Tag Archives: food

Mittra da Dhaba at the Wagah-Attari border

07/31/2022 Pippa Leave a comment

In 2001, I crossed the Wagah-Attari border for the first time. Since then, I have used this official land crossing between India and Pakistan numerous times, in the process seeing the border undergo multiple changes. It used to be the Grand Trunk Road split in half, with a few meters of “no man’s land” to separate them. I could literally walk from one side to the other, while remaining on the GT Road. Then, the authorities decided to uplift, gentrify, and replace the colonial bungalows. Gone was the quaint and informal space with scattered flower beds and plants and in came the flashy buildings, followed by the airport style security, customs, and immigration; culminating eventually in the hideous and expensive battle for who can hoist the largest flag and keep it flying high!

To be fair, the development of the check post at Wagah-Attari was probably a response to the expectation that relations between the two countries would improve, and with that the foot traffic would increase. The bungalows were not equipped to deal with high volumes of people. Hence, they first established the goods/transit depot on one side of the border, so as to divert the trucks carrying the items of import/export. This separated the trade traffic from the people traffic. Whilst the establishment of a goods depot offered signs of improved trade between the two countries, even this was subject to cordial relations.

With numerous crossings since then, I have seen the border change, not just physically but also its ambience and vibes that the place gives. Indeed, the new buildings and transit buses which take passengers from one side to other have functioned to create further distance between the lines of control. These were not there previously, and the cool formality evokes the illusion of being remote and separate. Borders do not have to be harsh and austere.

These moments and emotions are difficult to capture on camera, but they can be felt when encountering the staff and officials. When I first crossed the border, I had the compact Canon Sure Shot AF-7, which was a popular model in the 1990s and gifted to me. I enjoyed taking photographs, but cameras were not cheap then, and the 35mm film was expensive too, both to buy and to develop, so photos were taken sparingly. When I embarked on my doctoral research, taking my camera was essential for my trips to India and Pakistan, as it was an instrument to visually document my journey. I would normally pack 1-3 rolls of ISO 200 (sometimes also ISO 400) speed film, usually 36 EXP, good for general photographs. But one was never entirely sure until the film was taken back home, handed in for developing, which then produced the joy of physically going through the photographs a week later! Time had passed between undergoing the actual trip and now feeling those photographs in my hands, and the images allowed me to recreate and relive those moments again.

Today everything is instant. In a moment I can be taking a photograph at the border, and then share it with the wider public around the world via social media. The only caveat here is that, generally the phone signals are non-existent within 1-2 kilometres of the border area, so you would probably need to wait until you were able to pick up the phone signal. More importantly, this also disrupted any arrangements one had made to meet people on the other side. If I was crossing the border, I might contact my friends/family beforehand and say, I’m crossing at X time (keeping in mind the 30 minutes times difference between the two countries), so I estimate that I will be out at Y time (usually 60 minutes from one side to the other). But if things didn’t go to plan, there is no way of contacting the person to alert them of the delays. And when you did finally make it to the other side, there were always a small number of people anxiously waiting and looking to see when their friends/family will pass through those doors.

There are many other stories of this rather strange and intriguing no man’s land but to end with a more positive story, I share a picture of a dhaba at Attari, Mittra da dhaba (literal translation – friends’ roadside restaurant) is located close to the entrance to check post, catering to travellers and tourists who come for the daily lowering of the flag ceremony. I have gone there many times, but on one occasion in 2017, I asked the owner to pack some food for me, food which I planned to take across the border and share with my friends in Lahore. He took great care to make it extra special and pack the food tightly, so that it wouldn’t spill. I could see that it also brought him great joy to know that his food would travel to the other side. As we parted, he said come back and tell me if they enjoyed it!

Alas, these stories are in the past tense, and with Covid the border faced further restrictions and closures. I have no idea if my friend is still there, I hope so. We need more friends in these otherwise hostile spaces.

