So much for my promise of no blogging from home...
Was talking about
ghar ka khana the last time. Though I sincerely adhere to whatever I claimed - that nothing beats
ghar ka khana - I guess it would be unfair to give the street food of
Kolkata a mention. In no other city in India would you get so much variety at such a low price. And it does taste heavenly at times, provided you know your stalls. Here's my all time favourite
top 10 street food items from Kolkata:
(1) Egg Mutton Roll -
Bedwin Roll Centre,
Gariahat [Rs.24.00/roll]
(2) Mixed Noodles - Vivekananda Cabin,
Lansdowne [Rs.22.00/plate]
(3) Fish
Kobiraji - (the footpath stall under a Pan Shop opposite
Ramkrishna Mission
Seva Pratisthan) [Rs.7/kobiraji]
(4)
Paneer Roll -
Mrityunjaya Sweets,
Lansdowne [Rs.8/roll]
(5)
Dhokla and
Khasta Kochuri -
Ambika Farsans,
Lansdowne [Rs.2.5/kochuri, Rs.3/kochuri]
(6)
Langchya -
SriHari Mistanna Bhandar,
Hazra [Rs.8-Rs.50, depending on the size]
(7)
Kochuri - Maharani,
Deshapriya Park [Rs.2/kochuri]
(8)
Singara -
Satyanarayan Mistanna Bhandar,
Kudghat [Rs. 2/
singara]
(9)
Piyaji, Alur Chop - (the guy who used to sit near
Ananya Cinema),
Baranagore [Rs.1.50 each]
(10) Lemon Tea - (the 'three kettle guy'),
Gariahat [Rs.3/cup]
Not all of the items mentioned above are 'street' food. Some of them are stuff from very prominent food shops, actually. But, you can have them standing on the street, and hence...I make it a point
everytime I visit the city to try each of these things at least once. Sadly, I saw some of the shops have closed down (like the Chop Shop) or some of the items not being made anymore (like the
Paneer Roll...and I have no freaking idea why!) this time. I miss them :(
[The prices mentioned are what I payed when I had these things the last time].
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I got
my first computer as a gift from my dad way back in 1997. It was a state-of-the-art Pentium 266MHz system with 32MB RAM, 2.1GB
HDD, 32X CD-ROM drive and 1MB on-board VGA graphics. A lot of time has passed since then. Mobile phones have entered the market with much more processing power and memory. I've owned computers which are many times faster, many times more powerful. But still, I don't know words which can express the upsurge of nostalgia I experience whenever I come back home and turn on that machine. Every single file on the tiny little
HDD, every little keystroke I make brings back the zillions of cold winter evenings and hot summer afternoon hours I had spent
in front of that, of all the things I've learnt, of all the changes that I had been through. I remember crying when the system crashed for the first time. It was, after all, my best friend. It was my first love.
And I realized yesterday, when I turned it on after the 19 months of exile that it had been through, that the love hasn't tarnished a bit :)
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Every child is special - yes, even I would say that after
Taare Zameen Par. Brilliant Movie. Brilliant performances by everyone. Just loved the climax, where the kid sees the picture
Amir had drawn. Wonder why they don't make more movies like this. A whooping 9.5 on 10 from me :) A must see for most of the moms and dads in India today.
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As usual, am overtly sentimental on the eve of leaving
Kolkata. But, then again, a lot of things are there on the cards. Especially, my last
Saraang. And, not much load on the
acads front. So, a part of me can't wait, actually!
Wish you all a merry
christmas and a happy new year.
See you in Chennai.
