Tenacious Toots, aka The Return
No no! I am not gone
Or been depressed and passed away
I've been aliven' and thrivin'
And very busy for many a day
Right. So where were we? Toots has become a lazy bum. Or at least keyboard lazy. She has been doing many things, but not been blogging about them. Terrible Toots. She deserves to be soundly scolded. And now that you have subjected her to your censorious glare and stare and Fred Astaire, she considers herself appropriately reproved, and cracks a lame joke in contrition.
I went to the bookfair the weekend before the last. It was quite like the Maidan fair, except for the fact that we were so unfamiliar with the geography of the place that it took us a long time to get around and locate familiar stalls, and we managed—much to my horror—since we were pressed for time, to not locate the food pavilion at all! DisP Boy and I spent a lot of time at the Worldview store, and I picked up a couple of books from there—Darin Strauss' The Real McCoy and Roddy Doyle's Rory and Ita, both in fairly good condition, and for a hundred bucks each. Had cotton candy and walked about a whole lot and looked longingly at many many books, and sighed about being citizens of Broke. And we also sat behind the stalls, and had cake and chips and cigarettes.
Now for the journey back home. We got out through one of the gates beyond the Hyatt, that is, the far end of the fair from the Beleghata bus stop. And then we waited and waited and waited for buses, but got none. I don't mean that there weren't any buses, but it's just that they were impossible to climb onto and into. The crowds were simply insane! I don't think I'd be exaggerating too much if I say that there were people hanging even from the footboard. Even the Whiteliners were full, and them two moronic buses simply whizzed past us without even acknowledging our presence. Hmph. So we trudged along in weary frustration until we'd walked a good half kilometre, and had reached Chingrighata. All along the way, mind you, not a single bus with a human-sized vacuum, and not a single share car thingy. By the time we reached Chingrighata, we were ravenous, and just had to get food. And since there were no buses anyway, we decided to grab spring rolls and chicken wings from Arambagh. While the food was being heated, however, I noticed a white Garia-New Town bus emerge insidiously out of nowhere, and wonder of wonders, it seemed like that there would be place to stand inside it!
So we ran, made a mad scramble for the bus, plates of food in hand. And we clambered on, adding to the human pile inside, and while clinging on to the handholds for dear life and being squished unto asphyxiation, we proceeded to munch our way through our food, ignoring all shocked, disapproving and gluttonous glances. And of course I was too short to reach the railing thingy, and Dis-P Boy had to hold on to my bag so that I could eat without falling off. And of course we were carrying backpacks and therefore occupying twice as much space as we otherwise we would have and therefore were doubly glared at. And of course Dis-P Boy dropped a chicken bone on the head of a woman seated in front of us.
After our elaborate and lordly meal, we stuck the chicken bones in our pockets and finally got off the bus at Ruby. Then we managed to get a completely empty bus upto Gariahat, and then absolutely tired and exhausted, and reduced to despair, took a taxi back home.
It was not a journey that I am likely to forget anytime soon. :)
