Culture attack: Being a Bong!

We are people who live in one of the most celebrated cities in the world. We are ‘Bengalis’.

Those little bongs, little incidents that we share in our lives makes this tradition so wonderful, so lovely. In the little backstreets and club rooms, people of all  ages ranging from eight to eighty share their thoughts, enjoyments and miseries. The older generation meet at the bazaar in the morning with the typical ‘bazaar bags’ in their hands, greeting their local friends “Aaj amar chele, Americar theke asche, tai…”

Another one would interrupt and complete the sentence “thak thak bazaar korte eschen tai jonne.” The young people prefer dusk or more traditionally known as ‘bikel bela’. They grab seats at the tea stall and talk about their respective lives, studies and girls. The women though are concentric towards their families. They would rather love to get compliments from their husbands and other elders of the family than spending time with their friends.

When we realise our lives as Bengalis, we fall in love with the idiosyncrasies, crazy way of life of ours. The hilsa, rasogollas, adda and chaa are stuff we just can’t avoid, being brought up as a Bengali. Oh! I forgot to mention the ‘Rabindra Sangeet’.

Days are passing by and the touch of western culture is erasing the rich Bengali tradition. We are the one who should protect it. Once gone, we will never get it back. We should never forget that we have the richest tradition. Where else can we get the love and affection that we get in the bengali homes, the mouth-watering food and the enjoyment during ‘Durga puja’. We should be proud to be a Bengali and more proud to live in the undisputed CITY OF JOY- Kolkata, the city with the richest history and bongs…

BENGALLY YOURS