The Great Experimenter that my Mother is!

I daresay my mother is a very inquisitive experimenter! And she is so much full of new ideas that she just needs motivation from me to implement them! You dont seem to believe me ....thats too bad ......but I daresay you people would believe me after reading this post!

So as I was telling you people my mother is a very inquisitive experimenter...though she's an M.A in Bengali....but she is rather interested in experiments! She gathers her ideas by talking with her fellow teacher-colleagues and of course the mothers of all the students who come to her for tuitions,the kins etc etc. Just getting ideas would lead to nothing...so to implement them she takes my help....or rather make me the subject of the experiment. The Basic Concept of her experiments are simple: To determine the effects of ...............on making the subject get fat.To carry out the procedure to make the subject (the guinea pig poor me) fat...the materials required are different kinds of almonds, 'chattu', kesar, nuts etc etc and milk to add the nutrient element! But the subject is rather a naughty one...whenever she sees the experimenter coming with the materials, she gives a marathon run, making the poor experimenter run after her. After a good cat and mouse chasing game...sometimes the experimenter wins by inserting all the materials into the subject's mouth, forcibly....sometimes the subject wins by getting inside the bathroom and not coming out till an hour has passed.

This experiment is still continuing and will continue ... God only knows for how long...but as soon as I get the final data I'd tell you people about the conclusion.I don't know if after reading the full post you people have now got a new perspective of my mother as a great experimenter or not...but somehow I'll continue to believe that she is a damn good and tireless experimenter who has got a good tenacity!

A Long Leave

Well ,I had been on a long leave coz I had been practically battling with my Part I exams.Now that its over doesn't mean that I'm heaving a sigh of relief ....coz my results are yet to come out!So another wait for the results (and I'm literally dreading that day when they will be announced!


So what was I doing these days?Well I went to Belur math oneday to watch the "Sandhya Arti"!Man!it was awesome!I really believe once in a life time you should go to Belur Math in the evening and that too by a boat ride on the Ganga,and enjoy the caressing winds of Ganga on your face and then you will feel like an uncaged bird with no meaness or materialistic petty things to hold you back! And the Arti was totally mind boggling!The whole hall of the Mandir seemed to filled with the "Aratric Bhajan " of the brahmacharies.You would then at that moment feel as if you are closer to God like never before!I know many a people will think that,"what a silly thing!"....but I tell you my friends ,once you should go there and let me know.I really believe that You will feel like me too.

Would have loved to write down all the details.But I don't have that capability to express that experience into words...words have failed me in this case!Till then

Sionara!

Didimar Jhuli

When I was kid,we had all these fairy tales to amaze our kiddish imagination......it may be Cinderella for some it may be even the good old "Thakumar Jhuli"(which is on the road to extinction now) for a few others.I had spent most of my childhood in my Didima's home(our dear old didima whom we lovingly call"Namma").And my Namma had this amazingly stock of stories to tell........starting from mythological stories to ghost stories even the stories of "Rajputtur and Swadagarputtur".

Every evening after our studies were over, Namma is done with her "thakur puja" n the rest........me, my cousin brother Tutuda n sometimes even my elder sister used to snuggle near Namma and ask her to tell us stories.After the usual cajoling she would finally give up and then start a story.Our hot favourite was that of "Neelkamal and Lalkamal" and another Upendrakishore Roychoudhury story"Cheel ma".While telling us the story of "Neelkamal and Lalkamal",whenever she used to tell us about the incident when the "Khakhos" would ask Lalkamal "Who is awake in the house?"......we used to shiver in fear and anticiaption of what would happen next.And every now and then we would interrupt her by saying-"Tar por?"

She used to love that undivided attention and adulation.Sometimes she used to tell us jokingly"If love to hear my stories so much then record my stories so that you will be able to hear it even when I won't be there!"At this inevitably we used to protest by arguing that she would have to stay with us forever and tell us those amazing stories everyday.

Years have passed by.Obviously we don't need anyone now to tell us stories now.We now can read more intellectual and more purposeful books ourselves.A Neelkamal or a Lalkamal isn't so interesting enough now to amaze us, grown ups!And the amazing Namma who introduced us to the world of childhood fantasy is now herself recovering from a brain tumor operation and suffering from chronic lack of sodium and potassium!She,who can't even remember whether it's day or night or whether she really had her bath,has lost her ability to mesmerise us with any of her stories.Like the good old "Thakumar Jhuli" her "Jhuli" is empty now and on the road to extinction.

