Krishnagar, June 10: As the mercury shoots up, a humble comfort food is going posh.

Panta bhat, or rice soaked in water overnight and served with lime wedges, onion, pickle and chillis, has been a staple in Bengali homes, especially in the villages, as a cooling dish. Now hotels in Krishnagar are serving 'Panta platters' to beat the heat.

With the Tropic of Cancer passing through a point close to Krishnagar, the town experiences extremes of heat and cold.

For the last 10 days it has been experiencing an average of about 40°C.

As a result customers at hotels on NH34, which passes through Krishnagar, were refusing food. No one wanted the hot, spicy dishes that are the trademark at such places.

Then the owner of Hotel Haveli, Sanjoy Chaki, had a brainwave. Early this month, the hotel, which has two units in the town including a multi-cuisine restaurant, introduced two varieties of the 'Panta thali' - a veg thali and a 'Panta with fried fish'.

'The traditional veg Panta thali package includes panta bhat, kasundi (mustard paste), sorsher tel (mustard oil), Gandharaj lebu (lime wedges), kancha lanka (chilli), sliced onion, alur chokha (potato mash), fried red chilli, posto bora (fires made with poppy seed paste), alu jhuri bhaja (fried potato strips), mango chutney, sour curd and a sweet paan.

This thali costs Rs 70. The fish Panta package offers a choice from three kinds of fish dishes and costs Rs 140.'

Most of the other hotels are offering 'Panta platters' with alur chokha and posto bora. Some customers may not like the fermented flavour of rice soaked overnight, so Chaki soaks the rice in the morning and refrigerates it for six hours. He uses Basmati rice.

'I have been selling over one hundred dishes daily,' he says. Rajiv Ghosh, who runs a roadside dhaba, has also introduced the Panta varieties, but at a lower price.

Panta is really cool. It is also what the doctor orders.

Himadri Haldar, superintendent of Saktinagar district hospital in Krishnagar: 'Taking Panta during lunch on a hot day is a good idea. In a humid situation people generally suffer from digestion problems and dehydration. Rice soaked in water can be digested easily and it provides energy and fluids to the body to keep it cool, particularly for those who stay out in the sun.'

Panta bhat also has more micronutrients than fresh rice, especially sodium, potassium and calcium. It is traditional in some villages for pregnant women to have Panta.

Not only the passers-by on NH34, but the whole of Krishnagar could have it.

The rise in the mercury level has had an impact, some say, on the attendance in some central and state government offices in particular during May-June.

A central government official of the district administration said: 'Generally we record an average attendance of about 90 per cent every day. However, during the past 30 days, a fall of about 10 per cent in attendance has been recorded'.

However Nadia ADM(G) Utpal Bhadra did not agree.

'The attendance is normal at the district administrative headquarters,' he said.

But the Krishnagar district court was closed for about a fortnight owing to the scorching heat. Secretary of Nadia district court bar association Debasish Roy said: 'We were compelled to take a break due to heat from May 18 to May 31. The court resumed work on June 1, but the attendance of lawyers and clients is still very poor. The clients from distant areas like Debagram, Plassey, Kaliganj are not coming due to the heat, as they have to travel about 60 km. This is a tremendous problem.'