1414 steals in...

Today is Poila Boishakh. The Bengali New Year. Tradition says we must wear new clothes, give sweets and generally make merry. And eat of course. We did it all the years we were in Kolkata. Calling people to wish them. Receiving calls from relatives we hardly knew. The rich lunch...hot, white rice, two kinds of maach, spicy mutton curry, posto, shukto...oh it went on. Sweets aplenty afterwards, ice-cream for the children. The gossip that would come while the women stretched out in the darkened guest-room. No regard for the new saris. What kind of Bengali sits upright after lunch??
As evening came to Kolkata, it would be time for cha. With biscuits and home-made cake and more sweets. The men would be awakened. The gossip would continue. The squeals, the laughter went on until atleast 7 pm. Very few of our guests owned cars. They would get up reluctantly, they must catch the 208 bus, or a taxi.
I don't like fish or sweets much. I don't profess much affection for the people who came. But today...in another city, another state, on the other side of the country...I miss it. All of it.
Shubho nobo borsho to all. May 1414 bring joy.