Falling in Love




The splendour of 'falling in love' far exceeds the splendour of 'being in love'.



Falling in love is the short-lived heavenly phase that precedes either love or heart-break.

Being in love is about warmth, goodness, trust and support.

Falling in love is about frequent rushes of sweet chemicals in your heart and mind. Making you feel dizzy with joy. Its when you feel you could die of anticipation. Its when at night, sweet fantasies help you drift to intoxicated sleep. It's when you could stay up all night and still not feel sleepy through the day.

This February I felt that beautiful feeling of falling in love again. Well almost. This time i felt it for a city.

While enjoying breakfast at Flurys, gazing at the magnificent fins in their aquarium and listening to the soft trickle of Bengali all around me, I knew that I was falling in love.

While looking forward to a cabaret at Trincas but settling for a pretty, well endowed woman, in a shimmering golden short dress singing. Yes, just singing. She was accompanied by a saxophonist and a pianist. Listening to the live music I felt like I was falling in love.

While watching the waiter at Peter Cat diligently split our order of Butter chicken 7 ways taking care that we all got a fair share, without making us look or feel small for not ordering for an extra helping, I knew I was falling in love.

While looking for loos at 'Someplace else' in a slightly tipsy state. You had to climb an entire flight of stairs to get to one. I was falling in love.

While having a chaiwala say to us "of which place are you the inhabitants off". Being used to only listening to hindi or bengali from that class of people, we didn't get him the first time. So, he repeated, "where are you from?" thinking that would be easier for us to comprehend. I felt that feeling again.

While he served us some nice tea, he told us how he had picked up English from here and there.

When we told him that the tea was really nice he said, "its your own goodness that has made the tea so nice"

Thats the kind of "depth" even a chaiwala in Kolkata alegedly displays! :)

While crossing the actual hawrah bridge. Something that as a child, I had learnt to create using a piece of string, the ends of which are tied together, strung between my fingers. I knew I was falling in love.

I wished I had visited this city before. But, it turns out that this was not my first visit to Kolkatta afterall. My mother said to me that she had been to Calcutta when she was carrying me.

Now, that's what I call a love story!

Happy Valentines day folks!


PS: Pictures to follow soon

Comments

mathew said…
:-) now i understand "Oh calcutta"!!:-)
phish said…
i had expected nothing less. i only wish i had been there to take you along nostalgia laced pavements. meraj would have loved the old book and record stores, the ones tucked away in crumbling mansions. and you, of course, would have loved everything.

just a little more. can't wait to see you guys. whenever.
H5L5N5 said…
Hello! I'm "the Accidental bookseller." Thank you for your lovely comment on my blog :D
What a nice post you wrote here; there's such a fabulous sentence there: Falling in love is the short-lived heavenly phase that precedes either love or heart-break.
It is so very true.
I haven't felt the sweet insanity of falling in love with someone in a while, though. Still, I fall in love with songs pretty regularly.
Have a fantastic Valentine's day!
Anonymous said…
Charming! I found myself whisked away by your words to that magical place of discover/rediscovery, when a place makes its way into one's heart forever.
ghaza said…
now I am falling in love with this description :) truly, calcutta was fabulous
Brown Weed said…
so beautiful! you have a gift of being able to convey happiness through your words.
just love ghaza's comment!
Suchitra said…
Beautiful Pooja... Kolkata is like tht... I agree with you, every vacation f mine makes me fall in love with it even more with a new discovery each time. Next time you visit that place, don't forget to visit the museaum there, I'm sure you will the Mummy there and lots more.
Chinchu said…
What a beautiful post.
Anonymous said…
:)

lovely, lucid, flowy and so clean. "Hoogly" couldnt have been the inspiration for sure.. :) joking. But, in all sincerity, it takes a woman, to be so articulate about feelings and the way one has been touched. Just bare feelings. We men are too conscious to admit our innermost thoughts. Always try to mess it up in a web of words. Isnt it??

And yes, if you wish, this could just be the beginning of a new relationship.

~Salaam memsab
Pooja Nair said…
Mathew,

Yes you know it now..:)

Phish,

I thought of you escpecially when we went to free school street

H5L5N5,

thank you! So happy to stumble upon your blog...nothing can beat that sweet insanity of falling in love wiht a person...sigh! :)

ilegirl,
thanks! i am glad you liked this...

ghaza,

it sure was!

Mr. bojangles,

You are no less btw. you toh break into poetry and all! :D

Chinchu,

thank you!!!

Shamik,

I didn't look at the hoogly river from too close..:p Its all thanks to you btw that i got to enjoy Kolkatta!
Anonymous said…
yes, i fell in love with calcutta when i visited it too in 2006... i love everything Calcuttan to this day :)

i still wish i cud walk down the howrah bridge every day for the rest of my life...!!
meraj said…
what beautiful ways you have described 'falling in love'. i was there too, but i wouldnt have ever managed to write such stuff...feel like reading it again and again.
Namas said…
beautiful post pooja..never knew that u liked Kolkata so much!!frankly speaking i dont like it much..think i have to visit the city again to see it from your eyes.the eyes of a romantic..
Latha said…
Pooja, i think I just fell in love with your way of expressing. Beautiful, kiddo. I too had spent a week in Kolkotta as a newly wed in Jan 1970 and had actually had fallen in love with that city. I still get a rush of nostalgia when i come across any mention about that marical
place.

Pooja, I have not spent any time with you to really know you, but the little time and these little things enough to say you are so so special. Love you. Say hi to Meraj.
Lathamami
Pooja Nair said…
Anjana,

You seem more romantic than even i am!!! :)

Meraj,

thanks. you know the movies that i am inspired from..;)

Saman,

I think i was pre-disposed to love that city - heard so much about it from friends...enjoyed bengali movies and the sound of the language. I always enjoyed bengali cuisine and sweets!!!

The attitude of the people always plays a big role in my falling for any city.

My Indian neighbour in Sri Lanka dislikes Calcutta too - she says it is very dirty... :)

So tastes vary and critria for liking a city varies... :)
Pooja Nair said…
Suchi,

looks like i missed to reply to you earlier..thank you so much for your coment and yes i shall remember to go to the museum theatre. you are right, i am sure i will enjoy it too..

Latha mami,

thank you for those beautiful words..I too have enjoyed the litle time i have spent wiht you...
Gauri Gharpure said…
i didn't quite like the city at first.. now i have fallen in love.. did the waiters give you a bright red rose at moulin rouge? i look fwd to it when i leave, but sometimes they get out of stock and smile ever so sweetly to make up for it..
Pooja Nair said…
Gauri,

Oh yes!!! How could i forget the red rose they gave us in the end!!! Lovely! :)
Rohan said…
I live in Calcutta, and while I don't like the city much, I don't hate it rabidly either.
Leaving aside the Calcutta references, I feel that being in love itself is heavenly. Just to know that you're in love, and are being loved gives you a greater high than any drug can.
Pooja Nair said…
Orange cat,

You have got it spot on! The main point here really is that 'falling in love' is delicious... :)
Anonymous said…
Hey Pooja,

That lovely!
Like i said, makes me all nostalgic!
You obviously r a true blue romantic!nice!
mala
Pooja Nair said…
hi mala!!!

Sigh i wish i wasn't this romantic. You become silly and keep wishing for a fairy tale...its horrible! heh!

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