Unbeknownst to You, I am a reluctant Blogger who is just trying to celebrate the Symphony inside the Cacophony of the Chaos from the Classroom to the Cosmos...
Yesterday evening I was in a bad mood so I thought of going to Nandan around 7:30 p.m. My initial plan was to go to Nandan and then go to "Some Place Else" from there around 10 p.m. I went to Rabindra Sarobar Metro to take the train to Rabindra Sadan. But the station was totally over crowded with people. There were huge queues in front of the ticket counters. Some announcements were going on in those horrible loudspeakers. Someone said that someone committed suicide. Someone said that there was an accident. The situation did not feel right and it made me uneasy. I came up on the road. All the buses were over crowded. I tried to book an Ola/Uber, but failed as no cabs were available. Since the Metro was not functioning therefore there was additional traffic pressure on the roads. So I decided to cancel my Nandan plan and go to Rabindra Sarobar Lake instead for an evening walk and have some coffee and cigarettes there and watch couples kissing each other and making out in the dark. Around 9 p.m. I came back home, took a shower, had my dinner and started listening to Osho's hindi speeches on Youtube and started surfing randomly through Facebook. Around mid night I suddenly bumped into a post on Facebook which stated that the person who died at the Metro station was Sajal Kumar Kanjilal. I was shocked. I could not believe what I was reading on Facebook. I knew that man so well. I have been seeing him for ages in and around Nandan. In today's newspapers, Sajal Da is front page news. He was a poor man but he always had a smile on his lips. He used to sell little magazines, mainly related to bengali theatre, in front of Academy Of Fine Arts. He also used to hand over leaflets of upcoming bengali theatres to people passing by. Sometimes he used to come inside the Nandan campus also and try to sell his magazines there. He was a known face to all the regulars at Nandan. He knew that my name is Raj but he always used to call me Raja. If I was in a good mood then I used to talk to him, joke with him and pull his leg. If I was in a bad mood then I used to avoid making eye contact with him. Seven out of ten times I used to buy his magazines, not because I was interested in their content, but just because I wanted to help him a bit. So many times I have refused to buy anything from him and have also behaved harshly with him. Whenever I refused to buy anything from him, he always gave me a dry smile and then walked away from me with his head hanging low. I really felt sorry for him but its not possible to buy every time. Seven out of ten times I used to give him ten rupees to have tea and biscuits at Hari Da's tea shop. Whenever he used to see me then he would come up to me and say, "Ei je Raja, dosh taka dao na go, cha khabo..." Sajal Da, tomakey aar cha khawano holo naa...
Today I had my life's first Starbucks Coffee at South City Mall. Since my childhood days, I have heard and seen so much about Starbucks in American movies (especially 'You’ve Got Mail') and TV shows (especially 'Sex & The City') that it seemed that it was the best Coffee in the World. Its nice to finally have Starbucks in Calcutta. The Coffee was good though it was nothing extraordinary. Today at South City Mall, as I was sipping on my first Starbucks Coffee and checking out all the beautiful women around, I was remembering Tom Hanks' dialogue from 'You’ve Got Mail' :
"The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self : Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.”
Immediately it reminded me of Anjan Dutt's song 'Chyapta Golap'. Here are the lyrics : school er gate er bairey dariye meye ta chhele ta dourey dourey eshey hnapay school er bus ta horn diye jaay teen bar meye ta dourey dourey chole jaay school er bag ta kandhey tuley niye chhele ta hnapatey hnapatey abar hata dey bus er bhetor janlar kachey jhapsa meye tar abar kanna paay aaro duto chhele meyer boyesh berey jabey aaro duto diner oboshan amar chhelemanushi ta aankre dhore rekhey likhbo aami bhalobashar gaan chhele tar nei bari ferar tara meye taro nei baritey telephone dujoner e nei niyom bhangar boyosh tobu dujoner e achey niyom bhangar mon chhele tar achey buk pocket ey chithi prothom prem er banan bhool meye tar achey jotno korey rakha khatar bhetor chyapta golap phool aaro duto chhele meyer boyesh berey jabey aaro duto diner oboshan amar chhelemanushi ta aankre dhore rekhey gaibo aami bhalobashar gaan chhele tar nei bhobishyoter bhavna meye taro nei dabi dawa kono dampottyer shokto mane taa tara dujonei janena ekhono sudhu ektibarer jonnye ektu dekha chhuti hoye gele dujoner ishkool nei je tader aar kono chawa pawa sudhu khatar bhetor chyapta golap phool aaro koto chhele meyer boyosh berey jabey aaro koto diner oboshan amar chhelemanushi mon aankre dhore rekhey aaro ekta bhalobashar gaan...
The video reminded me of my teenage years when I used to go to almost all the fests in the girls' schools of Calcutta and hoped to meet my soulmate. I always hoped that some girl would fall in love with me at first sight. Those first eye contacts were magical. Those second eye contacts were heavenly. Those third eye contacts were simply out of this world. A lot was said and exchanged in those ethereal eye contacts. Some eye contacts lasted for a nano second, others lasted for an eternity. Life altering decisions were made in those eye contacts. I remember this one time when I had gone to a girls' school for their fest. It was in the year 2000 and I was then studying in Class XI at St. Xavier's. It was winter and I was wearing a black blazer and had my hair back brushed with brylcreem hair gel. There was this very pretty girl who was standing in the auditorium with her friends wearing her school uniform. At that moment she looked like the most beautiful woman in this universe. I looked at her and after a few seconds she also looked at me and I immediately removed my eyes from her face and looked towards the stage. Then after some time I looked at her again and she again looked at me. Our eyes stared at each other for a few seconds. Then I gathered all the courage I had and smiled at her. She also smiled back. Her friends were noticing everything that was happening between us. Her smile gave me confidence so I walked up to her and introduced myself. She also introduced herself. It was love at first sight. There was a tea and coffee stall outside the auditorium. I asked her for coffee and she agreed. We both came outside the auditorium and went to the coffee stall. We started chatting there and exchanged our landline phone numbers. Then after some time another girl came up to her and told her that she was needed for some fest related work and her friends were waiting for her. So she had to leave me and go inside again. But before leaving she gave me the sweetest smile in this universe. That day I came back home with a sweet smile on my lips too. I was the happiest boy in this world. The next evening I called her on her landline number. She picked it up. It was as if she was waiting for my call. We spoke for more than an hour. We both felt that we had found the person we were searching for. We both felt that we had found our soulmates. This is 2018. The above video clip reminded me of her. I am hundred percent sure that if she sees the above video clip then she will also remember me. Today we are no longer in touch and she is now married to someone else. I wish her a very happy married life. There was really something magical in that winter evening of 2000. That evening will always have a special place in my heart. I will never be able to forget that evening... Anyways here is the full song :
