Sounds, Sights & "Dada Is this All for Me?"

Day 8, Sep 8th, 06: Kolkata: Ok though I'm going to talk about the smells and sounds that form an integral part of the city, I have to put in some more pictures, which wasn’t part of the original plan, but you will understand why.

This morning when I got up and was following my customary morning routine of a great cup of Leaf Tea with a dash of milk (in Delhi had got used to the CTC with lots of milk) at 6.45 am, I felt the ground vibrating. Unbelievable as it may seem, the floor was vibrating due to the ceiling fan being run on the floor below. These are huge fans and still run on DC as opposed to the sleek fans we’re so used to. Anyway the cup of tea usually is halfway down by the time the newspaper comes in. The Telegraph is Calcutta’s No. 1 English daily and I can understand why. Great content! Apart from that I’m already getting into the groove of doing the word jumble. Today I cracked it in a minute flat. My next agenda would be doing the crossword every morning.

Anyway today for the first time I actually sat back and was absorbing in the smells and sounds. Kolkata has a distinct smell of Coal smoke early in the morning and this is because coal is the cheapest fuel available for cooking. So early morning bring fire to the bakeries, “rasta chai dokaans” (roadside tea shops), “mishti dokaans” (sweet shops) et al. strangely no one else in the house could get the distinct smell of coal smoke. Guess you need to be away to get sensitive to things that consume your daily life.

Apart from that, the house is located plum on one of the busiest roads in Kolkata. Park Street at this point is the main connector to the Airport and Salt Lake. So there is a constant rumbling and Honking sound. The night brings in huge container trucks heading to or from the Docks to the National Highway. Honking seems to be a national pastime for drivers in Kolkata. I’d believe it would be one of the must do’s to pass the driving test in Kolkata.

The auto ride down Freeschool Street past New Market has been the bane of my daily commuting to office. Firstly the Muncipal Corporation has dug up the road for some drain repairs and covered it up too with red bricks and mud. Which is a good thing, but not putting the tarmac back over it makes for the bumbpiest ride you can imagine. Add to that a road side market selling fish, vegetables et al with a huge garbage dump as the back drop. Believe me, it’s not a pretty site and definitely not something that you’d want to cross every morning. The smell of fish, coupled with Garbage makes for a lethal pungent wakening if you’re still drowsy. Enough said about that.

After getting off at Chandni on Dharamtala Street, while taking my brisk 15 minute walk to Office, I heard birds chirping. While listening to the melodies chirpings all the way down to the end of the street I noticed for the first time The Sacred Heart Church as two Sisters of Charity nuns entered its huge gates. I’m going to figure out the different bird sounds soon.

That was only once interrupted by the thundering roll of a tram passing by.

Lunch today was a welcome change from Chinese. Thank you, Amrit. He discovered a “Pai” restaurant. Why it’s called that is because the name has stuck on since the time when one could get a meal for “1 paise”.

This was lunch for three of us:

3 Dal-Bhaat-Shobji Thalis
+ 1 plate Kofta
+ 1 plate Dhoka Daalna
+ 1 plate Pomphret Maach (Fish)
+ 1 plate Ilish Maach (Hilsa Fish)
+ 1 plate Pabda Maach (some other kind of Fish)
+ Anaros er Chutney (Pineapple Chutney)
+ 3 Thums Up - Cold Drinks

Bill Amount: Rs. 255.

Amazing! This was the Governor’s House Canteen. I think Lunch is going to happen here more often.

Now you get why Karthik is turning to Joy.