#thesoullocal

[calcuttacacophony-blog]

Stop for a moment and think, how would it be without any chance of failure. Courtesy @rikrivu #lonelyplanettraveller #photography #calcuttacacophony #thesoullocal #travel #travelphotography #sigma35mmart #canon #tea #photooftheday #nationalgeographic #natgeoyourshot #natgeotravel - #regrann https://www.instagram.com/p/BpXCNL7j-F8/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=117e6l87ab227

[distortedaura-blog]

The Soul Local

“Kolkata is not for everyone.  You want your city clean- go to Delhi.  You want your city impersonal and rich- go to Mumbai.  You want your city high-tech and full of draught beer- Bangalore is your destination. But if you want a city with a soul, Kolkata is the right place for you.”

 ...

The basic sentiment behind the thought lies in the fact that Kolkata, or as some would still have it as Calcutta, is the City with the Soul. It is the place where dreams come alive, where thoughts mingled in Stardust still rains on Pedestrians on their way back home. It is the place where the old and the new exist as one part of the whole.

But this is not another post to chronicle the nostalgic value that Kolkata commands for the city and her people. This is an Ode to the people, and also the Soul. Most of us might still await the Hogwarts Acceptance letter, but in the season of the fall, the Hogwarts Express arrived (well, sort of) in the form of The Soul Local. For a guy struck with the forlorn mist of leaving school and entering new territory, this seemed to be the perfect place to unwind, the perfect place to melt in with the rest of the city and its Cacophony, and as T.R.A.P. belted out the famous John Williams track, wishes did come true as the entire crowd chanted Lumos to light up the St. Paul’s Cathedral grounds.

The Soul Local Chapter 2 was not what I had hoped for, just a few times better.

Confession #101 : Letting go of Lyadh and going up for TSL, and the Queueing up was hard. And then I came to know of the people behind this extravaganza. Not the folks from Musk family or Mars, but students like me, ones who are amazingly enthusiastic and dedicated enough to put up a show at this scale.

Take a bow.

The Soul Local’s seeming lack of Stars and Bigwigs was a potent form of stardom in its own right, for the line-up would have satiated any Music aficionado’s palate. Oh, the jargon and culinary references can not leave the foodie behind, can it? Above all, TSL was an avenue, a platform for the Aspiring artists, the Start-Up wannabes to express their ideas in front of their own friends. It was a place for the ones drifted away to come back and enjoy a fresh whiff of air in their own city, it was a place to rewrite the memory ledgers, the History books.

It was a place where dreams came true, where old friendships were rekindled, and new ones made. It was a place where the City met its Soul, where the old released its long-held breath,

Quite simply, it was just the place to be.

[calcuttacacophony-blog]

LIT AF #TheSoulLocal (at St. Paul's Cathedral, Kolkata)