Hello Kolkata Winter

Winter in Kolkata lasts for roughly three months -December to February.

It is the best time to visit Kolkata as it is pleasant throughout the day, however if you truly want to experience the festive mood, the spirit of the crowd here, Durga puja is the ideal time, that is a month or two before winters. Just that, the humidity slightly dampens the enthusiasm of first time visitors.

Winter is a different story altogether.

Early mornings

A leisurely walk followed by a good cup of coffee or tea is a common morning ritual.

Food

Now food is yet another major theme in Kolkata during winter.

The kind of food that is available in this city throughout the year will flare your nostrils and water your tongue. However the taste of Nalengur Sandesh and Payesh made with milk and a type of jaggery that is available only during winter, will remind you of this season and you will yearn for this taste.

This is so traditional Bengali stuff, so much a winter thing. Love it.
November 2017 

And how can I forget this?

This was like a full fledged ritual - 16th December 2017
You will love the filling inside
This one had coconut, milk and Jaggery - Patali Gur

The fresh vegetable variety is another thing to look forward to.

Mouth watering isn't it? Cabbage and Fish Head

Fairs

During winter you can visit different fairs and exhibitions where you can buy handicrafts, local art, traditional products made by artisans. The book fair spread across days, is another event that should be in your must do list if you are in Kolkata during winter.

They can be on large grounds like this one

I attended this in 2016

Or with limited space

22nd December 2017, Shyamnagar Near Kali Temple

I had picked these last year in the range of INR 60 to 220/-

Festival

So what if you have missed Durga Puja? You should be in Park Street on Christmas to experience the grand celebration, watch the crowd, the decoration, the lights and the spirit. 

It is not about religion or faith. It is just about basic human bonding and life.

Even if you visit a local mall, you get to see what I mean, like the Santa with his team

24th December 2017, Barasat

Travel

During winter half of Kolkata is having a picnic on Christmas and the other half is traveling.

So the Victoria Memorial or the Nicco park, Eco part or the science city, the Alipur zoo, or botanical garden have most of the crowd.

Or a quite boat ride on the Ganges

Being close to nature

By the way did you take that “half” bit seriously? I am sure you get the drift of what I mean.

For someone like me who has been away from Kolkata for fifteen long years, being able to enjoy Christmas with my family, with Christmas tree lights twinkling before my eyes, set right beside my lap top, is the best trip ever. A trip inwards - Returning home!

Or soak in the warmth of the afternoon sun while you watch these on the terrace. 

Lentil Dumplings. We call it Daler Bori, an integral part of Bengali cuisine.
The twin teddy you see there is the scare crow team
We made this a winter ritual this year - 1st December 2017

Or write a blog like this with a shawl wrapped around me

The little moments, the little memories and the little measures of happiness is Kolkata winter’s gift to any tourist who visits this vibrant city during this part of the year.

Write to chaltechalteindia@gmail.com if you have a story to share about Kolkata winter or if you are planning a visit around this time, our team will be glad to assist you with a no-obligation itinerary at no cost.

Nestled Close To The Himalayas...

It was a life time experience.

And it was way back in October 2001 however the memories are still fresh.

This fantastic opportunity came to me from one of my childhood friends, an expatriate. He proposed this idea that I should conduct a tour with 19 members. The travel group included an 80 years old lady from his family. We therefore had to be extra careful

There was urgency. Tour plan had to be finished in a day. We had to start for the trip after twenty days. The tour lasted for 18 days.

Where did we go?

It is popularly known as ‘Chota Char Dham’, that is, a short circuit of important Hindu pilgrimage, Yamunatri, Gangotri, Kadernath and Badrinath, located in the Garhwal region of the state of Uttarakhand at a height, 3,000 to 4,000 m from sea level.

We managed to collect only few confirmed reservation tickets of train journey.

When is the best time?

The best time to visit the Char Dham is May to October.

What route did we follow?

We chose the shortage distance from Haridwar to Yamunatri then Gangotri, Kadarnath and Badrinath. There is another route from Dehradoon but it is 50 to 60 Kms. more. 

How did we conduct the tour?

We decided that we will divide the whole work between five members among us

Transport in charge

Lodging/Accommodation

Tour plan master

Food in charge

A cashier

What did we do?

We contracted a full luxury bus of 24+1 seated to complete the four main spots from Haridwar. Now a days roads for have been extended closer to the destination. But to reach Yamunatri (7 Kms from Jankichatti) and Kadarnath (14 Kms from Gourikund) one needs to walk or trek or can avail Palki - they called Dandi / Kandi, for the last phase.

Where can we stay?

