Being 'Nuste'lgic!!!

There is a famous poem in Konkani by the son of the soil Bakibab Borkar, where he implores the God of Death (Yamraaj) not to collect his soul that particular day as there is fish curry for dinner!!! People have asked me what is so special about this poem; some have even modifed it replacing the fish curry with dal makhani, tandoori chicken, and also curd rice, depending on their popular food. Well, poetry should never be taken for literally, specially it's transliteration should not be taken at face value. What certain things mean to certain communities cannot be understood by others; how can Goans know what a llama means to a Quecha? Now don't ask me what is a llama (well, certainly not related to the Dalai Lama) and who (or what) is a Quecha!!!

Fish to a Goan is much more than manna, even though they will be having fish almost daily as part of their diet. I usually use this as a means to identify an authentic Goan from pseudo-Goans. Neo-Goans will always go for 'Visvonn' or 'Paaplet' while a niz-Goenkar will consider himself lucky if he gets to have 'Karli' or 'Kaalva' for dinner that day.  No, don't take me wrong...I do not believe in regionalism; but I consider a person's origins very important for his/her identity. But let's not get into that as of now.

An environmentalist friend of mine once remarked to me that in this world of overconsumption and the subsequent decline in species numbers,  the only place he can think of where people can give their life to conserve fish, is Goa...not because of economic reasons, but because if all the fish in this world were to disappear, the Goan psyche will be disturbed, and the Goan identity, culture and ultimately the Goans themselves will go extinct. The Goans are born environmentalists, they will always speak about the ill-effects of tourism and how the hotel industry is creating problems for Goa and Goans...but dig deeper into this and you will find the real reasons for such thoughts...the best and freshest fish is always picked by the hotels and Goans have to do with what is left...which niz-Goan can bear such heresy!!!

My migration to Bangalore has resulted in a culture shock to me as far as fish is concerned. What I used to know as 'Muddoshi' now has a new name 'Kaane'. I was very happy with my 'Visvonn', but now I need to differentiate between seer fish and kingfish, and also to know which of these is 'Anjal'. In Goa, I could believe my nustekaar for the freshness of what I would be buying from him, but now I have to further my skills to check on the produce (like the puffiness of the body, colour of the gills, etc.). Back home in Goa, I used to get nice thin slices of Visvonn without even asking the fishmonger; but here inspite of imploring the vendor, what I get is like a steak slice...and in this case, more is simply not merrier. At one restaurant in Marathalli which advertised itself as a specialist in fish, when me and my friend asked the waiter as to what fish they had that day, we were told that they had boneless fish!!! Surely, there cannot be anyone more specialising in fish culinary than them!!!

Goans love their fish wholeheartedly...they may grudge the rising prices of seafood, but that will not stop them from buying their share of 'Postaam'. And fish for them is not limited to what the whole world thinks of as fish. Anything that belongs to the waters, and is edible (except of course, seaweed) is 'nuste'. You ask a Goan what fish he/she bought today, and you will never get an answer that there was no fish, they could only buy prawns and crabs; Goans dont believe in discrimination - everything has been dutifully given a place in the venerated fish pantheon!!! And that should be the reason why 'Nusteshwar' has always been so graceful to his real bhakts!!!