Let us share My World

Sunando Banerjee presentation from Riyadh

2011-09-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

My Little Sister - By Ayushi Mitra

2011-08-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to tell you about my little sister, Pinga. She is four and half years old. She is very cute and very funny too. After returning from her school, she always plays and represents herself like a teacher. Through her activities we know all about her friends and what she has done in her school for the day.

During my last session break we went to Delhi. We were travelling by “Duranta Express”. In our compartment, there was an elderly woman who was sitting next to us. In the train, the canteen people provided us evening snacks which included a packet of fruit juice also .Pinga is very fond of fruit juices. She saw the elderly woman kept the fruit juice on the table. She watched the full episode very carefully and in my mother's absence she said to that lady, "You are just like my Thammi (grand mother), so you should not drink that juice because you are old. It may cause some health problem to you and at the same time you should not waste any foods hence give it to me." Everybody in the compartment had burst in laughter after hearing this conversation from such a little girl.

After this when we were eating dinner every one got a cup of curd. Next morning when my sister woke up she saw an old man in front of us didn't eat that curd. She told my mother, "Every time you tell us do not misuse your food and that man didn't eat the curd, so shall I eat the curd?" My mother said "No" and she began to cry.

During our trip we have visited whole of Delhi and then we headed towards Agra.

We visited the famous Taj Mahal there.

After our visit to Taj Mahal in Agra our aunt from Kolkata called my mother to ask how we have enjoyed our visit, my mom gave the phone to my sister and aunt asked her "How the Taj Mahal and what were was inside it?" My sister said instantly, "Nothing but, two dead bodies under cover".

That's the way every time my sister make funny things to us .She is very naughty and funny but I always love my little sister.

Thanks for this invaluable contribution to Ayushi Mitra

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : I'd rather not be Anna

2011-08-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : I'd rather not be Anna

I am ANNA - the new Mantra of India

2011-08-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

After a long time, I had the time to surf the television yesterday. For half an hour I surfed the television and to my utter disbelief I found the Indian media is following Anna like the paparazzi followed Diana. There was not even a mention of the huge fall of nearly 350 points at the SENSEX or Narayanamurthi retiring from Infosys. There was a small mention of another historic blunder of changing the name of West Bengal to Paschim Banga in a regional news channel.. but then the hero of the day was clearly Anna, the man who loves to fast in order to stop corruption.

Fasting is a fascinating word in India. I think it has been imbibed in our mind from early childhood as we grew up listening to the heroics of the fasting superheroes like Gandhi or our own Jatin Das. I remember that I always tried to show my anger against my elder brother by abandoning dinner. But sadly my fasting never crossed the human limitation level, thanks to my mother's intervention at right time. My father was always reluctant though and that sometimes wonder whether he was anti fasting mechanism of protest.

Before I drift into something else, let us come back to Anna. I heard about Anna long back when I was doing my engineering in Bombay(Mumbai). Anna was hugely popular among the Maharashtrian people for his zeal and fight against corruption even in those days. In the early 2000, Hazare led a movement in Maharashtra state which forced the state government to pass a stronger Maharashtra Right to Information Act. This Act was later considered as the base document for the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI), enacted by the Union Government. I also remember when Anna forced the Government of Maharashtra to adopt Right to Information Act in 2003. Anna to me is a fighter who will never stop until he reached his goal.

What surprised me is the media reaction to Anna this time in his movement against the corruption and amendment in the Jan Lokpal Bill or the citizens' ombudsman bill. I feel disheartened the way our Government has reacted to something which should have been implemented long back. This is surprising that Anna has to go on fasting for something, which should have been a natural inclusion to the Indian Civil Society. The scams of recent times probably had exposed the country’s corruption to the world but can Anna change it by implementing Jan Lokpal?

I feel corruption has been another genetic burden carried by Indians from years. Well, it doesn’t mean that every Indian is corrupted or all non-Indians are free from corruption. But corruption at the higher level is something that has deep rooted in the culture of Indian politics and civil society. We have grown up knowing police officers to political leaders to government officials are corrupted. And we accepted it as natural as other socio-political events. I remember Abdul Kalam, probably the cleanest person ever entered the Indian Political Scenario, once commented why do we blame our politicians? He sighted a great example of an Indian, who stands in a long queue to extend his Visa in US, walks a mile to throw a paper into a bin in Singapore, stops his car at a signal at 3 am in the morning in Dubai comes back to India to pay bribe to get his passport renewed, spits at the road and throw all garbage in the road and break traffic rules in broad daylight. And then he blames the system for corruption. Can Anna change that man to stop? Can our media focus on changing those corrupted men from the system? We select the political leaders and then they select the civil servants. If we cannot change ourselves then how could we change the people we select?