Luxury, deluxe all types of hotels, Dharmsala for lodging and fooding are available and can be booked by online. You can refresh and enjoy the natural hot spring there. Depending on the group’s choice and budget, you can book your stay

What did we bring home?

The four holy places have their own significance, legends, mythology, and history. The attractive natural beauty though out journey will definitely change your mind. 

It definitely changed mine.

By the end of the journey, we felt a sense of accomplishment – It was not just a tour, it was an experience, it was huge responsibility to ensure everyone enjoyed.

That is the trigger to conduct many more tours in future.

Author Profile

Image Credit: Canva Design

A Dialogue With God..

They were our family friends for over forty years – one aunt, 4 sisters and 2 brothers.

When we learnt about the sad demise of one of the sister’s (youngest) husband, we wanted to pay them a visit. During our recent visit to Bangalore, we chose a Sunday as everyone in that family had office to attend during the week. So I spoke to her, offered our condolences and proposed to visit them on 5^th November. I also hinted if possible we will quickly meet the other sister (oldest) who stayed just opposite to her residence and had recently shifted from Mumbai.

Two days after that conversation, the one who relocated from Mumbai called me up to check if we could visit them on 12^th November, instead of 5^th because the sister I spoke to forgot to mention that a trip to Coorg was planned that weekend already for them. As we were returning back to Kolkata on 15^th November, I had to express my inability to travel roughly 90 kms to visit them, just three days before the long train journey, particularly because my mother has to wear collar for spondylitis during these rides and that could risk her stability. I assured her I will visit next year once I am back.

Just a couple of days before my call confirming the date of my visit, my neighbor, a budding business graduate wanted to visit Coorg with us and I asked her to check all available options. However, later when she and her mother came to chat, she did not seem interested in Coorg anymore. 

All of sudden the plan changed to Arunachala – She wanted to do Giri Pradakshina.

I was hearing that word for the first time. I mocked her that she remembers visiting pilgrims, only when she has trouble in her educational scope. Little did I know, the mockery was not for her, but for my own ignorance

So there were six of us from four families, who were almost ready to go to Arunachala. It was time to consider the minutes of the trip now.

How To Go

I called our regular driver who quoted INR 9000 including driver barter and service tax. Toll fee was not included. 6 people in a five seat car obviously were a big no. I did not bother to check for a bigger car as I knew no one was keen to spend that kind of money

Auto fare was INR 200 per person for Giri Pradakshina. If we opted for bus then with food, accommodation cost per person (not including personal shopping mementos and books), per person cost could easily come to INR 3000, based on what I could gather from other travelers in different blogs.

Why to go?

Then I begin my personal research on the proposed location- Thiruvannamalai

Arunachala Hill

Arunachaleshwar Temple

Maharishi Ramanna Ashram

Sri Seshadri Swamigal Ashram 

As I researched and as I read more about these saints, saw the images on Google and read the reviews on trip advisor, I found this question growing in me – Why did I have to hear about Giri Pradakshina from a 18 year old indecisive kid who wanted Coorg one day and wanted this, the next day?

I suddenly wanted to visit this place just for the Giri Pradakshina.

One of the senior lady travelers dropped because we planned to do the trip by bus. Her daughter was not willing to allow her mom and promised to take her by car soon.

The other one dropped as her son has cricket practice on Sunday. I was willing to do the trip on week day just to accommodate her. Her husband cannot manage work from home these days and so will not be available to take care of her son, when she is travelling. (I work for my clients from anywhere, any time, so for me week days or weekends do not matter)

Finally the young lady whose brilliant idea this was, along with her mother had to back out because her father whose permission had to be sought for this trip forewarned them to cancel the trip because it was raining in Chennai.

Are we going? We sure are – My mother is my best travel partner, particularly early morning, bus rides to pilgrims.

For me this was not a destination visit any more.

I can get very unreasonable once in a while – It was a mental monologue with the one I was planning to visit – Make this happen!!

5^th November 2017

We left home at 6:00 AM. We had to board a bus from Anekal to Hosur. Anekal, however was a good 5 kms away from my residence. I have been staying in this house since 2012 and never have I found an auto that early in the morning in these five years. That day we did. Autos do not ply in that route usually.

Bus fare is INR 15 for each. That auto took just INR 10 to cover the same distance.

The mental monologue was working.

