Nice thought.....

Was listening to the Bengali version of Bheegi - Bheegi (Gangster) by James and while listening to a similar line in it this thought striked me (I am not that good in understanding pure bengali so may be he is also saying the same)

"We two are just like stars in the sky, like they seem so close from distance but actually they are light years apart. In the same way although we seem close due to the proximity of physical distance between us but actually we are more than light years apart now"

Deepawali n Kali Puja

Deepawali or Diwali is one of the foremost festivals which is celebrated with much fervor and flare in India. It is celebrated over 5 days and is celebrated by lighting diyas (earthen lamps) , bursting crackers , distributing sweets, decorating houses with lights and lanterns ,by praying to God/Goddess, wearing new clothes and more so ever by spending time and sharing happiness with ones family and loved ones.

This occasion is marked as the victory of good over evil. 

Different religions worship different Gods on Diwali but I will mainly talk of the Gods my religion and people worship. 

We Hindus worship Lord Ganesh, god of success, and Goddess Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity.

As per Hindu Mythology on this day Lord Rama returned to his kingdom Ayodhya along with his wife Goddess Sita and brother Lakshman, after completing 14 years of exile, so his return is celebrated by lighting lamps, bursting crackers and distributing sweets.

As it is called the festival of lights (Deep meaning lamps and along with awali means rows of lamps) so it is mainly a festival celebrated at night but the excitement and the involvement can be seen throughout the day. On this day people not only distribute sweets and gifts to their loved ones but also buy decorative items, new stuffs and clothes for themselves, so weeks before the actual day, markets can be seen bursting with people.

Since I am a Bengali so we mainly celebrate Kali Puja on this day. Goddess Kali is the goddess    of power and on this day we pray to her throughout the night. 

In ancient times and also still now at some places on this day, people sacrifice animals to Goddess Kali.

Generally we fast(don't eat or drink anything ) throughout the day and after praying to her whole night we break our fast. 

As I myself never fast because the moment I break it I generally overeat :) but this time I am planning to observe it. I know it will be tough especially with so many sweets lying around but nevertheless it will be fun.

So wishing you all A Very Happy Deepawali. May God Bless You All and shower you with all the prosperity and blessing you desire and deserve :)

Whistling :-)

I just put a status on Facebook that I want to whistle along with the song I am listening but couldn't because of my surroundings.

So it just reminds me of an incident which I wanted to share since long.

One day I was driving and my mom n dad were there with me and some song was playing on radio so I started whistling along with it. Although I thought that when I was kid and used to do something similar my dad always used to scold me but now I thought it should be fine as I am an adult now :-). So I continued whistling. I don't remember whether it was the next day or some days later but we three were watching some Bengali sitcom and in one of the scene the guy, around my age, came to the room in which his dad was sitting and started whistling and suddenly my Mom commented something "Nejer babar samne whistling korche" meaning "How can he whistle in front of his dad?". And the previous days incident came to my mind and I felt so embarrassed. Although its another matter that I have still not stopped doing it :-)

Sweets and Misthi Doi. Day 3

Sorry for not writing yesterday. Was busy reading and solving puzzles and also watching India win. 

Well it wasn't much eventful yesterday. Well we couldn't get tickets for the Alka Yagnik show :-( so had to sit most of the day at home. Although I drove dad around the town in my Jethu's scooty. It was quite fun driving it. 

Went to a sweet shop and had few rasogolas by myself :-). Also had misthi doi. 

In the evening I went and bought Mughlai and egg roll and some sweets. The best part about these places is that you get to walk a lot. I can definitely do with some walking owing to the amount of sweets and oil I am consuming daily. 

So overall a nice relaxing day. Will keep writing till then chao.

Winter vacations

Well my winter vacations have started. Yes this is the term that is coined by my colleagues. This recession not only put a break on our not-so-hard-earned- never-sufficient earning limit, it has also forced us to take ever-so-ready holidays. So this year after having already taken a break in march we are again asked to holiday from 19th Dec to 3rd Jan.

So my family san my Didibhai decided to visit our native place. So here I am siting in the train feeling nostalgic thinking of the times I used to travel with my complete family.

Since our tickets were not confirmed so we left for station early. On the way to the station we came to know that our waiting list is upgraded to RAC so that means we can atleast board the train and we are given two seats on which we four have to adjust. Ok not bad atleast we were happy that we are going. So we reached the station, almost 1.15 minutes before our train will leave. So what else then to sit at the platform and wait.

