Off to Rajasthan today! Will be back on 1st November. And royal battle begins after that. With vivas,projects,assignment submissions,classtests and ultimately the Enemy no 1...the semesters!

And so to prepare myself for the battle about to ensue , I"m carrying a bagful of six books.Six heavy monstrous threatening books,to be studied by me. :-(

So long.Au revoir!

I love the stretch of road from Maidan metro station to Park Street cemetary. It's full of hustle and bustle,with innumerable people hasitly making a beeline for their respective offices,jostling,grumbling,talking over their cellphones furiously,as a result colliding with other passers-by,thereby resulting in a verbal(sometimes abusive)war and a total pandemonium. Life is so furiously fast-paced in this corner of the city,as in the other parts. Buses,cars,trucks all trundle past you,honking horns,swearing at the jam,aften swerving and nearly hitting people.The footpath is absolutely dotted with potholes and mounds of cement and stonechips for some nearbly construction site.The flyover is jampacked with cars emitting fumes of ugly grimy smoke....

Inspite of all that,I simply love walking down that stretch of the road. Often,I take a detour and walk down Russel Street as well,main attraction being Hobby Center at one end and its rich platter of chocolates and fudgecakes. From there,I walk ,beside Trincas,Oxford,Flury's,Xaviers',Adventist Church to the cemetary and back.

My penchant for walk dates back to the days when Dadu used to wake me up at 4 in the morning and we used to for morning walks in Golf Green come rain or sun!. Be it summer or winter,he never failed to go for walks even if that meant being unable to wake up the lazy lump of his granddaughter.I've always loved walking.Be it at home,where I walk frantically round the table,to the balcony,in the rooms,in the kitchen,often in the corridors near the staircase,when I'm talking,eating or studying!So, naturally when I became a member of the USEFI library,I decided to walk a kilometer or two everyday.

I love Park Street.Love the quaint little shops on the footpath opposite Oxford,selling chocolates,cheap little trinklets,the mysterious shoddy lanes.I love drooling over the sight of Oxford,decked up in that all-familiar dim yellow light.The sight of KFC,Peter Cat and detest the fact that no smell of Chelo kebabs or sizzler or zinger burger waft out,unlike the roadside eateries. Moulin Rogue in its golden yellow glory.Barbeque which is now Flavors of China and confuse people who have left Kolkata long time back when Barbecue was Barbecue,and come back to discover the long-forgotten taste.

Park Street brings back hundreds of memories. Of Christmas.When we didn't have much money and still went to Flury's to buy a Christmas special Tootyfruity cake or a Farini cake.That was a treat we considered ourselves entitled to have,even if it burned a hole in our pocket!Then walking and admiring the lights,decorations,streamers in front of Trincas,Floriana or Waldorf with the band playing Christmas ballads,the street musicians in their rustic oldworld charm.There were less number of cars and more pedestrians on the streets,all walking,laughing,admiring the verve of life everywhere and awaiting with bated breath for the dong at 12 from St. Paul's Cathedral. I was small and never got to stay there till 12. But I used to hear stories form my uncles and brothers of how people would just break out into a mad frenzy of clappings,hugs and all that. The last Christmas I went to Park Street was years back, probably when I was in class 10 or something. And we sat in the car,facing Trincas for like an hour or two,stuck in a severe jam. It was so suffocating! I wished I could just get out of the goddamn car and walk,as I"ve always walked.

I remember the first day I went to USEFI. I thought that it was located somewhere in Park Street and had a very very wrong preconceived notion that I know the area quite well and would be able to figure out my way. Hehe! I forgot that I ,actually, have a very bad, real bad, road sense.I took a bus to Mullickbazaar and walked all the way to Park Street Metro Station only to find out that the easiest way to reach USEFI was to take the metro to Maidan! But the walk had woven its magic and I had once again fallen in love with Park Street and its oldworld charm.With BLue Fox,that still reminds me of Feluda and Chris Godwin.The cemetary gate,silent,solid,still. The tall,imposing offices,rows and rowsa of expensive boutiques standing side by side with roadside vendors selling plateful of hot parathas and chicken chow . The hole-in-the-wall restaurants,cafes et al. Xaviers' and the buzz around it. Sudder Street.Hippie para. And the long, long road that leads to Victoria Memorial and Race Course.

I even thought Victoria was somewhere on Park Street,my sense of direction is just so pathetic. The day I first walked all the way to Victoria,it was cloudy with the monsoon sky threatening to burst every now and then.I didn't carry an umbrella and wished fervently to go back.But insanity got the better of me.The first sight of Victoria against an overcast Kolkata sky is one of the many things that makes hate the idea of leaving the city years later.I will run out of words to descibe it and any sort of description would fall short of actually describing its ethereal beauty. Victoria Memorial, or rather the fairy on top always evokes a sense of irrepressible grief. Of sadness,pangs of separation. Sounds phony, eh? But true. I don't know what it does to me. I keep on staring at it,until my eyes grow smart.When the myriad colors are just sprayed across the sky during sunset,the Race Course looks beautiful.The shining silhoutte of the Vidyasagar Setu evokes a sense of craving in me,craving for what I don't know.It's as if, I want something desperately but can't figure out what.Or how.It's utterly ridiculously phony, I tell you.

