It is bright outside. The sun has the personality of summer, its glare reflected off the veneer of ice that coats the road. I can see great slabs of ice on the Hudson beyond, but I am tempted to step out for a few minutes even though it feels like -20°C outside. My great temptation is the resident Great Bernese of our building who is swaying her beautiful, big body through the park. Plus I have not met her yet in person and that seems a shame.
How different it seems to my time in India. For I felt a curious tug to Calcutta this time. Curious because here I had spent my grown-up years trying to get away from it, yet there I was actually lapping every moment I spent in my former home town. The thing about building this feeling called home in different places is that you have pockets of your soul invested in each place. Every time you return to any of those places, you have a reawakening of emotions. Then there is the constant clash running in your mind, the comparison of the old with the new, of keenly felt dissatisfaction at changes, and once in a while, an acknowledgment of the fact that some changes have actually been for the better.
In India, I find caught up thus in a maelstrom of emotions. The weather, the people, the roads, the scenery, the very pace of life, change significantly enough that the mind takes time to slip back into old familiar routines, what the body and mind has been used to for the longest time. It starts with Delhi, the city where I came into my own, but I have a short stop there on the way to Calcutta. So I do not have time to mull over it. I do not have time to see it once again as I used to as a reporter. I have just enough time to spend moments with family and friends and devour the luscious food cooked at my in-laws’. But I had a moment there when I felt unsettled in Delhi. Nothing too grave on the face of it. It’s just that when familiar roads start to look a little unfamiliar, you realise with a start that places and roads can gradually be erased from the mind. How could that even come to be, you wonder?
Then I got to Calcutta and the pace of life slowed down almost immediately. The pace of life seems hurried there only when it comes to eating. While Adi was there for a few days before returning to his parents’, we did eat out as much as we could — egg rolls, Indo-Chinese, more Indo-Chinese, phuchka (street food) over and over again (Adi was on a diet of phuchkas), and breakfasts at local sweet shops…but you cannot eat constantly really, so you take a breath, and you decide to stop before your explode. Though my Calcutta cousins here would like to interject and point out, as a couple of them did, that I certainly do not eat enough. That I do not eat at all. That I am sure to fall ill by the time I turn 60. I do not know if I can accommodate them, but you never know. The human body is a mystery.
Once Adi left, my brother and his family too left for a holiday in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where they had quite an adventure in that they were caught in cyclonic weather, but I was home. There was enough time at hand to bask in the earthy quality of Calcutta. I met old friends, nattered for hours, took out old books from my library room to dust and read, spent time running around the neighbourhood parks and getting chased by stray dogs who for some reason love to chase bicycles, cars (and now I am adding me to the list). I also slowly jotted down recipes from my mother — recipes with no measures, but after spending years in the kitchen, I have stopped carping about the lack of them. Cooking is after all an instinctive art, unlike baking. There were always four different dishes of veggies in every meal. I did not miss eating out. It is something I savour every time I am there in Calcutta, because at one point, ma was ill. She would hardly get up from bed. Clinical depression is suffocating even for the family. And here she is all about the place, chopping and cooking with ease, for hours at a stretch. She has mellowed with age, my mother — which makes it easier to actually enjoy her company (to think that she could grow on me is a most miraculous thought). Now, it has been a few weeks that I have been back in Bayonne, but I still miss it all.
Delhi
Calcutta in Colour
Calcutta in B&W
ARUNDHATI BASU 
Nice reading about the fond and warm memories of your trip to Calcutta and Delhi . I can only imagine how delicious the street food must be . It’s wonderful that you could spend quality time with your loved ones . Hope you stay warm in the cold weather here -20 deg can’t even imagine that 🥶 here !
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Seems you had thoroughly enjoyed your stay in India with family, friends & of course, food. 🙂
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Hey Megala, thank you. It was soul satisfying. 🙂 xx
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Gorgeous photos of time well spent with loved ones Arundhati. How quickly it goes. Xx
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Lorelle, thank you. 🙂 Time is the swiftest bird there.