Bus was about to start when we reached Anekal. We quickly got ourselves two comfortable seats and enjoyed the morning breeze. (Fare INR 18/- per person)

The ride from Hosur to Thiruvannamalai in SETU bus was way above my expectation. It was not crowded at all, and the roads were awesome. We reached Thiruvannamalai in 4 hours, though all the way I kept asking the conductor and fellow passengers, a dozen times to let me know when we cross Thiruvannamalai. (Fare INR 90/- per person)

Accommodation

I did my homework on accommodation however I had decided to take a call only after the purpose of visit – the Giri Pradakshina was successfully done, if we want to stay or return the same day.

We had no idea how hectic it will be, if my mother who is in late sixties with spondylitis can manage to return the same day.

We kept that part open.

I remember trying to talk to someone in Sri Seshadri Swamigal Ashram - I asked if there was anyone with whom I could speak to in English to clarify my queries. The man said “One minute” and then after a few minutes of wait, the call got disconnected. I tried calling again and requested to speak in English. He said, “No English”. My problem is I can understand Tamil however cannot speak. I could see he was trying to be helpful. I spoke to him in broken English. He understood and clearly confirmed to come and speak about the accommodation. I did not understand what to make of it, somehow I was relieved at his tone

I quickly used Google Translator to prepare for some Tamil phrases to talk to the auto driver regarding places to visit and Giri Pradakshina, or to request for accommodation.

In Thiruvannamalai Bus stand, after we got down from the bus, I approached the first auto I saw there, trying to recall the Tamil words I learnt last night. It had all got jumbled and I was reluctant to take out my diary to read out from there.

Here is what I said the driver – Hello, Hindi, English, Kannada?

And guess what, he responded back in Kannada. “Heli Madam” (Means “Tell Me Madam”)

God, it was not a monologue any more. It was a dialogue. The man up there was guiding us with his tribe of auto drivers – One in the morning and other one now.

All I told him before we sat in his auto - “Whatever Punya (Good) we do today, you know half is yours – What you show me today is what I will know is there”

He was very helpful and a person with very high integrity. He charged INR 350 for both of us.

Highlights

I tried to see the Hill from every lingam that I visited.

We made it to Sri Ramanna Ashram and I told myself – I will be back for a 3 day stay just in that place alone.

When we reach Sri Seshadri Swamigal Ashram, we were asked to wait as food was being served to God. We had Prasad and took one scoop for the auto driver. I picked a book on his life for the girl who came up with the idea of this trip.

We had to stay till 4 PM for Arunachaleshwar temple to open. As we had covered the rest, we decided to leave for Bangalore post lunch and be back again just to explore the temple next time.

Actually both of us liked the whole trip because of the ease, comfort and sense of rejuvenation. We both knew we will be back, not just once – many more times

When we were in Thiruvannamalai, the youngest sister called us multiple times, whom we were supposed to visit that day. As we were in the bus and I knew I will not be audible, I chose to reach home and call her.

I did.

She gave me a mouthful asking why we did not visit her as planned and why I was not picking her calls. The whole family was waiting for us to have lunch till 3 PM.

I told her what the other sister had told me that they all were visiting Coorg on 5th November. "We had no travel plans. They had plans. They went." She reasoned.

I realized I had misunderstood the whole conversation - I assumed that both sisters were going to Coorg. I had no reason to assume that though.

Was I destined to visit Arunachala then?

Lifetime takeaways

Even by thinking of Thiruvannamalai one can attain liberation.

Think Arunagiri. Annamalai Hill. Arunachalam. Arunai. Many names. One Hill.

Too many coincidences..

1] Misunderstanding a normal conversation - I would have been in a different place on that day, if I had made the right sense of that chat

2] An auto from no where, that early in the morning who charges you less than bus fare

3] A Kannada speaking auto driver in a Tamil speaking state to make our lives easy there

4] We reached  Sri Seshadri Swamigal's Ashram exactly when food was being offered to God and at least 4/5 people, asked us to wait for a few minutes to take Prasad. Such experiences humble you, when strangers who knows that we do not belong there ensure that you do not miss what matters most to many of us - God's Prasad.

The whole experience felt like, someone up there was indeed listening and making ways.

Literally Yours,

With time your preferences change – particularly if one has gone through any of these – death of a near one, a major transition from corporate role to alternative career, frequent travels between cities to maintain relationships (and properties too) and a relocation to home town after 15 long years in work place.

There was something about Bangalore Literature Festival this year on a personal front. The last time I attended one was four years back and the memorable note was - I had quit my job just three days prior to the event. The attitude then was, while preferences do change, passion, of course is something else. My love for the written word is unbeatable. Today, both my livelihood and luxury depends on it.

I have managed to stay away from full time roles to keep my passion alive to write, build on startup ideas with words, support like-minded souls with content and be free for any creative pursuit or new learning, any time.

