Hey You !

House full of dust , sounds of hammer , a strange voice humming and Sunday morning. Not my kind of morning really , as I take a sip of the coffee that came from the electric kettle in the bedroom as the kitchen remains dysfunctional. Doing up an almost 40 years old apartment isn't easy and I woke up with the thought that I should have let it be ....at least I could  come and spend some time in solitude and peace and dig up memories from the the years gone by.... I hear two strange voices from the kitchen and venture out into the swirls of dust. I see a kakima talking to the head mason in the kitchen. "Oh aapni ?" "Ami tomar bari dekhte elam ....bari theek korcho?" What does it look like ? I am playing in the sand pit ? I still keep a straight face and say " Hain..." I am cut short by " Kono khobor achche ? Cheler biye naki ?" What the heck !!!! I keep the straight face with more effort and say " Na na ....or to biyer boyosh hoye...

I had this tin pencil box for a long time that said "Kwality ice cream, a dream with a cream". Kwality was quite in when we were growing up. For me and  Mohua  eating out on our own would be this place, as we never got the permission to venture far. The food, the place , the desserts all were oh so good! Infact, when Chibu was small on one of our walks to see the Phari fountain, he pointed to the place and said "Amaye olome jaigaye khwabe, ma?"Over the years the next-door Gariahat Kwality lost its sheen. Once I had stepped in , found it dark and seedy and stepped out immediately as I did not like the place. I forgot all about it and thought the place had actually closed down. Last afternoon Subarna changed her mind and said she wants to visit Gariahat Kwality. My first reaction was, but no one goes there anymore  ! I stepped in reluctantly hoping she would change her mind and we would go to a more happening place. But she was adamant. So we ended up with a decen...

 In recent times FB has come up with a new challenge that has everyone posting pictures in black and white- The B&W challenge had everyone using some app and changing the DP to that era. Cleaning my parents apartment, is always a voyage on a time machine  for me - Strange how the people are gone and the objects remain- like that arm chair , once my grandmother's  favorite then my father's ! I recently remodeled my grandparents double bed, more out of sentiment than anything else.  And then, this was Victoria Memorial in an original two colored snap. Of course it is now a fad to Prisma or Photoshop or play with an app to bring back the sepia days. Among the many memorabilia , I discovered Dadu's MB certificates - Dadu was sauve, westernized and very social. The story goes that when he went to see my mother for the first time, he wanted fork and spoon saying that at home they used cutlery at the table, and my Didi actually had the table laid out accordingl...