India is a populous country, for proof you should see any metro's railway station. You will be amazed to see the crowd of people coming from somewhere and going somewhere. Ok I won't go into to details of what all was happening there but just the things which are worth mentioning.

In India you will find human weighing machines installed at various locations. I saw a little boy coming down from one such machine, smiling sheepishly with his family waiting eagerly for him. Oh I forgot to mention the place was full of Bengalis by now. That boy reminded me of the times when me and Didibhai used to take a rupee coin from dad and then used to go to one of those machines. Then in case the card showed weight less than expected we used to be delighted and if it showed more than expected we used to say its because we are wearing more layers of clothes. My dad used to say his shoes are heavy,an acceptable reason for his excess weight shown on the card. Those cards sometimes have your horoscope or sometimes list a trait of some bollywood Actor. I don't check my weight anymore ever since I started weighing like a baby elephant as I know that I may have remained constant at that figure but by no means I might have reduced. But I know Didibhai must have checked.

Ok so after that I went to check the charts to see who are our co occupants as we have to share two seats between three of us. It showed some Dey and Poddar. Both of whom I expected to be some typical middle aged Bongs(Bong is a slang for Bengalis).

Right now I am sitting with I guess Mr Dey who is a middle aged half bald guy working in TCS New Delhi, who is going to attend his college reunion. NO I din't ask any of this to him. I couldn't help hearing it when he was telling all this to our fellow passengers. We Bengalis don't need topics to talk we just need people( One more reason for me to feel I am not a true Bengali). And if they happen to be Bengali then no matter whether we have met before or are ever going to meet again or not, but by the time we separate we can recite each other's family line especially about those distant relatives whom we have not met in ages but there locations or doing or achievements are worth boosting off. Our favorite topic is having pity on the sorry state of Bengal and sometimes if we are generous then we take that to India as a whole.

So now coming to Miss Poddar. Ya you have read it right she is a girl. She seems to have come out straight from some Chetan Bhagat novel. She is sharing the seat with my mom n jethima :-| on the berth adjacent to mine separated by an opaque partition. I saw her staring at me once and I quickly went to check myself fearing there must be something odd in the way I am looking otherwise why will she stare. She is wearing glasses.( I think I heard someone say cute :-P). This is the long I have ever mentioned some unknown girl on my blog.hmmm...

Well coming to my other co passengers. There are two families on my side. One a seemingly rude guy with wife and two kids who are like all kids, naughty, innocent and talkative. The other is a lady traveling with her kid and her father who is the typical bong guy who knows everything, can comment on everything and the most important you won't be surprised if he knows all your relatives or friends who are living where he lives.

So I will keep updating my travel account and all the thing going around me provided I get time and can access net easily from my mobile. Till then enjoy :-)

Momma.....

It was Mother's day on Sunday ..

Although dreamt about spending it beautifully, but I did not get to spend it as dreamt but I spent it by being at her side the whole day, listened to all that she had to say, watched cricket match with her, was quite amusing seeing her get all excited watching her favorite KKR play , although she was disappointed to see them lose again. The way she abused McCullum for being such a cold guy and he infuriated her more by getting out after just playing 3 balls managing a paltry six. Seeing her get so frustrated with the way KKR were performing that I could imagine how the other typical Bengali's must be feeling. When KKR lost 3 wickets, she was all pumped up as next in was Shah and since he had performed well last year at IPL, she was quite excited about his prospects this year but that guy has something else in his mind and he played a shot which not only disappointed my Mom but would have disappointed his own too. He was out first ball. Although the next batsman too dint last longer but she had hope since Dada was still there. But he also perished and according to her I was the culprit this time. Actually before the ball he got out, I commented that 44 runs of 44 balls, he is playing really well and she warned that don't say that he will get out and unfortunately he got out the next ball and I have to get that stern look from her which quickly turned into one full of disappointment. And such was her disappointment that she even believed when Ajit Agarkar walked down to the middle and I sarcastically said that "Oh what a great batsman has come now" and she with her innocence asked me "Oh, you think he will get some runs" and I looked back "Are you serious?" but may be God dint want to disappoint her and Ajit Agarkar did play well and ultimately KKR crawled to some total, so it was only McCullum (for everything he did and din't do), Ganguly (for missing his fifty) and Shah (for disappointing her) were the one who were still getting the scolding.

