The City and Her Beau
Kolkata is more than streets and buildings. In this reflective piece, the city becomes a living character—playful, ageing, compassionate and forever in conversation with those who choose to spend time with her.
Truth or Dare
The City plays ‘truth or dare’ with anyone who cares to spend a moment with her—in love or otherwise.
The city never pretends.
She displays and glorifies the labour behind hand-pulled rickshaws unabashedly.
She displays her newfound love for the phone brazenly.
The occasion and the people merely exist to justify her time spent with a lover.
Where the City Truly Lives
She lives on the slip roads and the gullies.
It is there that she truly shows herself.
The city still dresses up in starched bright clothes every morning.
She appears much the same way as she did a century ago.
The modern-day din of sinful sugar does not deter her.
A City That Provides
It’s not only sugar though.
The city provides for everyone.
The children literally run towards the provider in droves.
She embraces migrants and makes them her own.
She makes sure they find the food they long for.
And she does all this with a smile.
Love Shared Equally
When it comes to love and food, the city makes sure everyone gets a fair share.
The humans do not grab it all.
Though she can be reticent at times.
Growing Older
The city tries in vain to touch up and hide her age.
She fails repeatedly.
This failure somehow makes her more liberal towards jaywalkers.
It is almost as though she offers her lover a little more space in exchange for revealing her age.
Her unkempt appearance fuels romanticism while inviting sharp criticism from the worldly wise.
The Weight of Time
Age and love have together led to a build-up of flab.
Yet she continues to discover new ways for her lovers to reach where they wish to go.
Stories Never End
The city never tires of telling stories.
She merely keeps them short for busy people.
Perhaps she has spent too much time with literature, neglecting practicality.
Her story goes thus…
