“Debnath’s hot, Debnath’s cool,

Debnath is the way to rule..!”

Boy! The man’s got it right finally. The graphs are on song. The predictions are bang on target. The rooster’s going round and round. The mercury’s slipping. And Debnath’s sipping — his hot coffee!

We’re doing the rest, Debnathda. We’re pulling the woollens over and across every open space on our bodies. Thanks for the chill.

Just Chill

What’s luck? Ask a Bangali that and you’ll be surprised with the variety…

For Ghoshbabu, luck is:

a) Getting two yolks in a single egg

b) Finding an empty seat the moment you’ve got on a bus

c) Buying hilsa at the price of chicken

d) Getting to spy on Malati boudi putting out her clothes to dry on the opposite terrace at dawn, straight after her shower

e) Being served four extra cups of tea without begging, on a Sunday morning, and, most certainly...

f) Having a winter spell that makes you feel like an Alaskan in Calcutta!

Feeling It

Just look around and look at us. We’ve got every single strand of that sheepskin clinging on to our bodies. We’re flaunting them like supermodels hanging from our arms. We want it yet we don’t want it. Come on dada, just make up your mind: do you or do you not want to feel cold?

Ghoshbabu replies, “You see, it is an extremely crucial period in our yearly calendar. It is like you have a naughty naughty magazine in your hand.. and you want to just break free and ‘open’ up to it… yet in the deepest core of your heart, you bear the fear of getting ‘caught’!”

“Winter is also like that… You want to enjoy the cold but don’t want to catch it,” Ghoshbabu stoically adds.

And that is exactly why the man wears two tarpaulin-style cardigans to the local market, wears socks and gloves in bed, never takes off his ‘winter-armour’ even during peak noon and is killingly possessive of his ancestral cap (read ‘maaangki-tupi’). And all that and more in Calcutta!

Bong Connection

For the quintessential Bangali, winter is the season of realising life is really worth living. Logic says there’s only good weather and bad weather. Good weather = cool weather = cool heads. So enjoy it as much you can and as long as it lasts.

Ghoshbabu grumbles, “Aajkaal toh you can’t even run to the hills! That Gurung boy is always up to mischief, calling strikes every now and then!”

What remains is our mind. And we’ve got a thermostat inside. So cool off exactly the way you want to.

Because winter is:

a) The season to be a little more culturally sensitive. Book fairs, handicraft fairs, furniture fairs (with their minimalist fares) are a roaring hit! Suddenly you have everybody reciting and singing songs of the ‘season’; the ‘ghaashe ghaashe paa phelechhi’ types.

b) The time when you love to see naphthalene balls tumbling out of your almirahs with your woollies. That’s pure nostalgia and a solid indication that your nostrils are as clear as… err… Chicken Clear Soup(!)

c) The perfect occasion to savour Nolen Gurer Rosogolla, Patishapta, Pithe-puli and Joynagarer Moah (which by the way are just some preferred alternatives to sex).

d) The time when muttering “Uff ki thanda, baap re baap” is a great feelgood statement and is not to be mistaken for lack of courage.

Perhaps the word “exaggeration” was invented in Calcutta. Look around. You shall find an ever agitated Didi and a very worried white-haired man (in this season too). Into the new year, with just one single expectation.

A cold shoulder.

What’s your feedback for Mir? Tell t2@abpmail.com