Calcutta’s been a lot of fun this time ~ probably the most fun ever and i think i figured this city out to be a lot more eventful than i had imagined it earlier…. guess dad was right afterall !

Such a wierd place though – so different and so cheap. I can see why many look forward to making all the money in life and then settling down here later. Living in three different cities in the past two months kinda makes you think of these things in a way… i mean lets ponder on the contrast between living in a tiny room in melbourne, having to take public transport and worry about meals every day to the lavish apartment, chauffered driven cars and servants (thanks to whom i need not even get up for a glass of water)….. brings me to the realization why Calcutta has as such a laid back feel to it.

Met up with Rhea and shared a moment of awe and childish giggle whilst glancing through the snaps of yesteryears. One particular picture stood out that i thought was particularly cute… and had to post it on the blog. Thats an adorable one year old Rhea on my first brithday… I have no idea what we are staring at, but i could get imaginative and make a few guesses…

Thats my mum looking young and pretty on my birthday….

Had a great night out at the sheesha bar — quite drunk.. yet memorable.

On the big day of the wedding, we the family went all out and adorned ourselves in the most exquisite indian clothing we could lay our hands on… that called for a sure photo right there..

Sis and Shireen on the morning of the wedding..

Couldn’t get pictures of the wedding, cuz i found it hard to manage my ’sherwani’ (i.e traditional indian dress with exquisite embroidery and a shawl) and a camera at the same time, but did manage to get a few snaps the day after when we visited the bride’s house to take all the gifts to the groom’s house.

Found myself drooling over the countless gulabjamuns being prepared as a part of the festivity at the grooms house… i thought what it would be like if Kirrily was with me at the time…. so kizzie i know you will enjoy drooling over these pics too… haha

Today was the first day of cousin Chupa’s wedding that marked the beginning of a four day celebration of a bengali marriage – which i have been told is full of fun and frolic (a little more than the average wedding celebration) On enquiry, i learnt that the reason for the gathering was the celebration of the last meal that the bride would have at her parents house before she is seen off. Surprisngly, the groom too follows the same rituals at his own place.

Sisters Tultuli, Shireen and Mishtu pose for a photograph in their exquisite indian attire….

..while the cook is busy conjuring his culinary magic to satisfy the impatient tastebuds of his hungry guests.

Met cousins Shireen and Meenakshi for the first time today at Tivoli Court. A very lovable and jovial duo – i thought. Sis and me got sucked into playing a board game called LIFE with them. Quite enjoyable – i believe i made it through life with no kids, but an earning of a million dollars… thats not too bad? or is it?

Mom and Sis spent the evening preparing themselves for the wedding celebrations that lay ahead by adorning their hands with ‘mehndi’ while i ran around the house assisting them by opening doors, holding the phone to their ear, scratching the itch on their forehead. etc – so much for an eventful evening, huh ?

Flew out from Dubai Airport yesterday on Royal Brunei Airlines and were quite surprised to know that it was actually on schedule – which was quite unusual for an airlines that had gained a reputation for being delayed in the past month.

During our wait for boarding, I treated myself to a refreshing glass of freshly squeezed orange juice that cost me an outrageous 15Dhs(approx 6$ AUD) ~ forgot i was at an airport.

Arrived at the city of Kolkatta at 11:45pm and was greeted by a pleasent moist smell of an indian monsoon night. The streets were deserted and dark and it wasn’t until we reached the city that the poverty of the city became more real and painful. Homeless bodies lay huddled and scattered along the sidewalk of Gariahat (a very busy part of the city, known famously for shopping, sweets and other indian delicacies) in a manner that did not seem unusual to a person living in this city.

Went out shopping the today for clothes to wear to the wedding. Mom and Sis hopped, skipped and jumped from one store to another bargaining and contemplating purchases while i indulged myself in capturing the essence of the exquisite colors that indian fabric and jewellery is notoriously well known for.

On the cab, Dad and Mom enthusiastically shared their favourite nostalgic moments with us – the university gate in front of which mom and dad met for their first date, the haunted house that dad lived in when he was a kid, his nanny’s house, the hospital that mom was admitted to when she was twelve, etc.

Kolkatta is truly a unique city where chaos is celebrated as normality. A normality that is way beyond comprehension – a normality that i hope to understand a little more by the end of this trip.

I’ve been staying pretty much indoors for the past one week, trying to get the online web album up and running. I’ve also attempted to stay away from the roads i used to previously drive on or the restaurants i used to eat out at, just to prolong the denial phase of leaving Melbourne a little more – pretty extreme, but thats how it is….

Stepped out the other day to run a few errands in the city and found this wanker’s limo in the parking lot – covered up and dusty and taking up half the space… what do you tell these people?

Met up with the girls from the office and on the way back passed by the Burj Al Arab – all dusty, yet grande!

Had an awesome reunion with my highschool mates, some of whom hadn’t seen in 6 years. It was grrrrreat! Most of them back from Toronto, London, Texas and now working here – made me feel better about my return to Dubai.

Been doing some reading and research on time lapses and panoramas lately to see how i can tie the two together – so far i have come across a few interesting escher-like images that play with the gradual transition of a form when read horizontally or vertically. So in a sense the transition occurs in a frame by frame approach in the same image that if laid out in a panoramic form would just extend that middle period of transition. Will expand on this point later as soon as i scan the images to upload.

Gorgeous Lamborghini pulled up next to me today at the red light and zoomed off on the green quicker than my camera snapped. Simply had to post these two pics;

Flying off to India tommorow for a month – looking forward to taking lots and lots and lots of photographs…click click click…..