My Bordubi Journey Last Year

Durga Puja in Bordubi is the most memorable moment ,it is one of beautiful town of Tinsukia district in Assam.The near by town to Duliyajan Oil India has a charm in itself as it has beautiful locations like gulf field,tea gardens around and the famous Tilanga Temple with bells on the tree has created lots of sensations among tourists there.The railway facility and road vehicle make your journey easier to travel in those areas but on foot you can reach to Duliyajan town for shopping .

Last year I got the golden opportunity to reach Bordubi to celebrate Durga Puja there,in the early morning I took a bus to Sunauli Border from Kathmandu and reached there at evening and I crossed Station and from Guwahati I took a local train to Tinsukiya Railway Station via which I reach to Bordubi  Railway Station in another local train.

It was really enjoyable to walk the street on the foot ,nothing had changed except the malls had taken place of the old shops  ,the local street market was alike before and I tried to reach at home on time.The family gathering during Durga Puja has another charm and Dashai tika also add a flavor with blessing from elders and the group photograph session help a lot to lock the memories in pages.

I met my mama and maiju there,he was the elder brother of my mom and his wife ,my maiju was wearing spectacle and was unable to recognize me.Both were very old in age and it was urgency to meet them .Being nostalgic maiju,my aunt started different conversation ,she wanted to share with me and prepared the meal for me.It was steam rice,lentil,mutton fry,tomato pickle with timmur and Pui Saag.I love this saag and she knew it and started to prepare a tasty item of it.

Pui Shaak isBasella alba belonging to spinach family, is also known as climbing spinach . It is also known as Malabar,East Indian ,Chinese and Vietnamese spinach ,broad bologi etc.In English it is known as Malabar climbing spinach or nightshade.Bengali it is known as Pui Shaak,In KonKani it’s Valchi Bhaji,Kannada name is basale soppu ,in telegu it’s bachhali.In Vietnam it is made into soup with crab meat and is avery popular dish in north-Vietnam.In fact climbing spinach is an integral part of Chinese cuisine also and is stir/fried as well.

She cut and cleaned the shak first, cut the leaves and then chopped them , also cut the danta ( tender stalk ) approx 1 inch long pieces and slit them in between .Throughly cleaning them in running water  .Now heating up a kadai , adding mustard oil, tempering it with Panch phoron ,add potato, frying them at med , adding all the masala powders ,salt,sugar ,frying them at low for 5mints.Now adding chopped puin shaak or green leaves and fried a little ,adding water( just a little bit is sufficient) ,covering and cooking for 10 minutes.

I loved the way she prepared the meal and the saag had the best flavor in my taste buds.It had royal taste in itself due to my aunts effort in cooking.I took a short rest and in evening I started visiting my other relatives.All were busy for Durga Puja .So,we planned to visit different functions organized by local youth clubs in Bordubi,the boys organized a play in school area which had the similar story of Ramayana .After that we reach to another stall of Durga Puja where local girls with local teams were dancing with dhuni ,the firedhuni in mouth ,hands and  in different parts of body and the speed dance made me shocked.They were  very skilled dancers.There was the prize distribution program too.Anyway we moved to another street or pandal of Durga Mata near to Tilanga Temple or Bijlibari area.

Somebody told the best pandal would be Tinsukiya organized by Culcutta committee where lightening with dance of the different statues were arranged.We reached to area ,the main town of Tinsukiya by bus and enjoyed whole day walking around street to observe the pandals and programs there.Most of pandals had fooding systems for every visitor and Bengali Society of Tinsukiya including businessmen had been working volunteerly .We had khichuree there and other snacks at mealtime.

We decided to enjoy some programs in fair market,where wheels,circus,fun parks were settled for one month.We took a ticket of circus room and entered the hall,the dance of girl on rope ,the bear jumping around,the little girl walking on rope and use of knives to hit the exact point were the most interesting parts of this fair-mela.I enjoyed the panipoori or fulki there ,biharee people were serving paan suparee too and I really like the taste of mitha pan as they provided.

Anyway the same schedule for many days happened and we reached different Durga Pandals to Duliyajan Town area,Namrup areas,Naharkatiya area and local areas of Makum.We enjoyed a lot and prepared for Dashai and my aunt-maiju with sisters prepared selrotee,masu,lapsee achar , papaya curry with grams,radish pickle,some coconut laddos and we all relatives started having tika from Mama.He gave clothes ,money and fruits with sweet to all.Later , my aunt served us the meal which we really enjoyed and paan supari with chuna was given at last.I loved the way we celebrated Dashai there.Anyway ,this year, during Dashai I have been remembering the moments and wish to be there once again.