Kolkata Nostalgia & Romance

jyotirmoy

One of the unique features of the mid level eateries of Kolkata was the “Cabins”. Basically these were cubicles along the wall with curtains or swing doors. Some four or five people could sit at a table in these cabins. During the evenings families dined in these and those would like to have their tipple in privacy would choose these, New Cathay in Esplanade was one such. On the days when the horse races took place you could find great scholars of numerology, astrology, equestrian biology and all such sorts pouring over sacred literature & frantically doing a series of extremely complicated mathematical calculations. In the evening you found the same people most of them drinking to get over some financial misfortune and a very few drinking to celebrate the gains.
During the slack hours of the afternoon courting couples mostly students would enter the scene. The waiter would lead them to a cabin & take the princely order of two cups of tea & a plate of finger chips(French fries were unknown)
After some time of delicious intimacy if by any chance you happened to look at the curtain you found a pair of feet under it. And if you didn’t have the chance & the tea was getting too cold or he was too tired waiting on his feet for you to see it, the waiter would transmit a signal via a very discreet cough. He would deliver the stuff & get away & wont come back to show his feet for a long time probably would doze off to a slumber induced by the monotonous sound emitted by the antique ceiling fan.
Basanta Cabin near the Hedua on the Cornwallish street was known for the congenial atmosphere provided by the kind & friendly owner. He had over the years seen some great romances blooming there & attended many a marriages that followed the courtships at his establishment. The words like dating, seeing, didn’t arrive. People fell in what is called in the local lingo as “Prem”, intense love. You became brave, honest, compassionate & so sure of life. “Otho mein jawab ane do, kamshini pe sharab, Oh Khuda tera Khudai palat dunga..”(Let words come to my lips & blush to my beloved, Oh God I will change the way you lord)
There were no pubs or discs and no going on a drive. So you went for a walk in the Botanical gardens & ate peanuts, or took a boat ride near the Strands. The boatmen would row to a buoy, tie the boat & disappear on the other side of the boat leaving you alone. After the predetermined time they would noisily take up their oars & the helmsman would again come back to his position on the side you had been seating. You went there after if finance permitted to the Gay Restaurant (Gay meant happy & just that) and sat with ice creams looking at the big ships sailing by. On some days you would go to the sprawling Maidan(after metro construction a fraction of it remains) & sit down under one of the magnificent old trees. There would be hordes of goats grazing around. Some of the chai wallas would buy some fresh goat milk which the young caretakers sold on the sly. One of them would come and squat very close to you. Public property so you cant do any thing except buy tea from him & he will go away. No sooner had he left a vendor of Shar e botrish bhaja( vendor of a concoction that had thirty two & half ingredients) would appear. As the dusk fell & the birds flew back over the dome of Victoria Memorial you walked back to Chowringhee & went to Anadi Cabin. After a Moglai Parotha & tea you took the tram this way & she took the bus that way.
For having some entertainment together you went to the Rabindra Sadan on the morning of the birthday of Tagore. You waited for Chinmoy Chattopadhya to sing the wonderful love songs by Tagore & wish you could sing like him & what a cooing would that be! You wept at the prospect of an imaginary separation when Hemanata Mukherjee sang Jakhon Porbey na more payer chinha ei bat e(When you don’t find my foot marks any more..)
When you had progressed further you took the suburban train or a bus from Esplanade early morning & went to Diamond Harbour where the Ganaga meets the sea. You walked miles on the embankment with the salty air ruffling your hairs & sat down while the gentle waves lapped at your feet. Ate rice & egg curry at the tourist canteen & bought Jai Nagorer moa( a fragrant ball of puffed rice cooked in the jaggery made from juice sapped from date palm trees) & shared them while returning back to Kolkata.
All this went on when the city was plagued with acute shortage of food & every other essential commodities, baby food had did the vanishing act. Soon the cries of “Bel phuler mala nebe go”(Would you buy a garland of fresh Jasmine) or Chai baraf kulpi baraf( Do you want kulfis) in the lanes at night gave away to shouts like “Chalbe na chalbe na manbo na manbo na” Thousands came out with radical political views & soon the worst & the biggest armed political warfare started. Streets were deserted after dusk. Thousands of bright young men laid down their lives, bombs were being made at every nook & corner often the hands of the makers were blown off accidently. Indigenous R&D produced “Pipe guns” Not a single family was to be found who hadn’t lost a near & dear one. Para military police unleashed unprecedented brutality.
Love left the city. “Sat mahaler swarnapurir nibhlo hajar bati”(The thousand lights of the majestic seven floored mansion went off one by one”
After a long period of darkness from the bloody mud of the city & mangled flesh & abandoned bones rose great writers like Samaresh Bose, Shanker, Sunil Ganguly, Joy Goswami & others. Little magazines appeared, some disillusioned men in a small house in Behala started writing the lyrics of Mohiner Ghora guli(Mohin’s horses, the first folk rock band of Bengal) A very very tall man pawned his wife’s jewels to make films that would stun the world.
Love again returned to soothe the tormented souls but that’s another story.

