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Recipe for another faith

‘Baisakhi’ marks the New Year for many across the nation. Today we celebrate Bihu and Poila Boishakh, the Assamese and Bengali New Year respectively

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Youngsters perform the Bihu dance at Pahukata village in Assam
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Rongali Bihu or Bohag Bihu is not just a festival that revolves around a few celebrations. It’s a lifeline. It encapsulates the cultural identity that is Assamese. People of various origins and creed observe Bihu in their own ways but they reflect similar tones of one people — their faith, expectations, rituals, events and a cumulative ideal.

Their root, primarily, is agrarian, and therefore the events surrounding the celebrations begin with paying reverence to the animal that helps man plough his field — the bullock — on the eve of Bihu. So, the first day is called Goru (cow/bullock) Bihu. Every household takes its cattle to the nearest waterbody, bathes them and offers puja, and then feeds them with the best of fodder.

To mark the beginning of the New Year, everyone applies a paste of raw turmeric, black lentil and oil on themselves before bathing. Called Manuh Bihu, this day is considered auspicious as it brings forth the dawn of a new beginning, and is started with seeking blessings from all, beginning at the Naamghar or prayer hall, and ending with elders. Then begins the feasting, beginning with jolpan, which is spread out with flat rice, curds, guud, and varieties of pitha — snacks made of ground rice and other ingredients.

Visiting friends and relatives, and exchanging gifts, most importantly the Bihuaan, is an integral part of this Bihu. Husori, a group song and dance that invariably narrates the nitty-gritty of Assamese culture, is performed by one and all during the seven-day long celebrations.

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Ilish bhaja, a staple Bangladeshi food item on New Year, and (right) Sandesh, a traditional Bengali sweet — PolyBaidya/ Instragram

Find a Bengali raised around grandparents and ask them about their birthday. They’re likely to give you a date on the Gregorian calendar, and one from its Bengali counterpart — a lunar-solar almanac distinguished by its Mughal roots and a tide of auspicious days.

The most auspicious of them all, Poila (first) Boishakh, is celebrated on April 14 or 15, providing Bengalis across the world a wild card to start the year afresh.

While historical conjectures are many, a dominant theory suggests that Akbar, in 1584 AD, replaced the Islamic Hijri calender with the Tarikh-e-Ilahi, readjusting the empire’s tax-dependant financial cycle to corresponding agricultural seasons.

While the Tarikh-e-Ilahi  failed to outlast Akbar’s reign, the fervour to welcome a new harvest continued to propel the Bengali calendar, now entering its 1424thyear.

I like to imagine that Noboborsho (‘new year’) symbolises the carnival of existence. Why else would a community stock up on fresh but modest ‘home clothes’ as hawkers peddle the discounted seductions of Chaitra sale? Or jewellers resolve their financial ledgers, cementing patronage — old and new — with a gift of sweets and calendars?

Why else would women comb out mothball recipes of mocha chingri (banana blossoms with shrimp), dhokar dalna (lentil cakes in spicy gravy), potol er dolma (pointed gourd stuffed with prawn/minced fish/cottage cheese), chitol maach er muitha (curried fish dumplings) or shorshe pabda (fish in mustard sauce), to be ravished with rice first and Gelusil later?

In Bangladesh, the cart changes a little, with paanta bhaat (watered rice) and ilish bhaja (fried Hilsa) perfuming kitchens. The essence, however,  remains unaltered, as the incorrigibly voracious Bengali heart stows away a whole year's sustenance — gastronomic, artistic and spiritual.

Poila Boishakh's credence lies neither in its Islamic history nor in the shared Hindu-ness of the Punjabi, Assamese or Tamil New Years. Its sole purpose is to restore faith in a joyful existence — one decadent with good food and good hope.

Shubho Noboborsho, 1424.

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