After many nights

today is one of those nights, when I sitting without much work, have pushed away , dodged some, and dribble through most of the work,

 

Finished something early in the day , Took a bus ride to Ruby Hospital, Came to Gariahat, Tried some by lanes of Ekdalia, Someone told, me that take the left from the Sarkar house,

 

Why is it called the Sarkar house, well, PC Sarkar ,the famous magician, stays there,

A beloved mayajaal presenter of all times.

Merlin award winner ,for a number of times, known dear to many kings and heads of states, the house stands almost,entowering that alley,

I forgot to make a note of it,

 

well, from Gariahat, I always thought that Gol Park was far off, today I took a walk, and soon, saw, Bawarchim Banccharam, out there, and I realized that they always close by and I was the one confused about it,

e

There is some thing called the Das Cabin , right next to the Gariahat more, I was expecting, some thing like the Purbani of the 80s, my mother always shopped in Gariahat and took us for a plate of Afghani out there,

 

Sicne this is the penultimate day in Kolkata today, I wanted to feel the city, and here is something new that I can write about, this Das corner, I sat there for some time, asked for tea.  I waited for some one who comes here regularly to come and order, Slowly, one guy entered rushing, he order for three moghlais, and went away, just the kind of guy I was expecting , these are the people who come here regularly and know what to order,

 

I partook a part of the moghlai and realized how come in this age of modernization, a structure like Das Cabin ( like the Dutta Cabin outside Howrah station ) does not get run down by a Mainland China,

here for 20 Rs you still get bliss,

 

Out there in Hyderabad and Bangalore, the cities are just starting to sprawl, people don’t have a choice, they charge you 50 % more on everything, thus if you can stay in Kolkata for 30K a month, make that 45 K straight off, plus your rent, that you pay extra

 

Well, there were n number of buses and autos, all shouting, 8b 8b,

I found one 1 A, a bus direct from the garage, going to the shed, was plying without passengers, Asked whether it will go to Jadavpur. It was a dark one, and they did not want passengers, as it might be a problem with the route buses,  thus without fare and without stops, and with free seats everywhere, I came all the way till 8B,

 

The famed college gates, through which , hundreds of silicon valley stars, management gurus, have walked , and even the shark that bites, me almost every day , once studied,

 

Once more, almost like a nostalgic memory of the last 20 years, of my life, time and again, these gates, remind, of the Chemical Engineer seat that I left in Jadavpur.

Whatever happens, happens for the best , is my policy, may be this distance from the institution is something that keeps me attracted to it,

 

Kolkata, is a city of joy, immense excitement, people here are different, have the creativity to make life look like something with purpose, the intellect to feel more at home , and understanding the city , is a task  impossible for me, more so in a bunch of words, and that too from my vocabulary is wrong endeavor .

 

Well, day after tomorrow, I have the train to Hyderabad, the tatkal three tier AC, only way to get a ticket, in todays, world, in a country with population that shows every where,

amount of three tier ac compartments per train is a fallacy,

 

Truth is we don’t have a AC seat when we want it,  and even money cannot buy it, for flights, money can buy you something, but with trains and people like us, it is an affair, that simply does not work out

 

 

Oct 30 2009

Last three hours, inhuman tiring conditions, unwelcome surroundings, and shark infested mails

 

there were mobile calls, mails, and smss, all threatening, menancingly close to metaphor the looming danger of a hanging sword,

supported by a flimsy thread

 

that’s office life,

 

A good friend of mine is now new to office, today is the casuals day for her, I hope, things will be good to her, and not as tiring, painstakingly difficult as mine

 

Still, these are the days I want to spend learning,.

 

There are times when I dwell, whether going to school back will help, may be as a vacation, actually, everything will look like a vacation past this. Will sail through

 

 

Anyways, school will not be an good option , bcoz you will learning and you will have to pay up for it, that too to the ailing American, where the Statue of Liberty is having a cough,

cold and minor flu,

 

I am sure it is high time to stop studying and learning as much as possible in the real world, still as time flies, I am not able to concentrate on the present,

 

Quick quote of the day

some of the tag line in gtalk, and other places like orkut are worth capturing back

 

“One cannot expect rewards and recognition even though he deserves it, that is life”

 

Another fellow friend of my mine had put in his ideal match “ A nymphomaniac”

Ban jeeooh

Today is a day which I can happily commemorate to Ban,

He has got hold of some channel or some internet site, where he can watch Indian news channels,

 

He knows about the shit that goes inside, and the mega , truck load of crap that comes out,

 

he understands, what is the purpose of news, but he cannot find any in the news that comes,

 

Funny, he recalls , the passengers of the abducted Rajdhani express, where stranded for 5 hours and the journalists in Delhi station, stranded them for hours,

 

people even say , that prasaashan is not taking jimmebaari , but, naxals did, well, same goes for the abducted policeman, Atindranath Dutta, he was taken for ransom

for 48 hours, with good food, and no  harassment, but CBI seems to have butchered him with questions later J

 

Still, the funny thing that comes with this , “Breaking news” , everything is breaking everything else,

 

I remember , having read it somewhere that, NASA was so running out of good results, that the public money expenditure getting involved in the NASA is now questioned by many average American, Ban tells me , that , they will put it up in the news, even as much as a scientist out there farts from gas.

