Paradise Pier
Serendipity that’s how I found ‘Paradise Pier’.
The Second Hooghly Bridge runs in from the city and takes a sharp left over Princep Ghat, and then rises into suspension over the river. There is an unfinished ramp adjacent to the bridge, it was the proposed site, but technical reasons eventually pushed the site two hundred meters away. So all that’s left now, is a ramp of a bridge that never was, a pier extending into the river. It’s a wonderful place to be, it’s a mind space.
The bridge runs along its edge into the horizon, the pillions of colored light securing a gently curved suspension. The design born in a quaint quarter of Paris, under the circumspect gaze of a French engineer. Now a reality for another great city, my city Calcutta.
Paradise Pier takes one to the edge of the city, without actually taking one away.
The wide river rolls on silently. The infamous caliginous ‘Calcutta Smog’ hangs over the horizon. Blurbs of light from the opposite bank, diffuses into the night. River vessels float on in torpid motion.
The place means a lot to many different people, each describes it with their own private adjectives. But for me it’s Paradise Pier, a place where I have spent a few evenings with friends, and many nights alone in sleepless dreams.
It’s me on Paradise Pier.
The only survivor of the nightlife,
The moonlight shimmering on the river,
Songs with no videos, running in my head,
Life playing out God’s holy Pantomime.
Its’s me with the Night to my self,
It’s me on Paradise Pier.
It’s you with my mind space all to yourself,
It’s me on Paradise Pier.
Labels: Fiction
