Streets Mart

Nun The Wiser

Park Street, the main thoroughfare in Calcutta, is no longer Park Street. It is now Mother Teresa Sarani, and a statue of the nun who is synonymous with the city's poorest citizens looks over all those who traverse the length and breadth of the street. Today I walked down memory lane, past my old university, St Xavier's College, then past the police station and all the shopfronts that I remember so well from my childhood. It is a strange experience, being a tourist in the city that nurtured me. The old post office now has a new exterior and a new corporate identity - now it is identified by the large sign above the entrance that proclaims ``India Post''. That is not the only change. Flury's, the famous confectioner that gets a mention in my novel, `Vegemite Vindaloo', has been given a makeover and now looks more like a European cafe, while the landmark white boxes with blue lettering have been replaced by pink boxes with silver lettering. Of course, I also had to call in to the Oxford Book Depot, a place that magnetised me as a child. It was fitting that this time I went back to buy a copy of my own novel. Life, it seems, has come full circle.