6 A.M.

India attunes herself to the clock at Allahabad. In December, somewhere in the western corner of the country, it is still pitch dark and somewhere towards the eastern front, it is already the middle of a sunny morning. Calcutta stays between these extremities At 6 A.M it is still the early morning at in the winding streets of the city. Similar to its geographical position, Calcutta is not at the far end of anything, rather it is on at the crossroad of countless matters. The city once embraces itself as the second most important place in an empire where sun never sets. The city, still known as the city of joy, colloquially. Calcutta can do justice to each one of these titles. However, it cannot agree to for one of its widespread misconceptions. There are multiple instances, when this city has been branded as “The Bengali City”, the home for the Bengalis. The city can never accept this perception. Calcutta is not, and never was a Bengali city.  It is geographically within the limits Bengal, the majority of its inhabitants are native Bengali speakers. Nevertheless, the city, never was a Bengali city. The true essence of Calcutta is in its cosmopolitan tradition and history.  Anybody who has the slightest doubt about this can rediscover the soul of the city by taking a walk around its down town area around 6 A.M.

Esplanade and downtown Calcutta have been widely discussed and written about till date. Calcutta as a subject is not only colourful, but being at a crossroads of cultures, Calcutta is full of contradictions. These contradictions make the city a popular subject for writing. So let us move on to to some other area today. Around 5:30 A.M we are standing near Howrah Bridge for a bus to take us to M.G Road, the famous erstwhile Harrison Road. This road has a legacy dating back to the birth of the city. At this hour of the morning, it is not tough to get a seat in a bus, and enjoy the chilly river breeze. Most of the buses in Calcutta have an excellent all weather ventilation system. There are windows that “can be” closed, but hardly any of them allow the passengers to close them during winter. Just before the dawn, a mystic twilight can be felt ignoring those bright halogen street lamps. While crossing the Howrah Bridge, take a look at the sky over Calcutta. The dark veil is about to be taken off. The city silhouette is slowly being developed in the biggest darkroom. The bus takes a swift right turn and then left. We are on the MG Road. You can smell the aroma of something amazing being fried in ghee through the smoky, foggy air mixed with the odour of burnt diesel. At your left, you can see the old signboard of “Deshbandhu Mishtanna Bhandar”. A confectionery, which was established before my birth, perhaps even before my father’s birth. They are preparing for the day to start. Milk is being boiled in large vessels.  It will be reduced to a semi solid “Kheer”, will be mixed with few spices and will be taking different shapes in next few hours. Hot “ledikeni”, “Jilipi” and Kachuri are being fried. At this early hour, a group of cooks are already working in full capacity, outside the shop as there are already people waiting for their breakfast.

“Ledikeny” a word derived from “Lady-Canning”, one of the most prolific women artists in India, was the wife of Charles Canning, 1st Earl of Canning and Governor General of India. Two portfolios in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London contain some three hundred and fifty water colours by her, the result of four major tours in India. According to the most popular legend, a special sweetmeat was prepared by Bhim Chandra Nag in the honour of Lady Canning at some point during her stay in India from 1856 till her death in 1861. This special sweet is named after Lady Canning, and eventually in Bengali lingo, it became Ledikeni. As we are passing through the densely populated areas on both sides of the road,   where the buildings have been constructed no less than 100 years ago. They still tell the story of the citadel of the old economic glory that the city once had. Both sides of the road, showcased famous Sari shops like “Priya Gopal Bishoyee”, “Iswar Chandra Paul & Ganga Prasad Paul”, “Mohini Mohan Kanjilal”.”. Almost every shop’s rolling shutter is down, and they still have around 4 to 5 hours to open. A handful of small eateries, confectioneries and few essentials services like the milk depot were functioning.  Early morning roadside tea stalls were opening up and releasing slightly yellowish white smoke to its few customers, waiting at the makeshift wooden or bamboo benches. A glass of hot and sweet tea with two locally baked “Nankhatai”, a type of shortbread biscuits famous in India, is the staple breakfast for many in this city.

