You may be certainly aware of the terms ‘Golgappa’, ‘Panipuri’, ‘Gup Chup’, ‘Pakodi’, and ‘Fulki’. In a flash, some crispy and crunchy balls of flour stuffed with potatoes and peas appear into the picture, with tart water dripping while you are putting it in your mouth. It is what Kolkata regards as ‘Phuchka’.

Breaking through the bars of age in life, the Bengali emotions of having Phuchka anywhere and everywhere they find it is what brings the narrow lanes of the city, the Ghats, and the busy and crowded roadside parallel to each other. A converging bond across sections of the city with diverse lifestyle, comes into the limelight over a breath-taking statement, “dada, ar ektu tok jol deben?”, after you are done with the last piece of Phuchka. To add more, the reverting reply to the connotation, “Haan, nischoi” actually makes the city unique. Perhaps, the ‘City of Joy- Kolkata’ understands the impact of sharing every little thing that comes in the way, and the eternal joy of getting some extra pleasure out of the ‘tok jol’ connects the small businessman selling Phuchka to the customers. Yes, the man can now go home and share his daily meal with his family and share the memories of how successful he was to treat the city with joy.

If you notice more deeply, you would find people of different ages waiving competitions over Phuchka- eating with more chilies. The warmth of the spices for the next ten minutes takes the flavors to another level. Many times, you would find the Phuchka sellers offering Phuchka in ‘Sal Pata’. It certainly highlights the old traditions of the city being revived generation after generation.

You can separate and divide the city among the ways of living standard, but there is no way you can separate Phuchka from Kolkata because this city has got life in it, and one of its essences definitely comes from Phuchka.