Making the best out of a perfectly imperfect situation

The uniqueness of the cuisine in any part of Rajasthan has a touch of royalty and Bikaner is no exception. Situated in the north west of Rajasthan in northern India, Bikaner has its own distinctive style of food preparation which offers a variety of mouth-watering traditional dishes from this region.

But for me Bikaner is a lot more than just a desert city of Rajasthan, it’s actually my birth place and I feel extremely  proud to say that my love and passion for cooking started  from Bikaner at a very young age. And so, with the help of a very dear friend (Harshlata Kumari) I set out on a 10 day long journey to rediscover the culinary magic of Bikaner and how it’s created.

The day began with two extremely puzzled friends sitting in a car and thinking how this will ever work out, as both didn’t have any previous experience of shooting a documentary. And in the middle of all the confusion the only hope of light was my maternal grandfather. Being a passionate foodie himself, I was sure that he would be the right person to guide us through this expedition of a lifetime. And so, Nanosa, Harshlata and I racked our brains for several hours together and at the end of the day we had an entire itinerary prepared which was going to help us in the days to follow.

As a child whenever I visited my grandparents during school vacations, there was one person who would come every other morning to our Derra (house) to bring a smile on our faces and treat to our taste buds, by luring our souls into gobbling up a bowl full of his delicious Rabri. Manka Maharaj, a man who is full of life and spreads happiness all over Bikaner by making some mouth watering Rabri. It was an honour to commence this journey by visiting his house or rather an Indian Charlies Rabri Factory.

This was not going to be very easy and I knew that from the very beginning but we had to act like professionals because every single person walking on the streets of this innocent city looked at us with their eyes talking “these baisa’s know their job and they know it well”. That moment a thought sneaked into my mind and said “forget about the result Teju, you know what you’re doing, just put your act together”.

With the help of one camera and Harshlata, I said action to myself and started interviewing Manka Maharaj and his family. Making Rabri has been their family business for 70 years now. His grandfather Shri Ojha Maharaj started this tradition and adopted the title Manka Maharaj which basically means, “king of one’s own mind”. This title had been given to the present Manka Maharaj by his parents. However, his birth name is Shri Laxmi Narayan, who took the reins in his hand from his grandfather in 1956 and today even after 55 years this man continues to satisfy many hungry stomachs who come wandering about on his front door every morning.

Manka Maharaj and I certainly have one thing in common; we have both been spoilt immensely by our respective grandfather’s.  Now, the secret behind his lip-smacking Rabri is that, best milk is used to make this dish so special; as a matter of fact this fresh milk comes from his own dairy every morning. Looking after a family of 24 people, he has delegated work to every member of his family, from the sons to the daughters to the daugther in laws.

Moreover, they only make limited batches of Rabri in a day ,which means a production of 30 to 35kgs per day and all the hard work that this amazingly talented family puts in throughout the day gets consumed by the all those people carrying their sweet tooth in their pockets much before the clock strikes to 7pm. In case there is a left over situation, then all the remaining Rabri is complied together to make Mawa, which is later used as the core ingredient in making Ladoo’s and Peda’s.

Having grown up eating Manka Maharaj’s famous Rabri  my tongue searches  for the same taste in every chilled bowl of Rabri that I have ever consumed at a wedding or party thrown by families residing outside Bikaner. In all honesty if I had to describe the taste of  Manka Maharaj’s rabri in one word, then I would seriously be in a major dilemma because no word can define the experience of  having a chilled bowl of Rabri in the heat of Bikaner. The combination itself is so beautiful especially for me because the weather or the seasons play a major role, in deciding my meal for the day.

Furthermore, anyone heading towards Bikaner for a holiday do keep in mind Manka Maharaj, just ask anyone on the road and they will guide you to the little heaven he has created over the years and I promise you there will be no disappointment, in fact you will thank me later for introducing you to a legend who makes the best Rabri in the world.