Cal ho na ho – II : College Street
The plan was to catch the metro back to MG Road as
we had to go to College street. Now that is a street where you get hawkers more
educated and savant than your aunt and your literature teacher, peddling books
at dirt cheap rates. One look at the place and I knew why Cal was so full of ‘babu
moshais’ for-ever lost in the intricacies of the written word. Only the
traditional dhoti has been replaced with jeans I guess.
Otherwise the babu moshais can still be found sniffing for
their cherished treasure at College street like fish swarms sniffing food
through coral reefs. Wow!
Hey…but wait! I forgot to tell the most lovely part of the experience. We entered a sweet-meat…aww chuck…a mithai shop at the metro station and then began a sweet-gobbling game that resembled a child’s foray into a toy shop. Akshay and Lalith kept pointing at sweets just when it seemed we were done, the shop-keeper kept dishing them out and I kept rushing back from the wash-sink to partake in the latest booty. I washed hands 5 times there! And yes…the metro proved to be exactly as boring as it looks in Japanese flicks.
Now one thought had been nagging me since Lalith had told me we would be visiting College street. The street had to be near some college, right? So I discovered to my surprise that College street was indeed near a college. And what college…Presidency College of Calcutta! Gosh! The same one I had read about in almost all history and freedom struggle books. I was really overwhelmed; so much so that I got Akshay to formally register my introduction with Presidency College using my Nikon. You surely can’t underplay the importance of that pic, can you?
A side story. We managed to blow…umm…spend some 1000 bucks on books at college street, thanks to Lalith’s age-old still-going-strong, Akshay’s new-found and my dormant love for literature and books! Hope my parents are not reading this…Brr!
I had decided ‘no more’ at the third book. The last picture I took when I reached my room in XL shows five! Hi…meet me! What did you say…Impulse what?
Park Street. ITC building. A museum closed on … guess…Mondays. Dammit! And then Lalith finally found the Drive-Inn he was looking for after he had paraded us for 30 mins in all directions. We lost him twice in this period and decided not to dump him. Of course it had nothing to with his knowing the food jaunts! Drive-Inn was great. Not just the food, the starters and the drink but also the eating area and the sink that allowed me to wash Calcutta off my face. We had a strong feeling it was the jaunt of all the fresh MBA recruits in the nearby banks…StanC et al. You can take one look and tell them apart.
I concocted a course that filled us amply, took care of the taste buds and also made us leave food in the plate. All for 120 bucks per head! I really think I must get into tourism business…what say?
We dragged ourselves to Park Street and savoured Barista while Lalith roamed in Oxford bookstore. I had already vowed not to look at anymore books and yet I entered for some time. The receptionist saw our laptop bag and asked, ‘laptop?’. ‘No…books’ we replied. Then he saw my school bag. ‘More books’ I added with relish. Poor chap. Must have wondered what the hell were we doing stepping into a bookstore with 15 kgs of books as luggage.
Lalith and I left Akshay at Barista with his cousin while we searched for Sourav’s, the restaurant opened by the Prince. It was nice to look at. We had plans to catch the ferry for Howrah and we did so. The ride was an experience. Howrah bridge was all decorated and lit up. The river bank of Calcutta was beautiful.
As I was roaming outside the Howrah station, I was struck by something. Cal was so much a family city. None of the passers-by seemed alone. A close-knit unit was apparent everywhere. I remembered Mumbai crowd at VT. Each man so lonely, like drops marching separately in a sea. I don’t know what’s the reason or even if this perception I had is true but that is what I felt. What else can I say?
And yes…as we were having our dinner from the packed fried-rice and chicken-chowmein, a lady came begging for food. She actually looked into the empty polythene that we had used to carry our food. She went away empty handed and possibly empty stomached. And immediately it struck me! No beggar actually looks for food. They want money. This lady was really hungry. I rushed after her. She had turned left. I did not find her anywhere in the vicinity. Something inside me wanted to give her enough to buy a dinner. Dammit…I never found her again! When I turned back, I found Akshay too looking around. We looked at each other and came back…very empty handed.
Lastly, I discovered that station platforms are amazing conversation facilitators, but only for one-to-one conversation. While in Jampot the day we had started the trip, Lalith and Akshay had talked for an hour on so many issues about their life, I talked to Lalith for the same duration at Howrah, platform 21. And don’t ask me the issues…for there were so many!
