chariots of bijoygarh

I am a rickshaw freak. I have almost given up on auto rides to college nowadays. There are many reasons behind my embracing this slightly more expensive way of getting to college. I have quite a few options. A 45seconds walk from my house lands me on the road connecting Baghajatin and Ranikuthi. This road is perpendicular to both the No. 5 and the No. 6 routes.

Now that I think of it, it is particularly difficult to draw a map of Bijoygarh. It has so many lanes connecting itself to Jadavpur, Golfgreen, Pallisri, Ranikuthi, Bikramgarh and Sree Colony, that it is still difficult for me to keep track of all these lanes and bylanes. Even though I hang out here in chayer dokaans. Jai hok. Apart from the perpendicular road, all other roads are very narrow. Well, even the perpendicular road is one third of something that even Howlie would be amazed at, and say "o baba, koto boro raasta" (Read Esplanade). This she said, by the way, and even did an impromptu dance on the very road mentioned.

JU is not very far away from my place. It is a 20 minutes walk, yes. No. 20 minutes only when you have a packet of chips, ice cream and a good buddy to walk with you. Otherwise it takes half an hour. Or maybe more.

Uff. I digress.

The perpendicular road has a lot of autos. Not many LPG ones because beyond Jadavpur, the old autos still reign supreme. The people of Bijoygarh are also slightly skeptical, often even suspicious about these new autos. I can take one of these autos to Baghajatin, which is the epicenter of all chaos of the traffic kind in the city, I believe. From Baghajatin I can take another auto (here the new LPG ones go all the way to Gariahat, while the old ones go till Jadavpur Thana). This will be two auto rides for Rs. 9.50. But there's a catch. I can get the auto to Bengal Lamp only after say, 12 noon, when there are not enough passengers to bully. Otherwise 8B is where you have to get off. Which is a waste of time and money.

Another option is the Bijoygarh - Howrah mini which traces a strange route. It comes from Bijoygarh College to the perpendicular road, gets to Baghajatin and then straight to Howrah. This bus can take me to Gate No. 4 for 4 bucks. Very naaice. But the problem is that they go really really slow till they reach 8B. Why? Because it is like the warm up lap. And they pick up even those who seem to be casually strolling from some random bylane towards the bus. This bus makes you feel like a king. It actually waits for you in the warm up lap. I like it when I am the one for whom the bus is waiting. I like to see the expectant faces staring at me from the window. But I also feel a little pressure when I cross the road. Christ. Everyone is gawking at me, waiting for me to get on the bus. I hate it when I have to wait for Bappa's sister who will go only till Lalka Pukur, or Shopu kaka who fucking stops the bus, walks to the mor, buys a paan, chews it for some time, smiles at the conductor (with whom he is on first name terms), gives money to the paanwala and what not. Grr. Even I know the conductors because if you hang out in Bijoygarh Maath you get to know them. They pay for my tea, I pay for their tea etc. But no, I haven't been able to build up the camaraderie that Shopu Kaka has with them. Sigh.

Another option I have is to walk till Pallisri. But that route means socializing with way too many people. And when I 'm getting late for class it is not a good idea. I take that route when I am coming back home. This is because I have to meet Gidduda, his father (who always gives me a toffee), Mukundo, Hubba, Dudhli, Nantu kaka, Banik, Rajesh and finally Mintuda's mother on the way. Mukundo gives me a khata or a pen (he has a bookshop). Hubba is the Cyber Cafe owning, ex AG dude who always wants to use my phone, Dudhli owns a paan-biri-doodh-bishkoot er dokaan and he always asks me about my mother (whom he refers to as 'Madam'), Nantu kaka is chickenshop owner who tells me if my mother has bought chicken for the day or not. If not, he sends some home, Banik is mudi'r dokaan er maalik who is slightly deaf. But he keeps ice cream for me, so all is fine, Rajesh is my cableman superman who plays the movie I want on Sunday and Mintuda's mother tells me how her son can get me a discount in anything I buy from LG Electronics. Oh. And Gidduda is Gidduda.

So I take the rickshaw. The rickshaw kakas do not ask me where I want to get. If it is around 11:30, they take me straight to Bengal Lamp via the 10 nombor pukur road, which is like a pastoral idyll. I listen to Begum Akhtar and reach college in 8 minutes. There are other advantages of this ride as well. The rickshaw kakas give me change, even if it is 100 taka. That is a BIG plus when you have no change and need to go from point A to point B very fast. This ride is also an environment friendly and pleasant one, with generous doses of mutual understanding. Also, these days, we have some really fancy snazzy red rickshaws in our stand. They look like Ferrari versions of rickshaws, and also have built in FM Radio (which, to the great disappointment of the rickshw kakas, I politely ask to turn off.)

There is much much more I have to say. Maybe I will continue this post. :P