 

Rocket science at basics, though

 

Anyways, Ban plans to start his own venture, a news channel , a magazine at least, where reporters will start with  “ There were too many reporters in the crowd and I could not manage to get one question directly to the CM, all I overheard was this and that”

 

His team will be qualified but honest  and his channel will repeatedly say “Sorry we don’t have footage, sorry to show to stolen images, our reporters are not out there, but we are not trying push more public there, either, so please, lets stay here and show you the best of what the other news channels are producing “

Ban goes on

today morning, I saw a ping from Ban

obvisouly in Korea, they wake up before us, but somehow Ban keeps me company till late in the night,

he was watching the match till late into their dinner and then slept for some hours and then pinged me

 

He was talking about his office and colleagues, out there,

 

Some one from Britain, over enthusiastic about proper usage of English, reprimanded him in terms no more soothing than

what our school sisters, did. He does not like the use of basically,

 

and most Indians will start all their convs, with

 

“Basically, the jist ( summary )  of the matter  ….

“ Basically, my car was not starting

“Basically, you can look into the problem this way…

 

it seems, this guys, one Mr , Leopold, or something like that, was horrified, when some one took his hint, and started using

 

Fundamentally …

Fundamentally, my car was stuck …

Now that became, pretty common around the office and there was one fine morning when one of the senior guys , started using it

in even shorter form, “ funtally “

 

that’s when the lid blew off, and there were certain changes made to the system

 

It seems, Ban took my usage of “thingy” so dear, that now he forgets to use the word thing , even in his status

 

So his status message usually reads

 

“I worked on the AMD thingy ….”

Ban again

Ban started a typical Ban conv again

I was chatting with him a few minutes ago,

Gtalk allows you go invisible, well Ban put his status as invisible,and then he was asking me , that all of a sudden all his friends were pinging him

when he was invisible,

 

well the geniouses are crazy people, and all creative, intellectual, talented people know that.

Ban is neither of the above, Being from the Chatto, Bhatto, Mukho clan ( as I have already told you  ) , he is fairly simple,

 

knid at heart, but talks a lot, another sign of  a good man. But the problem is stay with him while he is chatting sometimes takes

patience,and any tough wife will fail to teach him anything, that is my expectation and prediction

 

Ban, read about the current political fiasco of Bengal,the Gorkhaland thingy is not yet over, Roshan Giri and Bimal Gurung are gathering forces out there, while, the south of Bengal is courting hardships, beyond control, there is absolutely no trace of democratic rule in the so called Jangal Mahal,

 

Here , Ban, finds so many realities, that had he been in the country, would have raised his voice against, I don’t know why the hell he is stuck in Korea, and that too

in some border lying area near to their unfriendly North Korea.

 

Ban, read about the story of Atindranath Dutta, and was laughing, when an OC of a Thana , can be asking for more security, there is absolute no law and order

 

there is no jurisdiction, no execution and god forbid, but I doubt that the constitution is a word that is unheard of there,

Crucial victory for India

Another match ,

some where round the corner, you will find some one ecstatic,

 

no fireworks.

I remember the chilly mornings , the twilight times and the late evening when I returned from tuitions, long back ,

 

Agartala, though I will not return back there, in a long time, but those days, of chill in the air, my first love affair,

then going for tuitions, questions of success and failure did not bother me then, since I was doing well in a small town

called Agartala

 

Simple people still walk those grounds, simplicity everywhere, and I don’t know, it is a feeling reflected else where, but

two days back on my way back from Howrah, I took lift in a friends, taxi, All the way till City Center,

 

He is from Agartala, he was telling about his friend who has completed his studies somewhere in England and now all the

days and years lost, he does not want to lose any more days outside our favorite town

 

My father who is starting his business there in Agartala, even now believes that if there is a heaven on earth, it is there

where you have your best memories,

 

If you are not making better memories else where, atleast , stay close to the porosh pathor,

 

The Alchemist is a story that by far is the most romantic story I have ever written, romance of life, the nasha,

the addiction , that takes you away from home,

you are seeking that what you have already got, you are seeking what was meant for you

 

I am reading another story nowadays, in parallel, Namesake , and I now firmly believe that if there is a plan out there,

it is always to take you home

 

I know of some friends, who have for ever been on the move, they had a shifting job, transfers here and there,

but transfer to where, to places where there were quarters, similar , like minded people, culture was common

same kind of holidays, and vacations,

 

But now I am tired , when I see this new brew of work and job and culture, it is spoiling all that I have got as heritage

 

it is something that I cannot live with, for long, Yes these are those back breaking years, these 20 – 30 , so I am giving it knowingly,

but this is not a sustainable model

 

And I will have to seek a  place in society that suits, me , where I have time for a little freedom, a little freedom to express the lot

that is inside me

Today , was an average day, I worked on some good old issues, fixed some bugs , and nothing much to remember by

 

the back pain is revisiting me, don’t know, what can be done about it!!!

Finally the net works

I remember a long time back , we used to read these amongst the jokes

“Microsoft works”

 

 I also remember, taking a foto of the Windows hang notification in  NewYork Subway, I think it was the one where you change to take the park .

 

Now finally my net works and I feel ecstatic to start work

 

the whole day , my body gave up, I did not , I could not and I hoped not , to  work

 

prayers were answered, there was no net, but that means no other activity too, Read some more of Pagla Dashu, Dashrathi from Sukumar Samagra and then went to sleep with the earphone plugged to my ears, so that if there is a official call on the softphone, I can pick it up

 

I am planning to take a Bluetooth solely to be on the phone anywhere in the house,

 

Now I will get back to work,

 

go to sleep my fellow disciplined buddies, for me the night is young, and I am the old man that will ravish it.

