It
was a 2.5 ft-long and vividly green pumpkin at a vegetable
mart beneath the Rajendra Nagar overbridge at Patna that
primarily drew my attention.
Though
yours truly is no connoseuir of greens, but the fact that
it gets especially difficult to obtain fresh veggies in
the rainy season and I happen to like fresh greens, made
me rush to the shop to buy pumpkins, lady's fingers, parval
and jhigni on the way to my village from the Bihar
capital.
Also,
because the way to a man's heart is through his stomach
and the route to kitchen and domestic bliss is by stocking
well. A well-stocked veggie larder is all a matter of
domestic balance and equilibrium.
In
fact, it is really hard to get quality vegetables (a regular
in Indian platter) in the rains. The perpetual showers
affect the growth, production and supply of green vegetables
in the market. And it's almost impossible to find green
jhigni in the capital's markets. And I happen to
like them.
Lady
fingers and parval that are found in the city's
markets, too, are far costlier than the ones found in
Nalanda, Patna and other north Bihar's markets. (Domestic
wars have been waged over them.) Moreover, there is a
vast difference in the colour and taste of the parval
and pumpkin found in the two states.
Many
of my friends from Bihar, who have settled in Ranchi simply
miss the taste of the soft and seedless parval and small,
soft and semi green jhignis. They buy substantial
quantity of the two whenever they go to Patna and Nalanda.
In fact, the local vegetable mart in the Kutchery area
mainly dominated by the vendors belonging to Chapra, Siwan
and Gopalganj witness a very heavy rush, (a stampede)
when they announce: "Patna ka parval, Patna ka
parval..." Needless to say they are popular.
The parvals that are sold in Nalanda and other
Bihar's markets are relatively smaller and semi-green
against the dark green Ranchi ones with pronounced stripes.
I
wonder why the city vegetable markets don't import the
green vegetables from Bihar. After all, there are 30 buses,
two trains and countless trucks that ply between Ranchi
and various Bihar's cities and towns everyday. Besides,
Ranchi has a huge population hailing from Bihar, which
relishes the veggies from its native areas. Moreover,
why there is a vast difference between the price of vegetables
in the two states when Jharkhand, too, produces quite
a substantial amount of greens.
Let
me get back to the 2.5 ft pumpkin. It was a steal worth
Rs 10 weighing 2.5 kg. It is usually the length and freshness
of the pumpkin, which determines its price in Bihar markets.
But
in Ranchi such a pumpkin will be worth Rs 10 per kg. There
are similar differences in the prices of other green vegetables
too.It is not that the city market has not its own specialties
which can draw the taste buffs in Bihar markets too.
For instance rugda (a form of root) and mushroom,
which are produced in abundance in Jharkhand should be
a hit in Patna.
It's
the season of rugda and mushroom now. The rugda
lovers rush to Kutchery to buy the product which mainly
the tribal men and women sell in baskets on the roadsides.
If boiled properly in relevant spices, rugda ka sabji
is a hit with the Ranchi foodies. But it's hard to
find rugda at Patna or for that matter in any Bihar mart.
Again the question arises as to why this root, which makes
such a tasty dish, does not find its way to Bihar when
thousands travel every day between the two states?
Though
yours truly is also not a trade expert he thinks that
a better trade planning can ensure the exchange and supply
of rugda and mushroom in Bihar and tasty green
vegetables in Jharkhand markets.
When
it comes to fishes, Ranchi offers a nightmare to fish
lovers. Its markets are flooded with stale fishes from
Andhra Pradesh whereas one can find fresh and live Rehoo
and other fishes in Raza Bazaar, Boring Road and many
other fish marts in Patna.
Of
late,the Lalpur fish market in Ranchi is getting the supply
of some fresh fishes from Jhalda in West Bengal. Still,
fresh and live fish is as hard to find in Ranchi marts
as a horned horse. A fish and green vegetable lover, I
expect a better trade planning and its execution so that
the capital, too, can offer quality vegetables and live
fishes.
