Kolkata - The City of Joy

Kolkata, the city of Joy is well known for the extensive British rule, Howrah Bridge, huge literature collection, toothsome delicacies and rich art and culture.

 I am sure you must be pretty aware about them, but this post is not about it. This post is about what I felt and saw there in my recent short visit to Kolkata.

It started when one fine day I thought of having an early morning walk in the streets of Kolkata. I have had some amazing time that day. As I began walking I heard voices of small kids rehearsing music. I tried to peek a little from the window corner and saw children practicing on harmonium and tabla, I was amazed seeing the enthusiasm of those kids. This place still tightly holds its roots. What a great start of the day!
I moved a little forward and saw young boys playing football on the ground. Each of of them drowned in sweat, but still not losing the game spirit. Kolkata has always been more inclined towards football than cricket.

Even in the morning the roads are quite lively and everyone seems to be in a rush. This time is commonly known as 'office time', when men and women are mostly in the race to board the local train, metro or bus. Few people were opening the shutters of their shops,  while other few shops and  restaurants already started and people were waiting for their turn. I managed to get into a restaurant making my way through the crowd. It wasn't a five star hotel, but strangely there was a massive crowd. The restaurant was quite interesting there were many calenders stuck on the wall also a huge picture of Rabindra Nath Tagore and it played radio in very high volume. I saw most people eating luchi and aalur dom (puri and dum aalu) while others sipping the hot tea and having bread toast as their breakfast. Some were in hurry scrolling the phone screen, while others  were leisurely reading morning newspaper and sipping hot tea. It’s terribly amazing that a place can have chaos and peace at the same time. I struggled my way to get a seat under the ceiling fan but I pathetically failed, so I had to sit in the left corner of the room, which wasn't bad either. I had a cup of cutting chai and great time observing people and their demeanor.

I came out of the place and then walked towards The Ganga ghat. The place is majestic. The shimmering brimming water is extremely delightful. There were people having a great time swimming. Some people were clicking photographs, painting pictures, reading books, while few like me were simply sitting and acknowledging the beauty. The ambience was immensely tranquilizing. There was a beautiful union of peace, romance and art. I didn’t want to leave that place because it was worth more recognition.  

kolkata has made me fond of it. It has far more to explore than just remembering the history. There's chaos, there's crowd, that's pollution, there's traffic, and probably everything that is quite common in a metropolitan city, but without any doubt I can still sense a strong feeling of satisfaction in everyone's face. They don't complain about the world and frankly, they don't even care about the world. People here are living several lives and they are abundantly relishing every episode of their life.

This time Kolkata has made me see a different face of it, which cannot be seen if you don't take a break from your hectic life. If people get some time and see the world like I did, am sure life would be a lot different, because there are more important things to do than what people do all day.

Love

Raneeta

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