The ministries concerned do not talk about it. The media is flooded with stories of "roads, bridges and culverts" (we play hockey and cricket during the monsoon). The price of the dollar has gone up, and the imported edibles are more costly. Niramish (light vegetarian) dishes also need spices, as the Bengalees are not accustomed to boiled or steamed dishes.

The side effects are adulteration and black marketing in the kitchen bazaar. This base also contaminates politics at the higher levels. Some vested groups and syndicates encourage this cycle. The authorities can take corrective action, if not self-contaminated.

The philosophy of insularism works both ways, depending on the road map.

Seeking foreign financial aid and siphoning most of it into private pockets is the lifestyle of corrupt governance. Chase the opposition or correct the society? Our social structures are too lax to retain the shape or contour of the boundary conditions of acceptable social behaviour.

Take less jhaal-moori (spicy puffed rice), for diverting more oil and spices to the kitchen.