I am sure with the kind of media support Anna has, he will be able to get the Jan Lokpal adopted by the Indian Government. But I am not sure whether this would actually end this deep-rooted culture of corruption from India. To eradicate the corruption from India, we have to adopt Anna in everyone of us. Not just by wearing the T-Shirt saying “I am Anna” but we have to really make that effort to feel like him and make our next generation to be strong like Anna.

Let us share My World: Resurgent Bengali - Not an impossible dream

2011-05-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Let us share My World: Resurgent Bengali - Not an impossible dream

Resurgent Bengal - Not an impossible dream

2011-05-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Another 36 hours, and we are going to have possibly one of the most famous changes in the history of politics. If all prediction, probability and statistics does not falter, we are going to have TMC emerging as winner of West Bengal State Legislative Assembly. A remarkable change indeed and a big relief from this suffocation of hypocrisy and pseudo intellectualism.

But does this change really create an impact in the socioeconomic scenario of Bengal? Does this really lead to a resurgence in Bengal? These are the questions everyone is asking today.

Resurgence, the meaning is to restore or bringing back something which is lost or lost temporarily. The word itself makes it clear that we all are thinking of bringing back something that we feel is lost. I don't want to get into the discussion why it is lost, but all of us are convinced that the state has definitely deteriorated over a period of time.

It is difficult to bring changes in a state by just toppling a Government, but it definitely starts a process of cleaning up things. The saddest part of the state that is has lost the positivity in its people. I see a lot of pessimists these days and this is bound to happen when you compromise with your needs for a long time. Most of the people are worried what will happen if Mamata fails to deliver but strangely they never analyze why should they believe a Government which has failed in almost all department for 35 years?

I always felt and believed in good thinking and today I feel this lady has a refined and refreshing thinking. People who are making fun about her wish of converting Kolkata into London miserably fails to realise how honest and how good her thoughts are. Why not, if Japan can think of getting back to its past after second world war or more recently after the Tsunami, why West Bengal cannot think in this manner. And hats off to this lady for thinking out of the box. I am sure she will face tremendous resistance from the opposition but I wish the people of Bengal to support the lady for her wishes. She has a dream for Bengal and me too has one. Why shouldn't I keep my eyes open and try to fulfill her wishes.

Resurgence in Bengal is no more an impossible dream if
1. People of Bengal take this change positively
2. Mamata Banerjee keeps thinking out of the box
3. People like Amit Mitra, Manish Gupta, Partha Chatterjee... takes the lead and work honestly.
4. Every party has some corrupted leaders, so does TMC but I wish Mamata chooses the right people at right position.
5. Trade Unionism should see its exit from WB
6. Mamata brings changes and adopt best practices at Eductaion System
7. Atleast for the next 3 - 4 years, let Mamata acts like a dictator.
8. The politics of BANDH its natural death in the state.
9. School Politics should be abolished
10. Primary eductaion and Health Care should see a complete revamp.

AND YES.... the intellectual leftists should also see its natural death in the state.

Let us share My World: A day with a sculptor

2010-12-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Let us share My World: A day with a sculptor

A day with a sculptor

2010-12-01T09:49:00.000-08:00

It was truly magic moments for me as I spent one of my greatest morning and afternoon with this man.. Khaynda Daa or Chandrasekhar Das. truly mesmerizing work but more than that what impressed me is the simplicity and youthfulness of this great artist. trying to bring few glimpse of his art here.. and I am sure.. I will keep on adding few more in the coming days.

Another simply outstanding

Way to office

rejected gems

my favorite.. well one of the favorites.

You can find this one at the Jadavpur University.

chandrasekhar or our beloved Khyanda Da.. in his own created world

A deprived work of Chandrasekhar. Lying without care in one of his studio window.

A sculpture in the making. This is made in terracotta. This will undergo metal casting.

Personas for Firefox | Dreamy Ginkgo Leaves

2010-08-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

Personas for Firefox | Dreamy Ginkgo Leaves

Muffler –the quintessential element of Bengali Household!

