Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls [as they say in Indigo airlines these days....wanting to mk us feel younger!!!]...this is an article I bumped into as I was sifting through my old amipro!!,wordstar and word97 files.....think u ll enjoy the retro matter
had written this sometime early 1998....dont hv records of dates, place most likely Kolkota....guess all wd appreciate why i diligently put the date/place in all my writings now:)
Apr 4, 2010
BBSR
-------
It is difficult to be indifferent to Mumbai City’s pace, liveliness, cosmo culture and professionalism. The infectious charm of the city had rubbed into my system when I decided to shift my base to Calcutta. I was too much hooked to Nariman Point, the Marine Drive, the pubs and discotheques, the late night motor rides along Nepean Sea road and Malabar hills. Not to mention its featherless bipeds, who are a treat to watch. I was so engrossed in living my last days in the city, that, I failed to sit back and apprehend what might happen to me in Calcutta – almost an overgrown village. No night life, laid back life style, bumpy roads and bongness allover.
I got my first shock at the airport. It took me full one hour to get a cab. Oh Gosh! Can you imagine this happening in amchi Mumbai? The jolt announced that I had arrived in Calcutta. Seemingly, asking me to bring back whatever of my mindset had still had remained in Mumbai. The difference was palpable. The ubiquitous yellow and black fiats gave way to the dilapidated ambys. The hustle was missing; the roads seemed quieter, the crowd was thinner, and shops were fewer and farther between. The comparison would be incomplete without the mention of the Mumbaikar’s khichdi Hindi as against the rosogolla variety in Calcutta. The unfamiliarity around plunged me into a state of emptiness. By the time I reached home I was half dazed.
After a few days of getting attuned to the pace, the exasperation was replaced by a more temperate attitude. With time, the mindset and the habit patterns made their own adjustments to the changed environment and Calcutta changed from a sleepy and ‘nothing happens here’ city to warm city which also affords time to pursue ones subtler interests in life. In which other big city can you count on strangers to spend an hour to search for a house, where else would you find free and unsolicited advice on any problem? Also, how many people can care for some lighter interests in a more business like big city.
Calcutta as a city has its own distinctive charm and life. True it has lost a bit of its historical sheen, but the passionate enjoyment of life is difficult to miss. Political activism substitutes heated debates about stock price movements, cricket is replaced by football, local trains (the lifeline of Mumbai) have their counterparts in metro and trams, debates on the corporate world is replaced by that on social issues and din chak music gives way to rabindra sangeet. Only the means are different but life goes on all the same.
Now, with the passage of a few weeks, I’ve perhaps started enjoying the place. I’ve also realised that my initial ‘exasperation’ here was possibly lesser in comparison to the shock that ‘mad rush of bad Mumbai’ had given me in my first few weeks there. On hindsight, it seems it is all about a few weeks of feeling the pulse of a new place before habits and expectations slide into the right groove.
The moral of the story is that unanticipated changes in the externalities lead to uncertainties and surprises. These in turn tend to force changes in certain instincts and beliefs. The greater the ability to appropriately adapt oneself to the new paradigms, faster the transition and lesser any ‘exasperation’.
---
Calcutta
1998
had written this sometime early 1998....dont hv records of dates, place most likely Kolkota....guess all wd appreciate why i diligently put the date/place in all my writings now:)
Apr 4, 2010
BBSR
-------
It is difficult to be indifferent to Mumbai City’s pace, liveliness, cosmo culture and professionalism. The infectious charm of the city had rubbed into my system when I decided to shift my base to Calcutta. I was too much hooked to Nariman Point, the Marine Drive, the pubs and discotheques, the late night motor rides along Nepean Sea road and Malabar hills. Not to mention its featherless bipeds, who are a treat to watch. I was so engrossed in living my last days in the city, that, I failed to sit back and apprehend what might happen to me in Calcutta – almost an overgrown village. No night life, laid back life style, bumpy roads and bongness allover.
I got my first shock at the airport. It took me full one hour to get a cab. Oh Gosh! Can you imagine this happening in amchi Mumbai? The jolt announced that I had arrived in Calcutta. Seemingly, asking me to bring back whatever of my mindset had still had remained in Mumbai. The difference was palpable. The ubiquitous yellow and black fiats gave way to the dilapidated ambys. The hustle was missing; the roads seemed quieter, the crowd was thinner, and shops were fewer and farther between. The comparison would be incomplete without the mention of the Mumbaikar’s khichdi Hindi as against the rosogolla variety in Calcutta. The unfamiliarity around plunged me into a state of emptiness. By the time I reached home I was half dazed.
After a few days of getting attuned to the pace, the exasperation was replaced by a more temperate attitude. With time, the mindset and the habit patterns made their own adjustments to the changed environment and Calcutta changed from a sleepy and ‘nothing happens here’ city to warm city which also affords time to pursue ones subtler interests in life. In which other big city can you count on strangers to spend an hour to search for a house, where else would you find free and unsolicited advice on any problem? Also, how many people can care for some lighter interests in a more business like big city.
Calcutta as a city has its own distinctive charm and life. True it has lost a bit of its historical sheen, but the passionate enjoyment of life is difficult to miss. Political activism substitutes heated debates about stock price movements, cricket is replaced by football, local trains (the lifeline of Mumbai) have their counterparts in metro and trams, debates on the corporate world is replaced by that on social issues and din chak music gives way to rabindra sangeet. Only the means are different but life goes on all the same.
Now, with the passage of a few weeks, I’ve perhaps started enjoying the place. I’ve also realised that my initial ‘exasperation’ here was possibly lesser in comparison to the shock that ‘mad rush of bad Mumbai’ had given me in my first few weeks there. On hindsight, it seems it is all about a few weeks of feeling the pulse of a new place before habits and expectations slide into the right groove.
The moral of the story is that unanticipated changes in the externalities lead to uncertainties and surprises. These in turn tend to force changes in certain instincts and beliefs. The greater the ability to appropriately adapt oneself to the new paradigms, faster the transition and lesser any ‘exasperation’.
---
Calcutta
1998
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