The Bombay Duck, a fish in fact, hmmm also one of the
ugliest fish when you go shopping for it on the streets of Mumbai, but what a
scrumptious delicacy.
People from Mumbai and most of the West coast of India are
familiar with the Bombay Duck or Bombil as called locally. But something always
struck me as to how was such a unique name coined. The name of this fish goes
back to the 19th century. My natural thought was during the British
Rule in India, some nobleman might have coined the name and well it stuck from
there onwards. But digging a bit deeper, sprung up a fascinating story indeed.
You see the Bombay Duck was found predominantly on the West
Coast of India, mainly around the Island of Mumbai, and near by the Konkan
coast. But this fish was well sought after by the whole of India for its unique
taste. But during the early 19th century, India did not have its
grand railway system, and transporting Fish (even if dried) used to be a task.
So in 1853 when the first Railway in India started (luckily
form Bombay) the Bombil could be dried and transported with ease. Now something
to keep in mind if you don’t like smell of Fish, if you ever dried a fish the
smell is going to be twice as pungent (Why is that so, I might blog that one
day as well). These smelly dried Bombil used to be transported across India in
the Bombay Mail Train or also known as the Bombay Daak. Whenever these trains
entered their destination the entire train used to smell of dried bombils. This
started the phrase ‘Smell like the Bombay Daak’ which over a period of time got
to be called as ‘Bombay Duck’.