Thus every Fantasy would turn into hard core Realism,Imagination would be loathed by Intellect.Peter Pan won't be able to remain a happy boy in his Neverland...........he will finally grow up!!!!

Avril and Me

I really do like Avril and I believe that if I try I may start looking like her .....though my friends are rather discouraging...But i seriously believe that I can too look like her with this tie and socks on the hand and a Ganjee.....What do you think?

Me and My ambitions!!

When we all were nothing but kids...we all had ambitions of something doing big! Well just like any other kid I too, had my share of ambitions!!!! I had all these silly ambitions of becoming a police officer (like Kiran Bedi),a doctor (the most common) and the most daring and favorite of mine was that of becoming an Astronaut!!! To be very honest this was not my original idea ....my partner in crime was my cousin brother Tutuda!

We'd  mugged up from the various encyclopedias all about space n aircrafts and astronauts....and we had this strong belief that it's very much possible to make a rocket n off to the moon!!!!! With this strong belief and stars in our eyes oneday we decided that we are all set to build our own rocket!! Our factory was a small rooftop adjoining chamber in my aunt's apartment and  throughout the summer vacation, the main thing that we used to do in the noon time was to make our own rocket!! Obviously our main inputs were some old packing boxes,some broken pieces of a basin......and our vivid imagination! We had even decided that my brother is going to be the pilot and me the co-pilot! We were on the verge of almost finishing our work (don't ask how) when oneday my aunt caught us on the roof top during the noon time amidst all these! Forget about the scoldings that we got, or the restrictions that were set after this,....but that was the end of our Mission Impossible!

So that was one of my childhood antics .......I know they are very much silly ....but that's my signature style perhaps!

Love ......Passion.....Gen Y

Just a few weeks back I watched the movie"Rang de Basanti".....Infact I know many of you have watched this movie and had the urge to do something......well it happened with me too....and in a kind of josh I sent a SMS for help for Jessica Lal case,talked about it,followed every bits of news for the Jessica Lal case..........and thats it!Thats it!Thats what an inspired Gen Y gal like me did!Then I realized I had done nothing....it wasn't something great.......infact I am not doing anything extraordinary....just blindly following the trend!

Is this is what the tag line of Rang de Basanti means....Generation Awakens!!Are we awake!NO we aren't!It was the youth which was once the pulse of the pre independent India...it was the Will,Determination and Courage of the youth which was the main foundation of the freedom of India......then what happened today!

I would rather say it's not only the influence of easy life style from the west....also lack of any role model!In these days who are our role models....Cricketers or Filmstars!How many of us have A P J Kalam as our role model....a Kalpana Chawla for a role model?The cause is the real lack of those poeple who would pose as the ideal rolemodel in front of us. A person who will inspire us to strive for Excellence......who would ask us to "Arise Awake and stop not till the goal is reached!"We are confused bunch of kids who in absence of real role models vainly try to emmulate some rather glamourous personalities!

One request I would like to make to you people....why dont we instead of complaining for absence of role models try to become role models ourselves....Maybe in this pursuit we may not have success....but atleast our children won't be able to complain like us!Let us try to get a better future for the future generation!

""abhi abhi hua yakeen
ke aag hain mujh main kahin
huyi subah main jaal gaya
suraj ko main niggal gaya!
roobaru roshni!"

The 'Princess' and I

I was then a small kid, about 5 years old, when I first met the 'Princess'. She was a lanky,extremely fair and a rather thin girl who bore a proud look on her face....never used to initiate any kind of conversation with anyone and answered in monosyllables. Frankly speaking I disliked the very sight of her! From that moment I nicknamed her 'The Princess'.

Years went by, but we never had a good relationship. In fact I always believed that she was a big snob! It was when we were in Class V ,i.e about 10 years old, we started to know each other. She used to come to my mother for help in Bengali and in return used to help me out in English. Slowly a kind of need based friendship started to blossom between us...but a rather inconsistent one! We were not the bestest friends...it was that whenever we used to be there together we used to have fun! Never knew when from being just having 'masti' type of friends, we moved into a new dimension....of sharing little secrets......happiness......pains..........sharing out a laughter together, having new adventures together, wiping out each other's tears.

Some of the special things we experienced in life were together......like bunking classes......reading Mills and Boons romance under biology book......cheating and so forth. In fact we used to go to a Maths tuition together...and we used to share a mutual hatred towards that Maths tutor, who used to scold us vehemently on our lack of mathematical abilities.On those days I'd get ready in the morning...go to her home and wake her up from the sleep and most of the time she would refuse to come with me and missed the classes...while I had to attend the classes alone...cursing her and promising to myself that I will never talk to her anymore!

