That red thing that hangs on my
balcony . .it’s called a “gamcha!”
Gamcha caught my attention in
Amitava Ghosh’s The hungry tide. It also remains in the frame of many of my
favorite movies! There is something that connects me to it in an unknown
strange way. Of all the bombay deyings and Home store stuff I can have at home,
I use a Gamcha! Sometimes I also wonder why? My recent trip to Kolkata will
remain one of my most memorable trips not just because of the mesmerizing Puja
Experience but because of these little things that remain etched in me forever.
One major component of my trip was
Gamcha!
I saw it swaying to the whispering
winds atop the rustic balcony of a few mystic old buildings. It was like it was
trying to whisper the secrets of that household to the winds, which is very
inquisitive. The fights, the love, the struggles and the drama that defines
that home, its culture, fluttering away in a gamcha!
The voluptuous women walk into the
terrace with a gamcha in hand, trying to dry their hair! As they sunbathe
looking at the empty road as if, waiting for their love to come walking. Some wipe
away their tears, their sorrows or the memories of that long lost love!
Gamchas on the cycle rickshaw
pullers neck! Sucking his sweat away and giving him that warmth and caress he
needs! His companion on a hard day’s work!
Gamchas torn and used to hold the
chai container on the road side chai adda! This gamcha, listening to the
simmering political argument as it protects its master’s hands from burning . .
.
Gamchas on the road side shops, as
well as the big shops! Everyone needs them! Class doesn't matter and yes, old
ones go and new ones are always purchased! So the market is always there for a
gamcha!
Gamcha covering all the vessels in
the Durga pendal and a gamcha fan used as an aarti for Puja! The gods also
adore this fabric!
It’s not a piece of cloth! It’s a
cultural statement. It’s a story and a song.
I have brought back with me a bit
of that culture, few stories from the land of Durga and a few moments from that
precious trip that will always flutter in my balcony in the form of a Gamcha!
