad. If I found a
very nice package which said Tilkut
on it, I would prefer to buy it over
its hybrid clone.
b. We need to have a campaign to
have Tilkut be known as Tilkut! I
like to imagine Tilkut in its round
disk like shape with concave sides.
I want to call it Tilkut and people
to understand it by that name. I
want the manufacturers to call it
Tilkut the same way I like Burfi to
be called Burfi - not 'Katli' like
some other Indians do. If they
insist on calling it Katli, fine!
But when I ask for Burfi and Tilkut,
I don't like seeing blank faces. By
the way, Nitya manufactures and
markets some real good sattu in
America. Ask for it at your
grocer!!! - Aarcee - Jan. 24,
2006 |
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