Disclaimer: These are my personal views and I do not wish to hurt anyone’s feelings, rather want to entertain them. The names mentioned in the writing are fictitious.
This is in reference to my recent visit to Uttarakhand a week ago. Being a child and a student of geography I had always wished to see the Himalayan range for once and that too in India. Being a probashi with very few years of living in Kolkata; mandatory holidaying in Darjeeling, Sikkim, or the North East did not happen. Never did we as a family ever travel to the North, be it Uttarakhand, Himachal or J & K.
I sat to wonder why??
Are we not the Typically “Bhromon Pipashu Bangalies”??..... Those voracious travellers...Whose passion for new places not only takes them to every nook and corner of the country but even abroad?
Durga Puja Vacation and leave allowance in offices often go together in a Bengali family. None the less they can surprise you by travelling anywhere at any point of the year. So it is often too difficult for you not to locate one or more (if not almost 90%) of Bengalies among the tourists to any spot of interest.
Of all the places I have been travelling with virtue of my job, I have always spotted a typical Bengali family either at the rail station, bus station or at the airport, be it Bhopal or Pantnagar (I never heard of it before and I just landed there recently). Now what is a typical Bong traveller apart from them being spotted everywhere; check out:
1. They travel by Jagganath Travels owned by Jagganath da (elder brother) or Rajesh Travels owned by Rajesh who religiously cater to Bengali needs (read food) i.e luchi alurdom (fried flat bread and potato curry) for breakfast, mach, bhat (fish and rice) for lunch and kosha mangsho r porota (mutton and shallow fried flat bread) for dinner, not to forget the sweets that accompany with every meal. These organisers are superb but you still have the people in the group complaining:
“Moshai chutney ta thik hoyni bhujlen amsotto ta kom hoyechechilo ( Mr. the pickle was not upto the mark it had less of mango)
Or
“Mach er piece gulo dekhechilen ki choto moshai are ek piece kore kokhono hoy.( Mr. the pieces of fish were very small and only one piece is not enough)”
Or
“Bolchen toh Dada egg chow .. egg chow.. egg toh dekhci e na..( Mr. u insist you have served Egg Noodles.. but I don’t seem to find any egg in it ..)”
2. When they travel to places of high altitude they would definitely visit the Mall more commonly known as the Maal.
3. They would be covered in all their woollens, despite the weather outside being sunny and you would see a typical mom shouting at her son who resists wearing those woollen clothes. “Bappa bolchi na monkey cap ta pore ne thannda lege jabe” (bappa wear your monkey cap you will catch a cold)
4. They are loud and they travel in big groups and chaos is the other name, the groups always disintegrate and the search for the members is hilarious:
“aaaaai tuktuki haath chere kothay chole galo dekho toh..”(Hey where did tuktuki, trail off… leaving my hand)
“ei mantu, bablu ke dekhechis kothay chole galo bol to” (Mantu did you see bablu he disappeared)
“Bulti eideke ay amay haat dhor haria jabi” (Bulti come this side you will get lost)
5. They are excited to see what can be rarely seen and the emotions that flow in the form of words are what we experienced recently. On getting a glimpse of the Himalayan peaks at a distance at Patal Bhubaneshewer we saw a Bengali family run down to the spot and say these:
Mother to her child “ Eije Sonai dekhte parichis dakh ki sundor…….. ekei bole prokriti…babba gaye kata daye” (Sonai see see…Can you see the range ..It’s so beautiful.. this is called nature dear.. see am getting goose pimples)
Wife to the husband: “eije tumi puro ta vhidio kore phalo..” ( listen .. you better video record the whole view of the ranges).
A bit further I could see a guy explaining the formations of the mountains to his group, “ oi pahar ta dekhchen dispaarsed ar oita cheeseeld” (can you see that range it is dispersed while the other is chiselled).
And there would invariable be some sombre types who would be found reciting poetic verses or even singing befitting “Robindro Sangeeth”
All said and done I think I am proud to be a BONG, I am loud and clear, I love food and I love to travel, I can enjoy every moment I live, I like to be just myself, unleash my emotion the way I want, and most importantly I Entertain my friends and make them laugh even if it is at my cost J
Jio Bangali!!!!! (Hail Bengali)