I wish I could write a book on Park Street.The street musicians of my childhood.The Christmas ballads.The churchbells from St. Paul's. Tarotcard readers on the streets.Standing in front of KFC and sighing at the nearempty pockets.Oxford.Flury's.Trincas.The lightings of Floriana.Hobby Center.Breathing in the cool-happy-crazy air.That makes your insides go hollow and yet makes you so full and warm.Of basking in the citylights and walking on the streets of Kolkata.Of living and loving in this great great great city.

If only, I could make you sit,chained to a rickety old bug-ridden chair,in a cyber cafe which practically breeds pesky little mosquitoes ,that goes 'zzzzz ' around your head and give you large angry red bites all over your legs,and the entire goddamn place is infested with mosquitoes and ants, and the BB speed is just pathetic,while people come swarming in,shouting at each other over the cellphones(They think they're Ron Weasley,trying to figure out how a phone works and whether it's actually meant for making long-distance conversation),and the guy next to you uses all the expletives in the modern day Oxford English dictionary to describe the Internet speed and the Jodhpur Park puja pandal simultaneously,and your tummy is too stuffed with all the good food in the world and yet you can't loosen your belt and breathe easy ,because you're real tightly chained to the chair...I'll make sure you aren't wearing that black hooded thing and your legs are exposed so that the mosquitoes get greater surface area to bite the hell out of you.And I will wear a bloodstained,horrible bloated-cheeks chalky white with narrow reddish slits for eyes skeleton mask and brandish a knife,have my voice modulated electronically and recorded so that I can psyche you and say in that infamous rumble....Let's play a game....

....Aj boshe onko korte ekdum ichhe korchhena!

Beriye fuchka khete,adda marte,parar pandal e giye last minute shaaj dekhte,Gopalkakur theke pujor shondhyer artist programmer list shunte, Gariahat er more giye dul kinte,Bedwin theke roll kine khete,chhotobelar moto Jadavpur Station Road e giye balloon kine Ma er kaaner kacche fatate,bundle bundle cap r bonduk kinte,Borobarite dhunuchi naacher rehearsal dekhte,hothat ekbar High School er shamne Law College er pashe chhoto pandal ta dekhte,Tasty Corner theke kochuri r kaju borfi khete,Ekdalia obdhi hete Subrata Mukherjee r pujo pandal dekhte ar candyfloss khete,Gariahat er more dariye comics book kinte...

Mamabari giye notun jama dekhate,Tiltildadader barir chhaade shobai miley dumbcharades ar cricket khelte,tarpor Kaberimamir banano mangsher jhol bhaat kheye dupurbela tv dekhte dekhte ghumote,bikele Baba,Pradipkaku r Shumukakur sathe shobai miley kachhepither thakur dekhte jete,Ashoknagar giye khola shobji-van e chepe thakur dekhte,Golbajar giye roll ar chicken chowmein khete,Dadur dokane boshe dokan-dokan khelte ar majhe majhe hojmi r logenze er shishi khule khete,Kutuder bari,Babanmamader bari jete,shamner park e dolna r dinosaur slip chorte,Shanghoti Park e boating korte,Baghbazar er purono barite dupurbela tengra maachher jhaal ar aloo posto kheye rolling khaat e shuye Tintin porte,Bommar kachhe Brindaban e Bangladesh er golpo shunte,bikele uthe Dadur sathe giye chips r pastry khete,Shobhabazar purono barite shondhebela thakurdalane arati dekhte,bhog khete,raate luchi-pathar mangsho khete,bhetorbarite tiya ar payrar basha dekhte,Ultadangar borobarite ekdum hariye jete,Maniktolar barite purono library khule Uncle Tom's Cabin porte....

Thammader purono barite butter churi kore khete,camp khaate shuye Mahabharat dekhte,Hajaribagh,Giyagunj er golpo shunte,uthone bori shukote dite,Barasat e Dadu barite Mamonipishir ranna khete ar golpo korte,Dadur sathe golpo korte,Jhumpi r Putulir sathe khelte,dupure chingrimaach kheye kaather ghore giye ghumote,bikele dokan luut kore icecream,cold drinks r chips khete,melay giye jilipi khete,Choi er sathe Barasat ghurte jete,Bultider bari jete,Chakulia e mejodida der barir shojnegaachhe e shuopoka dekhte,raat jege Golamchor khelte,Ghatshila,Fuldungri Burudi dam jete,Subarnarekhar dhare chhutte,bhorbela uthe Naga Gardens er pujo dekhte,Chakulia station e bikelbela sunset dekhte,tarpor chhutte bari giye dadu khobor dekhte boshar agei Cartoon Network ar raate Superhit Muqablaa dekhte...

