Kolkata loves a good bandh

For all those who braved the heat to go to Eden Gardens to cheer the Knights, Mondays bandh would have sounded like music! It did to me. Sunday afternoon, I sweated and sat through a quite boring match in an extraordinary stadium with 75 thousand people. Monday I slept off the utter tiredness!
So did most of the city, it seems.

Yesterdays Bandh, like all Bandhs was mostly a success. One can give any number of reasons to stay indoors. I work in Salt Lake and travel 25 kms one way to get there. No, not the IT sector. I pass through Park Circus, the hot bed of most agitations in the city. So thats my excuse... well, officially. Oh I luurve to spend the monday lolling around, watching the odd movie, catching up on my reading as the nanny looks after my little girl. Monday holidays are more special. Delicious.
Mamata Didi, god bless her, knows that!

Not to say I dont curse the Bandh. Kolkata's image and all that s***t, you know. Just when the world is waking up to the infinite possibilities the state can offer... (eg- umm, uhh, Nandigram, Singur)... I spend hours trying to talk my colleagues and clients out of Kolkata-bashing... their favorite past time nowadays, especially the non resident Bangalis, I convince them finally that work culture has changed, (meaning Kolkatans are now working)... and WHAM, another bandh gets called next Monday. YUMM!

Think about it. The world is over populated and over polluted. The streets around all cities in the globe are difficult to drive through and impossible to breathe in. But go out on a bandh day in this city of joy for a sanguine walk on yon meado...um...patch of grass around the street corner. Breathe in fresh smoke-free air for a change.
Wait... you can even hear some birds chirruping. How? The autos have a holiday, so no ear splitting ratatata-s.
And what about some mutton curry for lunch, guilt free that you are not wasting a Sunday, rotting in the kitchen when you can watch reruns of F.R.I.E.N.D.S on Zee Cafe!
And the luxury of a stroll to get an ice cream just when the parlor is opening up at 6 pm.

Oh man! How Kolkata hates Bandh callers... and how Kolkata loves a Bandh!

First time Im doing this tag thing... takes so much time, Im really jobless it seems...

1. Last movie you saw in a theater: tough one, considering Ive not been to a cinema hall in , like, ages... The Departed, I think.

2. What book are you reading: Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul. I just finished the last part of the Buddha series by Osamu Tezuka.

3.Favourite board game:None, I hate board games, there are better things to do at home.

4.Favourite magazine:One??? I love Outlook Traveller, Vogue, Marie Claire, National Geographic. Occassionally I read Readers Digest but its not the same anymore.

5.Favourite smells: Anything but poo. Apart from my baby's poo, thats ok!!! :)) Ok I love baking cakes and oranges, Cinthol soap and Ponds talk, Christian Dior's 'Poison' and Chanels 'No 5', Brut and Tabac, stale cigarette smoke mixed with coffee, and some smells Im blushing to think about... so I better not say them.

6.Favourite sounds: my baby's laughter, some voices and laughter

7. Worst feeling in the world: that this is all there is.

8.What is the first thing you think when you wake: depends on the dream I wake up from.

9.Favourite fast food place:dont do fast food.

10.Future child's name: naah, not good at this.

11.Finish this statement "If i had a lot of money i would" stack it all up in my safe and open it every time Im down, and feel good about myself.

12.Do you drive fast? - Yeah baby yeah!

13.Do you sleep with a stuffed animal- hee hee... what kind of stuffed animal do you mean.

14.Storms cool or crazy? - Luurve storms, especially if Im out and stuck in one, and super especially if Im driving through one.

15.What was your first cars? - My first carS???

16.Favourite drink- Long island ice tea, not had one since pregnancy... its been almost 2 years, boo hoo.

17.Finish the statement "If i had the time I would"- yeah! like Im too busy saving the world right now.

18.Do you eat the stems on broccoli? - Broccoli? Whazzat???

19.If you could dye your hair any colour, what would be your choice? Red, ma-a-n... what else.

20.Name all the different cities/town you have lived in.- home town calcutta, bangalore, chennai, pune, manipal/ mangalore. Will two days living count? Then mumbai, delhi also. Oh Im so well travelled!

21.Favourite sports to watch. - Hate sports when Im not playing. And I play only one sport. ;)

22.One nice thing about the person who sent this to you. - She wastes my time. She has too much of it, my wela sister.

23.What's under your bed?- I dont dare to look.

24.Would you like to be born as yourself again? - Yeah, and live as myself with the same people around me, with all the knowledge of this life... so I can try the things I know I missed out on.

25. Morning person or Night Owl? - Neither. Twilight is my Zone.

26.Over easy or sunny side up? - None, only hatched birds.

27.Favourite place to relax - At this time in life, my office... I even get to sleep there for an hour at times, without any thought of baby waking up or husband tantrum or loves lost and found et al.

28.Favourite pie - with chicken slivers and mozarella and pineapple and olives... Or apple with vanilla ice cream... Im hungry.

29.Favourite ice cream flavour. - Chocolate and black currant. And sometimes plain vanilla with hot chocolate sauce.

30.Of all the people you tagged this to, who is most probable to respond first.- Naah, I dont take after my sister... Im doing this and thats it.

Ordinary poem

I am an ordinary girl with an ordinary life
My ordinary day leads to an ordinary night
I work, I play, I eat, I drink
Life ebbs and flows, I rise and sink
I trudge along much travelled streets
Of roadside flowers Im but the weeds.
One day Ill lay myself to rest
Then, of me let just this be said
She was ordinary in all the above
But she had an extraordinary love.