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- Grand and different is the beauty of this royal state which boasts
of the distributaries of the Brahmaputra and Ganga emptying their
bellies into the Bay of Bengal. The deltaic land with its stately
growth of jute stands proud and rich. Though the diseases of
development: unemployment, slums and crime have touched this state as
any other, its grand history and culture are visible in its every walk
of life.
- Be it in the field of religion, culture, arts, education, soldiers
or patriots, this state has produced them all.
- Great figures like Tagore, Bose, Bengal, Harindranath
Chatopadhyaya or the more contemporary heartthrobs like Amitabh
Bachchan have been the sons of the soil of Bengal.
- The people are intellectual, even the ordinary man on the street has a
sense of intellect worthy of this soil.
- Though history has had its hand in influencing the culture of this
state, most so with the English influence in the clothing especially
of menfolk, in style of living, sports and education, it has not been
able to mar or adulterate the the food, the literateur in its folk,
women's clothing and the language. A tip to toe Englishly dressed
Bengali can be seen proudly and fiercely conversing in pure Bengali
dialect!
- The typical way in which the Bengali ladies wear the traditional
saree, holds grace and demurity. It is not unusual to see the corner
of their saree 'palavs' holding the household keys securely tied. The
gigantic sized diamond jewellery that adorn the persona of affluent
ladies is rare to be found elsewhere.
- Bengali plays, movies, stories and culture have a class and
calibre rarely matched. An interesting site for outsiders is to
still see the trams worming their ways through teeming crowds and
every nook and corner having a box holding the 'paanwala' doling out
the 'Calcutta paan' with dexterity. However, mindless spitting of
this pan juice have marred the beauty of many grand monumental
structures and streets.
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