As I must have mentioned earlier in this column, I have had far more varied experiences in Santiniketan than I would have ever expected to have in cosmopolitan Mumbai. Recently, I got the opportunity to meet an Australian chef who had flown in all the way with an Austrian delicacy, Topfenstrudel to celebrate the 100th birthday of an Austrian lady living in Santiniketan.
The story goes back to post-Partition days when a young Bengali artist fled Pakistan and landed up in Madras. Within a short time of being in the city, he met a young Austrian woman who was working for the Theosophical Society in Madras. She, too, had fled from her country after losing most of her family to the war. The two fell in love and married soon.
After some years of staying in Madras, by the mid-50s, they came to live in Santiniketan. The gentleman was a contemporary of many of the doyens of the then flourishing Bengal school of art. He lived and worked in Santiniketan, but for some reason always kept himself aloof from the university.
The couple had a daughter but she died a mysterious death after which they lived cocooned in their togetherness. Strangely, their only visitors in recent years had been from the family of the wife’s nephew. The nephew, who lives in Australia, could not travel long distances because his health didn’t permit him. So, his wife and daughter visited the old couple occasionally. Two years ago, the gentleman died and his wife chose to live on in Santiniketan.
Knowing that she would be turning 100 this June, her niece-in-law and grand niece asked her what she would like for her 100th birthday. The old lady, probably still homesick after 75 years of living in India, asked for the Austrian dessert, Topfenstrudel!
So the mother and daughter went back to Australia and began their hunt for a chef who would not only be able to make them the strudel (with authentic quark cheese) but also think of a way to transport it across the seas to Santiniketan.
Their search led them to a young celebrity chef who is famous for his culinary presentations — his “levitating fish” dish is a speciality back in Australia. The chef was intrigued enough by the story to not only learn and make the strudel but also accompany the mother-daughter duo to serve it to the old lady in Santiniketan. His passion for the authentic led him to track down a German couple settled in Australia who made quark cheese.
Moreover, he managed to convince an Australian TV company that is launching a food channel to sponsor his trip in exchange for the footage of the incredible mission he was about to go on — from the making of the strudel to its eating. With his hotelier contacts he managed to get a five-star hotel in Kolkata to stay in and park the strudel (which was travelling in an ice-box with 20 kgs of dry ice) for a night in exchange for lessons in strudel-making for the chefs of the five-star hotel. An airline sponsored the excess baggage that the cake-carrying would entail.
After taking the train from Kolkata to Santiniketan, the entourage, with the strudel, went straight to the birthday girl’s house. The stage was set, the cameras were rolling and she was offered a slice of the strudel. But perhaps the weather or the exhaustion of being made much of had put the old lady in a bad mood. She took a bite of the strudel and pronounced it “awful”.
Crestfallen, the group quickly turned off the camera. In these days of sponsored footage, a lady cannot afford to be in a bad mood even she is a 100 years old! After an hour they tried again. Probably realising what was at stake, this time round she was all smiles and said it was just what she remembered from her childhood!
