It was Saraswati Puja a.k.a. the Bengali Valentine's Day and we were in Kolkata, the seat of juvenile love. "Let's binge on a conti lunch at Mocambo before venturing on to Victoria Memorial for a memorable photo-shoot", blabbered Ratul, stumbling out of bed, half-asleep. So off we went, all dressed up, speeding towards Park Street as early as 11:30 in the morning. We were unarguably the first ones to enter the restaurant which was still under the heavy hang over of V-Day celebrated the day before. The clichéd red balloons and streamers were silently screaming of the celebrations that the place had witnessed the night before. Somehow, I had a creepy feeling that they were pointing fingers at us and accusing us for disrupting their slumber so early in the morning. Ignoring all those wild thoughts, I concentrated on the menu card. After a thorough search and a somewhat mini conference, we narrowed down on Chicken a la Kiev and Mutton Steak Sizzler. What had looked absolutely harmless on the menu card turned out to be monstrously proportioned on the plate. Don't misunderstand me, the taste was as fantastic as we had remembered from our last visit, it was the size that we had forgotten. "Let's get the remainder of the a la Kiev packed an take it home, I can recycle it into a yummy snack", Ma volunteered in an effort to save us from gobbling down the giant and falling sick. Well, no one paid heed and some of it was left alone on the plate to die in piece...err..peace. After labouring and savouring over the delectable monstrosity, we concentrated on our next move.
As our blue Santro cruised over Queen's Way, what made us hold our breath was not the magnificent structure subduing everything around it but the millions of couples teeming towards its gate, making the astute whiteness of Victoria Memorial seem infested with ants. Since it was the regional V-Day, it wasn't a single file marching towards the gate, but insecure and possessive pairs of heterogeneous and homogeneous composition holding onto each other for their dear lives. So a much desired photo-shoot at Victoria was out of the question and we changed gears towards Prinsep -Ghat, located on Strand Road. This beautiful monument rich in Greek and Gothic inlays is a soother for sore eyes and the bank adjoining the river Ganges acts as the cherry on the cake.
Well, the cake and the cherry were no different than any other place in Kolkata. Innumerable couples were swarming hither thither everywhere and hand-holding seemed mandatory. Considering the factor that most of them were under-age, the blatant display of their affections was quite a sight for people like us who were almost a decade older , if not more. While staring at the human scenery around, I could sense eager eyes following us everywhere. Then the sudden realization struck me, we were quite a scene ourselves.
Let me brief you about our 'gang'. It consisted of Ratul my way past the teens husband, the not so far behind and visibly expectant me and my close to mid-life parents' in law, the most unlikely of groups to be present in the most unlikely of places on the most unlikely of days. While the men of our family were busy clicking pictures with as little human intrusion as possible, we, the 'girls', were busy checking out the other couples, shamelessly! But soon we were staring at each other shamefaced when we caught a boy grabbing the ample butt of his girlfriend...
The photo-shoot went quite well and we all looked quite in sync with the place. We were nearer to the place in age than any other person (read couple) present there. After frolicking for some more time, we decided that it was time to leave as with the passing day, the public display of affection was getting clearer until we could take in no longer. Bidding adieu to the imposing witness, somewhat reluctantly we made our way back home.
The beauty of Prinsep-Ghat coupled with the savoury lunch at Mocambo topped by the togetherness of the family really made our Saraswati Puja a memorable one. Now that I think of it, the size of the A la Kiev, the helpless desperation to clear the plates of their contents and the puppy love mushrooming everywhere actually made a perfect day more spicy and colourful.
As our blue Santro cruised over Queen's Way, what made us hold our breath was not the magnificent structure subduing everything around it but the millions of couples teeming towards its gate, making the astute whiteness of Victoria Memorial seem infested with ants. Since it was the regional V-Day, it wasn't a single file marching towards the gate, but insecure and possessive pairs of heterogeneous and homogeneous composition holding onto each other for their dear lives. So a much desired photo-shoot at Victoria was out of the question and we changed gears towards Prinsep -Ghat, located on Strand Road. This beautiful monument rich in Greek and Gothic inlays is a soother for sore eyes and the bank adjoining the river Ganges acts as the cherry on the cake.Well, the cake and the cherry were no different than any other place in Kolkata. Innumerable couples were swarming hither thither everywhere and hand-holding seemed mandatory. Considering the factor that most of them were under-age, the blatant display of their affections was quite a sight for people like us who were almost a decade older , if not more. While staring at the human scenery around, I could sense eager eyes following us everywhere. Then the sudden realization struck me, we were quite a scene ourselves.
Let me brief you about our 'gang'. It consisted of Ratul my way past the teens husband, the not so far behind and visibly expectant me and my close to mid-life parents' in law, the most unlikely of groups to be present in the most unlikely of places on the most unlikely of days. While the men of our family were busy clicking pictures with as little human intrusion as possible, we, the 'girls', were busy checking out the other couples, shamelessly! But soon we were staring at each other shamefaced when we caught a boy grabbing the ample butt of his girlfriend...
The beauty of Prinsep-Ghat coupled with the savoury lunch at Mocambo topped by the togetherness of the family really made our Saraswati Puja a memorable one. Now that I think of it, the size of the A la Kiev, the helpless desperation to clear the plates of their contents and the puppy love mushrooming everywhere actually made a perfect day more spicy and colourful.
