Indelible Musings

Calcutta, the city of joy, is associated with each and every Bengali living on this planet even though he or she might not have the least possible connection with it. Despite being a Bengali, I am probably the only person (as far as I know) who doesn't like Calcutta as much as a quintessential Bengali would. Having born and brought up in Delhi, I detested going to Calcutta be it for anything. Often being rebuked by my mother for the same, I have heard countless stories of how she and her siblings would be excited about the summer holidays because they would get to visit Calcutta for almost the entire summer vacation. The very thought of spending two whole months in Calcutta gave me jitters. I don't know why I hated going there so much despite it being loved by everyone for its charm, life,  food, people, trains, tram etc etc. My last visit to Calcutta was in 2010, when my friend PC from my Journalism college decided to head home while we the students were being taken for y...

The most entertaining part about a long distance journey on a train will probably be, seeing the number of stations that we pass. A regular train journey would comprise of looking at the platforms where the trains enter every now and then; may be get off to have a cup of tea and snacks or just stand at the exit of the coach and observe the crowd. Have you ever thought of exploring these towns beyond their platforms? I suppose no. What can we get by exploring this town??- The usual small town with some small shops and the usual crowd but a bit different from those in the city. This is precisely where we go wrong. If a train is stopping by at a particular station, the town definitely has more than the station platform, the chaiwallahs and the innumerable people waiting to board the same train or other. This is exactly what the author, Bishwanath Ghosh, does in his debut novel- "Chai Chai." He "travels in places where you stop but never get off." The journey begins wi...