learning and growing

So back in my second year when I read The Calcutta Chromosome,I felt extremely intrigued by the plot and had to read it a second time to understand the text completely.Now when I read it again,I stop to ask myself everytime,how can a writer write so well and come up with such a story.Mind you,Amitav Ghosh,the author, took a gap of eight years to pen this story down and he has got everything right in this novel.The language is easy to understand but a careful reading is required.He brings Kolkata alive to those readers who know the place well and also to those who don't.Murugan is probably THE loved character by all in this book, and the way Ghosh presents Murugan here,clearly throws light on how far Ghosh himself had gone,to make a detailed research for his creation.It is not surprising that he has been honoured with the Arthur C.Clarke Award for this.People claim this to be a Science Fiction story,and they are right about it because it is extremely fascinating to see the new gene...

Peace has been restored with the end of Durga Puja.No more waking up at five in the morning or staring at colourful dumb faces,or listening to all those useless bragging,or trying to avoid people you can't help cursing.I always feel glad,when I visit my hometown,more so because I treat this place, as a vacation spot nowadays,but to return back and immediately face the Pujas with all its hoch-poch-ness,is asphyxiating,that too because you know though a vacation,it is not exactly one,with all the paperwork, reference and every other thing that requires reading and reading which again demands peace.A few days back,someone just texted me saying of how I put an extra emphasis on 'I',everytime I write my blog and if you are reading this,I must say that, that nothing can be stupider than your question,because this is MY blog,where I write about MY experiences,likes,dislikes,feelings,and about everything that happens to ME. So there is nothing wrong in that.I have seen enough thick...

When people say,' why can't you live the British way of life?It helps you feel emotionally stronger and independent',-As if i was born to do that.The fact that I am humane and have my own weaknesses and strength,is not cared for.I really care little about people who try to boast about how excellently well they are in all their English ways,despite being brought up in an Indian family.I pity people who can't think anything beyond themselves.When it comes to me,i am first a Bengali,and then an Indian.I would prefer to have a lot many 'fuchkas' on the streets than to go to a five star restaurant and have my food,with more thinking and with more restrictions and following all the food eating etiquette.It becomes suffocating.I would rather speak more than pretend to be quiet,because that would ultimately make me dumb and i care about dumbness.I would love to stay alone,and then not stay alone and then miss my close people and then call them up,to say how much I miss ...

Recognition,who does not want it?Lately,I have started believing,that the target of education(not just the bookish knowledge), is recognition.Now this does not simply mean popularity,but it means more.To be recognized as someone is a lifetime achievement.Let me just give you an example.I have a church infront of my current place and beside the gate of that church stays a woman,whom everyone calls 'pagal buri'(Mad woman).That is her signature name.She is the recognized 'pagal buri' of our locality.Is not that something?.Well we all struggle really hard to achieve our goals and yet don't get the recognition,we desire.But the 'pagal buri' has it all,because she is the expert when it comes to genuine madness.Meanwhile,things have started settling in my new college.I have been extremely fortunate to have met some wonderful professors who possess the ability to completely capture your mind ,by their lectures.Another rare thing about my new college is that it has g...

I have a strange relationship with nights and this functions very differently in different places but the feeling of solitariness,always remain constant.This solitariness does not necessarily make me morose,but can give me joy too.There are just way too many sleepless nights that i have spend so far and today when i am being denied sleep again,my mind is forcing me to turn to a childhood chapter where no-sleep-night meant bliss and some unknown world of curious mystery.I distinctly remember,it was the night of 24th December.I was six years old and my mother was continuously patting my shoulder,so that i could easily fall off to sleep but how could I?That very morning i had watched all the cartoon network episodes,dealing with Santa Claus and of how he came to present the good kids with some beautiful gifts.Then my mother stopped patting me and i immediately knew that she had fallen asleep and this meant freedom to my eyes which yearned to see the spark in the night sky from the glass...

Of all the things that I have seen so far,death was far from the scene,but North Kolkata did not spare me of such morbid and painful sights.Last Thursday,when I was on my way back to Bidhan Sarani,from Rabindra Sadan,there was a huge traffic jam.Then i saw an old lady inside an ambulance and it was obvious to all who was watching her ,that she was fighting the battle of life.From what I could make out,she was accompanied by her son and daughter-in-law,and their small kid.The son was holding the old lady's hand but then something happened and I immediately knew that she was not alive anymore and my opinion was confirmed,when the son began to cry and vomit and shake the old lady,but the old lady did not show any movement and I watched the entire thing,while inside an auto in that heavy traffic jam.This has been the first time in my life,that I have watched someone die and probably I will never forget this episode.It has forced me again to think and question that isn't this unfa...

Life is different in my new temporary residential place.I got to make this place feel like my home and I am trying hard.The best thing about my room is that,one of the windows that face the North,provides me with a wonderful North Kolkata view and it is even more amazing when you view it at night and being a night bird,it is to my advantage.The last two days I was busy travelling the new roads in this place and that too all alone.Solitude and walk in a new place always provide me with some comfort-one just needs to be a little careful on the streets of Kolkata.I have also found some amazing sweetmeat shops and mouth watering 'fuchka' stalls near my college campus.I have also witnessed some truly humorous incidents here.I remember seeing a Jeep with almost seven people in it and the upper part of their bodies completely naked and they were singing at the top of their voices but how I wish I could complement them for their singing abilities because the humour was in their croaki...