Tasty etymology.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Over the years, we have been digging out why some curiously named streets in Delhi are named the way they are. This time, let’s try to probe the stories behind the names of some of the curiously named snacks sold along those streets.

Ram Laddu
No one knows how these deep-fried, savoury spheres of moong dal came to be called Ram Laddu. Perhaps, like many nameless things, they were simply placed under the generous umbrella of Bhagwan Ram’s divinity; the refuge into his sacred name being a universal inheritance. After all, even if nobody knows anything about a particular thing, Bhagwan Ram still does—Ram jaane! Or perhaps the name stuck for reasons now lost to the streets that still carry them. Either way, Ram Laddu thrives. The dish is served by hawkers in leaf bowls, topped with grated mooli and a splash of green dhaniya chutney.

Mohabbat ki Sherbet
No Mohabbat ki Sherbet seller is confidently able to say why this drink is named after mohabbat, a poetic word that exudes both sweetness and ache. One stall owner thoughtfully argues that the sherbet is as sweet as romance. The chilled drink is a rose-tinted blend of watermelon juice and milk, rich with sugar and Rooh Afza syrup, and sometimes sprinkled over with real rose petals for wao effect.

Budiya ke Baal
There is a reason restaurant cooks wear chef caps. They don’t want the hapless diner to scream—“baal in my daal!” And yet here is a street dessert that literally translates to “old woman’s hair.” In truth, it only looks like frizzy strands of hair. Spun from sugar, budiya ke baal is also known as cotton candy. Vendors selling it are spread across Delhi, with a particularly visible presence in Gurugram’s Sadar Bazar, where they prowl the lanes alongside sellers of rat poison (who too have a particularly visible presence in the bazar). Packs of pink fluff hang from the wooden lathi balanced on the vendor’s shoulder. Many of the cotton candy hawkers here are from Agra district. These men often prepare the candy at night in their shared pads. The routine involves the slow turning of the wheel-like candy-making machine, the churning of the sugar, and the appearance of… well, old woman’s hair.

Fen
Flaky, light, and crisp, fen is a multi-layered puff pastry traditionally consumed with chai (see photo). Its name, discussed in this space last week, remains somewhat elusive. Responding to that piece on social media, quiz game legend Siddhartha Basu offers an answer to the fen’s etymology: the word derives from the Sanskrit phenika or phenaka, meaning airy, light, frothy. Phena (or fena) in Bengali, too, implies foam or froth, he notes. Across regions, the quiz show pioneer adds, there exist sweeter cousins of the snack: sutarfeni in Gujarat and Rajasthan, and peni or chiroti in the south—all being airy confections.