I
CAME
I
SAW
He avoids all the bevy of
‘beautiful’ distractions with a stoic face and is quickly branded
as ‘serious and brooding” by his batchmates. Yet when he meets
Ashishikta- his paternal uncle’s colleague’s daughter, hailing
from Kolkata suburbs, all his resolve vanishes and he gives in to the
same old ‘follies’ that led to heartbreaks during his
undergraduate days. Does lady luck shine on him this time round? Does
Vidhaan make the same mistakes? Why does he keep a part of his life a
complete secret even from his closest friends in his MBA class? And
who is this Ekantika in his batch whom he befriends during the fag
end days of MBA?
I came. I saw.
I She Conquered traces the journey and
experiences of Vidhaan during the two years of his post graduation
and two years thereafter in the backdrop of bustling life of Kolkata
which holds an altogether different charm for him. So read along
folks and as last words I would quote a cliché, “This is a work of
fiction. Any resemblance to my awesome and fantabulous friends and
‘muses’ is purely coincidental.”
1.
A new beginning...
The houses beneath the wings
became smaller and smaller as the twin Pratt and Whitney 1100G
engines lifted the Airbus A320 of Indigo Airlines into the sky. City
of Joy, here I come! The blinding glare of the afternoon sun forced
me to pull down the “shutter” on the small window that afforded
me to look down upon the Earth from an altitude of 35,000 feet.
Minutes passed as idle thoughts stormed my brain one after the other
about how life in Kolkata would be like. My reverie was broken by a
beautiful flight stewardess as she asked me if I would like to be
served with a ridiculously overpriced snack. Curious as to know how
wide she can smile, I nodded and gave her one of my “winning”
smile that oozed gratitude and thanked her as she served me. She gave
a bigger fake smile in reciprocation as if serving me masala cashew
and diet coke is what she had been dreaming of since she came to her
senses. I immediately knew that I was up against a pro and she was
trained and paid to smile at strangers all day long. So I refrained
from further making a fool of myself and concentrated on devouring
the food that was in front of me...
Although I am a Delhiite
through and through, I am more of a 'bong' as compared to my other
Bengali friends who like me have been born and brought up in the
capital city of India. This is partly due to my schooling at Shyama
Prasad Vidyalaya- one of the seven Bengali schools in the capital,
and partly due to the steady dose of Bengali culture fed to me by my
semi- orthodox parents in the form of Bankim Chandra's literature,
Satyajit Ray’s movies, Rabindra Sangeet, 'Shorshey Eeleesh'
(Hilsa with mustard sauce) and 'Muri Ghonto' (potpourri of
rice, fish head and what not!). As a non resident Bengali since
birth, I always wondered how life in Kolkata would be like. The
yearly 3- week trip to Kolkata during summer vacations was an eagerly
awaited affair. When those weeks got over, as if in a blink of an
eye, I would become morose while looking out of the window of
Rajdhani Express as it pulled out of Howrah station, headed for
Delhi, as if I am leaving a vital part of myself in this city. The
time spent with my cousins, visiting various places within the
limited time, the omnipresent yellow taxis, the Bengali expletives,
seeing posters of movies like Baba Keno Chaakor (The Servant
Father), Shaami Keno Ashami (Why is my hubby a criminal??!!),
the trips in local train all seemed very charming. It always seemed
that I belong to this place and not to the uber chic power centre of
India. This yearning somehow got lost in the many nook and crannies
of my heart as sheer mundane life forced the weeks to roll into
months and months into years.
And then I made a mess of my
GATE examinations and seriously started looking at the MBA option
which was erstwhile an ‘unsavoury’ backup. Since my options were
between going to some second grade town of Maharashtra and pursuing
MBA from a supposedly good college in Kolkata, I blindly chose the
later. As all my paternal and maternal relatives live in Kolkata, my
parents who are usually more protective about me as compared to what
parents should be about their male child, were also on board with my
decision to shift to our native city. So the day came when my mother
bid a tearful adieu as if I am her only “daughter” who got
married and now moving to live with her in-laws. As far as I was
concerned I was relieved and elated beyond imagination. New Delhi had
started to become suffocating. On one hand there was a not so
presentable “past” of mine and most of my friends had left for
abroad looking for greener pastures. I badly needed a fresh start, a
new city with an opportunity to make new set of friends was the
perfect antidote that almighty provided me with.
“... We will be landing
shortly in Netaji Subhash International Airport. The weather is
cloudy and strong winds are blowing from the east. Kindly fasten
your seat belts and brace for some turbulence. Thank You”, the
pilot parrotted an oft repeated warning in a monotonous voice. A
couple of minutes later the “turbulence” began. God please
dont crash it now!! I gripped
the seat rest and lifted the shutter and looked outside. I was
greeted with dark grey clouds- a symbol of peak of monsoons in West
Bengal. The flight landed after some time and outside it was raining
cats and dogs. I stepped out onto the tarmac and then onto the waiting bus that would ferry us to the arrival terminal. As the bus started moving I looked out into the torrential rains. So it begins...
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