Oct 27 2009

the day is towards the end, I have spent most of it, trying to get some decent speed from the net connection

 

Tata Photon thingy, was working pretty well for me for the last two months, but this is now a pain that I had to lose a whole working day.

 

Today it was a dramatic, day, The chief minister of Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, made a verbal gaffe a few days back when he said that the two cops who were abducted by the Maoists about 90 days back, were dead, this was not officially confirmed, Unoffical sources ( which means some agitated media personnel ,who want to be in the good books of the producers) found out that Chhatradhar Mahato had commented from his cell in jail that no they had not been abducted, and that they don’t know what happened to them

 

In todays west Bengal, where deadbodies show up in ponds, and road side ditches almost every day tracing a dead body is becoming a humongous task, scenes that remind you for some time, that you might be as well in a Taliban infected place

 

Mamata Bannerjee in an attempt to voice all her protest, found a seat outside Chidu s official mansion in Delhi, with the relatives and wives of the two cops who got abducted . They were taken all the way to Delhi by Partha Chatterjee yesterday. Well, she was voicing  her protest against the chief ministers gaffe, that how come he forgets something that leads to two lives in the state, two working personnel of the indina police force, ( she forgets that, in India, we are all dispensable), one goes, there are ten more to swap a place in,

same goes for accidents, daoits, terrorist attacks, and now Maoists,

they don’t care, there are victims lying everywhere, first of all knowingly or unknowingly , we are all victims of the current state of politics, of the current muscle men, win it all mentality,  we all are victims, praying to stop ourselves from being bigger victims,

 

at around 3:19 , live in her conference, she gets the news that somewhere in Banstala a station more from Jhargram for up train, Rajdhani , Delhi – Bhubaneswar, the Maoists, had attacked the Rajdhani , and abducted the driver

 

CNN IBN got a nice chance to put one more twitter on its red top, “Maoists vs Marxists”, situation gets worsened, some media personnel get some footage from a,b,c,d sources,

there were pics of the driver shot, in his belly, the driver of the jeep carrying more people in,

there were confusing reports as to how the whole thing happened, whether they took over the signals, or there was some barricade, the driver later confirmed that about 400 pro maoist people came down on the tracks, they stopped the train, damaged the front engines and later on , demanded for Chhatradhar Mahato s release,

actually, all they were sending to the center and the thinktanks, was the signal that they are amongst us, and it is not possible to work a solution unless there is a genuine interest shown in the development of the Santal areas,

 

The PCAP , the committee to fight police atrocities, does not seem to be having enough strength to pull out such a big attack, it now looks like that the fire that has started will take a lot of time

we should not forget, that these people were one of the first freedom fighters, against the Neel kar sahebs, with bows and arrows they had fought the british, so the agitation could be dangerous.

 

All I know is that I could have en route to Hdyerabad on a train today and had something like this happened to me, I could have used this tata photon conenctino and blogged all that I saw , live from there….

Oct 27 2009 2:07 AM

 Jagadhatri Pujo , 2009

I cannot believe  it, that I have a job and I am able to witness, Durga, Lakshmi ,Kali and Jagadhatri Pujo, all in one go

 

Though, the job at hand is to finish office work, pending and upcoming. I am more relaxed than I should be,

 

Our very own Adyanath Saha Palli, has a S& IB office, now shining more than ever, celebrating its own Jagadhatri Pujo ,

 

Although one does not need to go Chandan Nagore nowadays to see it for your own and people are already tired of doing it again and again

some have the patience and the enthusiasm to actually visit the pandals of Chandan Nagar.

 

Star Ananda, Tara News, 24 ghanta,

n number of channels do bring home all the fun .

 

I am starting work for the day, our colony , or rather this galli is decorated for the past one month, it is already the next nabami , past the Durga Pujo, I have overstayed

by a month and a half . I will be starting home this weekend , going back to Hdyerabad and hopefully next week by this time run short of time to blog,

will be engrossed in work, pressure and life

 

Chasing a bug

Chasing a bug, with sleepy eyes

does not figure out, after many tries

 

Some where in this alley I think a cat is crying,

the watchman whistling, the poor old discarded man dying,

 

Late in the night, in despair, in front of this latop I stare

in the emptiness , the silence, the end of the Kolkata affair

 

A limping career , and a upcoming life,

obviously, there will be EMIs, a car, a flat and a wife

 

Fruitful, may be , my tonights night out,

an every day regulation and nothing to clout

 

All the work, the buggy  eyes,

no matter what I do , how many tries

 

 

Oct 26 th 11:30 in the night

Another day over,

yet another day

today was a tiring one , I was typing here in this desk 24 hours back and I was tired then and the same feeling still persists

 

Slept all evening today. Actually had to skip work and go to the Howrah today at around 2 in the afternoon

 

If the train is at 4 pm, we usually leave home at around 1PM and if your luck is good, you will end up in Howrah in 20 minutes, which I was not willing since, I would have to buy the platform tickets twice

 

and since they have a single line for all local reservations, general tickets and platform, I had to stand in a queue watching Mamata Bannerjees posters all around, till I could reach the window

 

and as you know , or might have seen or experienced, as soon as you are near a counter and are going to deliver your request across the counter,the phone rings,

today was not an exception, an important call at that,

 

The coach was S13, which I was sure that will be on that end of the Howrah, where you can start smelling Hind Motors,

but luck was with us and it was right after the two AC coaches

 

The tickets were booked online and as usual ,since you are blindly booking, you will invariably get a seat near to the bathrooms, and that too the bathrooms in the Indian trains

 

I remember having taken a bath in one of them when I was young, the trains to north india, were clean ( imagine ) in those days, and today you can only have a stomach churning when you feel like going in one,

 

 

But the only good thing is that all people in the first bay (1-8) were through  online booking and a decent crowd was in .

