It is that time of the year again, when mixed fragrances of gogul and khichuri wafts through the air, making its way from kitchens in the households and pujo pandal to the streets around it. Sharadotsav, or Durga Puja as it is better known, gets the entire Bengali community to come together for celebration for five days when their Goddess Durga visits her baari. However, food forms an essential part of these celebrations as most of the discussions revolve around what are they going to have over Shashti, Saptami, Ashatmi and Nobomi. While rolls, biryani and other non-vegetarian affair are undoubtedly on top of the list, ‘pujor bhog’ or the humble offering of vegetarian delicacies to Maa is something that everyone looks forward to. Right after the morning ritual of Pushpanjali, the bhog is served to everyone who visits the pandal with equal love and devotion. This Pujo, we headed to the 100 years old Kalibari at Navlakha Bengali Club, to partake in the community lunch and to bring the story of its careful preparation from head cook Harihar AgastiAs we walk in to the happy crowd of people waiting with steel plates for the Bhog, we hear convener of the Pujo committee R S Roychoudhury’s cheerful invitation ‘Eikhane shobay aajke amader otithi!’ (Everyone here is our guest today), which perks us up our interest for the delicious spread some more. Going beyond the revelry, we arrive at the makeshift kitchen of Harihar Agasti, who is fondly referred to as Hari Da by everyone around. Since the last sixteen years, Hari Da has been travelling with his team of 4-5 members, all the way from a small town in West Bengal to cook up a storm in Indore . “I came here on Chaturthi, and will leave on Dashami evening. Every day the preparation for Bhog begins at 4 AM, when the team gets chopping and slicing” shares Hari while stirring a huge container where the dal and spices for Khichuri happily splutters engulfing us in a delectable aroma. A team of eight people keep their work on over huge containers carrying aaloo kpoir daalna, tomato chatney, jhuri bhaja, paayesh and pappad bhaja – the menu for Saptami. “We keep alternating between labra, dalna and mishti on each day, but Khichuri and chatney remain same” he adds.To maintain the authentic taste and flavour of the dishes, the team gets some of the key ingrredients like Gobindobhog rice, nolen gur (jaggery), mocha (banana flowers), kochu (a root which is used with vegetables), poshto (poppy seeds) and their kind of green chillies. “Some of the ingredients are not available here, while poshto and gur has a different taste here, so we carried it from Bengal. We have carried different kinds of maach too, but that’s for evening. The Bhog is niramish, i.e. without non-veg and without onion and garlic too.” Cooking in batches of four, Hairhar and his team use over 250 kg of rice and pulses for khichuri, 1 quintal of potato and cauliflower each, 200 litres of milk and close to 50 kgs of tomatoes for the feast. “It is Mahaashtami and Mahanavami that we have to watch out for. More people take leave during the last 3 days and entire family visits pandal for Bhog. It is the quintessential Pujo meal for us banagalis, and no one misses it if they can help it” explains convenor Roychoudhury. Besides Pujo, the team also travels during Lakshmi Puja , Saraswati Puja and other festivities at the club, winning the probashi Bengalis here over with their authentic Bangali flavours.As the clock ticks closer to 1.30, the deputed time for partaking Pujor Bhog, we see volunteers of all age groups head over to their serving stations and gear up to serve close to 2000 people. More volunteers join hands and keep refilling the buckets carrying khichuri, paayesh, dalna, chatney and jhuri bhaja. “Pujo is not just a celebration of Maa Durga and her return home, but it is also a celebration of humanity, of the joyful Bengali spirit. Each year we get more people signing up to serve Bhog to the masses, which they consider close to worship. How many ever mouths they get to feed, you will never find anyone showing a crease of worry. They always serve with a smile” shares president of the club Ashok Mukherjee. Moving along the crowd we see kids as young as 10 year old, swiftly moving between the lines and serving the kaka-kaimas, dadu-didas and jethu-jethimas with whatever they want. “I eagerly wait for Pujo, just to be one of the volunteers. Everyone is so happy during this time, that it makes my day” shares a 13-year-old Mishti Chatterjee while doling out generous portions of paayesh to a patron. A pair of maashis especially caught our attention as they could be seen relishing their food. “We come to Navlakha pandal specially for the bhog here and the satisfaction of getting meal closest to Bengal. Like every year, this meal too is bhalo!” share sixty year olds Shubhra Dey and Seema Banerjee.Seeing all the happy faces and assailed by the aroma of all the dishes, we tucked into a plate, along with the members to savour the joy of pujo, only to be overwhelmed by the scrumptious spread, lovingly prepared by Hari da and his team. Whether you visit pujo pandal today or tomorrow, rest assured the homely comfort meal of Bhog will leave you wanting more.

Stay updated with all the Latest Indore headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.