A Calcuttan in The Pink City II
Saturday, February 6, 2010 by Sunrita
Jan 14th 6:53pm
Winter in Jaipur. Temperatures touch a degree centigrade here. Brrrrr. That’s like -15 degrees for this particular person, whose blog you are currently reading.
Two full sweaters, one jacket, two socks are my daily wear during these months.
One of the worst things to do in hostel life is ‘washing clothes’. I have given up on the hope of ever being successful in cleaning towels. I have tried all possible and feasible combinations – washing powder, soap cake, warm water, boiling hot water, but I am yet to achieve the first visible victory. Henceforth, all my towels will be either washed by others/ machines or I will change my towels once every three months.
Feeling homesick…Okay, I know that was abrupt, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. Not that I keep dreaming of places in Calcutta but I really miss a few things. I badly miss my singing classes, my wardrobe, my terrace, maachher jjhol, my cooking sprees, my tiny little bed and the window next to it.
These posts will be outdated when I finally post them. I do not get the time or opportunity to publish my posts, but I make sure I write as many as I can (offline).
P.S – You will always find my posts containing Calcutta instead of Kolkata. The reason being simple – I like Calcutta more. One city which has three forms of names, English – Calcutta, Hindi – Culcuttah and Bengali – Kolkata. I prefer and will always prefer the English name.
I’d also like to add one more thing here – I have heard Kolkata being pronounced peculiarly all over (even on national news channels), just want to help you pronounce it right – it is “Coal-Kaata”.
Winter in Jaipur. Temperatures touch a degree centigrade here. Brrrrr. That’s like -15 degrees for this particular person, whose blog you are currently reading.
Two full sweaters, one jacket, two socks are my daily wear during these months.
One of the worst things to do in hostel life is ‘washing clothes’. I have given up on the hope of ever being successful in cleaning towels. I have tried all possible and feasible combinations – washing powder, soap cake, warm water, boiling hot water, but I am yet to achieve the first visible victory. Henceforth, all my towels will be either washed by others/ machines or I will change my towels once every three months.
Feeling homesick…Okay, I know that was abrupt, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. Not that I keep dreaming of places in Calcutta but I really miss a few things. I badly miss my singing classes, my wardrobe, my terrace, maachher jjhol, my cooking sprees, my tiny little bed and the window next to it.
These posts will be outdated when I finally post them. I do not get the time or opportunity to publish my posts, but I make sure I write as many as I can (offline).
P.S – You will always find my posts containing Calcutta instead of Kolkata. The reason being simple – I like Calcutta more. One city which has three forms of names, English – Calcutta, Hindi – Culcuttah and Bengali – Kolkata. I prefer and will always prefer the English name.
I’d also like to add one more thing here – I have heard Kolkata being pronounced peculiarly all over (even on national news channels), just want to help you pronounce it right – it is “Coal-Kaata”.
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Those collages/montages that you prepare are so pleasing. Gives a nice feel to those of us who have never been there. Its already getting so hot in the South, trust me, we are eager to experience that kind of winter once! :-)
BTW, when I commented on the beautiful pictures I recalled an incident happened to a teacher of mine. He had so heartily shared it with us that it made an impression and stayed with us forever. Goes like this...
My teacher, Ravi Murthy, had an American boss during his small stint in a US company. The boss had just returned from a trip to India and showed him the pictures he took. He showed him photos of our slums, the market crowd, traffic jams, cow dung on the streets, etc and then said "how do you live in such condition". Ravi looked at them all and then replied... "Sir, when Indians come to the US they take pictures of Liberty Statue, of Empire State, of Golden Gate Bridge and go back to India and show it to everyone. When you americans go to India, you take pictures of the filth there. Thats due to a difference in cultures. Indian culture teaches us to see the beauty in everything. In America.. and in our country too.. and THAT is how we can live there!"
Thanks for seeing the beauty in Jaipur (and also 'Coal-Kaaata' in your dreams).. :-)
coal kaata indeed :)
Hey..You are in Jaipur now? When did u go there and what are you doing now? Amar khub jante ichhe kore.... You know your 'Vivek' had broken his right collar bone?
Tui nischoi phele diyechhili...byata...aha re...
Viku ke amar kachhe patthiye de...
Tor dara kitsu hobe na...
oshodzho dzoghonno akta...
aar prothom question gulor answer kromosho prokassho darling ;)
tui please amake suspense ey rakhish na... emon bolli as in ami tor blog reader shudhu.... tor ph korle switched off bole ami koto try korechhi toke contact korar....jayi hok picasa te ekbar amake dekhe nish........
very true being in this dominantly 'non bengali' town i get to hear all kinds of pronounciations of kolkata ..but i always make it a point to point it out to people its..'KOL KATA' and it sumhow feel gr8 when u suddenly hear someone pronouncing it correctly and truly i like 'kolkata' more than calcutta...its describes me so wel as the only bengali girl around....