The out-of-box experience ended peacefully with the hunters returning to their dens in GH-3, XLRI and the soccer city explored. Hmm…the hunter is contented!
Hey…but wait! I forgot to tell the most lovely part of the experience. We entered a sweet-meat…aww chuck…a mithai shop at the metro station and then began a sweet-gobbling game that resembled a child’s foray into a toy shop. Akshay and Lalith kept pointing at sweets just when it seemed we were done, the shop-keeper kept dishing them out and I kept rushing back from the wash-sink to partake in the latest booty. I washed hands 5 times there! And yes…the metro proved to be exactly as boring as it looks in Japanese flicks.
Now one thought had been nagging me since Lalith had told me we would be visiting College street. The street had to be near some college, right? So I discovered to my surprise that College street was indeed near a college. And what college…Presidency College of Calcutta! Gosh! The same one I had read about in almost all history and freedom struggle books. I was really overwhelmed; so much so that I got Akshay to formally register my introduction with Presidency College using my Nikon. You surely can’t underplay the importance of that pic, can you?
A side story. We managed to blow…umm…spend some 1000 bucks on books at college street, thanks to Lalith’s age-old still-going-strong, Akshay’s new-found and my dormant love for literature and books! Hope my parents are not reading this…Brr!
I had decided ‘no more’ at the third book. The last picture I took when I reached my room in XL shows five! Hi…meet me! What did you say…Impulse what?
Park Street. ITC building. A museum closed on … guess…Mondays. Dammit! And then Lalith finally found the Drive-Inn he was looking for after he had paraded us for 30 mins in all directions. We lost him twice in this period and decided not to dump him. Of course it had nothing to with his knowing the food jaunts! Drive-Inn was great. Not just the food, the starters and the drink but also the eating area and the sink that allowed me to wash Calcutta off my face. We had a strong feeling it was the jaunt of all the fresh MBA recruits in the nearby banks…StanC et al. You can take one look and tell them apart.
I concocted a course that filled us amply, took care of the taste buds and also made us leave food in the plate. All for 120 bucks per head! I really think I must get into tourism business…what say?
We dragged ourselves to Park Street and savoured Barista while Lalith roamed in Oxford bookstore. I had already vowed not to look at anymore books and yet I entered for some time. The receptionist saw our laptop bag and asked, ‘laptop?’. ‘No…books’ we replied. Then he saw my school bag. ‘More books’ I added with relish. Poor chap. Must have wondered what the hell were we doing stepping into a bookstore with 15 kgs of books as luggage.
Lalith and I left Akshay at Barista with his cousin while we searched for Sourav’s, the restaurant opened by the Prince. It was nice to look at. We had plans to catch the ferry for Howrah and we did so. The ride was an experience. Howrah bridge was all decorated and lit up. The river bank of Calcutta was beautiful.
As I was roaming outside the Howrah station, I was struck by something. Cal was so much a family city. None of the passers-by seemed alone. A close-knit unit was apparent everywhere. I remembered Mumbai crowd at VT. Each man so lonely, like drops marching separately in a sea. I don’t know what’s the reason or even if this perception I had is true but that is what I felt. What else can I say?
And yes…as we were having our dinner from the packed fried-rice and chicken-chowmein, a lady came begging for food. She actually looked into the empty polythene that we had used to carry our food. She went away empty handed and possibly empty stomached. And immediately it struck me! No beggar actually looks for food. They want money. This lady was really hungry. I rushed after her. She had turned left. I did not find her anywhere in the vicinity. Something inside me wanted to give her enough to buy a dinner. Dammit…I never found her again! When I turned back, I found Akshay too looking around. We looked at each other and came back…very empty handed.
Lastly, I discovered that station platforms are amazing conversation facilitators, but only for one-to-one conversation. While in Jampot the day we had started the trip, Lalith and Akshay had talked for an hour on so many issues about their life, I talked to Lalith for the same duration at Howrah, platform 21. And don’t ask me the issues…for there were so many!
The out-of-box experience ended peacefully with the hunters returning to their dens in GH-3, XLRI and the soccer city explored. Hmm…the hunter is contented!
Comments