Vacation Report - Day Zero and One

First it was pre-poned by an hour. On the day of the flight an early SMS announced that it s postponed by an hour, so back to its scheduled time. At the check we were told its another hour late, that is 2030hrs. After the security check we overheard others say it was going to be far more delayed. At 2130 hrs we were loaded in the buses and all seemed imminent: we had promised Mum that we will all have dinner at home; so midnight seemed a late hour for the repast but not unheard of. But we were fooled, all of us; we waited in the bus on the runway, looking at the aircraft from steamy windows we waited for 30 minutes. Finally we were on board. But the airconditioning was off. And we sat for 45 more minutes until it was our turn to take-off. We landed at 1:10. But the ordeal was not over. The pre-paid taxi stand was moving very slowly - and we realised it was slow because there were no taxis at that time at the airport. Welcome to the village called Kolkata! We reached home at 2:15.

And after a quick wash, had dinner. A sumptuous, delicious dinner that only Mum can make. It was already well past three by the time we finished; and birds had started warbling.

The day started with the aroma of Darjeeling tea. After another delicious spread at lunch we sped underground to the North - and saw diases being made everywhere - it is Gurudev Rabi Tagore's birthday tomorrow. So it will lots of elocution and singing (which is all right) all day long. Hopefully we will have little of that godawful dainty prancing that is passed for dancing. The metro seemed awfully full today. The tickets are still so cheap - just INR 8 from Tollygunge (renamed Manayak Uttam Kumar Station)!

The one thing that I was impressed with yesterday and again tonight was the street lighting. All the main streets and the side ones were awash with powerful sodium-vapour lamps. The streets seemed wide - but then they do look wide so early on, with nary a soul on the streets.

I had a chance to walk along the streets in the evening tonight and the impression is the same as the last time: Kolkata is a city that looks even more dilapidated everytime; the same poor people living in exactly the same hovels; the same irrationally excited 'bhadralok', teetering on the edge of sanity. Yet it has a charm - the old-worldish charm of a city that lives in several decades all at once. It has not been trammelled by the garish new desi culture. There seems to be a system in place that allows both cultures to exist and even flourish in silos. I hope they continue to do so.