Durga Puja in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

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Durga Puja: A great festival celebrated by Bengalis
Rahul Ganguly
HYDERABAD: Bengalis simply love their food, and festivities for the two lakh-strong community in Hyderabad likewise spell gastronomic delights. The Durga Puja celebrations in the Twin Cities too have their fare share of hearty cuisine from the Eastern State, with the bigger pujas in the city at Lower Tank Bund Road, Keye’s High School, Masab Tank and Kalibari offering something for every palate.

The Durga Pujas, much like other festivities in Bengal, features a whole lot of great food along with the usual celebrations. On the menu you would find the inimitable maacher jhol, fish curry prepared in a variety of seasonings, accompanied by steaming rice. Vegans need not feel left out either, as a variety of vegetable torkari, chocchori and labda is available, along with the ever-present dal. Chicken and mutton find their way through rich lip smacking gravies, fondly called kosha mangsho.

Bongs are known for their fetish for sweets, thus no meal is considered complete without a generous helping of misti. The generic term misti, mind you signifies a plethora of quintessentially Bengali sweet dishes, made principally from curdled milk. Varieties of sondesh and rosogolla, therefore, play a significant part in contributing to the Bengali waistline during the festivities.

The Bengalee Samiti Pujo at Lower Tank Bund features the ever-popular Deep caterers with their range of affordable Bengali thalis, featuring rice, dal, vegetables and a choice of fish, chicken or mutton. Archetypal Bengali street food finds its way into the stalls in the form of crumb-fried veg and non-veg chop, the classic moghlai porota and the famed Kolkata rolls.

We spoke to Sumit Sen and Sekhar Ray of Hyderabad Bengalee Samiti who spoke about the range and choice of food available at the venue at Ramakrishna Mutt, Lower Tank Bund. Ray said, “We have at present around 30 food stalls serving a wide array of cuisine,” to which Sen added, “the pujo caters not only to Bengalis but to a host of other communities like the Telugu, Marathi and North-Indian populace, as well a host of other communities for a truly multi-cultural experience.”

The diversity reflects in the food court as well, aside from Bengali dishes, the Durga pujo pandals also offer north Indian dishes, as well as a variety of chaats and snacks.

The Bengalis’ love for food shows in the fact that besides eating, they also love treating others to good food! Consequently, there are daily arrangements for piping hot food Bengali served free at lunchtime, which are organised by the respective pujo committees. Here you have a choice of khichudi, labda, chutney and sweet paayesh at either venue with some variation. According to Atin Choudhury of Bangiya Sanskritik Sangha, the committee will serve “a special pulao for lunch, on the occasion of Navami.” Choudhury also spoke about the enthusiastic response to the pujo, which saw the footfall grow in excess of 20,000 people, “In addition to Bengali staples, we have roped in a bunch of well known restaurants and food chains in the city to cater to a variety of tastebuds.” The food court at Keyes High School, incidentally offers a selection of sweets and savouries including Bengali dishes like kochuri dal as well as Hyderabadi staples like biryani, Manchurian veggies and Chicken 65.

By the looks of it, the festive season translates to a time of merry making with buddies, and munching on a variety of great food that goes much beyond the staple of maach and misti. SOURCE: http://www.expressbuzz.com
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