Well, Calcutta got relief from an unusually warm winter only a few days ago. We woke up at 6 am as light crept through the windows of a clear and crisp morning.A holiday means traffic-free roads and strain-and-hassle free driving!
Ruby and I got ready to spend the day out. No morning-walk .We had a quick break-fast, took out our cameras and rolled out of our garage. Later I checked and found that we drove 81 km till the evening.
First we to the Race Course of Calcutta to capture a view of the sky-line , as vi wed through the early morning haze.We found the horse-trainers are leaving the ground after the trots and other exercises.....to capture the same, we would have to come earlier.While I struggled to capture a view of the outline of Victoria Memorial Hall which was on the eastern horizon, Ruby captured some interesting shots of horses and their riders. ( I have borrowed one shot from hers). As we left the ground , we came across two interesting subjects for photography : a herd of goats and several tea-vendors with their ware of kettle/oven combo and plastic cups .
Hordes of goats going past the gate of Race Course.
Tea-vendor outside the western gate of Race Course
Rest of the day was spent among 4 families.This meant a lot of driving from west to north-east to south-east and back to west of Calcutta..We had lunch at one of Ruby's aunt's place (Rajpur) which is 25 km from where we live. Their house has a balcony opening to a large pond and a foot-ball ground .Sitting in this balcony,we enjoyed frightful quantities of sweets after a sumptuous traditional Bengali lunch while watching hordes of locals braving the December chill as they took dip in the bathing 'ghat' of this pond in a sunny afternoon .
A traditional Bengali lunch. Fried rice,'dal'(gram),fried 'Bhetki' fish,curries of 'paneer'(home-made cheese) and egg.
Sweets....... loads of calories !!
Bathers defy December chill!
There is a famous temple of 'Goddess Kali' in this locality where a large crowd gathered in the afternoon to offer their prayer. The Goddess rides a lion , which is a departure from the traditional imagery of 'Kali'. Those who were selling photographs of the Goddess were of no help in offering an explanation. We offered our prayer and Ruby took several photos before we left for Calcutta .
'Bipattarini Kali' at Rajpur.
We drove back to Calcutta while the sun bade us good-bye.
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