 

After seeing off the train a good distance , we went to the Food Plaza there, we usually sat around the big clock in the old building of Howrah years back , but now adays, this food plaza is a rocking destination for giving meeting points,

we took to anar juices and one of this things from the monginis there call chicken internet.

I usually board a taxi that goes under the bridge, right on the outermost lane outside Howrah, today , we walked all the up to the bridge and took one taxi ,

 

 

The strand road still stands out to be a welcome distraction to my thought process, I see a lot of Marwaris, and Biharis, and think about Haldirams, the Mittals, the Birla, all of them started from these roads of Burra Bazar, especially  the lota kambal story for the first generation Mittals, the Mittals who got their daughter married in a style that European gentry could sign of  as fairy tales,

all started here in these Strand road,

 

Well, we crossed it, the Ganesh talkies, took the Vivekananda Road, crossed Kankurgachi, cross By pass, made a short cut from Laboni and then enter City Center,

 

 

Near to the laketown foot bridge, the salt lake side,a coffee place has opened up,

so you may get to hear some music, an occasional guitar session and at times, some local bands , just practicing out there,

 

It is a small hangout , with chairs and tables well into the road, but the usual Salt Lake aura stays with you,

 

I finally came back home, one the way , fetching some boiler eggs,and Anchor classic, my mothers must have thing in the house,

 

Slept for a while and now back to work, 11:42 in the night, hopefully will be able to pinpoint the bug in the code, soon,

this bug has been pretty annoying and I don’t feel like working on it

 

Oct 26 morning 2009

starting work back after a long weekend .

I seems to have started this new work culture around,that is the crux of a normal employees life, but I was not accustomed to it,

weekends , no work, weekdays, fulltu work ,

this was a policy that I did not follow for a long time, but now I think I am consolidating,

 

The process of becoming a software engineer is a new philosophy all together, we guys work hard, may be as every one says, that is mounting

day by day , and the industry doing bad, I may be up for the bad times, but all I can say is that, since bigger things such as the industry , world economy,

international business, nothing being in my hands,

all I can do is contribute to my own growth, contribute to my own strengths, only by being a normal me,

 

The odd hours at work and the odd times that I put does do me greater harm in the long run and I run out of steam soon

 

This philosophy , some get it quite early in life and some late

 

I can visualize some of my seniors, who still work like a they are worshipping  a boxed idol , and some work like without direction, and some are very methodical ,

all of them succeed, since all put their hard work and the industry is churning out , virtual wonders year after year

but essentially we are losing a number of good years in the process,

 

 

we all plan to retire by 45, why ? bcoz we know that we will be wasted by the time we hit 60 and it is better to retire by 45 and enjoy the last 15 years of our lives,

 

I don’t know, whether it applies to all, but most , for I can say , and see that in my close circles,

October 26 2009

Today too, we had a long tour round the city ,

we bagan with some things to do, some stuff pending, in Dumdum Park, the VIP entrance is not ok and the old bumpy road  has been replaced with concrete slabs for the bus stand there and the autos too take it as a shelter sometimes. There was a bamboo gate hoisted for some political agenda I cannot remember now.

But overall the time when I came to Dumdum park for the first time in February 2008 and now, there is a lot to tell in terms of difference that the common eye can see.

 

I stood outside the Kali Mandir there, and waited for my friends to finish work, she is a bit of a  hopeless religious human , and hopelessly romantic too, someone to expect that god will make up for the fights she does, anyways, I was least bothered to think anything else but about the tranquility around the Kali Mandir, there is a huge school to the south of it and a pond ( one of the three main ones in Dumdum park ) , the locality though a little under noticed, but has the potential to be the next big thing in the north of Kolkata

 

I could find many houses, built in the same taste like people in some parts of Salt Lake do, some cottage shaped and some typical row house equivalents,

The flat and apartment culture had entered long time back but the Kestopur khaal being nearby, one can spot all kinds of people around, I could feel the Chhat puja in the air,

 

Though even in our Adyanath Palli, I could see that some of the Biharis had put the loud speakers to the full on some Bhojpuri song, right next to the Shitala Sweets shop here.

 

My friend had some more religious pious, extra pious stuff to do in Tegharia and as you know that the city is to well connected and every possible route to a place is possible from another, we came to Tegharia . There were shops line outside the Lok nath Baba Temple, and we stopped for sometea. I was thinking whether this small road in the front can take me all the way to Naraynpur, one of the heartlands of Rajarhat,

 

I asked some one, and he said yes. There was a line outside the main garbha griha in the typical Mandir sense, I had been there earlier, but today I could get a glimpse of the way it functions, it was founded by some one call Haridas and Radharani way back and it has continued well in to the 21^st century with modern facilities like A/c , Sound systems, token  ordering, and everything in   a manner atypical of the temples in India.

