Jaipur vendors rename ‘Mysore Pak’ as ‘Mysore Shree’ amid simmering anger against Pakistan

The latest objects of jingoistic tendencies in India – you won’t believe it – are sweets! Some sweet sellers in Jaipur seem to be scared that if a sweet is named 'Mysore Pak', it might just explode in your mouth. So they have changed 'Pak' to 'Shree'.

You get it, don’t you? Since 'Pak' is part of Pakistan, these so-called patriots are removing the word 'Pak' from the name of every sweet or dish that carries it and are replacing it with 'Shree' instead.

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According to a report by NDTV India, traditional sweets like Mysore Pak, Moti Pak, Aam Pak, and Gond Pak are being renamed with the suffix 'Shree' instead of 'Pak' by vendors in Jaipur.

”This is our small contribution to show support for the armed forces,” one of the vendors told a local media outlet.

Meaning of ‘pak’

It's perhaps time someone enlightened them on the real meaning of the word 'pak', derived from the Kannada word 'paka', and which has nothing to do with Pakistan.

As an Indian linguist and lecturer, Abhishek Avtans explained in a post on X, “Who is going to tell them that pak in Mysore Pak, Moti Pak, Aam Pak, etc. is from paka, a Kannada word which means ‘sweet condiment'…The shared root for both words is Sanskrit pakva (cooked, ripe, baked).”

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Another person shared on X, “Pak is common to many Indian languages and refers to cooking.”

Yet another post on X, by Anita Sabat, said that 'Pak' refers to cooking/food style, and that in Odia, “Paaga” is a consistency of sugar syrup or batter/food."

‘What will we do with China?’

One tongue-in-cheek post on X went, “Remove pak from mysore pak, but what will you do with China? What will you name chini?”

Another person could not take it anymore and cried out on X, “Kya ho raha hai bhai iss desh mein?” (What is happening in this country?)"

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While on the one hand, the sweet vendors in Jaipur may have had the best of intentions, one needs to question whether the country should forget its obsession with the neighbour and get back to the serious business of generating jobs and ending poverty.

But one thing is for sure. You can bet that stand-up comedians are going to have a field day with this. They don’t have to burn the midnight oil to come up with subjects for new jokes when they are served stuff like this on a platter.