Kanpur-Gandhinagar-Bangalore-Calcutta

Bold black alphabets against yellow background of rock at the platform read- Calcutta.

It felt like this rock was only thing stationary in my vicinity. Everything else was moving, rather bumping into each other. The whole place was in utter confusion. Somehow I managed to locate my uncle in swarm of people.

I was on a short trip of my dream city. But the dreams seem to fade in the utter confusion and chaos.

Mamaji, gaadi kahan hai?
Bas besta, saamne hi hai. We can drive inside the platform to park our cars close to the bogey. (You need to be there to understand it).

Anyways, the car was just infront and I thanked God for saving me some millions of pushes and stepovers on my foot. We drove, rather slowly moved ahead to the main road. The traffic was overwhelming. Everyone wanted to go everywhere.

There were black colored cabs, new swanky cars, old ambassadors, trams, autos, handrickshaws, scooters, bikes and not to forget poor old pedestrians who were trying to figure a way out of the puzzle created by vehicles. Suddenly loud bong accent voice started coming from some distance. I tried to take a sneak peak to realized that a car tried to smart it's way infront of tram and created a deadlock.

Whole area was brought to a standstill, save the pedestrians. Honks and screams were only thing that indicated the city was alive. And then it started raining.

Oh great! What could be worse in life than being stuck in a stupid traffic jam! We need few helicopters to air lift us!

I closed the window of car partially because of the rain and partially because it was stinking like hell. There was a huge pile of leftovers of food, probably remains of a night party, thrown on the footpath next to us. It was stinking like hell and I prayed to God to atleast move our car few metres ahead so that I'm saved of this torture.


Kaise log hai yahaan! Kahin bhi khana fenk dete hain! Ise to janwar kya bacteria bhi nahin khayenge!

I was cursing my luck when I saw a beggar approaching the pile. He squatted next to the pile. And then my vision faded because of the water on glass. It seems like world was melting and images were getting distorted. I saw some activity from the beggar but it was too unclear to determine what he was doing sitting there. Out of curiosity, I opened the window.


Beta bheeg jaaoge. Khidki band kar lo!
Bas mamaji, 5 min thoda hawa kha loon!

What I saw next, changed my entire life. I saw the beggar merrily eating rice and daal from the huge pile. It seemed like a feast to him and he was gulping down handful of the pale yellow mixture. The same leftover that was painful for me to even see or smell, to somebody else it was a lucky meal. I took out my head of the car so as not to vomit in the car. I vomited not only the food, but my preconceived notions, my sense of misery. I realized how lucky I was to be sitting inside this stupid car stuck in the stupid traffic rather than being outside.


Kya hua beta! Theek ho na!
Nahin mamaji! Bas wo thoda journey ki wajah se....

I closed my car window hastily and allowed the world to melt infront of my eyes. It was a pure bliss to live in my virtual world with meaningless problems. I wished I could do something, but like a coward, I felt comfortable in my small little world. I was so happy in my small-little-problems-of-life.

Chalo beta! Traffic khul gaya. Ghar chalte hain! Ache se khana khayenge!

Still, a dent in my wall had been made. The world really melted and distorted for me that day. I was lost in the streets of Calcutta and in the realities of life.