Mallu Mallu Bong Bong

When one reads a book or a news story, the most important criterion is credibility..what credibility does so and so have to write such and such a thing.

With no flourish or deceit, I will strip down to the bare minimum and tell you point blank that this post is about Kerala and West Bengal... and the lovely coincidences that these two states seem to have in the sensibilities and culture of its indigenous people (read malayalis and bengalis)

But what credibility do i have... Well, i was born in Tamil Nadu to two Malayalis... and because of the situational circumstances of the nursing home that i was born in and the business interests of my dad ensuring that i would be raised in the coastal confines of Chennai, I like to think I have a certain objectivity in my opinion of Keralites... and my profound admiration of the beauty of Bengali women takes care of the bong side of things.. so without further delay..we go to the coincidences

1. Eating Habits - Fondness for rice is a trait that Bengalis share with all South Indians and not Keralites alone..agreed..but the craving for seafood - the fish and prawns and the strong dedication they have towards mustard oil (Bengali) and coconut oil (Keralites) is something that sets their cooking apart.

2. Madness for Football - Pujas at Kalighat temples.. night shows of football matches in Mallapuram theatres... Goa and the North East have a more recent history towards the beautiful game comapred to WB and Kerala.

3. Communism - West Bengal has the longest running democratically elected Communist Government in the World.. Kerala had the first democratically elected communist government in the World ( prompting CIA to have a dedicated file for Kerala in the 1950's)

4. Simple elegance of the Sarees worn by the women - A Bengali wearing a white Bengal cotton saree with a red border and a red blouse with the red tikka on her forehead stands out in a crowd.. So does the white mundu and kasavu ensemble of the mallu lady... although i have to admit my preference for the bong beauty as far as looks alone is concerned.

5. Arts - Mallu and Bong music has a melodic quality to it..not for them the fast beats and the guitar riffs.. They also have a strong literary tradition in their regional language..Rabindranath Tagore is the most famous of the lot for obvious reasons..but one cant look past Bandopadhyay, M.T Vasudevan Nair, Vijayan, Shankaran Pillai....the list is long and endless...if only they weren't lost in translation.. Garcia Marquez and the like owe a lot to their translators.. pity post independent India does not have great translators for all the regional literature (not bengali or malayali alone)

6. Parochial tendencies - Mallus and Bongs have this snobbishness and arrogance that I think arises from their fierce sense of regional pride ( that sometimes is misplaced and mistaken )

I find these similarities uncanny enough to write a post on them... just hope some Bengali babe is reading...