Every partition story is a weeping witness of dreadful human acts, but a few of them also enrich the cultural cascade of India. The strange origin of Fish Koliwada is one such interesting anecdote. A short thread. 1/n
During partition, many displaced Sikh refugees from Hazara district and Peshawar, who didn’t have relatives in Punjab, Delhi or Kashmir, boarded the iconic Frontier Mail and headed to Bombay with a hope of new life. 2/n
They settled down in the Sion-Koliwada military camp, near today’s Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Nagar railway station. Shanties around the streets and dockyard became the shelter of many Sikh refugees who had fled Pakistan after Partition. 3/n
Koliwada usually refers to a colony of fishermen. In Mumbai, one can find several urban villages named Koliwada. A machhi market or fish market is usually a prominent landmark for such Koliwada localities. 4/n
To earn their daily livelihood, the refugees started working in the city. They became hawkers on the train, taxi drivers, daily labourers, and a few of them started the business of cooking and selling food. It was the beginning of a unique cultural conversation. 5/n
The fishermen of Koliwada introduced freshwater fish to the Sikh refugees, who then added a unique twist by applying their heritage cooking technique. Bahadur Singh, who arrived in Bombay via Amritsar, was one such imaginative cook. 6/n
He started a roadside eatery where he served mouthwatering fried fish marinated in a thick batter of chilli paste – one could eat fried Rawas, Jhinga and Pomfret, wrapped in newspapers. It was an instant hit. 7/n
The novel dish gained huge popularity and Fish Koliwada gradually acclaimed national fame for being such a delicious snack. The small eatery, known as Mini Punjab, is now one of the landmark restaurants in Mumbai still serving the Punjabi heritage dishes. 8/n
Fish Koliwada was invented by the Sikh refugees of Bombay but was named after the local fisherman colonies who gave them shelter - an ode to the diverse cultural fabric of India. 9/n
Acknowledgements: gatewayhouse.in/Sifra Lentin, Indian Express/Mohamed Thaver. Wikimedia.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
A thread on one of the earliest motion pictures to be banned in India (1/n)
The year - 1934. Dhanpat Srivastava, a printing press owner in Benares was an unhappy man, despite being an acclaimed writer. He was struggling with ill health and financial difficulties. Right then, a new opportunity came up (2/n)
In the early 1930s, the film industry in Bombay was expanding rapidly. Writers from all over India were congregating there in search of better fortunes. Srivastava also decided to join their ranks (3/n)
A day to reminisce about a peculiar sight of a different time, an Indian woman in Sari, flying an aircraft during the pre-independence era.
A thread on Sari, Aircraft, Besharmi and a trailblazing mother, Sarla Thakral. (1/n)
When Sarla was married to Prabhu Dutt Sharma and moved to Lahore, she was merely 16. It was a family with a rich heritage of aviation heroics. Captain Sharma himself was a decorated pilot who flew with Nehru for his first election tour circa 1937. (2/n)
Her father-in-law owned a company called Himalayan Airways that used to operate flights between Haridwar & Badrinath. It was mostly his enthusiasm that had his young daughter-in-law enrolled in a flying club in Lahore, for Rs. 30/hour. (3/n)
‘Beware the ides of march’ said the soothsayer on chancing upon Caesar. On this day, we recount how the Bard was adapted into Bengali and Julius Caesar’s demise was enacted with fervor and passion on the Bengali theatre stage through the ages. A thread (1/n)
The history of Bengali proscenium theatre is the history of colonial theatre and Shakespeare's plays were adapted into Bengali with great enthusiasm.
Over the years, Shakespeare became a symbol of resistance for the Bengali bhodrolok (2/n)
Translation of Shakespeare into the vernacular language first started with the great Michael Madhusudan Dutta (3/n)
On Albert Einstein’s birth anniversary, let's talk a little about a couple of towering figures of their time and their mutual admiration. Let’s talk about Einstein and Gandhi. (1/n)
In 1931 Gandhi, then a leading figure of India’s freedom movement had gone to London to attend the round table conference. Seeing the dhoti-clad man with his stick on the streets of Britain’s capital must have been some sight. (2/n)
Gandhi had admirers all over the place, one particularly being a well-known German scientist Albert Einstein who wrote a letter to him dated 27th September 1931. (3/n)
How the Indian curry and flatbread found their way into Trinidadian comfort food. A short thread on this delicious journey. 1/n #travellingsOftheIndianCurry
On a regular hot and humid day on the streets of Port of Spain, it is not unusual to find the sight of people eating Trinidadian wraps in restaurants and cafes. 2/n
The wrap, which is a combination of flatbread, and the traditional Trinidadian curry, is a unique mix of culture and heritage, and for the people of the Caribbean islands, it is comfort food. 3/n
Story of the most precious and fascinating wedding dresses. A short thread. (1/n)
During World War II, fabric and silk were so expensive that a great number of women simply weren’t able to afford a decent wedding dress, and many of them had to improvise with materials before their big day. (2/n)
In many cases, their inventiveness went beyond expectations. A few of the to-be brides of young army pilots, who flew in dangerous missions to defeat Hitler in Europe, did something extraordinary and surreal to weave their wedding dresses. (3/n)