Calcutta not Kolkata for me – I should acknowledge the fact that I am not penning this prose piece because I had deliberation about my past. I just happened to see 10 minutes of the Bollywood action flick named ‘Calcutta mail’, which ignited this idea of bringing my thoughts to paper.
I lived in this place just for a couple of decades. I have every reason to like the place. But, I am also making a point here by stating that I have been in all the other metros and lived in three of them. It’s been three long years since I left my hometown. They seem long, too long. But my intentions of visiting the place at-least twice a year have not been perturbed yet. Calcutta was one of the dirtiest towns in our country, but the face of the city has been changed by some folks up there with white kurtas and dhothis, that they darn. The famous Kali temple is still one of the ill-managed holy destinations. The people have been always reported as indolent, languid and lethargic. During the monsoon season, the city has always been plagued by water-logging. Standing on the remains of the British built infrastructure, the city has less to offer to the young generation in comparison to what other metros offer. And to complement that, is city traffic moving at a snail’s place accompanied by the snarls and the squabbles by our beloved taxi drivers. I accept all this and I believe the ones who have visited this place would have more to say. The book named ‘Calcutta – The city of Joy’ (I forgot the author – Some guy named Dominique Blah Blah) recounts many such real life miseries.
But there is an undefined, undeniable charm and warmth about this place. You may be wondering what and where is this ‘warmth and charm’ coming from. It’s the people, it’s always the people. The people of any place define the place. The tea stall owner, who has set up his make-shift settlement and sells tea in the day and sleeps peacefully in the night by his stall and he neither advocates nor admires a change in his lifestyle. He likes it that way. The octogenarian who goes for a morning stroll is happy catching up with his friends who are as old as he is and they have been together for all their lives. He doesn’t require a well-equipped gym in his place to keep his heart pumping, though he can afford all that and more. Work hours are short and everyone wants to be with their folks as the day ends. The evening chat session, which is popularly called as ‘Adda’ is something no one would miss in the colony. And they have this uncanny capability of delving into long lost topics, last heard half a century back. Topics can range from, ‘The effect of Picasso’s art on Indian culture’ to ‘the impact of the songs of Cart Gobain, in the fresh minds of school-goers’. But that’s what accounts for the unity among them. If an old man were to stumble on the road, there would be at least a dozen unconnected inhabitants who would help him out. After looking after his immediate needs, one of them would also call his son and offer him a piece of his mind about leaving his father all alone in the street.
One more distinctive attribute of Calcuttans is their attempt to preserve their culture. They would organize shows to display the talents of their own folks and revive the lost love for Rabindra Sangeet, by making every lady of the house to learn it. The art cinemas and dramas are still appreciated by the populace, where their contemporaries are busy watching the new chat show hosted by some showbiz on the television. The best of painters, artisans, sculptors are born here. The Durga puja is a living example for this method of perpetuation of the ‘Bengali Culture’. The city comes alive for that week. And the whole populace waits for it every year. And for some it is the only means of survival. Though there are pubs playing rock music since the time of our forefather’s days, this place is the least westernized.
And hence what’s the marked difference between them and the people belonging to other cities? - Contentment. I don’t find that with the people elsewhere. They are satisfied with what they have and don’t crave for that extra money. The town is cosmopolitan in its true sense. The settlements include people from the bordering states and also from the neighboring country. The marwaris for years have been trading and the south Indians have long settled there as bankers or teachers.
And the city still welcomes everyone with open arms. Is it the city again? No, it’s the people. I miss my Calcutta and I miss my people.
