Haal Khata, the new ledger

The new account book a Bengali trader opens on Pohela Boishakh, usually bound in red with white pages. The old book is closed, customers are invited to clear their dues and are fed sweets, and the first page carries no accounts but the names of Ganesha, Durga and Lakshmi with a coin's print in vermilion; Hindu shops hold a puja before Ganesha and Lakshmi, Muslim shops write Bismillah or Elahi Bharsa or hold a milad. Traders read it as the heir of Akbar's revenue day and the zamindars' Punyaha. Wholesale traders say it has shrunk since banking and cheques replaced the bag of cash.