My stay is going to get over very soon here and I would sum it up in one line as "Unusual but refreshing". I travelled to many states in India because of the transferable job of my father, I have experienced the aura of many places but this time it was different and worth explaining. As correctly pointed by Poulomi my friend from Delhi and in Bengal too in the last post, there are really some exclusive and intriguing facts about this place,on the other hand some things are li'l depressing.
Here, I would like to list some common practices prevalent in my hostel-workplace-kharagpur-West Bengal-Bengal!
1. People are Lazy!
2. Marketing skills are poor, they dont like to work hard (Hard? big word!!)
3. Bargaining is a strictly prohibited act!
4. Vegetarian, please turn Non-veg else Die!!
5. Eating habits are pathetic!
6. Working hours are very short.
7. Gain weight upto 5kgs in 5 days.
8. Bengali is the international language.
Lazy people- Now why I say this,well, it seems people here do not like to work, they rather like spending their time talking or eating rasogullas or just doing nothing. For instance, I once went to a bank for some work, the person in-charge was moving his pen so slowly that even ants could crawl faster..They walk slowly,They eat slowly,They work slowly...
Bargaining-an unpunishable offence: I remember my initial days at kgp, when I went to tech market to buy some thing, Out of my usual habit of bargaining that my friends and I used to indulge in back at our places or u can say at other parts of India, bargaining here doesn't exist. To my surprise,I got such a cold response that I stopped doing this practice [which was so enjoyable :( ) When I left the shop to move steps further in hope that the shopkeeper would call me again as it used to be at other places,the shopkeeper dada never called me up :P
'Dada' : Dada is a common term used to call an elder brother here,initially it seemed quite weird to call a young person say a rickshawallah as dada, because people like me understand that dada only meant grand father to us. Once, I called a young man (a rickshawalla) as dada back in Delhi and he turned back at me making an ugly face and said "didi,aapko hum dada lagte hain?"
Veg/Non Veg 1:100 : Yeah, this is the terrible ratio of vegetarians out here so by default at all the places, the vegetarians are least taken care of. Drumstick-sounds like a weapon of mass destruction is a kind of green vegetable that was served in my hostel every other day only to feel pathetic about it.
Table sense : Not at all,I have seen people eating using both of their hands. I think I can better enact but seriously the view is terrible. In a way, it also gives you a good laugh :P
Wanna Gain weight?? Come here : Blame it to the irresistable mouth watering rasgullas(Rashogullas-as they call it!) that you will get in almost all the meals even in the breakfast. Believe me, its irresistible so much so that when you realise u have gained series of tires in your waist seems its too late to be doing something. The usual scene of a sweet shop is line of men taking home bags full of rasogullas every day. Do in our homes we take sweets in such quantity and frequency? I do not remember my papa ever rought sweets just for the desert purpose. The sweets in our home are there in few cases, when some guests bring it or we bring for the guests.
Bong-The International lingo : wtf! you really gonna have tough time if you are a non-bong. I mean, they wont pay heed u getting anything at all or aint. The height sometimes is that even if you are replying in eng/hindi, they continue in Bengali!!! And you go confused whats going on.
Although I have cited some curt truths that may not look nice, but I must appreciate following:
Eve-teasing : eve-teasing cases in Bengal are less. Seems men here are more cultured and well mannered than other places specially of metropolitans. I experience a drastic change of men's attitude towards women when I used to shift from kgp-to-home or home-to-kgp.
Culturally rich: Historically Bengal has a very rich cultural heritage. Bengal is, indeed, noted for its rich culture in songs, music, drama, dances and language. We all know Rabindra Nath Tagore was the first person from India to bag a Nobel Prize in Litreature for "Geetanjali" ( :) )
Bengal has a rich tradition of classical music of the subcontinent. Indeed, Bengal has produced many musicians and maestros of international repute like Ustad Alauddin Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar who have successfully made sitar and sarode popular all over the world.
- Life expectancy is around 63 years, and are almost same for the men and women.
- West Bengal leads with 69.22% literacy rate.
- Kolkatta Metro was the first underground railway to be built in India, with the first operations commencing in October, 1984.
P.S though it seems I have depicted a bad picture of this state, but I really dont want to offend anybody and if I hurt anybody's feelings I apologise for it.
I know the bong friends of mine would boil up after reading this, but this is purely my personal opinion and blog ;)
