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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Calcutta Calling!!! Memories Calling….




Well I am just missing Calcutta. I love it calling Calcutta as opposed to Kolkata. I can relate myself better this way. Actually Calcutta is the more fine way of calling it. Hindi speaking people call it Kal-Katta and the sweet speaking Bengalis call it Kolkata. So one can their pick what they want to call it. Does any other place gives that choice so easily.
Well Calcutta the city wich gave me everything…My parents my home my education and the reason to be what I am today. My memories go back as long as when I started realizing that I am a part of this city, this place. Yes no doubt I just love the place the way it is. With its narrow roads, walls laden with movie posters, richshaws pulling all over the road, egg rolls and chicken rolls shop at every stop and all the small sweet shops that line up at the road. Rosogollas, and misthi doi (Sweet curd) being an integral part of the city.The city has both a leisureness and a liveliness.
Boys having an adda at their paras, kids going to tuitions on bicycles, girls just going out for a stroll eating rolls or jhaal muri and doing jhaaki maara ( seeing people of the opposite sex) elderly people relaxing in the evening with a bite of muri (puffed rice) and chop (Bhajjis as known here) is just something one can experience there.
Today I miss all this so much and it seems life has become so different.. with no pauses no stopping. Its just going on and on.
The place where I used to live was Shibpur in Howrah. The biggest township of Calcutta or better known as the twin city. Though much better developed and maintained now it was not very upmarket some few years back. There is a shibpur bazaar where you get everything you want. From groceries to vegetables, fish, meat, sweets. Stepping in that bazaar will bring in you an activeness. One can see elderly with their jholas (bags) shopping and bargaining for vegetables and fish.
A small tea shop here and there where some people would just gather over a cup of chaa (tea) and discuss about Saurav Ganguly to football to governments policies to Mamata Banerjee and give their opinions. Well no one is there to listen to them but still. Its just an integral part of the lifestyle there to have an adda session. For people who dont know passion for football and Sourav runs in every one's blood.
Sitting just by the bank of Ganges or better known as the Hoogly river one can just gaze at the sky and think about nothing. The breeze is just wonderful which touches your face and soothes your soul. The ferry which goes across from Shibpur to Calcutta better known as launch, yes its launch, is a superb means of transport where one can reach the other side of the river without going through the traffic hussles and enjoying a river ride as well.Its a small kind of a ship which can carry 50 people to and fro and is an important means of transportations for people who dont wish to travel by roads or just want to avoid the traffic hussles and reach their destination peacefully.
The launch has given me some wonderful memories of my life when I was in college and used to take it to reach howrah. Standing on the launch and experiencing the wave and flow of the river beneath it and gazing the Howrah bridge from below, each time I saw it, I wondered what a creation it is…Today all this seems like a luxury..

Well summarizing all in one post what I feel about the city is difficult but yes the city is very much a part of me and my existence.
More is to follow.. Till then keep smiling:-)
Mani:-)

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