Being Bong

Random Topics

Random Topics

A big hug to @CoffeeAddiction @EatPrayLove @catlover310887 @RandmlySignedFFadict @BabyAmaRockstar for helping me stay awake and pushing me to move my lazy bum and type it. Btw you can add on to the lists if you like and point out if I missed something :)

# Why I’m the wrong person for writing this book?

I think I should have told this to you earlier but better late than never.

My Bengali is horrible. I don’t know how to read to read or write Bengali. I can read a bit and I can write my name in Bengali but that’s all I know about it. Yeah it’s my mother tongue and I can speak Bengali. But there are a few non-Bengali people settled here who speak better Bengali than me.

My Bengali is accented and even while speaking Bengali I tend to mix Hindi words. I actually even go to the extent of inventing words and sentences which are a mix of Hindi and Bangla.

I’m pretty sure Tagore and Vidyasagar would definitely have had a cardiac attack if they had the chance of listening to my Bengali. That’s how horrible it is.

But I’m enjoying writing this book very much so you are stuck with me.

Now that I’ve confessed it, I don’t feel guilty about writing this book. So let’s move on to the next topic.

#1 When boredom strikes

When boredom strikes, what most of us do is watch TV or read a book or end up wasting a hell lot of time on the Internet.

I have no idea about time pass Bengali Style. But we all are human at the end of the day so I guess the things I mentioned above are universal.

In case you are hanging out with your friends, the topics of discussion are very random.

But when I imagine time-pass Bengali Style I think it would be something like this :-

A bunch of people gathered together (location doesn’t matter) for Adda (gossip) and listening to music (source doesn’t matter) and discussing about the music. The topic of discussion might vary from sports to politics.

They might even end up discussing the difference between new and old cinema, from directors to actors over the era and what not.

But just in case you are a tourist in one of the following cities:- Kolkata, Siliguri, Digha or any Hill Station in North Bengal I would suggest you the following things.

Kolkata:

Go out for a walk, you will definitely find a Street Food Stall. Not all of them are good but most of them have heavenly delicious food.

If you are in a mood for non-veg food, then try out any restaurant in the Park Street or Park Circus area.

Well for the Shopaholics then definitely visit Esplanade New Market and Gariahat. You will get everything there.

But the bad thing about Esplanade area is that it’s always over-crowded. But the crowd in Gariahat is a bit lighter in comparison. Go to Esplanade only if you don’t mind crowded areas. But that’s just my opinion.

There are a few marketing complexes in Esplanade where you can buy things at really low rate. Some of the stores have fixed price but you can bargain in certain shops. You can buy sandals for Rs 100 only. They also have a tattoo and piercing parlor.

I have already told you about the Baraf Ka Gola you can try there in another chapter.

But there’s something about shopping in Gariahat. There’s another market called Dakshinapan not that far away from Gariahat.