2010-07-31T23:25:00.000-07:00

Muffler is possibly the only thing apart from intellectualism (Antlaami) that had brightened up every Bengalis years after years irrespective of all reference frame and time. I failed to realize how this small little thing had always protected millions and zillions of Bengali from the universal threat cold (‘’Thaandaa’’). I know a set of people may debate on Monkey – Cap, another friendly neighbourhood protector, for its supremacy over muffler. To me muffler is possibly more easily available and easy to handle and sometime being a fashion statement, has an edge over the old-fashioned monkey cap.
Around 12 years back, I realized the importance of a muffler for the first time. It was March end when my friend Fashiur visited me in Mumbai. That was the time of ‘’look up and talk small’’ time as long distance STD calls were too costly and people used to call from a telephone booth looking at the increasing meter and try to shorten their conversation by emphasizing on things that could save the human race, like ‘’How are you?’’, ‘’How is the temperature’’ and all important ‘’are you getting Fish and rice?’’ But Fashiur’s father called him and didn’t utter any of these but asked whether he carried the muffler along with him. Fashiur proudly replied ‘yes’ and quite unknowingly put his hands over his possession, a red and green muffler in that hot and humid Mumbai summer. And then we witnessed his obsession with that muffler for the next 7 days especially when we visited Goa. Fashiur and his muffler were inseparable in extreme conditions and situations. He took ample precautions to prevent any possible separation though. I remember when all we friends went for a swim at the Baga Beach; he preferred to take a nice nap on the sun wearing his maroon shorts and the muffler. The miracle of an unimaginable separation with his muffler happened only once when he went to Nainital for his honeymoon without that famous muffler and came back with pregnant Sonali, his wife. Anyway, I do not want to get into any side effects theory of ’’missing the muffler’’ but what I meant is definitely muffler is an important part of being human in Bengal.
A few days back I was standing at the check in counter in Singapore’s Changi Airport terminal when I heard a frantic but familiar scream ‘’Bhombol, muffler taa golaay de... Thandaa lege jaabe’’ (Wear your muffler Bhombol else you will catch cold). Ah! I know the deep rooted concern and feeling behind this scream. So I looked behind and found an elderly lady screaming and denying the freedom of a 50+ adventurous Bhombol who declined the year old tradition to wear the protector of all seasons at the comfortably warm Singapore airport. I can’t stop feeling bad for Bhombol and felt like going ahead and console Bhombol by sighting example of the legendary Mithudaa who killed thousands of dangerous men on earth while wearing those colourful mufflers and made it an eternal style statement.
For those who are not Bongs, please let me clarify that Muffler is a heavy scarf (mostly woollen) worn around the neck for warmth and please do not get confused with the car muffler, which is a device that absorbs noise, especially one used with an internal-combustion engine. I will surely do a more detailed and exhaustive study over this all important life saving attire and update you later.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

2010-07-31T23:24:00.000-07:00

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Kashmir

2010-05-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Maa - endless energy packed with ambition!

2010-04-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

I always felt like writing a novel on my mother. It looks pretty funny that I am actually writing but for the last few days I am getting an urge to write about her. Last year she had a small accident and had to undergo a surgery. I still remember, that was one rare occasion I found her nervous. It was not because of the surgery but the fear of perhaps loosing the ability to travel alone. I found that glitter. that smile and joy was back day before yesterday, when I left her at the Railway Station for her 7th trip to Himachal Pradesh. I was a bit nervous though and continuously telling her what needs to be done and not, and then just when the train was about to start, she looked at me and said, "don't worry, I will take someone's help to trek at the Rohtang Pass" This is my Maa...
My father and mother had one of the most talked about marriage in our town Uluberia. It was like a story for all aspirant lovers and encouraged many of them to go against all odds and marry. My father passed away in 1994 in a sudden heart faliure when I was just 20 and my brother was 26. It was one of those time, when people get unnerved especially when my mother was pretty unaware of matters unrelated to her school. I remember my brother was offered a job at my father's office and I decided to quit my intention of becoming an engineer and study BSc at Uluberia College. That was the time, we saw a different person in Maa. She was stronger than ever,and she decided to send me to Mumbai for engineering and my brother took up a job in Bangalore.
From 1994 to 2004 till the time I came back to Kolkata, my mother was all alone working and silently supporting two of us to pursue what we believed in. Although maa still has that feeling of not been able to send me to US for further studies, I don't have any regret. What I achieved today is simply because of her relentless sacrifices and strong ambition. She herself was a promising student who never stood second till her 12th standard but never able make to engineering as it was pretty tough for girls doing engineering in Bengal in early 60s.
From 2000 onwards, maa has started changing herself into another mold. That was the time, when we two were settling down in life, maa decided to start an association for elderly ladies called 'ADDA'. She started that after she retired from school.It was a social organization which organizes cultural programs by elderly ladies of her age. I was privileged to experience few of their unbelievable programs. What was more unbelievable was the way aged ladies organized and performed on those events. Ma's logic was simple. "We are retired or jobless, if we start sitting at home, we will end up finding faults with others especially with our in laws and children. So better we engage ourselves into something creative and that will take all our energy not letting any chance to complain about others." She also started traveling across India. From the southern India to the icy northern part of the country, she traveled across almost all the famous places in India. She also traveled across Europe and thoroughly enjoyed.
Off late, she moved into writing novels and short stories for little magazines. And I was again surprised to find her becoming very popular across a wide range of readers in my town. I wish she also turn into web so that many of you could read about her and her life. I am sure that will be encouraging stuff for all of us. Maa still has dreams of traveling to Manas Sarovar and Amarnath. Hope she will recover from the knee problem soon to be able to go to these two places and enjoy. Love you Maa...

