Kolkata Clicks #1

It's World Photography Day today and Kolkata Curry is celebrating it through a curated photo post as part of a new photo series with select clicks of the city by the shutterbugs.

The first one is a street click by international award-winning photographer Soumya Shankar Ghosal who is a self-proclaimed street photographer and has championed street photography in the city through his Facebook group Streets of Calcutta. I have seen few viewing the streets like Soumya does. He has an eye for the extraordinary in the mundane street life.

The next is a click from the folk festival 'Gajan Utsab' by passionate Kolkata explorer Arpita Chanda. As she says, Gajan is one of the oldest festivals of Kolkata and it is much older than Durga Puja. 

Victoria Memorial is synonymous with Kolkata. Everybody loves to shoot it. And then some shoot it like a dream. Here is one such by Arindam Patra.

Now, one more from the life on street. A capture of a moment of joy in the dreary life of private bus drivers, by Rupam Sen.

Signing off with a dreamy capture of an afternoon in a new township of Kolkata by Dushyant Chhetri.

#WorldPhotographyDay #WorldPhotographyDay2018 #PhotoSeries #KolkataPhotos

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A police library with a difference

Today being National Librarian’s Day, I wish to talk about a new library that charmed me.

I came to know of it from a Facebook post of Kolkata Police. Known as Kolkata Police Museum on Google Maps, its full name is Kolkata Police Museum, Library and Cafeteria. It’s located at 112 Ripon Street (on the left approaching Wellington).

I visited it with three friends who got interested hearing of it (two of them read the Facebook post too). The museum is small and spread over two floors. Its main attraction is arms seized by police from various periods of history dating back to pre-independence era.

Photograph by Arnab Banerjee

It shows the evolution of the police uniform since the colonial times. The winners of various awards/ honours of police are listed. It states that Natha Singh was the first Indian to win a traffic roll of honour and he won honours in two consecutive years, 1938 and 1939. A section familiarizes with various badges of the ranks of police which is an important civil information.

The history of the house is interesting too. The second prince (Mejokumar) of the erstwhile Bhawal Estate, who is popularly known as 'Sanyasi Raja' (The monk king), thanks to the popular Bengali movie of the same name made on him, fought the famous Bhawal Monk case from this house. It is regarded as one of the most extraordinary cases ever fought in Indian judicial history which took place in 1933-1936. As it happened, a monk came to the estate and claimed himself to be the Mejokumar who was known to have died eleven years back, and demanded his share of the estate.

Available documents show that it was the residence of Calcutta High Court Barrister RS Tweedle in 1874. After changing hands it landed with lawyer SN Matilal (in 1912) whose daughter Sarajubala Devi was married to the first prince of the Bhawal estate. It went to be part of the estate thereafter.

The house was decided to be demolished given its pathetic condition at a point of time. Kolkata Police took it as a challenge to restore it, and I must say they have done an exemplary job! Post the painstaking restoration, it was declared a 'Restored Heritage Building of the City' by INTACH. 

Coming to the library. It took me by surprise by the kinds of books in its collection as it completely beats the perception of a police library. I later realised it was by design, thanks to the Commissioner of Police Mr Rajiv Kumar, as it has been envisioned as a centre for police-citizen connect. The CP is so attached to it that it is said to be his second home and he is often seen there. The surprise element is that it has a wide collection of books for all the members of a family, from the junior to the seniormost. The fiction section is amazingly robust with admirable collection of classic literature, juvenile literature and classic thrillers.  The non-fiction range is pretty good too, including study books in various disciplines like finance and management. There are many Bengali titles too, both in fiction and non-fiction. Noticed the now popular book on fascinating cases of Kolkata Police written by senior police officer Supratim Sarkar, titled Goendapith Lalbazar (The English translation named ‘Murder in the City’ is available too). Before it became a book, the stories were being published in the Rohoshyo Robbar series on Kolkata Police Facebook page and they gradually whipped up a huge following.  

The library has over ten thousand books.

At the end of our tour of the library, what blew my mind was the extensive collection of comic books in English to hook the youngest readers. Imagine a police library keeping a huge collection of Tintin and Asterix, Marvel and DC!!

