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Rajeev Khanna
In this non-descript town of Gohana in Sonepat, the one thing that defines traditional hospitality is jalebi. And while in most parts of the country this dessert is consumed in terms of grams or plates, here one piece is just enough. You understand this only when you come face to face with the dessert — a piece of jalebi that comes dripping in pure ghee weighs nothing less than 250 grams!
The most interesting aspect of this jalebi-special town is that a majority of shops sell it under the name Matu Ram Sweet Shop. It is very easy to decipher that the recipe must have been a specialty of one particular shop at some point of time and the others just used the name to make a quick buck.
On a recent visit, my hosts took me to the shop of the “original” Matu Ram at Shiv Chowk in Old Anaj Mandi. Owner Neeraj Gupta says the recipe was the brainchild of his grandfather who started the shop in 1958. “It became so popular over the years that it came to define Gohana to an outsider. It is very popular with the NRIs having their roots in Gohana,” he says.
Matu Ram’s friends have a lot to add to the story. “Matu Ram was trying his luck as a sweet seller at that time. This area did not have a proper sweet shop despite the fact that Haryanvis have a weakness for sweets. His idea was that a sweet shop business was ideal for this place as Gohana tehsil is located a stone’s throw away. Land transactions are a daily business and no sale or purchase is complete without exchanging sweets. He said the business was bound to be a success,” explains Balbir Singh, who is himself a household name in the entire Deswali-Jat belt for the hookahs that he manufactures.
“Matu Ram also wanted to offer something new to people. So instead of using a normal cloth for making jalebi, he tried his hands at an earthen pot with a hole beneath. This led to the jalebi rings being thick in diameter. The practice has continued at his shop and also with others who have copied it,” he adds.
It is not unusual to see two or three people sharing one jalebi, but my hosts coaxed me to have a one full piece. As they bade me goodbye, they told me that as I had eaten en entire piece of jalebi, I qualify to be a Gohana resident! “In Haryana it is not style, but sharir (body) that matters.” That indeed is true Haryanvi hospitality.
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