Tea is something more than a drink for us—it is a way of being. From the first sip of the day to the last cup before sleep, tea will be by our side like a friend. In Bengal, cha is all emotion, memory, and poetry;
Dense black clouds hover in the sky, intermittently showering steady rainfall, and while gazing at the developing saplings soaked in rainwater, one could easily make the observation—without so much as a flip in the pages of the Bengali calendar— that it is the monsoon season.
Feeding millions is no ordinary task, but Bengal’s farmers have done just that. This year, they harvested a staggering 25.653 million metric tonnes of paddy—the highest in the state’s history. Behind this milestone lies not just statistics, but countless hours of toil under the sun, resilience in
In the fertile, silt-rich Sundarbans, during the Kharif season, farmers used to harvest good yields of various indigenous rice varieties without using any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Different local types of rice that could withstand floods and salt were grown and maintained for generations on high, medium, and
Birbhum, the land of red soil, has long been known as Rabindranath Tagore’s workplace, Tarashankar’s birthplace, the Kopai River, Sonajhuri Haat, Shantiniketan, Tarapith, and Kankalitala—but now a remarkable new chapter is being added to this legacy, as tea cultivation has recently begun in Sriniketan, an initiative undertaken by
In 1922, Rabindranath wrote: "Phire chol matir tane / je mati añcal pete cheye achhe mukher pane" (Return by the call of the soil / The soil that spreads its lap, waiting to face you). Through this song, Tagore repeatedly wanted to express the innermost stirrings of
There are times when the very sight of food puts you off and everything looks dull and bland and you really can’t figure out what exactly you want to have, then perhaps you could try out a unique food. But you need to brace yourself
The very ingredient that builds the flavour of biryani, and yet the one we push aside while eating it, is none other than the humble bay leaf, or tejpatta! This aromatic leaf is now shaping the economy of Bengal’s North Dinajpur by creating a massive
It is a typical weekday morning at the Bishnupur market. People move on busily and the entire place is buzzing with activity: shouts, screams, buyers haggling with hawkers, shopkeepers vying for prospective buyers’ attention. But amid this din, in a corner, a big crowd huddles
Producing 25.653 million metric tons of paddy is not so easy! It is undoubtedly a historic milestone in agriculture. The farmers of West Bengal have reestablished Bengal's position in paddy cultivation. The state has emerged as one of the top paddy-producing regions in the country. Statistics