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ackfruit happala is one of the favourites
of Priya, a friend very dear to me. It’s a special delicacy from my part of the world. Hence to make our
meetings memorable, I make it a point to offer her the memento of a pack of
happalas every time. Procuring it
off-season is an uphill task, but that does not deter me from my mission.
Recently I was to visit her in Mumbai, hence all set to scout for the
sun-baked delectable item. I zeroed in on a happala- pickle shop manned by two
elderly ladies. No sooner I showed interest in the wares, than the actual
shopkeeper who was busy chatting elsewhere came running.
“Do
you have jackfruit happalas?”
“Of
course”, pat a packet was showed. I had not even started bargaining, this
60-something gentleman was telling me “I sell at 90 bucks a packet, but I will
give you at 80”. Did I find my long-lost
friend? I wondered.
As
I’m familiar with this kind of happala, I could not “buy” his offer at once.
“They
don’t look like jackfruit happalas” I
differed. “Is this jackfruit or
fakefruit?”
“This
is the soft-kind of jackfruit Madam, the fruits turn into a smooth paste when
ground. Hence no small visible pieces” he lectured me.
“You
will come looking for me once you taste this,” said the confident shopkeeper.
So
convincing his argument was, that I bought a packet for me too. Apart from the
main item on my list, I ended up buying many wares of his shop.
“Are
you taking this to Mumbai?”, the shopkeeper, a complete stranger, asked when I
was leaving the shop. When I replied in affirmation, he said with pride many
items from his shop had found their way to Mumbai.
Why
not taste it before offering it to my friend?
So I fried it. Not bad it was.
But alas! It tasted entirely different!
It wasn’t of jackfruit at all! It was made of sweet potato !! He had sold me the donkey saying it was
horse.
His
words still ring in my ears , “Last week many foreign tourists had arrived here
on site-seeing. All of them have taken this happala.” I still wonder what all
he might have sold to those gullible customers saying one thing for the
other. “ Incredible India” literally.
Still,
it was unbecoming of me to meet my friend without the must-find item. Anyway I
had happala, what if it was not of jackfruit.
I offered it to Priya. I apologized to her for my inability to get her
what she really looked forward to.
The
twist was, my pal was all the more happy to have the item I offered. “ Oh it it
sweet potato… Hard to find in
Mumbai. All other varieties I get in
season but not this at any time,” said
an elated Priya.
Yeah!!
The shopkeeper’s horse was indeed a horse. I found it out later.
(The article was appeared in Sunday supplement of Deccan Herald on the 29th of January 2017)
