For those who are still not familiar with the terms. A Bong is a Bengali, people who are living or descendants of West Bengal. And 'Mach' is the Bengali word for fish. Just as you can't imagine a Punjabi surviving without his lassi, or a Gujarati without his dhokla same is true for a Bong and Mach
(Fish). Give a Bong Mach bhaat ( fish & rice) and he will be content. Whereas deprive him from his daily dose and you can see the crankiest bong ever.
Myself being a Bong my journey with fish started pretty early. As a kid I was told strictly to finish up my fish if I dreamt of being an intellectual or brainy. I grew up watching people in the family who were absolutely headstrong when it came to having their Mach. I have an uncle who in this growing years would put up fits of anger if he was offered a piece of Mach less than daily routine. Amongst the younger generation is my niece who as a two year old would patiently wait for her Hilsa fish to be deboned daily.
Although it is no secret to the world that a Bong's world revolves around his/her favourite food. Yet it is very intriguing for me to visit the fish market every weekend and see it swarming with Bong's. You can identify them easily. The married ladies will be adorned in their red, white and iron bangles. The guys will be carrying the macher bag. The easiest way is to identify them is observe the dexterity with which they can spot and name the types of fish on display and the ease with which they check out the eyes and the gills to see if it is fresh.
Here again if you are a generation who was born and brought up in Bengal then differentiating a Boyal, Katla, Pabda,Tangra, Rui,Chara Pona, Chingri or Koi is like a child's play. However being a probasi Bengali, one who was brought up outside Bengal, the situation can be uneasy when you can't identify your Mach. You can start feeling the Bong peer pressure. Initially I managed by asking the shop keeper the name and tried to connect with anything I might have heard at home. Later as the place got crowdier and the shopkeeper seemed to be the busiest man alive I started picking up the names from fellow bongs who where thronging the place. I can now proudly claim that I can tell the difference between a Rohu and Katla. Also can identify at least 12 different types of Mach.
When it comes to preparing the Macher Jhol or the fish curry we seem to have infinite options. It could be a plain curry with veggies, could be mustard based or curd based or coconut based , tangy tomato based excetera. The texture could be fried pieces or complex kofta or chop or even the steamed Bhapa version. Don't know about the rest of you people out there but my mouth has started watering in the process of quoting down the dishes.
When I started dwelling on writing down this topic, my husband warned me not to play with Bong sentiments. The myth that the Bong's are intellectuals because they have survived on fish may or may not be true. But next time when you see a Bong haggling or pestering other people at a fish shop just understand that getting that fresh Mach is as important to him as his life. So please cut him that slack.
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