Street food at Lord Sinha road,

Lord Sinha Road near Exide crossing is one of my favourite streets in Calcutta. For three years, I walked from Exide to Lord Sinha Road in the morning. It houses my college and just walking through it brings back so many memories. I adore the location of my college, with a mall right opposite ( Emami market) and another 2 minutes away ( Metro plaza) and one more just 7 minutes away (Forum) we had loads of places to hang out when we bunked classes. ( ah, 2nd year!) And if you don't like shopping and ACs, there is food! So many outlets and so many hawkers. You are literally spoiled for choice. 

Calcutta ofcourse has no competition when it comes to street food. And I am not being biased. We have so many options at such pocket friendly prices. And Lord Sinha  is a thriving destination for hawkers with street food; what with a couple of schools and colleges around and a couple of malls; add to that the numerous offices! There is bound to be business.

So today I decided it's time re-discover the road and see what has changed.  

At the mouth of the street is a tea stall, a muri wala and a guy who sells  standard dal and rice at very affordable prices. Offic-goers and labourers are alike at front of this stall. I got my first shock when I tried looking out for my favourite marwari snack shop. My friends I used to depend on that shop for lunch on many occasions. Khasta, kachori, puri and alu, samosas- yum! And guess what I saw today? The shope had been replaced by a parlour. Very disappointing; I would choose food over make up any day.

Anyway, I kept walking further down, towards all  the hawkers lined up.  First the achar wala, I bought achar ( not exactly pickle but a concoction of tangy tamarind and spices) for old times sake. ( I still have half of it in my bag) The guy remembered me! That made me smile. Right next to him was the puchka wala. ( There are 3 puchka walas on this road!) I felt like having puchka but I didn't coz I was aiming for something else. I moved on and spotted a new hawker- selling chaat and corn. Well, new guy so a no. 

There is pure veg restaurant called Ridhi Sidhi at the entrance of Emami market. It's pretty good and does great business. The 2nd puchka wala is also located outside the restaurant and gets paid by the restaurant owner. Further down the street there is a outlet famous for it's pau bhaji. It's called Mayaram's and my aunts gave me rave reviews. It's not a personal favourite since my mom makes absolutely wonderful pau bhaji but it's popular, so there you have it. Outside the shop there is a guy who sells lassi, soda sikanji ( fresh lime soda, duh!) sherbbat and masala coke. I made a mental note of coming back once I had eaten something.

Next in line was a guy selling puri chane. I have had his fare during my college time and he is good. Then I saw a guy selling veg momos. Now, I 'm a big fan of momos but no veg momos for me, thanks. After him the chilla guy was standing. If you don't know what chilla is please ask a Punjabi friend ( ok since I'm Punjabi and very nice I will tell you. It's a flat pancake made of either besan or dal, sprinkled with chopped onions, tomatoes and chillis. We often make it for breakfast. It's the north version of uttapam. ) His chillas are yum but  didn't want to spend my money on something I can easily get at home. ( By now you must be thinking I'm fussy and not easily please and why the heck am I not eating already!) 


And now my current favourite- tikki chana. This snack is very common in Delhi but a rare sight here in Calcutta where streets are lined with puchkwalas and muriwalas and roll stalls. And the guy knows me. He remembers that I had to go back disappointed one day because hw had just wrapped up. Imagine, deep fried alu tikkis ( please don't tell me to explain tikkis...) topped with tangy chole, imli, spices and onions. Delicious. Mouth watering. 

I talked to the tikki wala while he was making them. He has been selling tikkis for more than 25 years he said. and so many others like him have been standing, selling their fare for years and years. When his next customer came, he asked the hawker if the price was same. He answered in the affirmative and then added- " Prices badenge iss baar, abhki baar modi sarkar ( Ok, he didn't say that but he did say that the prices may increase. ) Anyway, after I was finished I praised his food and moved towards the shikanji wala for a drink and then walked back to Exide to go back home.  I must mention that there are three more hawkers on this street- another puchka wala, another shikanji wala and another guy who sells chana. 

If you're craving Calcutta street food and want a huge variety, you must come to Lord Sinha road. It's a busy street with loads of cars and pedestrians and ofcourse street food hawkers.

Happy Birthday, A

A turned 26 today and this is what I put together for him

I contacted his friends and told them to click pictures of themselves with one of the letters that make up the B'day message. I edited the pics, put them all together and made this collage. 

A's reaction was priceless and I am so glad he loved it. 

Anyway, here's wishing you a very Happy B'day A. May you get all the happiness you deserve. 

S 'agapó̱

Kinda

Kinda funny, kinda not.

You promised but you forgot.

Kinda like a quiet blot,

which did twist the plot.

