Kolkata Chapter

Felt so connected with Kolkata this time. There are times when I feel so close to the city and times when I am so happy to leave. This time was about intimacy and going back to my core :-)

Kolkata and Mumbai could not be more different. I felt it as soon as I stepped out of the aircraft, life was in slow motion. People were walking at a slow pace, talking to each other and looking around and wondering. Sort of imbibing the atmosphere …

People have the time to talk and to listen and to exchange what they are thinking about, which means they have time and some inclination to think…I loved the slow meandering motion and slipped into it blissfully. Understood why I am always running behind others in Mumbai.

People are more aware, just regular people on the street, in the shops or restaurants or cab drivers..they have an interest in what’s happening in the city – IPL for instance and they also are aware of their surroundings and can give directions. I was looking for a biye bari (wedding hall) and actually when I reached the location, the tea seller on the road was able to give me clear directions to get to the address. Have a ten percent hit rate of this in Mumbai.

I walked into a book store at the airport and amongst the first books I saw were marie seton’s book on satyajit ray and no business books and money magazines staring at you. And the hotel movie list had the whole ray collection and amongst the bollywood fare something like devd. Someone had actually applied their minds in making the list instead of having the latest movies . The guy selling coffee at ccd had time to talk and told me what other coffee was available at which part of the airport.

I went for a close school friend’s second wedding, had missed her first and was determined to make it this time. So glad I went…met friends I had not seen for at least a decade. We went back to our old haunts and the coffee and chocolate shortbread at flurys was still on the menu. As we walked around, flurys, oxford bookstore and giggles were all in the same place !!! Went to visit school with a friend, we visited each classroom we studied in and sat at the desk in an empty classroom and got goosebumps, revisited the names and idiosyncrasies of each teacher we had. Everything was exactly the same in school, the wooden desks, the green softboard, classrooms were still non ac (thankfully), staff rooms, the green room, the jungle gym and swings. Outside the school gate there was kwality thelavala, selling orange sticks! How wonderful it is to go back to places which have not changed a bit, how comforting is that.

About the biye bari, there again for all the ceremonies, things were so beautifully slow, so relaxed and chaotic at the same time. And talking in Bengali how marvelous that feels, how utterly marvelous. Sort of reconnecting with my core. Realized what all I was missing out on, opinionated informed mileu of Kolkata were people actually have time to talk, to listen and to absorb. Now I know where the opinionated comes from too :-)

Then I got onto the flight and landed in Mumbai. As soon as we touched down, everyone switched on their blackberries, phones and as started running to the exit before the plane halted. Everyone running, for what purpose some times I wonder. The same people including me who would saunter and pontificate now back to business, the business of making money and somehow running to get to nowhere. Just this once I let it be and took my time till tomorrow when Mumbai will sweep over me and I will be back to the maddening rush. Or can I hold onto a bit of kolkata for a little longer?

I love Mumbai too in many ways and that’s why I live here now but that will be a new chapter. But what I am definitely giving up without realizing is having time for exploration and adda, for meaningful relationships and reconnecting with myself in a leisurely and relaxed way. Like a quotation on a mug in ‘Giggles’ said ‘ the cost of anything will be double what you originally estimated’.

By,
Anonymous