10 Things which let you know you are in West Bengal!

1.Starting from the Netaji Subhas Intenational Airport (which looks like an 80s Soviet airport)…when flight touchdown on runway at 10.20 pm means the shuttle bus will arrive at 10.45 pm…you know you are in West Bengal.

2.When people still carry aristocrat suitcases with military green covering (read Kau-Bho-Reeng)… you know you are in West Bengal.

3.When easily a 100 people are standing in line for a pre paid taxi and no one calls up a Meru or an EasyCab…you know you are in West Bengal.

4.When the only time people are a little active (no offence meant but a lot of rice tends to slow down mere humans) is when they have to catch a local (read Low-Caal) train… you know you are in West Bengal.

5.When phonetics goes for a toss and a ‘shirt’ becomes ‘shaart’, ‘wipro’ becomes ‘bheepro’, ‘santoor’ becomes ‘shontuur’… you know you are in West Bengal.

6.When in a compartment full of people a lady saunters in with a cup of tea in her hand and by her own mistake, brushes against you and spills her cup – Gives the shrillest shriek you’d have ever heard and the entire compartment is ready to take you down, unless you say sorry for something you haven’t done… you know you are in West Bengal. (These people literally FEAR their women!)

7.When you see opulence on one side (Tollygunge, Salt Lake) and abject poverty on the other side (Howrah Station Underpass, Burdwan Station) (And I have seen enough poor people but this is the point where human life ceases to carry the dignity of being human)…sadly… you know you are in West Bengal. (I sincerely want to ask the CPM govt. what it has done in 32 years of its unchecked reign.)

8.When moms interfere in cricket matches , snatching cricket bats and balls when their dear son (read shona-muuni!) gets out and they think that is was wrong… you know you are in West Bengal.

9.When at the slightest wind blowing, people tend to cover their ears and put a muffler around their necks (the same can be seen at beaches)… you know you are in West Bengal.

10.When rice is a staple food atleast once a day and if you take away that, the ‘Bangali Bhoot’ threatens to start a ‘Chakka Jaam’…you know you are in West Bengal.

I’m no one to comment whether a state is good or bad but what I write is purely my personal bias for or against anything. I may not like West Bengal but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad place to stay, perhaps a different kind of place to stay.