Oh! Calcutta!
Posted by yabber on September 29, 2008
The French phrase “O quel cul t’as!” meaning “What an ass you have!” was supposed to be the title of a rather erotic toned painting by Monsieur Clovis Trouille. But he cleverly played on those words and renamed the painting as “Oh! Calcutta! Calcutta!” using the name of my beloved city of Calcutta (now Kolkata). And British theater personality, Kenneth Tynan, used this same name to create his popular theatrical.
Now the phrase “Oh! Calcutta!” has become popularly associated with the city and is used in many magazines, news reports, programmes etc. related to Kolkata as the title. There is also a popular chain of restuarants by the name “Oh! Calcutta!” in some major Indian cities including Kolkata (a must visit, BTW, for people visiting Kolkata. You get amazing Bengali cuisine there; a bit expensive though).
So the phrase “Oh! Calcutta!” would be the answer for the first question of my last quiz. X was the theatrical poster and Y a bird’s eye view of a significant part of Kolkata (you can see the Howrah bridge over the Hooghly, Eden Gardens stadium in the top right and Maidans below).
The two wise men in the second question’s pic are John Calvin, a French theologian and Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher. And they are the very men after whom the main characters of the popular comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes, are named. Which is the answer of question 2.
It’s going to be “Oh! Calcutta!” for me for the next 2 weeks as I go home to celebrate Durga Puja. So this blog is going to see some even quieter times till then. Wishing you all here in India, a very happy Eid and Dusshera. Be good and stay safe. I leave you with a random strip from CnH. Enjoy!
