Prabhupada's favourite Bengali preparation

Mahamana Dasa: One time Srila Prabhupada came to the Manor, his health was not so good. One day Srila Prabhupada, his favorite preparation was a Bengali preparation called parbal. If I am pronouncing it correctly it’s called parbal. It's a vegetable preparation very popular in Bengal. So Prabhupada desired this. 

Audience: I think in Bengali its portol.

Mahamana Dasa: Potol, excuse me, right, portal. Portal is the right word. 

Audience: Hindi name is parwal.

Mahamana Dasa: Hindi name is parwal, Bengali mein portol kehte hein. Portol, portol. So he was very fond of this vegetable, portol in Bengali, portol. 

So at that time, Harikesha Maharaja, now Harikesha Prabhu. He was given this assignment to arrange everything for Srila Prabhupada. So somehow I was selected by Harikesha Prabhu. "Go to the city; city is about twenty kilometers from the Manor, and get some...," I will say portols, that’s the Bengali word portol's. "get them because Prabhupada has asked that." So I  thought, this was really an honor that I got. And Harikesha, strict as he was, said with a warning, "Don’t fail. Get it, Prabhupada wants it."

I went there, and I got in touch with some of the local people in the place, Indians, who were quite familiar with the shopping in the markets. I went searching like anything. To my dismay the whole day, till the end of the day, I could not find the portols. And I had to come back without... I feel really very sad, I could not fulfill Prabhupada's desire. But I tried every market, every shop that could have had, but I could not get it. I felt very sad about that.