Having disengaged from sacrificialmeanings ages ago, the easily-made, soft, spongyanddaintysteamed buns are usually offered on people's dinner tables as the mostcommonflour food.
The perfect specimen should have a golden and crunchy crust, with a contrastingly softandspongy white interior -- and should spring back into shape when squeezed.
The most popular gift is mithai (Indian sweets), and shops are filled with a spectacular array specially prepared for this festival, from thickly cut squares of barfi (a fudge-like sweet, often coated with a thin film of edible silver leaf) , to soft syrupy gulab jamuns (deep-fried balls of dough) andspongy rasgullas (sweetened cream cheese balls flavoured with rose water).