The train reached its destination twenty minutes before the scheduled time. Surprising.
When I set foot in the city, I was greeted by sights none too familiar, none too welcoming. But first of all, there was The Smell. One every goddamned station of the goddamned country of India offers. That of urine; and feces; and of carbage collected and dumped nowhere in particular.
The Mechanical Voice announcing its announcements in different languages, unbothered if anybody cared enough to listen. Dirty cats turning their watchful eyes towards newcomers, assessing them. Dirty dogs chasing after dirty puppies. Little urchins running around collecting water bottles. Mother urchins breastfeeding even littler ones.
Yep. Pretty damn sure it was Kolkata.
On my way to - and from - a relative's house, I couldn't help but notice Kolkata a little bit more.
Cars clogging in traffic. People at cornershops buying whatever they felt the need of. Long queues behind the local tubewells for drawing water. Children, and even adults, playing their own version of badminton with plastic racquets and ping pong balls. Delighted mobs gathered around every other tea stall. And roads being newly decorated with posters of political parties.
I'd hate to admit it even now, but politics had destroyed the beauty of the city of Kolkata to me. It loomed over the city like the clouds over the earth. And all people, whether they be ordinary or extra-ordinary, felt it. Negatively.
But at the same time, I could not get out of my mind the things that truly set it apart.
People standing and talking in groups on the pavements, over a cup of tea. Men out in the streets wearing banyan and lungi. Women carrying tholes for buying groceries. Phuchkawallahs and bhelpuriwallahs happily recieving payments for their inexpensive rates. Rickshaw-pullers pulling people of various sizes and ages at wages unimaginable to someone who'd lived in Delhi for so long...
And then I realized something, and I don't know how right or wrong that might've been...
People had simpler lives here. They found happiness in simpler things. They loved simpler things. They wanted simpler things. Better things.
Not easier lives by any means, though. Just simpler.
And I will always have a part of Kolkata in me, irrespective of whether I lived in Delhi, Dehradun, or Dallas.
That'll be all.
:)
When I set foot in the city, I was greeted by sights none too familiar, none too welcoming. But first of all, there was The Smell. One every goddamned station of the goddamned country of India offers. That of urine; and feces; and of carbage collected and dumped nowhere in particular.
The Mechanical Voice announcing its announcements in different languages, unbothered if anybody cared enough to listen. Dirty cats turning their watchful eyes towards newcomers, assessing them. Dirty dogs chasing after dirty puppies. Little urchins running around collecting water bottles. Mother urchins breastfeeding even littler ones.
Yep. Pretty damn sure it was Kolkata.
On my way to - and from - a relative's house, I couldn't help but notice Kolkata a little bit more.
Cars clogging in traffic. People at cornershops buying whatever they felt the need of. Long queues behind the local tubewells for drawing water. Children, and even adults, playing their own version of badminton with plastic racquets and ping pong balls. Delighted mobs gathered around every other tea stall. And roads being newly decorated with posters of political parties.
I'd hate to admit it even now, but politics had destroyed the beauty of the city of Kolkata to me. It loomed over the city like the clouds over the earth. And all people, whether they be ordinary or extra-ordinary, felt it. Negatively.
But at the same time, I could not get out of my mind the things that truly set it apart.
People standing and talking in groups on the pavements, over a cup of tea. Men out in the streets wearing banyan and lungi. Women carrying tholes for buying groceries. Phuchkawallahs and bhelpuriwallahs happily recieving payments for their inexpensive rates. Rickshaw-pullers pulling people of various sizes and ages at wages unimaginable to someone who'd lived in Delhi for so long...
And then I realized something, and I don't know how right or wrong that might've been...
People had simpler lives here. They found happiness in simpler things. They loved simpler things. They wanted simpler things. Better things.
Not easier lives by any means, though. Just simpler.
And I will always have a part of Kolkata in me, irrespective of whether I lived in Delhi, Dehradun, or Dallas.
That'll be all.
:)
Simple and very srimanta. :)
to be honest, I am VERY biased about my darling Kolkata..... it's my baby! damn close to my heart man.. too damn close.
So Im going to completely ignore the -ve stuff you wrote :P [biiiiiietch].
BUT. so true. They have and like simpler stuff. . something we are so damn devoid of :)
Nice post AND glad you're back freak bro! :)
Beautiful.
@NGSquare & Remya: Thanks :)
@Nil: Yup, we're too devoid of simpler things in life. But, Kolkata's got tons of negative things, and it's just so much better with all of it. Nobody likes perfect things. Everybody says they do, but they don't. They're just screw-ups who don't know what they want :)