India - China: Relations And Developments

[Guest]

Mughlai Chinese
Mr Swapan Dasgupta, in his article, “You’ve guest it wrong” (Usual Suspects, April 17), supports the Government decision not to offer the Chinese cuisine to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. He thinks that the food plays a “seminal role” in the conduct of geo-politics. It reminds me of an anecdote, may be apocryphal, doing the rounds in Delhi during early 1963. On the eve of first Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai’s first visit in 1956, the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, summoned his favourite caterer, Kundan Lal of Daryaganj’s Moti Mahal restaurant, and asked him to prepare some Chinese dinner for the visitor. Though not an expert on Chinese dishes, Kundan Lal valiantly rose to the occasion and laid out an array of “Chinese” food like stir-fried vegetables in dal makhni, etc. He also produced a plump Jama Masjid duck done to a turn in tandoor as “Peking Duck”. When the guest lavishly praised the Indian cuisine, Nehru asserted it was Chinese and not Indian. At that, a strained silence fell on the table. Zhou Enlai was deeply offended at Nehru’s attempts to malign his native cuisine. He quietly plotted revenge. It came on October 20, 1962 morning on the Namka Chhu river bank in NEFA. The rest is history.
Ajoy Bagchi
Lodhi Road, New Delhi
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