Calcuttan romance.

Calcuttan Romance.

And as most short romances start in the Coffee House of Calcutta, so did mine. In those sultry sweaty days of June, when a tourist like me falls in love with The City of Joy for perhaps the millionth time, considering it's almost been a second home ever since my childhood remembers. 

But the city shows you different lights with every age that you cross and every age that you reach. 

And then, I was at the most crisp and flirtatious years of lady hood... Recently legal-ed 18, fresh into first year college, exploring an old love, the city that played sweet games with my childhood and promised to watch me grow every year with every train I took to Calcutta. 

So as virgin memory has it, I entered the old huge Coffee House with every wall smiling an Old School time when friends would meet over coffee and biscuits to talk in the simplest way about the simplest Calcuttan life... And the tables and chairs smiled to those very friends, now a little grey and wrinkled, still sitting on those tables, still sharing the same cups of coffee and biscuits, talking in the simplest and fondest way about the still simplest Calcuttan life... See, that was the beauty of this place. It took you back in time just enough for you to blink back to reality and cheer a cup of coffee to those immortal friendships you saw your very own grandfather talk merrily about... Sigh. The Coffee House was the heart of Calcutta where it would somehow entangle every story behind every face with every new face that walked in anxiously, to realize what they heard of this old building was not overrated, and will forever remain a legendary cult, for reasons as old as their great grand fathers… and my face was one of those, and my story was one of those, too that intertwined with him,  who sat three tables away in a red Polo tee shirt with a friend stubbing a dead cigarette over and over again and shaking his head with laughter. However this boy... with the red tee shirt and a goatee that complimented the subtle typical boyish smile seemed to be peeking over at my table, concluded with a sudden withdrawal of his eyes when mine met his, accidentally. With the immediate rush of blood to both our cheeks, the blush laughed out loud, reminding me so much of those little flings and crushes we girls giggled over in our early teenage.. I ordered my usual choice, a cold coffee and subsided to looking down; with ridiculously pretentious fascination to the photographs I took during the whole day of acting touristy. My head was mocking me, telling me just how obvious my fake interest reflected my pursed lips that trembled, controlling a smile. If the smile escaped, my eyes would run and look up, to find my strange romance staring back at me... Or maybe it was wishful thinking, the girl in me swooned. I abandoned all the silly thoughts and concentrated on the menu, deciding what to order along with the Frappe.

My Frappe made its way with the Coffee House signature white, thin straw and as if unconscious to the guarded side of me, I looked up, to exchange yet another look that was complimented with shy smiles from both ends.

As I sipped to my cold coffee, letting go of the occasional smiles that slipped by every time the corner of my eye would catch him looking my way, openly ignoring his friend’s rant, I felt the magic of this ancient building take over me, too. And twenty minutes later, when I paid my cheque and rose to leave, I looked back one last time at the boy who nodded a smile at me, which I returned with a small wave that nobody noticed, but him. And I left. It was as simple as that. I left to discover my old love some more, to see what the initial Capital, Calcutta held and hid in it… and I smiled back at the old rickety board that bore its chest out with pride with The Indian Coffee House written in italics, which welcomed every stranger and every friend. I started walking ahead, smiling to the sweetness of this short romance that lasted a dozen of minutes but was sweeter than the complicated and elaborate definitions I’d seen back at home... This was the City of Joy, and this was my Calcuttan Romance. 

 

Awaiting your feedbacks as always!

-Nil.

 

And now it's time to face the music... :)

And I was right. This trip to Calcutta was all I needed to get my feet back on the ground firmly and hold the chains of control in my own hands.. This trip ladies and gentlemen, was offbeat and a far cry from all the experiences of travel I'd had till now. This trip let me fly and discover that one city which brings a smile on my face every time I hear of it, and damn.. It was home :)

Starting from the to-die-for 'lebon' tea to the Indian Coffee House, to Howra, to Princep Ghat, to Lake Kali bari, Gariya haat, College street, Park street, Oly's, Some Place Else, Nandan, Beduin, Aminia, Camac street, Old Calcutta, Eden garden, Red road, Park circus..and so many other places that I can't even remember at this very moment. I saw all of it! With two of my very favorite crazy people :) ... I saw the city like never before, alone. 

