Why Travel?

I had planned to stay with a friend in Kolkata. I met him in Jaipur. I was in the city for the literature festival. Between one of the sessions, I decide to go to the festival bookstore. I see another boy, about my size, round spectacles, short hair, standing in front of the poetry bookshelf at the store. He was looking at a collection of poems I had recently read. I commented,

'That is a great book'

'Yeah, it sure looks like one.'

Your first time at the festival?

Yeah.

Mine too. Where are you from?

Guwahati. You?

Why cook?

That was a question worth pondering over again. I recently learned how to cook some basic meals at home. This included rice, indian bread, pulses, sandwiches. But this is not cooking in the true sense.

Michael Pollan, the food writer, In his book, 'Cooked - A Natural History of Transformation' listed out four basic processes that have evolved over time, to transform the stuff of nature, into delicious things to eat and drink. They are further documented as follows:-

a) Grill with Fire

b) Cook with Liquid

c) Bake Bread

d) Ferment everything from cheese to beer

Chennai Stopover - Beaches, Motels, Rajnikanth and Street Shopping

I have just spent at week at the Sadhana Forest (volunteer community) in Auroville. I now have to leave. I have a 3 hour morning bus ride from Pondicherry to Chennai. I ask one of the volunteers going into the city, to drop me off at the highway. I then jump into a bus, heading towards Pondicherry at the Toll Gate. I get down at the bus station in Pondicherry, and then purchase a ticket on the next bus to Chennai. I had a train from Chennai to Kolkata in two days time. I had a day to spare and decided to spend it exploring some parts of Chennai. When I reach Chennai, the first thing I need to do is to find a room, to keep my luggage in. So I walk towards some hotels near my bus station. 

How to choose the right motel?
The first motel, I checked, had all the basic necessities. It had a bed, table, T.V and bathroom. I see a bunch of cockroaches under the bed and the paint chipping of one corner wall. I walk into the motel next door, and this has all the basic necessities minus the cockroaches and chipped walls. I hire the room for the night, freshen up and then walk out to explore the city. I carry only my purse and wallet and they fit easily into pant pockets. It is so nice, to not have to carry, a heavy bag around with you. I've had enough of luggage carrying for a month.

Train to Kolkata

I had a train from Chennai to Kolkata at 9 am. My alarm went off at 6 30 am and I shut it off to get a few more minutes of sleep. How stupid of me. Fortunately, I woke up at 7 30 am, and ran to the station to catch my train, to Kolkata. Bye bye South India. Hello Kolkata.

On the train, I share my coach cabin with a computer engineer. He was from Kolkata, but he worked in Chennai. He was visiting his family, back in Kolkatafor a week. We spoke about Kolkata, the city he had grown up in. I read him a passage from my diary that I had noted recently. It was a Guardian Article by Amit Chaudhari about a city, he adored and grew up in. Here are a few sections of the article that I read out to him,

'India changed rapidly, often disturbingly, after 1991; Calcutta remained resistant to globalization and the new world order, cultivating their irrelevance to itself and its own to theirs.'

I went on,

'outside of India it was hardly known except, occasionally, through the luminous cinema of Satyajit Ray and through translations of Tagore, that teetered between the parodic and perplexing.'

Kolkata Darshan

I had a full day Kolkata Darshan trip planned for the day. The west bengal tourism department organized this. I knew it would be hard, for my friend, to take me around to every place in Kolkata, so I decide to go on this trip. Another important learning from this journey was in store for me. When ever you travel, find a way to entertain yourselves. Your host had a life, before you came. All that will not stop, to take you around and entertain you, when you are in the city. Ask for help when needed. Don't be fully dependent. I did some research. The west bengal tourism department organized the full day tour of the city. It was a full day tour with an ambitious schedule. It started at 8 am and ended at 5 30 am. These were the places listed out,

Starts at Kolkata Tourism Center

a) Raj Bhavan

b) Akashvani Bhavan

c) Bidhan Sabha and High Court

d) St Johns Church

e) Writers Building

f) Belur Math

g) Dakshineshwar Kali Temple

h) Raja Ram Mohan Museum

Lunch

i) Town Hall

j) Eden Gardens

k) Princep Ghat

l) St Pauls Cathedral

Ends at Victoria Memorial

Sadhana Forest - Thursday and Friday - Last days at Auroville

It is my fifth day at the Sadhana Forest Auroville. I don't feel too good. I think I miss home a little bit too. I ask him if I can take a break and skip the morning seva. He tells me to take the morning seva off. I spend the morning, at the library. I pick up a book and lay on my back on the floor, drooping off and waking up, from periodic slumbers in between reading a few pages. For the second seva, I volunteer at the Breakfast kitchen.

Feeling Low

I feel really low. I think I should call my parents back home, later in the night. I miss my mother and her cooking. I miss my friends and our afternoon games of cricket. I miss the movies I would go for, with my dad. I miss the pointless walks around my neighborhood, exploring abandoned bungalows and new retail and food outlets. I wish I could just go back in time and freeze time forever. I could be ten years old for life. Those days, when all I had to worry about, was getting a good grade at school and developing a good perception of myself among the adults in my life. If I could do the above, I was a good human being. Even if I was a messed up individual on the inside. I was a good human being, if I got high grades. It was so simple. That was all that was expected of me. I hate growing up. Suddenly, you realize, you can do anything. That is horrible. There is so much to do, that you do not end up doing anything. Aaaaahh.

Sadhana Forest - Wednesday - Living a full day

Days are so much more complete for me at Sadhana Forest in Auroville. I feel like I am able to pull more life out of every moment of the day. You get up early, work in the mornings, relax in the afternoons, converse in the evenings, and sleep early for another day of this cycle. The routine is good. You work for four hours only, but in those four hours, you are completely present. You are not distracted. You have to be involved. A simple activity like cutting fruit, needs to be done with full concentration if you do not want to cut your hand.