The Samosa Story

It matters. It really does. Your first bite on the 3-dimensional, triangular, venerable Indian food item is of grave significance.

Let’s say you start on top of the cone. That shows you are a sensitive, melancholic person who likes simple things in life. You are achievement oriented. Watching a movie at home, solving a cross word puzzle or playing monopoly is your idea of fun.

If you turn the samosa upside down and start on its right collar, you have mischief written all over you. You are an impatient type and will typically go for a second helping. You fantasize about joining Team 6 of the Navy Seals.

Or, may be you are like me. Last Sunday, as I left what according to me was a good workout, something happened. The steering wheel on the vehicle turned towards the intersection of Golf and Higgins in Schaumburg, Illinois. I tried to prevent that from happening, in vain. The vehicle pulled in to the parking lot of a strip mall in front of “Sukhadias,” a local Indian haunt.

For those who have seen the “Herbie” series of movies where the VW Beetle drives by itself, it was a similar, and a surreal experience at that.

I walked in and the gentleman there pursued me to buy samosas. He fished it out hot and put it in the doggy bag.

Now on the road, while holding the steering with my one hand, I used the other to dish out a hot samosa. I turned it upside down and took a bite off the left collar. Yes the left collar. The first bite should only be the crust. I ensure that no elements of the filling come in, because for all of you who know samosas know that it is all about the crust. I went on to the open aperture on the left bottom, pulling in both the crust and the filling in the next bite, eventually eating the right collar and finishing off at the cone.

Once home, I got off the vehicle and dusted off the oily follicles of the samosa off of my chin, shirt and trousers. Without any evidence of this gastronomical transgression, I entered the house.

My apologies, I cannot share with you what it says about people like me who turn the samosa upside down and start on the left collar.

That said, I am here to share with you the story of the samosa that has made it to India’s most admired food item. If you Google it, you should find the link to the survey. If you are not able to, get your browser checked, ideally close to an outlet that sells samosas.

India has an identity problem due to the fragmentation of its symbolic ideals. The Italians have the pizza, the Mexicans the burritos, the Americans the hamburger, the French their baguette, the Australians the beer, the Turks their Tahini, the Russians their Bellini, the Chinese their noodles, the Japanese their sushi, the Argentineans their steak, the Swiss their chocolates, the Dutch their Herring, the Belgians their Mussels, the Thai their coconut curry and I know the Canadians don’t have anything, but let’s show sympathy towards them, this one time.

Indians. We cannot unify on language or religion and if you ask our neighbors we don’t agree on certain disputed territories either. We have an agreement problem. On food, ask an Indian and he will name samosa, idli, vada pau, kabab and papads all in one breath.

It is time that we unify on one food item. Folks, it has to be samosa. Sorry we are not going to go democratic on this. Look at the mess democracy has gotten us in to. This needs to be a directive of and from the largest mass of free people in the world.

From now on, besides the tricolor, our national anthem, paan parag, the Ashoka chakra, head nod, oil in our hair and sweat around our temples, samosa will be our national symbol.

The story of the samosa in the modern encyclopedia and the old scriptures is a very interesting one.

The samosa was accidentally invented off of a dirt road many centuries ago in a small dwelling in eastern Uttar Pradesh in a village called Sukrut. A forlorn mother, to feed her two picky children attempted to wrap a chapatti in a funny and toyish format and filled it with potato subji. The kids loved it.

The news traveled from house to house, village to village, province to province and the recipe got translated in to 17 different languages and 837 different dialects. Children and secretly their fathers, savored it and started calling it the samosa. “Sam” for all, “O”…for an Indian expression of Wow, and “Sa” for an ancient mode of a burp—this latter one is extinct now since the esophagus has gone through evolution.

On a hot summer day, in the 18th century, an English traveler happened to hike to a small town off of Kashi. As he tracked the angry Ganges along the banks, he sat down, and was offered two samosas. He liked it so much that he asked for a recipe which was shared with him in Bhojpuri language.

The gentleman, Sir Sherlock Watson, wrote a letter in long hand and mailed to his sister who lived in Chelsea. After receiving the recipe, she prepared it with meat: which she called “The Shepherd’s Pie.” Yes yet another contribution that the Indians made to the English, besides Chicken Tikka.

Samosas have been served in weddings. It has been served to dignitaries in multi-lateral meetings. Samosa has been customized to a more flat and sparse format in Bombay, to a chilly and larger format in Delhi, has had coconut filling in Chennai, and shrimp in Bengal.

Samosa is enjoyed in the nightly confines of movie halls on hot Indian afternoons, in haste, as the villain chases the heroine; on the sidelines of hockey matches or while stopping for refreshments in Sukrut off of a bumpy car ride.

Samosa is like Indians, it adapts and conforms to the surroundings while staying true to its core. No other food item has gone through such a diverse journey—not the idli or the pakora, not the vada pau or the kabab.

With that, obviously samosa is synonymous with India, our symbol, our insigne.

Now, ever wondered where and how the “wheel,” the instrument of modern civilization, got invented? Jalebi was its inspiration in a small town close to Allahabad called Naini. But that story is for another time.
-------------
Girish Rishi, a Chicago based writer, contributed this article from his Fact and Fiction series.
-------------
(This column will be first published by India Abroad.)