Durga Puja is a festival of reunions. The Puranas celebrate the Dashabhuja as quite the girl boss, ousting tyrants and reinstating the shaken but righteous humans in a cosmic power struggle. However, our own Durgotsav warmly embraces the other facet of Ma Durga, a Mother of four who longs to meet her own folks, once a year. So, when autumn arrives, She doesn’t wait to pack her Benarasis and bangles and head straight for her parents’ home, leaving Mahadev behind to boss over Nandi-Bhringi. Tugging at her beautiful sari and trying to avoid the sharp end of her trident are four cute children, the most Instagrammable picture of a happy family vacation.
Kolkata, too, transforms into a faraway place, with freshly minted clear skies, the sound of dhaak and arati and a flood of art, music and fashion all around. The stage is set for an exotic holiday at home! Now, the question is how to share this perfect moment with each other? Once again, Ma Durga saves us by pointing in 10 directions with her 10 arms. “May you find delicious food in all directions, down every street you take.” So, friends of a flavour flock together and knock at the gates of heavenly food.
‘Kolkata transforms into a faraway place, with freshly minted clear skies, the sound of dhaak and arati, and a flood of art, music and fashion. The stage is set for an exotic holiday at home!’ TT Archives
Our best moments with each other have to have a menu of unforgettable flavours. I remember all Durga Pujas with families and friends, in sweet, spicy, hot, crispy and mouth-watering detail. We never forget the voices, though we may wonder what we were discussing so animatedly at Aminia, till the biryani hushed all the mouths with a whiff of saffron. Or, never outgrow the jokes of five friends around a Hakka feast in Tangra, for which we had saved up for months.
Ma Durga’s divine spirit throbs everywhere you turn. And so does the sensory trail of flavours and fragrances. The sublime fragrance of Sashthi morning blends with the smoke from hot ghugni nearby. From Saptami lunch at Tangra to the Navami dinner on Park Street, there are too many flavours to enjoy and too few and fleeting hours to do so. Fortunately, Durga Puja turns night into day and all lanes lead to a favourite haunt.
Mutton Biryani from Aminia TT Archives
When growing up, we first sought darshan of Devi Durga at our neighbourhood puja, with a list of blessings. Just a negotiation of annual exams, match victories, a new bicycle, or other predicaments of growing up.
However, the menu made us wish we had 10 arms like Ma Durga to write it all down — Mitra Cafe’s Kabiraji Cutlet, Aminia’s Biryani, Golpark Kochuri, Radhaballabhi at Putiram on College Street, Seekh Kebab at Nizam’s, Phuchka at Dacres Lane, Mishti Doi at Amrito, it went on.
Mishti Doi at Amrito TT Archives
The menu had to make room for all the favourites of aunts, uncles, cousins, not to forget oneself. So there it was, a food itinerary that criss-crossed the length and breadth of Kolkata. That was not a problem because it was also a pilgrimage. Thakur darshan or pandal-hopping matched all the food stops to a T.
There are mile-long queues for darshan. And another mile and a half, for a table at restaurants. The devotee and the passionate foodie are but one. And they hop from one queue to the other without losing the slightest bit of fervour. No angry words, no hungry commotion, just a magic of harmony, with a little help from queue managers.
Yes, I have been to some of the main festivals in other cities and countries. Europe’s Christmas, for instance, is an international affair, run by a giant commercial machinery churning out more products, gifts, feeding the shopping craze. Mumbai’s Ganesh Utsav is accompanied by religious fervour, largely limited to worship by devotees. Navratri and Diwali shower rich, traditional colours and flavours, too. However, Kolkata’s Durga Puja welcomes people of all faiths and languages into a world of art and culture like nowhere else. The food just adds centuries of culinary wisdom from all over the world to complete the experience.
The simple and divine khichuri bhog Shutterstock
How the Pujas transformed from a family tradition into a baroyaari worship by the community, then into an intangible cultural heritage for all of humanity, makes a thrilling subject. However, let scholars chew on volumes of colonial history and industrial migration. I am researching a mouth-watering dish of Mughlai Porota and I can say that it erases caste, creed and religious walls with a delicious sweep that all festivals of this world should do.
Unalloyed enjoyment of senses can also form the deepest ties — the simple and divine khichuri bhog served to one and all nourishes one big, happy family under the gaze of Ma Durga.
Anjan Chatterjee is the chief of Speciality Restaurants, which owns Mainland China, Asia Kitchen by Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta,Sigree Global Grill, Café Mezzuna, Hoppipola, Barissh and many more. And yes, he is a foodie! He is at acgenx@gmail.com
