Pithe Parbon.

Pithe Parbon.

As Cakes & Pastries are closely related with the celebration of X-Mass and New Year, Pithe Parbon is also closely associated with Poush Sankranti in Bengal. The Pithe Parbon is essentially a rural festival yet many urban family now enjoy this festival most ritually in some modified manner. In the outskirt of this city and even in some well decorated flats and quarters of the posh areas, people decorate their house with alpana, various flowers and mango leaves. Friends and relatives are invited to enjoy the pitheys. The senior members remain busy throughout the day for the preparation of the items and all the members of the family relish the pitheys with the flavour of new rice, nalen gur, keer and others. In village areas all the members of the family gather together near the hearth and enjoy such items in most rejoicing ways still now.

Purabi Sen of Bidisha says, “As winter approaches the gourmet Bengali eagerly looks forward to savouring  pithe,  puli – the delicious sweetmeats made during this time of the year. The newly harvested paddy and the date palm syrup or khejurer gur becomes the most wanted item in Bengal and it is a common sight at the market of this cities to find Bengalis living in other parts of the country holding on to that pot of patali gur and others to prepare delicious Pithyes . ”

But now the pithe parbon is not only limited in Bengal. Moumita Saha, MBA residing in Bangalore says, “The ladies wing of the Bengalee Association, Bangalore organized Poush Parbon in the club house every year. All the members are invited to taste the Bengali items like Patisapta, Puli Payesh, Gokul Pithe, Mug Daler  Bhaja Pithe and many such delicious items. In fact all the non-Bengalee people relish such items and some even suggest to organize such parbon regularly.

Swati Sen of Indraprastha says, “In earlier days we were in the habit of living in joint families and during the Poush Parbon occasion the elderly women folk remained extremely busy to arrange the ingredients like Rice Powder (not ready made that are now available in every shop), nalen gur, coconut, khoa and many such things,. Narkol Sandesh and Tiler Naru were the most essential sweetmeat in those days during this parbon. After having a bath in the pre-dawn hours in the chilled pond or river water as ‘Makar Snan’ people in large used to assemble near a fire to warm up them. After that a breakfast with chalbhaja enriched with kalai bhaja and kusum seeds , tiler naru, narkol sandesh was the most common thing at that time. But now the young generations do not like all such items and we the elderly people only suffer from such nostalgic things”.

Kanchan Kumar Chatterjee.