Shonaar Bangaal...

More on other trips later, Kolkata takes the cake.

Bengal- the land of Vivekananda and Yogananda... the land of Tagore... Netaji... of Ray and Ghatak... of Saurav Ganguly and Leander Paes...
Bengal of Dokkhineswar (Thats how Dakshineswar is pronounced...right??) .... mayapur... Hughli... Howrah...
Bengal of Bipasha Basu... of Rosogullas... of Sondesh.....
Bengal of Devdas...


My heart swelled with emotion and joy as I landed in the city of Joy from Ranchi. I had last come here as a kid. I could hear in the corner of my mind a statement somebody made... I could not recollect who the somebody was...nevertheless... the statement was "What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow"...

I had been long anticipating this trip. The first evening was rather uneventful. It was cloudy and I was tired after a gruelling 6 hours in the car and a couple later in the aircraft.

The city is most beautiful in the evening/ night. The buildings are old... The ambience is of an era gone by... Even the taxis that operate are Ambassador cars...

I've always believed that the character of a city can be determined by how safe its women are... And that is best characterised by the number of women you see on the streets in the dark... I think Kolkata scores heavily there...

Bong women have always fascinated me. Interestingly, though not unexpectedly, none of my female Bong friends found me fascinating.

I was fortunate enough to get a Sunday in Kolkata before my work began on Monday.

I had an awesome breakfast of Singhada-Jolebi- Rosogulla- Sondesh- 1 more Singhada, and followed that up with much wanted Tamil meals for lunch at Madras tiffin house right next to Metro Cinema near Esplanade.

My first stopover was Thakurbaari...where Robindranath Tagore was born and eventually breathed his last. Bengalis have not just been extraordinary thinkers, but have been great patrons of art... Who better than Tagore himself could be testimony to this...

As I stepped into the compound of Tagore's house, I could hear in a corner of my mind, the immortal lines- "jadi tor daak shune keu naa aashe tabe ekla chalo re tabe ekla chalo, ekla chalo, ekla chalo...."

Ekla chalo is perhaps one of the powerful songs I have heard... What a poem!!!

I hired a cab and we drove to the Kali temple at Dakshineswar.

I got down at the temple and walked first towards Yogoda Satsanga Society founded by Paramhansa Yogananda himself. The place, as expected was serene and beautiful. Situated on the bank of Hooghli, there is a quiet peace one experiences as one enters the premises. The friendly nature of people touches the visitor- right from the security guard to the people in the library to the gentleman in the meditation room. The few minutes I spent in the meditation room there would be amongst the most cherished moments in the trip.

The beautiful evening had just begun. I walked back to the Kali temple. The moments inside were awesome. It was crowded, and strangely, I could still find peace there. (Typically I find it difficult to find peace in a group/ when there are people around)

One of the lines written on the wall outside the Sanctum Sanctorum in the temple was a line from a scripture- "Ya Devi Sarva Bhootheshu, Maatri RoopeNa Samsthitha... Namasthasyi Namasthasyi Namo Namaha"... I love this line.

Amongst the most memorable moments in the evening was spending a few quiet seconds in the room where Ramakrishna Paramahamsa himself lived. Following this up with a visit to Belur math was icing on the cake.

It is an interesting boat ride to Belur Math that lasts about 15-20 minutes. One forgets that this is one of India's metros. In fact, I think, this is precisely the USP of Kolkata.

Once you get off the jetty near the Math, it is a 2 minute walk to the premises of the math. There are different structures/ temples inside the premises.

In particular, I found peace at the temple which stands at the spot where the Samadhi of Swami Vivekananda is. Standing nearby is a tree, under which, as legend goes, the Swami spent a lot of his evenings meditating. Whether one is a devotee, agnostic or atheist, the powerful vibrations there are hard to miss.

The main structure is a temple devoted to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa himself. As the bells tong before the aarti, all the people in the premises assemble at this temple. The Aarti was elaborate with hymns being sung by the large audience assembled (For the record, the temple hall is huge and can seat hundreds of people at a time and it was not just overcrowded, there were people not just on the threshold, but also outside the hall). I do not quite recollect what my emotions were during the minutes when the hymns were sung. I know for a fact that the music and ambience transported me to a different plane and all that I remember is when the Aarti got over, my eyes were moist.

The journey back by boat takes one almost 40-45 minutes.

Kolkata did not end there; the following evening, my friends (from ECS) and I went to Flurries@Park Street... We also spent a good 30-45 minutes in a pub inside Park Hotel. I fail to recollect the name of the live band that was performing- but they were awesome.

The next two days were tense as we were caught in floods, eventually having to cancel one day of work. I shall not speak much about those two days where even finding food was an ordeal. I shall soon upload the snaps and the pictures shall speak.

Let me mention here for the record that until the aircraft actually took off, we were not sure when we would be able to escape the flood-wrath in Kolkata.

I look back now at the trip, specially the sunday there as amongst bthe best days of life. I would love to go back to Kolkata soon... I may not like to be a resident there... There are flipsides which I choose not to mention...

Nevertheless... the land of Tagore and vivekananda.... beckons me again...
Kolkata- I shall come back...