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From Dr Jyoti

The making of faral at home and sharing with friends, family and neighbours is an important practise among the Maharashtrian community during Diwali. Faral is a mix of traditional sweet and savoury snacks including karanji, chakli, pohe chiwda, shakarpara, laddoo and so on. The recipe for which could vary from home to home.

As a Bengali living in Mumbai, I have been fortunate to receive this over the past few Diwalis which led to my creating a Diwali ritual of my own. I take the faral which we receive, put it on a plate, click a picture my phone and then use apps (Instagram stories this year) to type out a digital Diwali card to be sent to people. 

Loafu and Nimku love Dr Jyoti

There is a significance to the faral that you see in the plate. It was made by my physio, Dr Jyoti Jagtap and her mum. I had pulled my back the week before Diwali while getting up from a chair and was in a bad shape. The good doctor came over the next day itself though it was Sunday and managed to fix me after 3 days of physio sessions. She would plug her machines on to me and then as I lay down and the waves worked on me, she would tell me about how she was making the faral herself after years this year with the help of her mother and by downloading YouTube recipe videos. 

One day she told me about how she was happy that she had not made the shakarpara too sweet. The other day about making the stuffing of the karanji. And so on. I would listen to her and the happy images from her kitchen would lull me to sleep and I would wake up at the end of the session feeling refreshed and increasingly better and that is the story of this year’s Diwali faral digital card. Dr J had most kindly dropped a box for us yesterday.

Faral from the Ramnathkars

Completing my Diwali faral story this year is the box of faral sent by our neighbour Nisha Ramnathkar. Her husband, Prashant, most kindly came over to give it to us but I could not open the door as Loaf was scared by the crackers being burst outside and was ready to run out. 

Not his favourite festival
Interestingly, my Diwali faral digital card tradition had started with the faral sent by the Ramnathkars years back. A tradition they have most generously kept to in the years that followed. This year is a strange Diwali, but some constants like this are most welcome.


Diwali was not really big in Kolakata when I was growing up there in the 80s and 90s. Kali Pujo happens there during the same time and we used to celebrate it at my grandparents’ house. My brother called Didu today and learnt that she and her day attendant had lit some tarabati (sprinklers) which my cousin had left behind ten years back on the occasion. A piece of news that made all of us in the family whatsapp group happy!

Prawn chilli fry

Social media will tell you that the Bengali thing to do on Kali Pujo is to have niramish mangshor jhol. Mutton curry made without onion and garlic. 

We had had an excess of meat recently and had just bought fish from Poonam which included some lovely river prawns. Which is why I decided to make prawn chilli fry instead. Something that K loves and as lord Shiva would tell you on Kali Pujo, it is a good idea to keep the wife pleased.

We do not say shubho Kali Pujo but here’s wishing you all a very happy Diwali.

19 Nov 20 Update:


Being someone who prefers savoury over sweet snacks, what is called chakli in Mumbai or what my mom introduced to me as murukku when I was a kid in Kolkata, is my favourite in the Diwali faral set. Sev would come second and Shankar para too if it has a slightly savoury feel to it.
The brilliantly crisp (as against hard) chakli in my hand was part of Bimba Nayak’s Diwali faral box. Apart from chakli, sev (I am saving that for later) & karanji, it had laddoos which won my heart. A sweet one loved a lot as a kid and my mom would buy it for us from Jalojoga in Kolkata. Would be part of our birthday celebrations. This laddoo, which was firm and yet soft and not too sweet, reminded me of those.
Bimba makes the faral herself and it’s exported across the world in neatly packed boxes. A lovely example of a home chef enterprise. Her faral is of the style of her native Pathare Prabhu community and is called sukdi too according to Kunal Vijayakar’s post on the same. The PPs are considered to be among the earliest settlers of Mumbai.

Hope you read my article on the significance of Diwali faral in Mumbai: https://www.finelychopped.net/2020/11/faral-prawn-chilli-fry-and-happy-diwali.html?m=1
And watched my #foodocracyforher chat with Bimba: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CB0QNw7lFjs/?igshid=sozcw8tw6x62

Updated: Incidentally, there was a tradition similar to that of the Diwali faral of Maharashtra in Bengal too. Something which is less prevalent today I think, but my friend Shaswati remembers it from a time when she was a kid in the ’80s. She says that the joy of Bijoya Doshami (the period after Durga Puja) was about going to the house of friends, family and neighbours and being treated to home made snacks such as the nimki (which my didu would make and after whom our second kitten is named), largely maida based.

A story reiterated in the Instagram comment below by Tumpa:


Timer mode with the new clothes
K bought for the occasion

Selfie too

Update:




Our friend Shaswati Saradar and us have formed a social bubble through the lockdown. She joined us for a pizza boli (a play on the Kali Pujo patha boli/ goat sacrifice) dinner this evening and his pishi’s kol (aunt’s lap) gave Loaf great comfort at a time when the fire crackers outside made him anxious.
PS: Can’t recommend Hundo Pizza in Bandra enough. Some of our favourites there are bacon carbonara, Goan choriz and nduja sausage. The pie stays supple even it goes cold and the meat and cheese are epiphanic!



I must admit that I felt a bit wistful seeing Loaf snuggle into Shaswati like that. Reminded me of his Maharani days when he would hang with me. Well, later at night when I sat to chant after Shas left, Loaf got onto the bed, rested on my feet and went off to sleep. Something he has not done for a while. I was over the moon!!!!

For the records, Nimki was not really scared by the crackers.

prawn chilli fry recipe

kali pujo memories

Diwali traditions across the country for NDTV food

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