वोह अमीरों का महल हो या गरीबों की कुटी, हर जगह हुस्ने शराफ़त की ज़मानत पान है। - बेकल उत्साही
I was on my way to this paan-wala or the (beetal-vendor) to desperately get a pack of cigarettes, since I was left with none & I wouldn't have regretted walking miles to get one. Luckily there were couple of few places,I could get it from - the nearest, the better. I was out on the streets, with a pair of earphones in-synced to these melodious melodies, hopping in hopes to find the betel vendor else assuming it to be a waste & I just couldn't have survived without a pack of paper-rounded cylindrically-filtered,tob
I started fondling my pockets to get hold of money & to safely tuck in my phone for a while. I realized there was this old guy adorned in white set of clothes(kurta-pyjama), somewhere in his fifties, watching me from afar - noticing me. By now, I had the change in my hand & I was close to the vendor. Oh he was the betel vendor - I realized. He seemed to be in a mood to converse. Before even I could tell him what brought me to him, he said “seeing you after a real long time”to which I was surprised...I didn't recognized him at all or had a clue but he seemed to be knowing me somehow. You live there right? He asked. Have been seeing you since you were a little kid, you use to pass by on a bicycle going somewhere like a tuition class & you used to often come to this cycle repair guy, who used to sit across the road. I said yeah that was like some 15 years back or so! He himself said yeah it's been long! I couldn't resist, asking him ‘Does the cycle repair guy(bald one) still sits there under the tree’? to which he responded, yes he still does at times. I told him, I had been for a while coming to him until I gave up cycling & I passed by number of times, but couldn't see him anymore, I don't come quite often now. He said “We all are getting old now, but then we have to earn our livelihood you see by all means.”The fond memories of things down a memory lane suddenly make you blush & smile, specially when you are remembered & acknowledged somewhere somehow by someone!
By now I knew I had befriended a ‘Paan-Wala' ! So were there any chances of getting any discounts? - I asked to myself. Na, I don't think so. I asked him to give me a pack of cigarette. I bought more than then a one that I had planned though! Just to avoid more extra miles of walks to & fro another day soon & to please his friendly gesture. sigh! finally I had got what I came for. And as I was about to leave, he asked me bhaiya (brother) wont you eat paan, try it out! I nodded - what I meant was a no, but eventually he mistook my nod for a yes or he deliberately wanted me to have one and he started making one. I didn't wanted to stop him.I sat there for a while on a raised cemented surface, while he attended other customers & took his time addressing mine.And, as I waited, we kept talking about things, like since how long he & his forefathers had been in this business for - sharing about his life long insight & knowledge about betel-leaf as a betel-vendor.
“Sada or Meetha?” he asked – plain or sweet?“Meetha (sweet)” I replied, will have one right now, but do pack a plain(sada) one for me too. I replied.
An evergreen perennial creeper in nearly 32 varieties, with leaves that are heart-shaped and glossy, bright green in colour and white catkin or leaf of a vine belonging to the piperaceae family of plants, called betel quid or piper betle. While it has religious, spiritual & traditional significance in its own sweet way or pungent taste, it serves as a palate cleanser and digestive aphrodisiac, valued both as a mild stimulant and for its medicinal properties. It has its drawbacks related to health issues too. Whether you happen to relish the deliciousness of a Kolkata, Banarasi, Masala, Lucknowi or Magai paan(betel-leaf), you should know that Betel Leaf is called as paan in Assamese, foah in Dhivehi, beeda in Hindi, veelya, taamboola or yele adike in Kannada, tambulum or tamalapaku in Telugu, vettalai or vethalai in Tamil, bulath in Sinhala, faan in Sylheti and gillauri in Urdu. You'll often find paan shops (panwari or panwaadi's) ranging from the urban paan gourmet boutiques paanwallas to the so called paan-tapris everywhere. You may chew, spat or swallow - but never find your betel-leaf hollow.
Betel-Vendor has a unique style of making it and uses different ingredients for the stuffing, which is often a closely guarded secret.'He smoothes a tender betel leaf. With lightning dexterity, his hands fly over the crowded containers. Slaked lime (chuna; calcium hydroxide),A little roasted tangy fennel seed, some cloves, refreshing cardamom, betel nuts, tobacco paste, coconut flakes and sweet rose paste - all stuffed into the peppery betel leaf & then folded into a triangle and nailed together with a clove & wrapped with a silver foil.
I still am fond of it & I recall eating it when I was a kid. My dad used to get it for me & my parents would often take me to places(cities) where all it was mandatory to have(taste) one. I’ve witnessed its varied existence in totality. I still remember how there always used to be a one or two kept in our refrigerator.I still remember my childhood days, when I use to get hold of my grandfathers old wooden box(case), that was meant to store his shaving paraphernalia & sit down near the gate of our house with other neighborhood inmates & play imitating being a pan-waalah(betel vendor), often getting hold of tulsi (basil-leaves) & some amount of gulkand (sweet rose paste) & everything else that I could get hold of). I was so fond of gulkand that my dad used to get it for me often. Its a matter of chance or addiction really, I don't go out specially to have one now, its really been long.
I still remember one of those songs 'पान खाये सैंयाँ हमारो, साँवली सूरतिया होंठ लाल-लाल, हाय-हाय मलमल का कुरता, मलमल के कुरते पे छींट लाल-लाल, हमने मँगाई सुरमेदानी, ले आया ज़ालिम बनारस का ज़रदा...पान खाये सैंयाँ हमारो'
wherein a female character is worried over the red streak (spat) stains on her muslin shirt & complains about her beloved (with a dark-complexion & red lips) who is caught up in his betel-leaf habit to pay her any attention. She says 'I asked him to get me a vial to keep kohl, and he ended up bringing fragrant tobacco(betel-nut) from Benaras for betel-leaf'."Good old days" - I tell ya!
From my grandfathers library, I happen to get hold of this book "Paan aur Adab-e-Paandaan" (The manners or subtleties of the centuries-old habit of chewing paan & maintaining a pandaan or a metal box with space to keep paan or store betel leaves and ingredients that go into the making of a paan, along with a betelnut box and a receptacle for spitting) by Nasir Ahmad Khan, which has painstaking research on paan & a compilation of beautiful couplets - An apt metaphor of a culture, that has a deep rooted history to dwell into.
Yet another poet says he wouldn’t relish or spoil his taste eating the heavenly fruits of paradise, until someone gets him paan from India(Hind).
बड मज़ा मुँह न करून खुल्द के मेवे खा कर ,हिन्द से पान न लाये कोई जब तक जाकर.
Without a word, you pop it in - stuffing your mouth and chew. Saunter down the promenade, lulled by the moonlit waves, tropical breeze and twinkling stars. The sweet juices burst in your mouth with a tantalizing mix of flavors and textures. The experience is as seductive as a stolen kiss, as relaxing as an after-dinner cigar.’- Anonymous' Male,34, Delhi,India
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