Amrita Bazar and Ananda Bazar Patrika …and of course the prim-and-propah Statesman…all delivered by flight to upper-floor flats, rolled up and thrown with practiced wrists, by cycling delivery boys
A well-maintained and run Zoo
"Gay" restaurant on the Hooghly; watching tidal bores without ever having heard of the tsunami
The sound of shAnkh (conches) blowing in the twilight
Men washing the streets in the early morning with large leather hoses that arched the Hooghly water across the streets and pavements
Bengali women massaging the children with mustard oil....and the women's lustrous long tresses...left loose always...the alta on married women's feet
Flury's pastries and Nizam's marzipan
Bodo Din (Burra Din...Christmas) at New Market
Bargaining at the shops on Rash Behari Avenue
Swans in Lily Pool Park
Teaching in Svarna and then in Ashok Hall
Movies at the Metro and the Lighthouse....children's movies with free masks and sweets at the Globe
Trams
Bus no. 9 and Sardarji bus no. 47A
Svarna school and the majestic mansion it's still located in
Watching friends' romances bloom..and then fade...at Victoria Memorial, while I studied at Gokhale Memorial College
Carnatic music concerts at Thyagaraja Hall, Tamizh Sangham, Music Circle (vyayamghar hall )...and so many other locations
Kopir singhAdA and bhaadEr chA in the winter sunlight
Hot ghughni or "chop" in the college canteen..in stitched leaf cups
Dakshineswar and Belur...one noisy, one serene...on the Hooghly...crossing the Bally Bridge
puchka on Southern Avenue
buying sarees during Pujo at Rash Behari Mod or Gariahat
Muddy River and fierce Kali at Kalighat...the puja vessels and shaankh and polA bangles in the shops
Beautiful CESC properties in the suburbs of the city
Victoria Memorial and the Maidan
Severe power cuts
The sound of unceasing rain in the monsoon, and the floods
The beautiful Pujo floating on Poddo Pukur Lake
Old, decaying mansions
Mallick Palace...so many treasures
Sthol poddo flowers
the albino twins who ran a crockery shop in New Market...."dry fruits" (especially salted pistachios and huge figs strung together...from a shop run by an Afghan
Oxford Lending Library, run by Anglo-Indian twins..Wonderful books
Bengali literature...Ananda Math
Wonderful Bengali movies..the heyday of not just Satyajit Ray...but others, like Ritwik Ghatak
Star Theatre...not knowing about Noti Binodini but in love with the theatre
The thrill of getting a University rank...never shared with the family, who did not come for the special felicitation the college gave me
Leading the successful strike in college against "shAdA shADi lAl pAtth" (white sarees with red borders..it was a uniform and newly-married women had trouble as they were NOT meant to wear white sarees)...the management was amazed that their Head Girl, the most studious one, was doing this! I believed in freedom of choice then...and now
Poila Boisakh and bAyeeshEr srAbON
Learning Robindro Songeet from a geography teacher
Incredible varieties of sondesh...friend's home-made mAlpoA...all Bong sweets at Ganguram's and Sen Mahashay
Lake Market ...vegetables, fish
Nobel Medical Hall
Prema Vilas and Ramakrisha Lunch Home and when I was older, Trinca's....
Chinatown and incredibly good leather goods
Only one Howrah bridge, and the beautiful ferries plying...severe traffic jams on the bridge
Cheap taxis...cheerful and friendly Bihari rickshaw pullers who let me taste their "sattu"
Oh…this list will never end….
