A lively deshi roadside eatery in Mohammadpur where plebeians
eat
Dhaka marching to modernity with Massala Culture!
"Fast food extraordinaire is finally here!"
By A.H. Jaffor Ullah
Too bad, McD is yet to find a suitable place to prepare their first ever Khashiburger™ or Aloochips™ in Bangladesh, however another fast food giant, which is popular in Great Britain, has stealthily entered our great metropolis and silently been doing a booming business in Dhaka’s upstart neighborhood in Gulshan. With it, Bangladesh has finally marched into modernity. The fast food, an invention of last century, is finally here in Dhaka. It has found a permanent place in the northern suburb of Gulshan where money literally grows on trees.
This scribe however has his own
ideas about the elusive modernity. He thinks it is a waste of money
to go after western things in search of it. If disgruntled westerners
could come to Nepal, Tibet, and India in search of eternal peace that is
difficult to have in their homeland, then what makes you wonder that buying
western gadgets or biting the western fast foods would bring instant nirvana?
When it comes to Deshi
food, which I think had evolved over a period
of centuries, they are more delectable than all those greasy foods they
serve at fast food joints in the West. But can you imagine our rich
and not so famous Gulshanites would venture out into ordinary roadside
restaurant where plebeians eat? I saw one in Mohammadpur in Dhaka’s
western suburb where rickshawallahs, thelawallahs, and ricksha-vanwallahs
were all mingling to dine in mid-day lunch.
A lively deshi roadside eatery in Mohammadpur where plebeians
eat
In the name of free market economy, trade liberalization, the New World Order, globalization, etc., the western big companies such as Coke, McDonald, KFC, which are in the business of selling soft drinks, burgers, fried chicken, and whole slue of other gastronomique delights are slowly but surely importing a new culture into our traditional societies all over South Asia. Only time can tell whether this intrusion of these culinary delights into our homegrown culture will leave an indelible mark far enough to mutate our own indigenous culture. However, please assess the impact other western imports such as gramophone, radio, cinema, television, video machine, etc., had made to our culture. In the name of modernity, with an open arm we had to greet these gadgets. Once these things came into our home, life was never the same. Similarly, it was easy to say hello to other western inventions such as automobiles, ovens including the one run by microwave radiation, refrigerators, air-conditioner, cameras, and other host of electronic gadgets because these modern amenities were making our life an enjoyable one. Didn’t we heave a great sigh of relief in the last half-a-century when medical gadgets such as X-ray machine, ultrasonograph, other radio-imaging technologies, etc., showed up one-by-one. We welcomed them because they made diagnosis of a disease much easier albeit non-invasively for the doctors. Whether these instruments were helping our sick patients or not – well, that is another question altogether.
However, what about the invasion of fast food in Bangladesh? Are we going to greet hamburger, cheeseburger, French fries (potato chips), England’s Fish-n-Chips, Fried Chickens, Fish-O-fillet sandwich, club sandwich, etc., in the name of modernity? Do you realize that Bangladesh has already become a nation of carbonated soda drinkers? If one happens to come from America or Europe, he or she will be greeted by an amiable host (of middle class background) with phrase such as -- "Do you mind Coke or Pepsi?" The soft drink culture has penetrated our urban society in such a way that people thing that Coke is it! Either it is a Coke (Pepsi) or nothing else. When will our people realize that the soft drink is nothing more than a carbonated solution containing sugar and corn starch syrup embellished with some color and volatiles. A drink of Lachchi (sweet yogurt drink) or a mango shake is far more nutritious and tasty. But even then, Coke and Pepsi have become the darling of our Bangladesh urban societies. Even kiddies are beginning to drink these carbonated drinks in Dhaka-Chittagong at an early age and developing a test for these soft drinks. If this is not a lesson in indoctrination, then this scribe does not quite know the full meaning of the word "indoctrination."
Bangladesh just as other societies are in a state of flux. Our agrarian society is now marching towards modernity. To be with it, people are coming en masse from rural societies. Is life more fun in the city? Difference between the city life and village life of Mufassil is so great that some young rural folks find it absolutely necessary to migrate to cities in search of elusive charm of modernity. A cinema hall here, a fast food restaurant there, brand new reconditioned cars whizzing along the road, all of these have their discreet charm. A country bumpkin is dazed, if not mesmerized, by all these elements of modernity.
