The Odisha Bengal marital alliance

The hot news from back home is Pinaki Mishra, a multiple time Member of Parliament from Puri constituency, the constituency of my native village got into a marital alliance with the flamboyant female MP Mohua Moitra from Odisha's neighboring state of Bengal. 

Earlier Raja (Kings) and Maharaja (Emperor) used to marry their daughters and sisters off to their counterparts to bolster goodwill between the Kingdoms in order to buy peace or further strengthen their empire. These days Odisha and Bengal are at loggerheads due to government of Bengal's plan to construct a Jagannath temple at Digha near Odisha's border. This is seen by Odias as a needless attempt by Bengal to claim Lord Jagannath who is very close to the heart of Odias as their own and reduce the importance of the centuries old Jagannath Dham in Puri to just another temple. Hope this marriage will go a long way to bring peace and harmony between the people of Odisha and Bengal.

Marriages between Odias and Bengalis aren't anything new. Almost all of these marriages fall into the category of love marriages (The term love marriage is a misnomer as in many cases it is self negotiated or self arranged marriage of convenience rather than any kind of true love associated with it. The usual disclaimers apply). Most of these marriages to my knowledge are between Odia girls and Bengali boys. It probably got to do with the prevalent myth chose that the soft spoken, "Bhadralok" (gentleman) type, wife worshipping/fearing Bengali boys make perfect husbands. That's why I know more Odia girls end up marrying Bengali boys than the other way round. 

Odias and Bengalis are lot similar. I have many Bengalis friends. The states of Odisha and Bengal bordering each on the eastern coromondel coast of Bay of Bengal have a lot of similarities - from the dress they wear, the language they speak. They share common food habits, festivals, culture and traditions. Many call each other's state their home. There is hardly any Odia who has never been to Calcutta, nor any Bengali who has never visited Puri, a favorite holiday destination of the neighborhood state from all classes. Each year Millions of Bengalis throng the temple town of Puri, enjoying its pretty, pristine sandy sea beach. You can say Bengali is the 2nd language of Puri as the locals speak it in typical Odia accent to communicate with the Bengali tourists. Shops and restaurants all over the town have signs and hoardings written in Bengali. If for some reason Bengalis decide to stop coming to Puri, rest assured the township's economy will collapse like pack of a cards, at least temporarily.

Odias and Bengalis look very similar. Few years back a PANDA (Priest) in Puri mistook me for Bengali and started chasing me - "OH DADA, ESON ESON (Bro, come with me). I immediately switched to Puri accent, "HAIYE MALIKE, AME PIRA BALI SAHI LOKA" (Boss, I am from the local Bali Sahi, adjacent to the temple) faking the Puri accent, for being originally from that area. The Panda got confused and disappointed for dealing with a local chap, a stingy fellow Brahmin, not a vulnerable tourist to be ripped off. Still not giving up on me he made a last attempt - "HAU, MAHAPURU 10 TA TANKA DIA", "OK, master. Pay me 10 rupee in the name of God". I replied back, "Bhaina (my elder bro). I don't have a single penny in my pocket". As I moved on, I heard our frustrated Panda bad mouthing behind me -"KANGALA KAHASE AYA", "where from this impoverished bankrupt guy has come" ! (We Odias switch to Hindi when we get excited). It was quite a funny experience for me.

Years ago amidst skyrocketing prices of potatoes in Odisha the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal, a high producing state of this vegetable regulated its supply to other states to control prices in their local market. Meantime in Odisha, the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who has good terms with West Bengal Chief Minister, wrote her a letter seeking her intervention to ensure a smooth supply of potatos from Bengal as it has stopped supply of the tubers to other states.
Now coming back to potatos, in Odia and Bengali we have a term called ALUDOSH (the potato flaw). Pronounced in different accents in Odia and Bengali, they mean the same connotation in both languages. Overall it denotes Idiosyncrasies or unusually irritating attitude, usually lascivious behavior by men towards women, though not just limited to it. That is exactly seemed to be happening between the both neighboring states. The Potato politics due to the ALUDOSH from both sides have stung the consumers for whom the vegetable is a staple side item to their primarily rice based diet.

Price of potato had reportedly shot into Rs.50 per kilo. It made the Odias mad, threatening Bengal for not releasing enough of the tuber to its neighboring states. Bengalis weren't too happy about it. There is an age old saying in Africa "When two elephants make love or war it is the grass which suffers". It is always the hapless consumers who bear the brunt. The brewing potato fight between the states could have been stopped by making them agree to rather brew some potato based Vodka. That can sooth their nerves by sitting together and having a friendly chat imbibing that fiery drinks together.

At that time, I suggested a solution to this ALUDOSH. Pappu (Naveen) and Didi (Mamata), the most eligible bachelors from the states should have tied the marrital knot. It didn't happen. Now that another celebrity alliance have actually tied the knot, hopefully this marriage between Mishra and Moitra will go a long way soothing the nerves between Odias and Bengalis, from claiming the patent of Rasagola to Lord Jagannath.