The Pearls of Catharsis Times Issue 02, Dec 2016 | Page 10
Kolkata Tales
The Winter Diary
The world starts beyond the University. Beneath the supermarket the pavement-shops are loaded with colourful winter-garments. Winter has come at last! Flower-shops. Familiar fragrance in the air. Whenever I get out of the bus at the church road of Berhampur, I smell a similar fragrance. The book fair. If winter comes can book fair be far behind? The last time I visited Berhampur, it was during the book fair. Colourful sweaters on the pavement, shoes, saplings of seasonal flowers. The Square Field. Standing at the stalls for so long that legs start to hurt. And as I have my generous mother with me, who cares for the bill? No, I ' m now on Bolpur-Sriniketan Road. It ' s a different place. I hear the local people talking in local dialect. A lorry passes by with huge pipes. My bicycle is so small. I am about to lose my way in the bypass. But unfortunately, I survive. Returning back. The road in front of the cinema hall is overcrowded after the end of the show. Probably it was‘ Dangal’. Most of them are girls. A girl has put a flower on her hair. I don ' t see her lover with her. The day’ s gonna put out. I paddle my bicycle forcefully. A winter evening, tired and gloomy, finds warmth in a cup of tea.