Bijoya Sammilani

The much vaunted meet after Pujo celebrations. Primarily because we do not want to let go of festivities and look for any excuses to carry on.

So the Probashi Kolkata and Bangali community got to work.

It was time when all of us were back from our Pujo breaks and are still smarting from the excesses that we exercised back home over five to seven days.

Quickly a Whatsapp group was created with phone numbers collected by word of mouth.

The most excellent Avishek of Khazana took on the onus of creating a veritable wedding feast of bygone eras.

None of that biryani and chaap business.

This was serious affair.

The festivities started off with dimer devil (grown up scotch eggs) and vegetable cutlet (croquets with spicy beetroot filling). As Calcutta as it gets.

Then we went into a collective conniption on the rest of the menu.

Luchi (fried flatbread), ghee bhat (plain rice tossed with ghee), mishti polaw (Pulao tinged with sugar), cholar dal narkel diye (split peas with little pieces of coconut), fulkopi borir torkari posto diye (cauliflower and lentil dumplings in a poppy seed sauce), jhurjhure alu bhaja (thin, crisp fried potatoes), roshogollar dalna (traditional sweet in a savoury sauce), rui maacher kalia (carp in a thick spicy curry), dak bungalow murgiri jhol (chicken cooked like they used to do in inspection bungalows of British raj), kosha mangsho (slow cooked goat meat), ilish macher shorshe (ilish cooked in mustard gravy), khejur amshottor chatni (a sweet chutney of dates and mango cheese), raj bhog (cottage cheese dumplings in thin syrup), mishti doi (sweetened yogurt).

The English descriptions do not even begin to do justice to the food.

After all, how do you explain something as quintessential as koshamangsho?

Slow cooked mutton in onion rich gravy accentuated with spices? It just about scratches the surface.

I hate myself most for even trying to describe roshogollar dalna.

Lovely spongy roshogollas bathed inarich, ochre gravy creating a ying and yang like never before.

The gathering was joyful, carefree and boisterous.

Met many wonderful people.

Reconnected with old friends.

Made new friends.

And above all, the party season got extended by another day.

Already plans are afoot to do a picnic.

As Bugs Bunny said, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Amen to that.

Photo: Kaniska Chakraborty