Swami Vivekananda used to keep reminding his disciples the famous words of his guru, Sri Ramakrishna: “Religion is not good for an empty stomach.” Bengalis have for long cherished their tradition of Pet Pujo—the worship of the stomach—and it keeps manifesting itself on every festive occasion. No wonder, this Durga Puja has seen the music vlog (video blog) Pet Pujo by Delhi-raised, Mumbai-based, architect-turned singer, musician and sound producer Sawan Dutta go viral.
It has all the elements that have made Dutta’s vlog, The Metronome, notch up a considerable fan following—easy-to-follow recipes, the quirky humour, brilliant cinematography by husband C.B. Arun Kumar, and lyrics written in impeccable English but delivered in the Bangla accent without being the least offensive. The bit about Pet Pujo I loved the most was the reference to Kamala Harris, in whose honour Dutta has invented the Kamala Kaliya—a fish kalia, a rich curry usually cooked with either rohu or the meaty katla (carp), infused with fresh orange juice (an orange is kamala lebu in Bangla). Pet Pujo has got me hooked on to The Metronome, which is loaded, incidentally, with the recipes of popular Bengali dishes.
