North Kolkata Calling !!

We were in school and probably studying in Standard 3 or maybe in 4- as far as I could remember. We became very fond of Jug who used to entertain us in various ways. During those days Jug Suraiya used to work in The Statesman Calcutta ( not Kolkata ) and write in The Junior Statesman.  After a long time I found him in his column in TOI Hyderabad which brought back a lot of nostalgia.         However our Jug seems to have developed- well a kind of forgetfulness - probably forgetting the present while recollecting the past clearly -as he himself confessed in his account . Dear Jug let me tell you that not only you but we too are facing similar forgetfulness problem nowadays. 

Never have I seen a cat eating a crow ! I have often seen them devouring pigeons and other birds including parrots, sparrows etc. but never a crow ! Hence it was a rather surprising sight to see -with my own eyes- a cat eating a full grown crow. I am not sure whether she caught it alive or dead- but the way she she was tearing it apart while feeding , gave me the idea that she was quite hungry.    But the question still arise whether a cat- hungry or not- would ever become a scavenger ! Especially when it's food source isn't scarce !!

While finishing my morning walk I met my senior friend   & neighbor Siddhartha Ghosh. After a bit of chitchat I  enquired about a framed photo that I have seen a few months ago in his house. The said picture was hung just at the entrance  so that whoever comes may have a good look at it. Hence I too have not failed to notice it. The picture showed Kapil Dev (the famous Indian cricketer )  putting a shwal around my friend's shoulder as an act of feli- citation.  My friend who was the Chief Accountant of Ananda Bazar Patrika has retired and was in extension-as far as I know.  The felicitation was for his long service towards the ABP Sporting Club he claimed.  "The next time if you have the opportunity-please tell him about me." In fact it was probably me who produced the only cassette on the cricketer's achievement in winning the first World Cup for India. The song's lyric & music was compo

She is around forty or maybe forty five years old. I met her or rather she met me around the corner of a Kolkata street. It was an unexpected meeting while I stood there just  for few moments to smoke a cigarette. I was absorbed in my own thoughts when I saw the lady crossing the street right ahead of me. She was a foreigner and she seemed quite at ease with the large number of vehicles passing around her.  After crossing she went straight towards a small shop selling cigarettes, soft drinks etc and said something to the owner. The owner however did not respond and then she decided to come straight to me. Without a word the lady started pointing towards my fingers repeatedly. One doesn't expect such expression from a foreigner-I mean pointing fingers! or so towards a stranger. I asked her( in english ) to explain herself for such behavior. She finally told me to throw away the cigarette. Somehow she gave me the impression of....may

The name of the shoe shop was probably ' Bhattacharya &Co' and it was situated on the important crossing of Hatibagan of North Calcutta. I used to frequently visit the shop for my requirements of foot wears. I was around 38/39 years of age when I had the opportunity to meet the proprietor of the shop who was eagerly showing varieties of shoes according to my choice. Somehow we got down to a casual conversation when I asked him about the age of the shop. I don't remember the actual words that he had spoken but I could still recollect that he suddenly became sentimental. Soon I realized that he was too attached to the shop and went on and on to convince me that it's  old -perhaps the oldest footwear shop in Hatibagan. Finally when he stopped I asked him an impertinent question. " And how long do you expect the shop to last -I mean do you expect the next generation to stick to it ?" He looked exasperated and thought

       "Art is strong wine and it needs a strong head to keep it." I have read the above line somewhere and since then kept it in my inner dictionary-for a long long period- unaware of its  use or relevancy. I often dwelled upon the said line on various phases of my life and wondered what had inspired the Author ( probably it was Maxim Gorky or Fyodor Dostoevsky) to have penned out such a line.  Myself, being somewhat bent towards the Art World, I take this opportunity to relate some facts about a friend of mine. He was a young musician trying to establish himself in the music world. Of course he had all the requirements & trainings to become a successful Harmonium player (both as a soloist and an accomp- anist ) yet the Artist within him gave him no respite from his uncertain & unpredictable mood swing. He went along  the world according to his terms. I could still remember the day when he brought along with him an equally