So while my visit to Bangalore was only for a month and keeping in view, this was the first visit after my relocation to Kolkata early this year, I had a definite agenda and must do list. The sixth edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF) topped that list.

This year as the event was at The Lalit Ashok Lawns, the travel time was a serious concern. As we can be there only on any one of the days keeping our priorities and engagements in view, we quickly saw the festival schedule split in four sections across both days - #Speakup; #Speakout; The Red Couch and C | L | F (Children Literature Fun).

We chose Sunday, 29^th October with the hope that the traffic will not be severe and we can just manage a few cerebrally stimulating afternoon sessions. We were there by 1.30 pm and therefore missed the launch of Rajdeep Sardesai’s book on Cricket and Girish Karnad’s thoughts on the world of A K Ramanujan.

We steered away from political debate and debacle completely. I was personally not keen at all and was away from Kanhaiya Kumar, Ramachandra Guha and the kind. I do not belong to that league and have no qualms to admit it. I am not sure if Kanhaiya qualifies to be part of the panel on Nationalism, Populism and the Threat in the first place– the organizers think he does and that’s the end of story. Politically charged sessions was too taxing for my brain as it was just geared for some fun moments

So I, the lesser mortal with poorer intellectual material had to shift to lighter zones of the festival.

I was with author of many books Lakshmi Menon who is also quite popular for writing children books and manages this. I was mindful to attend at least one session on writing for children. So we settled in the front chairs not just for a closer view of Reena Puri and Ranjit Lal, in conversation with Sudeshna Shome but to avoid the shining 1.30 sun.

One can imagine the interesting mix, with one talking for Mythology and traditional writing, while the other contemporary writer was unable to relate to it and admits that he has zero knowledge about mythology. The editor maintains that the medium Amar Chitra Katha helps children acquaint themselves to Indian heritage and heroes, Ranjit, on the other hand, was content to write about more pressing issues like Dementia or abuse of daughter by her own father. The talk covered all of this and more.

How to manage to stay relevant to the prevailing time?

How to you choose topics?

Women issues

Universal truths

Purpose of reading

Contemporise themes where it is not just about a character, say Sita, but someone who questions.

The festival was seriously a nice, mixed bag of personalities with over 120 authors there - Many first timers, many voices, many topics – One old timer the previous day was Varun Agarwal who was there even in 2013 – His Anu Aunty made some progress, I guess.

I am not really an ardent follower of her columns or her books. In fact I have not read any of her books however the one person I was actually looking forward to hear - that made me transverse the long distance from my residence in South Bangalore to The Lalit was – Twinkle Khanna. I like her personality, humility and how she established her identity to be somebody by her own right, regardless of where she hails from or belongs. She did not disappoint me at all – Her wit, humor, sense of timing was just perfect and fantastic throughout.

She had amazing audience reaction when she described her frustration with her mother who always seemed to miss the bright side of her achievements and pointed out her petty flaws. She once countered back – “Wish my mother was Hema Malini, at least I would get a Kent RO for free”. Twinkle’s diplomacy to declare Orange is the new brown made the audience roar with laughter.

When Twinkle was taking questions from the audience and Darius Sunawala asked the audience - how many would want to see her back on the screen and there was a loud scream in affirmative, she unabashedly tells Darius – “That is just seven of them”. She admits without slightest scruple that she is not a good actress and is happy with what she does with words.

Surprise element was when a new mom who was a doctor by profession writing on motherhood had one question for her – “Will you endorse my book?” which again evoked a deafening applause from the audience. Twinkle’s prompt response was “Because of your presence of mind, I will”

Immediately after this chat with Darius, she was available for a signing session – I tried to buy her Legends of Lakshmi Prasad.  I was keen, knowing one of the short stories Salaam, Noni Appa was converted to a play directed by Lillete Dubey with one of its initial shows happening right here, in our very own Bangalore. Another short story from the same book was in the production house to be a full-fledged film. No wonder, when we went to the stall to pick a copy, it was sold out. Not to forget it was for this book that she won the popular choice award, in the sixth edition of Bangalore Literature Festival.

As eternal students of life and writing, I regret having missed the writing workshop by Rajorshi Chakraborti and the session on Personal writing – What Makes It Resonate, Natasha Badhwar with Samar Harlarnkar.

There is always a next time. And of course the ever growing digital means that makes the world smaller and access easier.

If the organizers are listening, I would like to give them a shout here. Crown Plaza, near Electronic City was a better venue. At least they did not have a private party on the same day, in the very same lawn adjacent to the festival playing loud music leaving the audience struggling to hear the conversation in progress.

The next event I plan to write about is the Book Fair in Kolkata.