Back then , all through my growing up days, this time of the year was so special. Not only the first day of the year , actually the celebration started on the last day of the year ‘choitro shankranti’ and continued till ‘poila boishakh’. My grandma and mother started cooking since morning. Though no one was called or invited specially, but I remember most of the people known to us turned up. Those days people had a different feeling of kinship and ‘nemontonno’ or invitation was not the formality, people cared for.

This year was not different either.The only difference being , it was not home food but food from the roots. I feel I celebrated this special day for much longer than usual. The celebration started in the Homeland and it continued here.

We started the celebration with some bengalee foods at a place (Jacksonheights) which specialises in food from ‘opar bangla’ or bangladesh. Here’s a glimpse of what we had … We started with Daal Puri , I paired it with koshaa mangsho instad of ‘cholaar daal’

Then we had a ‘maacher thali’ which also came with bhaja, bhorta, daal and shutki maach.

I also could not restrain myself from ordering a ‘chingri’ or prawn . The way it was prepared , it needed some rice to go along with it. I ordered for just pulao go with it.

I finished this meal with ‘mishti doi’ and a lebu chaa. The mishti doi was gone even before I realized . The lebu chaa was served with chopped ginger, which was new for me , but I love tea to sum up my meals , so it was the perfect ending. I should also like to mention the tea was not charged for me and it was served with a smile , which in a way was an acknowledgement.

While I was having all this , there were some people snacking on Jhalmuri too. It was nice to see the young couple pout for pic, have fun over their snacks , that’s life .