The front windscreen of the bus, exposes a wide and empty asphalt road with spacious pedestrian walk which, is sure to attract you as it is quite unimaginable during the latter part of the day. Elegant balustrades and cast iron railings, a symbol of the colonial past, can still be noticed in few of the buildings.  Tram line at the middle of the road. A sleepy, last century tram is slowly tearing the fog. Few jazzy and misfit mobile phone advertisement at the body of the tram, are the only proof of 21st century. A handful passengers inside. Head and face covered with the signature “Monkey Cap”.

The bus conductor is calling for “Chitpur Crossing”. The stop that you are intended to get off. It’s the crossing of MG Road and Chitpur Road, now marked as Rabindra Sarani. You cross the MG road to get into the right side (southern side) of the road. The traffic is only 2-3% of its full scale at this hour. So you have an easy time to cross. Otherwise crossing MG Road and going to the other side, can be a story in itself, altogether. You take the Chitpur road towards south and start walking inside a colourful mysterious old charming area of Calcutta. The road is narrower, with narrower pedestrian walk. Two sides of the road are sporting the names of various famous “Kurta” & “Salwar” shops. If you are looking for exotic Indian attire with reasonable price tag, this is the place for you. At this hour, though, none was opened. Take a few more steps, to your right, and you will notice a two story building with large windows and a big yellow signboard, The “Royale Indian Hotel”, keeps up its mark as     one of the signature outlets of Calcutta gourmet journey. Once upon a time, the Calcutta Biryani was synonymous with “Royale” along with their famous “Chnaap”. Till date, they do full justice to their reputation. But now, there are other players in the field. “Siraj” and “Arsalan” to name a few. The Biryani of “Aminia” doesn’t fall into this category, so I will not put it into the same class as the previous ones.

A few steps more, and you are able to see another landmark of Calcutta. The Nakhoda Masjid. The mosque was built in the image of the mausoleum of the Mughal Emperor Akbar at Sikandra, Agra by Kutchi Memon Jamat, a small community of Sunni Muslim community from Kutch. Abdur Rahim Osman, a leader of the Kutchi Memon Jama'at, who founded the building, was a shipping prince. The foundation stone was laid on 11 September 1926. The total cost incurred for the construction was 1,500,000 Indian rupees in 1926. The mosque was named Nakhoda meaning Mariner. Besides this grandeur architecture, commences arguably one of the best food streets of Calcutta, Zakeria Street and this is to be our destination today. 

Take a look at your watch, it should show you a perfect 6 A.M. If it is earlier, no issues. But if you are late, you may miss something. The second shop at Zakaria Street, just opposite to the southern wall of Nakhoda Mosque is the final Destination. “Sufiya”. It is a small restaurant. A mesh of small narrow winding alleys and old buildings surrounds this place. Many of your friends will share an unfavourable chronicle about the area, as it is not suitable for a typical “Bengali Gentlemen”. Who cares? At this point you are bewitched by the exotic aroma coming from Sufiya, which makes you free from all types of    inhibitions. This is the reason you are here at this early hour. Everywhere, the streets and alleys are almost empty. But there is a sizeable noisy crowd in front of the restaurant. Outside, one elderly man, with a white skull cap and well-shaped, white beard is sitting on a knee high platform with a gigantic cauldron covered with a lid.   He is opening the lid, at regular intervals and with a big ladle, bringing up a brownish yellow steaming stew and filling up the white porcelain bowls. . About a meter apart another man is frying endless numbers of “Daalpuri”, a fried circular piece of stuffed bread, made of wheat and a delicious filling made of lentils inside.  It is hard to find a place in a table. Unlike your fancy restaurant, where you occupy a table, and no one shares it, even there are empty chairs, here the volume speaks. You are sitting in a table with 5 others, totally unknown to each other, is eating without taking that factor into account. Many are waiting in front of the restaurant for the insiders to finish their dish, so that they can take their seats. Good part is, no one takes more than 15 to 20 minutes to complete the breakfast. Majority of the people here are from the working class. I am not talking about clerks and “Babus”. I am talking about hard physical labour. They do not have much time to spend on gossip and need sufficient energy to deal with the day.

