"SALAAM KOLKATA!!!"

   I’m a Bengali although not a Kolkatan but my first posting happened to be in “the city of joy” and I’ve always found ‘my people’ a bit iffy…Here are some observations:

Ø  Bongs in Kolkata are the founders of Adda-chokro,Adults spend their time discussing phootball, rabindro sangeet and CPM/Mamatadidi over cups and cups of tea..

Ø  Bengalis for some reason pronounce ‘would’/'wood’ as ‘ood’ (the ‘w’ is silent)…Even the ones who have attended St.Xaviers College, Kolkata

Ø  Bengali babus always eat fish curry-rice before leaving for work…Their work day starts at 11 am and ends promptly at 5 pm with a one hour lunch break in the middle…No wonder nothing gets done in Kolkata

Ø  The typical Bengali man always does the vegetable and fish/chicken/mutton shopping…This job is rarely entrusted to a woman or a servant…It is common to see unbathed men with uncombed hair in crushed pajama-kurtas at vegetable and fish shops haggling with vendors early in the morning…Bengalis haven’t adapted to the fridge very well as yet…They still feel that all food items should to be bought fresh everyday including butter.

Ø   the city of strikes...every other day there is some kind of rally or strikes...and the people have to suffer.

Ø  Bengali women are dominant and Bengali men are wimps…If you don’t believe me, watch Parineeta and Devdas…Devdas, who drank himself to death because his mother forbade him to marry his true love, is idolised by Bengalis…For them, he’s the epitome of a true lover…The same is true of Shekhar  the hero of Parineeta…Although he does marry his love, he doesn’t have the guts to make it public…There are many other stories like these in Bengali literature.   

Ø  Bengalis have a fixation for white foreigners (sada chamra)…Blacks are looked down upon except for Barack Obama. The colonial “HANGOVER” can be still felt and the “ANTEL(pl read in bengali)” bangali is always obsessed with Lennon,Floyd,Bob Dylan,Keats,Shakespear..and so on..the list continues…

Ø  We all know that Bengalis are obsessed with food…What we may not know is that this obsession has reached such a point that nearly half their income is spent on fish, chicken and vegetables…As a result, there’s no money left to paint the facade of their houses which adds to the shabbiness of Kolkata…When asked, many Kolkatans say, “Who cares about aesthetics…Anyway, old shabby houses add to the character of the city”

Ø  And the chops and singhara and various bhaja bhuji as we call it clearly gives you an answer for their frequent visit to CMC VELLORE and APOLLO HOSPITAL CHENNAI. (I was actually  shocked to see menu written in Bengali in shops at “GREAMS ROAD” in CHENNAI where APPOLLO is situated.)

Ø  The Jams and the “ANGRY DAILY-PASSENGERS” are to be literally taken care off…otherwise you will really have a tough time!!

Ø  When Bengalis go out to eat, they will necessarily order a chicken dish…The problem arises when the chicken dish arrives…If all the pieces are not thangs (legs) they start fuming and arguing with the waiter…Why? Their reasoning is: if we order two plates of chicken, we expect 2 legs per plate…They can’t seem to understand that a chicken doesn’t have only legs..

Ø  girls are masters at the art of FLIRTING as it is an in-born asset.

Ø  And obviously who can forget “OLY PUB” OR “COFFEE HOUSE” or “THE LAKE” or a movie at “NANDAN” “CRICKET @ EDEN GARDENS”??  It’s the pride of “THE CITY OF JOY” and one should visit these places  to actually know what it is…

Ø  One thing is pretty hard to find in KOLKATA… “SINGLE”  and “NON SMOKING” girls. Its really a task  to find the rare breed of  females out here. People smoke cigarette like having water.

Ø  And  if I start elaborating Salt Lake Area, then I don’t think people of that part will appreciate it, but still it’s a disgrace to Bengalis,they are mostly old bunch of left alones (mostly old people whose children have left them to work abroad or “ARISTROCATIC BONGS” who have retired) who have now become businessmen and they screw the people coming to work at sector-5 and indirectly make people say that KOLKATA people are cheats..

