Morning Walks in India

Morning Walks in Calcutta

Morning Walks in Calcutta

When I say morning walks in Calcutta, it obviously refers to a period years ago, when Calcutta was not Kolkata . Bengalis even at that time, as of now, used to call it only Kolkata with a diphthong of 'o' befitting their language intonation. Three hundred years of Angrezi has not changed their pronunciation and rightly so. No doubt brown sahibs at that time used to stylishly call it Caalcutta to match their three piece suit and tie and sweating happily inside their dress in that hot and humid climate.

Coming to our main theme of morning walks, I refer to the period of second half of nineteen sixty, when I lived for quite some months in Calcutta. My remarks and observations about morning walks in Madras not Chennai already published relate to a later period ten years or so later. So the memories are more ancient. Many of my young readers may not find it topical but those in their late sixties would have experienced some of the descriptions. At that time I was staying in south Calcutta. I prefer to keep the word Calcutta only, as it keeps the time frame unaltered. South Calcutta was a posh locality and I had the good fortune to know the head of Ramakrishna Mission. So he very kindly gave me a room in their International Scholars house. I do not know what it is called now. It was such a neat and nice place, spic and span, quiet and peaceful. It was a twin sharing room and I had a Malaysian with Tamil origin, as roommate. Through him I came to know quite a large number of Tamils who were living in Kuala Lumpur, fondly called by him as KL. It was not a big room but spacious for a single person and adequate for two. Some foreigners who were attracted by the Ramakrishna Mission and the Hindu philosophy and swamy Vivekananda were living in the building. The breakfast was therefore not very Indian but continental. Many will remember the great impact Swamy Vivekananda created by his speech in the world conference of religions and his exposition of Vedanta and Hinduism to the people of America. Some of the inmates were therefore from United States and were very serious about their beliefs and convictions on Hinduism more than most of our country men who are Hindus.

As breakfast was continental and I being a desi, somehow I did not like it, but managed to eat bread with butter and jam and boiled vegetables. The fare was naturally only vegetarian. I picked up some conversation with those from America. I was pleasantly surprised that they knew more about my religion than me, especially the philosophy part of it. They were not making their faith a rarified one with high philosophical treatise but were more down to earth and practical. Obviously this was due to the teachings of Swamy Vivekananda and his guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and the sadhus of the Mission who were running the joint and also teaching the inmates.

Since it was necessary to keep some fitness, I used to take morning walks in the surrounding area which I think was called Golpark. South Calcutta was neat and not congested at that time. Like Madras it was very humid but with no sea breeze. So, minimal physical exertion of walking in the morning resulted in copious sweating. I used to find some middle aged men and few senior citizens enthusiastically taking walks and more enthusiastically chatting on various matters. The talks were loud enough and mixed with some English and understandable good Bengali and were mainly on general topics. If the dominance of vowel 'o' in words were corrected, I could find that the diction was based more on Sanskrit or good Hindi. Therefore, it was not very difficult to follow the theme and pithy remarks. The men, as everywhere, usually avoided personal and domestic matters in their dialogues. There were few old ladies and understandably their topics gravitated towards their personal lives, the behaviour of their family members mainly on their daughters-in-law and older mothers-in-law. This trend, as readers may agree, is not peculiar to the fair sex of Calcutta but is somewhat of universal application to all climes and people. There is nothing wrong in that because it makes the friendly relationship intimate and personal. Men were keeping their coverage in talks more on general matters and propounding their theories on society and life. Whether Nehru did right things during his rule, general decadence in Indian culture due to foreign influence, lack of understanding of our society norms and culture by younger generation and things like that were the topics of conversation of men, especially by older citizens. Over the years I have found that this attitude and this type of interactive dialogues by men have not changed much. So do the women. And thank goodness for it.

In those times salt lake area was not fully developed and I used to move around in the place. I found most men in typical Bengal style dhoti and kurta or pyjama and kurta and taking walks in clusters. Invariably they were talking spiritedly among themselves covering general and day to day affairs with frequent reference to history, past and current events, culture, politics and other general subjects. No doubt talking while walking usually slows down the pace of walk. They seem to enjoy the interaction with their walking friends. Sometimes some of them went out of breadth and gave a respite for the listeners and afforded them the opportunity to air their views in the cool morning air.

Bengalis are generally very intellectual people and so their conversation, whatever I could make out, was of good standard and caliber. Sun rises early in the east; so it becomes very hot quickly and people including me had to beat a retreat to their place wishing for a good bath in cool water from the tap in the bathroom. They say sweating is good for health. Even genius is stated to be ninety percent perspiration and ten percent intelligence. Possibly this is a prevalent dictum in India, where you perspire even if you keep quite most of the time, especially in coastal areas and south India. It is only a degree of perspiration. Only in winter months in north India you do not have this discomfiture. Even in hill stations, in peak summer months, sun's rays are powerful and biting. Hence if you stand in the sun there, you perspire

Walking in Calcutta was quite interesting. I could watch different types of people making their own assessment and remarks on life and all matters concerning the universe. I should admit that I enjoyed watching people walking there more than my walking per se. The winter months were very good for walking in Calcutta as it was mild winter only. On the whole it was a memorable experience that I cherish and look back with happiness even after fifty years.

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