The TV show opens with the podgy anchor introducing a girl saying she is born and brought up here in Vasave ie Versova even her name begins with an A (what a co-incidence I must say)! Then he says she is going to show us around and we are going to see people cooking some recipes. Then he says she is going to show us a recipe. A says actually it is a preparation for a recipe (how fake)! The anchor over enthusiastically says and what is it called? Bambooke Bombil. I went red in the face at that and felt gosh this is something. The the camera shows the drying area and Valandi. Then A takes the camera around the village and shows the Oti that she calls Otla as it is in Vesave. As my Indian readers might be aware that dialects change even with a few kilometers in India. Then the anchor says the koli kitchen is always outdoor never in the home showing a modern kitchen opposite to the house (he din't get the real thing). The camera shows some haldi ceremony and food. He goes for a wedding with the camera and he gets what he deserves! The food at the wedding turned out to be Gujurathi veg food. It is a trend now among Kolis to serve veg food at the wedding as they don't get help for cooking from the village women now a days. So it is ordered with a caterer who has no clue about Koli food! Serves the The Foodie Times Now team right! The Two women guest on the show shared some recipes which are not at all authentic. A stuff pomfret which only modern koli has learnt from the Parsees and a Tiger prawn curry with tomatoes. Ask any Koli to certify it. At the end of the show He sits at a table eating limp Tandalachi bhakri and the unauthetic food made by his guests licking his fingers enjoying with ignorance that it was authetic Koli food. Hurray to those Maushis! After all they run their own businesses and know how to deal with such people. I waited patiently for the show till the end and went through the credits to see none!
My sitemeter gives me lot of details that I cross verify and know exactly from where my visitors are and what they have read on this blog. What my readers don't know about me is that I am a software professional. I have tools for further digging into visit information details. So beware!
People pl. give your verdict. I will appreciate your comments here. If any of you have actually watched the show your comments are invaluable for me.
Read my previous post if you have no clue about what I am talking here.
Anjali, this is a tough one!
ReplyDeleteDid they use your pictures? Or your recipes verbatim? Recipes cannot be copyrighted but the method or the way you explain it can be.
It is very likely that they got the idea for the show from your blog. Or they may have had the idea but firmed it further after reading your blog. It will be difficult to prove which came first. If your logs show you which IPs the visits came from and they were from the Times Now IPs then the only thing you can prove is that they visited your blog and perhaps got some authentic information instead of the rest of the blah they showed.
And, yes, they should have done the honorable thing and given you credit. But like you say, they got what they deserved: Gujarati food instead of authentic Koli food! If the guy can't tell the difference between Gujarati food and Koli food then quite honestly, even Times Now is getting what they deserve. However, I feel realy bad for the masses who watched this and believed it, too.
Good for you, for taking this stance!
Manisha I really appreciate the time you spent here. No they did not use any pictures or recipes.
ReplyDeleteYes I do feel bad for the masses and you know what the hits thru google to my blog have increased after the show. People search for Koli masala, recipes and what not and they are led here as its the only place on the internet.
Therefore I thought of writing it here so all viewers and my readers know the truth.
To the times now team :
ReplyDeleteits rightful to accept the fact, if you used her ideas / inputs for the show.
Going by the uncanny similarities in many aspects, and the paucity of published info on the Koli community / cuisine, it will be only very graceful, righful ad sporting to acknowledge her inputs, if not apologise
i believe Anjali might have actually been of help to you had you consulted / acknowledged her for the episode. Atleast you would discover the "authenticity of your research" before you went on air - not that you seem to care anyways
Vinaya you are absolutely right. I would have arranged for expert advice even if not provided it as I consider myself a mere student of Koli culture and am still learning. Thanks dear.
ReplyDelete