The classic dhoti, the greasy hair, the owl-like spectacles, the wooden cane and the untidy moustache. How we "eat" everything that can be eaten or drunk(read:Jol Khabo). How we add the syllable of "au/o" at places in sentence when people least expect us to. How we are supposed to the stingiest folks on a demographic line. How our love for the mishti transcends understanding of anything tangible as such. How piscine cuisines are all that live upto our standards of food. How we are the ones to host the Royal Bengal Tiger of Sunderbans. How we think we are the masters of the world, and what not!
Whilst I will tell you that THAT is what "we " do, but alas it is only fair that I tell you that THAT is what "they " do since I am one of the pseudo-bongs of the modern age who are totally detached of this great culture. And while on most days that does not bother me much, somehow today out of pure of chaos and randomness I feel sorry for myself since I have missed out on the mystique of the culture that my family reveres so deeply.
I was in a cultural limbo.
And that came back to bite me when 2 years ago I joined college at a place where neither Hindi nor Bengali, but Tamil was the spoken tongue. The first day out, I met a bunch of Bengalis who were yapping away in their language. I tried to interact with them in Bengali itself when I fully realized that my knowledge of the language was well and truly beyond trash. When they asked me why it was so, I felt my rationalization was rather hollow and frankly, stupid. I have never talked much to that group since then, or for that matter any other Bengali, in Bengali itself because it reminds me of a childhood where I was cultured with a certain code of ethics that was devoid of the most crucial of all things at the time, my true cultural heritage.
But in-spite of my lack of reverence for being a Bengali, I am aware of certain facts that make me proud after all.
We Bengalis are a proud but astute bunch. I do believe that our contributions to Art, Literature, Politics and Academics in contemporary times is unparalleled compared to any other community.
We are the ones who gave you Rabindranath Tagore. We gave you his genius in terms of literature, art and music(Rabindra Sangeet). We gave you Swami Vivekananda. We gave you Amartya Sen. We gave you all Satyendranath Bose. We gave you Satyajit Ray, the one who stands out as the sole true visionary and trendsetter of film-making in India. We gave you all Uttam Kumar, the single most talented actor of the 60s and 70s in India. We gave you RD Burman. We gave you Subhash Chandra Bose, a man who truly did give himself to you all. We gave Sarojini Naidu(who was Sarojini Bhattacharya previously). We gave you our own Dada. We gave you Arundhati Roy. We gave you Prannoy Roy.
I feel I am a Bengali, and a true one at certain times, because I simple take pride in being a Bengali. Tomorrow I might crack the same stereotypical jokes against Bongs, but that itself is a part of being a Bong. We do reflect on ourselves as worth criticism, laughter and pride; all the same time. And that is a truly wonderful thing.