Glimpses From A Rickshaw

I walked to the main road and caught a rickshaw... the bicyclist said he would take me through the inner roads however, instead of the main roads. I took this alternative mode of transportation cause the three taxis had all the excuses in the world not to drive at 9:00 am 1- car is broken, 2- jaboo na (wont go) 3- washing car.

The inner roads the rickshaw walla took were really gully-gully windy roads... suddenly there was a intersection and clearing, where there was a little vegetable market... right there in the middle of the road, in the middle of the little golf green area behind south city mall. There were people waking up, and showering, drinking their morning chai, and spitting. Honestly it was 9:30 by now and these people were still waking up! What a life!

Doggie was sleeping right at the edge of the road and the rickshaw wallah irritably said "aiy!" yet in a very laid back manner, so typical to Bengalis. Suddenly the a load but squeaky horn sounds behind us, and we give way to a little lorry that passes us, and kicks up immense amount of dhullo (dust). I cough. The rickshaw wallah pedals on.

We pass a man slowly opening his store, the sound of shaankh baajna (conch shell or "shankar dhoni") shokal balai (morning time); there are men sitting and staring into space, minds still foggy, sipping on hot chai in little clay cups... a man at a corner enjoys a biddi while sipping on chai. This was the morning scene.

Once at south city there was a lot of rush, and people trying to catch any mode of transportation (this was near lord's er moor - lord's junction). A crow shat on my head, while I was trying to hail down a cab. My friend texted saying I was now blessed with good luck. Stinky good luck and still no cab.Finally I got a cab, who reluctantly took me where I wanted to go.

On the way back, my friend accompanied me till Golpark (round park, a circle and major junction). Then I got off at South city mall so I could get a book at a store there, since the book I had bought previously off the street vendor, was OK for the most part, but a few important pages were blank! Acquired the book and a few more hindi movies, and I was able to get a rickshaw guy right at the mouth of South City Mall. I told him "please take me to golf green", but he had no idea of where golf green was (how strange). So I said, "behind the TV towers", then he understood. So of we went down Uday Shankar Sarani (which is adjacent to Prince Anwar Shah Road). So this Doordarshan ("seen from afar" tv station) Bangla main station is there. On that road, a guy was washing the car, a two men working on a car, wearing lungi (cloth tied around the bottom areas) and ghamcha (cloth towel) on shoulder, another man was painting his shop, a dog was sitting and patiently awaiting scraps from a street side food stall, a couple was being annoyed by a person trying to sell stuff, another man was lecturing two other guys, probably giving them "gyan" (knowledge/edumacation)... So went the afternoon, so went the little snippets of south cal life from a rickshaw...