Column | Window Seat

Window Seat

Mrinal Chatterjee 

Winter in Jaipur

I live in Dhenkanal, Central Odisha, where we look forward to winter. Winter here is mild and it brings with it loads of fresh vegetables in the local market and flowers in our gardens. 

Now that I was required to go to Jaipur, Rajasthan and live there for four days, the thought of braving harsh North Indian winter unnerved me. News on television giving us scary figures of bone chilling winter and visuals of people herded around fire unnerved me further. 

So I took layers of heavy woollens, which might ward off cold in Siberia. And I landed at Jaipur airport at midnight, fearing the worst.

But, I found the cold quite agreeable. 

In life, things we fear the worst, at times do not turn out to be that scary. 

Narcissism

There are people who like to hear their own voices. I have seen and heard such people in umpteen number of meetings and conferences. There is a word in English- narcissism, which refers to loving oneself.

But this is slightly different. Here people necessarily do not love themselves. They probably love to hear their voices. Probably they suffer from some kind of insecurity. Or probably they want to project themselves as knowledgeable person.

Every time a person like this pops up in a meeting/ conference , I shut myself to my little private world of musing. But I keep my eyes open so that he/she thinks I am listening.

Perils of staying in posh hotels

Staying in posh hotels has  its own problems, as I am facing now. The bathroom has so many switches and bottoms and knobs and levers that it almost resembles the cockpit of an aircraft. Every morning taking a bath is an ordeal.And I do not know why they do not provide a balti and a mug. There are so many tubes and bottles with liquid and semiliquid substances, that I am thoroughly confused what to do with what.

On the bed there are six pillows. I use one and do not what to do with the rest five. 

In the mini bar there are bottles of beer- with intimidating price tags. It takes the will of a Buddha or the soul of a Shylok to resist oneself.

And then there are dozens of switches in the room, whose function I do not know. 

The lift does not work for you unless you have the key to touch a particular pad. 

Thrice I have locked my self out of my own room.

The ordeal will continue for two more days, before I return to my known territory.

Getting Photographed 

Went to Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur this evening with Prof Neeraj Khattr, who teaches journalism in a local university.

 Indian armed forces have put up a series of permanent tableau with light and sound and av devices. Impeccably maintained ( OK, probably little more light and detailed signage we're needed) with clean environment, it is a good hangout zone. And there are no vendors or roadside thelas. We found young girls, accompanied by their mothers seriously practising badminton. We asked one such girl to click our photograph. She completely messed it up. Lesson learnt: don't ask a girl, who is hurrying home to take your photograph. Take a selfie instead.

Mrinal Chatterjee, a journalist turned media academician presently heads the Eastern India campus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, located at Dhenkanal, Odisha. He can be contacted at mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

Published in Sikkim Express, 22 Jan. 2017