Cool Guy and Kolkata...

 

This evening I had the audacity of deviating from my custom sojourn
and step outside into the world that this great city promises to provide.....
I had the invitation to visit a 'rock show' by one of my very old friend......"for ol' times sake!!"
So at this point I might add.....with sufficient satisfaction that I am quite a bit of
appreciator of the category of music which some guy with fancy had called 'rock'.....but only in
a way allowed by middle class bengali 'decency'(with all apologies to those who differ)......
it was somewhere in a dusty little feild with few glaring lights and modest stageshow as
sustained by humble pockets of few high school kids,fewer college students and even more reluctant
'authorities that be'........definitely not in or around 'park street' for the records.....
So a sultry afternoon saw me kicking some pebbles at the not so crowded curb waiting for my
ol' buddy to appear......and appear he did.......quite admiringly according to what I call
CST a.k.a KST(Kolkata Standard Time)....that is to say forty five mintutes later.....however
even after a stale mouth by rounds of lonely smoke it is good to see an ol' friend....and for
few minutes we indulged in the kind of conversation which only many years of separation can produce.....
and only after that we stepped into the arena where the 'show' was organized........and we met his
friends..........and wondered 'where was I??'
Here I was.....beaming uncomfortably at "hey dude"..."hi buddy"..."wassup mate(pronounced as a nasal 'm-a-i-t')
......even "hi junky"...."be mine".....and I-duno-what assertions.....with a lot of the 'f-word' in front...
in between.......after.....and around each syllable......its a small world indeed......!!
And the dresses.....oh yes the attires......pimply high school kids probably getting their pants wet by
late night B-movies...dressed in worn out shirts over full sleeve Tees...the Cobain way.......even
younger petite 'girls' with nothin much to fancy about getting themselves eager to be 'cool'.....and
a strong minority among them with piercing in various places.......and I realized its really not
the same.....and the 'show' started........well I am not here to describe a stageshow.......I can
only respect the 'effort' and a really strong effort for that matter,put forward by kids not even my peer...
but one thing I wondered.....considering the geographical position of our nation.......and rather uncomfortable
luxury of excess of sun ....is it too necessary to be dressed up the 'bad-ass' way with hairs tangling
with months of dandruff and reeking with old sweat? Maybe.....maybe that makes one 'cool'..........
So the show ended and the crowd mitigated......but to my wonder a similar albeit much dimunitive
group gathered around the shop by the corner and here they were .....munching with pre-historic
finesse ..at the hot 'radhaballavi' and even hotter 'cholar daal'.....with few sips of tea in a 'bhaar'.....
and I realized....quite thankfully....'not everything has changed'.....