Ease@Kolkata

The average bengali usually starts his day at 8. He wakes up with a huge yawn or exclamation of how good the sleep was or how it wasnt!!! A bengali is usually handicapped without running to the bathroom in the next few seconds, followed by a yell at his wife for the morning tea. It is usually punctuated by the door bell of the maid servant. The morning tea is a long affair with a few more bengalis joining in for an early morning adda, with the newspaper (anadabazar or bartaman) in prominence. The bengali then sets forth towards the market for groceries, vegetables and fish. The fish market is the best place where u can actually get the true picture of bengal. With innumerable varities of fish and their speculative prices, the air rises with the cacaphony of a hundred fish fanatic bengalis, bargaining and picking the best fish. Here, again, one sees many familiar faces and a string of discussions from the office boss to street dogs, from cricket to politics. When time finally swings to about 10 am, he returns home with a fat bag full of his fresh buys. He by now realises that its lunch time for the office goer and has to deal with a frantic wife managing her cooking and all the morning chores at the same time with a loud expression of associated complaints. Only a well cooked meal of ucche bhaja, daal, torkari, maach or mangsho with doi, chatni, papor bhaja and mishti(sweets) satisfies the taste sensitive babu.

By 11-30, the office goer finally sets off with his paan filled mouth to catch the auto or bus to his office where he is greeted by other babus relaxing at their desks after signing the register. By another hour, its lunch time and work is suspended. An after that, the tea break and so on and so forth. By 4 or 5 pm he is ready to head home. The evenings sets off with carrom or cards at the para(locality) rock( read street pavement).
A bengali is satisfied with whatever he gets, he doesnt believe in compromising leisure for earning that extra penny

Thats the pace of life in kolkata. Work is the most difficult of things to get through. Add to it, the strikes and bandhs every other week. Unions and Associations, demonstrations and protests......

Its high time, we woke up