Ø  And now I should quickly mention the beauty of the “JHOOPS”…don’t think too much, it’s the Jhoopris which is a sort of Dhaba like arrangement for food..I can bet you can’t find food cheaper than this throughout the country…

   
                  The “BANGAL-GHOTI” , “ELISH-CHINGRI”, “EASTBENGAL-MOHUN BAGAN”, “CPM-MAMATA DI” fights will continue but in the end, I must confess, I am in love with this city..TRULLY SOMEONE HAS RIGHTLY TERMED IT AS “THE CITY OF JOY!!”

 "SALAAM KOLKATA!!!!!"

Wings...

Take me back to thy lap,Oh MOTHER EARTH.

Take back thy son and wrap him in thine ample robe..

Let me be one with thy soil, and spread myself..

Far and wide like the joys of spring..

Let me burst open the heart’s narrow cage..

Breakdown hard stone walls of self…

And the dark and cheerless prison of my mind..

To rush forth in a rapture of delight..

And flow out to the far ends of the world..

Surging, billowing, rolling on…

I am a bird… mourning the loss of his wings..

Mother  Earth, thy son is in pain..

Take away thy son’s pain and  give  thy son Wings to Fly!!!

SERENITY...

The sun has set….

The sun has set, Evening appeared with a gem….
The moon accompanied the stars with a smile….
The river shown brightly amidst the darkness.....

The flower blossomed....A scent of flowers spread everywhere...
The birds are in their nest, the cows moo from their shelter..
Something bothers me...I feel restless...I am searching something....

My endless search continues...I dont know where am I standing...I dont know what am I searching..

At this moment, my conscience  said,”Which flowers will you select? What wealth shall you get?”

I kept wondering.. And closed my eyes...

Goddess of sleep came on my tired lap and took me away to a new World.. 

Where the Creatures of land and water, In feet of the Goddess..

Rested in peace under Her shelter….

@24..the question is... “Why am I HERE?”

The 24th year of my life is very important because it represents the starting of my Professional Life. Which is why I will never forget what I was doing during the last night before my TRP retest – I was saying “not tonight dear, I need to finish my JAVA-J2EE syllabus”?

(As it turned out, the JAVA-J2EE test was a bizarre affair and I flunked.)

When the fat lady sings, there will be many people things you might regret doing. And then there are things that will probably not cause you much regret – such as figuring out “WHY am I doing All this??”

What’s unclear in life???

Many things are unclear in life:

1. “Why am I HERE?”

2.  Is it true that Sachin Tendulkar ,Messi  is, in fact, not just God, but the man ?

3. Does Indian law allow you to divorce your spouse for not letting you watch the TV series of your choice ? (Apparently Yes)

4. Did Tiger Woods’ first 7 affairs drive him into having the 8th affair ? (Have one affair, shame on you, have two affairs, shame on me – 8 affairs and you have to feel sorry for the guy!)

5. Will my ex-girlfriend ever regret what she did to me? Besides, she is now enjoying her life with new found friends and it seems that she wouldn’t have mind if I were never there in her life – why else would she be ignoring my past existence in her life and even on her Facebook!)

What’s clear in life??

But if there is one thing clear in life, it is that I AM here. So why not take an experimental (rather than an existential) view of life and ask the far more important question – what do I want to do here?

Lonely,NO MORE...

Here I am out in the dark..I feel so lost...
I am in search of a ray of light...
Throwing my hands here and there doesn't seem to work anymore..
I feel dead but I know that I am not....
Even in a gathering, I feel so alone...
I still wear a smile on my face to disguise the sadness in me...
I feel so betrayed that I keep looking for the reason for  my existence...
And I keep asking myself, time and again, why am I doing all this???
Why do I feel like hurting myself even more..
I have taken a heavenly journey towards silence... 
Suddenly, I hear a whisper in my ears, it was my SILENCE..
SILENCE said,

”The whole world will be yours
I can’t express, how much I LOVE YOU..
Even though the odds are up against you,
I will always be there for you!!!”

MASJID OR MANDIR??? WTF?? DONT WE HV WORK??