As Sub-Inspector S Sharma, the friendly gentleman who acquainted us through the library, told us, it is open seven days a week, 11 am to 7 pm. However, the best time is weekend as visitors are much less. They encourage one to come with the whole family and spend a good number of hours there. To help the purpose, there’s a cool cafe, interestingly named Off Duty Delights, which serves (non-alcoholic) beverages and a good range of snacks. We liked the iced tea. For the overall feel, one of the friends compared it to the British Council Library.

Iced tea

The membership fee is Rs 800 per annum plus Rs 100 as a one-time cost of membership card. You can take books or DVD or both and keep upto two books for a maximum of four weeks.

#NationalLibrariansDay #Library #Museum #Heritage #History

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Itsy-bitsy story #3

“I don’t miss mom’s finger-licking rajma masala in tiffin.”

“Got a good cook?”

“Dad makes it as good. He learnt from mom when she was ill.”

You may also read:
Itsy-bitsy story #1
Itsy-bitsy story #2  

#MicroFiction #140CharacterStory #ShortShortStory #MicroStory #FlashFiction #Twitterature

Itsy-bitsy story #2

“You are back! How was it?”

“Work-wise, good! The project was interesting, the team was fun, the office is cool and there were loads to learn. But the food put me off.!”

“I warned you, it’s not a city where good food is easy to find.”

“I remembered it. Everything from Chinese to biryani, breakfast to lunch was a mess! Strangely those suit their palate! Had to survive on soup and sandwich.”

“But you must thank your luck for that.”

“Why?”

“You are wearing your favourite fitted shirt after three years thanks to this one month.”

You may also read:
Itsy-bitsy story #1
Itsy-bitsy story #3

#MicroFiction #ShortShortStory #MicroStory #FlashFiction

Kolkata in art

I came across these beautiful painted pictures of my city of love on Facebook and couldn't resist sharing them with you after the artist happily permitted. They are done by painter Dibyendu Ukil, based in Chinsurah ,who has studied the art in Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata (popularly known as Art College).

All the pictures are of north Kolkata and the detailing deftly brings out the quintessential life in that part of the city and its fascinating British era architecture, which is one of the reasons why I am charmed by Kolkata forever.

About the pictures, their finesse reminds me of master artist Subrata Gangopadhyay whose impeccable, lifelike painting works I've grown up with seeing in Anandamela (children's magazine).

The old world charm exuded by the pictures is very much a reality. It is a delight to many travellers across the globe.

#Painting #Kolkata #Architecture #Heritage #KolkataArchitecture #KolkataHeritage #LifeInKolkata

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Itsy-bitsy story #1

"You don't know her for long. What makes you think of her so much? She's not pretty or attractive, right?"

"Right. But she is unlike anyone I've met so far."

"How?"

"She can laugh at herself."

You may also read:
Itsy-bitsy story #2
Itsy-bitsy story #3

#MicroFiction #ShortShortStory #MicroStory #FlashFiction

The ISKCON Rathayatra 2018

This was my first encounter with the Rathayatra conducted by ISKCON in the city as my new office is close to its temple on Albert Road. When I reached the temple at around 3.40 pm, the Rathayatra had just set off. The route was: Albert Road - Hungerford Street - Sarat Bose Road - Hazra Road - Hazra Crossing - Ashutosh Mukherjee Road - Jawaharlal Nehru Road (Chowringhee) - Brigade Parade Ground. The pandal at Brigade Parade Ground will remain seven days. After that there will be a return of the procession to Albert Road called Ulta Rathayatra ('Ulta' means return) on a different route via Esplanade on 22nd July.

Albert Road-Hungerford Street

There are three 'ratha's (chariot)- One each for lord Jagannatha, his brother Balaram (alias Balabhadra/ Baldev) and sister Subhadra. A huge procession takes place around these three and it is witnessed by thousands of devotees and general public.

