Local Delicacies: West Bengal: Travelogue Part 5

I did say that the food in West Bengal deserves its own blog post and so here it is...

Perhaps nothing in this entire journey contradicted our expectations like the food. I must admit, we went in there having very wrong assumptions about what their food tastes like. And what we experienced truly left us in awe.

Right from the first cup of tea (the milk came from the cow in the shed behind the house), we knew we were in for a treat (literally). We ate lunch with other family members in the house in Debipur. They served us rice, followed by dal curry. There were many vegetable accompaniments, each one tastier than the last. But the one dish that stood out was the fish. Two large pieces per person was hardly enough. It's soft, white, juicy flesh was simply delicious.

The main course had us stuffed, and when they came to us with desert, how could we turn them away? Our mouths said yes while our stomachs pleaded no. Slowly we had the mango chutney they poured into our plate. It was the perfect combination of sweet and sour. Desert #2 was rice pudding with sugar balls. My mother attempted to say no, owing to lack of space in our tummies but they would have none of it. With the first taste of the pudding, we realized that we had just avoided a big mistake. It was truly scrumptious.

Dinner at the reception was a grand feast. A few snacks like pani puris and a dish of chicken were available before the main course. I tried to count the number of items that were served but, honestly, I lost count. Roti and rice items were accompanied by many vegetable and meat side dishes. Dessert included gulab jamuns and rasagullas, among others.

It was with these tastes lingering in our mouths that we boarded the train to Sikkim, the next part of our journey, where another adventure awaited us. 

A Bengali Wedding: Travelogue Part 2

And now, for the main event - The Great Bengali Wedding.

We didn't know what to expect when our hosts called us over and we followed them to the nearby mandir. Maybe they just wanted to show us around, we thought, as we admired the local temple. The language barrier meant they were unable to explain to us what this was all about, so we just stood around, having no clue as to what was going on.

The commotion started soon after. A car pulled up, the bride and the groom stepping out of it. They were dressed in the traditional wedding attire; elaborate silks, huge flower garlands and fancy headdresses. The tip of the groom's mundu and that of the bride's saree were still knotted together. The actual wedding ceremony took place the day before, but the festivities were far from over. The bride and groom were returning to the groom's house after spending the last two days at the bride's. As they walked to the temple, the band started playing. Only then were we informed that we were expected to dance.

Wait, what?

The slightest reluctance on our side was met with reproving looks. It was tradition, they explained; it was part of their rituals. As the ceremony went on before the idol, the women and children were dancing to the beat before them. We watched in amusement the sight before us, until they pulled us onto the dance floor.

And so we danced, quite pathetically, I might add, for it would have been rude not to. But I'll tell you one thing - it was a hell of a lot of fun!

Once it was all over at the temple, everyone headed back to the house. The ceremony continued inside, and we curiously watched from the front row. It lasted about 20 minutes. We thought it was all over when the bride and groom headed upstairs, but we were wrong. They asked us to follow them upstairs and we had a hunch that the surprises weren't over yet.

Upstairs, the bride and groom took their steps towards the bedroom, only to be met with a door bolted from the inside. As the groom's cousin soon explained to us in English (we would have been quite clueless about the ceremonies otherwise), the groom's sisters were inside and they refused to open the door and let the newlyweds in, unless they were paid money. Yet another tradition.

After a lot of laughs and quite a few negotiations, the groom gave them around 2000 rupees, by sliding the notes under the door. Only then did they open the door. Quite an interesting tradition.

Soon, they came back out and sat down on a straw mat on the floor in the upstairs hall, and proceeded to play certain games; all, thankfully, explained to us by the groom's cousin. The bride and groom played with small shells and uncooked rice, joined in by other members of the family. It was a noisy and exciting affair, with people cracking jokes every now and then. If only we could understand them...

And with that, the ceremonies were over for that day, and everyone went down for lunch.

The reception party was held at home the next day. The house was all set to receive guests. The bride's family and relatives arrived well into the night, and were received grandly with fireworks. This was some wedding!

It was an incredibly joyous atmosphere and I felt deeply humbled to have been a part of this. They accepted us outsiders as a part of their family. We were blessed to have been able to see a Bengali wedding up close and personal; as this was a cultural experience like no other.