A tram ride in the city of Joy!

Weekend goals

It was a saturday. The sky was overcast with a slight drizzle. As usual, the only day to do all other ‘works’ other than office work. It was overloaded that day with usual domestic chores plus an irritating job which was to submit KYC documents to the LPG agency.

But wait, before that the documents need to be photocopied too. That itself is another big task if you forget to get it done in office the previous day. After having the most cherished meal of the week, i decided to take the plunge.

The wife also joined me (surprisingly! :p ). We chose to travel by public transport, since the thought of not getting a parking space anywhere close to the gas agency  stopped me from taking out the car.

Finally, we got the thing done in about five minutes. That moment we both realized that we overestimate the level of irritation for these type of work. It was done in a jiffy.

While returning, she took me to her childhood library called the ‘Eloor lending library.’ I was particularly excited about the comic book collections there. It was a 5 min walk from our gas agency. To our utter disappointment, the library was closed about six months ago. We both became sad and blamed internet and smartphones for it inspite of being avid users of the same.

I could feel the sadness in my wife’s face since visiting this library was one of her most memorable events during childhood. We often talked about it and she wanted to take me to the library where she had a lifetime membership.

Meeting the tram

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Disappointed as we were, we started walking back to the bus stop. Here, we saw a vintage tram just getting out of its depot with a few passengers on board. The tram service is a heritage for  Kolkata city and recently fully air-conditioned trams have been introduced in certain parts of Kolkata for a boost in tourism and also to retain the heritage.

I have never been on a tram before, so it was my chance to tick the ‘to-do’ list. My wish for a tram ride was about to be fulfilled. We enquired about the route and since it was going our way, we hopped in.

The ambience inside the tram quickly took me into the ’90s when city bus interiors in my home town were having similar design.

The ticket collector-an aged person, clad in khaki uniform wearing broad spectacles came and I gave him a hundred rupee note. He politely said that he does not have a change. Little did I know that i was also out of ‘chillar’. It was a difficult scenario where i was unable to pay the fare and it was my first ride in a tram.

I was feeling bad. I asked him to give me whatever  change he had and give the rest amount to someone needy. He refused and told me that he could not accept any extra money as fare since it was outside his protocol.I was amazed at his honesty and principle. 

Eventually, he got the change from two kids and finally i could pay the fare. It was indeed a tram ride in the city of joy filled with mixed feeling of both sadness and excitement.

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