The Arrival

Landed in Calcutta yesterday evening. My trip from Bombay was good, though a little long because of the stopover at Nagpur. Personally speaking I hate the airplane seats. They are extremely uncomfortable. At least Indigo makes sure that they reach on-time. And they got pretty airhostesses :) Unfortunately watching pretty airhostesses get boring after the initial half hour. The first half of the flight was pretty quiet and peaceful. There was an elderly lady and a young guy in the seats before me. The lady could be his mother or an aunt. The guy was probably in the airline business. He kept explaining various things. The lady was one of those typical sophisticated Bengali ladies, the ones who have an accent even when they speak Bengali. I don’t know if others can make out the difference but these are the ladies who usually are educated, are over exposed to Rabindra Sangeet and a lot of art and literature. They love to enunciate, speak softly and yet firmly, mostly wear spectacles, speak of foreign countries as if they are just across the street, usually hold the reigns of household and also have the liberty of talking on behalf of their husbands in family/friend gatherings.

The second part of the trip was a headache. A man probably in mid-fifties and a lady probably in thirties installed just behind me. I heard the lady say that it was an extremely pleasant surprise that they bumped into each other. I soon realized that it was an extremely unfortunate incident for me. Both were part of the same extended Marwari family and they yapped continuously for the next 1 hour 15 minutes of flight time. I forced myself to sleep in the middle but not for long. They spoke of schools in Doon/Nainital and their quality of education, Marwari food, multiple sclerosis and how the guy booked a full 5 star hotel for 12 days for his brother’s marriage. I must have died at least twice during the whole conversation out of sheer frustration. I need to get myself one of those IPods to save myself from such misery.

Oh I forgot to mention that I think I saw Minisha Lamba at the Bombay airport. She was standing alone in a book store. I looked at her and she looked back and probably noticed my confused expression of wondering whether it was really her. Well I could have easily asked since no one was around but me being me opted to get back to the books :P

I turned into “Chakroborty” from “Chakraborty” as soon as I landed at the Cal airport and got myself a pre-paid taxi. It felt good to sit in the huge yellow ambassador once in Cal. These things are really comfortable. I remember one of their advertisements long ago. “Mercedes – 200 km/hr, Ambassador – 200 potholes/hr “. It was probably one of the most honest ads :). As I zoomed off home, hundreds of hoardings greeted me and told me about the new and developing Calcutta. The number of hoardings were really astounding, I don’t think Bombay can beat Cal in this department! The driving sense is still pathetic. I am a little used to it now thanks to my experience in Pune. Reached Ballygunge station and got off. And I suddenly found myself surrounded by Bongs. I always find it a little unnerving to see so many Bongs for the first couple of days during my Cal trips. In fact I go to shops and continue my standard modus operandi and converse in Hindi and then realize that I can actually talk in Bengali. It takes me a little time to get used to.

My cousin’s shaadi will be at a place called Konnogor. We have decided to stay in our house at Ballygunge and attend the marriage from here. All my cousins have reached and are at the central venue. I am contemplating staying back tonight so that I don’t miss out on the fun. Well my cousin’s have decided that they are no longer interested in batting and are literally throwing off their wickets. Another cousin of mine, he’s a little older than us, who was my last glimmer of hope has also just lost his wicket. He’s getting hitched on 26th of January 2011. So that’s another trip in the making. This time to Bilaspur :) That has made my parents a little more edgy :P Peer pressure apparently.

Lol!! I never knew that finding a partner is such a big deal! My Dad has started using his social networking skills to find me a mate while I am using all my skills to avoid such confrontations :P