उत्तर प्रदेश : sab kuch milta hai ehaan bhaisaab..!

When we talk about India, the one thing which is inseparable in the discussion is talking about the most traditionally and culturally diverse state, Uttar Pradesh..!! It is the India's most important and one of the oldest significant places having perennial rivers, dense forest cover and fertile soil. It is politically the most significant places as it has highest lok sabha seats and one other hand, its also Gunda-raaj state and is in the news always for wrong things as well.. On one hand it is homeland of the vintage Kathak dance, and on the other hand we will see people notoriously dancing naagin-dance, peacock dance, etc on any occasion.. On one hand it had a glorious history of good over evil by Lord Rama, Krishna; and on the other hand, it is a land of eternal love depicting the royal Taj Mahal in Agra. On one hand U.P. is heartland of the famous-delicious-irresistable street food and chaats; and on the other hand rich and sophisticated dine-in cuisines like Awadhi and Mughlai food resides here. Here, accent, language, eshtyle and tradition changes in every few kms range.
But again, as my last post, the place is known mostly by the people living in it, and believe me, I have spent all my life till now in U.P., it's the land of most funny and interesting people you will ever meet.. :P. Infact each individual, be it a child, adult, older people and every one has a significant UP waala touch which is very easy to make out. UPites calls themselves 'Bhaukalis', meaning All Rounders, even if some of them know nothing but 'hum kisise kam nahi'-attitude hai bhaisaab..!! A typical UPite is a very soft spoken person who believes his guests are equivalent to God, only till you don't bother them, or else they are prone to violence, more like the Chulbul Pandey dabang types. They are the inventors of supreme level of hateful slangs, also including relations in their abuses... lol.. They believe in the motto "Jaan jaye par shaan na jaye" and will do anything to safeguard their integrity. Another feature of a UPite is that they won't pay a penny from their pockets easily and always run for discounts and free gifts (be it a male or female :P ) and the same tradition is passed on to each of their children as well. You will see them eating excessively in other's party but becomes a careful spender when it comes to giving their own..lol, and so, they will be commonly seen near food stall in weddings or the famous paan shop, taking huge bites of juicy paans and making their mouth full reddish. Women here are some of the world's best cooks ever, fast learners and likes to keep n-number of weekly/monthly fasts either for peace of the family or to get a good husband and follow family traditions by choice. And.. children, uff...they are menace! Love to eat anything and everything under mom's kitchen and keep their mothers always busy in making parathas, pakodas, paneer, aloo-puri, etc..etc..!!. People say often that 'U.P. waale hai, thappad lagate der nahi lagegi', 'U.P. waale hai badi duur ki pohoch hai, koi kaam hai to bas phone kar dena, aatank macha denge'..and so on...they make lot of loud comments ;).. On the contrary, they say 'hum' instead of mai(me) which sounds more polite and cute as well..and will say 'Raam-Raam' or 'Radhey-Radhey' for greeting people in general. The funniest part is, we UPites believes that all our sins will be washed away if we bathe in Holy Ganga river (which is not so holy anymore, thanx to UP waale only). It is further said that any one kid of UP family has to belong to a political party or be an IAS officer, and hence you will see maximum UPites being highly Jugaadiya in nature and can make any work done in minutes by hook or crook.
Baaki to bhai... Shivji, Raam ji ki kirpa hai jisse jindagi kat rahi hai bas, aur kuch nahi chahiye (but they are ready to take anything which is profitable ;) under the desk...,u know what I mean..lol). All in all, they have a big heart and big smile which they wear always, and stay happy in whichever situation they are because we believe that fikar ko maaro goli, let's play holi.. ;) :P
Maximum support of this article goes to my family itself which is almost a typical UPite..lol... But still, to give a larger view, my lovely friends supported me a lot. Since, U.P. is too big a state to describe, I will bifurcate it into few parts as well.. So watch out this blog for more interesting news :)

কলকাতা : Being a Bengali

I wanted to start my blog of 2015 with a different theme.. While searching for it, I found out why not write about our incredible India. So for my 1st write-up, I decided to virtually visit Kolkata...! One of the oldest developed cities of India, Kolkata (earlier named as Calcutta), is a magical city. Rich in traditional aspect and highly knowledgeable literates, it is regarded as Cultural and Intellectual capital of India. It is homeland to world's well known personalities including nobel laureates, scientists, artists, actors, etc and at the same time, it is amongst the most affordable megacities of India even being a metropolitan. See the variance in Kolkata, rich and poor...every person are self sufficient with whatever lives they have. It's basically a living soul itself which resides on every Bengali or residents of West Bengal and that's why they say "Amar shonar Bangla" (My Golden Bengal ). One side there is Mayapur, the Prayer's paradise which is also the epicentre of ISKCON; and on the other side there is Sonagachi, the Brothel paradise, one of the largest red-light districts in Asia. On one side there is Kolkata Knight Riders, the famous IPL cricket team, which people follow from heart; and on the other side there is Calcutta Football league, and Bengalis..they just loves football... From maach (fish) and chicken ; to the famous Kati rolls ; to the tastiest sweets all over the country like Rasgullas, chamcham, sandesh, and other countless mishtis (sweets).
But above all, the most interesting thing about Kolkata is the diverse and lively people residing here who love chit-chatting all day long be it a man or a woman (infact truth being told, Bengali men gossips a lot even more than women...hehe.. ). I mean, they just love to talk man.. :) A typical Bengali sounds funny when he/she talks in hindi or english.. The famous hindi words including.. Udi Baba (Oh My God), kya korta hai tum (what are you doing), and mixing genders as well.. lol. :P. Women, they like to dominate the house and screams at her top of the voice when she gets angry but loves her households a lot. Another way of finding out a Bong from a group, is his love for food..they are basically Foodaholics.. haha :), always keeping their hands and mouth busy with n-number of cuisines around them. The best time to visit Kolkata is during Durga Puja, when these bunch of party lovers are full-on celebrating this 10-day festival in full masti like the world will end after it. Also, if you ever encounter with a Bengali, you will find a romantic side of them, they love being loved and pampered, and keep their hearts on their hands for people they are really fond of ;) . All in all, Bengalis are, what we call as Shaukeens or Zealous with just about everything they need to be happy and that's precisely why it is called as City of Joy...!!!
I surveyed some of my cute Bengali friends for whatever I wrote in my above lines, and I'm sure, people reading it, will fully agree to it. I would like to know more about being a Bengali. I thank my friends for each word I wrote in this small article. :)