Never a dull moment

  "Ting ting" "Ting ting ting... Ting ting ting.. Ting ting ting ting ting ting ting... #&@.. Ting ting.." These two styles of ringing the bell by tram driver has different effects. I will come to thst later. Tram routes in Kolkata have dwindled and on the remaining three routes, the frequency is low. No longer can we ride the tram soaking in the view of Victoria Memorial, sprawling Maidan, Race Course and Chowringher- this best route is part of history. Trams no longer ply on Howrah bridge. The remaining routes are Esplanade-Shyam Bazar, Esplanade- Gariahat and Ballygunge-Tollygunge. I traveled on all the three while Geetha missed Ballygunge leg as she and relatives were in process of wearing silk saree for my nephew's marriage - that is how long it takes to drape silk saree. Since Rashbehari Avenue is full of kiosks, I could hop across and buy several bunches of safety pins at short notice. Esplanade- Shyam Bazar trip was on a single a/c coach tram. The bl...

  On the first day of our six day Kolkata sojourn, I was happy to see "NO REFUSAL" sign on the taxi. Four days on , I realised "NO REFUSAL" applied to the customer and not the taxi driver 😢😬😢😬 Local transport is a big pain point for once in  a visitors. Autos ply only point to point with three passengers at the back and the fourth to driver's left on a extended seat. You can take shared auto  from Tollygunge metro to Joka ( just short of IIMC ) but you need to change twice. Yhe autos would not budge a metre from their route. Ola and Uber - minimum four cancellations if you are lucky. Average rate is  Rs 40 plus per km minimum. Yellow taxi guys tell you a "take it or leave it" rate, a few budging a little. Ola / Uber guys would ring and ask where you are headed. If you say you would tell him only after boarding, he would straight away cancel the trip. I found a way out of this. Two / three cancellations on Uber/Ola ( it takes less than ten minutes- ...