Hypocritical

As a teen, I had a fancy for Slam Books and I'd get a lot of people to fill it in for me. Friends, relatives, acquaintances would all have to give me their 'autograph'.
It was then, that I first came across the word 'hypocrisy'. People wrote it in the field where they had to list things that they hate. (Now thats a hypocritic line in itself!) At that time I didn't quite understand it. I had to refer to the dictionary several times until I could remember the meaning.

But today, I know the meaning well enough. Thanks to the acts we indulge in, or the rules that are passed, or whatever the 'system' implements.

•  A recent rule( I don't think its a law) has made plastic bags chargeable in the big stores and malls. But what I don't understand is that why do they have to keep up with the plastic anyway? Whether paid for or free, plastic is equally damaging. People who shop for a couple of things or live far away from the point of purchase, have to buy the plastic bag. They cannot carry the things around in their hand sometimes. So unwillingly, they land up buying the plastic! Why can't we be given jute or stiff paper bags, instead?
• By 1 July, 2012 the Government wants all television viewers to buy the DTH services and use Tata Sky or Dish Tv or the like instead of the present cable wires which are bringing TV to our homes, today. This new service is more expensive and elaborate for the understanding of the lower classes. So do they lose the last straw of entertainment which had blessed their lives, so long? To know what they feel, take time out to engage in a conversation about this with your domestic help and you'll know where the anomaly lies!

• We are all afraid of natural calamities and earthquakes are no foreign fear now. On one hand we talk of technology and strategy to construct the buildings so that they do not sway easily. But these technologies are renderred useless when the construction is done on land revived from water bodies. The pre-existent wet-lands do not make the foundation of the building strong enough to survive inspite of the anti-earthquake measure taken. In such a scenario, the technology boils down to a gimmick and does no one any good!

• And the last thing on my mind is the safety of females in Kolkata, or in any city in general. We as citizens know and feel that the unsafety is caused by a few of us and the fear builds on one side of our hearts and the other side knows fully well that something must be done to ensure a safe environment for one and all. Through the day we read and see reports carried out on this issue and talk in a philanthropic tone saying, " Why shouldn't women wear what they like, do as they wish and go out as they please?" But as night falls, the women of our homes are to stay indoors, obeying their dear ones. In most cases, its not an 'order' issued against women in their households, but out of plain concern. However you, me and US are all held back and the predator hunts his prey fearlessly!

Add to the list, as you please I am sure you notice half a dozen such incidents around you, everyday. From those incidents you'll surely find people who can be awarded the following certificate:

Traffic jam in the highway of the mind

Its ironical that I am posting this on my blog which is also part of the online networking circuit, but I guess its all about knowing your limits, drawing the line somewhere and not to over-do things!

Hats off to the people who update their statuses (On Facebook, BBM orWhatsApp; and sometimes all of these!) when they sleep in for 15 more minutes than usual, when they enjoy the weather: they express their joy by typing a new status, when they enter a mall or a movie they check-in as if Facebook were a hostel matron!
This article printed in The Telegraph, Kolkata today is meant for all those whose brain cells are excessively greased with information: useful and useless, necessary and unnecessary, righ and wrong: all the same, they clutter our minds and its best you clear the Recycle Bin in your teeny-weeny sized brain, before its too late!




http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120408/jsp/7days/story_15348360.jsp

Baby Steps

When I started my own blog, I had no mentor in the blogosphere. I would sign in with anticipation and check my pageviews, the audience statistics and make it a point to write as often as possible.And in all this, I was alone. Those were my baby steps.

Supporting Rapture Group, in its period of babbles!


http://rapturegroup.blogspot.in/
They present Ustad Raahat Fateh Ali Khan live in concert on 12 May, 2012 at Music Hall, Detroit, Michigan.

If you are in U.S.A, I suggest this is truly going to be a wonderful experience!

