No, it is not the perfumed variety, but the ordinary tasteless, odourless white talc powder. It adds to the weight and is difficult to detect. Being a lubricant, it also lends smoothness and finish. So, now you know where the smoothness comes from in the `pedas' from your favourite shop!

No mithaiwala would admit it, but chemical dealer Vinayak Desai (name changed to protect identity) knows it. Come Diwali and the demand for talc, which is normally used in the manufacture of soaps, glazed tiles, shampoos, paints, pesticides, pharmaceutical and plastics, shoots up. The buyers are sweets makers. ``We have to make our bookings 15 days in advance,'' says Desai. Rajubhai, an errand boy at a sweet shop, confirmed that `a white doodh ka powder' is added to themilk to make it thick. But the shop-owner denied it. Another shopkeeper said he used milk powder, but ``could not comment about others.'' The treasurer of Ahmedabad Mithai Farsan Mahajan Bhandar V S Mehta was, however, categorical that talc is not used at all.

Traders in Kalupur, the main market of talc, however, confirm that sweets-makers buy the commodity. Kanhiyalal Jain, who owns a talc mine in Udaipur, said that about 150 tonnes of additional talc is sold in Ahmedabad around Diwali time. The quality used by the sweets-makers is called `94', as it is the finest and whitest, informed Jain. According to Jain, talc is used in making sweets not only in Gujarat, but in Rajasthan as well. In fact, the practice was introduced here by Rajasthani `karigars', who were the first to discover what talc can do to improve the look and smoothness of sweets if added to milk while making `mawa'. Since it is tasteless and odourless, it is difficult to detect.

Like Jain, other wholesalers of chemicals also accepted thatsweets-makers used talc, but did not want to be quoted. According to them, it is a naturally occurring mineral, called magnesium silicate, found in Rajasthan. The rocks are crushed into a fine powder, packed into bags which have no markings, and sent to different parts of the country. Generally, the price here is around Rs 5 per kilogram; these days, it is selling at Rs 8 to 10 per kilogram.

The municipal authorities seem to be unaware of this novel use of talc. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation technician A S Soni said, ``We test sweets mainly for freshness and the quality of sweetening agent, colours and the silver foil.'' Commissioner of Food and Drugs Department S P Adesra said that use of talc in sweets had never been brought to their notice.Experts are not sure what is the effect of talc consumption on human body, but are categorical that it should not be eaten. Said Adesra, ``Talc is inedible, hence unhealthy.'' Dr S K Dave of the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) said the toxicity oftalc had not been studied, although its ``excessive inhalation causes a respiratory problem called Talcosis.'' Like Adesra, Dave also said that talc is an inert substance, ``but inedible''.