I am back to Delhi after a six month rural project. I have fallen in love with rural India and wouldn’t mind going back again. I got so used to working at my own pace that now I am having trouble adjusting myself to the 10 to 6 routine. Back in West Bengal I would typically sleep late, really late even if I had a field visit early in the morning. I had a room to myself and I was secure in the knowledge that I can sleep whenever and as long as I wanted to. But in Delhi I have to share a room and hence adjust with my roommate.
The best part of having an assignment near home is that you can visit anytime you want to. And I did. A lot. Without compromising my work. I would typically take a 9 o clock express train and be in Kolkata by 12 noon. I had met so many friends in the past six months. Some of them after like years just because I was near home. It was a good experience both professionally and personally. Most importantly I got to participate in take back the night movement. It is co-hosted by my cousin and her college junior. The concept of the movement is that women, queer and transgender people have a right to feel safe in their own cities at any time of the day or night. So we would gather on the last Saturday of every month in a place deemed ‘unsafe’ at an unsafe hour (10 pm to 1 am) and talk about gender based discrimination and how each of us can contribute towards changing the collective mentality of the society about women, trans* and queer people, sex crimes and establish an equal society. We would come up with ideas about how to engage more people and permeate the mainstream. Curious passer byes would often join us and put forward their views. It was liberating to be a part of a cause I believed and supported wholeheartedly. Post December 16, Facebook was flooded with angry messages by people who condemned the bus gang rape. It really annoyed me because I personally knew some of these people would do nothing towards building a safe city. They would never participate in pro-peace or pro-equality marches. Their contribution ended with rants on social media.
It was an exhilarating feeling to be present late at night in a place I have been repeatedly told to stay away from. To feel and hear the silent night punctuated with the sound of occasional car or taxi. Thanks to a group of people who would gather who made this experience possible. Wouldn’t it be just awesome to see and feel the same thing without the security of ‘people’? Wouldn’t it be just awesome if a woman can take a walk late at night on the streets to blow off some steam after a long day? This is what we were working towards. I know it is not easy and certainly won’t happen soon but we can all try and contribute towards the building of a society which is generally considered as ‘feminist utopia’.
Take back the night is the thing I miss most about Kolkata besides close friends and family. When the train was chugging out of the station I felt depressed and close tears. A few years ago, I couldn’t wait to leave Kolkata. I was born and brought up in that city. I felt stagnated as it had nothing new to offer. I wanted to move to a new city and live and see and experience. Now that I have done all that and grown as a person, I want to go back home because I have began seeing it in a completely different light. All my close friends who were working in other cities have shifted base to Kolkata which makes me want to go back more. I love my job. I just can’t go back. This homesickness has made me question my travel aspirations. I have always wanted to travel to alien countries and live there among strangers. France, Brazil, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, Japan are a few places in my list. I am just a two hour flight away from home. But if I travel to foreign lands returning won’t be so easy. What if I am overpowered by homesickness? This thought has been bothering me for quite some time. I can’t wait to go back to Kolkata and eat Thai food at my favorite Thai restaurant. There are things about Delhi I would miss but I miss Kolkata more. I am a Bengali at heart.
Morrigan's... 