Waking up today morning listening to some lovely Rabindra Sangeeet, sipping away hot tea in this cold Delhi, was soothing and peaceful. Just in a day, I am getting soaked in a Bengali culture. Staying at Gargi Sens house means that and much more. She lives in CR Park, it was here the first migrants from East Bengal settled in around 1947. Gargi says she has grown up around here, seen all the changes. Yes, at one level for me it is like walking through any residential locality in Kolkata. Especially if you see the name plates. Even on the roads you hear more Bengali than Hindi. The market no 1 nearby is a fantastic hub especially in the evening oozing out with all that is Bengali. You name it it will be there. Almost like a living walking breathing museum of Bengal.The road side gossiping gentlemen, in groups here and there, can speak from anything to anything with full confidence and authority. This group of elderly men, who must be younger to me, gave a fixed inquiring stare at me, as of recognizing I am an outsider or insider and in a strange way, shifted conversation from something political to Michael Moore and documentaries. I pretended as if I am not listening. Then their conversation shifted to Devanand and RD Burman. The Jaalmudi guy sprinkling that mustard oil in the mix, says, now he cannot afford to give for 5 rupees. Every shop here in this market sells, items, which are required for a Bengali house hold. The sight of fish market, was like a discovery, brightly lit surreal and dream like. So many sweet shops to my delight. Grabbed the first mishti dohi that I saw and packed a packet of that typical winter sweets made in that special jaggery. In a way, for me it connected with my own nostalgic memories of Matunga in Bombay. That was also and still is a living breathing museum and much more of what is South Indian especially Tamil culture, a kind of replica of Mylapore of Madras. Though I grew up in faraway Worli, in Bombay, a very typical Maharashtrian locality, but our family would sustain all its energy and resources by these frequent visits to Matunga. My father at one point of time will even buy vegetables from Matunga. BEST Bus routes 165 and 171, which connected Worli with Matunga are like our basic alphabets. My school and college was in Matunga. Matunga which was a hub at that time, for all South Indian migrants, with its famous restaurants and mess food, has now changed. The restuarants are still there but now the migrants of Gujarat have a stronger presence. Gargi says, this CR Park, which was so called East Bengal locality is now a total mix. Many Punjabis and West Bengal migrants have come in. Many of the earlier East Bengal migrants have sold their plots and houses. All the shop keepers are from West Bengal. But then there is something so common in all these migrant stories and we all remain essentially migrants.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 04:19:59 +0000
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