City of joy – love it or hate it

Having arrived in the city of joy after a rather ardous air journey , the sight of the hugely comfortable and rather archaic yellow Ambys was a pleasant departure from the Mercs, santros and VW jostling for space back home. Nothing to mention the tariff charged, which can be truly called ‘daylight robbery” – its double the base tariff + Rs. 2 /- : I find that back home, it was fleecing to travel by cabs, but by these standards, it’s a relief with a tariff card.

Navigating traffic is a actually no challenge here- u could be driving on the left most lane and suddenly swerve to turn right without any indicator (even after crossing the red light)- It doesn’t bother the guy next to u – he is doing exactly the same thing or even worse ramming into a handcart puller who is choosing to draw his cart onto the footpath !! Whew!

The smell of tobacco rather hangs over the air quite strongly - in hotel lobbies, road or even office spaces – probably Kolkata is a huge importer of the same.. is that why ITC choose to have its HQ here in city of joy?

The strong feeling of communism somehow is palpable in the atmosphere – almost like a flash strike waiting to happen; All women above 40 appear exactly like our honourable Railway minister : sickle in hand and waiting to explode like grenades set free in Park street!!
Rashmolai, Robindra shongeet & puchkas appear and disappear with much gusto on every palate, and the mall rats are abundantly found scurrying away from location to location – much like any other metro (or even a tier-3 city). I am told the cost of living is rather low here – something that I discovered for myself when a homeo drug that I bought here costs a third of what it costs back home. Ramkrishna paramahamsa alogn with the ubiquitous Kali maa appear on every corp desk with much affection and gratitude!
The winters have really not set in, with nov being fairly warm for this time of the year. All young ladies (either working or otherwise) do not however appear like Komolika (of TV fame), although I did detect a more leisurely (not laidback) attitude with all at office. Chai peeyo, office aao, 6 baje swipe out karo.Life mein aaram karo – that being the general attitude of the working class here, one can definitely guess what drove the nano out of WB, can’t we?

truly (AIR) borne

Ever wondered what it takes for one to do some decent air travel? Tickets. Yes. Flights -of course yes. Good looking airhostess(for men)/purser(for women). A decent lounge to have your cuppa- yes. Seamless web/tele check in- yes. Air conditioned facilities that don’t resemble the VT station at Mumbai- yes. But what else? Hey, u forgot.. ? the runway needs to working, aint it.?
Except that today it isn’t. Today is “Terrible Tuesday”- the day that Mumbai airport runway is shut off for a few hours throwing the whole schedule into a tizzy. and to think this is on till MArch 2010!! .. and for a light shower that has graced this nov day, they r calling it ‘weather disturbance’ … what about days like 26/7 (or worse).. oh that? They call it “monsoon” .. how hypocritical is that?
Well, in the aircon-confines of the Mumbai airport, which incidentally provides relief from “sweaty underarms” and “smelly passengers” unlike the Mumbai local, all I can see is the rather disgusted faces of passengers, cranky toddlers, tired mothers, frustrated business executives, harried businessmen who think they must be losing a couple of lacs (or crores perhaps) with each hour delayed and even confused firangs (who haven’t heard of “flights delayed due to non-availablity of runway- Whew ! whats that ?? they ask.. even the recession isn’t so bad.. huh?”)

The only guys who couldn’t be happier are the cafes (bistros/restaurants- call it what u may) – who are doing brisk business.. not as much as “by-invitation only” Clipper lounges which ‘need’ to serve customers with a Master card / biz class ticket.. Perhaps Tharoor( the minister) was right when he called it the cattle class.. Except that atleast the cattle know where they are headed- And don’t anyway require a RUNWaY!
And to think hubby dahling reached Australia quicker than I could even think, plan, buy ticket and board a flight to dear old “CAL” (Kolkata).. So, here am I checking emails till the battery lasts(and of course, replying to office mails- aren’t I being paid on this official trip?) . and then hopefully hop onto a flight that “peddles” even Water or a plate of sad – looking sandwiches for “under 3 dollars”.. haven’t we truly ARRIVED??