Albert Road-Hungerford Street

Albert Road-Hungerford Street

(The above pictures are sourced from a colleague)

I am confessing herein that, to me, the best part of a puja is its prasad. I came to know from a colleague of this group called Baldev Group (Dedicated to lord Baldev) which was to distribute prasad bhog (rice-based prasad) on the occasion. I, accompanied by a support staff, set out again from the office for the prasad. The distribution would be from a spot on Sarat Bose Road. The ratha (chariot) procession was moving down that road then with huge crowd witnessing it from the side and scores of devotees joining others in pulling the ropes of the ratha. A lot of young photography enthusiasts climbed the road dividers for a vantage point.

One of the three rathas

I figured out the venue in the middle of a thick crowd. Volunteers of the group were distributing sherbats to the people gathered. Devotees from the group had cooked several units of chappan bhog (Literally an assortment of 56 items from starter to dessert) to offer the deities before distributing as prasad. I saw the units placed on table tops being carried to the deity and brought back.

Chhappan Bhog on way to be offered to the ratha of Lord Balabhadra (Balaram)

The distribution started soon after, while the procession was still on, from the Pabrai's ice cream parlour. And it was exciting! One could pick up any one bowl/ plate/ pot and take it away. I was choosy as we had to pick up a proper bhog for sharing it among colleagues back in the office. My colleague picked up a pot of khichdi topped with fried vegetables and it had my smiling approval. I was looking for a good finishing dish and spotted a bowl of kheer and wasted no time to pick it up. We left immediately and it soon started pouring. 

I was happy for this experience despite the long walk to the prasad venue at Sarat Bose Road and back to the office in the drizzle. Everyone in the office was happy to share the delicious bhog.


#ISKCON #Rathayatra #RathayatraKolkata #Rathayatra2018 #RathayatraKolkata2018


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Pratim D Gupta talks 'Ahare Mon'

Last August, he served us a delectable Maacher Jhol. Set in Paris and Kolkata, the film gave us a hitherto unthought of Ritwick as an internationally acclaimed Masterchef in a sensitive mother-son tale. It won both critical and popular acclaim.

This time around, he has trained his focus on pairs of minds of various ages and how they vibe with each other. Simply speaking, an out-of-the-box take on love and companionship, so nicely and aptly named Ahare Mon. It boasts of an eclectic ensemble cast of Anjan Dutt, Mamata Shankar, Ritwik Chakraborty, Parno Mitra, Paoli Dam, Adil Hussain and debutante Chitrangada Chakraborty.

In this short interview, Pratim D Gupta talks on various aspects of his new film in his usual candid manner. Ahare Mon releases on 22nd June 2018.

Pratim D Gupta with Mamata Shankar on the sets of Ahare Mon

Kolkata Curry: If we call Paanch Adhyay vanilla romance, Ahare Mon seems to be a layered, out-of-the-box take on on the subject. Was there a common thread in conceiving all the four stories? How did the stories fall in place?

Pratim: I had two of the stories with me for a very long time. The airport immigration officer story which I had first thought of at least 12-13 years back. And the story of the two thieves too was something I have wanted to see on screen for at least a decade. There are two friends of mine in Mumbai - Harneet and Kartik - and I would discuss with them the Michael Tendulkar-Suzie Q love story. But at that stage both were one line premises. The two other stories emerged last year when I thought of clubbing these short stories together into one feature film. The common thread is love, of course, but it's also about loneliness and companionship and the eternal wait for love.

KC: Given an opportunity in the past, you had a wish to shoot Adil's story with Mithun. They have different appeals and screen presence. What made you select Adil apart from the fact that he is a gifted actor and you admire his work? Did you have to rewrite the track for him?

Pratim: When I thought of that story, I had Mithunda's face in mind. That was a dozen years back. When I finally sat down last year to write out the screenplay, I knew Mithun da would most likely not be available to play the role of Purnendu Pahari. So I didn't have any actor in mind when I finally scripted that story. I tried a couple of actors from the Bengali film industry first and waited for each of them for weeks to confirm their dates. But they just couldn't shuffle their calendar, despite their best efforts. Adil was like an SOS call although he wasn't aware how panicked we all were. Within a day of me sending him the script, he got back saying, "I've just read a couple of pages and I want to do this".

KC: I love both the songs- Monta Ahare and Ahare Mon. Written, composed and sung beautifully, they are urbane and very contemporary in sound. But why did you limit the songs to just two in a romantic tale?

