Daring the rain, daring the transport problems , once again we set out of our house to see a little more, to soak up a little more , to look up to the sky and say ” drench us”. The Victoria Memorial, we solemnly announced to the driver. The driver repeated… ” Victoria Memorial ? “The question in his voice was evident. One, we did not look like tourists, two a mother and her young adults could have no business in a ‘ lovers paradise ‘, three it was mid noon and rain was lashing the city mercilessly, the three reasons put together I could not completely blame the quizzical tone of our transporter. As the car raced along the By pass road I looked at the skyline dotted with high rise constructions, though not a pleasant sight now, but in the coming years these very buildings will become the landmarks of new Kolkata. The landmarks of Calcutta still stand proud, at least in the eyes of the Calcuttans. As our car came out of the maze of traffic and narrow lanes of ParkCircus I promptly switched my gears from a gazer and became a commentator, ” this is Shakespeare Sarani, this is Kala Mandir, on your right is Hotel Kennilworth,on your left is Aurobindo Bhaban and so on. “My children, locked in this small car had no remote button to switch off my commentary. Though I saw the younger one desperately fidgeting with the ear phone in his hand!

Whenever I drive past these roads of the city the hide and seek of Victoria Memorial, Cathedral, south gate of Fort William, Maidan, never fail to amaze me. I keep staring out trying to capture all of it at once. It must be nostalgia; there is no other explanation of this awe struck feeling I get, each time, every time. Victoria…this majestic white monument has never failed to impress its admirers ever since. Thank you George Curzon and Prince of Wales . The empire has taken away a lot but left behind a few wonders for the romantic, the historian, the lover, the architect, the visitors , and the mere gazers like myself.
Keeping my romanticizing apart I concentrated on taking pictures of white marble wonder over the heads of Bihar/Up tourists thronging all around. I heard an innocent father enquire ” beta yeh kaun sa Mandir haye ?” Mandir hi to haye, ek rani ka, I thought to myself. The inside is well maintained ,but nothing more.My daughter Having just read ” Prothom Alo ” in translation , was identifying much more with facts and personnel recorded within the walls of the memorial.
While the rain kept pouring on the summer parched fields of Kolkata we walked inside the safe confines of Victoria soaking up history of the city we are making our new home.

The date with history was yet not over. My children were ready for the National Museum. By now our driver had given up on us. Not surprisingly he did not know how to reach the museum, but telling him to drive us near New Market ( kolkata’s shoppers oldest destination) helped and Google did the rest. Once again we queued up at the ticket counter and bought our passage into the corridors of history. But it was not history which caught our fancy at first. We found young couples sitting on benches inside the museum lost in each other. Such innovative use of museum premises amused us a lot. What better place to preserve budding love than in the sanctum of preservation. ! But we marched ahead with determination, we had a mission in hand, we wanted to go deeper and deeper into history . Archeology to textiles, mammals to geology, nothing escaped our attention. My children perhaps felt a little tiered by the end of the tour but I was strangely enthused. I was feeling very young after my recent introduction with things aging hundred, two hundred , AC BC, dates. Visiting a museum is a sure shot way to feel like a bachcha nestling comfortably in the laps of Mother Earth.

By now our little team of adventurers felt famished. What better way to end the day than take my children to Flurys’ for a high tea treat. This very old, very favorite, very famous , place is a must visit on the list of every person wanting to become a Calcuttan. We ate and ate till we could eat no more. Three happy people sat back in their car with an exasperated driver and declared…. ” waapas ” . Yes it was time to return home, our home, in our city ,,Kolkata.