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The Rediff Interview/Jiggs Kalra and Puspesh Pant

'We will prove that Indian food can get where no Viagra can reach'

They are India's answer to Viagra. The turbaned Jiggs Kalra, food journalist and master of haute cuisine Indian ishtyle, and the distinguished doctor of international relations, Puspesh Pant whose amazing research into the Sanskrit classics has resulted in India's first festival of elixirs, tonics and ecstasy cuisine in Bombay.

They call it a feel good festival. Others describe it a festival of erotic cuisine. Whatever it is, it's making huge waves. In an easy conversation with Pritish Nandy, the duo describe this unusual food festival.

How come you guys chanced upon this idea of holding a festival of erotic cuisine?

No, no. We did not chance upon it. We were researching in this area for 15 years and Viagra suddenly came in from nowhere and created such a noise that it actually spoilt things for us. We have been hunting out hakims and vaids from all over India in the hope of creating such a unique festival. We have been working with them for years, to try and understand what these ecstasy foods and elixirs are all about.

And Viagra suddenly forced you to come out this year and hold the festival?

Well, every year we do the Awadh festival in Bombay as you may be aware. This year, in any case, we had decided to do something different. Last year we had done the food of the talukdars. This year, we thought we would do a festival of elixirs, tonics and ambrosial foods. This is a festival of feeling good, not a festival of sex as the media has been making it out to be.

What's the difference? Are you trying to back off from your claims?

No, no. We see it as a festival of ecstasy and Viagra is an intrusion into it. It has changed the entire focus of our message, given our festival a completely different colour. What could we do? It suddenly happened upon us and the entire media went berserk over Viagra. So the idea that we were trying to promote also got somewhat distorted in the process.

But Viagra is also about ecstasy? Sex is about ecstasy. What is the difference?

Ours is based on the classics, on our rich tradition of foods, on our literature, our history. Ours is a sensual tradition and food is a very important part of it.

But it is a short haul, from the sensual to the sexual. Which leads me to the next question: Is the sensual tradition limited specifically to Awadh or are you going to explore it in other facets of Indian cuisine as well?

The sensual tradition is part of all Indian food. But, in this festival, we have chosen only Awadh. We have worked with hakims and vaids from this region only. Also, Pritish, you must understand one thing: People confuse Awadh with Wajid Ali Shah's Awadh. There's also Faizabad, which goes back to prehistoric times. It is the heartlane of the Hindu civilisation. So the vaid coming from the orthodox, purist tradition in ayurveda is very much a part of it. It is not only the Awadhi, Lucknowi, nawabi tradition; it is also the ayurvedic tradition from Benaras and Prayag and Faizabad and Ayodhya. It reflects the spirit of Greater Awadh.

Secular ecstasy, in other words?

Secular ecstasy, yes. But also sensual catholicism, eclectic ecstasy.

Is this tradition alive or are you trying to resuscitate it?

It is alive but barely so. Let me introduce you to Ravindra Malhotra, who is part of our team of three. We work together. The traditions we are working with are very old. Foods described as uddipak. Lighting a fire. Remember, Baby light my fire?

Remember Shakespeare? Alcohol arouses the desire but taketh away the performance. Indian foods stimulate, intoxicate but do not take away the performance. Most people say that aphrodisiacs are placebos, they work on the mind. But that is exactly the point. Sex begins and ends in the mind. If the mind is not aroused, how can the body be aroused? Dissatisfaction also comes in the mind. Frigidity. Impotence. Everything is in the mind. Ayurveda realises this and, first, addresses the mind. It stokes flagging desires, tones up performance. Like Huxley described it, you have food that opens up the doors of perception. The heavenly ones.

But Huxley was talking about mescaline? He was talking about drugs that open up your mind so that you can see things you would not otherwise. Not food.

What this food does is that it gives you spirit, energy, tones your nerves, improves your reception of sexual stimuli. Your skin becomes a little more sensitive. It is not an irritant like the streetside aphrodisiacs, which give you an illusion of potency. It is like having a mechanical implant in your penis. You will suffer from priapism for the rest of your life. It is like Viagra and pop up pills. They are not pleasurable. Yes, you have an erection but sex is not just about erections.

Here, also you get erections. Vajikaran and sthamban. These words have been used in ayurvedic texts 2000 years ago. You can have all the uddipak foods you want, all the poshtik foods. But if you are suffering from dehydration you will still not want to have sex. A consumptive coughing a la Devdas will not think of sex. Someone suffering from a severe bout of dysentery will not think of sex. What ayurveda does is that it tones up your security system, it tones up your respiratory system, it gives you nerve tonics, it revitalises you. These aphrodisiacs go the whole way. They improve your systems, they revitalise you, they make you feel sexy in the real sense of the word. They are elixirs, tonics. Not just instant arousers that give you momentary pleasure. They give you real pleasure because they address all your needs, mental as well as physical. They are mildly intoxicating. They are actually euphorics.

At the same time, they have a wide range. To address the needs of different people. Even schizophrenics. You have arousers. You have tranquilizers. You have intoxicants. The idea is not to cure impotence; it is to extend the area of your sexual enjoyment. Make things better than they are. That is why ayurveda helps the healthy, virile male as much as it helps the sick and the ailing. It arouses both to perform better. It improves sensual enjoyment, enhances pleasure. Allows people to live life to the hilt.

This food festival is about that. About a holistic approach to life and sex. About pleasure, enjoyment, having a good time.

Oops, all this from one meal at the Kandahar?

Not exactly one meal. But if you follow a pattern, if you try the foods out for a couple of weeks or more, you will certainly experience an enhancement in sexual pleasure. You will find yourself feeling, performing better.

In bed or out of it as well?

In life. Generally. And, yes, also in bed.

Would these claims get past the FDI?

Maybe not right now. But give us time. We will establish it. We will prove that Indian food can get where no Viagra can reach.

The Rediff Interviews