PRIYA

A beautifully written piece of nostalgia, Jyotirmoy!

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Happiness is for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched and those who have tried. For only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives. (Anon.)

sadhuji

just wonderful.

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mooning over a moon journey

somnath

I’ve not seen this Kolkata but it is not the unknown Kolkata also. Because this Kolkata is still exists in the novels / stories by Shankar, Nimai Bhattachariya, Buddhabeb Guha and other writers. It is really difficult to judge which is the better one? Lack of amenities, severe problem of unemployment, majority of the citizen is far away from luxurious entertainment but humanity and passion for LIFE was the soul of Kolkata but just look at it now – unemployment problem is not over but not as sever as that, the city can provide some sort of entertainment to almost every section, though the price is high but money flow is comparatively better, huge development in infrastructure and logistics, most important thing is that somehow we are able to think that better days are coming. But something is missing. Basanta Cabin, Anadi, Indian Coffee House, students, couples everything is there. In addition, we have Multiplex, KFC outlets, star rated Resorts at Diamond Harbor, personal loans from banks to fulfill our dream, scoop for ice creams but ……….
Probably the time has changed our heart. May be, struggle (for better existence) has changed our mindset and we don’t have much time to be romantic. Jyotida, Sadhuji and other lucky (are you? You didn’t have mobile phones during your college life and you were forced to spend hours waiting for friend/s , just think about it) person, the fairy is still there at the top of Victoria Memorial Hall but it is not revolving anymore.

Cheers.

jyotirmoy

Yes things change with time. It is a very good news that things are improving & the young people are trying to improve their lot. Better days lie ahead.
About cell phones yes often we waited for some one with out a clue to why he/she was delayed, suffered from suggestive halucinations, I am not glowrifying that but it was just like that. Now instead of a double half tea at Basanta you would have a muffin & a Blue Jamaican at Barista. Love, affection & romance endures every thing including time only the expression changes. Who knows in near future Mr. Gomesh may return to play his violin silenced long ago & the fairy will turn & finally fly.

KFC didnt do too well in Delhi & has wound up I suppose, Delhi is a tandoori city. In case you wondered how KFC made such a crunchy coating on the fried chicken try crushed corn flakes instead of bread crumbs.

natasha chanda acharya

A little late, but I haven't beem hitting IM for quite a while.

Jyotimay, just beautiful.
Reminded me of my days of "prem" and endless days
in maidan, outram ghat, victoria, lake and the likes.
Flyovers and cellphones not withstanding,
I'd like to believe that the sentiment still remains for most Calcuttans.

sadhuji

better late than never. happy new year to you and the rest of your family.

NostalgicIndian

Wow! Nice write-up. Reminds me of a summer I spent in kolkata. Not quite as elaborate as the write-up above, but my finances did permit 4 memorable days of movies and sweat(from the heat & humidity of summer alone).

warlock

Was there in Kolkata for a couple of weeks in January...actually was there for my wedding (got married to a sweet bengali girl) .....Kolkata has changed so much...it has been 2 1/2 years since I had been there ...the weather in January was cool....sooooo many new restaurants and clubs have opened up..the traffic is much smoother but yet it still ggot me nostalgic when I saw the Kolkata skyline from my sisters house..Howrah Bridge...the New Bridge...Eden Gardens...St Pauls Cathedral....Ohhhhhhhh what would I not do right now to be back in Kolkata....

natasha chanda acharya

seemed appropriate to put it here.
An article I came across.

- By Suhel Seth

After several years, I spent six nights in Kolkata, which, thankfully enough, were like spending six nights in heaven after the kind of lives we lead in the Delhis and Mumbais of the world. There are no pressures of work; there is almost an embedded fait accompli

In people's demeanour, which many a time suggests that this is the pace we follow, and bad luck to you if you don't like it. I also had the luxury of spending these six nights in unbridled comfort at what is certainly the finest resort hotel in India: the ITC Sonar Bangla.

The editor of this paper, M.J. Akbar, thankfully agrees that the charm of Kolkata has still not dimmed, which is why the last time he and I were in Kolkata together we spoiled ourselves at the various impromptu dinners that were held in our honour.

