Kolkatta.......

Whenever R, my brother would come to Pune from Calcutta, I was really excited. Well he is actually my cousin but since we grew up together during our college years I never ended up calling him my cousin and nor did I ever consider him to be a cousin( he is my bua's son)....he was always my brother, my elder brother...now when he was in Calcutta, he came down quite often to Pune......atleast once a year....and if plans were made then he would end up coming in his Pooja holidays......now I never went very frequently to Calcutta. The first time I ever went was when I was about 8 I think,.......now this was doubly special because it was my first visit to Calcutta and also the first time I traveled by plane....after that trip I made a couple of trips to Calcutta, however the best time I ever had was in the December of 1997.R and me had just started with our Engineering and in the winter of December , Panterr and me went to Calcutta to spend a couple of weeks there with R and his Dad (My fufa...AP......)..... AP had this whole trip planned for us....spend a few days in Calcutta and then spend a week traveling to Darjeeling, Siliguri and Jaldapara National Park ( a rhino sanctuary).......

The time we spent traveling was really awesome...we played cards every night...R and AP would always lose because many a times R had no clue as to what card to play.....worked well for us...took the weirdest of pictures.....the brandy AP had got in case we feel too cold.....well R, Panterr and me finished it in a day......we would go for long walks in the night in Darjeeling, smoke Gold Flake Kings.....made Panterr smoke with us too...fortunately he did not get hooked to it....but he always says...."main sirf hill station pe cigarette piyega...take me to one and I will smoke......" the trip to the rhino sanctuary was equally good...unfortunately we only saw some a couple of spotted deer and maybe it was Sambhar....off and an elephant.....the one on which we were sitting....I remember AP telling the mahout...." Hum tumko sau rupiya dega....humko bagh dikhao.....humko rhino dikhao...."....I'm sure the poor guy must have tried hard....

While in Calcutta (before and after the Darjeeling trip).....we partied a lot......I remember going to Saturday Club or SatC as R called it for some Christmas party.....going to Taj Bengal and then R insisting that we all have Irish Coffee and then the look on his face when he saw the bill....each Irish Coffee was Rs. 400 only.......those were the days....and R was so lazy to drive us around the day....we once asked him.." Teri voh girlfriend kidhar reheti hain?"....he said...." Belvedere Road.......arree lekin voh meri girlfriend nahi hain...main usko sirf ek bar mila hain"...and then Panterr and me would pester him to take us to Belvedere Road.....and he would say " arrreeee voh bahut doooor hain"....and when we finally once we did pass by Belvedere Road it turned out it was only 20 mins away from the house.....his excuse....."arree 20 mins in the night......din me jyada time lagta hain"....notice how must of his sentences begin with that long 'arreeee'..........

The Calcutta Metro....those typical houses with courtyards.....and lotsa trees.....darkness by 5.00 pm in winters......the yellow ambassador taxi's ....and their drivers who always drive in the highest gear to save on petrol.............then going to the Lake to have jhal muri and puckha....Bijoli Grill.......the mishti doi.....the chamcham's...the singoda's....the sandesh...the swear words I learnt in Bengali from R and his friends......

I could keep going on and on...........there is so much more I could write.....but I think I need to stop here and keep some of the memories only to myself......