A Durga Puja in the Netherlands will distribute khichudi bhog on paper plates made by women of the Sunderbans

The Durga Puja has gone beyond the boundaries of Bengal. In 2017 some Bengalis of the Netherlands began the celebration there. The venue is the community center in Eindhoven. This is a major city in the North Brabant province in the Netherlands and the birthplace of the multinational company Philips. This year the Bengalis there will enter a new phase in their lives when they use paper plates made by the women of the Sunderbans. They will use these environment friendly plates to distribute khichudi bhog to the devotees who will come to the festivities. Khichudi bhog is a delectable dish made by boiling rice with pulses and a variety of vegetables that usually include potatoes, pumpkins, brinjal, cauliflower, green peas etc. Items like onions, garlic are taboo. Some whole spices including fried dry red chilies add zing to the final product. There is also a tomato dish known as chutney. The dish is served in community lunches on the occasion of the pujas usually on steel plates, some go in for plastic or thermocol plates. Mangrove plates from Sunderbans for Puja in the Netherlands. This year, the Netherlands will switch over to paper plates made in the Sunderbans. The organizers had ordered around 3,500 plates, cups and bowls and the consignment has reached the destination.

Besides generating income for the women, the paper plates reduce the adverse effect of plastic on the fragile ecosystem of the mangrove delta. Local hotels, homestays and tourist vessels have been the main buyers of the paper utensils. Now, it is making inroads into the overseas market. The Bengali community in and around Eindhoven consist of a “few hundred families.” Although it is a Bengali celebration, others also join. The IndoDutch Care Foundation, based in The Hague, established the link between the Durga Puja community and the manufacturing venture in the Sunderbans. The group started in May 2020, after Cyclone Amphan. Initially it started with a few hundred plates on a daily basis – the figure is now in thousands. Plastic waste is one of the biggest threats to the Sunderbans ecosystem and replacing plastic with paper is the best option.

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Some Prime Ministers ride to office on bicycles, why not we?

Prime Minister of Netherlands is Mark Rutte and he arrives at his office and goes home after work on a bicycle. In 2012, he shocked the Iranian delegation when he arrived at work riding a bicycle. In Australia, Tony Abbot, the new Prime Minister also rode to work through the suburbs of Sydney on a bicycle.

These are a couple of examples and, if people who can influence others set a trend like using bicycles for traveling short distances, it would be a boon to the world that is weighed down by matters relating to protection of the environment. And, in order to bring home the concept, bicycle companies should market their products more aggressively – they could rope in celebrities of the movie world.
But, powered two wheelers are the current rage as one can understand from the popular brands that vie for grabbing eyeballs via the audio-visual medium called the television but, sadly, no one bothers about the bicycle which also is a two wheeler.
Powered two wheelers like scooters or motorbikes mean pollution of the environment due to the obnoxious fumes of burnt fuel whereas the cycle apart from being environment friendly, provides exercise to the body. It helps to tone up the muscles and build up stamina.
It is not that we do not see bicycles – schoolkids use them if the school is nearby. In some villages, these vehicles are in use by the old-fashioned people but, the youngsters believe in keeping up with the latest trends and zoom about on motorbikes that they have seen used by their favorite movie stars. The roads may still be rough and through fields but, the riders are not much worried – they want power and, power they must have.
When it comes to cities, bicycles are practically nonexistent. In cities like Bangalore and Pune, one can see bike lanes on the main roads dedicated to bicycles – at least there are signboards to that effect. But, people are afraid to use these lanes because of encroachment by the more powerful two and even three and four wheelers. It’s all about might is right.(to be continued …)

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)
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School days – shopkeepers use paper bags to pack the groceries

Our school days were days of rupees, annas and paisa – 16 annas was equivalent to one rupee and four paisa was equivalent to one anna. It was in 1957 that decimal coinage (one rupee was made equivalent to 100 naya paise – this term naya paise was to differentiate it from the existing paisa. The ‘naya’ was later withdrawn and it became just paise.)
It took people some time to get gradually accustomed to the new system which embraced all measures including weights, volumes and even lengths.
Anyway, this is not a treatise on that subject but through this, I will try to highlight the cost of living in the 1950s – I still remember going with my father to the Shyambazar market for purchase of monthly provisions that ranged from rice and sugar to cooking oils, dals, maida and spices etcetera.

The measure of weights was in seers – one seer was nearly equivalent to one Kilogram or Kg and for two rupees, we would be able to buy five seers of good quality of sugar. The shopkeeper would weigh the sugar into a large paper bag. Paper bags were the order of the day – no plastics or polythene. In those days, no one had heard of environmental pollution.

Similarly, one tin of Milkmaid condensed milk would come for 14-annas – that was less than a rupee. And, for as little as two rupees per day, one could easily procure vegetables and fish for a family of six!! (to be continued…)