Kolkata’s red-bricked house on 33 Parasar Road, symbolises hope, resilience, and human dreams, urging determination to shape identities and fight for aspirations, observes Anindita – exclusively for Different Truths.

Kolkata has been named the ‘City of Joy,’ but the city and its people have witnessed both happy moments and sorrows throughout the historical period and are experiencing these in the present time.  Yet, this city is symbolic since it can bloom myriad emotions and connections in the hearts of millions.

Sitting at Abar Baithak – the coffee shop in the Lake Market area, I have often wondered how humans can make their dreams come true. One such evening, when the breeze was stronger and there was a possibility of rain, I decided to sit outside in the garden on one of those white tables and chairs and look at the trees around the cafe. A thought came to mind: This red house must have been someone’s home, and that person must have had family and dreams.

Without a hope to exist or to create something, humans can’t keep anything for long, and when most of the old houses in Kolkata are abandoned either under the burden of legal games or because trees have grown in them since the residents left long ago for a foreign land; this red-bricked house has been standing strongly and beautifully on 33 Parasar Road.

Not only is the house alive, but it also holds the coffee shop in such an elegant way that people would love to visit again and again. The house must have been someone’s dream, and the coffee shop is also someone’s hope.  Now they exist together in the same space, providing comfort, aroma, coffee, food, and a place to be with self, family, and friends for strangers who may neither know the history of the red house, nor the arduous work of the owner of the coffee shop.

But that is the beauty of human dreams.  They come true, yet at times they remain hidden, silently growing and blooming to connect with the other dreams weaved in this universe. I believe that all dreams must come true, but we have to be resilient like the newborn babies in this world.

We must hold on, no matter what…

We must believe in our own dreams…

We must survive the difficulties…

We must break the notions that stop us…

To make dreams come true, a constant fight with the self is significant because, if we focus on human lives, we can witness that most of the time it is ‘human procrastination’, which is the culprit behind making dreams disappear behind the shadows of doubt. Our duty is to keep dreaming and constantly work to make our dreams come true. Nothing in this world can stop us from achieving our goals; rather, the universe waits to guide us in the direction that would clear the paths towards that end line.

Let us become like the mountains and shape our thoughts and desires into reality.  We are all born to be warriors, creators, visionaries, kind souls, and lovers, and each one of us is given the power to build our identity on this Earth.

Picture from internet of Abar Baithak Coffee Shop

Anindita Bose

Anindita Bose was born in Calcutta. She has three widely acclaimed poetry books and one short story collection. An independent scriptwriter, subtitles-writer, and translator of several Bengali books and poems, she is an academician and is the co-founder of Rhythm-Divine-Poets, editor of EKL-Review, and program manager of Chair Poetry Evenings, Kolkata’s International Poetry Festival. She mentors people in Study Abroad Programs. She was invited and felicitated by Bangla Akademi at Kobita Utsav, in 2023.

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