Calcutta… Kolkata… or Home!!! The first time I’ve been in the City in the last almost 2 years… with both time on my hands and friends!!!
The Obvious Question… How much has changed? The Not-So Obvious Answer… Nothing!!!
If I had the same set of people around in the same Presidency Canteen, Today, I know the discussion would still very much be the same… may not be the topic, which may have shifted from Mr. Marx to Mr. Obama, but surely nothing else…
There was a time… when in between rounds and teas, time itself came to a halt… morning passed into afternoon and then into night and then into morning… life was warped around a culture… an attitude… not merely subjects, booze or people!!! Not a boozer back then but you get the point… surely…
Kolkata, or College Street was like a colourful postcard pasted in a fabric of time… Even today, when great-insecurities such as beer-belly, falling hair and monotony govern our daily living… the faces round that canteen are still the same… not the same people but the same look, the same atmosphere… even now women-smokers far outnumbering the men, the one-bearded history/pol-science/philosophy student, the one Eco-Cool dude, the one Physics- I Know it all- just huddled into the morphed existence around the cultural melee…
If I had to ask the Canteen guy who’s been around for over 30 years, what’s changed… probably the only thing other than his hair, and kids would be the dressing of the people around his canteen… which I would say has undergone a distinct improvement, but then again that’s just me!!!
When people criticize “My City” and say that nothing moves, nothing changes, no one cares in the more ‘Real’ monetary aspirations, career-istic instinct, I have often wondered… is the guy critical or jealous…?
In a purely hypothetical scenario, if every guy like me could come back into the City once every 5-10 years, and just see that ‘His Canteen’, ‘His Wall Painting’, ‘His Ideology’ and ‘His Life’ were still ‘His’ wouldn’t that be the most secure moment in an otherwise ‘complicated’ life – whether great or not-so-good??? Maybe the people have changed, but not the faces, not the lives not the ‘Being – composed of heritage-culture-values’…
Call me just a ‘Stupid-Bong’ with ‘Nostalgic-Sentiments’ in his breath and no ambition to be forward-looking, even for the state… but I sincerely believe (although I really don’t have the statistics to prove it), that more number of us, that believed in freedom from petty-classroom-driven-academics, believed in a sense of one-ness, believed in gossip and fun, and have spent most of our college-lives practicing such beliefs, have done far better, in every societal-driven definition of success than many of our counterparts!!!
I guess the critical bit was ‘Freedom’!!! Freedom from conformity… freedom to do what one wanted… freedom to choose!!! If I compare such a culture with most of our so-called ‘Educators’, they would be misfits!!! If I compare such a culture to most of our ‘successful’ academics, businessmen and literary… they match!!! Thus the more-than-obvious inference, “Most of our ‘Educators’ are simply not ‘Successful’ in their own definitions of the term”!!!
I was lucky to have been part of a culture, an attitude than was largely non-conformist… and when I go down to the same canteen, year-after year- after year (ok, stop!!! It hasn’t been so long… yet!!!) I still hope to see the same… the same look on their faces… the same attitude and above all the same bonding force… the Culture… The ‘Calcutta-Way’!!!
10 comments:
Too good ;)
Very nice read. Took me back many years to a time that was so different. Whether today i want to go back there, is an answer i haven't quite figured out. Maybe it was nice at that age/ the situation we were in at that time. Im not really sure if i'd still like that life.
Hmm, its very good! I do relate somewhat to what you say, just that really don't know what to do. Definitely true, that Kolkata (or for that matter most hometowns) always have things with which you identify more, and have more of your imprints without usual time erosion; but I wonder - is it good just to visit that type of place often and do what you intend to do in some other place, or is it better to be there with whatever you love all around, and do the best of what you can do there. Not sure, but maybe, if I (or many others) am courageous enough, would chose the second one. Enogh of my bakwas, but again -- your writing is fabulous.
I was thinking the stuggle is between the people who see the change incrementally (do not see the change in reality) and the people who see yearly snapshots (do see the change). Nice to hear this is non existent in "your City".
But if its not changing and you call it non-conformity then I am a bit confused. I know all literature are confusing but Physicists are not even if they use literature.
By the way its a nice experience to know about the place from such great articles.
Naveen
Great post. To me, however, it is not surprising that not much has changed. Although our lives have changed a lot 5 years is a small period of time for an institution more than 100 yrs old. (Of course there must have been important changes because of facebook, mobile phones etc that we did not get time to notice).
May be at the heart of all this is the question, whether even we have changed in a fundamental way. The situation in our life is of coursse expected to influence how we behave etc. For eg. I think I was really nasty to everyone during my unsuccessful IIT JEE preparation because of all the stress etc. I have also seen people change completely during a crisis. So we should have changed in this sense. Some of us are more confident than before because of good jobs etc others are disillusioned about something etc. But beyond that is there a fundamental change? Also, and very crucially, is it desirable to become less spontaneous and 'juvenile' and more 'matured' (for being matured is sort of like conforming to societal expectations isnt it ?)?
Nice read, but there is a price to all this nonconformity though, you tend to (at least in my case) have less ambition as that would be "going with the crowd". Which might end up hurting (or do nothing in particular depending on your definition of "doing well").
But as Sandeepan said, we are all outcomes of our surroundings and I think our roots definitely play a big part in that.
@ Sombit: Is Lucifer non-conformist???
@ Sonal: As long as you are not sure, you should give it a shot... We can give the old college a round one more time :D
@ Mainak: It's a tough call... maybe in time... However, you must realize that a 'Place' feels Home only for the 'People'. So you can always set up your own Home anywhere. Probably retirement ;)
@ Thamban: 'My City' is way better than the impression you form by reading my posts. Thanks.
@ Dhansu: I completely agree. Maturity is a mask i wear in Office... I doubt we can ever change our immature selves :D... Desire by definition is something that will make you happy after attaining/fulfilling it. In this case Not.
@ Suvayu: As long as you are not sure of your success, you have Ambition!!! The 'Price' to pay is 'Who you are'... Wouldn't everybody pay that 'Price'???
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nice.....it's a pity they don't have the thumbs-up of facebook here...
Bhappok...:)
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