Why West Bengal?

Well... it was conveniently on the way from Orissa to Sikkim. Hm... There was much more to that indeed. From the day one in India I have been fancying the idea of visiting Kolkata, this cultural capital (and once - political) of the country, this crowded and congested place, this home of outrageous poverty too - all co-existing side by side. Then I got to work with two Bengali girls... and in particular Piyali, this little Bengali beauty, an exemplary of the ultimate sweetness was feeding me with the tales about Kolkata and she did a great job bringing the concept of Bengali people as a nation in its own right home to me. It was with her I went to watch "Bong connection" (bong is a slang word for Bengali)... with her and with many hundreds of Delhu-based Bengalies and I totally fell in love with this witty people... people who are so passionate about food and are hep to cooking fish well and makw excellent sweets. A bit... not really snobbish, but well aware of their profound intellectual heritage and their long tradition of the international exposure and priding themselves on it... Those people.. with high cheek-bones, healthy cheeks, mat nicely brown skin, deeply set eyes and the long upper eyelids making them look as the eyes of Buddha... And.... how much more reasons does anyone need?