Skip to main content

Types of Bengalis

There are Bengalis and there are Bengalis. On the day after the Bengali New Year - Poila Boisakh, let me dissect a few for my own enjoyment.


  • The "Hocche Bangali": It is a mock title given to those pretenders to the role of the true-blue Bengali, those who are the "probashi" or non-resident Bengali. These guys are distinguished by their propensity to add a "Hocche" to every sentence, a replacement to the Hindi "hai". They are also marked by their affinity towards the places they have lived all their lives in, and the cultures that they have adopted over the Bengali culture. They prefer, horror of horrors, to speak in Hindi at home, call their sons "Beta", and like to eat rotis over rice and fish. Their language is spiked with Hindi words, much to the indignation of their West Bengal home-grown counterparts. They also sometimes go without fish for days, something the average Bengali cannot imagine.

  • The "Bheto Banagali": The direct opposite of the "Hocche Bangali", this fellow lives on rice and fish. He will have rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Has a tendency to grow a rather comfortable paunch as a result of all this rice eating. Loves sweets like chomchom, lady keni and pantua, the sweeter the better. They think they embody true Bangaliana, and are the preserver of Bengali culture. They will read and quote Tagore, Jibananda Das, and Sunil Gangopadhyay. They are familiar with every angle of Satyajit Ray's films. They throng the Book Fair and all kinds of culture festivals in the city. Characterized by a distinctive snoot and a disdain for all things "obangali".

  • The New-Age Bengali: GenY Bengalis like to project themselves as more cosmopolitan, more tolerant of intrusions to their culture. They like their pizza and shawarma as much as their kathi roll. They speak in a kind of mish-mash of English, Hindi and Bengali, with Americanisms thrown in. They consider the earlier generation too back-dated and intolerant. For all their pretensions of being citizens of the global village, they share the essential Bengali trait of snootiness and superior attitude.

  • The Hon-Bongs: These are the species of obangalis or non-Bengalis who have adopted Bengali culture and mannerisms as their own. They speak fluent Bangla, can converse with you on Ray, Ghatak and Tagore, and long to eat bhapa ilish and mishti doi. Wherever they live in the world, their hearts beat only for Kolkata, and all things Bengali.
So this was my analysis of Bengalis and Wannabe Bengalis. Want to add anything? You can leave your comments below.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guru Dutt - Legacy of an Overlooked Genius

"Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaae to Kya Hai:" This heartfelt anguish was literally personified by film maker and actor extraordinaire - Guru Dutt, whose birth centenary happens to be tomorrow (July 9).  Maestro or Failed Genius? All his life, he strove to depict his vision, his dreams on celluloid. Yet, even as he strove for success, for renown, he was a bit of a recluse, a black sheep himself. It was as if he wanted to challenge the language of popular cinema by being within the format, from the inside. His women had brains, taxi drivers and masseurs were philosophers, sex workers pined for spiritual ecstasy, and friendships blossomed between unlikely people. Common people on the street spoke wiser logic than academics or high-nosed editors. The topics of the films may seem dated now, but the eternal truths voiced in them remain relevant.   His films were distinctly different from other popular Hindi films. They had all the commercial elements of song, dance, comedy, romanc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Does Mother Mary Really Come? You bet!

Prolific writer-activist-thinker Arundhati Roy's memoir, an ode to her mother's formidable personality, is cleverly titled, Mother Mary Comes to Me. Below the title is a picture of young Roy nonchalantly smoking a bidi. Irreverence, thy name is Arundhati Roy! At 372 pages, it is a tome, a sweeping saga that recollects both her mother's remarkable life, as well as her own. Is it a Memoir? Yes and no. Though the book title refers to their mother-daughter relationship, the book - at several junctures treats each one of them as independent and exclusive from one another. In fact, for a good part, her mother finds no mention at all, and the reader is engrossed reading about Roy's exploits and struggles through Architecture College, early attempts to find her vocation and calling, her dabbling with cinema, acting, scriptwriting; her romantic liaisons with the luscious JC, Sanjay, Pradeep et al. A life as extraordinary and unapologetic as Arundhati's mesmerizes in itself. ...
1 comment
Read more

Book review - The Stationery Shop of Tehran

Iranian writer, Marjan Kamali's The Stationery Shop of Tehran is a remarkable and touching book. Like all literature set in countries with a deeply troubled history, this book too revolves around disillusionment, pain and the desperate struggle to live a normal life.  Akin to Khalid Hosseini, Kamali intertwines the political in the personal lives of her protagonists. Class struggle also plays a major role, like education or the lack of it. The story spans over six decades and two continents, starting from 1953 Iran to New England, US in early 2013. Love lost, Lives Shattered Young lovers, Roya and Bahman try to hold on to their love in the face of all pettiness and politics, but the aftermath of trauma runs too deep.  Just as their country plunges into another political upheaval, their lives are shattered and they are thrown apart.  Yet, Kamali makes her story deeply human and optimistic. Her lovers are genuinely good human beings, kind, forgiving and full of empathy. In...
Post a Comment
Read more