I was born and brought up in a Hindi speaking state so my learning of Bengali, apart from being mother tongue, is based on reading copious amount of books/magaz

I was born and brought up in a Hindi speaking state so my learning of Bengali, apart from being mother tongue, is based on reading copious amount of books/magazines/comics etc. I speak mostly the "Calcutta" dialect + the "kehlum/gelum" sustituted with "khelaam/gelaam" etc (though I can break out in broken "bangaal" should the need arise). I've also noticed that though I immensely enjoy Bengali literature, I have an inherent tendency to shun overly emotional/flowery words typically used in West Bengal - not sure if it is a personality trait or due to upbringing in a less "soft" Hindi-centric environment or due to being part of a family with East Bengal origins. Regarding sarcasm: I think it is pretty stinging in Bengali if you are using the power of old/rural idioms/phrases (you can find numerous examples in works of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay or contemporary 1900-1930s literature where the characters are in a confrontational setting). I also grow up in company of my grandparents so I learned a bunch from them. They are concise, entertaining and leave the target squirming if well used. However I think that in today's urban Bengali society, you are considered unsophisticated if you use them so we are losing such an interesting aspect of Bengali.