A City you just might fall in love with
There are very few cities that I love like I love my hometown of Calcutta. A huge part of it is simply because I spent 18 long years here before moving out in search of greener pastures a lot is also because of the city itself. This city has a heart that beats, and an endearing nature unparalleled in most cities at least in this country.
Unlike Delhi it simply couldn’t care less who you were in terms of status, power or money but is more bothered about the value systems and character that you are made up of.
Unlike Bombay it has time for itself and others and is not lost in a mad rush having no idea where it’s going. It does not move fast simply for the thrill of it but rather savours every moment of this journey we call life.
Unlike Chennai it doesn’t make outsiders feel out of place at every given opportunity but welcomes them and in its genial nature makes everyone a part of one big whole.
This is also not a city where you can come as a tourist for even a week and feel u know something about the city. You could have seen it but you wouldn’t have known it. As Tagore once puts it aptly “Tate chena shuno hoy, jana shuno hoy na”
Anyway so it has always been a dream of mine to take this one amazing lady I will meet, around my city, following which she will fall in love with both me and my city and then we ll make movies about us!
Since, “I dream about movies they won’t make of me when I’m dead” I ll be very glad to take any friend of mine around this city on a totally platonic platform (absolutely non romantic for me if that’s what u want but I can’t guarantee u won’t fall in love with the city) and make u experience if possible what makes this city to difficult to forget.
Unlike Delhi it simply couldn’t care less who you were in terms of status, power or money but is more bothered about the value systems and character that you are made up of.
Unlike Bombay it has time for itself and others and is not lost in a mad rush having no idea where it’s going. It does not move fast simply for the thrill of it but rather savours every moment of this journey we call life.
Unlike Chennai it doesn’t make outsiders feel out of place at every given opportunity but welcomes them and in its genial nature makes everyone a part of one big whole.
This is also not a city where you can come as a tourist for even a week and feel u know something about the city. You could have seen it but you wouldn’t have known it. As Tagore once puts it aptly “Tate chena shuno hoy, jana shuno hoy na”
Anyway so it has always been a dream of mine to take this one amazing lady I will meet, around my city, following which she will fall in love with both me and my city and then we ll make movies about us!
Since, “I dream about movies they won’t make of me when I’m dead” I ll be very glad to take any friend of mine around this city on a totally platonic platform (absolutely non romantic for me if that’s what u want but I can’t guarantee u won’t fall in love with the city) and make u experience if possible what makes this city to difficult to forget.
posted by Abilin Mukherjee at 3:29 AM
8 Comments:
would love to feel the pulse of calcutta one day.. with you.. at an obviously platonic level :))
but, i wouldnt venture out to be that partisan.. each city has its own charm, and in the eyes of this wanderlust, all places are equal.
You wait till I blog on Goaaa! :)
On a serious note, after staying 12+ yrs in B'lore, 3+ yrs in Delhi, 6 yrs in Chennai... I can safely say every place has its plusses and minuses...
Hmm, well cant really comment too much on Cal for the simple reason that I have never stayed there. Have been to that place 3-4 times and I have always liked it. I have got to roam only the well-known places like Esplanade, Salt Lake (this is where I stayed) etc. The only thing I dont like abt Cal is that its quite dirty! Hope sth is done abt that.
Well .. I have also stayed in Cal for almost 20 years but I dont have this kind of a romantic attachment to that place. I guess I look at the physical / non-romantic aspects more. If you ask me, the attitude of the people, the potholes, the communists, the rallies, the traffic jams, the sluggish pace of the city.
I guess, in a way, it is really possible to romanticise any place, but what matters more is how comfortable it makes people .. and how many of them!
Inspite of all the "the potholes, the communists, the rallies, the traffic jams, the sluggish pace of the city" that you mentioned sriram, there is something about Calcutta that sets it apart. I lived there almost all my growing years, did my school and college from there, and cursed all those things that you mentioned every single day. But now that I am away I miss everything, including those blasted things that make life miserable. I think they bring out the character of a place. And it takes darkness to bring out the light. Right?
BIG CITY Dynamism: CHICAGO vs NYC vs LA, KOLKOTTA vs MUMBAI vs CHENNAI and the list simply goes on.
Give me a place with a beach or something which over compensates my love for it and I shall not complain.
I must admit I've started to hate big cities, I want to resort to some small city: PUNE isn't a bad idea but LA is what I'm looking at.
Speak to ya later...
I have completly no clue hy I am writing but this blog somehow complelled me to. Your fascination for calcutta grows out from the fact you have lived your life here, but for me the attraction is compeltly different, I have never stayed in that place for more than a week, still I am completly in love with it. I guess now I have reasons to like it, since my guy is from that city, and I guess your dream of taking somebody around is a replica of mine and beleive me I am gonna do it soon, so be happy atleast this dream will be fulfilled.
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