Kali pujor agey para theke shobbai mile bus e kore Baaji Bajar jete,giye sundae khete,dupurbelay amader chhaade shobai mile gol kore boshe tubri banate,shondhebelay tubri test korte,choddoprodip-ponchoprodip jalate,Lokkhipujoy alpana dite,luchi bhajte,naru banate,cherry-doi-murki khete,bhaifontay pronaam kora niye jhogra korte,jomano baaji porate,Christmas e shobai miley Park Street er alo dekhte jete,Flury's e cake khete,St. Paul's e giye carol shunte r gawar cheshta korte,shokale onko koranor jonyo Ma je Kaberimamir kaache boka khachhe sheta shune gloat korte,Eden e khela dekhte jete,Nicco Park e cyclone chore Piudidike bhoy dekhate,Food Park e icecream niye maramari korte,chiriyakhana jete,bandor er chhola shob nijei kheye nite,bari fire Ma One Day at a Zoo likhte bolle kandte,Diamond Harbour e picnic e jete,boimela jete,badminton khelte,dupurbela chhade boshe chul shukote r komolalebu khete,fruitcake gift peye lukiye rakhte,New Year's Eve e Kaberimamider chhaade shobai miley picnic korte,bonfire korte,tv te New Year's program dekhte,Shumukakur magic dekhte,Kaberimamir kole boshe lukiye aachaar r tomato khete,paray shobcheye chhoto bole ektuo boka na khete,Bua r bari giye saree ar salwar ghatte,Ballygunge e Piudidir mamabarir thanda ghare jete,winter vacation e para theke shobai Baharampur jete,Hajarduari dekhte,Benukakuder barir chhaade khokho khelte,shankranti te puli-pithe-payesh khete,keno shimaaier payesh hoyni ta niye thammar kachhe ghenghen korte.....

Baba Ma er ar nijer chhotobelar golpo shunte,oder colleger golpo shunte,school jete,school theke bondhuder sathe bari firte...

bhishon bhishon icchhe korchhe.

P,S: Puro khaddyomoy post!! almost every alternate line e ekta khabar er mention!!ki petuk re ami!!!

New shoes currently top my hitlist. They are a bunch of vicious objects, whose only aim is to create ugly painful blisters on your feet,which bleeds.And creates a gory mess while you hobble in pain.I was bullied into buying a pair of shoes last week.I didn't want to really.I'm way too much happy and satisifed with my old chappals which,in spite of being many months old,are in a very good condition! But Dida and Ma just won't take no for an answer and I was dragged to go shoe-shopping.

I adore shopping with Ma.But I detest shoe-shopping. Firstly,the shop rarely has a size that fits me(I have this very tiny pair of feet you see).But it's a matter of reputation for the shopkeepers,in front of the other customers.So they keep on saying..Boshun boshun...amra dekchhi.While I cringe in mortal embarassment.People stare.A few are brash enough to ask me subtley..tumi kon class e poro??..And I look away firmly from the onlookers and stare at my disgraced feet.

But coming back to new shoes,I have worn a pair of new red chappals for two days and lo! my feet are blistered and bleeding to no end.And I am walking with a slight limp now which I don't like.It hurts like hell.I wish I could wear a pair of kharams.Or go to college wearing hawaii choti.But Ma won't just listen to it.So I am advised to wear the new shoes,so that my feet get used to them and the straps come loose.I want to shoot them and throw them away down the drains of 8B. But then people will drive a bullet through my head and I'll be singing Another Hole in The Head(I should get an award for cracking the saddest pj in the whole world).

Puja is round the corner.The weather is brilliant with loads of bright sunshine,blue sky,occassional drizzle(not the kind of torrential downpour that spoils the pandal decorations and the mood as well),a cool nip in the air and a very happyhappy buzz. There's a distinct smell of the Puja season.Antara Chowdhury once sang...Pujor gondho eshechhe..I thoroughly agree with her.There's a very filling,warm,inexplicable but nevertheless happy smell of Puja.I had gone to Mamabari,minutes before writing this post.And I could smell it,feel it under my skin.Which kind of prompted me to type this rather random post!

What are all your puja plans? I haven't made any yet,except for Ashtami.Rest of the days,I am yet to figure out.Leaving for Rajasthan on the 17th.Meanwhile I have to study as well,which I'm not liking at all.And my feet hurts like hell! I hate new shoes.So long.Au revoir.Happy Pujas.