 

Next we went to the Haldirams in Kaikhali , opposite to the BP Podder institute of management, had two paper dosas, one raj kachori and puchka with dahi ,

all the items were up to the mark and I think Kolkata wins your heart when it comes to the shopkeepers attitude to do business the way it should be done . May be the truth is that people here have been stuck here for a long time, they know the shopkeepers, there are always, people who will come to resuce you if a shopkeeper cheats you,

there will voices, there will protests, the smallest , micro revolution and things will happen.

 

Our nukkad in Adyanath Saha Palii, though an unknown one will have to two guards in the night, who sometimes fight amongst themselves, sometimes joke,

once I found one of them crying on the shoulder of the other.

There is a S& IB office here, they are a security office and provide security systems all around the city in MNCs, in banks, the head office being here

 

After Haldirams, we went to Big Bazaar, ( there are actually four of them adjacent to each other, Vishal, Mega mart, bazaar Kolkata and Bazar Kolkata, ) we need to get a big poltyhin bag actually and that was a intention , and we bought once again, another top, or was  it a churidar,

I don’t even remember,

but one thing for sure, I now know what ever it takes I will never be able to decide what to buy for a girl,

they are out right choosy and something that you don’t know, or cannot observe, catches her fancy and you are a mere mortal for not noticing it.

 

Anyways, we then came all the way to Laketown mela, had dinner in my place, went to City Center SaltLake, *( you can call it City Center 1 ) , then finally could not find a cab home

came all the way to Ultadanga, jumped the crossing , and came to the side where you get autos to Jaya, but none of them were even inching forward,

 

I took 215/A to Laketown VIP and then came all the way walking to home, the lake town mela was closing down, the last shopkeepers were shutting off, all the lights were off

 

Only one shop, next to the mini Jaya, where you can get an egg roll till 11:30 on normal days ,was still open

 

This was my day today , good that I got hold of a 2010 diary and did not buy it,

there in Big Bazar the cheap ones are coming for 89 rs, but the paper is not worth it, the ones with proper binding and had made papers were 300 rs and more , still the feelling of a new year has already sunk in me

 

Mid November my brother from Agartala ( cousin ) will be there in Hyderabad for a business trip, he will be there on the 8^th,. I will have to reach Hyderabad before that

 

And also I have plans for Bangalore next month, which I don’t know whether I would want to , I would rather spend some time in Hyderabad finally.

 

and moreso , tomorrow my day starts with work work and work, the sharks will be in full form tomorrow morning, and I will be trying to fend as many as possible, the biggest shark is now running wild, and I will have to manage it,

don’t know how but I am writing a blog at 12:41 in the night, when either should be asleep trying to get up early tomorrow to meet the sharks, or I can work now, but blogging a strict no no

 

 

Shark bites

this November, strict warnings to make me Digambar ( maaney nanga ) ,

 

has been announced, so I might be joining the blogger union whole heartedly, and fully occupied.

 

Good, that those days will come.

I will go for a morning walk, and then for swimming in the evening

 

Will go to Bangladesh, start with my research work sometime in November end,

Go to Agartala, help my dad in his business,

study hard , just like I did 10 years back for my 12^th

 

I just cannot remember a more enchanting time than these.  Kaash, mai aaj fired hota, and could have spent some time doing good work.

 

 

 

Actually , who have been working like me since their BTechs have two ways of looking at it, some frown at the loss of opportunity that

they could not study , and the others look at the world around like this

I am already 5 years in to work and have some savings to make me go through 6 months of no work

 

in that 6 month, I will struggle back to a job and once I have seen more than one company, I can reap the benefits of experience,

 

Having seen multiple corporate this will really help me,

Anyways, now adays, a job looks like a bad proposition and a Europe tour is what I feel like ..

 

Seriously if I were ever to see the mail to get fired, or I get the pink slip , in my bachelor days, I will consider it as a golden opportunity to study , read and learn more and more

Malini

I got hold of a Malini edition today

 

I was sitting in City Center today evening, when man, looked like he is in mid thirties, He introduced himself as a Avra Bannerjee, selling this magazine , promoting the magazine from Shantiniketan.

He told me about his life, how difficult it is for an artist , a poet

I don’t have the words now to write exactly what I was feeling

 

I took some Agarbatis, some peanuts and an edition of Malini

 

I need to read it, I know that Bengali literature is supposed to be full of the realities of life and the toughness, harshness of truth

 

His father has some medical condition, I don’t remember what, all I could figure was this 35 rupee magazine, would fetch him about 100 rupee at max , 3000 rupees extra other than some salary that he would receiving being in the magazine team, which I know is not that great

 

struggle for an artist is lifelong and I take a pledge today that I will not be greedy anymore, I will not compare myself,

 

His last words  were “Look sir, now you are in a family gathering , will not disturb you, you are now in with your mem sahib, let me know disturb you, bye for the day”

 

The real intellect goes selling  books, trying his luck,

 

His number is 98741 99136

If you need to get hold of this magazine, please get in touch

 

help a fellow community of writers,

Thanks a lot

 

Oct 19 Bhai phonta ,

slept early morning, after some pending work from yesterday ,

sharks are now in hibernation.

