Kolkata – the city of skyscrapers and slums

Kolkata is a city of many faces and, irrespective of which political party or a combination of parties is in charge, the city will continue to draw people from all walks of life. It is a city that is proud of its skyscrapers as well as its slums, it is a city where the prince and the pauper can co-exist.
The people of Kolkata may not be happy with the amount of problems that they have to face day in and day out, but these Kolkattans will never want to leave the city unless compelled to. The majestic Howrah Bridge and the second Hoogly Bridge stand tall amidst the confusion and act as the entry points of outsiders to Kolkata – of course, the airport is also there as an entry point for those who arrive by air.
The city has been called the City of Joy – this is because of a 1985 novel by Roland Joffé that was made into a movie by Dominique Lapierre. The movie starred Om Puri and Shabana Azmi, two of the most versatile actors of Bollywood.
I had left the city in 1962 and have visited it on a few occasions over the past fifty two years and have always wondered at the resilience of those who live in this overcrowded city. The roads are crowded as are the markets, shopping malls and different forms of slow moving transports like the buses, and trams and people have got used to it. Punctuality of buses is hardly there and quarrels over petty issues is a matter of routine. The reason for quarrels are immaterial, it is the opportunity to let off steam through quarrels that matters.
As is widely known, Bengalis love sweets and there is a shop selling sweets at practically every street corner just like the tea shops and cigarette shops. Cigarettes have gone out of fashion in many cities but Kolkata has not yet been able to give up smoking, allowing the thoughts to disappear in the smoke is one of their pastime. Many of them are day dreamers and love to build castles of fantasy till the world comes crashing around them.
Of late, due to the thrust for joining the IT industry with an eye on possible relocation to some foreign country, the youth of Kolkata are acquiring necessary training and experience to move out to the greater world devoid of the comforts of home. While a small percentage have moved out to other cities in India, cities like Hyderabad or Bangalore or Pune, the foreign trips, in comparison, are not very many.