I visited Dilli Haat a few days after the Magh Bihu, or the Bhogali Bihu, which is celebrated in Assam on January 15 of the year, on the day of the sankrant. The eve of the Bihu is celebrated as uruka, a time for communal feasting. These days, the communal part of the arrangement is becoming rare and rare, but feasting remains. We, Assamese are a gastronomical people. We love to eat. This is one of the reason why we are genetically lazy.

So we have a typical Assamese feast at the Assamese restaurant at Dilli Haat. On other days, the store mostly sells chowmein or momos, which are not strictly Assamese cuisine, but on the occasion of Magh Bihu, they had a delectable spread – duck, pork, mutton, tangerine fish, flattened rice with dahi, pitha and laru, local snacks, and also luci-mancho, which, I must confess, is more of a Bengali delicacy than Assamese.