The Coromandel Express chugged slowly into Platform No 8 of the Howrah railway station.It was the month of August 1986 and Durga Puja was still a month away.Ever since Vijaya had made Kolkata her home,she had been actively participating in the neighbourhood Durga Puja every year and she was eagerly waiting for this puja , knowing very well that it could be her last puja as a resident Kolkatan ,for the family was set to migrate and settle down in the south of India the following year.
"Hey that is Hotel Saravana Bhavan on Theyagaraya Road ,Well !! Idlis can come later," I said to myself.. I am right now on flashback mode.I browse the morning papers, the net over a cup of filter coffee,and I can see myself on a narrow long corridored balcony with a shingada in my hand and a cup of tea .
Hey friends "that's my local address twenty eight years back ,and the view from the top.... I can see heads walking front and back ."The noise and the din was music to the ears and the mood always palpable...
YESSSS !!! I am sitting right on Gariahat junction , and I resided in a place so enviable.Rashbehari Avenue is one of the most prestigious and
important avenues of Kolkata.A major portion of this road , is Gariahat,the prime
shopping and a residential neighbourhood of south Kolkata.
Rashbehari Avenue falls in the residential neighbourhood of Ballygunge.It
was destined and Nayaki considers herself very lucky to have spent her
childhood in the heart of a commercial hub in the City Of Joy.The princess
lived in Yashoda Bhavan with the finest of sweetmeat shops and saree boutiques
such as Adi Dhakeswari Bastralaya and Traders Assembly for
neighbours.
She was a teenager when the family had shifted to the new house
on the third floor.......a landmark on Gariahat junction.The sprawling
balconies overlooked the Gariahat junction.She would roam....wander around.The
place was mayhem and she guesses it still is....with people shoving and
pushing one another,making a bid for the best buy at the craziest prices and
purportedly believing in having clinched the best deal.The hawkers with makeshift
shops that crowded the sidewalks were lively men waiting to pounce upon the
prospective buyers...and once in, the gullible buyer had no way out.A tactical
move on the part of the buyer had the hawkers going, and it just needed a
simple bargaining to begin the process.Often the bid started at less than half
the price quoted by the paan chewing seller and he would lure the tolerant
buyer in his inimitable style of refusing and finally relenting.
Vijaya had Navrathri celebrations at home and the Pujas came free.That was the double bonanza of being a MadRasKolkatan with a TamBong connection.The pre-puja days were chaotically hectic I remember and I made frequent trips to the Traders and the Dhakeswaris to strike a bargain ."That was a cool buy ,"I would reassure myself and bring home a collection of Tangails,Jamdanis and Dhonekhalis...
Misty eyes camouflage my thinking now.It's nearly three decades since I had been to Kolkata last ,during a Durga puja.Every year as Mahalaya approaches,I become very emotional.I listened to Chandi Path rendered by Shri Birendra Krishna Bhadra today morning at 4AM with a lump in my throat .I was transported back to the good old golden days.The broadcast on Akashvani is vintage and the lyrics brought tears to my eyes.
The planks have descended from the lofts above and the GOLU STEPS have to be arranged today.
I hear the sound of a conch faraway up in the mountains,the grrrrrrrrrowl of the Mahishasur and the clank of the divine weapons .I see Mardhini emerging from behind the clouds and the triumph of good over evil,I see Ganesh,Karthik,Lakshmi ,Saraswathi too and I pray for TIMES NOW to stand still ...............
"Can you hear the sound of the Dhol?" I then reiterate, and ask myself repeatedly......
"Oh ! Not yet ! Though ! what I do seem to hear Is
MIKE TAYSTING ! MIKE TAYSTING !"........intermittently..........
