It was like a deja-vu.I have always loved Kolkotta .I have mantained it throughout my college days but there have been times in between I have often wondered why.I had to go down to Kolkotta for my visa-this week.I put up in the YWCA which to my utter delight was in the Park-Street.As you entered the premises of the YWCA,you immediately feel at home with posters of Jesus and mother Teresa all over the place with notices sbout the church timing,et,al.Just when you walk out of the gate 'Sourav's'-Ganguly's eatery stares you in the face.For better part of the day I straggled my way around for my visa.I had a half day in Kolkutta to do what I wanted and that is exactly what I did.Just the previous day,two things Kolkottans romance most about had happened .I was lucky to have been there when it did.Nandigram had taken place during the week.The intellegentias of Kolkotta had called a morcha which was to march through the streets of Kolkotta.Nothing like it had happened even in Kolkotta.There they had turned out ,people from all walks of life in support of the helpless at Nandigram.The figure was estimated to be over 50,000.This is why I love Bengal.People have a heart here.The other thing was Mohun Bagan under the captainship of BhaichungBhutia,Bengal's blue-eyed boy had lifted the league.Bhaichung is from Sikkim like me.
As I loitered around the streets of Kolkotta with no particular thing in mind it felt totally relaxing.Saw a Dey's coffee house at my lunch time.Had a delicious mexican rice with mushrooms and risotto and the original chikmangalur coffee the way they make it.
Loved every moment of it.Walked up to the AC market,pampered myself to a few kitkats.It brought back memories of my college days when we used to do the rounds of the theatre road sampling every pani-puri walas pani-puri in turns.I remebered my friends Temsula,Shasinle,Sandhya and the rest and the way the girls from the north-east used to splurge on expensive dresses without batting their eye-lids.I also remembered how with time all of us had changed, each ones good points rubbing on to the other.I didn't miss my friends I just enjoyed remembering them.The charm of Kolkotta was all there to captivate me again -not Delhi,with its harshness,not Madras with its south-Indianness,Mumbai can't say ,haven't really spent enough time there.Give me Kolkotta any day!
As I loitered around the streets of Kolkotta with no particular thing in mind it felt totally relaxing.Saw a Dey's coffee house at my lunch time.Had a delicious mexican rice with mushrooms and risotto and the original chikmangalur coffee the way they make it.
Loved every moment of it.Walked up to the AC market,pampered myself to a few kitkats.It brought back memories of my college days when we used to do the rounds of the theatre road sampling every pani-puri walas pani-puri in turns.I remebered my friends Temsula,Shasinle,Sandhya and the rest and the way the girls from the north-east used to splurge on expensive dresses without batting their eye-lids.I also remembered how with time all of us had changed, each ones good points rubbing on to the other.I didn't miss my friends I just enjoyed remembering them.The charm of Kolkotta was all there to captivate me again -not Delhi,with its harshness,not Madras with its south-Indianness,Mumbai can't say ,haven't really spent enough time there.Give me Kolkotta any day!
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