Calcutta drove away my Writer's Block.. A romantic city like that is sure to.. I wrote a lot of fiction, few of which will find their way published on my blog.. few of which will remain locked up into the pages of my notebook for me alone to cherish :) 

Honestly, dear Readers, I thought I'd have a lot to say and talk about, once I'd be back, but I don't. 'Cause in some ways, this trip has taught me that smiling silently is much better than laughing aloud. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but sometimes, to take in an experience, the best way to make it last is to just keep it to yourself and smile. And leave it to that :-)

And now that I'm back in town, the usual business with my favorite ladies and ladas (I mean the boys) are on!  Went for lunch to this amazing Tibetan place yesterday with Rob and boy was it amazing or what! (Raima, if you're reading this- We both plan to take you out to this place as soon as you get here!) and the following week is full of Rem,Vanta,Guina,Shiv,Reddy with dates. Also, Maiden is here in delhi, so this is the official Partying Week. So the surreal fun is over at Cal and now it's time for me to face the music- Delhi :-)

So here are a few pictures that I took and which might help you get a whiff of the essence of this place, The City of Joy.. wait up for my next post- a fiction piece :)

Old Calcutta.

College Street.

Maidan.

- Love and revelations,

Nil.

I run away to Howrah.

Hello there, World!
I'm sorry to be updating like a retard, but honestly, so much has been up this Summer, and with me boycotting Delhi almost the whole of summer, I think bloggerville needs some explanation too :P

Oh and did I tell you lot I got a nose pierce?


So tomorrow, I'm off to Calcutta- yes, my much awaited trip.. My cousins (read: the party animals) are there already, waiting to receive me early morning at the airport =) I'm going to be gone for 10 days so brace yourselves for the insane memoir I'm going to write once I get back!
I've been waiting to go since about two years.. earlier,for other reasons, now- for different reasons. But I'm going all the same :-) I can't wait to see Hugli, to experience the night outs at Tantra, to have Beduin's fish chops, to sip on 'lebon tea', to go to College Street and buy tonnes of books and shoot there, I'm going to meet an oldddddd friend at the Coffee House (could it get better? ;)  and he has promised me to take me to a couple of places that are apparently out of bounds? Anyhow. Oh and my darling sister's there too, on her toes- waiting to get started on the catching up and shopping, while my metal head brother's promised us every night at Some Place Else with music that gets you high and makes you forget everything and most importantly, everybody.
This trip is going to be it. I can feel it. This trip is going to be exactly what I need to do away with every negative element in my body, and I'm going to come back as a fresher and newer person. A much happier person.

So while I go and pack my bags for the best ten days of my life, I want you guys to have a look at the last two fiction posts as I know I haven't given you guys enough time to do so considering I'm updating almost every day.
I promise to write about my City Of Joy as soon as I'm back!  Take care, my lovely readers! 153 Followers! I think I just hit heaven :-)

-Love and travel bags,

Yours only,

Nil. :-)

Stranger meets Stranger.

We sat opposite to each other, the stone cold marble table in between us with the prideful modernized menu which used to be laughed upon and ignored, earlier. But tastes change with circumstances, and so be it, today the menu was consulted and given due importance.
'Experiments.', I smiled.

The conscious train of conversations commenced, pouring out hues of nostalgia over the subtle smiles that hid a million words, that hid the curiosity to know some more about a life that used to be known so well, and by heart. With a perpetual guard of safe topics, our conversation complimented with unusual silence that spoke so much about an obvious gap, a break. It made us uncomfortable, and so another pointless fact from the environment around was noticed, brought into light and spoken about with ridiculous enthusiasm.
Quiet hints interspersed the pretentious repartee, sudden moments when we let our guards down and acknowledged the thousand memories we wove under the hot sun of May.
I noticed, the twinkle in his eyes was gone, and my talkative tongue resided to sweet slumber.

"Where do you go to my lovely,
when you're alone in your bed,
tell me the thoughts that surround you,
I want to look inside your head, yes I do.." , the juke box laughed in irony.

Fragments of conversation floated flirtatiously to the smell of coffee beans in the coffee house. And when it was time to go home, we rose, leaving our respective chairs unperturbed from their original places, between the cold coffee table, for them to have a wooden laugh and carry on their conversation about two strangers who met here, became one and then left as strangers, again.

-Nil.

Defining You.

Defining you.

You've lived enough,

died some more.

You've captured victory,

and never let it escape.

Your shining armors,

and teeming trophies,

smile at the sheen of dust over the years,

yes, you've lived enough.

We made you,

your skin's the same as the raw of mine.

That beautiful laughter,

is echoed with our happiness,

those splitting sobs,

lurk in our dungeons of mistakes.

Your arrogant cards,

the turns you play,

You. Man- oh so mighty,

your swords ring loud and clear into the night,

you called for the battle,

you called for the mother of all battles.

You were ready to kill the rest,

because you have lived enough.

You've mastered hypocrisy,

my dear Man.

We made you,

you were our beggar.

We chose you,

to breathe some.

But tonight,

as we let our tides free,

to kiss the shore of your land,

the harshest,

tonight you will cry,

for you have murdered so much,

and hence you have lived enough,

you have lived just enough.

And now, it's time for you,

to join where you came from.

From the soils,

from us.