Of bricks, old and new.

Back from a one day trip to Asansol! Yesterday, for the first time in at least three years, I went to visit my old home in Hill View Park :). (Okay, to dispel any confusion, usually whenever I go to Asansol it's to visit relatives who stay at the other end of the city, and I never manage to visit my old neighbourhood.)

The place has changed!! A lot!!! For a little while I was totally confused, there were so many tall new buildings all around, I could barely find our old apartment building. Sad fact I came to realize, our terrace was no longer the vantage point it used to be. You can probably not even see the horizon anymore, the distant fields, the single railway track with the goods trains chug-chugging along, Panchet hill, behind which the sun used to set everyday, the chimney's and flares of IISCo like tiny black candlesticks... Couldn't go check it out myself, didn't recognise any of the names on the row of letterboxes, none of my earlier neighbours seem to have stuck around.

Driving down the all too well known S B Gorai Road, passing by shops and stores, some old (a few of them even older than me maybe) but mostly new, saw my mum's old school, the Kalibari, lots of new highrises and all the old ruts and potholes :-<. Went knocking on a few doors, doorsteps I've had a good hand in wearing out over some ten years. None of my friends were around, out of town working, doing their MBA's or PhD's. I was surprised how many of their parents remembered me breaking something or other at their houses though /:).

To round off my trip I went visiting my old schools. Too bad it was after class hours at both schools, but I dont think I'd have recognised too many people anyway. Not many of my teachers are around any more. But the classrooms, the old burnt brick buildings, the huge playgrounds, they are very much around. And given that they've been around for over a century now, they'll probably be around for some more time.
Current Mood: happy . . . ish
Listening to: Damien Rice - The blower's daughter