Streamed rabindrasangeet and memories

Today after aeons I decided to listen to some Rabindrasangeet ..... in the midst of floyd and kanye west and emran hashmi remixes the songs were a breath of fresh air ...... and hence begun a long journey down the memory lanes......
Dad listening to the voice of Hemanta on the our most treasured radio early mornings.... mom humming to it while getting us ready for school .....
The black and white Uttam-Suchitra movies aired on Doordarshan on Sunday evenings when the entire family including kalpona mashi would gather, munching on 'masala muri' ....those in the neighbourhood who did not have a television would peep through our windows to watch it :-) ..... ma commenting that the movies nowadays could not capture the subtle and innocent romance that could touch your hearts (considering this was a decade and a half back wonder what she would comment on watching Mallika Sherawat's Murder!!) .....
Rabindra jayanti programs in school when we would spend weeks practising and choreographing rabindrik dance to Tagore's songs, to pay him a tribute and remember his unforgettable contribution to literature .....literature, poetry, music reading and listening to which we all have grown up...... learning by-heart and reciting so many of his poems every year in Bengali classes ..... some of which we can still recall, surprisingly.......
The songs were sung over and over again by people....in singing classes where little children started with "Aalo aamar aalo ogo" since that was the easiest to play on the harmonium, dance classes where "Megher kole rod hesheche", "Momo chitte niti nritte" and "phoole phoole dhole dhole" were popular......from pujo functions to "Mor binay othe" on Saraswati puja, from basanta utsav to winter there is a song for every season ....collectively its usually called 'ritu rongo' ..colors of seasons ......
As I streamed those songs and listened on the head phones all afternoon while fixing my code ...... a sudden thought struck me.....if my children grow up in this country they will never experience those small things which brought us so much joy....they will never learn to sing and dance to Tagore's tunes or read shishu bholanath or beer purush ..... they will never know what basanta utsav is or the significance of wearing a yellow sari on saraswati puja ....or learn to sing a song for every season ...... they will also get lost in hip hop and rap and probably the only indian music they might like is desi bhangra remixes at clubs !!! :-( noooooooooooo!! I hope I never let that happen!!

My mornings and those dreams

The warmth of a blanket in which I've slept all night not letting go of me, the sunshine peeping through the drawn curtains, faint noises of other people in the house closing restroom doors and the alarm clock interrupting the climax of my early morning dreams - the typical start of my day.

The next few minutes pass away in a hurry...... quick shower, attire choices, hair brush, oatmeal packets microwaved in less than a minute, lunch packing, gathering the laptop, phone, bag, keys, employee id and a coat - thats the next phase which I accomplish all in 15-20 minutes flat :)

Will go to sleep now looking forward to my complicated, confusing, surprising, weird dreams which always leave me wondering.... sometimes I try to reason out how they might have been formed .... trying to analyze how one incident leads to something totally unconnected...try to figure out how different people, places, events get linked together.....some imagination, some reality .... a concoction of blatant truths, hidden emotions, wild imagination, subconscious dilemmas, unknown desires, known faces, set-aside thoughts, unrelated contexts and unanticipated endings!!

Do we realize how closely we are being tracked?

Was having a discussion about how Google is making itself omnipresent ...how it s tracking every bit of what we do, who we are, where we go, what we like/dislike etc to create a pattern that they will use as information for targeted advertising.... Its scary to think that they know so much abt us without our consent ...
Its not only Google tracking us on the internet, every company of which I may or may not be a consumer is tracking us, our purchase capabilities, preferences etc so next time they know what to advertise to us.
A few instances pointed out in the discussion:
-Mr.X buys stuff on clearance from company Y. Y makes note of what he buys, when he buys, how frequently he buys, how much he spends, where else he buys from etc etc etc.....instantly patterns get created and soon mailboxes are flooded with flyers from Y advertising only stuff which Mr.X can afford and which he might be interested in....
So don't be surprised if you and your husband receive flyers from the same company in your mailbox and they have the same contents but the covers are different, simply to attract the right attention!
-As soon as you call the customer service of any company, they track your records and determine how valuable a customer you are....depending on your worth you will be enqueued in order for receiving assistance, so if you have not generated sufficient business or don't seem capable of it you will end up with a higher waiting time!!
-As soon as you sign into a hotel you will be given RFID tags that will track you ....as you approach the bar counter you would have already been tracked and from your past records your favorite drink would already have been served

At this rate by the time today's kids are grown ups, every minute detail about them, their whereabouts, their preferences would be accessible.....SCARY!!

