Back home, we did not have too many weekend parties, and on birthdays and minor occasions, Maa and Poornima would prepare a meal of fish fry or cutlet, kashmiri aloordom (dry spiced potato curry), polau (similar to the fried rice), kasha-mangsho(goat curry), macher-kalia (fish curry), sweet pepper with posto (ground poppy seeds), chutney and sweets. Here, when I am not catering the food, I have downgraded the menu to fish fry for snacks; chicken curry, fish or shrimp in mustard gravy, and some kind of veggie-mix for dinner; and home made mishti doi (sweet yogurt) or canned rosogollas (sweets made out of cheese) for dessert.
However, the Bengalis I know are amazing cooks. And unlike me, the meals they serve are elaborate affairs.
The usual weekend parties and are a treat for palates reined in throughout the busy week. The basic meal starts with aloo (potato)-posto, or something-posto. We Bengalis have a love affair with our posto! Then follows the daal (lentils), either with a dash of lime leaf or with a touch of uchhe (bitter gourd), lau-chingri (squash with shrimp), kumro shag or poi shag (all leafy vegetables), different types of fish, chicken curry and goat curry. The great chefs often add to the items listed here, but being a mere mortal, translating all the names from Bengali to English is almost impossible for me.
As soon as the food is served, we queue up before the buffet, urging the kids to eat first. The men go next and finally the women. The feminists and the modern usually line up with the men, and folks waiting at the end of the line risk missing out on some of the delicacies. After dinner the food is praised unanimously, and the Bengalis sit down for a leisurely adda.
It is difficult finding a synonym for this word, as ADDA is exclusive to the Bengali spirit. It conveys a wealth of meaning! In a few years, as the west gets to know more of the east and Jhumpa Lahiri, adda will find its very own place in the English dictionary next to guru, pundit and yoga.
Definition of adda (pronounced as aad-da): We the Bengalis, sit in a circle or groups, and over cups of tea or coffee or drinks, talk about a variety of subjects, from literary works …. cricket …. movies ………….. to world politics. The more artistic ones might even sing a few songs or recite lines of poetry.
(Point to be noted: The Bengalis who left India in different decades, have remained faithful to the songs popular during their time in India. It is as if the clock stopped for us when we left India. Some o us do know the modern songs, but we tend t belt out the old numbers with quite a passion.)
When satisfied that we have covered nearly every topic on the planet, shared our noble ideas with the world, sang to our hearts content, given headaches to the quiet ones, we finally depart for home. Yes, we usually help the hostess clean, pack the leftovers, and often take some with us. The principled ones to their credit, always decline to take the leftovers; but humble ones like me who dread cooking every day, accept with a smile and gratitude. The crowd starts to trickle down from 12:30 a.m. and the exodus happens hopefully by 1:00 a.m.
Rabindranath Tagore (the Bengali noble laureate) writes in one of his poems that instead of being a rice and adda loving bengali he would rather go a la roaming the vast deserts of Arabia like a Bedouin.
But the typical Bengali, and I am one, cannot live without the elaborate meals, rice and our “adda”, and of course a slice of the left-overs!
However, the Bengalis I know are amazing cooks. And unlike me, the meals they serve are elaborate affairs.
The usual weekend parties and are a treat for palates reined in throughout the busy week. The basic meal starts with aloo (potato)-posto, or something-posto. We Bengalis have a love affair with our posto! Then follows the daal (lentils), either with a dash of lime leaf or with a touch of uchhe (bitter gourd), lau-chingri (squash with shrimp), kumro shag or poi shag (all leafy vegetables), different types of fish, chicken curry and goat curry. The great chefs often add to the items listed here, but being a mere mortal, translating all the names from Bengali to English is almost impossible for me.
As soon as the food is served, we queue up before the buffet, urging the kids to eat first. The men go next and finally the women. The feminists and the modern usually line up with the men, and folks waiting at the end of the line risk missing out on some of the delicacies. After dinner the food is praised unanimously, and the Bengalis sit down for a leisurely adda.
It is difficult finding a synonym for this word, as ADDA is exclusive to the Bengali spirit. It conveys a wealth of meaning! In a few years, as the west gets to know more of the east and Jhumpa Lahiri, adda will find its very own place in the English dictionary next to guru, pundit and yoga.
Definition of adda (pronounced as aad-da): We the Bengalis, sit in a circle or groups, and over cups of tea or coffee or drinks, talk about a variety of subjects, from literary works …. cricket …. movies ………….. to world politics. The more artistic ones might even sing a few songs or recite lines of poetry.
(Point to be noted: The Bengalis who left India in different decades, have remained faithful to the songs popular during their time in India. It is as if the clock stopped for us when we left India. Some o us do know the modern songs, but we tend t belt out the old numbers with quite a passion.)
When satisfied that we have covered nearly every topic on the planet, shared our noble ideas with the world, sang to our hearts content, given headaches to the quiet ones, we finally depart for home. Yes, we usually help the hostess clean, pack the leftovers, and often take some with us. The principled ones to their credit, always decline to take the leftovers; but humble ones like me who dread cooking every day, accept with a smile and gratitude. The crowd starts to trickle down from 12:30 a.m. and the exodus happens hopefully by 1:00 a.m.
Rabindranath Tagore (the Bengali noble laureate) writes in one of his poems that instead of being a rice and adda loving bengali he would rather go a la roaming the vast deserts of Arabia like a Bedouin.
But the typical Bengali, and I am one, cannot live without the elaborate meals, rice and our “adda”, and of course a slice of the left-overs!
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