Kolkata Burning

2010-03-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

I was out of Kolkata when I heard about the Stefen Court Fire. It was a shocking news. The building brought back so many memories. If you are in Kolkata it is not possible for you to miss this building.
What made me more scared is the fact that there are thousands of buildings like that existing in this city. Just go to borobajaar area and you will go mad. It is easy for us to blame the administration or our CM or the political leaders. But why shouldn't we? This government has encouraged wrong practice everywhere. Today they have established a very corrupted system in almost every walks of life. From the day a man is born to his death you will only found this corrupted non sense people around.
Again after this incident they will teach us what to do and what not to... I wonder when they go public and confess that there is a fault in the system and the public just hears that and forget.. this is sad.
This is really sad to see that the city is on the verge of collapsing and our netas are still continuing the blame game.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

2010-03-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Spain 2010

2010-02-16T03:55:00.000-08:00

This is my 3rd time in Barcelona and first time in Winter. It has been an amazing experience to be in Barcelona. The architectural marvels, the amazingly beautiful town planning, The Picasso's, the Dali's and Gaudi's ... it's absolutely a new experience every time I came here.
This time the first destination was La Torre d'Oristá. This is an amazing place. It is a village around 100 km away from Barcelona. An old house which was maintained by an old lady and rented to us for a training. 2 days just passed by. The barbecue at the second night was simply superb. The meat and the special onion roots (Calçots - A Catalan Delicacy) were simply delicious.
We had another short trip to calella de palafrugell. This is again a village set against the Mediterranean sea. Although winter is definitely not the right time to be there, the place was amazing.

But then the most awaited moment came to reality in Pamplona. Pamplona is again a small town which is around 500 km away from Barcelona. We took the Renafe train to Pamplona. The scene started changing across us before we actually reached pamplona. From dry green things started getting white. I was pretty upset after reaching the city. As there were layers of white ice covered the city, the sky was sunny so there was no chance of snow fall. But then the next morning made me thrilled as the moment I open my eyes... it was absolutely white. I quickly came down from the seventh floor of my hotel... and then within a minute I found a white layer over by black jacket. It was an absolutely great experience. And ofcourse for the first time in my life I experienced snow fall. Infact it happened today.. and I am so very excited that I felt like writing it asap.

Faces – What lies beneath?

2009-11-24T18:33:00.001-08:00

I always enjoy speaking to Sourav, my neighbour and a sweet brother who recently came back from USA and trying to settle down in India. Yesterday we were discussing about acquaintance that became a part of life. Not always that we keep in touch with them but the memories of meeting a stranger and knowing that person is simply great.

This reminds me of those people I met in a train, a plane, in a meeting or just while walking down the road. I remember when I was in my sixth standard and we had a new telephone connection. Our greatest fun and excitement was to dial an unknown number and start irritating the person on the line. These days it may sound odd to kids ... but that was a great past time for us. One fine day I called up a number and a boy with a sweet voice picked up the number.. Hello! And then without waiting for my answer, he just kept on saying how good it is to hear someone's voice in the telephone. I was completely awestruck by his voice and the way he started talking to me. I felt he must be someone of my age or probably a person from tenth standard (that was the class of ultimate maturity for a sixth standard boy those days). We discussed a lot, about favourite food, favourite games, favourite teacher and even favourite girl. We also discussed how bad the parents are and they know nothing but scolding their kids. It became almost a daily routine for me to speak to him. I used to call him Bibek and we became great friend. This continues for almost 3 years.

