Aloo Posto¹

Imagine a mustard afternoon. 

The kitchen, barefoot 
on summer’s breath.

Newspapers mumbling 
between Baba’s thick fingers

and you, beneath the
high-blue Bengal sky,

wait moist for— 
gorom bhaat², biulir daal ³, aloo posto.

It’s no gourmet trick in delight;
but a famished melody by ancient wives.

The slow hum of poppy seeds 
grounded to a mellow warmth 

by Kajer Mashi ⁴ on the sheel noda⁵— 
she, dripping beads of clear water 

on the wet stone, wafting fragrance
of love, sleep and war. 

Cubed potatoes, sliced onions, 
a tender sauna followed by

posto’s drowsy descent 
into a pool of a pallid dream.

Its wood-bark aroma— a stoic ring
of lonely British sentries,

amid the rich blooms of ‘aphim’ fields⁶.
Their cruel resolve, rising

in the steely cry of the khunti⁷, 
scraping sheets of posto-skin off the kodai⁸.

Ma serves it in a baati⁹.
A glazed, green chilly punctures the air  

crisp with the nutty whiff 
of onion seeds on posto’s soft, swollen belly. 

This is what you came home for—
a distilled escape from the tandoors¹⁰, tarkas¹¹, 

the measured spoons 
of corporate dining. 

Posto is a farmer’s find, 
unheard by apps and delivery boys. 

A humble hunger 
healed by potatoes

sans the familiar sprinkle of 
jeera¹², dhaniya¹³, haldi¹⁴ and laal mirch¹⁵.

Notes

1. Aloo Posto: It is a lightly-spiced, traditional Bengali recipe of potatoes in a paste of poppy seeds. ‘Aloo’ means potato and ‘posto’ means poppy seeds in baangla language. There are different ways of making ‘Aloo Posto’ and the poem describes the one that I am familiar with in my family.
   
   
2. Biulir daal: A thick soup/broth of boiled, ‘biuli,’ a lentil variety.
   
   
3. Gorom bhaat: ‘Gorom’ refers to hot and ‘bhaat’ means rice (in Baangla).
   
   
4. Kajer Mashi: A common way of addressing the female household help in Bengal (in Baangla).
   
   
5. Sheel Noda: ‘Sheel’ is a flat stone mortar and ‘Noda’ is the stone pestle (in Baangla).
   
   
6. ‘Aphim’: An allusion to ‘Opium’ farming by the British in Colonial India.
   
   
7. Khunti: A steel spatula (in Baangla).
   
   
8. Kodai: A bowl-shaped frying pan with two handles used in Indian cooking; a type of wok; (in Baangla).
   
   
9. Baati: Bowl (in Baangla).
   
   
10. Tandoors: Refers to the popular North-Indian style of cooking in a clay oven which has been adopted by the growing restaurant culture, such as Tandoori Chicken and Naan Bread.
    
    
11. Tarka: A type of a seasoning food with spices heated in oil or ghee.
    
    
12. Jeera: Cumin seeds
    

13. Dhaniya: Coriander seeds
    

14. Haldi: Turmeric
    

15. Laal mirch (in Hindi): here it refers to Red chilli powder.

Jhilam Chattaraj is an academic and poet based in India. She has authored the books, Corporate Fiction: Popular Culture and the New Writers (2018) and the poetry collection ‘When Lovers Leave and Poetry Stays’ (2018). Her works have been published at Room, Queen Mob’s Tea House, Colorado Review, World Literature Today and Asian Cha among others. She received the CTI excellence award in “Literature and Soft Skills Development,” 2019 from the Council for Transforming India and the Department of Language and Culture, Government of Telangana, India.