The Bengali Bonti
The Bonti is a kitchen instrument that is used in Indian households to peel, chop, shred, slice and dice vegetables and fruits, especially in the states of Bengal, Assam, Orissa.
The attar cabinet of Bhaskar Pandit
This cabinet was originally commissioned by Bhaskar Vinayak Pandit or Aṇṇā, my great-great grandfather, some time towards the latter half of the 19th century. But the story of the cabinet is as migratory as the family that possessed it.
The alna of many homes and hearths
This alna is a ‘wooden rack’, which measuring 72 inches by 39 inches. It’s not surprising that I had trouble finding a non-Bengali word for an alna, since as I later discovered that it is one of the few pieces of Bengali furniture that has a purely Bengali etymology
Touch of the maiden home
My great grandmother was born in a small village called Boala (now in Bangladesh). She possessed many aged utensils and other heirlooms, which were distributed among her four daughters as a part of their trousseaus during their weddings and some after her death.
Twin heirlooms from a colonial past
As children we spent hours listening in rapture to the stories related to us by our two wonderful grandmothers. Despite the apparent affluence of their backgrounds, their lives were not devoid of trials and struggles. Was it more than a mere coincidence that they were both named Aisha?