1990, I was in my tenth standard, the pinnacle of success and where only wise man can reach (but unfortunately by that time I also came to know that getting into tenth standard is not really the end of study). It was the saptami night of Durga Puja, when Priyanka came with an old man claiming to be his uncle. The man was in his mid 60 wearing a dhoti and Paanjabi. Priyanka was my childhood dream girl. I desperately wanted to speak to her but that uncle was so irritating he was just not letting me impress his niece. Finally I got a chance to talk to Priyanka and then she introduced me to her uncle. A familiar voice greeted me as "Hello Bandhu, Kamon aacho?" How can it be possible ... Why on earth do I have to stand in front of him... as the other day only I spoke to him over telephone and complained about Priyanka's uncle and how irritating he is.. I was at a total loss of word to find Bibek Das standing in front of me.. my soul mate who knows all my secrets in life even that I read a Debonair Magazine few days back... oh My God!!

Bibek Das became a real good friend and till the time he was alive we often used to meet. He was writing a book on the History of Uluberia, the place I belong to. One fine day I remember he send me an SOS .. I just came back from Bombay and my mother anxiously asked me to go and meet Mr. Das. I found my friend in a new Avatar. He had become thinner and having a long white beard. I asked him why? He said, in his childhood his friend used to call him the Bernard Shaw of Uluberia. Although he refused to accept that title but somehow in his mind he used to really feel like Shaw. Now he felt that the time is almost over and before he passed away he wanted to keep a beard like Bernard Shaw. But he was so pissed off with himself as he found he looked more like Rahmat Ali than Bernard Shaw with the beard. By the way Rahmat Ali was a local rickshaw puller. Anyway the SOS was sent to me for a different reason, he asked me to make a portrait of him. He said that Priyanka is too busy with her life and he doesn't have too many people to look after him (he was unmarried) so he wanted to invite friends and throw a great party before he dies to celebrate his Shradh (the ritual we perform when a person expires). And he actually did that.

I have rarely seen such a happy person. He was always happy. He left a great career of a busy lawyer in UK before coming back to India. It happened one fine morning, over a cup of tea he relaised that he is missing the Bengali news paper over tea so he came back to India. People of Uluberia never saw him wearing anything else than a clean white Dhoti and Paanjabi. He passed away in 2001 and unfortunately I was not there ... but Priyanka told me that he was really happy even in his last few days.

Open Source and Acceptance in India

2009-11-18T20:00:00.001-08:00

Let me congratulate myself for successfully completing one year in the field of Open Source Technologies. Coming from Microsoft Community, which I feel is the largest sales oriented company, offering software free was a difficult concept to gel with. To be honest I was totally against in distributing the software free as I felt that this is not the way to earn money for your company. I was wrong and that is the honest way of accepting I was wrong.

Open Source software is not free... but yes the codes are free. So the biggest conceptual difference is that you have software which you can change. You don't really have to depend on the developers to do core changes.

What I feel, today we have reached a stage and especially in India, we need to build the confidence in the user community. The business community have to think that serious business applications can also be developed over open source technology. We need to really bring open source out from those long-haired, spectacle clad so-called hacker-type intelligent software programmers to normal people like you and me. Today the biggest challenge lies over there. And to ensure that we need more professionally managed products than building community. Community is for developers... but we need to develop community for business people.. who will talk about the usability of the product not about the codes of the products.

Gartner predicts that Open Source Technology may soon take over the largest market share from the proprietary software. I sincerely feel, this is posiblly the best time for Indian ERP and Business Software companies to grab this opportunity and start practicing Open Source Products. This would really give the starved SME segment a real value for money. Let them pay for what they need not to compensate those large software giants their marketing expenses. I am sure we have a great future for Open Source products in India.. and we are only responsible to make people aware of the products. Let us all stop emphasize Open Source as free rather than a software which is cost0-effective with lower cost of ownership.

India Tour by Manel and Paolo

2009-10-31T03:06:00.000-07:00

Swine Flu and the World of Panic

2009-08-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

Swine flu is the new addition to our ever crazy media fraternity. I was coming to Delhi from Kolkata in a Kingfisher flight yesterday. I heard a man sneezing profusely. Well, it happens to me also so I was not at all felt it unusual. But suddenly I saw a group of people accumulated and started discussing something. The group so suddenly increased in size and volume, that the hostesses were finding it difficult to dismantle the gathering. The group of worried man were so sure that the man had swine flu and the discussion was either to change their sit or ask the pilot to take it to some nearest airport. I felt they don't mind even if there is a crash landing.

