# City of Joy :- Why do they call Kolkata the City of Joy? Just because Dominique Lapierre wrote a story based on Kolkata by the same name? Sigh! I am a Bengali and saying that I do not like Kolkata is like committing sacrilege! I may as well commit Hara Kiri. But there I said it. I do not like Kolkata.
Maybe it is due to the fact that I am a Probashi i.e. Someone who has been living outside their home state. I have been born and brought up in Chattisgarh. I know every Bong tradition, I can speak, read and write Bengali and I love Bengali food but I do not like my home city!! My relatives kind of look down upon me for that but I can’t help it. I have been subjected to the torture of visiting it every year as a child during summer vacation with parents as my “Mamar Badi” i.e. “maternal uncle’s home” is there but I never enjoyed it. The temperature, the “load shedding”, the humidity, the hard water, the prickly heat, the pretentious frog in the well type pukka Calcuttan-Bongs with their sing song voices (not all only the ones I met), the traffic jams, vomiting in cabs due to motion sickness, the sweat, weird relatives and my maternal aunt’s cooking were the obstacles between the Promised “Joy” and me. But visiting grandparents’ home was a nice thing but they lived in such a remote village that it was difficult to stay for long there. 😦
My grandparents passed away… I grew up and got busy with high school/college/work and successfully avoided visiting Kolkata even though my parents used to go there. Now after 12 years I am going to Kolkata with my parents for a few days. I wonder how the city has changed since then. I am looking forward to the trip because I have now grown fond of traveling and writing travel posts 😀 and taking loads of photographs which brings me to the second news.
# Prize :- I received the prize I had asked for as the winner of the Indiblogger Blogger of the Month contest. I had asked for a 2 year Flickr Pro account. So now I need to take and upload a lot of photos to utilize the benefits fully! 😀 😀 So a Kolkata trip is welcome! Check out my Flickr Stream here and my photoblog here.
# Result :- Speaking of prizes brings me to the next news. I had taken a break from blogging in April due to my M.E. second semester exams. Results came out on 30th July and I have passed!! 😀 But unlike the first semester result, I have slipped to the 4th position this time. 😦 Sigh! So now only two theory papers to go in 3rd semester.
# Break :- Speaking of blog breaks, I am going to take another one, starting from tomorrow till next week due to the Kolkata trip. All you bloggers on my blog roll, try to keep the unread posts count low. 😀 😀 And of course I will be tweeting!
P.S. It is my personal view on Calcutta and Calcuttans. No hard feelings! And I know everyone is not like that and Kolkata has some good points too.
come back soon !!
congrats on flickr pro account and exam results .. 🙂
there is no such rule which says you MUST love your home city. .. so, you are forgiven
LOL 🙂
phew! thank u! 😀
Enjoy your vacation and come back soon. 🙂
thank you!
Enjoy ur break girl!!!
I have made 2 brief trips to Kolkatta and it isn’t one of the cities which I fell in love with or rather I didn’t even come slightly close to liking it 🙂
BTW Come this weekend even am also off for a week long break!!! Yay!!! 🙂
come back soon!
Vacation, its a hard to find here! you make sure yiou enjoy it to full
yes I will!
The husband spent 2 years in Joka and came back scarred for life 😛 So yeah, I get it. I feel the same about my home town, Chennai. Though it was ok for a 10 day-in 3 years visit, one more day and I would get restless.
Joka means IIM Kolkata…that area is really so remote!
Enjooooooooooyyyyyyy babes!! 🙂
Congrates on the result and the prize but then this is not the first time that i congratulated you 🙂 🙂
And i have not been to kolkata so can’t comment on the same but you made it sound like a dreadful place to be. Hope you come back with a better view of the place and a lot of pics for us to see! 🙂
thank u! thank u! I m back but didnt get chances to take lots of pics 😦
Happy journey and come back soon. You had taken a lot of breaks this year already !!! Are you a teacher or a student???? 😀 😀 😀 😀
Enjoy your vacation Reema… hope you like the city by this visit 🙂
and will check you flickr and photoblog soon 🙂
congrats…have to visit Kol one day 🙂 oh1 I will make it as long as possible 😉
thank you. One should visit it once. And as you are from chennai another humid city u wont have much problem I guess.
Visit and post your comments on
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no self promotion here please.
Happy breaking ;P lol… 😀
hehehe 🙂
Happy Journey !! 🙂
Hope you enjoy this time atleast, 12 years is a long time, I’m sure a lot must have changed by now! 😉
Congratulations on your results and on winning the prize, I now hope to see a lot of photos on your account once you get back ! 🙂
Take care.
thanks!! thanks! thanks! Are you on flickr too?
Congrats on the ME exam results. I’ve never been to Kolkata so can’t comment on it but I’ve had mixed views from people who’ve been there! 🙂
Your home city would be the place where you were born & brought up. Since you weren’t born or brought up in Kolkata then it isn’t your home city! 😉
As for the reasons you gave (except your aunt’s cooking), I think it acted as a kind of a shock for you to be in a hustling bustling metro, an ocean of people, coming from a small quiet city! It can prove to be intimidating at first & often draw out such reactions as you’ve mentioned! 🙂
thank u! Just because I am a Bengali everyone I meet assumes Kolkata is my home city!! So I said that. Well I dont think that is the reason. I was/am never scared or intimidated hustle bustle of a big city.
Enjoy your Kolkata trip and congrats for the “Indiblogger of the month” award and your results as well ….
…….
thank you
congrats on your passing ME. Now are you going to do your PHD?
