Saturday, May 22, 2010

my sojourn in Calcutta

Had gone to Calcutta in April for 2 and a half days.. Really njoyed.. U know - when u go to a new city you usually feel alien.. but here was a city in which everyone was speaking my mother tongue(Bengali) and greeting everyone as "Dada" and "Boudi" which is different and a relief from the typical Delhi - "bhaiya" and "bhabhiji"

Infrastructure has improved tremendously since i last saw it (10 years back).. roads much better and expansion of the metro.. (first in India)..

Kolkatta has a rich history.. The British came here and made their capital here till 1910 so people from this region tend to think and act intellectually.. i mean West Bengal is the only place that can boast of people like Amartya Sen, J.C Bose, Satyajit Ray (one of the few Indians to win and oscar) and many of the like..

Went to a lot of my relatives place whose children are apparently my second cousins and had a really nice time getting to know them and exchanging pleasantries..

Must say was really nice to have some new fresh faces of relatives..

Almost all our relatives fed us something .. so we ended up having a lot of maach (fish), mishti (sweets) and in all kinds of preparations..

Just luvved the feel of the place - the "Bengaliness"

I feel no Bengali person can ever feel like an outsider in this city.. The city just embraces you and takes you within it till u feel like you're a part of it..