Astrid Wege came to Kolkata last December when the first wave of pandemic was in full swing. Soon after she joined office as the director of Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata, the country experienced second wave. But now that
Durga Puja is round the corner, Astrid has started making her plans with colleagues and friends. For an exclusive photoshoot, she chose to wear a magenta
Baluchari
sari. ‘I chose this sari very carefully after researching its heritage. This is so beautiful. I’ll have to visit Murshidabad to meet the artisans,” she told us. In a chat with us, Astrid spoke about her
Puja plans and the way she has started exploring
Bengal
. Read on…
This will be your first Puja. What are your plans? I am very excited and I can sense everybody around me is getting ready for the Puja. I don’t know yet what I will be doing. But I already got a lot of good advice — where to go, which pandal to visit and more. I think it will be a wonderful experience for me.
But Puja also means a mad rush across the city… This is my first time in Kolkata, so I don’t know yet. We will see what happens. We will certainly not stay at home.
How has Kolkata treated you so far?I arrived here last December, in the middle of the pandemic. A lot of my time here has been spent in the lockdown. I’d have loved to meet many more people actually. I toured around a bit in the city and I met our partners. We have opened our libraries. Students are also coming in for exams. But we want to open it for cultural events — reading, lectures and discussions at the library, theatre and music concerts. I am really missing that.
Did you manage to explore the city? Yes, a bit. I took walks around the city. We went to museums. I tried to see as much as possible. Sadly, theatres are closed. Oh, we also took a trip around Hooghly. So I got an idea of the city but I would think there is much more to explore. Besides Bengal, there are other states there that fall under this centre and I will visit those places as well. I would go to Bihar and Jharkhand to inaugurate German Children University. I plan to go to Santiniketan in October. I am looking forward to meeting people we work with — cultural producers, intellectuals and so on.
And what about Bengali food?I love it. Actually it is not the first time I am eating Indian food. My husband cooks Indian food at home. He was born in Kolkata and grew up in Mumbai. Then he lived in London for some time and came to Germany, where we met. Hence, Indian food is quite familiar to me. But Bengali food, in particular, is something I am discovering now. It is gorgeous, especially the dish with bekti in mustard sauce.
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