The lanes & by-lanes of the City of Joy !

When the air hostess announced that our flight would land 20 minutes before time, her voice was like music to my ears. Reaching before time is always a pleasure and this time it was particularly reassuring as I had a connecting train to catch. While being hauled in the airlines bus, I casually gazed at the airport building and couldn’t stop appreciating its swankiness. By normal standards, my luggage also arrived quite quickly, adding to my pleasure. I didn’t mind the old luggage wheel carts still being used, after all some things never change? I was getting more & more impressed with the surroundings and while doing so, joined a small queue to wait for my turn for getting a prepaid taxi ticket to the train station.

Since I was well immersed in my thoughts, it took me a while to realize that the queue was not moving. As I looked behind, I found the queue to be growing like a serpent. There were more counters but there was only one queue. A few people, who were reluctant join such a long queue and dared to approach other counters, were almost shoved back. Annoyingly, the persons at the private taxi counter also were refusing the bookings, barring an exception to provide one to an airlines staff travelling on her holiday. I kept my cool, ‘why should I worry?’ I asked myself, ‘when I am before time!’ There are no taxis, somebody at the counter calmly informed a shouting customer. Half-an-hour down, I started getting impatient. Somebody within that long queue exclaimed loudly – ‘Welcome to Kolkata!’

My quick decision to give-up the queue and look for a taxi outside the airport building directly got me into one much faster than expected. As soon as I and the driver settled the rate, I experienced a jerk equivalent of a minor earthquake! Everything was absolutely fine; that is how a thirty year old Ambassador car would jump start when put in the first gear. By the time my taxi wandered up to the main road, I had already been consumed by my memories of the years 1998 until 2000…

Sir why do you choose 3AC when you are entitled to travel by 2AC, notwithstanding that colleagues in other department fly to each destination? A new trainee in my company posed this question to me as I was starting for the station, to embark upon one of my such umpteen journeys from Delhi to Kolkata & back by the famous ‘Rajdhani Express’. I smiled and explained as to how to kill two birds with one stone. The stickler boss is happy because you are saving money for the company; at the same time, during such a long journey, you are at least surrounded by people who converse, unlike in 2AC where people would pull the curtain and hide their faces under the pretext of reading a book, I remarked.     

Where is this award winning restaurant ‘Zarranj’? I’ve been born & brought-up in Kolkata but I haven’t heard about it even once; asked one of the fellow travelers, as I shared an interesting story of how I spotted a political celebrity during my only visit to it. Looking at their interest gathering-up, I shared my first experience of having a pizza in Kolkata, which was started by one of the most popular bakery shops, since Pizza Hut and Domino’s decided to give Kolkata a miss for a long time. As the baked pizza came out of the oven, the head chef decided to do the honours by carefully cutting it into pieces while 3-4 staff looked at the act, all forming a standing circle. It reminded me of my first dissection class in the school! How could I miss to mention my sojourn to ‘Flurys’, the grand bakery on Park Street offering delectable delicacies? The very thought of it still waters my mouth. Or for that matter, the experience of witnessing one of the most hep crowds in the discotheque of ‘Hotel Park’ at the midnight, a stark contrast to the average lifestyle of the overall city. No discussion on food could finish without the mention of ‘KC Das Rasgullas’, the ‘mishthi dahi’ and the ‘kullad chai’ points thronged by the morning walkers.

You bet, this naturally led to the mention of the lush green ‘Maidan’, the picturesque view of it in a tram ride, the famous football clubs of Kolkata, the evening walk in front of palatial ‘Victoria House’ and a rare visit to the ‘Botanical Gardens’ through a ferry ride across the expansive Ganges, which boasts of one of the oldest Banyan tree in India as well as the biggest Lotus flowers. The further discussion on food reminded me of my biggest food guffaw, unthinkably at the most respectable ‘Taj Bengal’, where I mistook the prawns as chicken, and late at night was woken-up by a nauseating feeling, only to discover in horror in the mirror my swollen face, not even recognizable to me. I couldn’t thank the guest-house caretaker more for quickly understanding my situation and for offering me an anti allergic.

Our conversation was suddenly broken by a loud argument among two youngsters wearing Bengali ‘Kurtas’, most possibly bought from the popular ‘Garihat’ market. The topic of discussion was the recent statement from an American president, which reminded me of the many evening ‘clubs’ in Kolkata where the youngsters would play carom for hours under a single bulb, discussing the world politics. The same set of lads would in the morning be utilized by the aggressive political parties to manage frequent flash strikes, each one of them bringing city to a halt, one of them once being responsible for me almost missing my train back to Delhi. They were quieted by the fellow travelers who were chanting the ‘Rabindra Sangeet’ in the evening hours, during their annual trip during ‘Vijaydashmi’ to the ‘Kalighat’ temple, the ‘Kali Puja Pandals’ and the ‘Rabindra Math’.

The screeching noise from the brakes of my taxi brought me out of my deep thoughts and I found myself in the midst of chaotic traffic, the typical repetitive horn of private mini buses of Kolkata adding to the commotion.  One bus had mildly hit a bike, causing the lady carrying a baby on the pillion seat on the bike to fall down. As the traffic policeman in his unique white uniform with helmet & gumboots intervened, it reminded of a similar incident which happened many years back, where the matter was settled by our company bus driver by offering a partly sum of 20 rupees! The history repeated itself, clearing the road almost immediately.

As my taxi entered the grandeur of the famous ‘Howrah Bridge’, which in my opinion is one of the most majestic bridges in the world, I couldn’t decide how much time my taxi driver had saved by choosing not to follow the main road, but by maneuvering his taxi in the lanes & by-lanes of the City of Joy!