A2Z Challenge – Page 3 – soniasmusings

A dollop of Bengal – Goyenda

The alphabet G gave me a tough time to find a word with relevance in my life. While there was the famous Gorumara National Park in Dooars known for its breeding population of rhinocerous, Gadiara – a favorite picnic and tourist spot in Howrah, Gupi Gayen Bagha Bayen – the vintage fantasy adventure movie by Satyajit Ray and Gopal Bhar – the iconic court jester in medieval Bengal, this series would have remained incomplete without a dedicated post to one of the iconic characters in Bengali literature – the sleuths/detectives/private investigators referred to as Goyenda in colloquial bengali.

Goyenda –

Feluda, Gogol,Kiriti,Akkida — *Feluda,Kiriti ,Gogol and Akida Bengali books – my collection*

One of the most popular detectives in Bengali literature happens to be Pradosh Chandra Mitter aka Feluda – resident of 21 Rajani Sen Road, Ballygunje, Kolkata. Accompanied by his cousin Topse and friend Lalmohan Ganguly aka Jatayu, this character created by Satyajit Ray is popular among young and adult audiences alike. The stories have been brought alive on-screen by Ray himself with Soumitra Chatterjee playing the role of Feluda. Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Abir Chatterjee and Parambrata Chattopadhyay have been seeing playing this role in movies/web series since then but Feluda to most bengalis will always mean Soumitro as etched in their memories by Ray.

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A dollop of Bengal – Fish and Football

Considering the number of queries I had for this post, F should have been for Feluda – the sleuth in Satyajit Ray’s detective series. F could also have been Flurys – the vintage shop on Park Street or one of the best place for eating out – Free school street or the trademark Bengali style panipuri/golgappa called Fuchka (no we don’t add sweet to the tamarind water in fuchka). But my pick up for the day happens to be the deadly combo of fish and football.

Fish

Bengalis are traditionally known for their love for fish, specially the ones available in rivers. Infact their favorite food is always assumed to be machch-bhaat (fish and rice). From Rui(rohu), katla, chingri(prawns), chitol(chitala), basa to ilish(Hilsa) and many more, the local fish markets are nothing less than a sight to behold with the range of the species available. Few of the famous fish markets include that of Maniktala and Gariahat in Kolkata, Howrah and Digha.

Fish is not just an item to be consumed in a Bengali household. It is also considered to be an auspicious item for a few rituals like marriage. On the morning of the wedding, the grooms family arrive with the wedding gifts (Tattva) that consists a set of gifts for the bride and her family (saree,cosmetics,bags being few of the items) along with the largest Rohu fish and turmeric paste for the ceremony of Gaye Holud/ Haldi. When the new bride is welcomed in the grooms family, she is either shown a decorated fish or made to hold a fish as part of the celebrations.

Football –

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A dollop of Bengal – Esplanade

E is for Eden Gardens – the mecca of cricket, Ecopark – the biggest park in India situated in New Town- Rajarhat and Entally – one of the oldest localities in Kolkata, but for me E is and will always be the heart of the city –Esplanade.

Esplanade –

Situated in central Kolkata, this is the area from where the first tram and then the first underground metro started. It is also one of the busiest areas with 2 to 3 lakh vehicles passing during the rush hours each day. Esplanade has a bus terminus near Shahid Minar from where buses connecting spots within the city as well as places within the state begin their journey. Walking down the streets give a feeling of the bygone era. Most of the vintage cinema halls like Metro, New Empire and Lighthouse have been mostly replaced by multiplexes and malls. The pavement has branded showrooms on one side while street hawkers selling a range of items on the other. It is difficult to walk through the crowded place with thriving business on the street side stalls.

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A dollop of Bengal – Darjeeling & Durga Puja

Quite a few friends of mine were confident about D for Dacres Lane – another old world food paradise housing Chittoda’s famous Mutton Stew to be the featured header today. Few other options that came up were Dalhousie – the office para in Kolkata, the historic Dakshineswar Ma Kali Temple, Bengalis favorite beach honeymoon destination Digha and wildlife rich tropical forest covered hills Dooars/Duars in North Bengal. But the two subjects that make it to my coveted list today are topics extremely close to my heart – Darjeeling and Durga Puja.