The poor man was also confused and I am sure he rushed to a nearby hospital as soon as he reached Delhi. I somehow tried to pacify him saying Swine flu is not at all fatal if treated early. But apparently it looked to me (though I am not a doctor) as simple as allergic sneezing which even I am used to.

Well, I remember my experience at the Kolkata airport while coming from Europe in May 1st week, when just the news of Swine Flu has started exciting our ''ever-starved-for-excitement'' generation of people. I was welcomed by a group of middle aged doctors wearing light green mask at the airport. The situation looks quite gloomy at there was pin-drop silence the minute we entered. A form was handed over to us asking whether we visited so and so country in the last few months. I said no, and then the doctor said do you have headache, no. Do you have fever? No. Ok you may go. I whispered to the doctor if I lie to you, how can you understand. oh!! how can I forget the panicked face of that doctor.

But jokes apart, it is a serious epidemic. And we all should take necessary precaution. Atleast it is not the plague in Surat that sold 1 million antibiotics in the Mumbai black Market.

So let us fight against the SWINE FLU and don't panic.

Budget - A brand new Marketing Channel

2009-07-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

The first budget of Independent India was presented on November 26, 1947 by India's first Finance Minister Sir R.K. Shanmugham Chetty. Since then, 28 Union Finance Ministers have been presenting the Indian budget every year. Initially, much attention was given to the agricultural sector but as later on, the focus shifted to the other sectors including the industrial, financial and other sectors.

In the fifties, Indian budget highlights were related to the public sector and public finance which include taxation, inflation, public savings etc. This trend continued with Indian budget announcements till 1985.

The change in approach began with Mr. Manmohan Singh who was the Finance Minister under Mr. P.V. Narsimha Rao. He started the new phase of economic liberalization. The control of the Government over public sector units was reduced through disinvestment. The liberalization process which he had started still continues and is seen in interim budget and Indian budget announcements.

However, one thing is common with every budget prepared since 1947 and that is the unfulfilled and unaccountable promises made in budget speeches. It is quite astonishing to see that even after so many illogical promises and projects promised in every budget, Indians still get excited hearing them.

I always felt that a every political person has two phases in their life. 1st phase is the time before he/she comes to power and the next phase is after the person comes to power. And both the phases are actually governed by a set of people. When the leader is not in power, his speeches, his dos are the result of a combined wishes of a section of us, the people. And once the leader becomes powerful, that is he/she holds a position, he becomes a subject of the wisdom of several bureaucrats.

We often compare various ministers. I strongly feel that a good minister is who has the wish / ambition to do good for his people. In India, barely people thinks about the country. So let us not bring nationalism in it. But a collective efforts of all those ministers who does something good for his groups of people, makes the whole country prosper. The Golden Quardrangle was a project executed by Atal Bihari Bajpeyi. I am sure, this man will be remembered forever just for this absolutely amazing project. But again Mr. Bajpeyi has not really planned it. He had the wish to do something good for the people of this country so he took the initiative to execute the project. But if you look at the history, the original plan was made in time of Sher Shah. It had a mention even in the speeches of Nehru.

Budget has become a free way of marketing for the political leaders these days. I feel there should a committee or a tribunal to analyze the feasibility of those promises made in a budget speech. And political leaders and their parties should be held responsible for making any unrealistic promises. Not only that, I think they should be held responsible for what they said and there should not be any respite given to them until the promises are kept.

But again, we are used to hearing unrealistic things. We still feel ecstatic to think we are a superpower and forget that more than 50% population still leaves in the dark. I wonder when people will wake up and say... show me the path. How and when you will execute these? I am sure the day will soon come when any minister will feel twice before making any bullshit comment.

The 90/10 Principle

2009-06-16T06:11:00.000-07:00

Discover the 90/10 Principle. It will change your life(at least the way you react to situations). What is this principle?

10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by
how you react. What does this mean?

We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop
the car from breaking down. The plane will be late arriving, which throws
our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no
control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determinethe other
90%.

How? By your reaction.

You cannot control a red light., but you can control your reaction. Don't
let people fool you; YOU can control how you react. Let's use an example.

You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup
of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just
happened. What happens next will be determined by how you react. You curse.

You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over. She breaks down
in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize her for
placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle
follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you
find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get
ready for school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately
for work.

You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are
late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit. After a 15-minute
delay and throwing $60 traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your
daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at
the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase.Your day has
started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You
look forward to coming home, When you arrive home, you find small wedge in
your relationship with your spouse and daughter.

Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning. Why did you have a bad day?

A) Did the coffee cause it?

B) Did your daughter cause it?

C) Did the policeman cause it?

D) Did you cause it?

The answer is " D".

You had no control over what happened with the coffee.How you reacted in
those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day. Here is what could have and
should have happened.

Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say,
"It's ok honey, you just need, to be more careful next time".Grabbing a
towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase, you
come back down in time to look through the window and see your child
getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early and
cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are
having.

Notice the difference?

Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different.Why?

Because of how you REACTED.

You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other

90% was determined by your reaction.

Here are some ways to apply the 90/10 principle.

If someone says something negative about you, don't be a sponge. Let the
attack roll off like water on glass. You don't have to let the negative
comment affect you! React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong
reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed out
etc.

How do you react if someone cuts you off in traffic? Do you lose your
temper? Pound on the steering wheel? A friend of mine had the steering
wheel fall off) Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Do you
try and bump them?

WHO CARES if you arrive ten seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin
your drive? Remember the 90/10 principle, and do not worry about it.

You are told you lost your job. Why lose sleep and get irritated? It will
work out. Use your worrying energy and time into finding another job. The
plane is late; it is going to mangle your schedule for the day.Why take out
your frustration on the flight attendant? She has no control over what is
going on. Use your time to study, get to know the other passenger. Why get
stressed out? It will just make things worse.

Now you know the 90-10 principle. Apply it and you will be amazed at the
results. You will lose nothing if you try it. The 90-10 principle is
incredible. Very few know and apply this principle. The result? Millions of
people are suffering from undeserved stress, trials, problems and
heartache.We all must understand and apply the 90/10 principle. It CAN
change your life!!!

-Author: Stephen Covey

Your country .. My Country..and the Slumdogs

2009-06-15T05:37:00.000-07:00

Recently I had a tour to Barcelona to attend the World Conference of Openbravo, my company and followed by the conference I took a break to visit my brothers who are staying in England for the last 10-14 years.
It was a refreshing break to the true sense of the term. My cousins are all doctors and stays in places like Birmingham, Nottingham and Lake District. We stayed at Lake District and then started roaming across the country. Barrow-in-Furness in Lake District is such a beautiful place that words may fall short to describe. It was like picture photographs all around. The lash green terrain, small ups and downs, layers of hills and lakes here and there makes it perfect absolutely a joy for your eyes.
We normally used to venture places around Lake District and gone further north to Scotland and even the Northern Scotland to Fort William. we climbed up the Ben Nevis, one the highest pick of Scotland. We were absolutely lucky as the day we went to Scotland was a rare sunny day in Scotland and we got to see beautiful sky over there. Much to my brother's objection we also went to London for a day and visited some places of common interest. It was surely another old good city.
By this time, you must be wondering what makes me name the topic as you are probably reading a travelogue. Now let me come to that. I happened to visit a lot of countries and places, starting from the interior parts of western province of Thailand to the city buzz of Dubai. What makes me sad is when I come back to my land. It is not for what I left and came back.. but it is for what we could have made if we had a wish to do so. I feel so encouraged when I go to Hyderabad or Bangalore as the moment you reach the city, starting from the Airport, you see a difference. Although some parts of the city still needs a lot of changes, but that is fine and I am sure it will be done on due time. But then I come back to Kolkata or go to Mumbai even, I feel sad. Why can't we make the country as beautiful as their countries? A lot had been discussed over innumerable debates where people normally bash the Government being so indifferent to make the state beautiful etc. Where I feel the Government is surely responsible for developing the infrastructure, it is us; the people of the country can make things beautiful. I wonder why the same Indian that goes to UK look for a dustbin to throw a piece of dirty paper, but throws it on the street the moment he comes back to his homeland and blames the Government for being inefficient. I am not at all supporting the Government but what I feel is a terrible lack in civic sense in us. And this sense should be inculcated from our childhood. Gone are the days of blaming others... let us do a thorough introspection of our lifestyle and teach our next generation to love their homeland, protests someone polluting it. Please don't teach your sons and daughters to look after their own selves. Let them be a citizen of the country first; let them love their country...our country.
I am a firm believer that one day, Kolkata will have beautiful roads, Mumbai will get rid of those slums, and Delhi will not have only buildings but also a lot of trees around... I am a firm believer that one day; we will have tourists coming to even India for shooting a documentary on the rise of the country but not to show the slums and red light areas of the country. A day will soon come when Slum dogs will really become millionaire.

