Kolkata Report #2


The telephone company that I have subscribed to, sent a chap from their office to my place for address verification. So, this chap calls and asks for directions. Turns out that he is coming from their office which is about 250 metres away. Even so, he wants to know landmarks.
I tell him about the Canara Bank on one corner, a traffic police kiosk opposite it and a well known beauty salon close by.
Oh, he says, it is on the street on the corner of which is the house of a politician.I tell him truthfully that I did not know. Now he gets suspicious. How could I live there and not know about this politician? he asks.
Oh, I answer in return, I know about this pol, and I would rather not know too much about him, based on my rather poor opinion of him. And why would I want to know where he lived?
I make a mental note of the fact that during the last election, there was the only lotus poster outside the supposed residence of the pol, amid the sea of the Trinamul Congress posters. It is still there, but in shreds.
Outside the house, parked almost permanently, is a hearse.
Hmm. I am interrupted in my ruminations by the door bell. The phone company guy has arrived.
In a city where everybody knows everybody, it seems, I did not know of a famous neighbour!

April 29th, 2018