Today. In Kolkata. As it happened

This is a description of one day in the life of a 34 year old working male in Kolkata in 2022. History fascinates me. Stories of another time excites my imagination.?

Today will be another time; only a few years from now.

I woke up around 9 in the morning. Ma is sitting in the verandah. The house-maid Sumitra has prepared breakfast. I looked into whatsapp. The Durga puja preparation in our neighborhood is in full swing. The whatsapp group confirmed that Kaluda will do the lights for ?50000 this year. Last night about twenty neighbors gathered in the Puja Mondop to discuss these particulars. At least one of the issues is settled.

In business-whatsapp, my little work-team has put more information. Our late night team serving North Americans and Europeans have several updates. I made a few comments here and there, took a shower, munched through breakfast and jumped into my hatchback.

The car is low in petrol. It prompted a stoppage at a petrol pump near Ganesh Talkies. A mid-aged woman was serving the customers. “?2000 worth of petrol please.” She asked me to look at the ‘zero’; its a way to assure the drivers that they are not being conned. My friends guess that the corruption happens at the meter. There is no way to confirm.?

?2000 buys about 18 litres of petrol or 300 kilometers in my hatchback. It lasts about a week in this city for me.

I drove to my wife’s place. She is working on her doctoral thesis on paraconsistent logic. Sometimes I get involved in the conversation. We briefly discussed Hegel. The German philosopher’s work on dialectics and contradiction is quite intense. After pausing for a brief moment with my father-in-law, I started driving toward the southern part of the city. Before I left, the old man remarked, ‘how is your headache today?’ Indeed I should get my eyes checked.

Around 12:30 PM I reached Drifter. It is a cafe near Lake Market. Black coffee plus ice cream with brownie is my staple. I usually pause here for an hour or two to work on research, or my hobby-youtube channel.

A middle aged energetic man runs this place. We often chit chat about various things. In Bengal this is known as ‘adda’. Other visitors of the cafe also chip in ideas.?

Today however was mostly work. I carefully calculated TDS (tax deducted at source), consulted with our company’s tax-person and navigated through data. The business shows its true colors during careful accounting. I have learnt to like this process. It is so detail oriented and that makes it wonderful.

India’s GST rate (sales tax) is at 18% (for the services that we sell). Income tax is at 30% above ?10 Lakh annual income. There are a number of ways to save tax. One must be careful or lose money.

I usually work on research in the first part of the day. Today I did not do that. Recently I have been working on a hobby-youtube channel. With the help of my neighbor-friend Anil, we are creating interview videos with interesting individuals. Yesterday we recorded an interview of a veteran science worker who led the experimental science education movement in India in 80s. Before leaving the cafe I responded to a few suggestions from the viewers. I have noticed that this activity is interesting for my taste. I get to go to places, meet new people and create new things. Next week we are probably going to Bankura for another shoot with an extraordinary primary school teacher.

Around 2 PM I reached office. It is at stone’s throw from Drifter cafe. Immediately the admin, Sweta Mitra, brought me up-to speed with the most urgent matters at hand. Mashi (Kanan Karmakar) is about 60 years old. She runs the office canteen and feeds us with food, caffiene at regular interval.?

Rest of the afternoon was spent in a few meetings. We are working on some book-plans, a couple of collaborations and some overseas expansions. Thanks to Razorpay Capital, we are able to launch an affordable payment structure for our students and customers of other products. I worked on a new marketing plan with Simran, Sweta and Rupkatha, reviewed some academic documents with our faculty Raghunath and sat through a couple of more cups of coffee. I should reduce the caffeine intake.

At 7 PM the work at office concluded. I started driving toward North Kolkata again. Calcutta Coffee house is one of the sweet spots for me at this hour. Food, caffiene and familiar faces are some of the attractions. It is located in an area filled with book stores.??As I parked the car near University Institute Hall, and walked toward Coffee House, the noisy streets of the evening interrupted my chain of thoughts. Its people… people everywhere.?

All of a sudden, my phone started buzzing. Ma is asking ‘when are you coming back?’, wife is frowning, ‘did you go to the eye -doctor?’, neighbors are contemplating , ‘what play will be staged this year?’

Today. In 2022.