Good bye Chennai

Even the Chennai sky was shedding tears as we leave...the last shots from the plane...

My First 'Kolkata' Moment

It's been a tough first few months in Kolkata for us. The weather, the office systems, the road repair works everything and everyone seemed to have conspired to give us a tough start. But then there were some amazing fun, family and food moments which gave us the strength to move ahead with gusto. 

Let me share my first "Kolkata" moment today. It was our second Sunday in the city. We planned to visit his aunt in Maniktala, unaware of the fact that a Mohun Bagan - East Bengal football match was scheduled that day at the Salt Lake stadium. I will never forget this particular journey we took on the E.M. Bypass. 

We started for Maniktala in the late afternoon. Soon we saw a mini truckload of people with one of the club flags waving high in air. They were chanting some slogans which I couldn't understand initially. Honestly, I (still) don't know which flag represents which club- some of you might be stunned by this revelation and question my worthiness to be on this planet, but then that's the truth! 

So, given my lack of knowledge, I thought it might be some political group and ignored them. But soon there were many more such mini truckload of people with flags on the road. Then I noticed there were infact two different flags and that's when the idea struck that it must be a football match. The famous Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal football match. And the fans of these clubs were going to the stadium to witness the 'killing'. 

The road was spilling with people from all sides. People were in autos, cars, two wheelers and on foot waving flags, bearing the monogram of their loved clubs. Total strangers favoring the same club "hi-fived" and smiled and waved at each other. Slogans supporting each team were doing the rounds. 

The highlight of the journey however were the casual banters between the rival team fans. Sitting inside my car I turned a shade of red hearing the colorful obscenities hurled at each other. The fans were describing what their teams would do to the rivals on the ground, with all possible "Beep" words (some of those 'beep' expressions were totally new to me and took sometime to comprehend :P) I was aware that the language at the street level in the city is choking with such expletives but hearing them being shouted across vehicles on a crowded road (with so much passion and articulation) was an experience in itself. 

Could capture just one snap of the fans, here it is.