Have yourself a chilled-out weekend. xx
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Thanks lovely, intend to do so. We returned from New Zealand this week and got back into the work/ school routine immediately, so a chilled weekend is on the cards.
You have a great one too. Xx
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New Zealand must have been like a dream. Adi says the pictures remind him of the Norwegian landscapes and I agree with him. I would love to read about your experiences there. xx
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It was beautiful. We spent 2 weeks in the North Island only. They say the south is even more beautiful, so that gives me reason to return there 😉
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Two weeks sounds glorious though time must have flown as it always does when you are on holiday. Bring us the North then for now. 🙂 xx
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It sure does fly.
Stay tune my friend… the North is on its way. Xx
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In fact Adi is watching the one-day series (cricket) being held in NZ and going on about it …*eye roll (cricket).
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Haha… we were watching the Test here. Australia and Sri Lanka are playing in Canberra and my cousin happens to be commentator!!! He once captained the Sri Lankan cricket team! That’s my small claim to fame… Lol 😂
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Ranatunga? I thought he was a genius. Is it him?!
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No, though another cousin of mine married his brother!
My cousin is Marvan Attapatu. 😊
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OMG (and I hardly use it)! One of the best batsmen we watched. You must be bloody proud, Lorelle. I once saw the cricket team at a retreat in Habarana in the early 2000s when I was on a junket to SL. I was thrilled!
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I am Arundhati. It’s a pretty big thing, especially over there as you know. Our home countries are fanatical cricket fans.
It is a privilege for sure. Xx
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I was too till my heart was broken with the entire match-fixing scene. It has been some time, but I will never forget that feeling of being conned. When you are fanatical, you do take it to extremes. But those early times are some of the best moments in my life, watching cricket with my father and brother like crazed creatures.
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It’s a shame isn’t it. Xx
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Stunning photos…thank you for sharing!
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Thanks lovely! 🙂 xx
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Love all the beautiful photos of your Beautiful family and friends!
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Thank you Kelley! Have a wonderful weekend. xx
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Lovely photos. Am in Calcutta in April and this has made me look forward to it even more.
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It is not a bad time to be there though it will be warm, so be warned. 🙂 I hope you get to do some walking tours. There is much to see. I am ashamed to admit that I have not seen half of it. Whatever I have seen was as a child. And oh the food! Have you been there before?
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Been to India before but not Calcutta. Hoping to see an IPL match amongst other things although I don’t know if that wil be happening when I am there. Any recomendations welcome!
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It is a city you either love or hate. I wonder what your reaction will be, for it can be overwhelming. I hope you will get to go to the old restaurants on Park Street such as Bar-B-Q (Indo-Chinese) and Mocambo (sizzlers). Kewpies (Bengali food) on Elgin Road. There are so many others but these are my top choices. There is China Town where Kim Ling is still good. I am sure you have a list in place already? 🙂
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Thank you so much – will definitely try the Bengali ones as I hear Bengali cuisine is excellent. Usually I like intense cities and everyone I know who has been to Calcutta loved it so hopefully I will too.
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My fascination for gritty places possibly comes from those years of growing up in Calcutta. Here’s to interesting times in the city for you.
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‘Pockets of your soul invested in each place’. I love that sentiment. All those influences/ideas/impressions coming together to make you, you. Wonderful.
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Thank you Tracey. When it comes to India though, my thoughts and emotions remain bunched up together, so that it is beyond me to sit and write coherently about them. xx
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I know that feeling of being disoriented in a familiar place well! Things in Malaysia have changed drastically on the surface, and yet not at all below. We’re planning a trip back this year and it be our first visit in six years so it’ll be interesting to see how it goes. Great pics!
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Thank you, Lynn. Six years is a long time. I wonder how you will feel once you are there. But it will turn out to be grand no matter what. It always does after the tuning of the senses. Where in Malaysia, if I may ask?
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A suburb just outside KL, so in the heart of it all!
