The Gatherings of a Woolgatherer..: Kolkata

Hi Folks!! I haven’t troubled you people with my writing for quite some time. For this trouble free period, you people should thank my company (workplace, obviously), for keeping me busy, six days a week and a small courtesy to my laziness, too. But I should not be complaining much because, if not for my company, I wouldn’t be writing this post at all. Yes, it is my take on Kolkata, the place where I have lived (and living) for exactly one year. I came here on March 05, 2011 and it has been a kind of rollercoaster experience for me since then.

By December 2010, I got placed in a small company(the existence of which I came to know only the day before my interview), and was whisked away from South India, all the way to the Eastern part of it- away from all my friends and family. Well it might sound like a totally normal scenario (punctuated with ‘duh’) and not worth the fuss. But for a guy like me, who has spent his entire life time in South India, it was, well kind of, brusque. With a sense of loss and low on morale, I came to Kolkata. But after one year, I now think that Kolkata is the best thing that ever could have happened to me.

Let me start with my first tryst with Kolkata- the place where I live, called SaltLake City, a planned city at the peripheral of (I should be saying a part of) Kolkata. Since it is a planned place, almost all the streets in my block look the same and so it took me some days to correctly identify the street where I live in. Though I had to stay in a dingy PG (with a cheating owner) at first, I later shifted to a house along with my friends. It is an area teeming with rich people and abundant with big houses. Uproot any house from my street, place it on a sea shore and add a swimming pool to it, it’ll make a perfect beach house. But all the houses are kind of isolated (not literally, though). I swear that people at my neighboring house neither know my name, in fact, nor can they identify me as their neighbor -the ultimate contrary of being ‘nosy neighbors’. For the first two or three months, my picturization of Kolkata was monochromatic; started with Salt Lake City and ended there itself with its rich lot. I did not hate it, but I did not like it either.

May be along with the change in regime (from CPI to Mamata didi’s hands) came the change in my attitude and liking, too. Later one fine weekend, I happened to get into the Kolkata city, the heart of it and that is the moment I added splash of colours to my picturization of Kolkata. It has all kind of places, that every other Metro city in India has- temples,restaurants, malls, pubs, markets, stadiums and, basically, all the colours in the spectrum- the red one too and the darkest ones too(haven’t you been hearing things in the news, lately ?). But what I like the most is the black and white part of it- vintage, untransformed places. It is, as if most parts of the city, forgot to grow along with time. Want some proof?

Majestic, as Always !!

Don't know how long it is goin to be functional !!

Howrah Bridge (but there is a Sexy modern day counterpart called VidyaSagar Setu, ahem Biddhasagar Setu, like ppl here say), Trams (the only city in India where it is still operational), British period buildings (there are hella lot of them), taxis (have stayed yellow for almost 8 decades), wooden buses (trust me), houses of middle class people in the city (who, I think, still feel it is absolutely unnecessary to refurbish) and above all the lifestyle of poor people (see it yourself when you come here) - abiding by the laws of Inertia. Clearly, a non-budging city, eh?

Maybe the government also thinks it is better to leave the heart untouched, I guess(I kinda like it). Full fledged construction works on apartments and stuff (in short, houses for people who are gonna migrate to Kolkata in near future) are going on in the outskirts of the city, called NewTown. Please don’t think that Kolkata’s heart is all black and white (though most parts of it are). Some places, you might very well feel that, belong to some other nation – Park Street, for instance. It is the ultimate destination for night life at Kolkata and invariably, people throng to it, in large numbers. And my other favourite street is College Street, the largest array(matrix, probably) of bookshops in Asia, I guess..There are lot of other places, too, which for the sake of brevity and good content, I leave it to other sites. But one last non-living thing, that deserves to be mentioned is Metro Railway, at Kolkata. Though not as modern as that of Bangalore and Delhi, I like it very much. After, getting used to the city (both Salt Lake and the heart), it is very hard not to like it.. Truly colorful.

And then came the Durga Puja, which honestly is majestic, and rightly deserved a post for itself. I soon started seeing colours which only some weird insects in the African wild jungle can see. Closely following Durga Puja, was the winter at Kolkata. Though not as cold as Delhi, it certainly is a lot colder than that of Tamil Nadu, and exactly the way winter should be. If the winter doesn’t make you fall in love with Kolkata, my post certainly will not.

I’m not comparing this city with others, I’m not saying this is the best metro (I have seen only three so far).In fact I’m not in the arguing mode at all. All I’m saying is, I happen to be here, and fortunately or unfortunately, I like it very much. This city made me feel that I’m a man firm on my own feet., maybe that is why like it very much. The reasons are not so important, when their culmination is so beautiful and colorful. You still don’t agree with me? See for yourself, how vibrantly colorful Kolkata is.

Freakishly colourful isn't it??

Clearly, Holi is also a part of my love affair. What say??

Oh.. Kolkata is famous for sweets and really tasty they are. But the sad part is, things which are supposed to be spicy are also sweet (Biryani, for instance). But kind of got used to it. And so is Bengali, very sweet (unless if it is from a loud decibeled woman). Right now I’m trying my best to learn it.

