Thank you Calcutta!

A friend asked me to write a long letter about my stay in Calcutta. It has been two years since I have come to this city. Here is an excerpt from the letter...

:) a flood of memories come on to me like a giant wave. suddenly, i am reminded of a different time, where my city smelled of the sea whenever i turned east. where, all troubles could vanish if i just turned the bike towards the beach road. different times. so many people. a lot of moments. i am already there. wait, again, there is loyola college. how many coffees i had and how many spoons of sugar have i stolen from rishi. not a single haunt has been left unhaunted by me. the place at the side of bertram hall. the hostel. the cricket ground. hockey ground. football ground. the side of loyola church. the ictr. viscom dept. social work dept. chemistry dept. main block. landing. jubilee block. canteen. yrcs office. so many places. each with its own memories. there were days when i reached loyola at 7.30 in the morning and stayed on till 8.30 at the night. and now. everything is just a memory. the bad ones leave no longer a bitter taste. the good ones have become idealized into a dream. memory. i always says, that it is difficult for sense perception/experience to match up with memory. and so it is with chennai. it is now Madras. a distant, dream city. my home city by name. when i am angry with the world, i think of how i am stranded in calcutta. when i am in harmony with it, i look around and thank god for the many blessings that i have received here. life has been a good journey. sometimes difficult. sometimes easy. but always on the run. never in the same moment twice.

and suddenly, two years have gone by.

i have not dwelled on that thought too much. but two days ago, on the twelfth of may, 2008, i had first set foot in calcutta. Chinna and i had come here for me to take my entrance test. things did not go as expected. everything looked as if this trip would be reduced to being a short vacation to a city that i had never been to. but things changed. when i came to start a new life in calcutta, my dad took a transfer to work here in the same place as i. we moved into a small house. hardly 200 feet in dimensions. i did not have my bike. the trip to the university was a while away. i cannot say that i was not afraid. and still, things were interesting. challenging... more than anything else, always changing.

soon, i got back the comforts of my old life. i created a new life for myself. this beautiful city has opened its arms to me and taken me to her bosom. one thing i know for sure about calcutta is that, as a city, she teems with life. she has a distinct soul. she is beautiful. i learned more about life and myself. i have gained as a person. i have been guided from strength to strength. things keep looking better.

two years have gone by. not so suddenly.

I realized that I cannot write just one long letter about Calcutta. They always have to be many short ones. But here is a short list of those I thank. Not just in Calcutta. Not just FOR Calcutta. Not in any specific order.

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No. I still am afraid that I will miss many names.
So, thank you, all of you.
I love you all.
Thank you, Calcutta.