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Imagine this. You have the choice of celebrating two New Years in the same year. Sounds impossible? Definitely not if you are in India.

For many states in India, the new year begins on April 14, coinciding with the first day of the month of Baisakh (April - May) in the Hindu calendar. In West Bengal in the eastern part of India, the day is celebrated as Poila Baishakh or Naba Barsha, while in the rest of India, it is celebrated as Baisakhi (the beginning of the harvest season and thanksgiving) in Punjab (in the north-western part of India), the Puthandu in Tamil Nadu (in the south), Bohag Bihu in the north-eastern state of Assam and Vishu in Kerala in the extreme south of India, among others.

Poila Baishakh, better known as Naba Barsha (new year), is observed by the Bengali community on the first day of the month of Baisakh (the first of the 12 months in the Bengali calendar). The Bengali community round the world will be ushering in the Naba Barsha 1419 on April 14, 2012. For them, celebrations begin days before as they gear up to ring in the new year with new clothes, sumputous meals and visits galore.

Traditionally, Bengali women begin the day by drawing Alpanas or beautiful patterns and motifs on the floors and at the entrance to the house. A beautifully painted pot called the Kalash or Ghot is placed at the centre of the Alpana pattern and is said to symbolize prosperity. With a number of beautiful flowers in bloom during spring, it is often that the houses are decorated with flowers and garlands.

The prayer hall or Puja Ghar are also decorated with flowers in various colours and beautiful aromas. For many households as well as shopkeepers and businessmen, prabhat pheris or early morning processions mark the beginning of Naba Barsha. Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and Lord Ganesha are worshipped on this day.

This is an auspicious day for those in business and trade. Traders perform the halkhata ceremony that marks the beginning of the new year. All shops are decorated with flowers and a string of fresh lemons and chillies hanging in front of shops, a ritual believed to ward off the evil eye. On this day, businessmen close the old accounts and open a new one.

Many a people, friends and family pay a visit to their local shops and their favourite shopping places to wish them luck. And all of this is complete when there's exchanging of pleasantries and feasting on sweets and other delicacies. Customers too get a share of all this when they visit shops on Naba Barsha. For most families, new clothes are a must on this day. While the women make it a point to buy a new sari, a salwar kurta set or other traditional clothes, the children and men also deck up in new clothes as they visit friends and families.

Even in Kolkata there are closing sales in the shops

A few days preceding Naba Barsha, most markets have a special sale going on. This sale, called the Chaitra sale, offers fabulous discounts and stock clearance of all things from clothes to shoes to electronic appliances and kitchenware. Yet another feature of this day, are the various cultural programmes that dot the cityscape. The air is filled with the ever-loved Tagore songs or Rabindra Sangeets like Hey Nuton Dekha Di Aar Par or Ki Gabo Ami Ki Shonabo etc. Not just this, other musical events and food fests are a typicality of this day.

Bengalis are great food lovers and take pride in their cuisine. A leisurely meal of many items, which requires long hours of labour and ingenuity in the kitchen, has long been a major part of Bengali culture. But with each passing day, the Bengali menu has become increasingly cosmopolitan. They have incorporated food from the ‘New World’ like brocolli, chillies, paprika or aubergines and combined them with a variety of native ingredients to create new dishes. The dishes are carefully prepared according to recipes handed down through generations.

Modern Bengalis have become culinary innovators – researching and experimenting with foreign culinary ideas – though the stereotype image of the Bengali is that he is a fish lover with a sweet tooth! One thing that has never changed since this auspicious day came into being is the traditional Bangali khabar. This is the reason, why food on Poila Baisakh takes precedence. Since the time of Bengal’s very own Bard, Rabindranath Tagore, Poila Baisakh meant a day to feast on the choicest of cuisines straight from the kitchen of Thakurbari - Tagore’s household at Jorasanko.

So to give Kolkatans, a taste of the traditional Bangla Ranna, restaurants and well-known hotel chains serve a platter that's rich in bangaliana (the Bengali ethos) and the best in cuisines. Posto Narkel Bata Die Bora (a dumpling made of poppy seed and coconut powder), Kosha Murgi (chicken), Beckti Kopir Daab Malai (fish with cauliflower, boiled in green coconut), and Chingrir Bati Chorchori (steamed shrimp) or the typical Jhuri Aloo Bhaja (thin fried potatoes), Begun Basanti (aubergines with mustard-poppy seed sauce), Pabda Sorshey (fish with mustard), Ilish Paturi (fish steamed in banana leaves with lots of spices) or Tel Koi (fish with oil) and Chitol Maacher Muitha (fish curry in small pieces).

There's a lot that gets paired with plain rice, Ghee Bhaat (butter rice), Luchi (a round bread roll), Pulao or Biriyani (rice with meat) to name a few. Mishti Doi, Aam Sandesh, Notun Gurer Ice Cream, Raj Bhog, Roso Malai or the Kulfi make for the dessert at the end of a meal that has the traditional Mishti Paan bringing down the curtains on an evening's gastronomical delight!

There's a rich vegetarian fare as well that teams up with the main courses of Luchi or Pulao with Koraisutir Dhokar Dalna, Sona Moong Er Dal, Borishali Aloo Dum, Echorer Gonto, Postor Bora etc. The best part is that the cuisine brings in a meeting of the two Bengals – West Bengal in India and Bangladesh. While each of the dishes in five star hotels can vary between Rs 200 and Rs 800 a plate, the thalis (a full plate complete with everything on the menu) range between Rs 1200 and Rs 2000. The restaurants also have their prices between Rs 200 a dish till Rs 1000 a thali (approximately).

A day full of gaity and festivity, Naba Barsha marks the beginning of a good year ahead. While Bengal and Bengalis world over celebrate this day traditionally, they are equally enthusiastic in their celebration of the New Year on January 1 every year. It is possibly this combination that makes Indians a unique community that's traditional yet truly global in their thinking.