Bikaner da puttar
PEOPLE LIKE US
| Now, for those who are not well travelled, Bikaner does not instantly bring to mind its brilliant heritage, its fabulous palaces, distinctive fort and temples, or alas, even its camels. |
| Instead, a great disservice has been done to the town by north Indian sweets shops that, whether they are located in Bareilly or Birmingham, carry the legend "Bikaner sweets", as opposed to the alternative, "Bengal sweets". |
| Bengal, as we all know, has a sweet tooth, as opposed to Bikaner where the people may be sweeter, but of sweets there is little sign. Yet, people will ask, "Oh, Bikaner, well known for sweets na?" "Na," you agree, "not sweets, no, though our bhujia isn't bad, even though it has chillies, not sugar, to recommend it." |
| That's not the only problem. Close to six decades of freedom from the British has meant moving away from one's roots. Now, I'm as much a democrat as the next person, but in the namby-pamby world of socialism, there's hardly room for a people who might have been to the manor born. |
| "You're so feudal in your outlook," friends have been known to comment critically. "You say it like it were a disease," I riposte, "you should come to Bikaner where everyone is feudal in their outlook." |
| It's true. Bikaner is a frontier town that still prides itself in its past, even though it could do with a good dose of the 21st century. Now, it appears, we may be headed for both, if Bollywood and politics have their way. |
| For some months now, the good people of Bikaner have been in mourning, having lost the last maharaja unexpectedly to ill-health. Those not from similar feudal towns won't realise the significance of this, but suffice it to say, the loss portends tragic consequences for the maharaja has left behind the notion of a former kingdom but no heir. Therefore, suddenly, from having a royal family to call its own, Bikaner is in danger of becoming a town of commoners. |
| Naturally, this cannot be allowed to happen. Therefore, a battle royale has sprung up. Concerned family members (and sympathetic royals from related states) want a nephew anointed maharaja so that, even if notionally, Bikaner can at least have its first family. Other relatives dismiss this off-hand; the family, they say, is over (and them, feudals themselves!), long live the family. |
| However, help is at hand. If the Rajputs will not have themselves a maharaja, the Jats are not averse to building themselves a new first family "" and help has come from distant Mumbai in the shape, even as I write this, of an ageing superstar, yesterday's action hero Dharmendra. |
| Garam Dharam, it is being reported, will be fielded from Bikaner in the forthcoming elections. There could hardly be a better choice. Dharam may find it hard to pinpoint Bikaner on the map of India, but in Bikaner, he himself is almost as well known as his wife, the beautiful actress Hema Malini (though she may have to settle for a diet of bhujia instead of her usual idli). |
| Together, they bring with them a brood of Bollywood heirs: the pappejis Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, and their half-sis Esha Deol, will do their bit to bring glamour to Bikaner. |
| And so finally, Bikaner may again have a first family who, then, may become better known than the non-existent sweets for which it is currently known. |