Kinda funny, kinda not.

We shall meet again.

I hate goodbyes. I know it's a very cliche thing to say but yes I said it. I am not the kind of person who can't let go or move on when the time is right. I didn't cry at my school or college farewell. I know I won't cry when my current course ends. Because I know from the beginning that this end will come. But when it's sudden and unexpected I find myself not liking the feeling. It's uncomfortable. It leaves a lump in the throat. It makes me sentimental. 

The word goodbye is dreadful. A simple bye seems less final. I like the idea of saying "I am coming back" instead of saying "I am going." Bengalis and Maharashratrians have this tradition. 

In Bengal when we celebrate Durga Puja and when Maa leaves us on the 10th day, we chant "Asche bochor abar hobe. "- This will happen again next year. " Maa is not leaving us, she will be back next year. 

In German there is a saying that says you don't meet a person just once. So if you're saying goodbye , know that you shall meet again. 

This  cheers me up. Goodbyes need not be forever. We part so that we can meet again. 

The next time I need to say goodbye  I will say instead "Until we meet again."

Update: To read my poem on Goodbyes and letting go "And then sadness prevailed click  here. 
I have also written a piece on trying to cope with my granddad's death. Read it here

New and old.

I have a brand new background. Thanks to my friend and fellow blogger Samik. He is great with such stuff. Designing backgrounds, logos, painting. Even my header is done by him. He is this multi talented guy who can paint, sketch, sing, play the guitar, click great photographs AND write. It's overwhelming. It's as if he is good at whatever he does.

And ofcourse he is a great friend. He is always ready to help. Always. He is one of those people who do not think twice about helping other people. He will go out of his way to help anyone who needs it.

I wish we met more often. Had the time to. But we don't. That doesn't change the fact that I treasure him as a friend.

He is one of the purest souls you will meet. And he is one of the sweetest guy  I know. His simplicity is what makes him different. And I know he will stick to his ideals, no matter what. As a friend, he will stick by you, even if you don't. He is that kind of guy.

I want to thank you Samik; for your countless re-designs of my blog background, for all the logos you made for me, for all the ideas you suggested to me and for all the techie help you gave me. 




Update:   25.1. 2014 Samik has written a guest post for me. To read it, click here

Z : Zestfully yours

Zest for life is important, I feel. It's a rare quality. Not everyone has the enthusiasm and excitement to lead life with full heart. And it's one of the qualities in a person that I admire. It's not easy to be cheerful and positive. It's not easy to not worry. It's not easy to just live. Like you are enjoying every minute of it. Very few people can do that. Really enjoy life. My mom can. A can.  And so can my friend Sayan. All three of them, are generally very happy people. They know how to live! They enjoy every moment. It's inspiring. 

My mother is enthusiastic about anything she takes up. Be it teaching, tatting or making stuff with beads

Sayan is so sure about the great future I will have that every time he says something good about me, I feel encouraged. He is generous with his compliments. And knows people well. His words are meant to praise and encourage. He does that with such elan. 

Even my mom is like that. She is a step further. She is the one who can see silver linings in any situation. Her words come like a ray of hope. It's as if she knows, that after the bad time the good time is  round the corner. As if it's peeking and waving at her. She says she is not worried about me. She says she knows I will do well. 

Because she has this enthusiasm for life, she is also generous. She is the kind of person who will never refuse to help you. Whoever you are. 

A has the ability to adjust to any situation. Which is on of the things I admire in him. He too always manages to find a way to be happy, satisfied. 

And so is Sayan. Content. Yet he knows he wants more. And  sure he will get it. Which is one of the best things about him. 

It's encouraging to have such people around you. It's nice to know that one can find happiness in the smallest of things. Like making a bracelet with beads. Or discussing what kind of life you want with a friend. Or telling someone not to worry. It helps, you know; to have people like them around. It's as if they know no other way. And that's how it should be, right? Enjoying  each day, as it comes. Living life like it's meant to be lived. 

World empty empty seems

The first time I met AK, my reaction was- "What a nerd" Actually if anyone meets her for the first time, they think she is a nerd. But even though she reads much more than I do, she is anything but a nerd. 

A newbie in GDB I was trying to find my way through friends and classes. I had humanities in +2, we all had different subjects and so we didn't meet all our classmates in every period. The next time i saw her was in economics class. Front bench, listening intently to what the teacher was saying. And I was in the last bench, hardly comprehending what the lady was talking about. 


I met her again in the library. She was explaining eco to someone. I asked for her help, which she readily gave. And that was the end of that. 


