An adda with Sourav Ganguly is never completely about cricket. There has to be a plate of mutton biryani somewhere. And, the glint in his eyes is the same as when he spotted a juicy half-volley at the crease. t2 was at one such foodie chat with Dada at Hyatt Regency recently on the sidelines of the finale dinner of Coke-e Food-e Pujor Mood-e, a Puja initiative with Sourav opening the batting followed by other local celebrities, in association with Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph. 

What has your debut Coke-e Food-e Pujor Mood-e experience been like?

Puja is one of our biggest festivals… for all Bengalis. Food and drink are things you tend to indulge in during the Puja. So did I! I had lost five kilos before the Puja. During the Puja, I put it all back in a week! This programme was important, as Debu (Debabrata Mukherjee; vice-president, marketing & commercial; Coca-Cola, India and Southwest Asia) said, to spread happiness… get the feeling of the drink to the people. It’s an honour for me to be associated with Coke as well. The association has been a long one… since I started playing. It was a bit more emotional attachment… also with him (Debu).  

Coke is a part of everyone’s life and I am a complete teetotaller. So, it’s a bit more for me. Everyone is having something… so, you pick up a bottle of Coke. In the evenings with food… chilled Coke with ice. When I was young… I would have Coke with lunch, tea, dinner… there used to be a saying in the dressing room that you give Coke to Sourav and he’ll score runs! I wasn’t endorsing anything then! I was just a Ranji Trophy player and like all young boys enjoyed my cola with ice. It’s the same thing now. 

We know about your love for phuchka and biryani. What else do you love?

I am just like everyone. When there is food on the table, you want to eat. I can eat anything as long as it is cooked well and tastes nice. Except for spicy food, I haven’t said no to anything. I have started liking fish more now. I have had crocodile meat once, but I was duped into having it! I was told it was chicken. This was in Kenya, Nairobi. There were eight out of us out for dinner. It tasted delicious! Then when we finished and paid the bill and left, I was told it was crocodile meat. It was Ajit (Agarkar) actually… (who told me to try it). He is a big meat eater. He needed to because he was so thin!

Had you given him a dressing down before that?

With Ajit it was a bit hot and cold. Dressing down… yeah, they used to get it sometimes and at times, I also used to get it. Not a problem, I could eat three tonnes of meat for him as long as he bowled fast! Ajit was wiry but strong. I used to tell him, ‘please keep eating’ because I didn’t want him to break down. (Javagal) Srinath when he came in, was a complete vegetarian. When he realised that he has to bowl fast, he turned to meat. It is easiest to stay fit when you are playing. You are on the ground for 10 hours… burning all the fat. The hardest thing when you leave a sport is to stay fit.    

Who were your foodie teammates?

All of them! There were some vegetarians like Anil (Kumble) and Venky (Venkatesh Prasad). We couldn’t take Sachin (Tendulkar) to a fish place… (he would eat so much) we would feel embarrassed… we had to tell him, ‘Listen, you are Tendulkar! Everyone is watching. You can pack it and take it to your room’. 

Which city or place would you love going only for the food?

We used to go around the world. We enjoyed going overseas actually… barbecue, lamb chops, spare ribs… which doesn’t happen in India sometimes. If you are a meat-eater, the best place to go is South Africa. Those ranches, they make the best meat. I never ate beef, because if I did, my mother would pour water all over me every time I came back home! I enjoy mutton. If there is an option of chicken or mutton, we go for mutton. 

When I was young, his (Debabrata) father (Kalyan Mukherjee; orthopaedic surgeon) used to call my mother up and ask her whether I have had tengri soup at 7 in the evening. He felt that it made your bones and muscles stronger. It didn’t taste the best, but you get used to it after three-four days.

He says the same thing about Sana (Dona and Sourav’s daughter) now. She goes to him now and so does Dona. I have asked him to tell Sana because if I tell her, she’ll run away! Everybody is not as obedient as I was. Modern-day boys and girls are the most disobedient! 

You were obedient?

I am... still! (Laughs)

Have you have tried cooking?

No! No! 

Not even while travelling?

Why cook when there is room service?

What does Sana like eating?

She decides and we follow. Every year she tells me where she wants her birthday. This time it was Cafe Mezzuna (South City Mall). I liked it. We had fun. I had fish. 

What is the birthday menu like at home?

It’s the same Bengali paayesh and muro… that remains the same…. I have categorically tried to stop my birthday celebrations. It cannot go on forever. I have said the only birthday in the house can be Sana’s. Somehow, something happens… they create a bit of buzz, a bit of cake, a bit of food….

 

Did you know?

“Sourav’s house’s aloo posto and biryani are amazing. The food at the Ganguly residence is delicious. He loves posto too” 

My father was Sourav’s doctor. This was in 1989-90… Sourav was playing in a Ranji match. He came home on a Sunday around 12.30pm. He had hurt himself while fielding. My father and me strapped his ankle. The instruction given to him was RICE (rest-ice-compression-elevation). He heard it out and then asked whether he could go back and bowl two overs since the ball would swing in the evening, with the breeze blowing in from the Ganges!

— Debabrata ‘Debu’ Mukherjee, vice-president, marketing & commercial, Coca-Cola, India and Southwest Asia 

 

When in...

Delhi: You make sure that you go to the Bukhara (ITC Maurya; New Delhi) and have those mutton and lamb chops.

South Africa: Spare ribs.

London: You make sure you check out Aberdeen Steak House at Piccadilly Circus and on Oxford Street. It’s about cooking it well and the sauces. 

Dada’s picks...

Best phuchka: New Alipore, Victoria Memorial, and next to my house.

Go-to restaurant: I just follow Sana because it is an opportunity for me to spend time with her. Before Cafe Mezzuna, I had gone to Chili’s with her. 

Best biryani in town: Arsalan is good. Shiraz is good. Rahmania is good, but the best is the one cooked at my office. It is by this family which makes paper envelopes for the factory. This biryani, they only make it for us and you won’t get this meat anywhere. They have been making biryani for us ever since I was a kid. 

Where would you like to have dinner with Dada?Tell t2@abp.in