Vibrant Bengal 

I've left Tochigarh in UP now  ,spent a good 36 hrs in Delhi,  taken a flight to Calcutta and reached the beautiful paddy field expanses of Memari! Tochigarh was a "great experience"- the flies, the mosquitoes, the buffaloes, the the haldi laden food , and the list goes on!  These green paddy fields of rural West Bengal have mesmerized me ! I am in love with it or as they say in bengali " ami tumake bhalo bhashi"- literally it means I love you - so this is my heart telling the West Bengal hinterlands just that !

In the little time here, I've noticed how cultured the people are. This culture spreads across the entire economic strata of society ! The people seem happier than elsewhere in India ! Little boys catch fish form the numerous little ponds along the countryside that are teeming with life in the monsoons as the water from the rivers flows into them ! I meet a couple of lads on the road side carrying a fresh catch in a small plastic bag with a simple home made fishing rod on the shoulder ! I ask them " maach khabe ?" they nod shyly ! 

While in West Bengal I got the opportunity to go around the city where the British opened started their East India Company- Calcutta . The architecture reminds one of the colonial era when the 'Gora Sahibs' used to roam the streets of this vibrant city. The buildings are very old , in a delapitated condition. All the roads have English names - Elgin road, Camak Street, Park Street to name a few. When you go around in this city you feel you are on the set of some 21st century film based on the life in the 19th century. The city is modern yet it manages to keep alive the days  before Eastman Color arrived ! There are these rickshaws that are pulled manually by people - something unheard off now-a-days. A restaurant by the name of Mocambo on Park Street has waiters dressed in pure white with the fan pathani turban and canvas shoes ! You wonder whether it is intentional or the owners are just too attached with this to let go off it!