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KL is so vibrant and the food delicious. I remember the street food especially along with the Nasi Kandar grub. I was hooked. You must have a long list to go through. 🙂
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Such beautiful timeless photos of your wonderful family! These are the days when you look back with fondness and you have the images to remember them by. Thanks for sharing your experiences! – Neek
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Neek, thank you for indulging my ramblings. 🙂 How fast everything becomes a memory! Hoping you are having yourself a good weekend. xx
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Aw, cute family pics girl 🙂
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Aw so many beautiful memories from your India visit. It must have been so special to bond with your loved ones. I’d be on a feast over there too! I always say that before going to Nepal but unfortunately my stomach can’t hold up with any spicy street/restaurant food while I am there 😦 Such a shame. I try my best though.
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Thanks Pooja!
What, has your stomach lost its steel since you left Nepal? 🙂 Apart from my mother’s cooking, that’s what I miss the most here. The street food.
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This is such a beautiful, heartwarming post. I really love all the photos of your relatives and friends (the boozy sisters-in-law is so fun). There’s something about the B&W shots that gives this post a particularly nostalgic feel. I totally adore your line: “…pockets of your soul invested in each place.” I can totally relate to this, in fact, even with places I’ve never actually lived, like when I visit my parents’ home town.
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Caroline, thanks. I can imagine that you relate to it though I could get only a pittance of my thoughts out here. It had the possibility of rolling into pages. And then what would we do? The more we travel, the more we change places, this dilemma is compounded. What is home? Where am I from? …? I mean so many thoughts but I shall stop right there and wish you a lovely weekend ahead instead. 🙂
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It seems you had a wonderful time, enjoyed reading about it, esp the photos and you’ve made me want to return to India for a visit!
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Thank you, Annika. 🙂 India is close to the heart despite the crowds and the barrage of complaints I have about it. xx
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A lovely post. How did I miss that one? Another reminder (if need be) about the universality of certain things.
(The little things for which there is a god, according to your namesake?)
Old recipes. Food. (Music) More food. Wine. Old friends. Parents. Ageing but still the same. Food again. Friends. Nephews. Nieces. Places. And more food, bilkul.
😉
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Some things are indeed universal like emotions, just the geography changes. Thank you as always, Brianji. As for gods, you know we have too many of them! 🙂
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Pleasure ma’amji. Glad you could spend some time with your parents. They must be delighted when you come. Imagine them al l year round with only your brother! 😉
And yes, you do have a lot of gods. How do you keep track? 🙂
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I like the idea of the gods with their crazy stories. The coolest has to be Shiva. Womanising tendencies and penchant for a drink has got to win him the top spot. Then there is Kali with her tendency to collect heads and drink blood (I am hardly a god-fearing person though.)
They get my brother once a year too, as it happens — he lives in Lagos. He also happens to be my parents’ pet.
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Lagos, Nigeria? OMG. (Went once, hated the place. Not pleasant at all. I hope they have improved.) “Pet”? Haha! You need to start writing fiction. You would make a killing. 🙂
Yes, Shiva, Kali. I’m not sure I would be in on them. Is Shiva the one dancing on the back of a turtle? Then I have him on my shelves. Krishna maybe? Sort of a carefree fellow. And I like blue…
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Tee hee, thanks! Someday? I don’t know really.
Shiva is the one with the dreadlocks. A scarf of a snake wrapped around his neck. Krishna was not a bad dude too.
I have not been to Lagos but I doubt I would like it. I think he is ready to leave it for good, but he is heading a hospital there so that is an incentive.
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Looked up Shiva. The one with 3 horizontal lines drawn across the forehead? I have a bronze statuette my parents bought in India in the 50’s. Can’t make up a naja necklace.
A hospital director? A high ranking job. Compliments. Maybe he should look around in Singapore? 😉
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See now I am terrible with designations but it should something like that. He is a good doctor. I think he is eyeing Singapore too. 😀
Shiva is indeed the one with the three lines of ash smeared on his forehead. So you have him at home. 🙂
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So your brother is a Doctor. How nice. If he lands Singapore, we will all go and visit him. 🙂
I saw the three lines on an image. And I remembered I’d seen it before unknowingly. Now I will remember.
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Ref: Singapore. Be it on your head. 😀
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I will take full responsibility.
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Oh. One more thing. The colours and the aromas, the spices…
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