There she was…..
With her contagious smile, one that can light up a thousand hearts…..
There she was…..with her long silky locks resting on her shoulders, as if they are ready to drown me in that ephemeral darkness…..
There she was….Chatting indistinctly on the phone, with remnants of her sweet voice bringing a melancholy tune to my ears, which was unheard of till that very moment…..
There she was…..walking down the aisle…..and the next moment, she was right here…… in my heart!
Modern Kolkata is a lot like this girl. Atleast that’s how I see it.
Being an outsider Bengali and equally curious to stay rooted to my culture, I keep dropping to this city quite often. 
It was not long before that I realized that this city is more than just the way it is stereotyped. Of course, I feel immense pride to be part of the community where we rolled out the maximum Nobel prizes. Growing up whenever I visited the city I was left curious about the amount of cha-er dokaan (tea shops) around or for that matter the adda of a mixed group of men near those shops. I called my aunties “cheek pullers”for the obvious reasons. It might have hurt as hell, but it still felt home.
The yellow taxi has a special place in my heart. It does not have an Uber cool air conditioning or app-solute convenience, but it will still take you places! It definitely has bigger seats and the drivers use their experience to navigate. So cool!
The endearing thing about walking around the streets like a tourist; the frequent tiny temples under the trees or near a water-tap (time kol as we would like to call it). Also sometimes, near a dumpster. So that people do not over fill the dumpsters and start trashing the streets! That’s some machher jhol intelligence I adore!
It might be just 2 stones and somebody will plant it with some red mark on them to look Godly. People know the truth and they will still join their hands or do the shortcut way (touch your forehead and down to the chest while you randomly murmur!) to show their gratitude. 
Kolkata unfolds herself to me everyday. Sometimes unsettled, unstable. Sometimes, invincible.