Earth Hour 2012

I don't know whether I was less informed, or that I didn't take the effort to be informed; but I realized that Earth Hour was maintained on 31 March, starting from 8:30 p.m., only when I woke up next morning and read the papers.


I think it's a great idea of preserving the environment. On the one hand, it saves tonnes of units of electricity and on the other side, when we see things in a different light (pun intended!) we realize the value of it.

I Googled Earth Hour and got some wonderful images, I paste them  below for your pleasure. However, it's sad to know Kolkata, or even India, didn't top the search results page.

In today's times, Google's reach is wider than all the newspapers of the world, put together. It's statistically proven, not meant metaphorically. In such times, when India doesnt feature anywhere on the first few pages of Google search results, I think it denotes our ignorance and how disconnected we are from the rest of the world, because we didn't maintain it as stringently as the rest of the world.

Anyway, for the love of the images:



India Gate, Delhi





Hotel Marina Bay Sands, Singapore





Big Ben, London





New York City skyline




The Great Wall of China, China





Empire State Building, New York

A new car has hit the roads and it's tagline says 'It loves you back!'
If we believe that, I don't think there's much difficulty to believe:
"If you love your planet, it will love you back!"

Reminence of Sanctity

Gone are the days when people compared educational institutions to religious places and the holiness of the former was epitomized therein. But as the wheel of time has rolled ahead, the sanctity of these places has not only been undermined, in some cases even demeaned. The reasons for this are numerous and the purpose of my writing is not to delve into those.

I attend a Catholic College, run by reverred nuns we learn discipline which is synonymous with their personality and etiquette follows close at hand. Out of sure habit, I step into the church which stands tall outside my college building, everyday.

I step in, bow my head, murmur a word of prayer and leave. I seldom sit down to pray for long because those few minutes make me feel peaceful enough.On some days, I see a group of students in the church, as they attentively hear the Mass proceedings as a priest conducts them. These are the students from the school, which shares the campus with our college.

This morning, as I entered I was greeted by a rather unusually pleasant sight. One that I had seen: in movies, read about: in books, alone. I had never experienced such a scene and it was a splendid one at that!

I saw little girls, most probably girls in class four or five, at the Confession Boxes. They knelt keenly by the 'window' and spoke eagerly with the Father on the other side. Even that practise had a disciplined conduct because the girls stood in a line on the side and maintained safe distance so as not to eavesdrop!

It was probably not extraordinary, but the fact that I don't see it regularly, made it so!
I started to think what these little ones would have to share with the priest. How strange are the ways of the world, we can tell strangers what we can't tell our dear ones.
My trail of thoughts led me on and I realized that maybe psychiatrists came into being from this practise itself. I think it is nice for the children to be exposed to such experiences. It goes a long way, in their life. I can say that because I didn't go to such a school where we had someone with whom we met for the sole purpose of lightening the load of our conscience. I am not complaining, because undoubtedly we had wonderful teachers who fit into this role very well. But what matters is when you tell your mind: "Ok, so this is it! Such-and-such day and so-and-so time we shall unload our heart to this person" because we sometimes feel closer to the people we don't know at all.

Kahaani: The mother of a story.

Yesterday was a rather very long day for me. I was out from 9am and stepped back home past 7 in the evening. I had no complaints because I like busy days. For me, it means that sleep will come easily and the sooner my eyes shut without getting caught in the trail of thoughts that run a rat race in my mind, the better(read: best) it is.

Nevertheless, as a results of a heavily packed day, I had no idea of the news: whether political upheavals or the earthquakes which have been unkind enough to 'visit' northern parts of our country much too often for anyone's liking.
It was not before the 9pm Newshour on Times NOW that I found out Mamata Banerjee's new 'stunt' of Mamatagiri.  And as I heard Arnab Goswami conduct the one hour show in the manner that he usually does,( I've never really found an adjective that describes it perfectly) I found out that Madam Chief Minister had expressed her disagreement to the Railway Budget that was presented by Dinesh Trivedi, an MP in power from the TMC party itself.

