Park Street – soniasmusings

Food, friends, and fun – summing up July’22

July usually is an uneventful month in my life with no birthdays or occasions to celebrate. It’s also when my son has his first term assessment, leaving us with little time to enjoy. However, his school preponed the assessment dates by two weeks, and we began the month with exams on the 1st of July. But that meant we ended it within the 15th of July, leaving us with half of the month to have fun.

We experimented with a lot of new cuisines in new cafes and restaurants. While we celebrated his finishing the exams on a high with Chinese food at the Golden Joy in Tangra, my son and I went on a book shopping spree to the Storyteller store, followed by sandwiches at The Wise Owl cafe in Golpark.

Last week, I met Kasturi, one of my closest friends from the writing world for the first time. We had breakfast at the Roastery Coffee House in Gariahat. It became a memorable experience not just became of the ambiance and delectable food but also because of the best company I had.

We ended the month with the best continental food in town at Mocambo, Park Street. While Chicken-Ala-Kyiv satiated our taste buds, Baked Alaska thrilled the kid with its unique presentation.

A lot is happening in the health/fitness of my life. Also, there are quite some exciting updates to share about the completed and writing-in-progress books. But that’s for another day in the upcoming blog posts.

Returning back to normal after 2 long years

After two years, the world is now opening up to life as we knew before the pandemic hit us in 2019. The kid’s school will commence from 21st February. However, it’ll only be for students of class 4 and above. So, we still have three more weeks of online classes and exams to wrap up this session before he gets back to school.

As much as I would get annoyed by my schedule gone choc-a-block due to his online classes and additional academic pressure, the reality of missing him at home hits me hard now. After a couple of weeks or probably a month, he would be back in school while I would deal with an empty house for hours.

Of late, instead of taking him to restaurants or fancy places, we are making trips to parks and playgrounds. The happiness on his face beyond four walls is unmatched. Last weekend and last month, we went to Maidan at Park Street for a mini picnic and games. There’s nothing more refreshing than spending hours with family amidst nature, inhaling fresh air.

Here’s hoping for a brighter, safer, and healthier future for all of us.

The fountain in front of Victoria Memorial

X for X’Mas Season 2018

As we race towards the finishing line of the A2Z challenge now, I thought of touching upon a different topic related to the admission frenzy. I have often spoken about my anxiety and stress related to the process in the initial days, especially when Tuneer faced a problem of the language or before his first interview. While Sr. T seemed unfazed on the surface, I am quite sure that I had successfully managed to pass on a bundle of my worries to him. Tuneer was trying to balance his preschool life while riding on the roller coaster wave of admissions. Just before the winter break arrived, all three of us were physically and mentally exhausted beyond the limit (kind of what most of the A2Z participants feel now).

By the time the holidays started, the kid had already faced two interviews and one rejection. We were sure that the only thing that could lift our spirits up was a family holiday. In the X post of my last year’s A2Z challenge, I had written about the way all of Kolkata comes together to celebrate Christmas in a grand way. X’mas, as the city still prefers to call Christmas is about midnight mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral, eating cake from Nahoum’s, trying out street food delicacies on Park Street and visiting Bow Barracks on December 25th. We have done all of these for the past two years and it wasn’t meant to be any different this time as well. But a desperate need for a mini break landed us at my in-laws’ house in Berhampore this December end.

The much needed break after a strenuous phase of interviews — The much-needed break at Berhampore after a strenuous phase of interviews

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A dollop of Bengal – Xmas

X barely had any other option to write about except the festival that rises beyond religion to be celebrated with zeal and fervour in the city – Xmas or Christmas.

Xmas –

Christmas Parade on Park Street

The shimmering lights, Christmas songs, rock music, delicious food, the decorated trees, gifts, aroma of fruit cake and plum-cake bring life to the city during the Christmas season. What makes this a unique affair is the fact that the festival is not just celebrated by the Christian community here but people from different communities. They offer prayers and sing carols during the midnight mass in the churches. It is an amalgamation of faith, food and fun for everyone.

Few areas of the city that bring life to the celebrations are –

Park Street –

Park Street lighted up during Christmas Eve – Source:Whatsuplife

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A dollop of Bengal – Presidency College/University

P could have been Park Street – the food lovers paradise in the city, Peter Cat – the restaurant redefining Chelo Kabab, Poila Boisakh – Bengali New Year celebrated on 15th April this year, Poush Mela – the annual fair marking the beginning of harvest season specially famous in Bolpur, Pranab Mukherjee – the ex President of India and Prasenjit Chatterjee – the fifty something reigning superstar of Bengali cinema. But I decided to feature one of the premier institutes in the country Presidency College – now University in today’s post.

Presidency College /University –

Presidency University Hindustan Times.jpg — *Presidency College – Pic courtesy : Hindustan Times*

Presidency University formerly called Hindoo College and then Presidency College is a public state university located in College Street, Kolkata. The ‘Hindoo College’, established in 1817 was transformed into the ‘Presidency College of Bengal’ in 1855. On 23 July 2010, the Government of West Bengal published the gazette notification completing all the legal formalities for Presidency to become a full university.

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Restaurant review – Marco Polo, Kolkata

The city of Joy celebrates every festival with equal vigor and enthusiasm. Park Street area in Kolkata is where people flock to celebrate Christmas and New Year. The area beautifully decorated with lights, trees has an ongoing street food festival during this period. With the variety of restaurants available, this can safely be labelled as a food lover’s paradise. Over the Christmas weekend, we decided to brave the crowd of Park Street and head towards one of the best options for fine dining in the city – Marco Polo.