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| maharashtrian diwali faral in marathi |
Various courier companies have already received orders to deliver faral parcels weighing around 850 kg for delivery to the US and other European countries so far.
With Diwali just around the corner, people living in Pune are busy sending faral (Diwali sweets) to their near and dear ones living abroad. Various courier companies have already received orders to deliver faral parcels weighing around 850 kg for delivery to the US and other European countries so far.
Besides faral, Puneites settled abroad are also ordering puja items, torans, panchang and other gift items from Pune.
Proprietor of Zaika caterer Meena Paranjape said, “We have parcels filled with faral, puja items, lamps, torans, new year calenders, kundan rangoli, DVDs of Marathi movies and Marathi songs. Most of the parcels go to America and England. The courier charges for USA and England are cheaper as compared to other countries in Europe and Australia, where the regulations for ordering food are more stringent.”
Kedar Chitale, partner, Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale, said, “We have ready packages of faral designed especially for sending abroad. The trend is not different as compared to last year, but it is too early to say whether the response will be better this year.”
Pune region of the department of posts has also made special arrangements for handling the huge volumes of mail during Diwali.
The postmaster general of Pune region Col KC Mishra said, “The department anticipates that it will handle about 25 lakh Diwali mails during this period.”
The Poona Guest House comes foremost to any Punekar’s mind the moment you mention Maharashtrian delicacies. This eatery started as a source for livelihood by one of the pioneers of the silent films era, Narhari Damodar Sarpotdar in 1935.
This eatery is famous for consistently serving authentic Maharashtrian food while retaining the taste for decades. “Our dadpe pohe, thaalipeeth, ukdiche modak and Diwali faral taste the same, no matter where our cooks are from, since we train them to cook up the perfect taste,” says Narhari’s grandson, Kishore
In 1930, Narhari had launched a silent film studio called Aryan Film Company near Peshwe Park. Over the next 10 years, he produced over 50 silent movies. His troupe included Lalita Pawar and Durga Khote, who he introduced to the Marathi film world. His movie Mharacha Por was the first film on Dalit empowerment. But since the movie business wasn’t generating enough revenue, he started the Poona Guest House.
Located at Belbaug Chowk on Laxmi Road, it provided lodging and boarding on the first floor and housed the Poona Refreshment House below. “Since inception, the Poona Refreshment House, just like now, served Maharastrian dishes. My grandfather named the dishes creatively, such as the Bajirao Chiwda and Mastani Misal, as at that time, everything in Pune had a prominent Peshwai stamp. The specialty of the misal was that it contained a lot of kismis and cashews, along with dahi (curd),” says Kishor.
The guest house was an artistes’ hub. “The Prabhat Film Company came to Pune around the time we launched. So the guest house has played host to creative luminaries like Dev Anand, Bal Gandharva, Master Vijay and many others, along with writers like PL Deshpande and Pa ndit Vasantrao Deshpande. GD Madgulkar wrote his renowned play Geet Ramayan here,” he says, adding that legendary Marathi comedian Dada Kondke also stayed here.
Narhari passed away in 1945 and the reins of the lodge were taken over by his wife Saraswati. She was the first lady to begin a paying guest system for women.
Subsequently, their son Charudatta also started handling business. In 1961, during the infamous floods in the city, Charudatta provided free lodging to people for a month. “Until about 1960, people would sit on a paat (small stool) and eat. We then introduced tables, which we have retained till now,” says Kishor.
Interestingly, a few people know that Charudatta’s brother, Bandopant, started a branch in Delhi, known as the Delhi Poona Guest House in 1945, which ran until 1995.
Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi were regular visitors here. Nehru loved the masale bhaat and aalu bhaaji, informs Kishor, who entered the business around 1980, when big catering contracts were given to the guest house. Since then, a spin-off of the Poona Guest House called Sarpotdar Caterers has been in place.
While most of us celebrate Diwali in a pompous manner, there are few who believe in celebrating Diwali by giving joy to others.
Housewife Kavita Ladkat took up diya decoration as a hobby.
Later, she taught the art to 15 women from socially weaker section. Ladkat has provided them a market where these diyas can be sold and the revenue is distributed among themselves.
Speaking to dna, Kavita said, “We contacted a few businessmen and showed them the finished products. They liked it and instantly gave us orders. Now these women are providing over two lakh diyas before Diwali and the entire revenue is distributed among them.”
Maitri NGO is raising funds by selling Diwali products in an exhibition and the entire money will be donated for their Melghat project. One of the volunteers told dna, “Our volunteers have prepared various products such as diyas, home-made chocolates, Diwali faral, rangoli colours for the entire year and stocked it for the Karvenagar exhibition. The money will go to Melghat project for malnutrition children.”
