June 7th 2009, Day 1
Reached the International Airport in just 30 mins from my place. On reaching the place with Mummy, found that we're the only persons who have reached the place pretty early err….much early. So waited for them for sometime by standing outside in front of the Indigo enquiry counter. The winds were very strong and cool. So strong, perhaps would have carried a light weight person or perhaps a child away with it. Lucky for me being a bit too overweight that I wasn't carried away. It reminded me of the bad wolf who huffed and puffed as much as he could and tried to blow away the 3rd little pig's home. Anyway, the wind blowing pretty strong, made me feel a little hungry. Went across to the Subway, selling the subs and took 2 half sandwiches or subs for me and mummy. We decided to have it in the flight as the flight we're flying with won't be handing the lunch free of cost. Hmm…something to do with the recession, eh!!! Anyway after a couple of minutes, we spotted S, AJ and her parents (JM and PM). After the regular exchange of greetings, a man (who happens to be the PR for the bank that my JM works for) came and took our boarding pass and the also the UDF. In the meantime I'd collected the UDF by paying a cool Rs 520/-. So the PR guy (Santhosh, I think) had to pay for the rest of the 8 of us. In the mean time, the rest of the group (MM, RM, AP & P) were seen to be approaching us. The PR man took all the check-in baggage's from us and ensured that it was all safely checked-in without any hassles.
We then took the stairs to the first floor and then we went through the security check. Took some time for they had to check several more. After some time, we then proceeded towards Gate 8. Here we're sitting for quite some time. Although the scheduled departure is 1155, Even at 1150 the gates had not yet opened for us. This meant that the journey shall be delayed. After a long wait, the gates finally opened and one by one we're asked to head down from the first floor to catch the Indigo bus. Unfortunately we didn't have the aerobridge facility. Imagine a large airport like Bangalore didn't have one or rather didn't provide one. Shame that it's a new airport (around 13 months old) and an international one at that. Hope Bangalore airport now improves in the years to come.
Anyway we boarded the blue bus which then took us to the place where the aeroplane was standing for all of us to board the plane. We soon boarded the plane and then waited for the plane to take off. Finally at around 1230 the plane's door shut closed and the pretty looking air hostess were soon doing their routine job of explaining the way of strapping the seat belt, using the oxygen masks and the ways to the emergency exists.
Soon, the plane finally took off at around 1235-1240 hrs. It was a nice peaceful flight and the scenes outside the aircraft were lovely. The clouds outside were white and looks like cotton wool to me. At some places with the sun's rays falling on it, the centre part was glowing white and the outside of the clouds were looking a bit dull. Looked as though there was some source of light in the centre. It was a real wonderful sight to see and cherish it. Later as the aircraft gained altitude, the ground (earth) was no more visible and all was seen was blue sky at the top and the bottom was filled with white clouds. Sometimes, I imagined walking over the clouds and feeling the coolness of the clouds under my feet. But soon I got bored of it and started reading my book. I was carrying a P G Wodehouse book, titled "Full Money". In between was looking outside the window and falling asleep. Finally at around 1430 we reached Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata. We then landed at the domestic terminal and an aero bridge was connected to the aircraft's door enabling us to enter the terminal directly. Now if an old airport, domestic at that, can have an aerobridge, why can't Bangalore. Never mind now.
We're then greeted by a few guys who are from the bank. Also there to receive us were the newly wedded couple, Meghana (MJ) and Soumya a.k.a Shomu (SG). We then picked up our respective luggage and then we dumped them to the trolleys. We then walked out of the airport and as soon as we were out, we could feel the heat of Kolkata. We're informed that the temperature was around 33 deg C, but to me it looked like around 40 deg C. It was HOT!!!!
