I forgot to blog… and for a long while. The last time I visited was on my return from a conference at IIT – Kanpur. And wow, I had so much to blog about my trips to the north. Stimulated by the many funny, moving, enthralling, shocking etc. scenes in cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Kanpur.. I chose a rather famous title for this post and ever since gleefully postponed it till I the memories of the trip themselves have faded. Even cricket failed to stimulate ( this proves it used to :0 ) me and even in the gloom cast by the failure of our zeroes I didnt come back. Then there was this magnanimous saint who almost did it.. but work held me back. Last week my employer decided to take us all to a beautiful place to strengthen team spirit amongst us. I did a small adventure there.. consequently injuring myself. Then there were rains in Bangalore. Both these events together tied me to a gloomy corner in my office digging in to old patents… and in that darkness sprang some sparks.. the few grey cells got to life and pshyced me sit and write. After all, gloomy weather has its own positives. So first I decided to pick some thoughts I had during my trip to the north :
Kolkata first. The first that strikes me when I recall the visit is the city’s antiqueness… buildings that are less of modern habitats and more of remnants of the Raj, rickshaws pulled by human-horses, trams limping along beaten tracks. ‘This was once the capital!!’ I thought. Then I started looking for evidences to reinforce my theories on Bengal’s unique acheivements. Perhaps the colonial rule and the tough life brought the best out of people here. Bengal’s pivotal role in an umpteen number of domains including struggle from freedom, literature, progressive journalism is unquestionable. So for long I held this belief that there must have been something unique in the land here. And yes, there was. British architecture is evident in most of the old buildings in kolkata.. administrative buildings, schools, parks, churches… everywhere. So I started conjecturing : Kolkata was an administrative nerve-center holding many english officers and consequently a lot of other infrastructure developed to house them. The people of Bengal had an oppportunity to observe their lifestyles closely. Glimpses of an economically advanced society must have sparked off a hunger.. to break shackles, to progress. So they fought well. Once free, the state had the old infrastructure in place.. so had a jump start in terms of education and other key areas. Hence their impressive performance. It seemed a nice theory… but then as always, I found counter examples. As I moved away from fancied places I saw that life was absolutely like what was described in the ‘City of Joy‘.. people bathing on roads, malnutritioned kids.. for a while I was in Anandnagar (mentally that is). Well, this is an amazing place I thought.
Then, confident of honesty of the people in this land, I beleived a taxi driver when he said ‘ISI(Indian Statistical Institute).. prepaid se 450 saab.. aapko hum 300 mein leke jaayega’. Well, you know the result.. some times knowledge history doesnt help at all 
. The next day I found I realized that I forgot get my shaving razor and of course that was disaster… my face already looks bad enough and I cant afford to make presentation with a beard . So I ventured out of the institute and asked a public phone guy for barber. He shocked me by replying in english ‘He is old.. but he does shaving well. Help him’ and took me to a shed (if it can be called so.. a structure made of four weak wooden poles and cardboard) beside a drain right in front of the ISI gate. An old man about 75-80 who could barely stand with infinite coldness in his eyes was squatting on the floor. For a second, I thought I made a mistake but something held me from turning back. And in the next half-an-hour (yes.. thats too long for a shave I know) with the greatest care and even greater effort, fighting his age and unstable ears he managed the task.
And then, I knew why people here manage to thrive.. My mind went back to Bangalore.. a city where software engineers and canines rule the roads, where life is made twice as costly by the rush of money from MNCs. A woman in her 30s and quite healthy shows up near our office everyday, sits on the footpath between 6.00 p.m to 10.00 p.m ( when most of us move out for dinner ) with a baby in her lap.. manages to touch the hearts of at least some of the passers-by everyday and makes a good earning (without doing much other than throwing a silent appeal, of course ). I myself bought this emotionally touching show of poverty and suffering at times. The old barber here was trying to hide his suffering and weakness and was willing to put up fight to live his life… The woman was showcasing hers to gain sympathy, to make others responsible for her life (and of course hiding her unwillingess to face the challenges of it)… I became aware of the difference. Many times I wondered what gave birth to terms like winner and loser, fighters and giveups.. Perhaps the answer was this. Between any stimulus and our response to it.. there is a freedom to choose to fight or giveup. Well!! No philosophy.. back to that shed : I gave twice as much as demanded.. He smiled and asked ‘Kaun sa desh?’ and then some blessings in Bengali. I was tense that morning thinking of the presentation I had to make.. but at that moment I was more than releived.. this trip, afterall, has done at least one good thing to me.
Wow.. thats a long post.. but I dont wanna keep all those thoughts with me.. so will continue in the next post. Btw, I suspect the above impressions were all formed with a prejudice since I read ‘City of Joy’ once (courtesy arjun!!). Good read. Recommended 
(as if my opinion is a big deal ). The black caps are coming apart for the first time in the WC lemme check if Srilanka can pull off something.
