But I do not blame them a bit. In order to avert Russian air space, they are taking a circuitous route. And depending on headwinds, sometimes they are tripping up the limit for crew hours and fuel needs. We had to stop at Bangor, ME today to switch crew and refuel – just an hour away from our final destination!
Sister’s family and brother will join later. I am by myself with no “todo”s for a couple of hours. I am doing one of those activities that relaxes me a lot. Sitting in the shade by the pool on a hot, sultry day in Kolkata and writing down the stories of intersection points. (Of course, the other activity I like is chatting up total strangers looking for intersection points!! )
This was back in 2017. In fact, April 11th to be precise. I had caught up with Debasis and his wife Joyoti in Kalyani. Got an opportunity to meet Debasis’s parents too. Joyoti had mentioned about how she spent every weekend with her mom in Kolkata – who was ailing. I had promised to visit her mom sometime.
Five years later, I was finally able to meet the lovely lady. Parkinson’s is slowly consuming her. Her speech has become so soft that it was difficult to hear her clearly. But her spirits were very high. And that smile!! That beatific smile never left her face. To the extent we could have a conversation, it was such an enjoyable time for me. As I sat down next to her in her bed, I had flashbacks of the patients in the hospices I go to. It has to be soul crushing to not be able to express oneself completely. Against that background, the upbeat nature of Mrs. Roy gave me such a heart warming feeling.
I let her know after some time that I was going to join the rest of the gang in the living area.
“Jaabar aagey ekbaar dekha korey jeo”. She asked me to see her one more time before I left. That at least assured me that she enjoyed our conversation too.
You can also see the rest of the gang in the picture. For some reason, Rabindranath Tagore, unlike others, could not focus on the camera!!
Sitting down at the breakfast table, I measured up the young gentleman and the lady at the next table. From her accent, she seemed to be visiting India – although she definitely looked Indian. He seemed to be of Caucasian descent. They could not be more than in their mid-twenties, by my reckoning.
He was mostly quiet. She was talking about how she liked Indian food – like mysore dosa and all that. I was enjoying how much she was enjoying Indian food. Then slowly, their conversation became white noise for me as I focused on my “panta bhat”!! (See the story here) But somewhere in their conversation, I heard “Chicago” being mentioned.
Later, during a lull in their conversation, I could not help but butt in…
“I heard you guys mention Chicago. Are you visiting from there?
“No, we went to college in Chicago”
“Ah! UC?”
“Yes, sir! But now we live in San Francisco”
“Got it. Working there, I presume?”
She nodded. “Paypal”
“By the way, I work in Chicago. Near Schaumburg.” I let them know.
“And where do you work? Also, I did not get your name,” I asked turning to the gentleman.
“I am Joe. I work in a small healthcare startup.”
“What kind of startup? Analytics?”
“Yes”
“Pharma side?”
“No, mental health”
“What is the name of your company?”
“Modern Health!”
“Really? Wait…”, saying so, I fished out my phone and went to my office emails.
“You mean – this company?” I asked him showing him an email.
Guess the surprise and excitement on his face! Turns out we (as a company) are their customers!! That got Joe talking. I learnt from him about the size of the company and how they have had tremendous growth ever since they started in 2019.
“By the way, where are you from?”
“Virginia”
“Where in Virginia?”
“Virginia Beach.”
“Ah! You know the Sheraton on the beach? That is one of the favorite properties of my wife!”
“How about you?”, I asked the young lady now.
“Oh! I was born and brought up in Delhi. I went to UC for studies”
“Got it. And what brings you to Kolkata then?”
“Oh! we are getting married!”
“Ah! Congratulations!!”
Just at that point of time, an elderly lady came in and started talking to her. I figured she was somebody from the marriage party. The lady looked around – there were no empty tables. She finally signaled with her finger to the empty chair at my table. I immediately offered her the use of the chair.
Instead of pulling the chair out and moving to the other table, she just sat there and started talking to the young lady. Our tables were very close to each other. So much so that the table numbers were 41 and 41A. They were so close, they did not even deserve independent numbers.
I was not bothered by this at all but the young lady suddenly screamed “Ma, onno loker table-e boso na”. (Mom, do not sit at other guest’s tables). Now this surprised me no end. Because she spoke in clear Bengali.
I addressed her directly. “Let her feel comfortable here. I am totally cool. But how do you know Bengali?”
“Oh! I am a Bengali.”
“Really?” I suddenly realized I never got her name…
“What is your name?”
“Sagarika”
“Oh! that is as Bengali as it gets!”
“Sagarika Dasgupta”
“Okay. Now you are in Bengali overdrive!!!”
Of course, by now I realized that the elderly lady was her mom. So, I chatted her up for the next 10 minutes giving her all the respect an elderly lady deserves. Learnt that their family was originally from Sylhet and then moved to Silchar pre-independence.
She was even kind enough to take a picture of the three of us!!
She, being a mom, asked after my kids. I told her about my two daughters – 24 and 18 year olds.
“24? Where is she?”, asked Sagarika.
“Oh! Natasha lives in New York. She went to NYU and graduated in 2020 amidst Covid”
“So, did we!!”
I then realized that this young couple were of the same batch as Natasha (different colleges).
Simple math would suggest that this so called “elderly lady” is probably then of my age or younger.
I politely excused myself before I put my foot any further in my mouth!!
That said, I hope to see the young couple the next time I am in San Fran for a Board meeting!
If you ever get a chance, try the breakfast buffet at ITC Royal Bengal in Kolkata sometime. It is served on the second floor in the Grand Pavilion. The name lives up to itself. The sheer size is mind boggling and the variety of food on display can be unnerving. There are about half a dozen very large food stations. And when I say large, I mean really large. Each food station can easily accommodate an entire floor of a reasonable house here. The staff is outstanding in their service and attention to details.
I had just finished my cup of tea and a masala dosa. That was more than enough food for me, if you ask me. But the allure of all the food on display was strong enough that even a confirmed non-foodie like me started strolling around. You know, to see what else was there.
By the time I had finished going around all the stations, I was feeling hungry again. Not sure whether it was the quarter mile walk I must have done to visit those stations or just the smell of great food wafting in the air that made me feel hungry.
Anyways, I reasoned with myself that I was really not hungry. I could not be. And kept walking. Till I turned around the corner of a station and saw this – “Panta Bhat”!!! Next to it was “knacha pniyaj” (raw onions), “sorsher tel” (mustard oil), “aloo bhaatey” (mashed potatoes with some garnishes) and “knacha lonka” (raw chillies). “Panta bhat” was the staple diet on weekend mornings for us in the village. It is basically rice left over from previous night soaked and fermented in water. Traditionally, we had it with the ingredients on display – and on a rare festive occasion, with “knacha posto” (soaked and ground poppy seed – to a paste form).
Man, seeing the “Panta Bhat”, I was hungry all over again.
I did what every self-respecting Bengali would do – I rolled up my sleeves and went into totally native “aloo bhaatey – pniyaaj haatey” mode. The only thing that could have made it better for me was if I had the guts to eat with my fingers. (I did not. I figured a seven star hotel might impose standards).
My brother in law had rearranged his previously scheduled trip to Durgapur to coincide with that of mine. We could not remember when was the last time we met in his house!! Probably 10-12 years back. It used to be that I used to come to his house every day. We would do Fortran coding together – of all things!!
I still see my mother in law fairly often (three times in the last twelve months). Her health is starting to get more frail but her spirits are sky high. Is it just me or does it look like she is more happy to be in a picture with me than with her own son? 🙂
