“Isn’t it a mirror image of unrequited lovers?” she said reminiscently. “Either way that is.”
“Well, nothing symbolizes Cal better than Kalighat I suppose” he continued with his account of the place. “I haven’t seen a more chaotic place than the Kali temple there that's too small for the furious goddess, with that protruding tongue. Then the ritual of animal sacrifice, before the deity itself, in the precincts of the temple, and bless the goddess, how the leeches of the priests bleed the jostling crowds to the dreg what with heir knack to spot the gullible first-timers bordering on sorcery. By the time you’re through with your perambulations, you find your wallet lighter for the assorted blessings you’ve had from them, at every corner of Her majestic pedestal. When you come out in the end, you would tend to think but for Her divine hand, the edifice of faith would’ve long crumbled at Her shrine itself.”
“Won’t all that give it a torrid look?”
“Well, try worshipping the sedate Kali in Her serene posture at Dakshineswar,” he said, “and you may find you’re far off from the devotional fervor that accounts for the religious faith. I felt if Kalighat is Cal, Belur Mutt across the Hooghly is some other world. That’s not all, thanks to the red light area nearby; devotion and debauchery go hand in hand at Kalighat. Why can’t I be frank with you? I used to go to a joint at the Free School Street for a fling or two, well nothing free about it though, but the schooling was not bad there. I never ventured into Sonagachi, for I heard it was a crowded bazaar but once I felt like trying it out at a Kalighat brothel.”
“Don’t I know,” she said winking at him, “what all you learnt in that Free School Street?”
“Mind you, it’s still it’s a learning curve,” he said in smile, “and as I entered the zone that evening, I found it was all lit up. There were girls all over, decked up in the traditional attire. Though I sauntered up and down, as none came to solicit, I approached the best looking one, only to learn that being Karthika Purnima it was a day of abstinence for them. As bachelors form the bulk of their clientele, seems it was their custom to appease Karthik, the Bachelor God, without any indulgence that day. What an ingenious way to appease the demigod to further their trade.”
“Oh, what to say of customs,” she said in smile, “was it a wild goose chase then?”