Maya’s favourite table always had a photo of Swami Vivekananda since she became sixteen and cleared her board exams in First Division. A few friends used to particularly visit her flat in the colony where she lived mostly after the Durgotsav on Dashami or Ekadoshi to seek blessings from her parents. Although they had an airy kitchen to themselves but Maya hardly cooked anything for her friends when they came in a group, rather she loved to decorate plates with some Hindustani sweets made with pure ghee like Mihidana, laddoo and son papri. In one glass bowl she had served some Namkeen to get back the salty and natural taste of our mouth just after having those sweets. Besides, there were caramel coconut laddoos which were liked by all the guests who came home when Maya. 

Her friends never cringed to invite her to taste Khichuri bhog especially made at home during Lakhsmi puja, Saraswati Puja and also Kali mata’s festival before the Diwali night. Never did she lose the opportunity to share the table with friends and their acquaintances since it was simple awesome to have received the invitation to taste that special bhog. Her mother was an expert in cooking a thali of khichuri at home and at least a hundred times her love for Khicuri was satiated but the divine feeling in a friend's house made her feel special. Undoubtedly she attended the puja parties and joined the group of friends to enjoy the fun-filled evening. Very interestingly, the khichuri that was served hot on a banana leaf or a plate made of sal leaves added not only a flavor but spoke volumes about the special taste of a particular region of Bangladesh. If the bhoger khichuri was spicy and the mixed vegetable was chilly so you could immediately say that the cook was born in Barishal of Bangladesh. Sometimes the same Khicuri was very dry and served like cakes with a big spoon from a copper-made bucket on our plates and one who have had the chance to savour bhog in friends’ houses or at home could say that it was simply made in Dhaka.

Wherever it was made with the application of a particular cooking formula and keeping in mind the regional recipe, the lady of the house never ever forgot to pour a spoonful of home-made mango chutney to make the guest happy.