Bharati Pawaskar
Festivals bring home joy and bring people together. Deepavali, the biggest festival of lights in India is known for the happiness it spreads across the length and breadth of this country. With changing times the modes and moods of celebration may vary but the underlying spirit of sharing joy remains the same. Goa too is gearing up for the Deepavali (the row of lights) and people are all set to welcome the festival in their own innovative way - some clinging on to the age-old customs and traditions while others embracing the newer ways of expressing joy.
Retiring this year from her job at GMC, Prafulla Desai, is excited that this year she could not only manage to prepare most of the traditional sweets that she makes each year, but she could add some more to her list too. She has been making them for years and is a self-taught cook who enjoys experimenting even at this age.
“Festivals bring all in the family together and it’s time to celebrate. I recall the good old days when we celebrated dozens of types of ‘fov’ with our neighbours at Valpoi. Today, though it’s not possible to visit each other’s homes during Diwali, but I still enjoy making our traditional sweets at home. For snacks I make two types of karanjis, four-five types of laddoos, shankarpale, tikhashe fov, god fov, shev, chivda, chakli, churma, anarse etc. On the day of the Deepavali we make five types of pohe along with ambadyache karam, chutney and the whole family sits together to enjoy this sumptuous breakfast,” shares Prafulla.
Prafulla wishes that her grandsons must relish her traditional snacks. If we stop making festival snacks at home, our newer generation would be deprived from learning homemade recipes and tastes. That’s why I take out time from my working schedule and make these lip-smacking snacks,” she reasons.
Another self-taught cook and young entrepreneur Shraddha Prabhu Moye has started ‘Pop Sugar’ learning her recipes from You Tube. “It’s from last year that I have been making Diwali hampers on orders and the response is too good. People enjoy homemade sweets but not all of them have time to prepare them at home,” says Shraddha who also provides hampers in bulk for corporate gifting.
A Law graduate, 24-year-old Shraddha shares, “We have specials for every festival and have a line of fusion desserts customised as per the festivity. Gulab Jamun cake, Rasmalai cake etc and also combo dessert hampers. There’s Indo fusion dessert hamper too. The three jar hamper, which is basically my modern twist to the traditional sweets that are consumed during Diwali. We have Motichoor Parfait jar and the Rasmalai jar which are a perfect Diwali indulgence as well makes a very innovative and sweet Diwali gift for all the age groups.”
Tweeking the tastes of traditional sweets and making them trendy and attractive, Santoshi Nayak tried her hands on making chocolates and milk sweets (dudhacho faral) for baby showers from December 2017 and her chocolate and cashew modaks had great demand during Ganesh Chaturthi this year. Santoshi shares how a young lady ordered to make milk ornaments for her mother’s birthday to give as return gift and adds, “People go for innovative concepts. I make sweets with different stuffing like chocolate, gulkand, kesar or dry fruits etc. The flavours also vary - milk, chocolate, orange, mango, strawberry, butterscotch, paan, crunchy crackle etc which call for attention. Milk candies are yummy and youngsters enjoy them a lot.” Santoshi, a post-graduate in plant science and technology has made Diwali hampers for gifting in assorted chocolates as well as homemade cashew sweets.
There are some like Anoushka Sequeira who dare to come up with surprising concepts like edible fireworks. This Diwali will be a total Dhamaka at her newly opened Sugarlicious Bake Store in Panaji where she has displayed some edible fire crackers. However she is sceptical about the success of her concept. “People in Goa prefer making or buying traditional sweets and snacks rather than going for some totally alien concept like what I have tried this Diwali,” says Anoushka who wanted to spread the message of celebrating a silent, noise-free Diwali through her edible fireworks. “Don’t burn fire crackers, instead eat them,” advises Anoushka who usually makes normal chocolates and cupcakes on orders.
Her experience tells that people are not open to new ideas and generally stick to the traditional sweets when it comes to celebrating festivals or home consumption. But one should give a try to new ideas, she feels. “For gifting purposes people may try such new concepts. True that today, internet has opened up new avenues and people are gradually getting acquainted with newer concepts in eating but in Goa, most still prefer to go the traditional way,” observes Anoushka, 27 who enjoys a good client base for the past five years.