About Cal, you did not mention why you didn’t like the city? every city has its bad points and good points. Generally bongs love Kolkata.
Oh I have not passed it yet! two more semesters to go. I have mentioned the reasons!! :O
“the temperature, the “load shedding”, the humidity, the hard water, the prickly heat, the pretentious frog in the well type pukka Calcuttan-Bongs with their sing song voices (not all only the ones I met), the traffic jams, vomiting in cabs due to motion sickness, the sweat, weird relatives and my maternal aunt’s cooking were the obstacles between the Promised “Joy” and me.”
Congrats on the result and the Flickr prize. Wow!
Happy vacationing!!! 🙂
Come back soon!
thank you 🙂
Bon Voyage! Look forward to the pics and also to reading your exp.
already posted!
i have been to kolkatta when i was ten… have fun in your vacation
thanks
I toh always keep my posts minimal…
bole to?
Hi Reema,
You have been awarded:
http://kanaguonline.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/blog-anniversary/
Please accept 🙂
thank you so much!
Congrats on your prize & results! Enjoy your break and take loads of pictures 😀
thank you. sadly I couldnt take loads of pics 😦
Congrats! Well, I have not been to Calcutta or Kolkata, but my wife has (I think a congress on science was there) and she loved it. She came back and told me she now understood why it is called the city of joy. She made a lot of local friends there. She has this good quality of liked and being liked easily by people.
And yes, blog breaks are good for inspiration. I took a loooong one and am planning for more.
See you. MoR
thanks! Oh u r off again?
Im a Calcuttan – not by birth, by heart! 🙂
Love the city … Needless to say, I am quite peeved to see a Bengali who dislikes the City of Joy so much! 😛
Good to hear..so what do u like abt the city?
Kolkata does not change unlike other cities. I was born and brought up in Kolkata. Now, I stay in Mumbai. Whenever, I vist the city to meet my relatives or to attend marriages in my family, I notice that there is absolutely no change in the basic outlook of the city. The same road, the same paan shop in the corner of the road, the same buildings ( No new structure), the same crowd (Static crowd unlike Mumbai where the crowd is moving) and the same language (Bengali, no doubt a very sweet language)
welcome to my blog. yes Bengali is indeed sweet. I did notice some changes maybe due to the fact that I went there after 12 years. keep visiting!
have fun!!!! and eat loadds of raashaagulas!!!
I dont like rossogullas! I prefer gulab jamuns!
Hi i read your post its very nice and wonderful…
so i add u in my bolg list and can u add me in your blog list…
welcome to my blog. thanks. keep visiting!
kolkata is a place i wish to visit some time for sure!
i guess what you feel is the same for many girls who has brought outside of their native places. cuz at such a situation, they “often” stay in a city and are mostly out of all the usual problems a “closely knitted” native indian society could make.
welcome to my blog. Pl elaborate your point. keep visiting.
I thought you were born and brought up in Kolkatta! I have never been to Kolkatta but was in Ranchi before about 8 months. Except the food (the oil), I loved the city! There is always a charm to smaller cities and the climate was wonderful! I went in Rickshaws after a looong time – was fun. I love my home town – Chennai.
Destination Infinity
Good for u!
I am back and everyone is going!!!
I too now travel (or do anything) with just one thought in mind – is this blogworthy 🙂 So take loads of pictures and share them with us… would love to see your pictures …
Have fun!
I m back too!
Congratulations on the award and the flicker account !
Hope you had a great break. Waiting to see and hear about how you felt about Kolkata.
thank you! i posted the first part!
came here for the 1st time..and wow are quite the Queen of blogosphere!!
welcome to my blog. thanks! keep visiting to my kingdom 🙂
🙂 Im almost a probashi, but I like Calcutta. More so now after having lived in so many other cities, alone, than before.
But like I say – you can like Calcutta or hate it. You cannot ignore her.
PS – why do you cut off your posts and not publish the full thing on the main page itself?
welcome to my blog. I do that so I and visitors can see 10 posts on my first page just by scrolling. If u find the title and 1st para u can just click on read further!! keep visiting!
first time here….
I have never been to Kolkata, but heard about traffic jams, girls, busy roads, etc. , but one day I will go…..
Rock on…
<http://asitinblogzone.blogspot.com/
welcome to my blog. Go there once surely! keep visiting.
I lived in WB for 17 long years, and in Kolkata for 10 of those.. that too during my formative years… though I was an outsider, I got close to the local culture…I hv had a love-hate relationship with the city; I hated it for all the things that Reema mentions while I was living there..but once out of it, nostalgic feelings did surface…I guess every place has it’s attractions, and one realizes this only after one leaves it! George Orwell wrote an excellent account of this in his book ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’…he made the mistake of trying to relive the nostalgia of his boyhood days by visiting the place after growing old, and all his nostalgic dreams come crumbling down! Moral: nostalgia is meant to be dreamt of, not relived, so keep the Aspidistra flying! But for all that, Kolkata has loads of dirt, and grime, and poverty, etc etc! Lapierre’s book’s title was meant as a kind of paradox…to Westerners, it is an extremely puzzling (and strangely rewarding) experience to learn of the happiness of ppl living under such grim conditions!
welcome to my blog. thanks for ur nice and apt comment. keep visiting.
very nice…..soon i will visit kolkata…..
okay
I dunno, perspectives differ I guess. As someone who was born in Kolkata, and has lived here most of his life, there’s no where else I’d rather be.
yes of course growing up at a place makes all the difference!