Soon we got into the vehicles provided to us and off we were to hit the roads of Kolkata. As we didn't have our lunch in the flight, we'd our lunch at a place called Banana Leaf, Komala Villas, Gariahat. Here we had assorted items such as Mini Meals, Dosas, Khara Bhats Buttermilks etc etc. I'd a Mimi Meal. The meal comprised or a handful of what looked like Lemon Rice (Chitranna), BisiBeleBhat, Curd Rice, Puri, some sabji with it, papad, some sweet dish, which I do not recollect at this time. The taste was okay but was taken aback to see the small size containers that the rice items were served in. Also as horrified to see the amount of oil floating over the puris and the papad. However, being hungry, couldn't leave room for any complaints. Just gulped down the stuff.
Once we were done with the lunch, we then checked into the guest house on Chowranghee Road. This guest house is named - Kolkata Port Trust Guest House. We had 3 rooms booked earlier. Inmates of House number 1 were JM, PM and AJ. House 2 was occupied by M, AP, S and P. The last of the rooms were occupied by MM, RM and me. The guest house has a garden, with hardly any grass on it and a few flowers here and there. There were also a few trees around it. The guest house had a kitchen with a dinning room. The staff was very cordial and took care of us, very well.
After checking into our rooms, we soon refreshed ourselves. We're then ready for the Metro ride. The Metro riders were JM, MM, RM, AJ, AP, MJ, SG, P, S, Bhat Maam (BM) and self. We took the Metro from Rabindra Sadan to Tollygunge. The train is white in colour and is fully 'air conditioned'. The train is badly maintained. As far as I remember from me childhood days, they haven't bothered to change the compartments. This kinda system reminded me of my days in London. Anyway, we somehow managed to hop into the compartments and got into the crowd. It's pretty heavy. Considering the fact that it’s a Sunday, yet we see a lot of metro commuters. People are just about a few inches away from each other. Thankfully, its not a regular weekday. Else SG informed that on weekdays, people are generally so closely standing to each other, that one can hear the other breathing. Don't want to comments on the smells at this point of time, else the train shall be a messy one. Again this reminded me of the tubes in London, but there one gets the smell of perfume which is very suffocating one. Anyway we finally reached our destination….Tollygunge.
At Tolly gunge, we had 3 vehicles waiting for us to be picked up. One vehicle was a Toyota Innova which had 7+1 packed in, another was a Tata Indigo which had 3+1 and the last was a Tata Indica. The plan was now to visit SG's bade mama (Mother's eldest brother). The house is located in <
At this point we see a couple of cycle rickshaw walas. We hire them and 4 of them make use of this facility. This is one of the icons of Kolkata. You hardly get to see these anywhere. Till date, whatever I've seen, all the vehicles used are in a poor and bad condition. Its meant for 2 people who are slim enough and if I were to sit on one of them, wonder where is the space for another of them. Anyhow, this mode of transport is one of the oldest ones in India and this is still being used by many others in Kol only. Also this happens to the only source of income for these cycle waalas and these bread winners need to be full of energy and fit to carry loads in terms of 100s of kg (max of 200 kgs). Anyway we didn't have to walk much. After a short walk, we reach mama's place.
We're welcomed by bade mama. He takes us inside this home and we are now greeted by several members of the family, all of whom, I'm unfamiliar with, as obvious. After a small round of talks, we're now served with a thirst quenching, Sprite. Then we're served with the traditional Bengali sweets Rasagulla ans Sandesh. After a while, we then left for Shomi's place which is also very near by. We then dined here on some excellent vegetarian food which comprised of channa ka daal (one of my favourite among the Bengali daals), paneer ki sabji, daal dhokha, suktho, baingan fry, aam ki chutney and papad. All were just lip smacking and tasty. Generally I do not have baigan, but today, I had 3. This was something similar to what dear Meenu mami used to prepare. She used to prepare this with out-of-this-world Khichidi. The daal was fantastic and I ended up having more rice than my usual quota. The meal ended with 2 of my favourite sweets, which I find it very hard to say no to ever. One was the mishti dahi and one of the easily the best ever rasagullas. The rasagullas were very spongy. Even after squuezing the piece several times, you would always find the syrup always flowing out of it. With my stomach being full, I couldn't do justice to the sweets. To me delight/dismay, my dear sister, MJ, served me with 2 pieces of rasagullas. With great difficulty, imanaged to have both the pieces. They were offering me more, but I refused. Finally after a great meal, we finally left for our guestrooms to retire for the day.