 

Today it is a day off in Bangalore for Diwali, I have been working since afternoon,

One of the sharks sent some off beat messages, some beating around the bushes, and some spoil sport activites,

 

but rest apart, pretty cool till now

 

had a fight with my damager in the making,

 

got the bhai phonta done in the mean time, phew, lets call it a day and sleep off the rest,

 

3:39 in the afternoon, we had  the conch, the ululations, and the phonta rituals done , earlier,

 

watched the Kolkata news channels,

last year for the Bhai Phonta, we had the Nano shaped mile sweets called sandesh,

this year , we have Duronot Sandesh,

 

We had Kali Pujo lighting with the theme, Mamata Bananerjee flagging off the Duranto

 

WE had some small problems here and there, about the number of people who got caught or were arrested for lighting the sound crackers, it seems this time about 1100 people were arrested for the acts of decibalism.  Some claim that the CM was trying to get some sleep when the sound all around, pushed him out of his house in Palm Green in Park Circus,

I can imagine the ruckus in South Kolkata, where the more affluent people stay, and the ones who have the audacity to keep the police at bay , by locking their collapsible below and heading straight to the terrace to light up all their crackers

 

Some did it all night

 

Our own Adyanath Palli, one of those so heavily unknown places in the planet, also lit up , it had the grand idea of pushing the bombs below a tin , and explosions that targeted pulling down many nearby houses, including my dilapidated structure here, were near and far , now and then ,

 

it was a thing you can call, that the sky was full of light, cheek and jowl …

Ban the great

today after a long time, I got some time to chat with Ban,

one of the greatest contributions from the Bengali “Mukho, Chatto, Bandhyo , Bhatto “ clans ,

 

his mastery about subjects of life, are so far out of place with real life, and abjectly impossible that some how even with this greatest speeches, I find the comfort of the other extreme.

 

He is a man with great dedication towards depcreciation, he likes the depreciating dollar and the same about the depreciating rupee. I told you , cant figure  this chap out,

some do say , “its easy ,. he is plain and simply complicated”

 

well, I tell you it is not easy as that, it is just that ….. whatever

 

he is a man with extremes at all ends, and knows where these ends and also knows that as humans, we will not be able to fathom those heights.

 

His chat, the greatest of all mental spectacles, what can I say, and having spent an hour about ideas that he has, and the ideas he will get, and just the thought that he is around the corner in this things, and that the Nobel prize will be renamed after him

 

Just the thought

I have already written blogs about him, names Ban Supremacy, Ban Identity  Ulitmatum, Legacy etc, etc

Ban Betrayal is upcoming,

I will betray his secrets some time soon

Kali Puja 2009

 This was a great Kali Pujo for me,

I was pretty active on the blog, while the Durga Pujos, as because I was not able to move an inch, this was a better experience.

 

When you start comparing yourself to what others have done, you can never be happy, that is taken for granted,

 

But when you start comparing your own experiences with your past ones and comparatively they are better, atleast context wise you are satisfied,

 

I had to go the new city center in Kolkata the one called City Center in New town, seriously both the city center are no where near to the city , least of all center of the city, WE have been trying to search flats near the center in places like Bara Bazar , or Manicktala , or Shyambazaar, as because to get the taste of real Kolkata one has to be there in those places, for I have a staunch belief that, no matter what happens to the outskirts, the center of the city though neglected today , will remain hotspots, and places of commercial interest throughout.

 

I am sure that Rajar hat will come up , but then I want to see or rather stay in a place where I can enjoy and not leave it to my next generation to enjoy,

though a little on the selfish side, to think that way , but then , I have just seen too many lives, not learn the fact that, don’t delay life to come in, or at one point, you will be running for it.

 

We went to Karunamoyee at first to get the bus to New town, got one those new ones, which go all the way till  New town and from there you can get AS1 or AS4 till the next T junction. From there you got to take a bus to Chinar Bazar. I was surprised there, there were very few taxis plying, a remote chance to get a bus and no autos,

more over there were no people in that go forsaken place. I usually am not averse from adventures, but my girlfriend with me, especially when is such an eye catcher, every SUMO or a Maruti van ( which she calls a villains car ) looked menacingly dangerous.

 

All fears apart, we came to the city center two.There was magic show going on the outside, though it looked smaller to start comparison, but we could see many new openings here and there,

 

More so we went to the Afraa creperie, met some wonderful people there, read some of the best indoor posters in a long time

I will place one of the notices later on in a blog,

 

we came out, bought some cheap jewellery ( the artificial ones ) , saw the Ujjwala apartments, took a look inside, though the watchmen told that almost all the 1500 apartments were sold, we only saw some 2 or three windows open,

must be one of those NRIs who are here for the Pujos,

 

anyways, I came back home around 9 , lit some firecrackers, went out for the Barast Pujo at around 10:30 ,

well to add to it, we had to eat some where, found that Bhojohori Ranna after the airport gate 2 , it was so full that they predicted about two hours in the minimum if we had to stand,

we chose the sher e Punjab , in little distance apart.

The restaurant though full, we managed in side the AC room after about 10 mintues,

the only problem being the common sight,  “ no longer do the decent looking public come to the best places to eat, I don’t know where do they go , or are we so goddamn down market”

there were constant fight, verbal abuse, children sipping whiskey with their parents , teenages shouting in Bihari  foul mouth , I was totally upset,

 

Long time back , once I took  my mother and sister to ITC Sonar Bangla, the thousand rupee evening buffet, All I saw was a NRI couple, and the rest some new comers to money,

Yes, they  have reached a good point, and have come to the good restaurants to self assure about their stature, but alas, the people who serve them had better sense of dignity then them,

just because you have the money, does not give you the right walk over someone else as a non entity, that is one thing, these new comers will not understand

 

But after all, at 1:00 am we started for the trip, went to Rajarhat,

I really did not know so much about the place, from Kaikhali , opposite to Haldirams, we entered towards the Netaji Sangha, that won this years Star Ananda, best Block Buster for he Kalipujo, our decision to avoid the Barasat pujo as because, it was only attraction and people will be all flocking there , so to avoid the crowd, our decision was correct

 

In any case, I am happy overall, with our journey today , we saw about 10 in Rajarhat area, some small and some big, then we saw the ones in Amherst street, the one in Fata Kestos area, and then bout 5 in Dumdum area

 

that was it, the final one being somewhere in Bapuji Nagar in Nager Bazar, finally at home, with the last pent up pieces to work for my shark , I took some loan to write this small writeup , just a gentle reminder about this day ,

 

will forget this some time in life, but if ever I read these lines back will make me remember the Kaii Pujo of Kolkata 2009.

