Time to move on

I moved into my house in Kolkata with a couple of bags, OK a couple of suitcases and a couple of bags. Now it's time to move out of my current house into another house and suddenly I seem to have a tad more luggage than before.

For starters there's the Italian wardrobe in my room, which served me quite well but is now quite the white elephant. Then there's my cycle, a 5 speed Hercules city bike which helped me exercise on the odd days I didn't feel like gymming, the Creative speakers, the zillion formal clothes I had to buy which are at the end of their lifecycle courtesy my maid Durga. There's also the electric kettle and vessels which I really don't know what I should do with.

But the most important thing I would carry with me is memories. Memories of a wonderful year, where I made some amazing friends, learnt a lot about life. The first time ever that I lived in a rented acco was really not that bad. We chose this house because of it's proximity to the metro but post a few months we seem to travel only by cab. We arranged for a tiffin service for home cooked food and mostly ate out.

One thing that always irritated me about MBA and the year in sales was a lack of a routine. This year gave me a routine. There were regular visits to the gym. The sundays actually had me waking up in time for church. Sunday brunch at Flurry's (One Bagel and a hot chocolate) has slowly transformed to Sunday Lunch at Homely Raj. But there is a routine for sure.

My room's still as messy as the first day. The Tibetan flag maybe a little dustier. The pile of books a little higher, the desk a bit more cluttered and life a wee bit richer for the experience of the last year.

Luv,

P.R.

The yellow coloured racers

He slowly moved in behind the vehicle right in front of him and then before the other driver could react, he dove into the left barely missing the railings and moved into the lead.

All this while his passenger (poor me), almost had a small heart attack. The driver was one of the thousands of people who drive mostly dilapidated, sometimes decrepit yellow cabs around Kolkata. Each cab hogs up half the road and on an average contains one passenger. The cab might take a minute to move from 0 to 20 Kph and a little more than that to get back to zero. Some cabs have doors without handles and some even have windows which can actually be rolled up and down.

There is of course the odd re - furbished cab and there was this one really amazing Ambassador Nova that I commandeered. Incidentally the Ambi was the first vehicle I drove. I was about 7 and it was my grandfather's black '77 Mark 3 Ambi. However even he never allowed us to use it when we went to a busy city. He said that it's not made for busy traffic.

In fact he would have fainted if had ever seen me traveling in the peak of Kolkata traffic in a yellow cab which tries to pass an equally crazy bus driver on the left then on the right and just when you think he is gonna fly over him a-la his more illustrious bong brother Mithun - Da. He suddenly does a Houdini and somehow comes out in front. It's at times like this that you think that bungee jumpin, para - gliding etc. are really over rated. You can get the same excitement, the near death experience at an nth of the cost in our very own Kolkata Cab.

Then just when you think that you are home safe. He stops right in the middle of a junction just as the lights turn red and reverses back. He can't break rules you see. There really is no rule about jostling for space, pushing other vehicles off the kerb, making accusations about another driver's parentage or about any incestuous relationships he might be in and of course one ways are just a formality. One cab going the wrong way is really not going to change much.

Still every morning (sometimes twice if I'm playing soccer), I walk out of my gate, and slide into one of these monstrosities and tell the driver the location of the place (mostly office) I would love to reach with the minimum of fuss in the least possible time and every morning the gentleman in grey takes it upon himself to teach me the value of each minute of my 27 years of existence with moments of sheer exhilaration during which most major incidents of my life flash past my eyes and my driver nonchalantly turns around to ensure that I haven't jumped off, blabbers something in Bengali to which I politely shake my head; My terror - stricken eyes masked behind my Polaroids, after which he deposits me, generally in a tyre shrieking moment at my destination wherein I get out wishing that I could lose my inhibitions for a moment and kiss the ground beneath my feet while the cabby violently pulls out oblivious of my emotions, looking out for the next guy he can refuse to take in unless he's heading right in the direction he feels like going.

But frankly Kol wouldn't be Kol if not for these yellow transporters and life would not be half as exciting.

Living (it up) on the edge,

Luv,

Pranay

Please feed Che

As a kid, the one thing I wanted was a Puppy. Dad and my sis as a kid having asthma meant that a dog in the house was out of question. Even then my dad gave in and allowed me to ask a neighbour whose Pom had given birth to four pups for one of them. Unfortunately he had already promised the same to someone else and considering that keeping a pup in a 3rd floor apartment doesn't make sense, I made do with an aquarium, one of the cleanest ones ever. I personally put together a cleaning system which was quite amazing.

Finally I got the chance to adopt a male yellow lab puppy who I call Che. He's absolutely cute, but there's a small problem, Che's a virtual pup on Facebook and my Facebook as most other things on the Tata Indicom data card works really slowly. So most days I can't even access Che's page or get the flash application started. Which means that Che is really not taken care of well. So if you are one of my Facebook pals and have a 1/2 decent net connection, please feed/play with Che till I find alternate means to do so.

Luv,

P.R.

A new chapter beckons

Just received my transfer list today and I've been posted as Asst. Brand Manager, Personal Care products which means I stay in Kolkata. Definitely a new chapter in my life.

- Pranay