Can we consciously make an effort to avoid this?


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How much is in our hands?

How long do we want to live and is it in our hands how long we live? The other day I heard of someone who is in his 70's and wishes to live 100 years strongly believing that its in his hands .... he has been exercising regularly for 40 years and eats healthy and is a professor who is actively involved in his work .....
Today I happened to come across this article: soon millions will live until 100

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Incidents : I got lost again trying to find my way through the dark and confusing shortcuts of Raleigh ...its time to get a GPS honey :) He said that won't help, that I should get one fitted into my brain .... wonder if that can happen someday ....like a couple of centuries from now ...or like Nanz (our 7 year old nephew says) a zillion billion years from now ! Coming to think of it the earth won't exist zillion billion years from now.... life will cease to exist much much before that ....a planetarium show at the museum of science in Boston had an interesting show on supernovas which opened my eyes towards the fact that there will be a day when the earth becomes inhabitable, the sun's energy dies out .....the question is will we be smart enough to preserve our species by then? Will we be able to produce energy by then? Will we be able to artificially create life? Or can we encapsulate our earth from the perils of the galaxy? Don't know ...... jst wondering

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IIT graduates opt for contrasting careers

IIT Kharagpur placements

IIT graduates form political party 'PARITRANA' : an interview with them

What is fascinating is that its all happening at the right time....India has started prospering and if the rampant corruption at every level of the system can be done away with , there isnt much that can stop India from becoming a superpower.... this is exactly what we need now ....honest, courageous, educated youth who can reform the country ..... Go Paritrana!

Procrastination

Another Monday, another week.....the to-do list carried over from last week keeps growing ...the post it notes on my desktop glare at me ....yeah yeah I will do it.....
Sometimes I wonder what makes us procrastinate.....lethargy, unwillingness... if so why with the important tasks?.....we don't procrastinate watching a new movie in town or reading the new bestseller on stands or the checking the headlines or mails ....but when it comes to paying bills, doing chores, calling people ...
procrastination
well no point contemplating...I don't believe I am writing an entry on procastrination....finding reasons and excuses :)...ok lets get started now

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Last night I watched the superbowl for the first time ....and understood the game of football for the first time.....what I liked most about the game were the ads :D...
Superbowl ads.

India booming.........what makes me proud is that the economy has flourished because of the brains of the people in the country ...
Stock market record in India

Cool stuff :suggestions for Valentine's Day gift
Keyboard Handbag

Maybe I ll use this next time I chat with Mom, at least she wont say that I don't get to eat and am losing my glow :))
Appearance Enhancing Webcams

