Bengali Bride: Part 1

I was born and raised in a typical Punjabi family. I fall in love with a typical, traditional Bengali boy. And finally, both got happily married. Now starts a new chapter of adjustment of Punjabi daughter into a Bengali bahu.
As I mentioned my husband is a typical Bengali and for your knowledge, due to my poor general awareness, it came as news to me that Bengalis are far more food lovers than Punjabis. It is said for Bengalis that they live for food, they celebrate food and food is their god and so they pray to the food. And my Bengali husband was no exception. So challenge started when I learned that he cooks equally well and expects the same from his career focused Punjabi wife. But, to me, cooking food was the last in my priority list. After so many confusions, contradictions and arguments, I took it as a challenge to master this skill, all for the sake of my loving husband. There are so many dimensions to the Bengali food or Bengali cuisine that I have to unlearn so much to accommodate this new thing.
So, the first in this series is how Bengali food is different from Punjabi food.
Aloo gobi(potato cauliflower curry), all Punjabi simply love this winter delicacy to the core. Trust me, how amazing feels the smell of a phool gobi tarkari the first few days when it comes in the market in the winter months.
What I found that in West Bengal, phool gobi is prepared not only with potato but shingri(shrimp) too. And, it is an equally hit dish there as well.
We Punjabi love stuffed paranthas(fried bread), especially in breakfast. But, I have not seen such thing in common in a Bengali household. Their concept of breakfast is totally different than Punjabis.
When I have already started about breakfast. And, no breakfast is complete without the mention of tea. Before marriage, I heard of black tea, milk tea, and green tea. But, Bengalis use one more version of tea that is lal chai(red tea). To my understanding to date, I think it is black tea(tea without milk). I might be wrong in this regard, but the red tea is prepared in the exact same way as the black tea. This does not end here, there is another variety very commonly can be found on Bengal sea beaches and market streets alike, called Lemon tea, a kind of healthy version of tea for Bengali tea lovers. My other observation about Bengalis is that they love to argue a lot, that is why Bengal is called the intellectual capital of India too. They have the story for everything. Bengalis are a totally different breed, a continent within the continent. They read a lot, so they accumulate so much knowledge and then they get confuse how to dispense that knowledge. And once they find this opportunity, they never let it go. You can trust me, I am one of the victims. So, I end my post here today, will come again with another interesting observation about Bongs soon. If you agree with and like this article, do leave a word, trust me it encourages a lot.

Home is a feeling, not a place: Hiraeth of an Albatross

You might have experienced this in your life that some words or phrases have a special connection with us. When we hear them they may make us happy, angry or confused sometimes. One such word for me is 'Home'. It has a very mix feeling for me. It confuses me as well.

When I was young, I always wanted to have my own place, in which I have the full authority. Maybe I belong to the society where Men have a complete authority, which has always irritated me to the core. So, I had this unconscious desire to have my own place. Being a female, I have seen women as very vulnerable, so having my own home, this feeling alone gave me a sense of security.

When I was single, I was brought up with the concept that my parents home belongs to my brothers. I thought my husband home would be mine. Which is kind of mine, but it takes years to build this trust. I came to a new country with my husband, made many friends, some really good friends and again we have to move to another country. I am now in a phase where I am again making some new bonds to comfort me with the feeling of being at home.  I always struggle with this, the place I call home was the one which I have left years ago or the place I am currently living at.  But there is a phrase, "out of sight, out of mind", which scares me a lot. What if people I made good bonds with would forget me.

This seems something very ordinary, but many can relate to this. Especially, the age in which we are living in, this feeling of home has become even stronger and deeper for all. This is something, poor or rich, all can connect. We live in an age where there are no borders, we have become global citizens. This is a strange emotion and amazed me at times, have we really become global? We come to a new country in the hopes of security, a brighter future and fulfilling our dreams. And, sometimes we are left in total confusion. We have left our own homes in the hopes of dream homes and we are stranded. On the other hand, in the current global scenario, there are few unfortunate incidences, which force people to leave their own homes and sometimes countries. I really feel compassion for them.

Amidst all this mix feeling, this morning one of my friends shared an album about home. She shared the same feeling as I have for home and at the end, she concluded very well that home is not a place or address, it is a feeling. And, I realized, how simple and true is this.

Today, I read a Welsh word "Hiraeth", though I heard about this very first time, its literal meaning is hard to explain. But it seems so connecting.

Urban Loneliness and depression: Social mobility is one of the prices that we need to pay to afford the luxury of a modern lifestyle.  Along with this comes, a new term coined as Urban Loneliness and depression. Lack of social interaction, distrust, and shrinking communities are the root causes behind these symptoms.