Saturday, September 10, 2011

Thought provoking Kol

how much do the things we read affect us or form impressions about places for us. for kolkata we always hear about its enchantic, charming style and as a child we had impressions from movies/books about her. I visited Kolkata again for 2 days last week and tried to reconnect with the romanticism in buildings that i felt during my maiden visit and may be later as well. Some part of me was adamant that yes Kolkata is truly charming staying in its old days deciding to move ahead but not as fast as its other counterparts across the country. while the other part kept on rejecting this brainwave saying you have heard so much and its all in ur mind; kolkata is just like any other city that you have visited. I can distinctly remember my maiden visit there sometime in june 1998. Our train reached early morning, crossing the howrah bridge and passing the heritage buildings I was highly affected by its charm. This is the feeling that i go through when we used to arrive during early mornings at my mom's hometown. The city/rather should call it a township with significant history attached to it waking up to the day...the rickshaws/tongas on the road, people sweeping outside their homes, half the windows open, half shut. The misty/dew rich early morning smells always had made me smile. Unfortunately this time I wasn't able to see the city in early morning/daylight but next time I will make sure I do. ********************** Something else that a city like Kolkata/Jabalpur for me brings to me is the feeling of being rooted.Since i first left home for engg it has always been living at various places with limited control on how and with whom I live-hostels etc. Also the places have shifted so fast that there is feeling of belonging to nowhere. All the homes/cities are temporary and now my nature has become so adjusted to temporariness that its hard to find a place to belong to - which creates some disturbances but can't be helped. The wait of the next big thing to happen has added to the fickleness. Though I am not sure I would be at peace even with a place to settle in permanently.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:07 AM

    I so relate to the feeling of having no roots... Buls

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  2. Well , slow progress is dedicated to Left Governance. As far as the feeling of no roots... i guess such background does give you buckets of memories which are priceless, and der is a lifetime to get tht sense of belongingness ahead as well... its upto us if we can really do that.

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  3. Fundoo! I could visualize Kolkota while reading this :)

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  4. @buls: we travel in same boat
    @mysterio: every coin has two sides :)
    @jani: thanks :)

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