For a cool kitchen
Toaster

sunny afternoons after school in Calcutta

The sunny afternoons when I would return home from school after a tiring and noisy bus ride, drop the bag and waterbottle and run into my room, draw the curtains to make it cooler, turn on the fan and lie on the bed, eyes closed, to take some rest. Kalpona mashi ( our cook who had been with us since I could remember) would bring in some cool water melon juice and Bondie (my younger sister) and I would sit and relish it.
The balcony was my favorite place, I could sit there for hours watching the different kinds of people, their expressions, their lives...each had his own story. The school girls from the neighbourhood school returning home with their mothers, talking about how their teacher scolded a friend for not doing her homework and how the maggi in the tiffin box had become too cold by lunch time and how the test went well. The paan shop where they would stop and plead their moms to buy them cold drinks. The rickshaw wallahs taking a nap on their rickshaws despite the noise and heat. The ice cream vendors pushing their cart crying out 'ice cream ice cream' in a distinct tone that was recognized instantly by all the children like me in the neighbourhood. Instantly you could see little heads popping out of all the balconies, some lucky enough to buy one because they had the permission from their parents. Ma would always be at work at this time and Kalpona mashi was given strict instructions not to buy us ice cream since they affect our throats. Sometimes when the craving was too much we would look for coins that might be lying around in ma's dressing table drawer or baba's office table secretly. If we managed to make 2 rupees we would buy an orange candy and share. Bondie and I would fight over who would get the first bite.
There were other vendors like the ones who would buy junk at 25 paise per kg, ones who would re-fluff pillows and quilts, key makers, candy sellers and many more...their voices tired of calling out their profession repeatedly in order to make their daily bread...their sweaty feet tired of walking. All of them would stop at the paan shop for some refreshment, sometimes a smoke, sometimes just to rest for sometime under the shade.
There was this huge gulmohar tree right in front of our house where weary travellers and daily workers sought shade. The tree was my favorite. I loved to watch it grow.....the green leaves in summer which turned orange in autumn .... the small yellow flowers which looked prettier when they fell on the black tarred road flying in the air..... the branches which spread across the entire road connecting balconies from one side to another .... the crow nests and sparrows it housed and most importantly the way it stood....tall and majestic, wise with age. Ma told me that the seeds for this tree were planted when my grandfather built this house.
Sometimes we would play in the balcony, sometimes teacher teacher, sometimes hop scotch, sometimes ludo. There were times when I preferred reading, sitting under the clothes hanging on the rope to dry. Sometimes didu (my grandmom ,mom's mom to be precise) would be there to tell us stories which we had heard again and again. Sometimes ma would come home early and bring us cake from Kathleen and that was our excitement for the day. I don't remember waiting too eagerly for Ma other than those days when I had got my results and couldn't wait to tell her about it or if I had a tummy ache and needed her to give me the right medicine.
Some afternoons I would be too tired to do anything and try to sleep but Bondie wouldn't let me cos she wanted me to play with her. So everytime I turned off the light trying to darken the room she would come turn it back on. This would lead us to a fight and I would call Ma at work telling her to resolve the issue. Both of us would snatch the phone from each other trying to prove our point and she would try hard to be fair to both of us.
The noises, the faces, the voices, the scenes.... the afternoons are still distinct in my memories .... very distinct

Calcutta

I could not have summarised Calcutta in a better way......every word of this is true...is what I feel..is what I am proud of

Vir Sanghvi on Calcutta...

Most modern Indian cities strive to rise above ethnicity. Tell anybody who lives in Bombay that he lives in a Maharashtrian city and (unless of course,you are speaking to Bal Thackeray) he will take immediate offence. We are cosmopolitan, he will say indigenously. Tell a Delhiwalla that his is a Punjabi city (which, in many ways, it is) and he will respond with much self-righteous nonsense about being the nation's capital, about the international composition of the city's elite etc. And tell a Bangalorean that he lives in a Kannadiga city and you'll get lots of techno-gaff about the internet revolution and about how Bangalore is even more cosmopolitan than Bombay. But, the only way to understand what Calcutta is about is to recognize that the city is essentially Bengali. What's more, no Bengali minds you saying that. Rather, he is proud of the fact. Calcutta's strengths and weaknesses mirror those of the Bengali character.

It has the drawbacks: the sudden passions, the cheerful chaos, the utter contempt for mere commerce,the fiery response to the smallest provocation. And it has the strengths (actually, I think of the drawbacks as strengths in their own way). Calcutta embodies the Bengali love of culture; the triumph of intellectualism over greed; the complete transparency of all emotions, the disdain with which hypocrisy and insincerity are treated; the warmth of genuine humanity; and the supremacy of emotion over all other aspects of human existence. That's why Calcutta is not for everyone.
You want your cities clean and green; stick to Delhi. You want your cities, rich and impersonal; go to Bombay. You want them high-tech and full of draught beer; Bangalore's your place. But if you want a city with a soul: come to Calcutta.

When I look back on the years I've spent in Calcutta - and I come back so many times each year that I often feel I've never been away - I don't remember the things that people remember about cities. When I think of London, I think of the vast open spaces of Hyde Park. When I think of New York, I think of the frenzy of Times Square. When I think of Tokyo, I think of the bright lights of Shinjiku. And when I think of Paris, I think of the Champs Elysee. But when I think of Calcutta, I never think of any one place. I don't focus on the greenery of the maidan, the beauty of the Victoria Memorial, the bustle of Burra Bazar or the splendour of the new Howrah 'Bridge'. I think of people.
Because, finally, a city is more than bricks and mortars, street lights and tarred roads. A city is the sum of its people. And who can ever forget - or replicate - the people of Calcutta?