Then I became friends with Rajnandini through History class. I moved to the first bench to sit beside her. Eco classes came and went and somehow AK and I  became friends. Sharing our love for lists, Harry Potter and zara hatke stuff. ( BTW we sat beside each other in class 12) 


I remember I had painted my nails black as part of a protest. When I was pulled out of assembly for breaking the rules and told to remove the nailpaint AK arranged  for a blade and helped me remove the two coats. 


So there we were, outside class, trying not to giggle. My hands outstretched and AK diligently scratching at my nails, chipping of bits of nail paint. I don't remember if we managed to get it all off, all I remember is her brave attempts. 


The thing is AK hates  explaining. She hates too many questions. I ask a lot of questions. And she patiently answers all of them. 

It is from her that I learned how to be more generous. I made a lot of friends because of her. I keep on learning from her, which is great.  I am lucky to her as a friend. A kind of best friend ( I say kind of because somehow I don't like the best friend tag, but if I used it I would use it for her and Kaniti) 

Remember that song from the movie Om Shanti Om? Jag suna suna lage...We translated it to English and danced to it and hence the title of this post. I think mine WOULD  seem empty without her. 

It's only words

This morning my father was reading out a text when my grandma asked him who had sent it. He said "P from Delhi, T's gharwala" (Gharwala: The  man she lives with, i.e her husband) I found the statement so funny that I almost burst out laughing ( I say almost coz we can't really burst out laughing at some situations.) 


It is not essentially a funny statement. I wanted to laugh because of the way it sounded- old Hindi film-ish. No one uses such phrases anymore. 


There is a tremendous gap in how we speak and and how our parents spoke. Forget Hindi, words old English   bu-shirt (half sleeved shirt)  are so much out of league that I have forbidden my dad to use it. He now tries hard to remember to say Half sleeved shirt instead. 


Infact, even my sister's lingo is very different from mine. ( There is, after all a 9 year gap between us) She has a favourite set of phrases  that she sprinkles generously in all her conversations. 


"How dumb" is used for any situation, regardless of what she actually thinks about it. Then there is "Awara types" (Awara basically refers to a useless person, who roams around because he/she does not have any work/commitments/responsibilities)  She may exclaim- "Kitne Awara type ke ho"  or greet me and mom with "Hello Awara ladies! "


She uses phrases without reason, it may or may not apply to the what is happening around her. But I tell you, it's fun.It's even more fun when my father gets scandalised when he hears her refer to her friends as "bakwas", dhaba or anything that sounds like an insult to him. He does realise that this is the way we speak, he accepts it but can't help but be bemused by it. 


I often end up using some phrases used often by people I am close to. My friend Kaniti used to say Jhat a lot. I picked it up from her and both of us use to splash it everywhere. (example Jhat jolle na tor: Ok I can't translate this, sorry) AK and I used to use "Kya pharak parta hai" ( It doesn't matter) and "Amar kichu jaye ashe na"( It doesn't affect me/I don't care) 


I, for my part love to say ainwayi  (  Which means just like that in punjabi) It's something I use often. Many of us exclaim "sahi hai", "mast" when something meets our approval. The 50+ people can keep being amused/bemused by the words around them.   I think having a having a specific lingo is fun. It is ainwayi, after all. 

Breaking the fall

The other day while rehearsing for our play I tried the trust game with my friend ( lets call her Kaniti). You know the game where you let yourself go and fall? And your partner has to catch you from behind? Its not about strength but about trusting the other person. When I told her what to do and then fell she couldn’t catch me and a fell down. Got a couple of bruises too.



The point is I didn’t mind falling. I didn’t mind her not catching me. And I was willing to give it another shot. I still trusted her to catch me. And even if she didn’t break my fall for the 2nd, 3th, 4th and 5th attempt I would have still fallen for her. Still trusted her to catch me on her 7th, 8th and 9th attempt. And if my friend would have trusted herself enough she would have been able to catch me.


Have trust in your abilities as a friend. Friendship doesn’t require solving all your friends’ problems. I used to think so earlier and proclaim myself a failure when I couldn’t solve my friends’ problems.


Once, Kaniti and I whined together (Hell we almost cried but 21 year olds don’t cry I guess) we both had separate emotional burdens yet neither of us had solutions or a piece of advice for the other. But we did feel better after a bout of mutual whining. Maybe its about being able to whine together.


Sometimes ‘I am there’ isn’t a ‘constant by your side always’ presence. Its more of when you are in your lowest of low emotional holes, you close your eyes and you know that whatever shit happens the ‘ I am there’ person will still be there.


Most people will judge you when you are in your crappiest, worst phase; even your parents; not the ‘I am there’ person.


But then you have to have an ‘I am there’ person. You need to trust yourself, trust your abilities as a friend.


Trust yourself so that you have full trust in the fact that I trust you.