The discussions went on and I had this extreme urge to write on it but I didn't touch my laptop because my books were calling out to me: they just needed  my attention.

So, I decided to write this morning about the issue. After all, knowing Mamata Banerjee more time would mean more twists and more drama which would mean better writing matter.

Then, this morning my friend decided to take me to a morning show movie and I agreed. We set out to watch the 'mother of a story' and then! In the 120 minutes, I forgot all about Mamatadidi  because Bidya was far more fascinating.I forgot all about the problems and chaos that has befallen our state. I forgot that we are in the hands of a Government that is pointing finger at each other. I was amazed to see Vidya, aka, Bidya Bagchi; as she took it upon herself to find her way to justice instead of justice finding her.
On hindsight, I thought upon the last dialaogue that says Ma Durga comes to Earth and washes away all negativity. The reinforcement of that bit of information, made me think: Might we have Mid-term polls post Durga Puja this year?

Talking of the film, it's a must watch for every Kolkattan, and for every movie lover in general. The story is amazing and the cinematography is beyond description. The dialogues are amazing and a little humour here and there helps to lighten the mood. But just as you settle back in your chair, poof! the screen beckons.

The mysterious character of Bob Biswas was scary by my judgement and his way of saying Namashkar will make me think twice before I greet someone in the same manner. There are no interrupting songs in the film where they've taken you off to another location and you've forgotten what the previous scene was. However, that also means you get no time to step out for Coke and popcorn, except the interval!

Jokes apart, this flick needs no popcorn to keep you glued to your chair.

If books are page-turners, films are no-eye-blinkers. And this one surely falls in that category!

So, if you are disheartened by seeing the "Ides of March: Bengal 2012 Version", where Mamata plays Brutus and Dinesh, Caesar; book your tickets for this movie and you'll surely enjoy it.

Sorry, for a-not-so-good style of writing the film review. I always get less than 50% marks for writing a film-review in my exam!

Celebration of Colour

India is a country where there is no dearth of celebration. We celebrate festivals all round the year, sometimes the beginning of a calendar season, sometimes the end of it. Whether beginning or end, we find joy in all things alike and our festivities range from colours to lights.

Holi is one such festival celebrated during the harvesting season.

It is popularly called the Festival of Colours.

A few weeks ago, I felt a sudden attraction to a child-like pleasure: Colouring books. I just wanted one. I am terrible at drawing, and when I draw human feet my friends say they look like elephant's ears! I think that comparison just says it all. However, even as a child I loved colouring. The shades of leaves especially fascinated me and when I think back the words of my drawing teacher still echo in my ears as she would ask me to colour different shades but make sure one blends into the other and the transition is not obsolete.

All these memories made me want to buy a colouring book as soon as possible. I went looking for it, one book store to another, not sparing the road side stalls and vendors too!

I was disheartened to see the way the scene has changed. When I was little, I remember my mother used to buy me Jumbo Colouring Book, and that had now become expensive, the price going up two-fold. Looking for other options, I found a book with pictures of Doremon and Harry Potter and other children's favourites but unfortuantely there was a 20 year old who wanted a book with some sceneries- the typical picture of one house, one girl, one tree.

Finally, my friend who has a 6 year old cousin, tore pages from her book and bought me 60 of those! Thrilled as I was, I came back from college and brought out my box of Crayola and began right away! What bliss! Today, on the day of this colourful festival I sit and colour on my sheets and smile wide as I think of New Market from where my mother and I would buy these books and colours, of  weekly drawing classes , my Navneet drawing books and I smile the widest when I think of the shopkeeper who'd asked me ,"Madam, kitne saal ka bacha hai?" when I went to buy a colouring book for myself. Looking at my smile, he suggested, "6-7 saal?" and I smiled wider and just said, "Nahi thoda bada bacha hai!"