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.
“Aminia” –
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