Darjeeling –

The queen of Hills has an appeal unmatched to any other hill station. Home to the third largest mountain Kanchenjunga, the city can reached from New Jalpaiguri station/ Siliguri by rented car or the Himalayan range Toy train.While the view of sunrise at Tiger Hills is something beyond the world, the city also has the famous LLyod’s Botanical Garden and Zoo that is home to quite a few endangered species like the Red Panda. The mix of people from Bengali, Chinese, Anglo-Indians, Nepali to Tibetan brings about a unique mix in the cuisine. Noodles, Momos, Thupkas and butter tea are few of the famous dishes here. A speciality of this is place is Alu mimi which is basically Wai wai sprinkled over dum aloo. Darjeeling tea is famous all over the world. The open area mall has a number of shops delighting the tourists. The local market has an amazing collection of woolen clothes which are of great quality yet affordable. The place has the Government tourist lodge along with budget to luxury resorts as stay options. An ideal day at Darjeeling should begin with breakfast at Keventers, lunch at Kunga and dinner at Glenary’s.

Durga Puja –

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A dollop of Bengal – from Chandni Chowk to China Town

When I mentioned ‘C’ being the letter of the day, my sexagenarian father announced – it is going to be either Cha (tea) or coffee. That is how addicted I’m to both these hot beverages – coffee for winter and tea for the whole year. But that’s for another day. From the legendary Coffee house on the paradise of book lovers – College Street (also known as Boi para), the royal Cooch Behar palace, the famous Chau Dance of Purulia to the historic Calcutta University established in 1857, I had quite a handful of options. But what made to the featured section today were two parts of Kolkata discovered during two entirely different phase – Chandni Chowk and China Town.

Chandni Chowk –

Situated in the central part of Kolkata, this place is primarily famous for two things – the gigantic Chandni market and old world restaurants. Chandni market is the hub for any kind of electronic items. From table lamps to cctv, everything is available here. The roadside hawker stalls as well as the shops have stocks of electronic items, specially Chinese ones that could give any conglomerate a run for money. Despite a booming e-commerce sector, the market has neither lost its charm nor appeal. However one definitely needs to brush up on their bargaining skills before venturing out to buy anything from here.

Sabir's special — *Sabir’s special Mutton Rezala and Tandoori Roti*

This area is also house to a lot of eateries – Sabir’s hotel being the most famous among them. Their vintage mutton rezala to be eaten with roti/Naan is still irreplaceable.

China Town –

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A dollop of Bengal – Byomkesh to Berhampore

Knowing my obsessive fascination with food, B for Biriyani should have been the ideal choice. But I had too many choices again. Birla Planetarium in Kolkata – the largest planetarium in Asia and the second largest in the world, the historical Belur Math founded by Swami Vivekananda, the age-old Botanical Garden in Shibpur, Howrah, Bengal’s Baul music (folk) that unites Hindus and Muslims alike and famous places to visit like Bolpur (houses Visva Bharati – the university set up by Rabindranath Tagore) and Bishnupur (famous for Terracotta temples). But there were two subjects that defined Bengal for me – Byomkesh Bakshy and Berhampore.

Byomkesh Bakshy –

Created by author Shardindu Bandopadhyay, Byomkesh was one of the first and finest detective (though he preferred to call himself Satyaneshvi or the truth seeker) characters in Bengali literature. Accompanied by his best friend and writer Ajit Kumar Bandopadhyay in almost all the cases, he was unique in having a family of his own. The stories of Byomkesh were set during the time period of 1930-70 and the author managed to capture the vibrancy of Calcutta through his writing. While the television series starring Rajit Kapoor brought the detective closer to audiences nationwide, the curiosity about this character grew manifold when director Dibakar Mukherjee made a movie Detective Byomkesh Bakshy starring Sushant Singh Rajput in 2015.

Berhampore/Berhampur/Baharampore –

*The buzzing Berhampore Court Railway Station*

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A dollop of Bengal – here’s to Adda and Aminia

Bengal or West Bengal as it is popularly known is one of the states in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. While selecting the theme ‘A dollop of Bengal’, I hadn’t thought of the unbelievably wide range of categories that define the state. So when I started jotting down the words that started with the first alphabet A, I realized the list was only getting bigger. Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen, award-winning actor and director Aparna Sen, scientist Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, novelist Ashapurna Devi , singer Arijit Singh and the heritage monument Adina Mosque in Malda amidst a list of never-ending names. So I chose two subjects that define the quintessential Bengali essence.

“Adda” –

The Oxford dictionary defines it as a place where people gather for conversations. In Bengal what this stands for is a place where people meet for passionate arguments (sometimes heated as well) related to anything under the sky favorites being politics and the downward spiralling of the state. These addas can be spotted at a range of places varying from the tiniest tea shop to a quiet corner of the road to the pavement of someone’s house. Intellectuals have termed this as brainstorming sessions of many a plot and movement alike like the famous addas at Calcutta Coffee House.