The Quintessential Bengali............

From the East Bengal – Mohun Bagan lineups to the rising petrol-Anarkado-boost to the tatka rui, ilish fresh from the 7a.m bazaar tothe Koel Mullick -marriage buzz or Bengal's world famous icon of “change” and promoter of noise pollution, 'DIDI', Bose babu has a voice on everything. The quintessential Bose babu! The bourgeoisie Central Kolkata banker, was waiting for his 9.45 RT-28(the bus that plighs between BBD Bag and Chittaranjan Park).“Bose babu, jaan dekhe asun boudi k nie, bhalo lagbe”, Bosebabu's, neighbour, who was in his early 30s handed over 2 passes of an Exhibition-cum-sale inauguration, at the Hyatt Regency. He had aclose look at the passes. “Apni?” , “Meeting pore gelo dada,jawa hobe na. Apni chole jaan. Sob celebrity ra asche. Keep guessing the guest of honor!”.

Sunday morning, 9.30am. Bose babu was rushing homeward with a 3-3.5Kg Rui hanging down his one hand, and a bulky thholi inthe other, when Chatterjee-da peeked from his 1^stfloor(dotola) veranda. “Bari te bhuri-bhoj mone hochhe!” “Boudir order ache... she plans to cook ruimacher kalia or muri ghonto may be.. Asben naki?” “Nah.. onnokono din.. But eto tara kiser?” “Goto kal paser barir Dinesh duto pass dilo..Hyatt has an inauguration of an exhibition today. Ami r apnar boudi jachhi...All the celebrity guests must be on their way already...”

In a green ikkat, boudi was all set with dada for the gala event, after a bhuri-bhoj lunch. A yellow cab dropped Bose babu amidst several Honda city-s, Pajero-s,Ford-s and a handful of BMWs(only a few Tolly celebs have BMWs you see). “Oidekho,Mercedes Benz!!”, Bose boudi wastoo excited. “Haath ta namao..Dont point like that.. ekhane eram onek dekhte pabe.”Bose babu hauled boudi towards the main entrance.

“Models lined up in knee length dresses, posing with their tailors. Pretentious jotosob! We thought there was a sale going on. And a few stars would be there to inaugurate it. Arey t2 te pray dekha jai.. dekhen ni dada! But it was a complete star studded gathering. There are a few common faces who always make it to such events, like Swostika, Locket Chokroborty, June Malia ar oi je... ki jano nam ta...the one whose name resembles “alur-dom”...besh chaapa rong ta...o yes! Paoli.. Paoli Dam, she was there as well, going on striking different poses with the same piece of necklace she was given. And what she was wearing was a little under-sized for her, actually besh under sized, must say. Shostika looks prettier in photos it seemed. Ognimitro was the modest of them all. Actually Dinesh, I ve noticed most Bangali tailors dress up modest, but the attires they gestate appear purely anomalous on the wearers. Cant help saying... but very disapproving!

Tomar boudi ektu rege giechilo. We did not know that they were serving lunch over there. She had to cook Mochar ghonto and Rui macher kalia for lunch and come. It was appalling to see how people were paying thousands to buy these under sized dresses. I hate this anomaly- 'smaller the dress, bigger the amount' .

Two Sundays back I took your Boudi to City Center 1, and that is where I saw women make liable use of these misfit outfits! Jano Dinesh, ekta model chilo, not a very renowned one but she was having a suit on, which was like a babysuit. The pants continued to be a part of her top... the whole thing made out of a single piece of cloth” “O! Acha! Jump suit.. theycall it jump suit”

“Hmm...but I would find quite uneasy to jump in them.. jai bolo. Hahaha! Itook your boudi to choose from among a few Abhisek-Dutta-sarees. Your boudi was like- Egulo pora jai naki? Leather er sari!!? Undoubtedly, she was true. Of course, a few wanna-be Sreelekha Mitro-s(she was draped in one of those leather pieces), who were somehow forgetful about their 65 year old wrinkles, and, their silver hair which became orange due to excessive dyeing, were buying those extra-glossy-textured saris.

'Tube top ki go?', your boudi asked me once, as if I knew!! 'Okhane sob camera-r samne tube top tube top korche!' Frankly, I was getting worried about something else. Most of the models there were taller than me. I am 5'7”. But these skinny ladies were not less than 5'9”!! Specially those in shorts, their legs were unendingly long. I was feeling low on self esteem. So, I made up an excuse. “Arey hna... bhalo kotha mone koriecho... tube paltate hobe. Ma-er ghorer tube ta aj ee paltabo. Cholo.” And I rushed her out before she had anymore queries and I had to make up another story of cleaning the water tank may be(tank tops are not much I know of you see... ;-) )ha!!ha!!”