It was an ordinary winter day. An ordinary cup of coffee. Ordinary breakfast and a walk along Victoria Memorial. Or so I thought!

I was listening to music, enjoying the slight breeze and the occasional neighs of the horses, when suddenly I stopped in my tracks and looked down at my feet in utter disgust. I had stepped into a pile of horse poop. I limped all the way to a tuft of grass, to scrub it off the sole of my shoe. During all these embarrassing procedures, I noticed that a stranger had stopped and was looking at me in amusement. I turned to tell the person to move on, when my jaw dropped. It was my favorite author of all time! Sudha Murty!  I distinctly remembered her style of writing and the way she clubs the reality of life with fictional stories that contain a moral.  

My face turned beet red. All I wanted to do was dig a hole and crawl into it. But Sudha Murty just laughed! I managed a slight smile too and asked her what she was doing in Kolkata. She said that she had come to see the famous sites such as Victoria Memorial and Howrah Bridge so that she could use them as the settings for her next book. Then suddenly such a great idea popped into my mind that I’m sure Sudha Murty could see a light bulb going on over my head. I offered to take her to the other spots as I could give her a full tour and tantalize her taste buds with the local food. 

She agreed and we went to all the famous places such as Jorasanko, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s house and so on. I made her try the famous Chanachur of Vardan Market, the Puchkas of Kali Bari and the Nolen Gur Sandesh of Bhim Nag. While visiting all these places she shared some personal experiences of hers and it was better than any book. Overall this day had to have been better than any normal day!