Rasgulla, being the 'king of sweets', is a favourite sweet and popular treat for many.
Rasgulla makes its rich presence felt in many occasions, events, and celebrations.
But, before 2015, when we celebrated #RasagolaDibasa online, very few even associated Odisha with Rasagola.
Ever wonder why and how is it that Odisha is never the top-of-mind recall when Rasgulla is discussed?
Text-Books
Rasgulla finds generous mention in the text-books.
My friend, Smt. Sujata Padhy, informed me that her daughter's text-book has a question about Rasgulla. I requested her to share a photograph of the said question.
She sent the following image of the said page from her daughter's Std III Social Studies text-book:
I have been researching about Rasagola for long and have been thinking a lot about what is being taught, especially after finding more such questions and text from text-books-
Rasgulla features prominently in mathematics problems.
Children love sweets and treats and hope they find solving such sums interesting-
As per the given details in the above question, do you know- Which sweet is preferred by most students?
To find out, we have to solve and answer the two parts of the given maths question.
By observing the different sweet choices of the 30 students, the table using tally marks is as below.
(a)
Sweet
Tally mark
Number of students
Ladoo
I11
Barfi
I I I
3
Jalebi
I I 7
Rasgulla
I I I I9
30
(b) We can see that most number of students (11) prefer Ladoo. Thus, Ladoo is the most preferred sweet, with Rasgulla being runner-up with the second highest number of students (9).
Maybe if the sample-size was bigger in this question, Rasgulla would emerge as the most preferred as it is the 'king of sweets'!
There are some other maths questions with Rasgullas.
Hopefully, Rasgulla in questions will make mathematics subject less of a torture for some students!
Torture
How can one associate this delectable syrupy sweet- Rasgulla- with torture? Rasgulla can enhance happiness levels, but can it cause torture?
It can when it is so close, yet so far...
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| Source: Shri Amitabh Bachchan @ Instagram |
For Shri Amitabh Bachchan it was torture to pose with the sweets- Rasgulla and Gulab Jamun. He cannot savour them, having to avoid them owing to health reasons.
It certainly takes a lot of self-control and willpower to stay away from what you love. Having to stay away from Rasagola is a torture for sure.
Tag
By tag, I am referring to the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
When there was advocacy and activism for the GI tag for Odisha Rasagola, many intellectuals opposed our initiative saying it was not necessary.
For many it was- "amusing to see netizens being vocal about GI tag just because of some sort of ill-reasoned vanity & self admiration."
Prior to 2019, when Odisha Rasagola earned the GI Tag, very few associated Rasgulla with Odisha.
Now, thanks to our GI tag, it is great to find mention of Rasgulla in General Knowledge (GK) books that- the word Rasagola exists in the Odia Ramayana, that belongs to the 15th Century.
Please note that the Odia Ramayana was composed centuries before others started claiming "invention of Rasgulla"!
What should NCERT CBSE & other text-books be teaching students?
I’m participating in the April #A2ZChallenge #BlogchatterA2Z
A- A To Z of Rasagola - April 1- Utkala Dibasa
B- Blatant Lies And Biased Reports About Rasgulla Invention
C- Cottage-Cheese, Chhena And Comments About Rasgulla
D- Rasgulla Day - Rasagola Dibasa Celebration
E- Odisha Rasagola At Exhibitions And Events
F- Facts, Fake News, And False Information About Rasgulla
G- GI Tags of Odisha And Odisha Rasagola
H- Historical Evidence of Rasgulla And Research
I- Indigenous Knowledge, IPR, Rasgulla And Indian Sweets
J- Lord Jagannatha's Favourite Sweet & Food
L- List of Lunar & Solar Indian New Year Days
M- Maha Bishuba Sankranti Or Pana Sankranti
N- Name Rasgulla, Niladri Bije And New Year Wishes
O- Odisha Art And Sweet- Pattachitra And Rasgulla
P- Proposal to Odisha Government For Rasagola And GI Celebration
This is my fifth #A2Z Challenge, and my last four challenges have been about Odisha, India.
Please do share any information about Rasgulla that you may have and which you feel must be documented and shared so that all are aware.
For many years I also believed that Rasagolla was one of the many milk based Bengali sweets. It is only after coming across posts from you and others from Odisha that I came to know that it originated from that state.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct. Rasgulla being from bengal is what is taught and we have grown up believing the same. Thanks for highlighting this
ReplyDeleteDeepika Sharma
Text books in India always lie. They say Rasagulla is from Bengal which is not true. One other example is Indian text books say Hockey is the national sport of India. In fact, there’s no national sport of India.
ReplyDeleteRightly pointed out- Rasgulla has been accepted as a Bengali sweet and hence its association with Kolkata and West Bengal in the texts too. Your efforts are really commendable, Anita.
ReplyDeleteInformative. And I really thought Rasgulla is a Bengali dish. But you put it right. And about Indian Books, it seems many misconceptions are to be revoked and clarified as students carry forward it unknowingly. Great effort.
ReplyDeleteMisinformation campaigns usually are targeted at young people and what better way than the text books.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand why such vital information has been missed out for so long and all 'concerned' seem to be absolutely fine with it? While I applaud your efforts , I can not deny the fact that a more collective effort from all stake holders is the need of the hour!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea about the origins
ReplyDelete...always thought of it as a Bengali sweet. Such an intriguing theme for the a2z challenge