 

I did miss the part where I saw some pujos of the south Kolkata, the tubri competitions in the 8b Bus stand. Will write about them some time later

 

 

Kalmadi

Suresh Kalmadi , once claimed, that the SAI , IOC, etc etc, are spending crores and crores of rupees on developing sports in India,

 

Well, today after the commonwealth games committees report about the pace of work and tension about the slow developments, in Delhi , for the CWG 2010, though a common house hold names in the NCR, there are doubts hanging from all ends about the basic infrastructure, forget about the money going in, the amount of expertise getting pulled in , given the fact that Delhi Metro is facing more and more problems,

 

Stooping low, bowing to every small incident is not going to work anymore, we have now gone to the phase of hopelessness,

and patriotism out of hopeless ness,

 

There is a new wave of “no no no , lets talk good about the things, “ , we are not supposed to look at the faults as badly, we should learn from them, we should only see the growth happening,

 

Good that my friend a staunch believer in 2012,prediction , that the world is going to end, told ,

 

Look , we in India, keep dreaming that tomorrow all of a sudden things will change, we will have a Obama too, a one man speechometer record holder, to make the change,

well, we have now started to feel that we are all of a sudden green, fresh and within our life time we will see India topple the world charts

 

 

Topple, I am not evening thinking about toppling, I am just worried that pictures of the current Afghanistan and Pakistan though increases my belief that I am lucky to be in india, parts of this country and many people live in conditions worse than that of the countries I mentioned,

 

 

 

My friend ( his name is Ban , has been a topic of many of my blogs, a man with lot of ideas ) , he thinks that 2012, we all go down, and all we Indians , will never see that sun rising, the sun that with it warmth and rays of hope will take us forward, will take us to the top. I think being educated and open to the world is painful experience for anyone in our country,

the more you are educated, the more you realize that human life has a sub subsistence level existence here, and we are still fighting jus to maintain,

 

a lot of whining has been done already in the past, but somehow the media is of the new outlook that, we will blindly try to infuse wrong hopes in the countries stability  and this and that,

 

I curse the Engineer in Andhra, who alone amassed 250-300 crores of declared worth , I just simply don’t know, what the bigger buggers are doing,

 

simply curse him for showing the depth of the unimaginable and horrible depths of corruption in India,

2:30 AM Oct 18 2009

Had a tiring day

started at 9 in the morning, with a call from THE SHARK,

well he is well known in my blog world , he is the manager , the damager, the extra terrestrial with extra sharp eyes, and razor sharp brains, and expects that that world will be full of smart people ,

 

alas, there lies a point of conflict, ME

we both seem to be causing a time warp, with extra intelligence comes arrogance, but the problem is there is not arrogance in this sharks case, it is now a principle amongst people to say good about the shark and get away with anything, but the razor sharp gills and brains, and balls all in communion, wants only work done and no appreciation.

 

Like a robot, we expect this machine to stop work, the mechanical Jaws of speilberg has returned, but the man himself cannot appreciate it, and there is the problem.

 

Well, today was a sharky day , I went to see BLUE, and yes, thanks to it, I came to know that there are attempts to make movies ( whole movies ) and not a song, where you can twitch a ear,or pinch yourself to the truth right after the song,

 

the whole movie was shot in extra exotic locations, locations, which make you fee “Aye mortal, what are you doing, why do you run out of your home to do work somewhere else, you not even roaming around, the software company profile said, world travel, the life in promised me of a better future”

 

well those kind of saddening but happening locations, The movie has car chase, romance, treasure hunt, exotic scenes and a mafia dons, new scenes, AR Rehman, and Lara Dutta, the first song is a treat , the pink panties a material come true from the dreams…

 

Blue is a good entertainer, don’t expect too much if you like movies like Dor, Charas , Godmother, etc

 

Try it if you like, good Hollywood movies or Hollywood kinds light action , happy go lucky movies,

 

things , awkward and good , and not that happens in normal life , happens in this movie,

 

An Indian dude in Bahamas, complaining about the people there, that is something, we should not do, Ahem, some will not like it, and some might, some might take an offense

 

but I am sure that we have more to learn to “learn from our mistakes” than what we are already doing …

Mornings findings

Indian Airlines

Toll free number 1800-180-1407

 

 

Bus ride

Well, the last two days have been different for me ,

 

Oct 17 2009

 

I was in Jadavpur early morning. Yesterday I took this new bus en route 221 from Laketwon to Golpark, Till CIT I could make out almost everything, then after that, it took a turn towards Sealdah and  then towards AJC Bose road and then just touching Lansdown, it took me somewhere in South Kolkata that I have no idea,

 

