Vlog khichudi from the Saraswati Pujo
I took a couple of former Calcuttans who are my friends from Mumbai to Bandra Durga Pujo and gave my phone to one of them after they finished eating and requested him to shoot this vLog with Kaushik Saha, the food committee in charge at the Bandra Saraswati Pujo.
Things my friends have to go through I tell you.
If you could saw me when we left the pujo, you would seen a big smile on my face.
I had polished off the bhog at the Bandra Vivekananda Club Saraswati Pujo where I had my fix of khichudi (the Bengali version of khichdi and the best I’ve had here so far here), potato and cauliflower labra, begun bhaja or fried brinjal, sweet tomato chutney and payesh or rice pudding. The khichudi was slightly dry which is what I prefer to the more liquidy one.
Got some home for my mom in law too who really enjoyed it. The Bengali khichudi is different from her Parsi khichdi which is more like a yellow rice and without dal.
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| The Saraswai pujo bhog |
Kids love Saraswati Pujo, the festival of the Goddess of learning, as they don’t have to study on this day. Teens love it as this is the day many romances bloom at the pandal and this year Valentine’s Day falls the day after Saraswati Pujo.
For me the draw is the khichudi and the nostalgia and the big smiles all around and the joy of chatting in Bengali in Mumbai.
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| An afternoon of Bengali Bonhomie |
