The kolkata vibrancy!!!

Few days back while doing a documentation on a few buildings in kolkata I had to go in and around the city,take pictures ,make notes, I realized how vibrant life is over her..

Compare it to any other city it still has it differences good or bad..

Like for one you see those people who spend their life on the dirty streets ,mostly begging or selling petty items but have you ever noticed they have certain behavioural characteristics which they specialize in.They will talk in that same shrill voice,shout their lungs out to say the smallest things,make a hand bun with their hair which seems to stay for eternity without opening, those blue plastic covers they use to demarcate a place as their own,and lot more....

Those pan ghoomtis by the side of the street where you see even the most elite class standing and having a pan with their friends and they seem to enjoy it like its the very essence of life,same goes for the chai ghoomtis....so dirty and inconspicous still so full of fun and life...

Those murir tin ( made of tin plates) buses which inspite of being  overloaded and it feels like it would just fall off to one side ,it never does ,,instead it goes on filling up...

Those pani puri, matar and other food stalls by the side of the road with their almost unwashed crockeries and the food mixed with the dirt of their hands seem to be so delicious and lucrative .

The way the hockers try to attract your attention by saying something totally irrelevant yet it catches your attention succesfully.. Like I saw this hocker with his hazmi golis saying "dada ektu edike dekhben dupur bela bhaat khe uthe ki apnar pete jaala hoe,hoe ki na bolun? apni janen eta keno hoe ae je(and he takes out a big caterpilar in a bottle from his bag) ae j etar jonnoi.dekhun chinte parchen....eta k marar ektai upae ae j( and then another bottle with that hazmi) etai sudhu pare eder marte.. 5 ta guli 6 mas reta apnar pete konodin ashbe na" in short he said the reason behind all those stomach aches you have after lunch is cause of those big caterpillars in your stomach.and you need to have 5 tablets for 6months of that particular hazmi and you won't have it in your stomach ever again....

There are a lot more to be seen on the streets ones you reach this place....

Its vibrancy is in its life...

A 24hr city for all the reason!!!

The girl is still proud!!!

As I moved along my way wearing a full sleeves salwar kameez ,in a chilly winter night I happened to cross an almost deserted road with as few as 3-4 people, all guys.I kept walking looking straight up with a fear in my heart,a fear I can't describe in words,a fear which has no name but has been imbibed into our hearts by the numerous incidents happening around us, the fear was that of being a victim and not the one who is guilty ....

With each step I took I could feel eyes scanning me up and down as if ,if only they could tear my flesh and look through ( and they say girls should dress decently,if only they knew these guys would stare at anything).

Being an Indian, staying in this country for the past 20 years the one thing I have learnt is its always your fault, while you walk through a crowd and some pervert tries to scan your body with their hands its your fault, while you stand in a crowded bus in the early hours,trying to get to a destination and someone takes the opportunity to lighten up their mood for the day,its your fault,

while you walk through that street where a group of boys sit and chat ,they look at you and pass comments, its your fault,while you leave your compound and the security guard devours at you and when the guy from the neighbourhood who keeps roaming about the streets gives you a wicked smile while you go out to work,its your fault.

And who imbibed these fears in us???? 

It's we who did it..

Every time you went out with your parents they would hold your hands and tell you to stay away from that place,don't let someone touch you,don't go so close..

While they told their sons to go on out alone have fun.

While those incidents of victimisation happened all over the city, the government and the society all refused to take responsibility and instead blamed it on the girls..

When the criminals of the Delhi bus rape case were sentenced to death the country cried,a cry of happiness and pride for their own girl and yet, sitting right there in front of the television set some guy smirked and said "kya re babu? ladki ki saaza un ladko ko kyun?", the same guy would go out today and assault another girl....

This is what we Indian girls are expecting today every time we walk out on the street leaving our safety shell.