going, going, gone

Three days in Calcutta is enough for anyone.

Whoever said time is fleeting, obviously hasn't seen this part of the world. The very concept of time is different for different people, I agree. Important people have written important things about the concept. Man has lauded, rebuked and embraced enough philosophies about the concept ever since he learned to frown and say, "what if.." As I write this, I am sure there are round-shouldered, beady-eyed people who will claim that in some vortex somewhere, I will continue writing this same sentence forever.

In this erstwhile capital city of the nation, time passes like Superthick® honey through a very, very tightly woven metal seive. I am already younger than most people in three days. In another couple of Calcutta minutes as we stand staring in awe at frost free refrigerators, the world would have reached 2070. Be careful, I have heard everything will be mechanized then. My advice, wear clothes.

Calcuttans however do not bother themselves with arguments of such cosmic proportions. There are other things that are more important. A good education for one. Culture comes a close second (they say, the two are mutually exclusive). Thick, dusty, leather bound books in my ancestral house stand testimony to the fact. My grandfather was a very learned man who could talk about theology. But seldom went beyond the quality of fish, the price of mangoes and the East Bengal Football Club. He drank lots of soup at 7.30 every evening and ate dinner with his hands two hours afterwards. And he always had the time for anyone who needed him, as long as they could stand the smell of pipe tobacco.

This city is not about time. It hardly lives in the present anyway.
If this dying city has a heart, nostalgia is its pace-maker.

And there's enough of it to go around. Nostalgia makes good dinner table conversation. Nostalgia makes great business deals. Nostalgia makes cuisine. Nostalgia makes fashion. Nostalgia helps repeat history.

Hell, this time it even made the government.

This trip to Calcutta was long overdue. The last time I was here I was dying. Turned out to be acute gastritis. This time I am doing better. The paranoia has subsided. I am happy and content for the greater part of the day. It's just during early evening that I feel a little nervous. But the onset of evenings generally have that effect on me.

Twelve more days to go. I hope it rains soon.