A love letter to Kolkata – the timeless city and The City of Joy. – Pratyush Parashar Das

 

While it is common knowledge that contradictions and opposites are but a way of life, one does not truly get to experience the same in today’s rapidly shifting world, where time, in the words of the popular refrain, seems to fly by on wings, leaving everyone and everything behind, rendering the history and culture of a person or place almost too misty or foggy to recollect.

Nonetheless, there are some places in the world today, where time appears to be standing still, surveying some far-off memory of its existence, where one feels no need to travel at just beyond the speed of light to travel back in time and where the heady and beautiful mix of contradictions create a beautiful symphony, even in their chaos.

One such city, which I’m going to speak about or talk about is the city which has been my home for the past 22 years of my life now, a city where well-and-smartly clad ‘babus’ and ‘memsahibs’ (men and women), and people belonging to the fluid genders (LGBTQ+), rub shoulders with the common folk at the various tea-stalls of the city arguing about everything from the best way to wear a saree for an event to the latest political developments in the state and the country; a city where fashionable sedans occasionally pale in comparison to the venerable and long-serving ambassador-taxis, a city where the decorative mochas and lattes face stiff competition from kettle-made teas, a city where urbane living accommodations and the houses of old, some dating back  to the zamindari times hold their own sway and so on and so forth.

The reader will forgive me for my abrupt cessation for, if I were so permitted, I would continued to name the very contradictions I have spoken about in the passages above.

Kolkata is one of the few cities in India, along with Lucknow, Delhi, etc, which proudly and stubbornly refuses to let go of its heritage, while embracing and adapting to the modern changes it has undergone throughout the decades.

The beauty of the city lies in its ability to make its residents and even its occasional tourists fall in love with it, by the sheer virtue of its timelessness, such as for instance, the way New Market is still crowded during or before special occasions such as Durga Puja or Pujo, as it is simply known here, Eid, Diwali, Christmas, etc and so on and so forth, with people and the hawkers and shoppers alike clamouring amongst themselves as to the prices of the commodities etc even as the modern establishments like South City Mall on Prince Anwar Shah Road, City Centre 1 in DD-Block, Saltlake, Mani Square located a bus stop away from the Apollo Gleneagles hospital on the Eastern Metropolitan or EM Bypass Road, Pantaloons in Kangurkachi, etc see just as many people during or before special  occasions, as well as throughout the year.

Other instances include some of its heritage monuments or buildings like the Victoria Memorial, built by our former colonial rulers as a memorial to the Queen, it is named after, which sees a lot of footfall every day, thronged as it by school children, college-going students, couples young and old, and just friends looking to have a good time; we then have the historic or iconic Maidan  grounds located near the Victoria Memorial, which is similarly thronged by the abovementioned types of people, and a popular spot for picnics and the like as well, especially during the winter season and so on and so forth.

As for other heritage buildings, one has the LIC building on Surendra Nath Banerjee Road, which houses the Life Insurance Corporation, the Stephen Court House on Park Street (a heritage street in itself, known formerly in the British Era because of the variety of parks there which is now known as the party and nightlife street of Kolkata due to the variety of clubs and restaurants there) and so on and so forth. One also has the Bow Barracks in Bow bazar, which had been built by the British for their soldiers as their quarters, and which is now occupied by families both old and new, with the former spanning several generations from before WW2 itself. We also have quite a few other buildings which are just as old such as Fort William, a military base for our former colonial rulers, Rabi Thankur's house in Jorasanko, the zamindari houses along with other equally grand houses of North Kolkata and so on and forth; the list is simply never ending. 

Yet another thing which is Kolkata is known for its food and sweetmeats, which have survived the ravages of time, and continue to serve the city faithfully, making their patrons and customers lick their lips in eager appreciation of the next sinfully delightful sweet; in fact, some of these sweet shops go back quite a few generations, as they are family businesses. The same can be said for some of the bakeries like Nahoum’s for instance, which is more than over a century old and still uses the tried-and-tested techniques taught to its preceding generations of owners, as such, it is one of the most heavily crowded shops during the Yule Tide Season.

One also has establishments like Mocambo located on Park Street which have been around for more than 50 years or so and is a favourite of both the young and old, which is accompanied by The Peter Cat, which is known for its signature chelo kabab dish, a one course dish that fills one’s stomach, with just barely some room for dessert, speaking of which one cannot do without mentioning the Flurrys outlet, which has been around for a long time as well.

When it comes to snacks, one has the iconic Coffee House, which has existed since much before WW2, and which was a favourite gathering place for intellectuals, students and the notable celebrities of the times, where the aforementioned parties would sit for hours and discuss a variety of things, then one had the Mitra café and so on and so forth.

The truth is, there are so many other things which I could simply go on speaking or talking about, that I may just never stop writing, such as the beauty of the bathing ghats which are an ecosystem in themselves, the myriad modes of public transport such as the buses, the autorickshaws, the old-fashioned Victorias (hand-pulled rickshaws), the ambassador taxis, the subway, the steamers and other vessels plying between the portions of the city located on either side of the Howrah-Hoogly and of course the iconic tram and so on and so forth. 

However, that is something I shall perhaps do some day, another time, for there are some things about Kolkata which one can experience only when one really comes here, or travels the city on foot or by local or public transport; as such, I leave those experiences solely for the reader, who will I’m sure love to experience those things in person.

Until then, I wish for all of my readers and their families to be in the very prime of their health, and thus I take my leave.