Pratim: It's more of a drama. Not romance in the sense of a Yash Chopra or Karan Johar film. The truth remains that songs hold up the screenplay. So, although I love music and participate heavily in the creation of songs and background scores of my films, I try to keep songs to the minimum.

KC: The Anjan-Mamata pair is coming back  after Jani Dyakha Hawbe (2011). Did you cast them keeping in mind, among other things, their recent and past on-screen chemistry (in Kharij and Grihajuddha)?

Pratim: Can I tell you the truth? I haven't seen Kharij. And I couldn't complete Jani Dyakha Hawbe. Sorry, Birsa! Grihajuddha I have seen but to be honest, no film or moment from earlier films played any role in scripting the Barun Babu - Charulata Debi portion or while directing Anjan Dutt and Mamata Shankar in Ahare Mon. This is a whole new pitch and believe me they have simply knocked it out of the park. Their hotel scene will remain special.


#AhareMon  #BanglaCinema  #BanglaCinema2018  #Cinema


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A freewheeling chat with Srijit Mukherji

He has studied Economics in Presidency College and Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has several years of directorial experience in Bangla cinema behind him. He takes an academic interest in tracking box office figures of his films as well as his peers' and deeply analysing audience response to his films. He has complete knowledge of the work of promising new directors and the response to their films. His contemporaries Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Raj Chakraborty have film production houses to their credit for quite some time. He has worked in Hindi cinema where most of the noted directors have their production house. I had often wondered why he was not starting his production house and taking his creative and economic acumen to the next level.

It was heartening to note a few months back that Srijit Mukherji finally started his production house, thoughtfully named Match Cut Productions, and announced its first production Chowringhee which is a co-production with SVF.

Srijit opens up on his newborn in this Kolkata Curry exclusive interview for the first time (considering all media).

Kolkata Curry: You don't need to look for producers for making your kind of films. It could be similar for web series. What was the thought behind setting up Match Cut Productions?

Srijit Mukherji: There are lots of stories which appeal to me or are close to my heart which already have a storyteller in place. So to be a part of these stories, to facilitate the storytelling process and to bring them to the world, Match Cut was formed. Also, since making films in Bengal taught me a lot of things even outside direction, like production, scheduling, budgeting and marketing, thought Match Cut could be a way to put them to use. The economist in me, I guess, was at play!

KC: What does Match Cut Productions aspire to bring to the table for the industry?

Srijit: New stories, new faces, new voices, unmade projects by known voices, indies which appeal to me, new technicians.

KC: What are your thoughts and plans of working with new directors under your banner? Or handholding independent directors whose films/ content you find promising? You are seen appreciating young talents like Manas Mukul Pal, Indrashis Acharya and Soukarya Ghosal. You presented Pradipta Bhattacharya's national award- winning Bakita Byaktigawto back in 2013. Do you plan to collaborate with some of these names under Match Cut?

Srijit: Absolutely! Much before Rainbow Jelly, I singlehandedly rallied behind the prodigiously talented Shoukarya's Pendulum which blew me away. Even when Manas' Shawhoj Pather Goppo was taken down after an initial run, I protested on social media and used whatever leverage I have, along with Shiboprasad, Shrikant Mohta and Pankaj Ladia to get it back to the halls. I am already collaborating with Paavel on a project, another fantastic talent whose Babar Naam Gandhiji I offered to present. Then there are brilliant new voices like Indrashish Acharya and Sayantan Ghoshal with whom talks are on about possible collaborations. Have been in dialogue with screenwriters like Padmanabha Dasgupta, Debapratim Dasgupta, Dipangshu Acharya and Saurav Palodhi. Match Cut will look at actively producing or promoting content written, directed or both, by these names above, because I firmly believe they hold the key to making the content heavy Bengal film industry even richer.

KC: So far I'm aware, except the Kakababu series and Shibar Phire Asha, which you chose not to pursue after a point of time, you are not known to have expressed interest in adapting Bengali fiction for films. Why did you zero in on Chowringhee as your first co-production while it has had an acclaimed adaptation in Bengali cinema?

