TEN Bong Things You Should At Least Pretend To Know

Just the other night, I thought of writing a post about things which are quintessentially Bengali and lo and behold, the very next morning the Sunday edition of the paper had an A-Z list of words that are a part of Bengali vocabulary. My list does include a few of those (simply because they canNOT be omitted), but mostly consists of things I came up with on my own.

Bengalis are the Bengali speaking people of India, and mostly inhabit the state of West Bengal, though they are scattered all over the country, and the world. Here are 10 things that, when you come across, you should know are essentially Bengali:

1) Boroline: This little green tube filled with white cream apparently has a miracle cure for anything under the sun, from chapped lips to cracked hips. And every Bengali knows the jingle 'Shurobhito Antiseptic Cream Boroline!'... And I always, always lose the little black cap to my tube. Ugh.

2) Nicknames: If you're Bengali,you might have a sexy name like Nikhil or Priya, but then all comes undone when your mom calls you 'Babana' or 'Mumpi' in front of your friends, and you're left to pretend that you have suddenly lost the power of hearing.

3) Durga Puja: It's a festival, it's a carnival, it's a celebration, it's Valentine's Day(s) and it's a chance to say 'EFF OFF, Diet!'

4) Sweets (Mishti): You have to taste it to believe it. Just do it. Go on.

5) Phuchka: You have to taste it to believe it. The soft spicy potato filling in a crumbly fried potato... thing, oh it's heaven. 

6) Sunday bazaar: It's the therapy of all therapies, a kind of custom which has been handed down from one Bengali generation to another. The male of the household goes off to the local bazaar with 5-6 of these special bazaar bags and comes back an hour or so later dripping with sweat, bags bulging and wearing a triumphant smile on his face at having successfully bought the biggest carp of the season.

7) Which brings us to our love affair with fish. We need fish. We scream for fish. And if you're Bengali and you don't like fish, well then, you aren't Really Bengali.

8) New Market: It's the Bengali shoppers' paradise, the ultimate place of affordable and fashionable clothing, and one where bargaining is not only expected, but considered to be something of a fine art.

9) Gamcha: We are too cool for towels, for us, it's all about that long, thin piece of cotton, almost invariably a shade of red, green or orange, that soaks up water and with it, our personal turmoils. It's our friend, our only friend.

10) Feluda: Move over Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, we got Feluda over here. Immortalised in Satyajit Ray's works as the 6 feet tall, strapping detective who believed in the power of the mind, he is the hero of all Bengali heroes. There can never be another like Felu Mitter.

 

Thanks for reading! Every culture has certain typical characteristics, and that makes the world such a wonderfully colourful place. See you around!