Lot of great people have lived here and lot of people have said a lot about this place (hehe.. almost all the versions are better than mine). But, the best way to feel this city is, to be here. May be for a span of a week or 10 days and the best time according to me is during Durga puja. You will definitely enjoy yourself. If you want to see a preview of the city, do watch the film Kahaani . I hope they will show the Kolkata in good light, as it is set in this city at the time of Durga Puja.

And here we go. The culmination ritual.. Thanks for reading it, with patience. Abar dekha hobe, with my next post. Bye, and please thank Google for the pictures (last one is mine, though). Ciao..

For Durga Puja, I had eight days of holiday (a rarity, in itself). I could have gone home, to Tamil Nadu, and could have met my parents and friends, could have had delicious homemade food, which has become a luxury for me in the past five years. But (despite all the pluses), I decided to stay back, just to watch how people celebrate Durga Puja over here, at Kolkata. I daresay, I do not regret it at all. To be honest, I loved it very much. Jot it down, I have never seen such a celebration in my life.

Two weeks back, I had no clue on what will happen. Just like you are at this moment, (unless you are from Kolkata); but now I could write an essay about it.

Ahem, I can hear you fuming, “Badhri, cut to the chase“. Here we go!!

How do they do it?

The Durga Puja phenomenon is for six days. The whole city is flood lit, even the darkest parts of the city (both in literal and non-literal sense) are bright and welcoming. Certainly, electricity is not a limitation for these six days, even 60 watts incandescent bulbs (the famous gundu bulbs) were used as serial lights for decorating many households. Bengalis perform Pujas at their home, like every other state in India, during the daytime. But the best part, called ‘Pandhal Hopping’, will be the best if you become a Nocturnal.

People over here start making temporary structures called Pandhal, a month in advance, at least. There are hundreds of such Pandhals across the city. A standard Pandhal is a temporary structure (in all bizarre shapes) which will have Durga Statue inside. These are made based on some theme like Peace, Environment Conservation, even Space Exploration and so and so. But be assured that each of them was splendid in its own way. Some Pandhals were small in size, some were huge - like a palace, a fortress, etc (after seeing these, I started wondering why these are called ‘Pandhal’s). You will have difficult time in believing that these are temporary structures and will be dismantled after the puja. Some will definitely take you by surprise, like a 52 feet Durga statue made of fibre glass did for me. They have a contest called ‘Sharad Shamman’ for deciding the best Pandhals- innovative ones and beautiful ones.

All you have to do is, to hop from one Pandhal to other, during the nights- as many Pandhals as the time and (more importantly) the traffic permits. Sleep all the daytime and seek all the night time.

Yes, I can smell the question in the air - What is sooo great in all this ????

- Well, the answer is, Bengali People.

Back in Tamil Nadu, Diwali is arguably the the most celebrated festival. Some people may say Pongal and let it be so. For both of them, these days, the main focus is not on the festival itself, but rather on the other stupid things like television and movies. The first thing that we friends (that includes me too) discuss, be it Diwali or Pongal, is the films. The first thing most of my friends will do this Diwali will be to watch ‘7aam Arivu’ or ‘Mayakkam Enna’ or ‘Velayutham’(I hate to add this one in the list). Not to mention the super hit films and tete-a-tete with actors, in Television. I’m not saying that Tamilians do not celebrate at all, but I say that the whole festive thing is diminishing with every passing year. There certainly is a huge difference between how I felt about diwali when I was in fifth standard and how I feel about it now.

But here in Kolkata, still the main focus is on the celebration, and more importantly, celebrating it in the traditional way. Bengalis have found out novel ways of doing it, but still they cover all the essentials – they Pray, they Meet and they Moot – all grandly and all in large numbers and more importantly with prime focus. The whole city is on the streets. I have stayed at Kolkata for eight months, till now. I swear that the number of people I have seen on these six days is much greater than the number of people I have seen during these entire eight months’ stay, put together.

Theatres charged the same fare and not to mention, no new movies. Even Champions League T20 matches, which were supposed to happen here at Edens, during the Puja time were shifted to Chennai and Bangalore, for the fear of lack of audience. If you ask the reason, anyone here will give you the same answer- “It is Puja time, man”. Only one complaint which I could rally against, is the traffic. They still haven’t found out any novel way to tame the traffic. And I’m sure they will not, because, the whole population (Er… the modest usage will be ‘a huge majority of population’) is on the roads and pandhals; and so is chaos.

Ask the people who have lived at Kolkata in the past, even if for a year or two, the one thing they’ll miss the most is Durga Puja. The City Of Joy does live up to its name during these days.

And me, I have decided to stay here even for the next puja. I must be seriously retarded (which, I have to agree, I am, but in a lesser degree :p) to stay at the City of Joy and not to witness it at the Pinnacle of Joy.

Thanks.

PS: I might have gone wrong (,or long) with few facts; and mixed past and future tenses generously. Forgive me. And yes, pictures.. Please take a look at the pictures below too. Thanks again.

Few Pandhals.. My favorite ones..