Misc

City Food – Tandoori Chai, Zahra’s Restaurant & Café

03/26/2020 Pippa 1 Comment

An out-of-the-box tea. We all know about tandoori chicken and tandoori roti. But… tandoori chai? That’s more or less what they’re serving at an …
City Food – Tandoori Chai, Zahra’s Restaurant & Café

Gallery

Gurdasram Jalebiwala, Amritsar

03/09/2019 Pippa 2 Comments

One of the most famous jalebi shops in the city of Amritsar. This tiny little corner is food heaven for those with a sweet tooth. Nothing beats the freshly made hot, mouth-watering jalebis. Modest price, small portion and full of bliss! Go try them.

Pakistan, Short Essays

Roti, Communist aur Makaan

02/02/2019 Pippa Leave a comment

The Pakistan Times, 1 October, 1950. Qualification. “How I got the house allotted? You should know that a remote cousin of my wife’s brother-in-law happens to be a peon in the Rehabilitation Department.”

The Pakistan Times, 16 September 1950, “They were demanding bread.” “Communists–Aren’t They?”

Pakistan, Short Essays

Eating vegetables in Lahore

09/29/2016 Pippa 2 Comments

Being a vegetarian in Lahore is not easy. It is a city dominated by the carnivorous types. Meat is everywhere; from street vendors to top-end restaurants. The more the meat the merrier. But it’s not just the simple question of the quantity, it is also the status afforded to gosht-meat. Meat consumption is also dominated with the wealthy rather than the poor, who still consume a more balanced diet. Thus there is evidently a distinction between the class of people who eat meat. Having said that during my first visit to HyperStar (one of the largest malls in Pakistan), I noticed how expensive some vegetables were. Especially those which are not locally in demand. Mushrooms were nowhere to be seen and peppers/capsicums were priced exorbitantly. Price will most likely follow demand but why is that some vegetables and lentils are even more expensive than meat, surely this is not right.

This gradual shift of people’s eating habits has hardly been noticed. In countries with high levels of poverty, it is often a question about getting enough to eat rather thinking about over-consumption. But undoubtedly Lahore before 1947 was not so dominated by meat, the diet would have been varied to reflect the multi-cultural nature of the city. Many of the elder inhabitants attest to different eating habits as recently as the 1970s and even the 1980s. The change in what people eat is not just to do with the political and demographic changes brought about by 1947, they are also to do with modern eating habits. Yet interestingly meat consumption in Pakistan has gone up particularly when we compare it to Bangladesh. The main difference between the two is most likely explained by the fact that the Bengali diet has a lot more fish than real “meat”.

The Real Meat http://www.dawn.com/news/1207254

I’m not a vegetarian for any religious reasons, the habit started more out of change in circumstances and then for ideological and pro-animal reasons. These early encounters in my teens have subsequently remained with me. Over recent years I have become more flexible but a few things stand, no red meat and certainly a preference for veggie food whenever possible. Without preaching, I have encouraged my friends to reduce meat consumption, starting with maybe abstaining from meat once a week. There are of course some sound environmental and health benefits to a vegetarian diet.

Eat less meat to avoid dangerous global warming, scientists say https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/21/eat-less-meat-vegetarianism-dangerous-global-warming

Can eating less meat help reduce climate change? http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34899066

As I’m living and working in Lahore, food is an important part of my “experience”. So it’s sad to say that while Lahore has embraced gosht-eating so wholeheartedly, it has also forgotten how to cook and handle vegetables. Some households still produce some good basic veggie food, others experiment with more fashionable veggie food, perhaps for health reasons. Overwhelmingly though they are gosht lovers. The kebabs and tandoori chicken might be unparalleled but it has be said that across the border in India, there is much more choice and acceptance of veg food. India perhaps is the only place where the term veg/non-veg is used; it highlights the importance and priority on veggie foods as opposed to it being a side order. India also has one of the lowest rates of meat consumption in the world, though this varies from state to state. The choice and creativity in veg food in India is unparalleled I think.

Mapped: The countries that eat the most meat http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/world-according-to-meat-consumption/

Top Meat Consuming Countries In The World http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-meat-consuming-countries-in-the-world.html

My solution is let’s make vegetarianism fashionable and cool! The same way that perhaps having meat became so pervasive and a marker of upward mobility, perhaps we can do the same with opting for the healthier veggie option. By making it fashionable perhaps the elite in Lahore can embrace this trend and start spreading some health conscious habits.