“Why, I came across a beautiful transgressor,” he said winking at her. “But there is more to it. Soon after we were alone, as there was a brawl outside, I wanted to lave, but she wanted me to stay as otherwise it amounts to paying for her for nothing. When I told her not to bother, she said it would matter to her if I don’t make it with her and sensing that I didn’t believe her, she told me she rarely gets to sleep with a decent man. Oh, what a lesson in love and life that was for me.”
“Oh, how are these women supposed to fleece of their customers?” she asked.
“Not all of them as it seems,” he said. “If Cal is formidable for its structural grandeur, it’s the women who provide it its splendor. I may say Bengali women are apart with most of them being above average and any connoisseur of the fair sex would second my opinion. Like the statistical line of poverty, if ever an empirical line of beauty is devised, I’m sure you would find very few Bengali women below par. Maybe, it’s the Bengali way of celebrating the charms of their women by centering all their festivities on various goddesses. Where else are Durga Puja, Kali Puja, and Saraswati Puja celebrated with such pomp and pageantry?”
“Oh how lucky,” she said mirthfully, “you weren’t hooked by any!”
“Well, my ardency for the Bengali beauty was dampened by the domineering nature I noticed in many,” he said. “But yet I couldn’t take my eyes off them, especially during the times of Durga Puja. Nights come alive during those thirteen days while life ceases during the daytime. You should only see to believe Cal's infectious atmosphere during those days. It’s as though no one stays at home during those nights. Millions are ever on the move from one puja pandal to the other till the wee hours. Once I got naughty and came out unscathed with the skin of my teeth. With my hand on Gopal’s shoulder, I squeezed the breast of a teenaged beauty as I passed her by but as she cried foul and before the mob could react, I melted in the multitude. Well Gopal wasn’t harmed as the girl didn’t name him and joining me shortly thereafter, he told me I would’ve got lynched then and there but for my presence of mind.”
“So from bottom pinching,” she said naughtily, “you’ve graduated to bosom brushing and commuting by bus would've been handy.”
“But once I tie the knot,” he said heartily, “don’t you think my hands would be tied as well? Well, in Cal, if you don’t want to miss your bus to the office, you should be fighting fit, no matter your gender and age, you won’t board a bus in Cal; you just barge into it that is against all odds. No quarter is asked or given even to the fair sex. They too have to go through the same grind, but once inside, courtesy beckons them at every turn with men offering them seats all over. Oh, what can you make of that?”