Oh Calcutta??

The best part about my job is I get to get out of Mumbai every now and then. So, I was in Lucknow last night and right now in Kolkata. But that accompanies the worst part as well. I started off in the morning and set foot in Kolkata just about 3 hours ago. For the first time I encountered the fog interference in travel, and that too, over two flights.

Actually, I was happy with the delay. Not because I could feast on the T-3 fashionistas of Delhi for over 4 hours. Or for the short conversation with the Japanese guy video chatting with his wife and kid. Not even for thankfully carrying the external disk, which helped me kill time effortlessly.

It was just the fact that this delay let me slip into Kolkata in the relative dark and anonymity of the night. I feel I have had enough of the city. Two years on the pretext of studies followed by three months of "what I now term just a sales stint" exposed me to the city amply. I have now enough memories in my closet to relate to Kolkata, and they would rather be kept in the confines of my trunks.

The way to the guest house was littered with flashes of the times spent here and that made for a much colder reception than the Kolkata winters are capable of. The same old reflections started popping up again. The same old feeling of unease and an asphyxiating sense of nostalgia began to tighten the noose around.

And then I got off at the guesthouse. The questions I was dreading were put up most certainly. And I gave the responses they would have loved and definitely expected. It helped me as well, in cutting the barrage short.

Now I sit in that same room- uncomfortable with my answers. But then, the questions would have consequently become much more uncomfortable the other way. Something is amiss for sure, as I look around for the appropriate answers.

I still don't have them. All I have is a sense that this is a room half full. Or maybe half empty??