One of the new entrants to the urban fast food scene is a restaurant by the name Wimpy. There is no telling whether this restaurant in Gulshan-Banani area is a bona fide chain of the original restaurant found in British Isle or is a copycat one. Nonetheless, a few years ago with much fanfare a minister formally opened the restaurant in a prime location in Gulshan. Only in a country such as Bangladesh a minister will take time out from his busy schedule to open a fast food restaurant. That tells a whole lot about the sordid affair of our politicians, isn’t that so?
How about the menu and price of each item that is being served in Wimpy? This "posh fast food" restaurant—an oxymoronic term, nonetheless, serves a host of dishes to delight the taste bud of young and old alike. Not to mention, price of each and every menu item in the restaurant is very steep. One can spend easily Taka 500-600 (equivalent to 10 U.S. dollar) without having a complete meal. Nevertheless, the rich and affluent Gulshanites love to take their kids to Wimpy to show theirs unending love for them. As a rule of thumb, one has to pay 2.5 to 3 times more for identical food item at Wimpy than they would pay in other restaurant for a similar dish. Still then, the place is busy as ever on selected days of the week. For example, a soft drink would cost a steep Taka 25 when one can have it for Taka 10 anywhere else in Dhaka. An ordinary middle class citizen of Dhaka would have a sticker shock if he or she visits Wimpy. Don’t ever think about going to this fast food place on foot or riding a babytaxi. Chances are very good that the uniformed gatekeepers wouldn’t let you in. Therefore, the folks who took their little ones to Wimpy usually come in a chauffeur driven car. Similarly, traditional Bangalee dress is also not welcomed. Although, there is no such dress code per se, women young and old won’t venture out to Wimpies in traditional clothes such as frocks and saris. Most young ladies would prefer wearing slacks and matching tops to show their solidarity with the western values. In the same vein, our mother tongue Bangla is also obsolete here in this posh fast food restaurant. The patrons who visit this joint think that this is really an oasis for them. Therefore, steep food price hardly bothers them. It is not uncommon to see bulky and obese men and women alighting from their cars heading towards counter and ordering the greasy food they shouldn’t be eating. But then, in the name of modernity most Gulshanites one time or another headed in that direction any way. Theirs combined slogan is, "It is either at Wimpy’s or not at all!"
The onslaught of greasy western
foods served at any fast food joints is making their permanent mark in
our culture. Our indigenous food is unquestionably more palatable
and nutritious than those that are being served in any of these fast food
restaurants in Dhaka. Nevertheless, some of the rich and affluent
Bangalees find it necessary to venture out to any of these foreign food
joints to show their love for anything western. To quench their unquenchable
thirst for western junk food, they are prepared to dole out their hard
earned money, which they unfortunately do on a regular basis. This
craze for anything western is endemic in the entire South Asian subcontinent.
One simply has to look cursorily in the Bollywood made films to understand
this phenomenon. Sadly, this Bombay-spawned culture is the dominant
one in Dhaka. Thanks to cable television-fed programs that constantly
feed Hindi sitcoms and other melodramas that surreptitiously feed a subliminal
message telling the TV viewers that western mode of living means entry
into modernity. The English spoken in these programs are atrocious.
Nonetheless, our naïve Bangladesh viewers have no idea about it.
What is rather a disturbing trend in Dhaka is that a section of affluent
people over in Gulshan, Banani, and Baridhara have amalgamated the culture
of decadent West and Bombay and fused it to our own quirky Bangla urban
culture and came up with this strange Massala Culture.
If anyone is interested to witness the shameless display of this pastiche
Massala Culture, then they should visit Wimpy once in their
lifetime. Yes, it would undoubtedly cost an arm and a leg to dine
over there, but your money will be worth spent if you want to see the Massala
Culture unfolding right before your eyes. Won’t that be terrific?
-------------------------
A.H. Jaffor Ullah writes from New
Orleans. Comments should be directed at – Jaffor@netscape.net
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