We used to dream together and still do........of being very rich,having a big mansion.....with Ferraris and BMWs and Mercedes. In fact it was our mock lawyer debates which had inspired her to study law! We always had this unique love hate relationship.....and in reality we were each other's biggest critic!

Things have changed.........we have changed......relationships have changed........but whenever I think of her ....I'm reminded of a girl who used to buy expensive gifts just to cool down her rather grumpy and angry friend! And whatever happens in future, the memories that I have shared with her, I'll never forget. Cheers my friend :)

Too much of Everything leads to Nothing!

When I was a kid, I used to keep a small diary where I'd ask all my friends or relatives to write something.....be it about me or anything they want to write! As usual being an obedient daughter, I started it with my mother. She's a teacher and I've always been an admirer of her knowledge.So she wrote.......

"Ati darpe hata lanka 

Ati manena kaurava

Ati dane balir bardhan

Sarvan atyantya garhitan"

Those who are familiar with Hindu mythology would definitely know the characters of Bali, Kauravas and Ravana of course! In simple  English that too much of pride brought an end to the great Rakshasha dynasty of Lanka, too much of vainness brought an end to the great clan of Kauravas and too much of giving brought an end to the King Bali. So it concludes that too much of everything is not appreciable.This is something which has been advocated by the Vedas,long time back. But I don't believe in it just because its written in the Vedas or just because my mom wrote it to me, I believe in it, it's because I've experienced it in my life, naye not only in my life but also in the lives of others! I've seen people who had been practical throughout their lives, but somewhere down the line they haven't been satisfied with their achievements because somewhere they've used their brains to counter attack situations which should've been best countered by the heart...yet their habit of referring to the brain when needed, made them forget about the existence of deeper feelings, sentimentalities etc. So perhaps that sanskrit phrase holds true in the larger context. I dont want to comment further on this topic coz I believe I'm still not matured enough to do so. I don't know about the rest...but I believe in it and thats all I need to do at this moment I guess!

Gurdian Angel

There was this little girl sitting by herself in the park. Everyone passed by her and never stopped to see why she looked so sad. Dressed in a worn pink dress, barefoot and dirty, the girl just sat and watched the people go by. She never tried to speak. She never said a word.Many people passed by her, but no one would stop. The next day I decided to go back to the park in curiosity to see if the little girl would still be there. Yes, she was there, right in the very spot here she was yesterday, and still with the same sad look in her eyes.

Today I was to make my own move and walk over to the little girl. For as we all know, a park full of strange people is not a place for young children to play alone. As I got closer I could see the back of the little girl's dress. It was grotesquely shaped. I figured that was the reason people just passed by and made no effort speak to her. Deformities are a low blow to our society and, heaven forbid if you make a step toward assisting someone who is different.

As I got closer, the little girl lowered her eyes slightly to avoid my intent stare. As I approached her, I could see the shape of her back more clearly. She was grotesquely shaped in a humped over form.I smiled to let her know it was OK; I was there to help, to talk.

I sat down beside her and opened with a simple, "Hello." The little girl acted shocked, and stammered a "hi"; after a long stare into my eyes. I smiled and she shyly smiled back. We talked until darkness fell and the park was completely empty. I asked the girl why she was so sad.The little girl looked at me with a sad face said, "Because, I'm different." I immediately said, "That you are!"; and smiled. The little girl acted even sadder and said, "I know."

"Little girl," I said, "you remind me of an angel, sweet and innocent."

She looked at me and smiled, then slowly she got to her feet and said,Really?"

"Yes, you're like a little Guardian Angel sent to watch over all people walking by."

She nodded her head yes, and smiled.

With that she opened the back of her pink dress and allowed her wings to spread, then she said "I am."

"I'm your Guardian Angel," with a twinkle in her eye.

I was speechless -- sure I was seeing things.

She said, "For once you thought of someone other than yourself. "My job here is done". I got to my feet and said, "Wait, why did no one stop to help an angel?"

She looked at me, smiled, and said, "You're the only one that could see me," and then she was gone.

And with that, my life was changed dramatically.

So, when you think you're all you have, remember, your angel is always watching over you. Like the story says, we all need someone... And, every one of your friends is an Angel in their own way. The value of a friend is measured in the heart.