At this age I am very uncomfortablebeing in places where I have to ask ten different questions to ten different people , there were some common sight so called  “Michils” form ALimuddin that was stopping the traffic, and I had to get down ask people about directions,

already I was 2 hours in the journey from North Kolkata to South,

 

I had to go to Golpark , but I was no where nearby , a friend waiting on the other side, Well, I got down , somewhere, desperate to find a taxi in today Kolkata , where Taxis are a rare sight,

there were some wretched Biharis,guys sitting on a fence, Typical scene of the 90s, I could visualize in them,

in minutes, they started what I was worrying about , they asked me “ O dada, what do you want ? “

 

I thought I can tell them politely, and I did it,  “yes I want a taxi”

 

I don’t know, where people have so much time , how come young men get the time and opportunity to spend an entire evening making fun of people. I thought that they would help me, Something that was pretty common in the Kolkata of yesteryears,  these guys , I pity on them now. They were trying to stop all these full taxis, initially it looked like a mistake, but soon they started making fun “ oh Taxi , take this guy home”

 

IN times, where India is making rapid progress I don’t know where we were really heading in terms of the youth, the youth that watches Vaastav  and takes it seriously , watched hopeless romantic movies, at the cost of whatever they have

These are tough times for the coming years, all that I can say,.

 

Today while on the return journey , a bunch of guys, started fighting in side the bus, using offensive language that  I usually use in my blogs, All I am worried is, it sounds ok when you are making fun, but there are people who may not like it and in the bus there woman of all ages,

I did not like it, I took the plunge, and shouted at them to stop, all the 4 of them jumped towards me to lynch me , thanks to the other good people  in the bus, I was saved,

 

Later people were scolding the marwaris of Kolkata for  pushing the Bengalis out of Bengal, and the Biharis for spoiling the name,

 

and place where they believe all the great thinkers were born , they now shamefully admitted that yes there is a group that is spoiling the fun of the city, I think a cosmopolitan city where once can live at will, but this was simply pushing yourself , or rather shoving into some one elses territory ,

 

I don’t know, I worry for the day , when thosegood people will not be there. today I can say I was saved, these other fellow passengers did later confess that these were Bihari  Muslims, and they were pretty much generalizing the suffering of the conductors, when this guys don’t pay, the conductors cant do anything, the guys will the stop the bus tomorrow, find a reason and excuse and put the bus to fire.

 

I am worried

Bangali raa sab jaaney

All Bengalis Are Computer Literate!!!!!!!!!!!!

All Bengalis Are Computer Literate!!!!!!!!!!!!

Early morning Oct 16 2009

Well, this is a good time to work,

1:00 PM and I woke up just few minutes ago.

 

Woke up with a msg, we gotta find tickets for Puri, my friends want to travel.

 

Am still in Jadavpur, I slept at about 5 in the morning, but the result would had been same had I slept at 12 in the night, I would still have finished only that much amount of work that I am capable of,

 

this late night shifts are just bogging me down. In between I was sleeping at 12 in the night almost every day , now I seem to be losing it,

I know that is not good and though the youngsters of India all do that, it actually effects your brain,

 

Typically, all men of great thinking abilities , or rather the thinkers of India all,followed this as a pillar principle of their lives,

they invariably used the sun a reference point, when the sun sank it was high time for sleep and wake up with sunrise,

 

Obviously they could have survived in Norway doing it, 6 months of sleep ( which may be I can hold a bet that I will be that unique man to do ) but then keeping awake for next 6 months, that’s where, not only your thinking capacity will go  bust …

 

 

Anyways, will write something  more later

 

I call it a day

that is the status of a friend in gtalk , A friend who I met after some time, actually in rapid succession after a prolonged gap

 

Now I am Jadavpur, working again, started work again after a gap of 6 hours,aaahhh ,. how sad, how boring, nope, there are somethings to write about  that I need to .

 

For example, This Dhanteras that was never a Bengali thing, today I  was standing in Golpark searching for an auto right opp to the RK Mission you will see this auto line for 8B ( 8B is the bustand for 8B bus and is popular as an alias to the Jadavpur, the university that has seen greats all over the century walk its hallowed campus.

 

Well, I went and asked one person in the line,is this line for  Jadavpur autos, one girl, ( she was wearing, flil flop, a straight cut jeans, looked at me at an angle that I cannot put as acute or straight, gave me a snub, and looked the other way, another lady with a kid in  a jeans jacket, she started staring at me in some delusion, another man standing there, the tallest in the lot, gave me snarls, and finally one middle aged man, pulled by his wife all the way from the RCB match today ,( CLT20) , looked like he needs to tell me whats going on here.

 

He gave me a look of selfpity and  I was already sympathizing with him, when he told me  “Dada , aita sona kenaar line”

 

Oh now I get it, it is dhanteras and the Anjali jewelers outlet is seelign gold like hot cakes, No wonder they say that India is a rich country, where Bengalis, that too Bengalis, the poorer of the lot in current India, stand in a line out side Anjali Jewellers and buy gold like Marwaris do, ‘

 

Kudos to indianization, it is not globalization , it is Indianization, that is why early morning of Eid, there was news that Trinamool Netri , wen to topsia, went to Rizwanur, haqs house and met all the people there, she did kind of inaugurate the whole , in her one discreet way,

 

anyways, more on that late, with the shark, ( nope not from the film BLUE , but the manager that exists to  attack my existence, will bite , will pounce and if given the audience will, tear me into pieces, )

 

Let me go to back to work, Ahem