You manage to find a chair at last. The guy who was serving at this table quickly ask you about your choice. There are not much choices here. You have to choose between Daalpuris or Tandoori Rotis. Both are good. My personal choice is roti, since the Daalpuri would be too heavy for a man of my age, with Nihari. Now, what is that? “Nihari”, a word almost unknown to “Bengali Gentlemen” of this city, but widely known and popular throughout  Northern India and Pakistan. It is a medium spicy meat stew, cooked for prolonged hours on a low heat (I heard they cook it for 14 hours to derive that taste). A considerable portion of Northern India and Pakistan live the day with Nihari. It is very popular even in Bangladesh. There it is coming. After you order for it, it hardly takes a minute or two to get the big bowl. It is a thick brownish yellow aromatic stew, garnished with chopped coriander leaves and quarter of a lemon. Now, here is the catch. Usually Mughlai dishes are not served with so much chopped coriander leaves and lemon. This is a typical Punjabi kind of a serving style. But as I told you, this dish is for the sturdy working class people. It lacks the sophistication and fancy spice balance. Hence, they` manage it with the garnishing. But believe me, the end product is something splendid. The Rotis are excellent here. I would say, they are better than many of the fancy restaurant the city. It just takes a few seconds (Yes, seconds, not minutes) for the Rotis to come out of the oven and land in your plate. They are perfectly baked, yet nowhere charred. The outer crust is slightly crispy, and are very soft and moist inside.  Squeeze the lemon and add few drops to the stew. Take the spoon, and just touch the pieces of meat in the stew. The tenderness of the legendary Nihari meat will reveal itself to you. It will split. Amazing tender and soft. Bring one piece of meat from the stew to your plate, tear the roti, and wrap it onto some meat, smear with the stew and put it in your mouth. You can feel thousand years of Indian culinary history bursting inside. The meat is tender soft, kind of a creamy milky textured. The stew has the perfect balance of spices. Coriander and lemon has added some rustic edge to the taste. This is not the dish for the Nawabs. This is the dish which runs India. The meat is not the rich man’s mutton. Rather, it is what they called “Badaa Gosht”. Literally means the big meat. In a word, it is beef. The meat with a very low price tag. If you have a taboo  for beef,  this is not a place for you. But if you want to be driven only by taste, you must have it at least once in your lifetime.

It is hard to imagine, how the first roti disappeared within a few minutes. You raise your hand, and the man appears immediately with another roti.  Believe it or not, it is not easy for a glutton like me to go further, beyond two rotis and a full bowl of Nihari and it’s 3 whopping pieces of boneless pure meat. The stew, while being cooked for prolonged hours, had consumed the extra fat from the meat and had become very rich and thick. The richness is increased more with the addition of wheat flour.  During the preparation, the meat pieces are taken out, after sometime so that they do not disintegrate.  The residue liquid is cooked for the couple of more hours to be reduced to the desired consistency. While serving, they put the separated meat pieces first in the bowl, then pour out the broth.The dish contains very high calorie. If you have a problem with cholesterol, heart, high blood pressure etc, please think twice before you consume. But if you are fit and do a good amount of physical activity, just go for it. It will supply you enough power to work for next 10 to 12 hours at a stretch. I think the idea behind this dish was to create a cheap (The dish costs Rs.100 at present) high protein, high calorie food, which can sustain hard physical activity for a long time. You can only feel hungry around very late afternoon or evening after having Nihari at 6:00 A.M. Sufiya starts serving it from 5 in the morning, and after 7, there is no guarantee that you can get it. Most likely it will be finished by then.

After you are done, while coming out, check out the guy with the big cauldron again. He has at least 10 stainless steel take-away cans around him. Sufiya is famous for its Nihari in Calcutta.  but unfortunately this famous place has not been able to create a niche for itself  in Bengali gourmet map.  Perhaps it is owing to the taboo on beef.. But I have seen so many people visiting “Aasma” (a place famous for its beef dishes) at Baruipur and writing blogs on it. To me, it is more likely that the reason for its obscurity is the the class of people visiting it.  The common working class that comes to Sufiya is the class with which the “Bengali gentry” ’ has never shared a comfort level. 

The  Zakeria street is still not crowded. During the evening this magical food street will be decorated with many Kabab joints. Malai Kabab, Sutli Kabab, Dahi Kabab to name a few, that you may never have heard of , let alone tasted. I will come back again to take you to that journey.