Interpol Naga Baba

As part of our documentary workshop, we were going on location recces to the northern parts of Calcutta to look at the old buildings and constructions of Calcutta. On the last day we went to the ghats of the Ganga near Shovabazaar. After settling down in the steps of one of the ghats, we noticed a woman who was very colorful and unique, to say the least. This post is about our encounter with her. So who is this woman? She calls herself the Interpol Naga Baba. If you are trying to figure out what it means, then dont. It is not going to make sense. This woman had come in to enjoy some chullu(homemade liquour) and some marijuana with her 70 year old friend. She claimed to be around 64 years old. We sat there and made small talk about life in general. She then went on to give us some advise about life.



What kind of advise? She told us what men should do so that they do not become rapists. Yes, you read that right. A few minutes later she suddenly grabbed my head and ordered me to stare into her eyes since apparently, I could see all the Gods in her eyes. With this, she started chanting a very common mantra. After a while, she butted her head against mine...then took out a turtle shell and hit me with it too. Then she gave us some biscuits to eat. A batchmate of mine made the mistake of calling her aunt(it is common for us Indians to call people aunt/uncle as a mark of respect) instead of Interpol Naga Baba and she got very riled up. She immediately called him out and showed him her, er assets. Needless to say, my friend was taken aback by that move. Once she calmed down she showed me some photos of her ex husband and went on to tell us that she can perform miracles. Her friend, the elderly man went on to sing some hit hindi songs. She even posed for photos when she noticed we had cameras with us. After sitting there for a while we moved on from the ghats. We meet people like her so rarely, but whenever we do , we tend to categorize them as complete madmen or some other category in our minds even before we exchange a single word and then we move on from that place. But we sometimes forget that it takes all kinds to fill up this planet and a new experience goes a long way in showing us just how vibrant and colorful life is, no matter how bizarre it might be.