Srijit: Before Kabir Suman's Tomake Chai came and changed everything about life from taking pride in one's mother tongue to grumbling, criticizing, condemning but unconditionally loving one's own city, Chowringhee was that novel which did all of that and more to me, at a tender age. In fact one of the earliest memories of a book cover for me is the iconic stamp laden one which hasn't changed over the years. Or the earliest memory of a book ending was the glow sign of Shahjahan. I have never made a film which hasn't come from inside, from an urge, from a deep love, from some piece of nostalgia. So there, the template or formula or pattern or device is absolutely non-existent for me. Chowringhee technically might be a literary adaptation, but for me, is an unforgettable story, an indelible experience which fashioned my mind in early years. Much like Julius Caesar which found its way to Kidderpore in Zulfiqar or like Aban Thakur's Rajkahini found its voice in Rajkahini/ Begum Jaan.

#MatchCutProductions #SrijitMukherji #BanglaCinema

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Waste Band and the pied piper of Tangra

What is this bunch of youngsters on stage up to with these bizarre things? Thermocol block, empty paint tins and plastic paint drums, cut iron pipes placed in order, half-filled empty PET bottles and stuff! What kind of musical sound will come out of them? One can’t help but wonder when one sees them setting up.

The sound check follows and the thought is hit out of the park. It’s rock sound, man! Welcome to Waste Band.

I came across this band that doesn’t play musical instruments in an annual programme of a new NGO where they performed last, as the main attraction. It plays instruments made out of waste products (as mentioned above) and create musical sound out of them. What I experienced in their session in a cultural show was an absolutely unique innovation in music and a new sound. The band leader plays a guitar (if you call it that) made of a wooden plank and an empty tin!

Their version of digital percussion commonly known as 'Octapad'

Band leader Sanjay Mandal plays his innovative guitar

As for vocals, that’s interesting too. The youngest boy who also plays the iron pipes with a spanner sang some rhymes in rap. They also mix a conventional instrument or two when needed. Like this girl, Payel, played flute accompanied by a few of her bandmates on their respective instruments in one of the compositions. I only wished they got a full session to play as they had to cut it short due to lack of time left to close the function.

The story behind it, as shared by band leader Sanjay Mandal whose brainchild it is, is an amazing and inspiring social initiative. I am proud to know this has happened in Kolkata.

Tangra, by Sanjay’s own admission, is an area is Kolkata which is educationally, culturally and financially backward. Boys drop out of school early and do small jobs to support the family. Sanjay, who seems to be in his forties, is one among them. Despite the compulsion and hardship destiny posed, he wanted to do something different in life with the local youngsters of school-going age engaged in earning. So, he started an after-work recreation session of music with instruments built out of things thrown away (They couldn't afford proper instruments and training). Soon the boys got hooked to it and a band was formed. They got noticed by renowned band Bhoomi in one of their early shows in 2006 and performed in their television show Barandaay Roddur.  

The vocalist is playing his instrument made of iron pipes with a spanner

Their journey has taken them to the popular national television show ‘India’s Got Talent’ and NDTV where they performed live. Today, they do shows in various parts of India and abroad.

A bagful coins is an instrument for them

We wisecrack, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Sanjay and his gang live up to it, day in and day out.  

The earning from the shows is saved for greater good. Sanjay’s aim is to build a school for the local children. A small piece of land has already been purchased. Sanjay is also getting some of the band members, which now has a few young girls too, trained in formal music.

The Waste Band

Hope Sanjay Mandal, the pied piper of Tangra, goes from strength to strength with his band of boys and girls embracing music with passion.

If anybody is interested to call the band for a show, Sanjay can be reached at 9330832732.

#WasteBand #KolkataMusic #IndiasGotTalent

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A tete-a-tete with filmmaker Soukarya Ghosal

Soukarya Ghosal was noticed with his first film Pendulum (Bengali, 2014) which was about a surrealist painter. He made a film for film for television in 2015 (shot like a film as it happens in this Zee Bangla Originals series of films) named Load Shedding which I liked for the most part. As he is ready to release his next feature film Rainbow Jelly (Bengali) on 25th May 2018, he talks to Kolkata Curry neck deep in pre-release work. The most curious bit of Rainbow Jelly is that its protagonist is played by Mahabrata Basu who is a special child.

