Pappu I know you Pappa

I wanted to post this on my own blog sometime back but didn't since the topic is very inherently Bong by nature and only a Calcuttan will understand who/what I'm talking abt. The topic being - para kakus.

How many of you have interesting para kakus (PKs)? They are always there - discussing everything from the local municipal elections to Sachin's tennis elbow and how "he should concentrate more on cricket and not tennis coz Sania is much better at that" :) I love the way they stop every person walking by and ask them the exact same question - "ki bhalo to"? But lest you think they don't care for you, they add in their own personal touch to the situation as well - "tumi ki porcho jeno? bah, bah, khub bhalo!"

What amazes me most abt all the PKs of my locality is that they all bring out references to my dad. Now I know my dad and I know that he wasn't much of a para person. But that doesn't stop all these kakus from referring to him - "bujhle to (followed by some deep introspection) ... tumi tokhon onek choto. tomar baba aar ami khela dekhtey gechi ... jiggesh koro" OR "seta 1970s er kotha hobey ... tomar babar money thakbey" OR "arre Mukut (my dad) key to amiyi bollam engineering portey ... o to bhabchilo pure science niye porbey". Surprisingly my dad claims complete ignorance to most of these references. Also I have noticed that nobody makes any references to Mom - not in our para, nor in her own childhood para.

All very amusing.