To the spirit of Kolkata & its joie de vivre

...glued to the sights and sounds of the city, the North India based writer of this post living paralleled to colours and conundrums of the city. 

 

On a dewy petrichor of the post-rain afternoon

Kolkata was before her as a land of promise

A fusion of modernity and old school - unpolished. 

And, as the days passed…

Nudging her towards the art of free - wheeling conversation 

often prolonged;

that comes naturally to every bong*. 

 

Encouraging her – the river Hooghly 

To move forward

To have a soul that welcomes deep healing. 

 

The city, where her bhalo naam*

is as common as her daak naam*

Anushree - the roots of the name has Bengal fame. 

 

Remembrance of her mother’s amber blushed tea

On summer afternoon sultry

Nothing could remind her of Meerut more

…here after all - all are cha-khors*!

 

True...that her dadi’s gujiya* was second to none

But here she ferociously devoured herself on the sourness of the desserts

Peculiar were the taste…but so were the other things.

 

There were;

The Feluda series…delighting the adventure seeker in her

The Boi mela*…delighting the bookworm in her

The Bandor Topi*…cushioning the thin blooded like her

The Madhyamik*…engaging the philomath in her

 

Yellow were the cabs

And, so was she wrapped in colour of basant

The kind of yellow - of warmth of thousand splendid Sun

The kind of yellow that shows that the world may be blushy pink, envious green, gloomy grey, icy blue, but it could never ever be an impenetrable black!

 

And as more days passed by- she was witness to

That huge wave of humanity and human emotion

the day Durga Puja bisorjan happened

Humbling was the experience

As she too left behind her roots

 

…With the belief

Sighroi abar dekha hobe*.

............................................................ 

*Bong: A slang term for Bengalis

*Bhalo naam: Proper name used for official purpose

*Daak Naam : Pet name

*Cha-khors : Lovers of tea

*Gujiya : Indian sweet

*The Boi mela : Book fair 

*Bandor Topi : Monkey cap 

*Madhyamik : Examinations

* Sighroi abar dekha hobe : See you soon

PHOTO CREDIT- GOOGLE

 

Selfie

Selfie.

Don't pretend you don't agree. It's everywhere, just almost everywhere! BuzzFeed is talking about it, people are spoofing it, in fact, everyone's been talking to you about it.

Exploring it a bit further, I thought, does selfie limits itself to just taking and posting pretty grins, guffaws, arched eyebrow, pout. I researched. And, well, actually yes! Most selfies grins and guffaws and pouts.

But, one fine night, when I took yet another selfie , I thought it to be imperfect. There has to be more to me than just a face. I didn't struggle much to think further and slept.

Next morning, while reading newspaper, a print commercial caught my attention which somewhere in between said" Do what makes you happy inside. Do what makes you jump out of bed. Be real. Be yourself. It was of Jabong. http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/41977_Jabong-will-remain-Jabong (cannot help sharing) :-)

Then, I realized, this is what my selfie should say - selfie which changes with each passing day on a colourful canvas called life.

The day when I feel the bursts of bright red, flaming hot and high, appearing from the unseen depths of the heart, urging to conquer the world.

And, as this red colour retreats as fast as it comes, there would be days of dark, somber grey- weighing down on the heart, for a humdrum existence. But I would go on anyway. And as reward  of the determination to carry on, this grey fades, shade by shade, to a steely grey and then voila! - daffodil yellow!

The kind of yellow - of warmth of thousand splendid Sun-  making me feel thankful for what I have and for days to come. The kind of yellow that shows that the world may be blushy pink, envious green, gloomy grey, icy blue, but it could never ever be an impenetrable black!

So, today, one more time, I had dipped my brush and took a selfie. Canvas of life exploded in a rainbow as usual.