Mmmm...

The thing that i love saying the most..."Mmmmm...."

There is an uniqueness in Kolkata that the cities i have seen in India dont have and lack to the extreme.Everything happens in such an articulate and patient manner.I mean do these bongs ever get angry?(exclude sourav ganguly..pls)They would possibly be the epitome of patience and discipline.Where else can u see such bumper to bumper,quick(F1 style) traffic other than here and hardly have an expletive uttered from the drivers mouth?If these had been any of the other metros or the metro-to-be Bangaluru(tht sucks!!) there would have been atleast half a dozen maa ki and behan ki gaalis over the atmoshpere.& yes in my sweet tamizh,the effect is even the more unique.

This city has possibly faced the worst in terms of communal conflict in 1940-50 period and worser during the bangla independence struggle,but there seems to be this sense of togetherness and bhaichaara here that i have only seen in the mylapore and mandaveli areas of chennai.this was clearly proved when on the amazing shakespeare sarani(theatre road) on a busy evening i could hear the muezzin saying the evening prayers and everything went silent.it was magical!!

The Market!!

I just visited as per me to this date the world's largest market place.the sudder street,new market,park street triathlon.shops shops & more shops,its such a mind boggling placeAnything on this earth,from bangles to baniyans u get everything here.

A whole street for bangles?its a sight!I wonder how they sell,women rarely wear glass bangles these days.briyani shops,clothes,eye glasses,booze & in the midst of all this fiasco the oberoi grand!& a whole square for food items.phew!

This area is predominantly muslim & they speak good urdu here.I always have thought that I can decieve people on my ethnicity.iv passed off for everything other than a tamizh.in my lifetime iv been french,marwadi,punjabi,boston returned,spanish & for the first time a 'MIAH'!I was called a miah by a hindu guy in the market.I had to laugh!a brahmin called a miah.that's university in diversity.

The visit got me wondering.why do people write?not that Im a writer par excellence or whatever.but this is what I deduced

• They live & possibly thrive in a pre defined shell
• They want to explore & express their thought
• They want to keep their vocabulary intact
• They want to say that they do something that others don't.
• They want to keep their sanity intact.

Haven't still decided where I fit in.iv always been a jerk.so its got to be more abnormal things!

& on the record i didnot buy a thing..jus had a long session of paani puri eating.

Day to Day

One thing that kolkata taught me,u shouldn't have a loud mouth.people here jus aren't tired of talking.even the most personal conversations are told to the whole world.at work,on the road,in the theater u can jus hear people talking so damn loudly! It can quite get irritable in the long run,possibly its the bangla way.but there is a limit.

The other thing that it has taught me is to have a big stomach.this is the second thing that people don't stop doing.the eat every bloody where & every bloody thing.iv never seen so many people eat road cooked food as in here.all this dirt & stink dont seem to bother people either in skirts or in blazers

Yes,iv become addicted to the road eating phenomenon.gawd its so good!the gol guppe,the jaal mudi,the mirchi vada.its yumm & cost effective.

The Beginning..

Kolkata was always a city I hated to love after chennai.its been close to 6 & half yrs since I was here & in these years I can very well say that this place is giving the other capitals a run for their money.

Its 3 days since I landed.women here can teach a thing or two to the delhites on fashion.the dress code in all girls school's seem to be strictly above the knee skirts & is followed with such an admirable & sincere discipline.capris to bright skirts to spaghetti tops to the ever wonderful Bengali saree,the latest in fashion is here.the guys seem to be like those in the rest of the country,anyway there isn't much choice left for them.but I wonder why I saw rani mukherjee only on one advertisement though.

i visited a pub called the 'shisha' in camac street last night.an upmarket 'hooka pub' promoted by two gentlemen who have a textile business,supported by sanjeev kapoor.must try the long island ice tea,is a treat,was a lot stronger than usual,thts the way it should be anyway.the dry martini wasn't up to the mark.the manager enlightened me on the club scenario in kolkata.I was told that kolkata stays awake pretty late in the nite(4-6am).kudos to the communists!

be warned but,its impossible to get in wearing casuals & without shoes before 9.30pm & being single post that.I was neither anyway,guess it was just my face value then??

Never knew that traveling alone can be such fun.just looking & watching all these people is such an amazing job.wish I could get paid for it.one thing amazes me,everyone seems to be dressed in their bests always,it quite makes one feel pedestrian.

Today Im sitting in a place called 'burp' in the forum on Elgin's road,kolkata's version of bangalore's forum.the crowd here is predominantly 16-22 ish,school & college going people.a mixture of marwadi,Bengali & ppl from th north east.you must try the lemon tea in 'gotta get energy',was the best iv had in ages.this place has thai,south indian,pitza u name it.even has an open air dining area. The place has an inox,one of the few cities to boast of one.theater 4 had the casino royale,at 60 - 230 bucks a ticket,the price is a bit steep.ambiance is pretty good.more about the movie later.

The second most orthodox city after brahminic chennai has surely shunned its image & is moving fast towards being outwardly cosmopolitian.but in return it seems to be losing on the unique Bengali charachter,I could hardly hear ppl speaking bengali.any person can pass of with basic Hindi.filled with biharis & marwadis the place is fastly losing its old world charm to Tommy hilfigers & malls. i can bet that delhi,mumbai & bangalore have a lot of catching up to do,if they have already not lost the race.but chennai still happens to be the best place to live in,just coz i was born there,if not,shonar bangla wins hands down on all counts.