Big Blessing

Scramble for Siba Prasad Maitra's (r) nolen gurer sandesh

Whatever anyone may say about the prevailing cold weather conditions, the wind chill, darkness at dawn, etc., there is one major blessing of winter that cannot be overlooked. This is the only time of the year when you not only dress your best, but more importantly, get to sample a large variety of delicacies typically associated with the season.
A cursory glance at recent blog posts would reveal that since the onset of winter, we have been able to savor a whole lot of goodies we would ordinarily

Mumtaz Jahan with walnuts

not get to even see at any other time of the year. And so, today was no different.
Mumtaz Jahan came up with a bagful of walnuts from her recent trip to Jammu – something that keeps the body warm and charged in colder climes. Suresh Samel, the Garden's affable octogenarian ‘friend of Big Laaf’ distributed

Bosom pals Shekhawat and Gupta (file photo)

another winter specialty – til-gud laddu to celebrate Makar Sankranti (that was the day-before yesterday).
The best however, was to come from Siba Prasad Maitra – nolen gurer sandesh. This again is a seasonal specialty, prepared from the freshly tapped sap of date palm and cottage cheese fudge (for lack of a better word). You don’t get it anywhere in Mumbai – at least, not the quality which Maitra had brought us this morning from a recent visit to Kolkata.
Meanwhile, here’s some good news about Shekhawat. He had been running high fever with acute chest congestion and body cramps last week-end and had absented himself for two days. It was nice to see him back today, fit and fine. But his bosom buddy, Bijoy Gupta, who had been inquiring about him all along, has now disappeared. Now it is Shekhawat’s turn to be missing him.