Kolkata

Courtesy Google Image

The traffic is wild, it is synonymous to chaos. It amazes me thinking about how the automobiles manage to go about without crashing into each other. I hear the city like a big monster, groaning and roaring with unrelenting hunger. It calls more lives with promises of livelihood but hardly do most know that this city is no different from a jungle and survival is a daunting challenge, yet many are drawn to its lights like the moths from the dark.

Billboards hang huge as testimonies to the capitalist world that India today is very much symbolic of. One particular commercial caught my attention, a huge billboard about a paint brand, the commercial proudly displayed a house beautifully painted and protected from all elements of weather. The irony however was that the house below the billboard and most buildings around were dull and weather-beaten.

Some people don’t hesitate to urinate in front of a shopping mall while many shoppers go in and out. I saw this and shared a joke with my uncle.

Courtesy Google Image

Once the American President visited India and the first morning he went for jogging. He saw many dark bums attending their morning nature call and back with the Indian PM he mentioned what he encountered. The Indian PM felt deeply insulted. Later in the year the Indian PM visited America and the very first morning he asked the President to accompany him on his morning jogging. He hoped to at least catch one American bum. As they jogged in the cool morning sea breeze the PM saw one. He could hardly hold his joy but held it checked till they neared the person attending his morning nature call. When they were close the PM bust out with all his excitement pointing at the squatting person near them only to find out that the person was the Indian Ambassador.

I think about this joke and cannot help but feel how true the words sound when I see people urinating.

I miss home because we also have similar scenes.