As Sundeep Banerjee(Anjan Dutta) told Baji in the movie MADLEE BANGALI……

            “Religion is 'Art'…what people do is politics!!! "

Religion comprises of devotional songs, varied architecture,

 hymns , carols, temples, mosques, qawwali and all the paintings and frescoes. People tend to misinterpret politics as Religion…Politicians use people to satisfy their needs and create unrest in name of Religion…”.people please don’t get fooled  by these cunning people who create situations of unrest and we fight!!!

If the politicians would not have supplied fuel, the Babri Masjid issue would have been averted. Who needs a Mosque or a Temple or even a Church when around 60% of the population of a country, which claims itself to be Leading developing nation, struggles to eat proper food even once in a day. Who has the time to fight over mosques and temples unless they get remuneration out of it??? THERE IS INDEED SOME PERSONAL MOTIVE INVOLVED IN IT!!

It really puzzles me how people who are friends and neighbors for years crossing swords against eachother for such stupid reason. And the government and the opposition parties have no answers.

My question is: Cant we build a water tower in the Babri Maszid site??? Water is an absolute necessity and people will have reasons to accept it because neither BHAGWAN nor ALLAH can deprive anyone of water. Gone are the days of Mandir n Maszid, Wake UP INDIANS!!!!!

Don’t be fools and fight…neither bhagwan nor allah promotes violence!!!! 

JUST REMEMBER WE INDIANS ARE PROMOTERS OF "UNITY IN DIVERSITY!!!" AND THIS IS THE TIME TO PROVE IT!!

----SHOUNAK

COWARD!!

I was on my way to college after vacations, had booked my ticket in three tier ac coach of TATA ALLEPPEE express which was the only train available to Chennai from Jamshedpur. The train was as usual filled with students and the patients who needed to go to CMC Vellore.

I prefer the top bunk as no one disturbs, so I arrange my luggage and then ordered the attendant to get my bedding. The attendant got me a blanket with two bed sheets and I arranged my berth. Then I got down and ordered a cup of tea. It was refreshing and I sipped it in, I suddenly noticed a beautiful young lady, about the same age as mine, staring at me with gleaming eyes. I quickly swayed away as our eyes coincided. She also blushed aside.

I soon realized that she was travelling with her parents and I started talking to my other co-passengers. She was sitting opposite to me and I was kind of getting nervous. She was astonishing and every time I saw her, I found her more and more beautiful. She was wearing a blue churidar which enveloped her soft and tender body. She was as serene as the snow capped Himalayas. But her arrogant eyes coupled with her smile were enough to rejuvenate my soul which was annoyed with the lack luster face of the other passengers who were there in my coupe.

I tried to get a look of her amazing beauty from every nook and corner possible. She also followed the same exercise. Many times and oft our eyes met each other and we swayed away with a blush every time.

Suddenly there broke in me a strong desire to talk to her but it soon disappeared when I found her mom giving me disgusted looks. I felt so heavy inside. But I still had that urge to talk to her, but I had to be contented with just looking at her from the corner of my eyes.

There was a civil war inside me; I was still confused how to talk to her with her parents around. My heart was beating at the rate of nauts and my target seemed light years away.

Then suddenly I heard her speak, what a voice! I thought. It blew me off; it was like music to my ears. There was a certain degree of panache in whatever she did and second by second I was more and more getting blown away by her.  She was perfect. It’s a pity that God has been a miser in producing this breed of women in this world.

I was disgusted, why can’t she travel alone, why was she with her parent, started cursing the heavens. Her eyes urged me to talk to her but I couldn’t. no way I just couldn’t.  In the end I gave up hope and went to my bunk with a swollen face. I kept damning myself the whole night, thought myself to be the biggest loser on planet Earth.

Without my realizing I fell asleep and I had a dream, or shall I say a nightmare, in which I saw myself being beaten up by my co-passengers for trying to talk with her suddenly woke up in terror.

Then I came down my bunk to wash my face and get some fresh air. As I was washing my face, my dream girl, I mean the girl whom I was going nuts came to me and give me a gingery smile and gave me a paper, it was her name and number, I was shocked and she looked at me and said “give me a call some time you COWARD!!”