Savouring the shift

sounds similar? Perhaps this is a conversation you always indulge in on the day of Poila Baisakh, trying to figure out how to set your course through breakfast, lunch and dinner so that you do not miss out on the quintessential Bengali dishes. And not to forget the mandatory visit to the parar dokans, partaking in the festivities and ending up coming home with a handful of sweet packets.

- PRIYANJALI DAS

There’s often a saying, halfteasingly (however, we say there’s a lot of truth behind it), that while individuals eat to live, Bengalis live to eat and that Bengalis are wholeheartedly Machhe-Bhaat e Bangali.

And Poila Baisakh is one of those days, when Bengalis go all out, with an opulent spread of authentic Bengali delicacies that pays homage to the diverse geographical agrarian land and the inexhaustible resource of plentiful fishes that form the staple in most Bengali homes. Derived from Poila (first) and Baisakh (the first month of the Bengali calendar), this day commemorates the onset of the Bengali New Year or Noboborsho, a day replete with traditions, ritualistic practices, cultural events, and sumptuous feasts.

A gastronomical landscape that traces the fine lines of erstwhile East Bengal and West Bengal, the subtle nuances of Bangal and