The Kashmir Mughlai-delicacies at weddings is nothing new that it might usually warrant any reappraisal. However, over the years, it has got so convoluted that extra than cuisine, it seems to be a big curse to attend a wedding, not to mention arranging and dealing with one. Marriages are probably organized in heaven, but they are simply messed up in Kashmir. The element of display-off has brought new dimensions to our ceremonial dinner, and one wonders whether we’re economically surely devastated because of the decades-antique conflict? The regular seven-course meal—rista, Rogan josh, paneer, palak, ab gosht, korma and goshtabah (this doesn’t consist of the dishes put over a bed of rice)—has now been changed through a multi-cuisine extravaganza, making any occasion a sheer waste of sources. The rich should effortlessly manage to pay for such extravagance, however, for the negative, it becomes a lower back-breaking interest as they have to put all their meager sources collectively and, very regularly, cross into debt for hosting a wedding.
One might regularly hear towns and villages blaming the town for inventing many rituals and customs—shehrikev hurarev biddat. But, my experience in South Kashmir tells me that Srinagar is a long way better than the town in maintaining restraint on the waste that is going unabated there. Although I have managed many weddings there, in no way earlier than did, I see human beings indulging in mindless spending on wazwan, making the entire event no longer best cumbersome in dealing with but also arranging. Whether it’s far Nishan (engagement) or Chandra (wedding), the seven-direction meal has grown to be a thing of the beyond there. The Mughlai dishes put over a mattress of rice in the serving plate (trauma) have undergone an intensive change inside the last three many years. While in Srinagar, seekh kebabs, two fried rib portions (tabakh maaz), one piece of shank (Danni people); one or shami kebabs, one complete bird cut in two or 4 pieces over a mattress of rice is the everyday serving, in South Kashmir, 4 seekh kebabs, 4 fried rib pieces, 4 portions of shank, shami kebabs, two complete chickens (one in crimson chilli and every other organized in yoghurt), lehbi kebabs (minced mutton kebabs), a yoghurt-primarily based mutton piece, and a slice of cheese prepared in tomato sauce over a mattress of rice have come to be a ordinary. The ‘while-ingesting’ dishes served one after the opposite can also range, relying on the capacity of the host. Serving veg in weddings has come to be a taboo in South Kashmir even as in Srinagar cheese in tomato sauce, and mushroom has an everlasting position.
Who taught South Kashmir that a plate needs to be so protected with mutton dishes? They can’t blame the town for such extravagance because the town keeps with its age-vintage subculture. It is good that human beings follow the “takeaway” gadget, sporting nearly all mutton dishes in the polythene baggage which can be provided along with water bottles, coke, and hand-wash substances—Srinagar hadn’t learned this trick until lately. The subsequent invitations—referred to as phrasal and sat-rate (7th day) in common parlance—are also a good deal extraordinary from what we do in Srinagar. Serving dry fruit and juices is common in each, but with tea, the South goes out of the way in serving not best a huge pastry piece but additionally a container containing at least three bakery items—kanddi kulcha being mandatory. The best a part of the carrier is that the entirety that is served on these occasions is carried domestically using the guests, being helped by using the spouse and children and pals of the host. While Sringarites pick saffron kehwa, the South remains glued to warm milk in a samovar.
