Pan Dukan [Betel Shop]

As such I am a vegetarian, milk is the only animal produce that I consume. Neither I am addicted to any sedatives, be it alcohol or tobacco in any form. This afternoon after having a sumptuous meal I had a temptation to chew a pan. I went to the pan dukan or the betel shop at the Tehsil Chowk, but I was turned down by the store keeper saying there is no pan pattar or the betel leafs. I went to the neighbouring two more stores, but to my surprise the outcome was the same. I became sceptical why do at all we call these stores as pan-guda or pan dukan, when they are no more selling any pans. There hanged only rolls of gutkha packets, while the stores are being littered around by small empty pouch of gutkha.

Over the decades the Pan eating culture has been completely corrupted with the advent of the Guthkha industry. Until a decade back I had seen how after handing over a pan the vendor would fold his both hands and do the Juhar or Namaskar to the customer while expressing his gratitude.

I do recall the glorious years of pan eating culture that we had in Odisha. It was the year 1983 then I was a student of 7^th Standard in P.R.High School at Balangir. We were residing in Suth Pada. At the Chowk or the intersection of the roads there happen to be a pan dukan. It was owned by Khaira Behera. He might have inherited such unusual name for the vocation that he was engaged in. In Oriya Khaira means catechu. It is the substance that is extracted from the acacia trees. Catechu is applied on surface of pan leaf along with the lime while making a pan. This substance is used to dilute the harm caused by the lime either to the gums, teeth or the tongue. Not only that, his two children were endowed with strange names. His son’s name was Labang which in English called clove, whereas  daughter’s name was Ilaichi that means cardamom. Both these spices are essential ingredients to make pan.

That pan vendor Khaira was a peculiar man. He was a middle age person and inherited the business from his father. His shop was a large rectangle wooden box elevated from ground at around three feet. Next to the store there was a wooden plank fixed to two wooden columns that were rooted on earth. On it there would be placed the daily Oriya Samaja news paper for the customers to read. The wooden plank was basically for the customers to rest when he prepares the pan.

When a customer would order a pan, Khaira would pick two pan leafs from the bunch rolled neatly in a wet cotton cloth. He would deep the leafs in clean water stored in a bucket. Then he would pick the scissor and cut the lower end of the pan leafs. While holding the petiole of the leafs with the fingers of his left hand, he would start applying the lime (chun) and katha (catechu) with the thumb finger of the right hand. While applying these two essential ingredients on the leaf he  would start his talk show. He would ask the familiar question “Janicha ken ?” Whch means, do you know ? And this début question raises a lot of curiosity in the mind of the customer to know what the issue could be. He would talk everything that exists under the sun and about the solar eclipse too. Then Indian television broadcast media was at the nascent stage. There seldom happen to be any talk shows in the Door Darshan. Arnab Goswami the Caesar of India’s television news was yet to set the goal of his life. That pan vender Khaira happen to be the anchor of the gossips. Mostly the issues on which he used to talk  was on test cricket and movies. But the debates used to be louder when the issue was politics during the election campaigns. Apart from all this, he used to talk about the domestic issues of every house of the street, but it was spoken softly while whispering on the ears.  
  

There used to be a good flow of customers to his shop. Few would rush in a cycle. They would park the cycle and come to the stall. The customers would lift the circular tin box in which bhang would be kept. Bhang is prepared by mixing the powder of tobacco leafs along with lime. They would sprinkle this powder in their palm and put it in their mouth. This substance happens to be a freebie, to attract customers to his stall.

Khaira use to maintain a note book, where he would write down the names of those customers who would take the commodities on credit, without paying money. Each page of the notebook carried the names of the debtors. He used to write down the figures of 5p, 10p, 25p and 50paise. But when the aggregate would reach the limit of Rs.10/-, he would stop giving things on credit. From that point his debt recovery drive would start. He was sending his school going son Labanga in a cycle to recover the money. Only if the public sector banks of India would have followed such business ethics of a school dropout like Khaira, than Vijay Mallya the flamboyant Indian businessman could not have swindled Rs.8,191 crores from our banks and fled to London.

Whereas today every corporate is vying to endorse their products through the pan shops, let it be the mobile recharge vouchers, DTH coupons or lottery tickets. Just ask for anything under the sun and they ought to serve you.

NB : This blog doesn’t promote consumption of tobacco in any form let it be its use in pan, guthka, bidi or cigarettes.

kiranbima@gmail.com

E.Kiran Mohan (the writer)

C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (MD)

Tehsil Chowk,

At/PO. BARPALI – 768 029

Dist. Bargarh, Orissa, India

Cell # 918249314972