Two Questions

On Dr. Ambedkar’s birthday, for want of anything better to do, we went for a family outing to Falta, a port and industrial town located about 60 km from Calcutta, near the confluence of the Hooghly and Damodar rivers. The place is of moderate historic interest: it was here that the East India Company set up camp after its defeat at the hands of Siraj-ud-Daulah in 1756. It’s also a good spot for bird-watching.
En route, at two places about 14 km apart, we spotted a doll impaled on an iron spike, and another doll strung up by a noose above a garbage vat. Question one: what is the reason is behind this mindless violence being perpetrated on innocent dolls?

I have a strange soft spot for hotels which are slightly unprofessional. Too much, and it becomes a serious inconvenience: I remember a hotel in Darjeeling where I had to take a bath in cold water at 4 a.m. (two degrees above zero) because the water heater was not working, and another in the Relli valley where we arrived to find that everything was locked, not a single staff member was around, and two families had been booked into the same room. But slightly unprofessional hotels, restaurants and suchlike are rather cute. Hotel Rajhans, where we had lunch, was one such. Look at the menu card.

Chicken lollipop is an hors d’oeuvre made from the middle segments of chicken wings. One of the two bones of the middle segment is removed, and the flesh is pushed to one end of the bone. It is then coated in a spicy batter and deep fried. It is a popular item in Indian Chinese cuisine, served with Sichuan sauce.

‘Chiken lolipup’ and ‘Chiken lalipop’ are presumably misspelt names for the same dish. Question two: why is there a twenty-rupee difference in cost between the two?

As Tommy would say: Yes, I am easily amused.