The first thing that people do when they find out that you are a Bengali, is confess their undying love for you with a phase I am pretty sure is used more by non-Bengalis than Bengalis themselves- “Ami Thomake Bhalo Bashi” (I love you)
However, after a sigh and an eye roll later, the second thing they are curious about is if you have fish every day and then proceed onto letting you know just how much they love roshugulla and ‘that sweet curd thing’ (misti doi)
Now you see, I am a Bengali who flinches even at the smell of fish and sweets make me nauseous. (shocking …I know … apparently people like me exist)
When I say this to people, they tend to look at me like, I am some alien species who needs to get herself checked, and always ask me to reiterate my ethnicity –“but aren’t you a Bengali ??’
Cause apparently my likes and dislikes are too unbelievable for them to wrap their heads around
What’s worse is when you have to explain this to your relatives in Bengal
Image Credit: Movie – Lootera
At first, they think you are joking, cause after all its almost a sin to not love fish and get high on sweets.
But then when they finally realise that you are being serious, oh! the look of offence and disappointment on their face- it has the capability to scare even the bravest of humans.
In fact, I am pretty sure at some point or another, they have considered disowning me.
And had I not looked so much like my mother, they would have considered the possibility of me mistakenly getting exchanged in the hospital with their true fish loving and sweet worshipping Bengali girl
However, after they realize that it’s too late, and they can’t really return you, they do something that makes you want to pull your hair out
9 out of 10 times they will try to convince you, that you are just going through a phase and will try to feed you fish delicacies in hopes of converting you and hopefully ‘FIXING’ you
The worst is when they try and get you to try sweet delicacies and 100% of the time they follow it up with – ‘it’s not that sweet – at least just taste it … you might like it ‘
Unfortunately, just like they can’t let go of me, I can’t let go of them .so what do I do??
I smile, nod my head and act shocked by the fact that suddenly the fish and sweet that they have given me tastes different from the ones I have had before, and it is in fact THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD !!
Read Also: The Gourmet Bengali Thali
