Borne and brought up in a typical traditional North Kolkata (read Calcutta) household and then living in different parts of the country to support my professional career and now again in Kolkata, one thing never changed in my life is to celebrate the very first day of Bengali New year; Poila Boishakh. It has always been special with several customs; some good food and last but not the least to celebrate Poila Boishakh in a clean household to kick start the New Year as good as possible.
In my ancestral house, we used to celebrate Poila Boishakh quite vast starting with a puja of Lakshmi Ganesh followed by distribution of thousand box of Laddu and we used to have similar quantity of Bengali Calendars to distribute to the partners and his esteemed customer of my Baba's business. We used to celebrate with a big feast of Bengali food and Kosha Mangsho was the integral part of the list. A visit to Firingi Kali bari in the evening was (even is) a must for the auspicious day of Poila Boishakh
In following years, when I was in Bihar I used to stay with "Probashi Bangali" families and there also we used to celebrate with the same emotion, food and typical Bong Adda. Being with the PRobashi Bangali's and to celebrate with them was a complete different experience.
In the following years, when we were in Gurgaon after marriage we restricted our celebration by visiting Bengali specialty restaurants for the treat of Poila Boishakh along with the friends and obviously every year I used to make some special food to celebrate the occasion.
Two things were common over the year, one is to wear a new dress and another is to clean the entire house for Poila Boishakh. I have restricted myself to traditional Bengali Saree for this occasion since long and clearing the household is something I have inherited from my mother. Maa along with me and some house help used to clean the places to store the thousand packets of Laddu that I mentioned above. A proper cleaning along with proper disinfection was a must thing that used to do there. Even today, I can't imagine my place without cleaning to start the New Year!
Here are few tips to make the New Year greater and better and how I love to celebrate the first day of Bengali New year:
Family and Friends matter: be it Poila Boishakh or any other day of the year: Blood is thicker than water and relatives are the backbone and friends are like our body parts! Remember to talk to them; wish them for Poila Boishakh. I try to call those who are really near and dear ones.
Why not to surprise those who are special: A special gift, a special treat for the close ones obviously work as positive catalyst. I am planning for some personalized gifts this year which is nothing but Truly bongly Goina Bori.
To turn house into home: A little touch of Bongness; changing the interior a bit; starting from decorative Madur; to earthen pots to decorating the home with Alpona there are actually many option.
Start something new: start something creative. This can be ranging from planting trees or to collect something exotic whatever you feel can give you a pleasure to kick start the year with a positive vive.
Last but not the least; clean your house and especially the kitchen! Nobody loves a kitchen with dancing Cockroaches. That is not even a sign of a healthy lifestyle. Timely cleaning is not only required for the so called good look but for the real healthy life. Need some suggestion on this; start with the cockroaches then; they are really horrible to live with; try the tried and tested one; nothing but HIT Spray Crawling Insect Killer. Visit their FB page and twitter handle for further detail.
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