Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Calcutta
Calcutta is something which I never thought of before. It's clean, smart, stylish, full of life and open spaces…and yeah those yellow mini elephants moving at great speed (may be because kahin dheere hui to ruk na jaaaye)
With only a day at this majestic place, I agree with Mirza Ghalib's remark that if I hadn't been a family man, I would have struck all cords and proceeded towards Calcutta. Where else would you find such an amalgamation of thoughts and peoples and legacies which make Calcutta a real – a really really real Cosmopolitan.
Paramhansa museum is perhaps the most beautiful example of display I have seen till date. The displays successfully convey to you the message with utmost sanctity and reverence.
The red flooring on the dakshineshwar temple complex really put me back in time. It was a standard around a decade and a half ago and evoked a lot of my memories.
Rubu slept through the entire sound and light show at the Victoria Garden as vessels of East India Struck the coast of Calcutta and their empire extended and so did their atrocities. And finally we got independence and there were an all round rejoice. But looking at how things were going, I was actually sad by this sudden obstruction called independence. I wonder what India would have become if these terrific people had stayed say 50 years more. We would have had much more of architecture and many more Lansdownes. The show was effective as most of these are…succeeding to take you back in time and actually "seeing" it all without actually "seeing" anything. Imagination is more powerful than knowledge. I agree.
The roar of the engines of last night's Indian Airlines 42 seater (no class difference – all seats were alike 2 on each side) cute little aircraft (it's small size made me remember our GNSPL's days at GKII – it looked like I was flying with my family and friends) is still fresh – I had the wing window which was below the aircraft's wing so I had the full view of the engine and rotating blades. Another cute thing about this cute white (its color was very similar to the old Godrej refrigerators – smooth white!) aircraft was that it stood so close to the ground that it did not need external staircase vehicle. The doors doubled up as stairs when opened – hardly 6-7 steps got you to the ground.
Getting a taxi back to hotel today after the light and sound show wasn't difficult. A bearded gentleman got us back from the 6 km stretch for a mere 50 Rs – and I remember how I was demanded Rs 150/- by a crooked one this morning. Happy I choose a vehicle for full day. Delhi must encourage its fleet of ambassadors to be more user friendly. It's good to travel by ambassador as against the "ab palta aur tab palta" auto.
Here I am in my room trying to work on Gaurav's suggestion to try hand at blogging. I did not want any other emotion to dilute today's impressions so I want to key it down asap. I can still feel the illuminated Howrah Bridge in dashing futuristic purple color, I can hear the sounds of Robert Clive's vessels making it to Indian shore, buildings getting erected on the soil of hindoostan, Calcutta being sold to East India Company for 1300 rs, sitar being played, a culture flourishing…I feel it all happening, I wish I was there, or may I had been there... may be my soul made a stopover there… and may be it still carries those impressions…who knows! The surface has changed and so I try to look at its reflection in the flowing waters of hooghly to know more - because it knows it all. It has seen it all!
With only a day at this majestic place, I agree with Mirza Ghalib's remark that if I hadn't been a family man, I would have struck all cords and proceeded towards Calcutta. Where else would you find such an amalgamation of thoughts and peoples and legacies which make Calcutta a real – a really really real Cosmopolitan.
Paramhansa museum is perhaps the most beautiful example of display I have seen till date. The displays successfully convey to you the message with utmost sanctity and reverence.
The red flooring on the dakshineshwar temple complex really put me back in time. It was a standard around a decade and a half ago and evoked a lot of my memories.
Rubu slept through the entire sound and light show at the Victoria Garden as vessels of East India Struck the coast of Calcutta and their empire extended and so did their atrocities. And finally we got independence and there were an all round rejoice. But looking at how things were going, I was actually sad by this sudden obstruction called independence. I wonder what India would have become if these terrific people had stayed say 50 years more. We would have had much more of architecture and many more Lansdownes. The show was effective as most of these are…succeeding to take you back in time and actually "seeing" it all without actually "seeing" anything. Imagination is more powerful than knowledge. I agree.
The roar of the engines of last night's Indian Airlines 42 seater (no class difference – all seats were alike 2 on each side) cute little aircraft (it's small size made me remember our GNSPL's days at GKII – it looked like I was flying with my family and friends) is still fresh – I had the wing window which was below the aircraft's wing so I had the full view of the engine and rotating blades. Another cute thing about this cute white (its color was very similar to the old Godrej refrigerators – smooth white!) aircraft was that it stood so close to the ground that it did not need external staircase vehicle. The doors doubled up as stairs when opened – hardly 6-7 steps got you to the ground.
Getting a taxi back to hotel today after the light and sound show wasn't difficult. A bearded gentleman got us back from the 6 km stretch for a mere 50 Rs – and I remember how I was demanded Rs 150/- by a crooked one this morning. Happy I choose a vehicle for full day. Delhi must encourage its fleet of ambassadors to be more user friendly. It's good to travel by ambassador as against the "ab palta aur tab palta" auto.
Here I am in my room trying to work on Gaurav's suggestion to try hand at blogging. I did not want any other emotion to dilute today's impressions so I want to key it down asap. I can still feel the illuminated Howrah Bridge in dashing futuristic purple color, I can hear the sounds of Robert Clive's vessels making it to Indian shore, buildings getting erected on the soil of hindoostan, Calcutta being sold to East India Company for 1300 rs, sitar being played, a culture flourishing…I feel it all happening, I wish I was there, or may I had been there... may be my soul made a stopover there… and may be it still carries those impressions…who knows! The surface has changed and so I try to look at its reflection in the flowing waters of hooghly to know more - because it knows it all. It has seen it all!
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