New Smells, New Sights, New Angles of the Sun

Today I shall write about one of my very favorite persons, Subhadra Sengupta. Prolific writer, colleague and a friend’s aunt, by that relation she is now mashi to me as well. (Mashi means aunt in Bangla.) The real reasons behind my admiring her are not so much her professional achievements (although the number of interesting and exciting projects she keeps taking up are mind-boggling) but because of the wonderful person she is.

Yesterday I got a mail from her after she read my blog post on Chandigarh. I am doing a copy-paste of the mail here, because the words in it, and the underlying message are so beautiful that I want to share it with all of you.

“Y'know why you loooove C'garh so much?
Its the buzz of being on your own and doing your thing. And the best buzz comes from traveling, landing in a strange place, new smells, new sights, new angles of the sun.
So travel and then write about it. You can do it! And pick new places not the usual Goa.
Places change you, the people you meet change you. And such fabulous memories.

I once had a chat with a sadhu on a Kashi ghat. Every day as I marched down the steps he would greet me with a happy "good morning madam!" but he wouldn't tell me how he knew such excellent idiomatic English. Said when you become a sadhu you first sit at your own funeral and so he does not have a past life. I still wonder.

Then I watched him make a row of chillums. He sold them to the backpackers and went off to buy vegetables. Even sadhus have to eat na?"

To new smells, new sights, and new angles of the sun!
Amen.