Jalebi fafda

I was born and raised in a suburb of Mumbai called as Malad. Malad primarily is a locality wherein many businessman from different parts of India have called their home. Among them are many from Gujarat. 

 It is a well known fact that people from Gujarat are foodies. They love their Farsan, snacks that are delicious and light. I have seen many Gujarati wedding as well as festive meals with gujarati's where the focus is on farsan rather than the main course.

Being raised in such locality needless to say I too am fond of farsan. One of my favourite being Jalebi and fafda. Jalebi is a decadent desert wherein fried flour is depth in sugar syrup. Fafda is a severy snack which is made from gram flour. Jalebi and fafda is a sweet and savory combination that no one can reject.

 I have fond memories of jalebi and fafda. Jalebi and fafda is a traditional breakfast to be served on the auspicious day of Dussehra. I remember that when I was a child, I used to see a lot of shops of jalebi and fafda on the day of Dussehra. A day before Dussehra almost all shopkeepers irrespective of their business would pu advertisement that they would be serving Jalebi and fafda on the day of Dussehra. The shopkeepers who knew my family or the shops where we were regular customers would rather insist that we should buy Jalebi and fafda only from their shop. 

The shopkeepers would open their shops at 4 in the morning on the day of Dussehra. The preparation of jalebi and fafda would start immediately. Customers would start gathering at various shops to buy Jalebi and fafda 5 o'clock onwards. If we visit any shop around 8 or 9 in the morning there would be long queues to buy Jalebi and fafda. I remember going with my father to purchase Jalebi and fafda when I was a kid. Cute as button as I was the shopkeeper would give me at least one free jalebi. I would say no but the shopkeeper would still insist and then hand it over to my dad saying that go give it to her maybe she is shy. We would return home with fresh and hot jalebies and fafda. Despite of having so many outlets for seling these breakfast snacks all items would be sold out by 12 o'clock. All shops would make humungous profit by selling Jalebi and fafda on the day of Dussehra.

Even today after so many years we continue our tradition of having Jalebi and fafda for breakfast on the day of Dussehra. Every year when we have our breakfast we always remember buying from small street shops. And those memories make our Jalebi and fafda delicious every year.