Parallely we were watching a Bengali Movie. She got me out of the other room where I was watching Red Devils beat Manchester City, by shouting that a great Mithun Chakraborty movie is being shown. Just come an watch how good is the movie and the acting. I am also a big fan of Mithun owing to his great down to earth attitude and helpful nature , so I sat with her watching the movie. In the movie , Mithun had a gang of his college students with whom he used to kill all the corrupt people and there were some good police people infact only one who was looking for Mithun and his gang, so she continuously kept telling me that the police is good but the gang is not bad, the all are good people who are doing good deeds. I was just quite amused to see the childish way she was trying to make me understand that point, repeating it every now and then. So finally I said , ya but they have no right to kill anyone no matter how bad those people are, so police is also right.

But then came the moment that I loved the most....The gang of Mithun was caught by the Police and they were getting some severe beating from the cops, so in order to force them to confess Mithun's name the cops brought Mother of one of those guys to the police station. There even after seeing her battered son , she told him "Don't tell them his name"..Hearing this the cop got bewildered and shouted (I have to write this in Bengali) "Apni Janeen apni kake bachachen? Apni oke kono din dekheche o?" (Do you know whom are you saving? Do you have ever seen that guy?). All he meant was that you are saving someone whom you have not even seen or know even though your son is dying. Before that guys Mother could answer my Mother said "Apni kokhono Bhagwan ke dekhe chen?" (Have you ever seen God?) and just then in the movie too that lady repeated the same line and My Mom just jumped from her seat and said to me "I swear I haven't seen this movie before but that was bang on target".....It was so good to see her jump like a kid and I just couldn't stop smiling.

It was a typical Mithun Movie, full of his typical dialogues, back ground music of Tiger...Tiger.. and with some lousy bunch of villains.

Anyways it was great fun to watch the movie and match with her..it always is.

She always tell me whenever I stop her from getting hyper that when people get old they should be let to speak whatever they want ....and I completely agree with her..it definitely helps irrespective of age.

Of all the things she has taught me both directly and indirectly... I feel this one is which I cherish the most nowadays "All people want is someone to talk"..although the original quote is "All people want is someone to listen" but I improvised it learning from my and her experience that you want the other person to say too...so its more of a talk or conversation that we want instead of just a listening ear.

Will it still be called White House??

One thing I cannot get into my tiny mind is why the color of a person is so sensationalized by the media. The whole US elections was projected as the quest to have the first Black person as President. So when he won instead of giving credit to his philosophies, ideologies, manifesto etc, I felt his color was single most quality that made him get noticed among the voters. And that was not enough , just few weeks after that there was a news of US getting the first black Supreme Court CJ. Again the stress here was on the word black.

Ok, I agree that there was a time that people were discriminated on the basis of their color and it really should act as a motivation for others when they see those people getting recognized or appreciated or holding important positions but I see highlighting the word black every time as a kind of racism.
Somewhere that word acts as a derogatory remark to that person's capabilities or qualities. Somewhere I sense people saying "Oh , he is Black that's why"

Few months back, I was reading a blog written by some Bengali living in US and she recalled an incident that occurred at one of the get together of Bengali people that they were holding. The author said that there was a couple in their community who never used to stop talking about Obama like "How great he is..How wonderful he is going to be for US and World etc". But that day that couple was quite silent. The author on inquiring with others about the reason found that their daughter was getting married to some American, which mind you those NRI people (Bengali's who were assembled there) were quite appreciative of, since they took it as a status symbol to have a foreigner as your relative and that to a SIL (Son - In - Law). But this couple were quite upset because this guy was Black. So the irony was that these people on one hand were so excited with the fact that a Black guy was going to lead the Super power but they cannot accept the fact that their SIL is going to be a Black guy.

And I think this is still the case with a majority of people.

So somewhere I feel that repeated mention of the word black to denote Obama etc is just another kind of racism that is appreciating the achievements of these people but somehow in a sarcastic manner.

So as the cartoon asks , I don't think I will be surprised if they change the name of the building from White House to Black House :) but I will then like them to paint it black too :)

Note: These are all my opinions and if I hurt somebody then that was not intentional.