Exercising My Right to Vote

 

Today marked a very important day for West Bengal as citizens headed to the polling booths to cast their votes and help decide who will form the government for the next five years.

Election Day is always a reminder of the power and responsibility that comes with living in a democracy. It is a chance for every eligible citizen to have their voice heard and play a part in shaping the future of the state.

Like every responsible citizen should, I too stepped out and exercised my right to vote. It may seem like a small act, but collectively, these individual choices determine the direction in which our state moves forward.

No matter the outcome, participating in the electoral process is an important civic duty. After all, change begins not just with opinions, but with action—sometimes as simple as standing in line and casting a vote.

Merry Christmas

St. Paul's Cathedral, Kolkata

Merry Christmas from us!

Park Street After Dark: Caps, Chaos & Boro Din!

 

With no real party plans for Christmas, we decided to do something far more adventurous—or perhaps foolhardy! After dinner, we got into the car and headed towards Park Street to witness first-hand the decorations, merriment and absolute chaos that descends upon Kolkata during Christmas and New Year.

Every year, the Government pulls out all the stops, and they take great pride in the crowds that throng Allen Park and spill across the length and breadth of Park Street to celebrate Boro Din. The pavements come alive with pop-up stalls selling everything from gifts and trinkets to food, adding to the festive atmosphere.

Park Street itself is transformed, lit up and decorated almost like Durga Puja all over again—just in a different avatar. The lights, the music, the crowds and the general sense of celebration make it feel as though the entire city has decided to converge on this one stretch of road.

And yes, we were mad. Brave. Perhaps even a little silly to voluntarily seek out this adventure!

But having made it this far, we decided to embrace the spirit of the evening. We stopped by one of the hawkers and bought ourselves a couple of those wonderfully tacky Christmas caps with flashing toony lights. Caps firmly planted on our heads, we continued our slow crawl through the festivities, looking quite ridiculous and loving every minute of it.

It took us a good half hour just to navigate the length of Park Street, as we witnessed what seemed like half of Kolkata descending upon the thoroughfare to celebrate Christmas. Cars barely moved, people were everywhere, and yet somehow there was a certain joy in all that madness.

It was chaotic. It was crowded. It was noisy. It was wonderfully Kolkata.

And as we finally made our way out of the melee, there was only one conclusion I could come to—

Totally worth it, I say!

Tram Ride to Kidderpore Dock and more

Well after that awesome lunch and a lot of deliberation (due to the weather), we decided to get on with our plan of heading out. Just as we got in the car, the rain drops started filling up the windscreen, but since we were committed to our little adventure, we egged on, reassuring ourselves that it was just this side of town that was getting the rain.

Just before we reached the bridge before the ITC Sonar round-about, my wife couldn’t help taking a picture of this car. Incase you're wondering "SUPER SYCLONE"

And then while we were crossing Science City, the huge Dinosaur outside on the road.

Anyway once we reached our destination, we found a parking spot outside the Dalhousie Athletic Club, parked our car there and walked to Mayo Road. While waiting, we spotted a whole lot of Mounted Police headed towards Esplanade.

And the Towering Flood Lights of the Eden Gardens with these Mynahs fluttering about within a stone's throw.

The wait was bringing up more and more sights. A truck carrying the statue of Goddess Durga speeding away. Durga Puja is just a few days away and Kolkata is already coming to a near standstill.

Yippie! Trams headed our way from both directions. This was the plan. Get on a Tram and take a ride through the Maidan. So we took the one headed that way. Gosh these new trams are quite freaky.

Anyway the down side of the journey was that we thought the trams ran quite empty, but to our surprise, we took the journey to the last stop, the Kidderpore Tram Depot, standing.

Since we had come all this way, I convinced my wife to take a short walk to the bridge which I had been hoping to visit for a while now and give her a surprise. And surprised she was to see the Ships there nearly upon the road. Daylight was disappearing fast and while we walked to the centre of this bridge that parts and opens upwards I started clicking pictures of the ships that were docked here on either side of the bridge.

I needed one of me too and so my wife obliged. She’s good at taking photographs too. I’m actually envious of her steady hand.

After that we walked back to the tram depot, got on one and headed back to Mayo Road. I’ve got to say, the trams do get packed, even for a Sunday.

Once back in our car and pretty kicked about our little adventure on a tram to the docks, we headed to the Strand for a celebration.

Puchkas, Pav Bhaji and Soda Sikanji!

After that, we were done in and headed back to our Home, Sweet Home.

And now I'm calling it a night!

Celebrating 5 Years in Kolkata

I landed in the "City of Joy" on this day, 5 years ago. I still remember that sultry, humid air when I stepped out of the aircraft at something past 7pm at Dum Dum Airport. The sight of my first yellow cab outside the terminal was reassuring that I was in the right city. A city at that time that I had just accepted a job in after spending 12 years in the Indian Capital, New Delhi. This was going to be my first working experience in the City.

I mean I wasn't completely alien to Kolkata.

So what if, when I left it was Calcutta and on my return after a 12 year hiatus, it had changed its name to Kolkata. Well the Red Flags were still flying high, but more in a capitalistic manner than as a sign of being comrades with the common man!

Ofcourse 5 years after, it's all gone to crap! Dada has become Didi and Red has turned into Blue and the CPI(M) has lost power to the TMC. The promise of an emergent Bengal's hopes have been dashed by the exit of the Tata Nano Plant, and Singur bears witness to the death knell of Industry in Bengal.

Well I wonder whether I should celebrate having survived in this dismal State of affairs, or revel in the fact that we've hit rock bottom, so there's only one way to go; UP!

So that said, I'm still optimistic that the future holds hope and Bengal can rise from the ashes and Kolkata can once again bask in the glory of it's erstwhile name "CALCUTTA" that is known the world over as "THE CITY OF JOY"

An Hour in Paradise

It was only 9.30 Am and my wife wanted to visit the Ice Skating Rink to get something sorted out with one of the shops she had bought a product from a couple of weeks ago at an Exhibition. There was no way in the world that the exhibition would have opened for business at such an early hour. So we wondered what we could do for the next couple of hours.

Suddenly my wife suggested we go to her mother’s work place and hang out with some little wonders. Hang out with children for a bit, that’s awesome. I was immediately in. She wanted me to see this one child in particular and told me how she thought he was so cute.

So we landed up at SICW and spent the next hour or so with the kids.

All I can say about the experience is “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”.

you can know all about their work at www.sicwforchildren.org

Day 3: Scenic yet rugged drive from Varanasi to Khajuraho