2 December 2000: View of Howrah Bridge from Howrah Station
I reached Howrah Station on a crisp and clear December morning from Mumbai, en route to Bolpur. Since my train for Bolpur did not leave for another 3 hours, I had time to freshen up at the Ladies Waiting Room on the first floor of the Station.
But a balcony in the Waiting Room beckoned first, and here I had my first glimpse of the famous Howrah Bridge. It loomed in the background, and yet I felt I could reach out and touch it. Silvery and pulsating with life, the bridge contrasted so beautifully with the red of the Howrah Station and the bright yellow of the Ambassador taxis parked outside.
I spent nearly an hour taking in this beautiful sight, before I remembered why I had come to the Ladies Waiting Room in the first place!
When I was an undergraduate student in the late eighties (was it really that long ago?), it was de rigueur to have read Linda Goodman’s book on sun signs. If you hadn’t read the book, or worse hadn’t even heard about it (like me), you were… um… for want of a better word, khallas in the college. You might as well have landed from another world!
I quickly set out to remedy this. Though I never managed to read the full book, I did acquaint myself with the characteristics of my own sun sign, Aries. It was enough to be accepted by my peers. 😉
I found out that, as an Arian, I was optimistic, accident-prone, impulsive, had leadership abilities, courageous, sometimes combative, pioneering and entrepreneurial, selfish, blah, blah, blah…
Though I could not identify with most of the characteristics, I have convinced myself over the years or had other people convince me, that I had these traits. For instance, when I was appointed as the Head of my department, it was because of some leadership ability that I must have displayed. Wasn’t it? Or take the time when I tore the ligaments in both my knees—first in my left knee and then in my right knee within a gap of 4 months after slipping and falling on the road both times. If that isn’t being accident-prone, then what is?
Till recently, I was quite comfortable with my identity as an Arian. I was born one, and I assumed that I would die an Arian.
Sometimes, in this journey called life, one meets people who are there with you for only a short while, almost as if they were on a specific purpose—that of making a positive difference to your life. I met one such person in the very first week of a year-long stay in London—Mohand.
But before I tell you more about Mohand, a little background information…
The year in London is, perhaps, the most memorable year of my life, in more ways than one. And one of them was searching for affordable, vegetarian food that I could manage within my limited scholarship allowance. I could have cooked in the communal kitchen in the place where I stayed, but I could not stomach the sight and smell of meat, chicken, fish, etc.
Rajshri, a friend & colleague from work, was already in London on a short-term visit when I arrived. A vegetarian herself, she had done quite a bit of research on vegetarian food joints in Central London and introduced me to some of them. The Cafe le Midi, on 23 Warren Street, was one such place, and we would meet up for lunch on Saturdays there. Rajshri soon returned to India, but I continued going to the Cafe every Saturday for lunch.
Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least. I have this with music—it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. This becomes my ’now song, and the “nowness” (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.
My ‘now’ song is Abhi na jao chhod kar ke dil abhi bhara nahin from the film Hum Dono.
I love this duet by Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle, so beautifully filmed on Dev Anand and Sadhana. Rafi’s mellow, persuasive voice and Asha’s flirtatious response makes this song an all-time favourite. It is Rafi’s 30th death anniversary on 31st July 2010 and this is my tribute to him.
The Year: 1995 The Place: A leading publishing firm in Bombay
The copyeditor let out a sigh of frustration. She had been copyediting an English translation of an autobiography originally written in Marathi, for the past two weeks. Progress was slow, painfully slow, largely due to the poor translation, and the list of queries for the translator and/or author was growing by the hour.
“This is not translation, this is torture!” grumbled the copyeditor for what was probably the millionth time.
Then, the copyeditor came across a sentence that stumped her completely and she knew that she could go no further till this had been understood. The sentence in the manuscript read:
It was the full moon of the teacher.
“Full moon of the teacher? Full moon of the teacher? What on earth is that? asked the copy-editor aloud.
The copyeditor felt a headache coming on. She decided to walk around the office and see if her colleagues could help her figure out what “full moon of the teacher” was.
A visit to Cambridge is incomplete without punting on the river Cam. Usually an hour-long trip, it is a different way to experience Cambridge and, of course, to listen to some outrageous stories and gossip about the University town and its famous alumni from the punters. 😉
And that is exactly how I explored Cambridge on a beautiful, lazy April day.
My Favourite Things 