The city of Joy

Kolkata is a city (I bet you knew that!)  by the people, certainly for the people and undoubtedly full of people! Being there with some of my friends this puja, it proved why it’s worth a visit, and why it’s nicknamed such.

A yellow ambassador with ‘taxi’ written on it passing you with a huge metal suspension bridge in the backdrop tells you Kolkata is near. Before even entering the city, I found three ‘pandals’ in the same patch of land, combinely almost covering the whole area (by the way combinely is no word). I wondered and am still wondering on the need of three in the same place! Now as I stepped out of my train onto the platform, I was almost thrown back in by a swarming and near-stampeding crowd. Thin as I am, I made my way out to find my friends waiting. Can’t tell you how good it is to see a familiar face in a teeming crowd!

It is the fifth time I was there, and each time the city throws something new for me, and meanwhile preserving what I loved the most, its classic British culture. It’s where you can almost see the times of British raj, with sahibs living in vintage homes, served by many helping hands. The future is also here, from the sky high Newtown and South city mall to the regal estates piercing the city’s skyline.

And you can’t find a city with more means of transportation. Auto-rickshaw, rickshaw, hand pulled rickshaw (that’s just three types of rickshaw), taxi, buses, tram, metro and local trains (that’s again three types of railways). I hope one day I’ll find motorcycles used to taxi people around the city, going by the crowd and the jams.

It also a rags to riches city. Not that you’ll get richer here, but this is because I saw a stunning BMW car overtake a maruti 800, the day I got there. There are shops selling 100 a piece shirts in front of branded showrooms where you can’t get to even try a shirt unless you have a 1000 in your wallet. (It’s a different point that both of the products are actually the same, but more on that later). As one of my friends very correctly observed that people were ready to pay 50 for an unworthy coffee in café for the fools nicked CCD, they didn’t had a penny to spare on the feeble old man sitting outside the same. (I myself couldn’t spare my sandwich I was having to a supposedly begging kid, saying that I was equally hungry as him… … but he was wearing a nice new t shirt and jeans, wasn’t a beggar by any means!)

The women here are beyond compare. Almost all of them would find it easier to push their way through the crowds using their elbows, instead of going for the clear path nearby. It has been quite difficult to understand their intentions. And the gushing crowd induces fears of pickpocketing and what not in your mind. And there’s only one way to avoid it. Keep your hands on your assets (monetary assets, to be particular, if you are thinking otherwise). But this is still a problem while travelling in buses, where your hands are too busy gripping the supports, preventing you being thrown out of the bus. And the number of people in the bus ensures that you have to struggle for a space to hold for support. Some unfortunate ones stick their palms to the ceiling of the bus, like lizards.

However, it’s certainly a heaven for food craving people. All roads have footpaths, and every footpath is dotted with street food and general stalls. The food is delicious and the best part that it isn’t costly at all. For the other stalls, you can bargain amazingly to get a 200 rupees commodity in just fifty. And obviously if the shopkeeper is selling it for fifty, he must still have a profit. Just evaluate the margin of profit!

The people here are very helpful (except a T.T.E. at the station who kept talking to an unknown force, all the while looking in the opposite direction). The neighborhood culture is far better than other megacities I have been to, especially Delhi. Of all things, the mentality of the people working here struck me best. Here people have the intentions of working hard and enjoying even harder, and that’s the best thing to do. The colorful city is indeed, the city of joy!