The guest room meant for MM, RM and me was very spacious. Spacious enough for 4-5 of us. The room allocated to me mum, S, AP and P was very small and was enough to accommodate only 3. Later we decided to swap our rooms. Finally after all the shifting of the luggge, we then decided to call it a day err…. Night and retired to bed.
June 8th 2009, Day 2
Woke up fresh and a bit early than usual. The sun was shining bringht and almost onto your face. Now, this is onething ihate about being in the Eastern part of the country. The sun always rises very early as expected than the rest of the county. Back in Jamshedpur, even at 5 in the morning, the sun used to be bright and shiny. This caused me to wake up early, much to me grand parents delight and my dismay. Years later, this has now started to haunt me again. Anyway, after a quick bath, RM and me decided to cross the road and have tea. Now, according to me and a few othes. The best tea prepared is not at homes, not even in five star hotels who seem to charge us exhorbitantly for a measly few ml of liquid. Not even the tea prepared in CCD or Barista can match them. We went to one place who seem to be selling hot tea. As we were sipping a good tea in an earthern port, childhood memories cropped up in my mind. Back in 80s and mostly 90s, mummy and me used to travel to Jamshedpur every year. Our usual route was to catch the Howrah Express and travel all the way to Kharaghpur and then catch next connecting train to Jamshedpur, which is just 2 hrs away. Then after a particular station, which I remember to be as Chaybassa, one gets the best tea ever on earth. It was also served in an earthern port a.k.a matka. The tea used to taste great for one could also get the flaovour and smell of the pot. Ask anyone, who has tasted this tea and they too will agree with me. However, the tea was nothing in front of the tea that I'm used to having but still, it was good.
As we were having tea, I saw one of the boys baking Littis in front of me. Now, litti is a typical Bihari food. This is found mostly in all weddings and other get togethers. This is something that needs to be had HOT. Not even a warm one will do or a medium hot one. This is found only in Bihar and the skill of making and baking this lies only with an expert Bihari cook. Was surprised to see him baking in Kolkata. Took one piece for myself and RM had this other piece. Was out-of-this-world yet again. Having this after ages. Last I had was at a wedding in Jamshedpur and this was in early 90s. After that I never had any. Was very excited to have it. After polishing off my tea and litti, took a couple of littis more for mummy, for this is one of her favourites too. Unfortunately he packed the aloo choka along with this littli and he didn't serve me when I had me share. Anyway, mummy was very excited to have this after ages too. Seeing this my sisters wanted to have it. Again went back to this guy and took a couple more and the girls had just bite of it. Looks like the girls didn't enjoy it for they left a good piece of it behind. Anyway the breakfast arrived and it comprised of the famous bengali breakfast and yet another of my favourites, luchi and aloo dum. Often I've had this in the K C Das in St. Marks road, Bangalore. But today, it wasn't so good as K C Das, but was certainly edible. Took 4 oily luchis and my breakfast was completed.
With breakfast being heavy, we then relazed for a short while and waited for all the cars to arrive. The agenda on today's program is to do shopping at Sreeleathers and saree shopping and bangles shopping too. Since most of the shops open at around 11 o' clock only, we had lots of time to kill. We then decided to visit the Botanical gardens in Kolkata. We drove down to the boanical gardens via the new bridge. I think this is called as the Rabindra Sethu. This is a newly constructed bridge, not to be mistaken with the Howrah Bridge which is THE icon of Kolkata. Reached the gardens which contained nothing but trees and trees only. The place looked similar to the Lalbagh Gardens we have back in Bangalore. The only thing that I liked is the Banyan tree. It's located at the centre of the place and it looks majestic. As with all Banyan trees, it was very difficult to know which is the root of the tree and which is the main trunk. It was looking awesome and confusing too. After spending a small amount of time, we then left for Sreeleather on Lindsay Street, New Market.