Kolkata Curry: You Facebook profile says you are an animator. What prompted you to become a filmmaker?

Soukarya: I am not an animator. Actually I learnt the process of animation while doing the post-production of Rainbow Jelly. I was a graphic designer and illustrator working with a leading Bengali daily, doing cartoons and writing a few features and page 3 articles. Later on when I came to filmmaking with Pendulum I chose painting to be the subject. The protagonist is a painter who takes his audience into his painting and the space of the painting becomes the real space when one goes into his painting. So, the influence of art was there from my first film since I came from that background. While doing Rainbow Jelly this influence was also there on Ghnoton’s wall and while writing the script I thought that the imagination of Ghnoton would be his own drawings.

KC: Rainbow Jelly is a food fantasy. That's a fresh concept. What was the germ of the idea? Why did you choose to spin a yarn through different flavours of food?

S: Rainbow Jelly is known as India’s first food fantasy film. The concept of food fantasy is that you weave a fantasy story around the basic structure of food. My film is about the seven tastes of food- Sweet, salty, sour, spicy, astringent, pungent and bitter. What I’ve tried to say is that we change in character based on the tastes (of food we eat), like chocolate triggers happy hormones. But it’s much beyond that. While writing the story I was referring to Ayurveda where I found an interesting concept - Don’t make medicine your food. Make food your medicine. With properly recommended, different kinds of food you can heal up your body and mind. Any ancient philosophy believes in development of both body and mind. Ayurveda traces it with much more details like chemical combinations of food but I didn't want to go into such depth as my film is a fun film with children all around and a mysterious character. I just wanted to tell a story where something is happening...something funny is happening with the structure of taste and the change in characters. We also included seven colours with seven tastes and seven is actually a magical number. If you see the film you’ll find that there are seven days, seven colours, seven tastes and seven notes of music. We have merged a food fantasy with all of that. It's a fresh concept which came to me while I was learning cooking. I love to eat and I love to cook. While cooking I’ve found that with your state of mind the taste of the food actually changes. I’ve also found that if you are happy the taste of food is different from the food you prepare when you are not happy. So from there the germ of the idea came and I thought that what if the world can be changed with food.

KC: Tell us how you found your protagonist Ghnoton in Mahabrata Basu who is a special child. What were your ways of getting him follow your instructions on the set?

S: I found Mahabrata with the reference of Moushumidi (Moushumi Bhowmik) who has sung a song in my film. She had come to know that I was looking for Ghnoton. She goes to a school of 14-15 students and teaches English there. I had briefed her on Ghnoton and she said that she knew someone there who she found close to Ghnoton. So she asked the boy to come to my house. Mahabrata came with his father. Initially I didn't think he fit in because he had numb expressions like all special children. But after four-five minutes when he smiled, it was so radiant that I was convinced that he was my Ghnoton. I immediately locked him. After selecting Mahabrata, his mother Gargi-di called me and asked how much of dialogue there was in my script for him. I said that there was just one scene without him and the film had quite an amount of dialogue. She told me to kindly leave Mahabrata therefore because till then in his school there was no concept of memorizing or writing exams. The concept was something alien to him. But I said that I wanted him. While I write a script I do sketches of characters, in black & white and colour. I told her that the features (of Ghnoton) were very close to Mahabrata. Gargidi then said, “OK, fine, give me a few days.” After three days she sent him to my house and asked me to try out the first few scenes with him. He came to my house, ready with the first five-six scenes. When he was stuck with the dialogue and couldn't recall the lines, I would give him the script, but he couldn't make out anything looking at it. When I asked him, I found out that he actually memorized the script because his mother had constantly narrated it to him like Ramayana or Mahabharata after his return from school and that's how he memorized it like shruti of Veda. It was an interesting finding for me that he mugged up the entire script by listening to it. When he came to the floor he was so ready that  he remembered his own lines and others’ lines too. It didn't happen with the other actors who weren't ‘special’ like him. There were directorial assistants to give them the cue (when they couldn't remember the lines) but with Mahabrata my assistants had little to do. With the dialogue he even remembered every narration like the camera was panning or the camera was in the trolley. So Mahabrata was an exceptional case to deal with. I found my protagonist Ghnoton in his smile initially, but later on his numb expressions were very painful for me to change. Then I devised this ‘Smiley method’. I drew 67 smileys on his script- Happy, sad, angry, worried, amazed, irritated etc. I used to make him practise the smileys fast, changing expressions. (While taking shots) I used call out the smiley names and his reaction would change with the command. Mahabrata was an obedient child on the set and above everything he had a tremendous sense of rigour which is a gifted thing. This rigour helps him do certain things that a normal child can not. Actually he is very conscious of his own state and he is constantly challenging the odds he is facing as he always wants to win. And by that he is constantly overcoming himself and developing himself. That makes him easy to deal with as when he used to be stuck with something, most of the times he came up with more rigour to solve the problem.

