This holiday season reminds me of my childhood when a Christian family used to present us a nice home made fruit cake during Christmas. Those days good quality cake was a luxury in Odisha. Those available tasted more like sugar laced bread. We used to wait eagerly for the once in a year luxury to savor a bite of the soft, pound cake variety.
Only person who was not so excited was my grandmother, for she always had this feeling there could be GORU MANSA (beef) stuffed inside the cake, especially the dark colored KISMIS (Raisins) looked suspicious to her. A brahmin widow from Puri, her perception of Christians and Muslims were perennial beef eaters.
She warned me of my PAITA (sacred thread worn by Brahmins) going MARA (loss of sanctity) upon eating that cake upon which we need to do a penance of taking bath in cow dung laced water sprinkled with GANGAJAL (water from river Ganga), followed by multiple trips to the Puri Jagannath temple. I couldn't imagine doing all these post eating a slice of the cake.
Fortunately I enjoyed my cake without going through those rituals. Now I live in the land which happens to be the largest producer and consumer of the bovine meat. But I am yet to see a single cake that has beef as ingredient labeled on it. So the beef of the story is you can have your cake and eat it too without bothering to get beefed about beef. Enjoy your Christmas holidays and the Cakes.
Only person who was not so excited was my grandmother, for she always had this feeling there could be GORU MANSA (beef) stuffed inside the cake, especially the dark colored KISMIS (Raisins) looked suspicious to her. A brahmin widow from Puri, her perception of Christians and Muslims were perennial beef eaters.
She warned me of my PAITA (sacred thread worn by Brahmins) going MARA (loss of sanctity) upon eating that cake upon which we need to do a penance of taking bath in cow dung laced water sprinkled with GANGAJAL (water from river Ganga), followed by multiple trips to the Puri Jagannath temple. I couldn't imagine doing all these post eating a slice of the cake.
Fortunately I enjoyed my cake without going through those rituals. Now I live in the land which happens to be the largest producer and consumer of the bovine meat. But I am yet to see a single cake that has beef as ingredient labeled on it. So the beef of the story is you can have your cake and eat it too without bothering to get beefed about beef. Enjoy your Christmas holidays and the Cakes.
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