Sreeleathers is a leather company which was primarily into footware. Later as business developed and became popular, they then started coming out with more leather products like belts, bags, wallets, jackets etc etc. The quality of these footware is very good and most importantly durable. Ever sice, I've started footware, these have always been from Sreeleathers. Tried a couple of times with other brands, but they weren't durable. This shop is a massive one and is newly refurbished. Earlier it was pretty small, around 2001/2. But today its huge. Was here for nearly 2-3 hrs. Main agend was to buy chappals and sandals for ourselves. But in the end, we ended up buying a lot more for others than ourselves. I bought 12 wallets, 2 sandals, 3 chappals and a water prroof shoe. Mummy bought much more than me. We're well prepared with the hassels of getting them packed as this was a regular feature when we were in Jamshedpur. Those days, we used to get like 30 pairs of footware, only to be distributed amongst relatives and friends. Nice gifts, I must say. Wonder what will they do if they don't like the patterns of the sandals. Do they hit us, with it???????
Apart from the footware, purchased a few socks and a huge trolley bag to accommodate the stuff we've just bought. The bill was a massive one. Total was around 7k between the 2 of us only!!!! The shopkeeper who is a client to me JM must have been very pleased. Oh, btw, forgot to add these lines. As they were one of my JM's clients, we were served with a refreshing 'thirst quencher' Sprite and sweets. Now when you are in Bengal, whenver you think of Bengali sweets, Rasagulla is the first one that pops into our mind. And as again, we were once again served with Rasagullas. Was good, but nothing compared to the ones we had yesterday. Anyway, in the midst, MJ and SG also joined us. After completing our Sreeleathers shopping, we then were thinking of lunch. The elders wanted to have a South Indian meal, which tooks afew of the young Indians by surprise. I mean, you've come all the way from South India to Eastern India, and you're still having South Indian Meal???? Later on, I guess, not to disappoint us, we went to a place called Tamrind. This is located on, Triangular park, I think. The food here was good and thankfully, it wasn't pure South Indian. SG, AJ, M and self had a hearty meal which comprised of North Indian meal.
After lunch, it was time for the ladies to do their bit of shopping. What else can ladies think of while shopping? SAREES!!! SG took us to a nice place called Adi Dakeshwari on Triangular Park. This is a 3-4 storeyed building with an AC, thankfully!!!! The ladies and girls did their bit of shopping and we men went to the mens section. Purchased for self a couple of typical bengali kurtas. They had come good choice and also were cheap. Purchased only 2 for I've never worn them before. (Only recently I wore it and then kicked myself for not having purchased more. They were good, comfy and cheap!!!). Also purchased 2 salwar suits for me 2 first cousins, Aruna Kamath and Poornima Pete. Also a third one for a second cousin of mine, Radhika Kamath. After paying the bils, came down to the ladies section, wherein mummy has selceted three sarees for self. She had already selected one of them and wasn't sure of which of the other 2 to buy. All the sarees were good looking and gave her the option of selcting either of them or both. Stupid me, should have kept quiet. Me and my big mouth. She opted for the latter and took all the 3 sarees. Now, there was a family who were also selecting sarees for a wedding, I guess. There a couple of sarees that mummy liked very much. And again she bought another saree, causing me a heart pain and burning a big hole in my pocket. As we were shopping, I got a call from the HDFC Bank, to confirm if I've shopped anything for certain values to which I replied in affirmative. Now, this is the most embarrasing moment in my life. Imagine, you are shopping and suddenly get a call from the bank to confirm, if you've shopped anything just recently. I guess they were doing this call just to confirm if I was shopping and not somebody else. With the shopping completed at Triangular Park, we then hit Garihat Junction for the Bangle shopping. P and mummy wanted to buy the typical and trditional bangles worn by the married Bengali women. These are a pair of red and white bangles. These weren't looking after the simple ones but were after the gold designs engraved in them. But, much to my relief, these shops were closed due to some strike. So my bank balance was still safe.
TO BE CONTINUED.
