Allô Chatrath

  I visited the Cuttack English cemetery, known locally as the ‘Gora Kabar’, meaning the cemetery of the white people in 2006. The Gora Kabar, one of the biggest and oldest cemeteries in Odisha was set up in a 5 acres land by the banks of River Mahanadi on the outskirts of city then by the East India Company (EIC) in 1822. By the end of 1803, the EIC had defeated the Marathas and captured Barabati. The presence of English officials and their families became significant after this occupation, and hence the need for a graveyard. It was established in 1822 to bury British officials and their family members. Managed by the Odia Baptist Church of the city at present, the cemetery also houses the tomb of Madhusudan Das, known as the Madhusmruti. Das was a noted leader and is known as the architect of modern Odisha. A nephew of English author Somerset Maugham was buried here. As the local information goes, a few years ago, his successors from England tracked the tomb and visited Gor...

 

  According to Hobson-Jobson: The Definitive Glossary of British India , the word ‘ āchār’ finds a mention in CE 1563, in works by Garcia da Orta, a Portuguese physician, describing a conserve of cashew with salt which he refers to as ‘and this they call Āchār.’ In his book A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food , the late food historian KT Achaya notes that pickles fall into the category of ‘cooking without fire’; however, many pickles today do use heating or fire to some extent during preparation. Pickles in India have a rich legacy, which is clear when the historian further adds that a ‘Kannada work of CE 1594, the Lingapurana of Gurulinga Desika describes no less than fifty kinds of pickles’! Another later mention is found in the 17th-century Śivatattvaratnākara , an encyclopedia of ancient Indian lore of Basavarāja, King of Keladi. Pickles in India are of three basic types: those preserved in vinegar; those preserved in salt; and those preserved in oil.   Go...