The enigma of the Non Resident Bengali (NRB)

~ Sandeep Chatterjee

When India gained independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines. The western
part went to India (and was named West Bengal) while the eastern part joined Pakistan as a province
called East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan, giving rise to independent Bangladesh in 1971). The
main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority. But with
time, many of them have moved out of West Bengal while people from other places have flocked in.
Love them, hate them, hug them or run away from them, you can't ignore that there are a lot of
Bengali people all around this country, and all over the world.

As a text book definition, a Non-Resident Bengali (NRB) is a citizen of India who holds an Indian
passport and has temporarily moved to another state within India or country for six months or more
for employment, residence, education or any other purpose. The duration is debatable but we made
an assumption here. There is another set of people who were born and brought up outside West
Bengal and continue to stay outside. We classify them under the same category (NRB). We are
ignoring the people from Bangladesh as there is some difference in their culture which I had covered
in the last edition of Kolaj.

There are so many myths around how NRBs feel about resident Bengalis and vice versa. The first and
foremost is that Non-Resident Bengalis have done better than their counterparts. This is more of a
generalized statement and has nothing to do with the competency and capability. It may be partly due
to the lack of opportunities in West Bengal because of structural inefficiencies. Also as there is
intermingling across races which have their unique strengths and weaknesses, it is a human tendency
to make the best out of it and excel. This may be missing in the home state as the residents are just
mirror images and people may not see the subtle differences.

The second aspect which has come in is politics. It is often believed that people in the home state are
losing out due to nepotism based politics. This may be partly true though I have seen worse kinds of
politics outside. But what is exemplary is that other communities help each other so that the
community excels at large. This aspect is missing in the home state. But this is also applicable for
NRBs and I have not seen many cases where one NRB has gone out of the way to help another NRB.
May be this is part of the DNA of a Bengali that they will not harm you but not do a greater good.

Thirdly it is often believed that NRBs cannot appreciate Bengali literature. This is grossly blown out of
proportion as I have a lot of friends who have a mastery over the likes of Rabindranath Tagore,
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sukumar Ray, etc. In fact there are dedicated book reading sessions
to appreciate Bengali literature.

Another aspect which has been highlighted as that NRBs are alien to Bengali delicacies. But I know a
lot of people who can cook the most authentic Bengali delicacies better than their counterparts in the
home state. It is usual a problem of supply where the most essential ingredients are not available.
Also a smaller population may not justify the opening of a Bengali restaurant. But I have a lot of non-
Bengali friends who frequent the Bengali restaurants.

It is often believed that NRBs have a spouse from a different community. There is absolutely no data
to support this and the number may not be large. Bengalis have done well when it comes to
adjustments and hence people have chosen to stay at places which is a native of their spouses. People
may disagree as there are cases where people have gone back but those are more of a rarity than the
norm. They might have let go certain things but they really do not have any qualms over it. And I
leave it you to decide whether NRBs are less beautiful or handsome than their counterparts at home.
It is all about genetics and I don’t know whether environment has a major role in deciding the beauty.
Bengalis love festivals and the NRBs are no exceptions. But it is believed that NRBs cannot appreciate
Durga Puja. This again is grossly misunderstood as the plethora of Puja Pandals outside West Bengal
is a testimony to this fact. They have big budgets and are at par with the Pandals in home ground.

NRBs love Bengali movies though it is often believed that they act snobbish and look down upon
Bengali movies. But it is again the equation of demand and supply where the distributor needs to
justify his investment. And they enjoy art and music like their counterparts. It is often the case that
there are not enough opportunities in a primarily non-Bengali city.

And to top it all, whenever a non-Bengali meets an NRB, the first statement is how your Bangla diction
could be so correct. Other questions range from "You actually eat fish?, Have you heard of Tagore or
Ray?, Do you know streets of Kolkata?, Do you the rituals of Pujas?" What they forget is that they are
essentially Bengalis!!!

To quote author Bharati Mukherjee, ‘Bengalis love to celebrate their language, their culture, their
politics, their fierce attachment to a city that has been famously dying for more than a century. They
resent with equal ferocity the reflex stereotyping that labels any civic dysfunction anywhere in the
world 'another Calcutta.’