Have you seen ZNMD (Zindegi Na Milegi Dobara)? Yeah Yeah! The film gives us the imagination power and feeling of being in Switzerland during our Darjeeling trip. Now, if you have already seen it, then, of course, you’d remember their word game while driving. Now, imagine if you play that ‘problem-finding’ game with a Bengali guy and you are the question maker, then what it’d be like? Kolkata – Love; Thakur(God) – Only Rabindranath( who cares about the other 33 crores!); Oscar – Satyajit Ray; Blood Colour – Karl Marx; Pujo( Festival) – ovio Durga puja; Sweets – …………..sweets – ……….. “asal main to hum rahete hain saktise, par idhar hum pighal gaye.” This is our most significant weak point – sweets. In Bengal, if you’ve prepared one or two dishes less than the given menu, it can be forgiven. But, the absence of ‘Misti’(sweets) at the end of all dishes is a criminal offence. Actually, apart from ‘Rosogolla’, we Bengalis have a long list of sweet’s identities. And maybe you’ve already heard that Bengal is known as the ‘sweetest part of India’, but it is still a mystery to me whether it is for our people or our ancient bonding with sweets.
Now, today’s destination is very special to me. Because it takes us to my home town, ‘Kakdwip’. And now, when I am writing this, it feels like a homecoming. Kakdwip is basically a small town at the starting point of Sundarban from its western side and approximately 100 km far away from Kolkata towards the south. Byashhh! I guess, a tiger story has already come up in your mind. But no! It’s not your fault. Almost everyone who just hears the fact that my town belongs to Sundarban, their imagination is like –
But, today I will not take you for a tiger safari with me. Then, for what? Wait, wait, be patient. Hopefully, you’ve already got a little idea from the title, and I will tell the rest on the way to our journey. So, hurry up!
Lets Gooooooooooo……….
Come on! Come on! Fast! The bus is leaving. Hopefully, You’ll get the ‘Kakdwip’ going bus from ‘Esplanade(Dharmatala)’ bus terminus. Now, be sure to grab a window seat. Otherwise, you and your legs will be getting divorced after 3 hours of the bus journey. And now, it’s time to utilize all of your ‘journey songs’ which were getting sick after staying behind the bars of your window for so long. So, what are you waiting for? Plug those earphones, wake your inner ‘Bunny’ up and enjoy the greenery along the way with this. Let’s make the journey more memorable with a story.
“If you are a Bong, then, of course, you are already familiar with ‘Chingri Malaikari’. But have you ever heard about a sweet, which is also familiar as ‘Malaikari’? I hope not. Because, if I am not wrong, this sweet has its kingdom spread only around Kakdwip and its neighbouring regions. But, there is an interesting fact about this sweet that though ‘Malaikari’ belongs to this region, the ‘Moyra’(sweet maker) who invented this gem was from Howrah district. Now, me telling you the story and showing these tantrums in front of you about my town’s sweet, that’s all because of him and so all the credits go to him. Basically, the sweet is made of pure soft ‘Chhana’(cottage cheese). Now, as we all know, in the preparation of most of the Bengali sweets, ‘chhana’ is the main ingredient and you must have already tasted many of them which are made of ‘chhana’. So, you must be thinking, “what’s the big deal?” Then, I can assure you that maybe you’ve tasted many types of sweet stories, but a romance like this, between milk and ‘chhana’, is something that even your taste bud can’t imagine. And without any doubt, it can easily beat many so-called popular sweets of Bengal.