There is also a certain basket of values that never escapes Kolkata.The city just doesn't care who you are as long as you, at some time in your life, have been a part of it. Which is why even the empty barstools at the Light Horse Bar at Saturday Club tell you

tales you may have heard aeons ago. The butter chicken at Kwality's tastes just as good and thank god the ever evolving Priya Paul has done nothing to modernise the cuisine of Flury's which still serves up the best rum cakes and chicken patties! I went back to some of our theatre haunts and remembered with great affection the time I spent with Ashoke

Viswanathan savouring the Afghani chicken at Sutripti or partaking of Bacchus' generosity at Chota Barrister.

I even drove past the famed Lover's Lane several times just to relive those moments when we would sneak our girlfriend of the time to play hooky under a starry sky until the ubiquitous Kolkata sergeant would show up on his well-preserved Bullet motorcycle. I watched with fondness the various cricket matches going on in the Maidan and the same Maya Ram pao bhaji being advertised with gusto. I took an afternoon off and strolled within the corridors of Jadavpur University and was delighted to see Tommy Hilfiger stickers outside the SFI office: even the communists have realised the worth of Tommy.

But has Kolkata really changed? Have the people become smarter in terms of making the best of every opportunity? I think not.

And this is why Kolkata is still such a special place to be. The only placewhere a lunch is incomplete without a Campari; where there is a distinction between the dining room and the smoking room and where round-collared T-shirts still find no acceptance in club bars.

There is also a certain panache that Kolkata has with regard to the music you hear. Item girls and Daler Mehndi have still not replaced Barry Manilow or for that matter Nat King Cole. There are hundreds who can still recite their school song and have preserved their

College blazers and not replaced them with some foreign brands. Where photographs are in photo frames and not in cupboards, so that you can litter your drawing room with garish vases. It is this about the city that makes it so special.

I took long walks in the malls only to witness for myself, first-hand, the consumerism that has invaded Kolkata and then I thought to myself, why not. If Kolkata can erect malls and frequent them without forgetting the Victoria Memorial or the National Library, then more power to its collective elbows. I smiled when I saw the queue

Of people trying to enter the American Centre. In no other city are libraries as crowded as cinema halls. And that is because Kolkata still has a mind when all others are busy losing theirs.

Many years ago I was part of a movement called "Concern for Calcutta"and it delighted me no end to see that Ward 63 was still sprinkled with the work that CC, as it was known then, was doing. It is perhaps the only city in the world which has a nature study park in

The costliest real estate of that city. I went to Dalhousie Institute and saw an impromptu quiz just as I went to CC&FC and saw prompted drinking happening. The other unique dimension about this city is, if you belong here, you are never a guest when you return.

The family asks you no questions: it merely expresses unbridled delight in seeing you back. You can walk into dinners and parties alike; to cricket matches and merchant's cup soccer matches on the back of your past. Kolkata doesn't really care about the present or what you are up to!

The visit was even more special because I staged two shows of our English play Alipha: and the memories rushed back of a time when I would be staging a play almost once every three months. The halls as beautiful and the audience as well-behaved. No one picking up his or her mobile phone and screaming Advani or Sonia. Just watching what they've come to watch intently and with the respect it deserves.

Sometimes, only sometimes, I wish we could throw the residents out of Delhi and replace them with Kolkatans. The purging would mean so much to all of us. But then when one ponders, one is gratified that Kolkata is still a city of remarkable joy. Of prose and passion. Of poetry and phuchka. Of people and, thankfully, no prejudices.

jyotirmoy

"Sometimes, only sometimes, I wish we could throw the residents out of Delhi and replace them with Kolkatans. The purging would mean so much to all of us. But then when one ponders, one is gratified that Kolkata is still a city of remarkable joy. Of prose and passion. Of poetry and phuchka. Of people and, thankfully, no prejudices."
Of films and theatres,"addas" at street corners... bonhomie & all that... I love my Kolkata

Grantaustralia

Beautiful response Jyoti
It is for this reason that a place where I spent but three days out of a 30 day holiday now warants 8 days out of my next 25 holiday.

jyotirmoy

Do visit the old part of the city that is the northern part... I have described these places in another post... the ruins of the grand Victorian mansions, Roman style windows & shutters, statues etc. on the banks of the Ganga. Get in touch with Somnath....there are many hidden treasures & above all feel the warmth of the people.

natasha chanda acharya

Lucky woman don't despair. You'll make it. Inshahallah!

neeleem

I spent 5 beautiful years of my life in Kolkata and all this talk just makes me so nostalgic about those days. Oh don't I love my Kolkata? I am now so much looking forward to being there in December!