Kolkata Files



Very soon after signing off it was clear to me that sooner or later I will have to end up in Kolkata. I knew leaving Mumbai will be painful and emotionally draining but I must admit that there was a hint of excitement to all of this. And no, excitement not for the hype that brand 'porno-shree' carried but more so in the anticipation of an opportunity to explore a new culture, a new city and new people, in the backdrop of small and big battles to win the ultimate war for 2nd mate's license.
After my early childhood days' and Jamshedpur neighborhood experiences with Bengali junta going there to stay for months was like going to Korea to learn Taek-wan-do. There was a lot to see, a lot to observe and a lot to reflect upon and conclude; after all it being the communist bastion of India and myself the child and grand child of some hard-core communist leaders it seemed to be the present of my past. It's present because they still hold the power there. And my past because either I disapprove or I don’t understand them, in any case I am not one of them. And kindly note that while I explain all this, the word 'future' is nowhere used.
However I did grab a book titled 'Marxist Philosophy' from my father's book-shelf and tried my best to go through it, just to prepare myself better to understand the city. I don’t know I succeeded or I failed.

Ajit Narayan
Changes are always refreshing. Well, I don’t agree completely to it. To me and I believe to most of us its kind of irritating…. Till the time we give it a thought and let it do what it can (read - refresh our lives ! ).
This particular change which I have just gone through in the last week and the days that followed it have had metamorphous effect on me. I will never forget the tough little struggle of mine and the lessons I have learnt.
Okay now let me share something interesting and more on the lighter side. Myself with a group of friends left Mumbai last Saturday night for Kolkata on Gnaneshwari Express. By the time we reached Rourkela the stock of ciggi had exhausted. And few of my friends were experiencing the infamous strong ‘talab’ for it. I had to come to rescue as the observation that most of the catering staff and attendants are Bihari and that they are the only ones who can help had already been made. I asked one of the ‘pani-botal’ for it. He said,"teen bogi baad Ajit Narayan naam ka attendant hai, uske pass milega." Okay. We started our search for Ajit Narayan. When one attendant got in our way in the second bogie itself I casually asked," bhaiya Ajit Narayan kahan milenge?" He immediately replied," haan boliye kya chahiye, hum hin hain ajit narayan." We told him what we wanted, to which he too told us to go to the next (same third bogie) one and ask the attendant there as he doesn’t have the stock right now. In the final compartment again same question – "Ajit Narayan kaun hai" and again the same reply - " haan boliye kya chahiye, hum hin hain ajit narayan."
We thought of it as some kind of joke…. Every second attendant seemed to be Ajit Narayan !! But I sensed there had to be something special about Ajit Narayan. And the shock came soon. When one of my friends indicated by hand that he needed a packet of ciggerettes the Ajit Narayan asked "desi ya videshi" ! I explained no we don’t need the booze…. Just some ciggeratte sticks… that’s all. One of us couldn’t control his amazement and ended up kind of appreciating the guy like wow you have even that on board ! Ajit Narayan smiled and explained to us in his own tashan – Sahab, paisa pheko tamasha dekho…. Sab paisa ka khel hai, aap bas boliye apko kya chahiye aur paisa fekiye, sab milega. Bidi, ciggi, ganja, charas, daru, ladki….. sab milega isi train me…. Ladki ( read prostitutes) in the train!! Just out of curiousity one of us ended up asking How Much for that ? The reply was – pachas hazar…. Well, that was not enough. We had to understand the modus operandi for a good night’s sleep….. His voice became softer and he explained… AC1 mein koopa book hoga… mobile se phone hoga aur agle station se chadhegi… TTE bhi involved hoga isliye paisa jada khilana hoga… paisa hai to sab hoga…

Little did I know that the few coming days in Kolkata will only elaborate his last line to me…

anyway, I still wonder does such thing really happen on our trains. Or moreover do we really have such idiots willing to spend so much of money on such stupid things. But one thing is for sure… I will for long remember this name- Ajit Narayan; which was not just a name but a code name and as a matter of fact none of those attendants or catering staff was Ajit Narayan !