The Victoria Memorial in central Kolkata

A visit to Victoria Memorial in Kolkata:

Three years ago, sometime in early December, on a chilly afternoon, I and a friend had boarded a metro downtown to one of the oldest and most well-known tourist spots in the 'City of Joy' - The Victoria Memorial in Central Kolkata. It was, but, only my second visit to this marvellous, marble monument since my maiden visit well over a decade ago with my parents, at a time I was perhaps too young to appreciate, even remember what I was beholding then. For my friend, a non-native from the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, it would be his very first time witnessing this sumptuous creation of British architecture from the early 20th century. Naturally, we had thoroughly resolved ourselves to burn the image of it's every piece and corner into our minds, so we may be allowed to relive and re-experience this outing time and over in the future. Necessary indispensably to our ends were cameras - which we were swiftly informed by the signs, to our great dismay, were forbidden inside the monument. Fortunately, though, there was more to Victoria Memorial than the centrepiece; the monument sat at the middle of a stunningly put-together, 57 acre, sprawling garden adorned with sculptures carved from bronze and marble to the likeness of key contemporaries from the early 1900s. Sections of the garden were bordered by a continuous hedge of short shrubs and partitioned to create walking trails of alternating sepia-tinted and rose-tinted tiles. I had heard tales that these gardens were notorious as the choice of rendezvous for many young couples in the city. Indeed it didn't take long to see it through my very own eyes - under the foliage of the bushes and the shade of every tall tree, without exception a couple could be found engaging in couple-like behaviour. I quickly distracted myself turning my head to the sculpture in the distance, but then it occurred to me to check on my friend who I thought had been walking quietly behind me all this while. I darted a glance backwards. He stood at a distance maybe ten meters seemingly-transfixed, eyeballs locked onto the object of his vision - which from my vantage point was a mystery yet-to-be unravelled. I marched in his direction but muffling every footfall assuming the sight of a rare bird - possibly a white-rumped vulture of which there had been occasional reported sightings in the area - was that which had occasioned this stupefaction. As I drew closer my eyes traced along his line of sight until the image from behind the bushes had become sufficiently visible. There was not a scavenger to be found. It was merely another pair of young lovers going about their business this time with more ferocious audacity and flagrancy. Ahem, I cleared my throat, signalling to the watch that loosely hung around my wrist, jolting him back to earth. Not demanding an explanation I asked him to lead the way. For the rest of the afternoon, I'd be haunted by anxieties that my companion probably wished a fair damsel in my place to be accompanying him on this trip. Of course I made sure to keep these worries to myself alone.