Manjeetsingh Virdi, a camp resident and businessman who runs Virdi foundation, has decided to hold a special screening of Krish-3 for special children from 15 different organisations. He said, “The special screening will be held on November 6 at Inox multiplex.These children have some limitation and therefore they can not enjoy Diwali like normal children and therefore we have decided to gather them and show them the movie.”
As a part of its corporate social responsibility, Courtyard by Marriott in Chakan served a special lunch for the residents of Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre (PRC), a batch of 80 paraplegics, quadriplegics who have been injured while they were with the defence services.
Speaking on the occasion Ritu Chawla, general manager, Courtyard by Marriott Pune Chakan said, “We are grateful to the team at PRC for giving us this opportunity.”
Similarly, Rotary club of Pune has donated wheelchairs to children of Snehalaya school. “We donated four wheelchairs to the children of Snehalya school. The wheelchairs were imported from Australia,” said Dolly Raizada, member of the Rotary Club of Pune.
Datta Jadhav’s philanthropic endeavour for the last 26 years has ensured that the traditional Diwali delicacies are within the reach of a large section of the populace, given the sky rocketing prices of various commodities. He offers 10 Diwali delicacies at the rate of Rs100 per kg.
Jadhav, an active member of the Shiv Sena, has maintained the prices of the Diwali delicacies over the years and has a growing section of the city patronising his scheme.
The idea of selling cheap yet quality Diwali delicacies, Jadhav said was inspired by Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray’s directions to the party workers. “Balasaheb has asked us to do 80% social work and 20% politics and I decided to take this maxim and work on it,” he said.
Jadhav’s translation of the maxim was in the form of his endeavour to make and sell cheap yet quality delicacies near the Apollo theater in Rasta Peth. “Given the fact that the price rise has made it difficult for the poor to even survive, it is almost impossible that they can get access to the Diwali delicacies. With an army of 25 cooks I have been dolling out these at prices that every one can afford,” he said.
The 10 items that are available for sale at Jadhav’s makeshift stall are all available at the base price of Rs100 per kg.
This year, Jadhav stated that they had sold almost 19,000 kg of delicacies over the last few days.
Donning traditional attire, Mumbaikars thronged prominent temples in the city to offer prayers on the occasion of Diwali on Wednesday.
Mumbadevi temple, to which the credit goes to give the city its name, saw large number of businessmen queuing up with their books to offer prayers and seek blessings. Likewise, thousands queued outside the Kalbadevi temple.
Wearing traditional Marwari or Sethia caps, businessmen carried different types of khate bahi (accounts related books) draped in red cloth. "The idea is to ask devi to bless me for good business," said Keshav Purohit, a 38-year-old cloth dealer.
"Accounts books are made in larger numbers, particularly for these days. Despite computers going to office, the tradition of book puja continues. These include rojemal book (cash collection), hundia books (cheque and draft entry book), OD book and accounts ledger," said Yashawant Kagzi, partner at Phoolchand and Sethia Company.
To ensure that the Goddess is impressed, people moved out naked feet even to buy books before going to the temple. "The idea is that you show respect," said Hasmukh Jain, a 42-year-old cloth dealer.
To accommodate as many and early enthusiast, temples opened earlier than their usual timings. "We opened at 5.30am as devotees come from far away places,"said Hemant Jadhav, manager, Mumbadevi temple. Kalbadevi temple, too, opened at 6.30am. Mahalakshmi temple, which opened at 4am witnessed over 1 lakh people. "We do not conduct any special pujas. Only the rounie ones are conducted slightly early for the three days. We even shut down late as people come from distance," said SV Padhye, manager of Mahalakshmi temple.
Ramvir Singh, a resident of Navi Mumbai, stated that he tries to make it a point to come every year. "Last Diwali, I was in terrible problem. I had taken VRS and was hunting for a job. I came here and then I managed to get one. So me and my wife make it a point to come here every year," said 48-year-old Singh.
Some like Jitendra Singh, a resident of Panvel, made it a point of going to more than one temple. "Today is a holiday so I try to go to as many places. I have already been to Mumbadevi, and after this I would go to Siddhivinayak," said Singh.
While flow at the temples went on through out the day, citizens ensured that they organised pooja at home too. "We had bought silver and gold coins that we will be using for the pooja. Delicacies like faral, ladu, karanji are prepared for our guests," said Bhachandra Kunte, a resident of Byculla. Others like Dhirubhai Dabhi, a resident of Ghatkopar, said: "We will be going to a friend's place. After that we will have puja at home."
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