Kolkata Calling....!

Today evening I am going to Kolkata. Its been a longtime I visited the city of Joy, almost one & half years. So very excited about my visit. Meeting relatives & friends are one of the main reason of excitement but overall the enigma of Kolkata always been a big influence on me & I like visiting that place again & again. As they say you can love kolkata, You can hate kolkata but simply you cannot ignore Kolkata. So true! This city has an amazing aura.
Then food buff like me- In bengali I call it- Khaddo Rosik has some more reason to love the place. So Khaddo rosik like me are always excited to be in Kolkata & taste all those different types of fish, Mughlai & chinese preperations. Who can forget the famous rolls of Haji. Biryanis of Aminia. Also the road side Alur chop & phuluri wallas. Its a favourite time evening snacks with Muri. Yes calories & fats are in abundance in these foods but our body can give us levy to have these slow poisons once in a while especially during vacation. Sweets- The Bengalis & sweets are colonial cousins. Tasty Rosogollas, Milk cakes are delicious there. Last but not the least Himsagar mangos, I simply love it.
Kolkata calling, where are you man? Yaa yaa am coming!

Bangaliana!

Today on a Sunday evening with tea cup in my hand & seeing the wet outside, its been raining heavily for last of couple of days, a word- Bangaliana came to my mind. Just started unwinding my thoughts.
My upbringing is in a Bengali family outside west bengal. The culture & traditions of Bangla are all there & followed in our household. Its been very interesting whenever we as a Probashi Bengali (Bengali staying outside West Bengal) get together to celebrate Bengali festival & creating a niche amongst all the communities. Also its intriguing from childhood to visit Kolkata & see the life there, which is very different then other cities. If I have to define in a single word what does it mean to being a Bengali, it is Bangaliana!
It means Literature cognizance...
It means Philosophical outlook...
It means food for thought nea thought for food actually...
It means Tea Connoisseur...
Bengali means celebrating Durga Puja which is uncomparable..
It means craziness for Hilsa Fish...
Bengali means passion for football...
Bengali means Mohan Bagan Vs East Bengal match...
Also it means Argentina Vs Brazil match....
Bengali means sipping tea in a Khuri (Earthen pots)...
Bengali means pronouncing words of English forcefully...
It means discussing politics with a zeal besides the street..
Bengali means 24 x 7 in festive mood...
Bengali means Sunday morning in a fish market...
Bengali means discussing day to day activities of Sourav Ganguly in a newspaper...
Bengali means reciting poems of Rabindranath Tagore....
Bengali means enjoying weekend at a Book festival...
It means eat out at Chinese Restro once in a month atleast.....
Bengali means calling spade a spade...
Bengali means finding at least one singing talent in a family...
Bengali means mothers standing outside the school gate with Daab (Coconut Water) after exam...
Bengali means gifting sweets to friends & family without any specific reason or so....
Bengali means relishing Himsagar Mango in a Hot Summer....
All the above are the ingredients of Bangaliana. Am sure many people had seen this. Also many had become a part of it at some point of their life & found it intriguing.

Ruler- The Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals the underdogs before the start of IPL has shown their team spirit with a thoroughly professional approach to clinch the inaugural IPL title. Their hallaa bol has certainly amazed the some of the highly rated teams & choked their opponents in most of the matches. They are the deserving winners of the IPL.

The Asnodkars, Pathans, Watsons has shown that balanced approach fetch dividends. It is their shear power packed performace with bat with intelligent shot selections made them class apart of others. Yes there were other good perfomances by players of other teams like Gambhir, Abhishek Nair, Shikhar Dhawan, Goni, Solanke, Shukla etc but Rajasthan Royals have bunch of youngsters who has performed consistently. Their mentor Shane Warne was a Pied Piper. Not to forget the contribution of South African Captain Greame Smith & Pakistan gutsy wicket keeper Kamran Akmal.

Shane Warne the Captain & coach of Rajasthan Royals has shown for once & all that why he was rated so higly in Australia for his cricketing acumen apart from his spin bowling skills. Shane was in contention for captaining the baggy green cap after Steve Waughs retirement, though at the end it was his off field skills has denied him the job. He has that aura & magnetisn in The Rajasthan Royals team was prominently visible on field.

So it was the Royal spin wizard Shane Warne & his young bunch of exuberant talented cricketers ruled the roost in IPL. They are the deserving champions.

Bangla- Sweeter Than Sweetest Language (Ishhh...)

Bangla is a arguably the sweetest language of all the languages spoken in India. I am hearing for years that Bangla is so sweet, sometimes I wonder which are those sentences or words which has created such a niche amonst all the languages spoken all over India. Let me take a detailed view on it.

Aami tomake bhalo bashi.... This sentence has always have a strong effect in teenagers. I remember when I am in school friends use to ask me often whether this is the way "I Love U" is translated in Bangla. I wondered whether this sentence is so strong that is going to make a great effect to propose a bengali girl only or it has a hysteric effect in proposing other girls too.

Then "Ogo Suncho"...This is a typical sentence used in most of the bengali household by better half to call his/her other better half.

Ki Korchish....This is a typical way most of the time whenever I met my close non bengali family friend enquired about me.

Also the Bengalis eat everything & don't drink anything is a point of attraction. Jol khabo, Juice kheachi etc.

Then who can forget Ishhh.... This word has that aura which specially girls love it. She doesnt need to be bengali for it. Then who can forget Devdas where Paro was in love with this word apart from Devdas.

One reason may be because most of the words in Bangla ends with a tone of "O" & the way bengali delivers most of the words with soothing tone of "O" like Jabo, Khabo, Sobo, Ki korcho, kota bajlo...

Also the bengali is a uncomplicated language & someway related with Hindi. Our National Anthem is also in Bengali & from the childhood everybody is singing in the morning assembly. So the fascination for the Bangla language gets inculcated from the childhood.

Bankim Chandra's Vande Mataram is also in Bengali. Our national anthem written by Rabindra nath Tagore & Bankim Chandra's Vande Mataram has significant effect in popularising bengali language in every household of India.

It is the soothing effect of Bangla language with its ancient richness by popularising it into masses by Rabindra Nath Tagore, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Bankim Chandra, Nazrul Islam, Sarat Chandra has given Bengali language a boost & created interest amongst all.