When I first came to live here, I was told that the city would grow on me. What nobody told me was that the city would change my life. It was in Calcutta that I learnt about true warmth; about simple human decency; about love and friendship; about emotions and caring; about truth and honesty. I learnt other things too. Coming from Bombay as I did, it was a revelation to live in a city where people judged each other on the things that really mattered; where they recognized that being rich did not make you a better person - in fact, it might have the opposite effect. I learnt also that if life is about more than just money, it is about the things that other cities ignore; about culture, about ideas, about art, and about passion.

In Bombay, a man with a relatively low income will salt some of it away for the day when he gets a stock market tip. In Calcutta, a man with exactly the same income will not know the difference between a debenture and a dividend. But he will spend his money on the things that matter. Each morning, he will read at least two newspapers and develop sharply etched views on the state of the world. Each evening, there will be fresh (ideally, fresh-water or river) fish on his table. His children will be encouraged to learn to dance or sing. His family will appreciate the power of poetry. And for him, religion and culture will be in inextricably bound together.

Ah religion! Tell outsiders about the importance of Puja in Calcutta and they'll scoff. Don't be silly, they'll say. Puja is a religious festival. And Bengal has voted for the CPM since 1977. How can godless Bengal be so hung up on a religions festival? I never know how to explain them that to a Bengali, religion consists of much more than shouting Jai Shri Ram or pulling down somebody's mosque. It has little to do with meaningless ritual or sinister political activity. The essence of Puja is that all the passions of Bengal converge: emotion, culture, the love of life, the warmth of being together, the joy of celebration, the pride in artistic expression and yes, the cult of the goddess. It may be about religion. But is about much more than just worship. In which other part of India would small, not particularly well-off localities,vie with each other to produce the best pandals? Where else could puja pandals go beyond religion to draw inspiration from everything else? In the years I lived in Calcutta, the pandals featured Amitabh Bachchan, Princes Diana and even Saddam Hussain! Where else would children cry with the sheer emotional power of Dashimi, upset that the Goddess had left their homes? Where else would the whole city gooseflesh when the dhakis first begin to beat their drums? Which other Indian festival - in any part of the country - is so much about food, about going from one roadside stall to another, following your nose as it trails the smells of cooking? To understand Puja, you must understand Calcutta. And to understand Calcutta, you must understand the Bengali. It's not easy.
Certainly, you can't do it till you come and live here, till you let Calcutta suffuse your being, invade your bloodstream and steal your soul. But once you have, you'll love Calcutta forever. Wherever you go, a bit of Calcutta will go with you. I know, because it's happened to me. And every Puja, I am overcome by the magic of Bengal. It's a feeling that'll never go away.

Vir Sanghvi, a veteran journalist who has been with several newspapers is presently Editorial Editor with the Hindustan Times.

To the terrorists...

What is it that make you guys kill innocent people? I wonder..... how far will this fanaticism take you? How long will you victimize souls who might even be unaware of your existence....small children, mothers, sons and daughters.How many a time will this story repeat? In how many households do you want this incident to occur where one fine day a loved one leaves home never to return again? You cant gain through someone else's loss! Is this what your religion really teaches you? Maybe you need a Mahatama and not a Mohammad!
To all of you out there committing these henious acts everyday .... to all of you who can behead a human and enjoy it.....to all of you who train yourselves to kill mercilessly ......you need to realize that you are not here on any mission to spread your religion by destruction......you are here to make this world a better place to live in....give your fellow beings ( and that DOES NOT mean ONLY your religious fraternity, though I dont think you are giving them anything better either) a better life , the next generations a better future........do something that will contribute to the supremacy of the human race...that will take us a step further in enhancement, development....
your blood and ours is not different ....they are made of the same RBC,WBC and platelets.......your mind and ours have the same level of complexity and maturity ....then why are you biased by an opinion that you are superior? What difference will it make to your personal life if you ruled the world or not?What do you want???
I dare you to reply......anyone of you.....have the guts come on and answer.
I hope and pray to your God and mine that someday you learn to value life, someday we live together peacefully without having to worry about whether our near and dear are safe or not, someday ..... you realize your foolishness, your immaturity, your sins ....someday....

Testing my blog