Winter crawls slowly all set to cast its short but intense spell in the rural belt of South Bengal. In the twilight hours of the evening when dense mist encompasses the environ, Joynagar, a tiny hamlet on the outskirts of Kolkata in South 24 Parganas,
A traditional Bengali dessert that is relished by most Bengalis during the winters is “Pithe Puli”. It is famous in most parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh. Though the ingredients are mostly common while making pithes, the process might be different. Different processes or recipes
The short-lived winters in West Bengal are synonymous with nolen gur. The sweet, nutty aroma of this form of jaggery) is enough to excite any sweet-toothed Bengali. Over the years, stories and movies have been created about it, and needless to say, numerous varieties of
The J.N. Barua Cake Shop is as inseparable as Kolkata Christmas nostalgia. It reminds you of an almost lost era, when Bow Barracks, the vibrant Anglo-Indian para of the city thrived in all its hues. Much of it has faded, and down generation will probably
Fish Kochuri of Bagbajar Nilachal Bengalis and their love for fish need no introduction. Bengal being the land of rivers, ponds and lakes, managed to introduce fish as a part of our everyday meal. We Bengalis curated separate dishes out of the different parts of the
Narendranath Mitra’s classic short story, ‘Ras’ is a saga of love, betrayal and hope. It was made into a Hindi film, ‘Saudagar,’ in 1973, featuring Amitabh Bachchan. The story revolves around Motalef aka Moti, a shrewd skilled ‘Shiuli’ (date palm tree tapper). Date palm jaggery
Radhatilak rice - an indigenous paddy variety of Bengal Bengal once was a hub of indigenous rice cultivation, and almost 500 different paddy varieties, including Jalkamini, Jamaishal, Kabirajshal, Jhingashal, Altapati, Rupshal, Sitashal, Dnarshal, Rabanshal, Bormasa, Roktoshali, Khejurchhori, Tin Sotin, and Fulmoti, illuminated its fields. Farmers used
Ma used to make Elo Jhelo every winter morning and we sat patiently to pack them along with the coconut laced Patishapta in our tiffin boxes before leaving for school. We had to show to our non-Bengali friends what were so special about Bengal’s pithe
Bengal is famous for its sweets. Be it Kolkata’s Rosogolla or Bardhaman’s Lyangcha, each region has a specialty of its own. The name of Rabdi (porridge) is pretty famous as well. Google shows that the best rabdi can be found in Mathura, later perfected in
Indubala Bhaater Hotel – the web series that has gained a lot of popularity on the OTT platform, where Subhashree Ganguly plays the role of Indubala. The popular web series is based on Kallol Lahiri’s famous book “Indubala Bhaater Hotel.” Virtually, this story and movie