Interpreter of Maladies
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Cal, IIMC and life et al-part 1I think its imperative to mention where the hell have I been all this while, though this blog is not a journal entry that accounts for absences. Over this last one month, I have been at home for a while, where the airtel gprs went kaput and i was left sans internet=sans life. Between meeting friends and relatives and understanding the truth that I was unemployed yet again, it was time to go to Cal. Mom and I travelled on the comfy Rajdhani to reach Cal, a city I can claim to visit when I was a toddler and of which, I cant remember a thing. Humid, sweaty, damp...thats how I would describe Cal. Nothing...I repeat nothing makes you feel that you are in a metro except maybe the Vidyasagar Setu, which is imposing by its simplicity and austerity. Driving a car between the steel veins gives one the first feeling of pleasure since entering the city. Contrary to my expectations, Cal is not thronged by BANGLA and BANGALIS. Infact it is quite adjusting to the BIHARIS and UPites that either work as wage earners in the factories on the outskirts or the MARWARIS which form the backbone of the trading community here. Not only are Luchis and aloo poshto the ambrosia for CALites but even the more familar Punjabi Dhaba appears at a turn or two. Commenting on traffic would be tough because vehicles dont run but crawl on CAL roads. From the "oh so busy" and dangerous Delhi roads, CAL seems to be a perfect exile. Mashi, who was driving the car while picking us up from the station, had quite a tough time hurling abuses at the numerous rickshwas, cycles and the infrequent cars that haunted the road. Mashi's house is quite comfortably situated at Bhawanipur, close to one of the two multiplexes that provide cinematic relief to the denizens of CAL. After the mandatory rest and the butter-dripping paranthas at home, we crawled out to the NEW MARKET and the likes for a wee bit of shopping. CAL is humidity at its worst and beats Bombay hands down. The humidity also tires the bones much faster and walking is not my favorite things any more here. This reminds me of the METRO which is quite well operated though I cant still get over with the Delhi frame of reference, compared to which, CAL pales into oblivion. At the NEW MARKET, the shops were full of all those things girls would give their hearts out for. The embroidered salwar kameez, the broacaded shoes and the string purses..I couldnt help but get enchanted. Mashi and mom (they make perfect company, both hate spending money) had to literally pull me away from a kameez which genuinely besotted me. From the top floor of the house at Bhawanipur, CAL does not seem very differnt from Kanpur. Full of lanes and bylanes, houses that look like an ancient grandfather and no flicker of planning visible in the city...it reminds me strikingly of the city where my heart rests. It is different from Delhi in more ways than one. Maybe I will write another blog on that sometime later. On the day before I had to leave for the hostel, we went for the mandatory KALI BADI visit. Sticky like the rest of the city and dirty to the core, the temple courtyard looks like a picture of years of neglect. There is a special entry bypassing the looong line of devotees, which one can gain access to by a mere payment of 50 bucks. I would have happily paid the sum to save some of my sweat in the process but Mashi prevailed and we crawled through the serpentine line to finally get to see Goddess Kali. Maa gave me a 50 bucks note to keep on Kali's hands. I remember keeping it on her silver moulded fingers, but i think in less than a second, some pujaari had already snatched it away from the goddess, for "God's work" he says. I personally avoid such visits to thronged temples but there's scracely a thing I refuse mom and this had not been the first time. IIMC is yet another chapter but then this would become too big an entry for the blog. Lets reserve it for the next part that would follow after this...maybe I would write it tomorrow night...theres a test tomorrow and I need to go off to bed real soon to have the energy to write the test.
