The opposition BJP has accused railway minister Mamata Banerjee of trying to turn the railways into an “East India Company” because of her partiality to West Bengal. There is, however, one act of Didi’s that the opposition is not complaining about.
Benudhar Pradhan, a cook with the Eastern Railways at the Howrah station’s coffee corner, is in Delhi since the last week or so, to train cooks at Parliament House how to cook typical Bengali delicacies.
Mamatadi has especially called him to Delhi as she was missing her regular Bengali fare. “I have managed to teach some dishes like alu palak, bori chorchori, jackfruit dalna and alu chop to the northern railway canteen cooks here,” Pradhan said. The high point of his visit to New Delhi would be to teach the northern cooks to make Ilish (hilsa), patra mach and fish cooked in mustard.
“Didi is very fond of Bengali food and wants that it should be available in Parliament as well,” said an aide. Just so that her two ministers of state, E Ahamed and KH Muniyappa, both from the south, do not feel neglected, a cook from southern railways, specifically Hyderabad, has been called to make “authentic sambhar.”
“It was found that there were a lot of variations in the sambhar served at Parliament, therefore this cook has been called to bring in some consistency,” said a source.
Mamata Banerjee is not the only politician pining for flavours from home in the national capital. Minister of state for food and agriculture KV Thomas has asked that a stall in the Krishi Bhavan canteen serve some Malayali food.
Pradhan says that he will be in Delhi for just over three months before returning to West Bengal. “By that time, I hope I will be able to teach them most of the dishes,” he said.
