CHAOTIC KOLKATTA

Chaos thy name is Kolkatta.......The past week-end I was in Kolkatta for a conference/competition with my college. Kolkatta immortalised as the City of Joy...and even considered by some as the cultural capital of India.It felt a bit like Mumbai in bits and parts. But it had a lot more old world charm. Too bad I only had a chance to experience it thro Taxi rides through the city. So was basically moving about all the time. This was because IIM-C the place that we went to for a conference was on the outskirts of Kolkatta......nearly 2 hrs away from the airport and about 40 mins away from the main city.It was in a place called JOKA.

I must say that the taxi rides were incredibly comfortable. This is because Kolkatta still uses Ambassador's in the city. And they are soo.....ooo roomy and comfortable. The yellow colour of the cabs is like fresh bright spots in the sea of traffic.
And they have these charming olden days street lights, which I couldn’t get a picture of coz of the constant movement. The street lights had 2 round lamps hanging on either side and looked so pretty.

But chaos reigned supreme. Many times I felt as if our cab would be run off the road. We banged other vehicles twice and the Trams ......why their track was right in the middle of the traffic!!!!!!!!

Kolkatta like every other city in our country is one of extremes. It boasts of India’s only 7 star hotel and of course there is abject poverty to be seen from the hovels that line the roads on the other side. But the Bengali’s are clearly one of my favorite people. Right from their sweets like Saundesh ( Like peda) and Mishti Doi ( sweet yoghurt) to the lilting sound of their language they are a very cool bunch.

Dunno what to say about the IIM fellows though. They only spoke when they were spoken too and to the boys not at all  I just think that they are so lucky to study in such a beautiful environment. The campus is huge with 7 different lakes situated on it and oh so pretty.It was teeming with wildlife.Our rooms were also lovely and food so good that I fear that I may have put on a few kgs.

About the dynamics of the team Welingkar. Well there is scope for another blog talking about that. Right now am too tired to be politically correct. There Is lots of things I missed in the city and I think there is scope to explore the city much more…….Till then …..Au Revoir Kolkatta