New Techie in the City

"Good morning. Welcome to the first rays of corporate sun. You have felt the early morning warmth and twitter of birds in the ambiance, you will also feel the mid day scorch, the exasperation of late noon and drained thirst of late afternoon.. but there is the refreshing breeze of evening to compensate at the end.", read the first sms of the day. It was from my sister, and unofficially the first welcome message, a few moments before the gala corporate induction.

As I sit to pen down my thoughts on this eve of Dashami, I get goose bumps all over. However, I am going to make sure you dont get it. Completing 3 weeks of stay in the 'city of Nawabs'(i know it gives a royal feel and yes it was a grand welcome from my organization) and this is the first weekend with salary. Well, I am happy. Yet, not like those who are sharing it back at their homes. One thing that Hyderabadis strikingly expertise in is showing off their gut while crossing the road, driving past a red light and ignoring all sort of

traffic rules.  It took me 10 mins to cross a road during the first few days. No cars stop at signals, unless its a very big junction. And pedestrians assume these roads to be some marathon track with an exception of moving obstacles on the way. I will take at least two years to get myself accustomed to their "safety" rules.

The first taste of corporate culture was undoubtedly elating. Office hours is followed by the same chai-er dokan e adda like we have it in Kolkata with my Bengali mates here. The tea of this particular shop is astonishingly tasty and consequently addictive. Food has not been a big problem since I came here, as much as I thought it would be.
It happens to be one of the safest cities I came across so far, especially at night and now I know why the police remains dormant in the daytime. The cool breeze blowing wind through my hair, music in my ears, the dim lit moon above the lighted highways and see myself leave the city behind , all by myself in a bus after the 'saptami bhuri bhoj' at midnight made me own this city...

Coming to my favourite topic, food. Being proned to hyperacidity and owning a sensitive stomach I tend to avoid the sour dal and curries as much as possible. However, being a bong foodie and a sweet lover at the same time, I love the patent Hyderabadi sweet called "Double ka Meetha", something they make out of fried bread n dipping that in sugar syrup. It quite resembles the "shhwar bhaja" in Calcutta, but believe me it is way more delicious here. Next comes, the nawabi biriyani!! The fact that the original Hyderabadi biriyani is made with very little spice and is less smelly than what Shiraz gives us back in Calcutta, made me really like it. Kolkata House is a big hit here for most Bengalis. It reminds me of Benfish, with all those Bhetki fries, fish chops, fish kobirajis ... lining up their stall. And my first acquaintance with Kolkata House fish happened one saptami evening, after office when we(me and my Bengali colleagues) planned a pujo pandal visit to Miyapur. We fell in love,  and I call it "love at first bite" !!
Anyway...  signing off for now ! This was my first blog from Hyderabad... will keep writing...

Bong Spicery

Mood swings have not been uncommon for me, often stuck in conundrums. My sister told me it is supposed to be a post menopausal syndrome and women of our mother's age have it. For women of my age(early 20s), some of us who happen to be emotional eaters, the reason should be the craving for our acquaintance with the right food at the right time. The right aroma of the right spice at the right time is a royal feeling, that could enchant food lovers like me,  transforming the mood entirely.

Frankly, I don't know where to begin from. You must have heard of the terms ' well travelled' or ' well read'. I am ' well-fed' !! And the tale of my love affair with food begins from mum's kitchen. A bong ma's kitchen

shelves are lined up with jars of 'panch-foron', ' shukno lonka', 'tej pata', 'holud' , 'kalo jeera', cumin seeds, 'hing' etc. No 'Bhajohari Ranna'(one of Bengal's oldest n most popular restaurants) could stand in competition with mom's 'macher-jhol' (fish curry with very little spice) specially done with the intoxicating essence of 'panch foron' in the pungent smelling mustard oil, whose predominance makes the dish so elating. I have been trying to decode the real recipe behind this, having failed several times even using the same ingredients used by her(she is a swift cook and uses some secret anecdotes, I believe!!). Since, I am still waiting to begin my life as a professional, I have loads of time and don't mind failing few more attempts in my free time, as long as the rattlings of 'panch foron' and 'sukno lonka' in the hot mustard oil continue to please my eardrums and the strong essence, seduce my olfactory system.

One of the radio channels was playing Manna Dey. 'Na na Jeo Naa' . It was the evening of Shankranti. The big bowl of off whitish earthy 'pithe-payesh' boiled lazily, in rhythm with the 70s song. Mum lowered the flame and left it to boil in its own speed, while she sang to the radio in a soothing soft voice of the black n

white era. It was perfect like her recipes. 'Pithe's  stuffed with lot of grated coconut in jaggery dipped in the 'payesh' ...sheer heaven for me!

There was a time when I hated the taste or smell of  chilli in any dish. It was only after I came in college and several riots with our cook(who hardly knew how to cook) I learnt the importance of hotness. Ok, I don't mind relating 'hotness' and 'college' for sometime . But seriously, no girl could show the hotness in 1st year of engineering. It was ragging session for the first 6 months or so, when every women had to come decent in Salwar-kameez and necessarily with 'dupattas', with all this leaving me a little frustrated after college. And back home, not wanting to eat the tasteless food cooked by 'mashi' made my mum introduce me to a simple combo of rice,few drops of mustard oil, a green chilli and a pinch of salt, all mashed together. It was an illuminating moment for me and I could finish my full plate with that. I loved the flavour of green chilli and now I can't do without 1 every meal. In hands of a cook like mum, even hotness can become pretty palatable, and help me get over my negative emotions, with the chilli perhaps chilling down my anger.


Having come in touch with our Malayam tenant, in the last few years, who also happened to be a teacher in my school, there has been an exchange of culture and food. Coincidentally, my mother has been a fan of South Indian dishes. I still pack dosa's back home for mum whenever I visit a South Indian restaurant. The 2 men in their family happen to be traditional experts in cooking their stuff. Bengali men could hardly imagine themselves in kitchen, every morning, making 20-25 chapattis, for the entire family before leaving for work! Yes, they are em-ee-en=men! An unusual "South Indian Chicken Curry" as they call it, the sweet and sour aroma with the slightness of curry leaves, coming from their kitchen aroused my voracious inner devil called ''Greed'' so much that I went down to ask them what they were cooking and it smelt so nice. In sometime, they came up to give us a bowl of the chicken curry! Later on, I used this trick(rather shamelessness) a couple of times to get few more bowls. Though I have stopped acting shameless recently, the very smell of the curry on weekends boils down my stress quickly. Call it magic, maya, or just Damn Good Curry; it has certainly put a spell on me!!

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!!”