The Wonder that was......

Kolkata: the city of joy.... sounds simple doesn't it....? Its the city of love... the city of romance.. literature..music .....and way much much more..

This city has a time capsule.....where in spite in being 2011.... u might just be able to co exist with 1930. A walk down to Kumhaar Tuli from shovabazaar ... might take u to the days when Kolkakata was Calcutta.... into the days of the misty past... smokey lanes and fragrant alleys...

Some old house stand right next to their swanky new generations' counterparts and call out for the doi walas who left them stranded... Thirsty wall plaster are waiting for water from the bhistis and yearning for someone to knock on that broken door whose latch too has frayed with time.Broken balconies of old houses where no Juliet has called her Romeo in many years .... and old panes that beckon light but no eyes to look beyond them... Estranged....yet , with a soul....

As the nostalia begins to sink in, you set foot in a world that opens your eyes.....A walk through time ...a walk through a place where gods and their cunterparts are mass produced - KUMHAAR TULI... If I left u on an open end, its the place where idols are created... Kolkatas own 'God Factory'....They have it all... Now preparing for the advent of durga pooja, the four day gala carnivale of sorts for this city, Kumhaar Tuli has a lot of planning to do.. as its the nerve centre if it all.

The city awaits the arrival of their daughter.. their mother .. and the deity of their dreams.. Maa Durga....who descends to this make belief father's house with her four children.. These god makers create them with their own hands, filling not only life .. for the praan pratishta but also dreams of many Bengalis who wait for this occasion year round... Aspirations... assimilations .. and connotations all fall in place in the four days of this favorite festival....

As the hay figurines get covered in clay...the deity comes to life... where the makers shine... the artisan looks at it with pride.... Walking through 'God Market'.....just leaves you stunned... just an empty space soon will transform into a hustle bustle of merriment and drama... a bundle of illumination and faith.

This is not over yet...how can the talk of kolkata.. of durga pooja be over without the single biggest weakness of every Bengali - MISTI....? The rather famous or the infamous sweet tooth of the Bengali has been talked about.. and even harped abt over ages....i'm not talking about the rosogolla or even the nolen gurer sandesh...As the old bengali sweet shop owners surrender their generations long goodwill to the new generations, there is one such sweet shop that has got the masses today talking . The world changes its tastes from the sandesh to the truffle ... Amidst all this stands out a little Treasure Chest of sandesh popularly called NAKUR....a shop that gives you sandesh ranging from dark chocolate.. black forest ... and butter scotch to strawberry and black currant...

Some of their chocolate sandesh can even put bakeries to shame...

More chocolaty than the brownie and as gooey as fudge... soft... smooth and not even slightly synthetic... he modern day chocolate sandesh does find a very important place in the quintessential benagali meal.

The place filled me up with a new joy for being associated with this city... a new pride to live here...a new bonding which got renewed..and i have yet another story to tell to many a food lovers over the world....

Every city has its secret hideouts...the beauty of the ones in kolkata are that u don't really need to hide from anyone for a hideout.. at heart everyone here is looking for a secret favorite place...and nobody really has a problem sharing their secret place with u . In kolkata a shared secret brings people closer and the secret stronger... The 'belonging nature' of this city brings together people from all over the world and tells them that all the joy of the world begins and ends in just one place ... Kolkata: the city of joy....