I spent my whole afternoon at college street today. Finally went to Dasgupta and co. It's a 138 year old book shop. They still keep books in wooden Almirahs. I sat to read and buy books. Calcutta makes me so happy. The afternoons are slow. So many shops stay closed. People nap. The tram moves slow. There is a book tram too. They still use Bells there. Every city has a character, a shape , a personality. When I walk through the lanes of Delhi. It feels like it wants something from you. Delhi asks what you can do for it? Calcutta is open to conversations. It listens.

Delhi is the man who had been through immense trauma. Deceit, lies, blood, murders and loss. Calcutta is happier. Delhi is very addictive. It has all power. It is like that abusive boyfriend with whom you trauma bond. And boy it's a drug. Calcutta is the gentle husband you raise your kids with.

I love hanging around college street, walking around Presidency college and Hindu School. It's like walking through my class 9th grade's social science book. Bethune college, the church, Social reformation and so on. I saw books on the social reformers of Bengal. Sat at Coffee House. Read a book. Ate a cutlet. Heard people talk. There were so many old people. This city doesn't invisiblise old age. You see old people in public spaces. And so many women. Everywhere. I took the tram, the bus, the auto, the cab. I watched a street magician. I went to Girish Dey and Nakur Nandy's sweet shop. It's more than 150 years old. It must have looked the same all these years. But it tastes like magic. I went to Arsalan to get Biryani.

I love Delhi. Sometimes I trauma bond with it. But Calcutta is like the guy who proposes to you and you fall in love with him just like that.

I like how Calcutta doesn't rush. It talks. It is generally happy. I see so many street art. They mostly paint Tagore or Kishore Kumar and so on. Delhi pushes me to be rich. Calcutta asks me to sit and write. To be an artist.

I like how the dividers have round edges here. It doesn't hurt. Delhi's dividers are sharp and square.

I love this city. Romanticizing it. Thinking about the Nobel laureates, the Miss Universe, the sport persons this state gave. I thought of the freedom fighters who went to Kala Paani. Bengal sent the highest number of freedom fighters there. I thought of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Iswar Chandra Vidhya Sagar. As I keep loitering the old streets of this city I somehow understand why this state produced all of them. Our national anthem is in Bangla.

I look at College Street. It has coffee house. And small shops. I was at Delhi University. Burger King and Pizza Hut has infested it. But that's that. Two different world. I love both.

But Calcutta seems to be winning me over again and again. I went to Vivekananda's museum. It was his home. So serene. I felt deja vu. Like I know this place

As I took my cab home, I saw this big sign that read "Bhalobasar Shohor, Kolkata." It means City of love, Kolkota. I agreed. Smiled as the cab drove by.

If my work has made an impact on you, you can buy me a coffee here. This will help me to keep writing and healing more. Thank you.