Ohh Calcutta!

I'm in Kolkata at the moment (been here a week now on work) and boy, I'm in love with this city! It simply just grows on you from the very word 'go'. Now, I know why they call it the 'City of Joy'; everything, simply everything about this place is so 'sweet and happy,' right from the food (yummilicious!!!), the big lovely smiles that stare you in your face right out of every roadside hoarding, the Bengali language, the foot-tapping and ear-catching music scene (even the cabbies have great taste in music here...have you ever heard of a cabbie listen to jazz...!!!; mine does and ohh boy he knew so much!), the amazingly-affordable standard of living and but of-course the beautiful soft-spoken and genteel people or Bhodro-log (colloquial term - for the classes)...man, I'm in love all over again! Only this time, it's with a newly discovered city :-)

Talking of cities, you know what, I have a theory about them...


I have always believed that there is an irresistible magnetic lure about cities with a coastline or by a waterfront. And this makes them addictive.

I believe that such cities and the people therein have a quintessential character to them. And that, I believe has something to do with the element water. Acting like an oxidising agent, water it seems breathes life, energy and a sense of purposeful restlessness into the city it surrounds or is contained in. The flow is almost contagious in that you're instantaneously propelled into it as you pulsate to its beats. And before you can even say 'splash', you're gently bathed by the shower of its all embracing claim over your identity.


Then - and this is where the beautiful assimilation process begins - insidiously yet magically you find yourself woven into the cultural fabric of that city as you become an inseparable part of the breathing mosaic of its life.

...now just you think...Ganesh Chathurthi, the Kala-ghoda cultural fest and the Banaganga music festival in Mumbai, the Kali puja and jazz festival in Kolkata, the kuttcheri season in Chennai, the Karachi music and arts festival...all these are great cities (and the many more, I haven't yet visited) are characterised by a distinct identity and culture; and diverse as they may be, besides being geographically spread out, the one thing in common to them all is their proximity to water.
Some winding flow of thought that, now ain't it... ;-)

Incidentally, this post also goes out to my pal Sutirtha Sen and his lovely family who hosted my stay in Kolkatta and made it so memorable for me. In my week long stay at their home, I've been served rich dollops of the experience that is Kolkatta in myriad portion sizes that came my way in the course of my long animated discussions over breakfast and dinner with his folks about issues that ranged from politics and local culture to football (Mohun Bhagan rules o'er Sao Paulo anyday) and the weather to pretty Bengali women (hmmm, is it the fish they eat?) and finding me a one such for a bride! I for one am not complaining...'cause aamhake Kolkata (and all that it has to offer) khoob bhalo lage.