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Saturday, July 24, 2010

You know you are in Kolkata when...

  • You feel all sticky and moist on the skin all the time
  • Some rickshaws are still pulled by hand
  • Bus conductors call out the bus route at every stop
  • Buses race with one another and overtake from the left
  • Trams crawl on the streets at turtle speed
  • Taxis come in Ambassador models
  • Auto-rickshaws are without a meter
  • The metro railway charging the same fare since the past 10 years
  • A taxi or a truck on wrong side of the road causes traffic jam for hours
  • A white cloth policeman try to control the insane traffic
  • Two locals fight over a penny’s worth
  • People use umbrellas on bright sunny afternoons (for shade)
  • Every other day, Mamata di is in the news
  • Vans / autorickshaws fitted with loudspeakers blare political propaganda all year round
  • Band are called or rallies organized every other day
  • Ruling party still does not change for 20-25 years
  • Gender loses all significance in the speech
  • Bidi is more popular than cigarette
  • In September and October, people go berserk with Pujo shopping
  • Pandals of all shapes and sizes, imitating almost anything on earth and beyond are built to celebrate Durga Puja
  • When the new moon of Kartik means the worship of Goddess Kali and not Diwali
  • When Holi and Rakshabandhan are celebrated one day prior to the rest of India
  • You can see the Vidyasagar Setu and the Howrah bridge from 5th floor and above of every building in the city
  • You get lost in the lanes and bylanes of Burrabazar
  • You find yourself buying cheap electronic goods from the streets in Chandni Chowk
  • You go for a morning walk or to play cricket / football matches in the grounds of the Victoria Memorial
  • Rabindra-geet is played at every Bengali function
  • Saurav ‘dada’ Ganguly is never wrong
  • You bump into a Pan shop at every turn of the road
  • Your sweet tooth craves for Mishti Doi or Sondesh or Rossogulla or the delicious Chhena sweet from the shop next door
  • Samosas are called Singharas
  • You see people gropping puchkas and churmurs by the second or gulping gallons of water after jhalmuri at the roadside thellawallah
  • Bhat- maach becomes your staple diet and chaa (tea) your favourite drink
Add to the list through comments!

5 comments:

anasuya said...

* When you see boiled eggs sold on every street corner.
* When every other person is a bhodrolok/bhodromohila even when they commit unspeakable acts.

Anisha said...

* When every industry is waived a bye instead of a hearty welcome !

Anonymous said...

Apart from a few points, it seems like a perfect description of Delhi. I think, all the cities all over India are almost the same, aren't they? :)

Ankur said...

@ankita: Really, I mean I haven't been to Delhi but I find it hard to believe! I always thought Kol had a distinct flavour of it's own, setting aside the 'Indian-ness' of course. But good to know. And welcome to the blog :)

Paulami said...

hehe. that made quite a read :)

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