Balais notes

 There's a lovely little coffee shop on the City map nowadays. Pit Stop Cafe on Rajdanga Main Road, in the lane just after Gateway Hotel if one's driving westward from Ruby More,. Excellent Latin Coffee (Brazilian, Colombian, Costa Rican, Nicaraguan, Guatemalan) plus Ethiopian, Tanzanian, Sumatran.and Papua New Guinean coffee  vying for your custom! A quiet place  ideally suited for one to reflect or read or just dream on ! On a major sporting event day just hang around for a giant screen telecast ! The co-owner Saptarshi (Ghosh) is a wonderful host. Pit Stop Cafe has become Sipra and mine regular Saturday afternoon haunt. Loving it !

 Several years ago the CM of WB suggested as an employment alternative resorting to making Alur Chop and Telebhaja. Obviously the suggestion was subject to a lot of ridicule and general mirth! Some months later the PM of the Country propagated a similar idea by asking  Ipeople to make Pakodas, this time attracting less criticism perhaps because the staunch Hindutwavadis believed it as a Gospel Truth! The Results are clearly seen in the deplorable condition of the Country’s overall economy. I suffered a debilitating illness four years ago forcing me to be bedridden all this time. I had no way of finding out what was happening actually on the ground. I woke up to a proliferation of Guesthouses across the city. Most of them of good quality and service.In one of my favorite South Kolkata localities — Golpark-Hindustan Park area, I counted as many as six such Guesthouses, all quite established and pretty high in demand. Recently I availed of the services of one such Guesthouse ( in...