#RainbowJelly #BanglaCinema #BengaliCinema #BengaliCinema2018 #TollyDiaries

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The aftermath of the double blast in food scene

As if the fear of dead and formalin-preserved chicken in our favourite chicken delicacies was not enough, the carcass meat scam dealt Kolkata a mighty blow last month.

Suddenly we are suspecting our favourite chicken roll, chicken momo, chilli chicken, mutton biryani and kawsha mangsho and being on the alert about everything with chicken or meat in it, be it roadside eateries or well-known restaurants. We want to be sure we are not eating carcass meat or formalin-laden dead chicken in drool-worthy dishes.

The other day, I saw that the tawa earlier busy frying parathas now idle, the heap of chicken drumstick and chilli chicken displayed outside now noticeably shrunk and just a handful of customers sitting at a popular street eatery on Arabinda Sarani at Karbagan which I’ve always found crowded. A few feet away, the biryani handis which I always used to find open for filling boxes now covered and the staff waiting for customers in two popular roadside biryani shops. This is a representative picture of the city. Biswanath Ghorui aka Mangsho Bishu, the arrested carcass meat kingpin, has scared the daylights out of Kolkatans.

Kolkata would like to look away from such a sight now

Egg roll in snacking and dim-bhaat/ machh-bhaat or khichudi in working class lunch are suddenly seeing an Uber-like surge in demand, beating their respective eternal rivals- chicken roll, chicken-bhaat and fried rice-chilli chicken combo hands down. A sizable population is now preferring egg, fish and prawn (those who can afford) over chicken and mutton even if it is a compromise with the palate. The trust is shaken and customers aren’t taking chances.

Restaurants and eateries are seeing an unprecedented free fall in orders for chicken and mutton dishes and a relatively higher demand in prawn and fish options. As a natural reaction, restaurateurs are now desperate to prove the freshness of their meat and poultry and some of them are even putting up their suppliers’ names and phone numbers on display subjecting them for public enquiry and inspection to earn back customer trust. I read that small restaurant owners from Hatibagan who shop for their chicken and meat themselves and are demanding that chicken and goats be cut before their eyes as a condition to buy.

A huge food group on Facebook is now seeing posts of mostly home-cooked dishes whereas till recently the feed used to be balanced by posts of dining out- predominantly chicken and meat dishes besides fish. I assume paneer jokes circulated by hardcore non-veg Bengalis (Like ‘paneer biryani’ is a joke by itself) are dipping now.

This social boycott is being reflected in Bengali papers publishing recipes of versions of popular non-veg foods made with green jackfruit and green plantain because people are now even wary of buying raw chicken/ mutton that is already cut and insisting on getting it cut before their eyes. I am sure earlier hardcore non-vegetarian Bengalis would quip that Enchorer Kebab (Green Jackfruit Kebab) was an oxymoron but they are possibly mellowed enough not to react now though they may still be far from accepting those options.

Is it a passing phase for a largely non-vegetarian city that loves eating out like few other cities in the country, or will it change Kolkatans' food habit in the long term? Will the Bengali be back with a bang to his favourite chicken roll, mutton biryani and chilli chicken in this year’s Pujo? Time will tell. I will be curious to know. All that I feel is that this will clean up the food chain to some extent and improve people's judgement of food (Like anything that's cheap is not good to go for, because cheap indicates compromise).

#CarcassMeat #Chicken #Formalin #Mutton #Kolkata Food

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