Change is the only Constant

2009-05-18T23:47:00.000-07:00

When we are discussing about a solid alternative ... are we really asking for an alternative to CPIM????

“A communist dictatorship occurs when a communist state has fallen into a rut from which it most likely cannot easily recover.” - Karl Marx had written this a long back. And in West Bengal, communism has lost its glory 32 years back when Jyoti Basu became the Chief Minister. He successfully established dictatorship over common interest of people. Have you ever though why it failed in Russia, China became Socialist but nothing could change the Govt of West Bengal? The reason is simple and that is the shrewdness of Mr. Jyoti basu and his law of corruption. He made a system of ''corruption of ethics''. The scapegoat was the normal “CHAPOSHA” Bengali community that includes even the so-called opposition.

The first thing he did is to make an organization out of a political party. That organization started working on diminishing three qualities of a man, 1. Ethics, 2. Identity, 3. Orientation and the easiest way to do that were to exterminate the so called intellectualism of Bengalis by ruining the state of two major ingredients 1. Health and 2. Education.

Health is one area that will never allow people to think beyond oneself and even if he realises the problem of others, lesser education will stop him to speak out. And successfully he did that without creating noise. In the process, his system came out of a generation of backboneless, self-cantered, cowards and dishonest bunch of people. But as any process has its natural death, it took 32 years for the state to realise/or sense what is happening around them.

Buddhadev Bhattacharryaa is one person, who impressed me initially. But then, I failed to realise certain steps of him as a CM. Also his statements, his body language spoke for a disease that is again a natural by-product of the synthesis that Jyoti Basu did on communism in West Bengal. And this by-product is called ARROGANCE. As a leader of a state he could have shown his aggressiveness in re-building the state. I believe he showed it in his initial days, but then instead of being aggressive, he became arrogant.

It is now a concern for every Bangali, is Mamata the right alternative? But a right alternative to whom? Please come out of this state of pseudo intellectualism of these so called erudite leaders. The state today is run by some hooligans who are paid a salary from the state fund and refurbished from their stature of a simple party cadre to social worker. People who stays out of Bengal, I request them to come back and try doing something creative here. They will see those refurbished cadres in every aspects of life. A normal man today cannot live a peaceful night in the state had he not been at the mercy of these cadres.

Please realise that today, the state has lost its glory because of these so called intellectual leaders who forced more than 3000 small factories to close down only in Howrah. There were 179 jute mills which have closed down in the last 32 years. Companies like Dunlop, Phillips, UB even Bata has either removed their HO from the state or closed down their operation. This Govt. has made us believe that industry is bad for the state. Being rich is a curse for the humanity. And I just cannot stop laughing when their only agenda in the last election was NANO. How funny?? Tell me one constructive step that the state Govt. took to interfere with Mamata Banerjee during the time she was unbending in her stand against the land-acquisition for TATA. Have you really visited the area of Singur? I believe the land acquired by the state was perhaps the most fertile area in that region. Go a little ahead and you will see miles after miles of infertile land. Why being so adamant in your stand just to establish how powerful the Govt is?

There are some fools who claimed that Trinamul did that with the money of Bajaj. Please realise that Bajaj has no common business interest with Tata. As their segment is completely different. And those who feel that Nano may diminish the market of two wheelers in India, they are being absolutely impractical.

And another logic I often hear is the leaders of Trinamul has no colours as they changed parties. Does any party for that matter has an ethical stand apart from RSS in India? I am not saying RSS is the party you should adore. But apart from them, no one has a single mindedness over their agendas whatever agenda they may have.

So as Benjamin Disraeli said... Change is inevitable and Change is the only constant.

It is a welcome change from the stagnation that stopped us raising our head and look into the World to see what's happening. So let us face the change and wish that nothing can go worse than what has happened to us already. We cannot be worse than what we are now. If anyone wants to make real change, then please come back to the state and work here... That is perhaps the only way you can contribute rather than spamming mail boxes with how foolish Mamata Banerjee is.

love - definition changes with time

2009-01-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

The most amazing thing in today's world is relationship. I often wonder why the term "perfect relationship" exists? Is there anyone ever realized what is perfect in any given relationship?
The same exists for love as well.
A man falls in love with a woman or a boy falls in love with a girl. Two aspects are there. One, why the man falls in love. I feel it is a need rather than just a feeling. The man falls in love because he wants to fall in love. Because he knows that without love, he cannot exist in this world. The restlessness, the end of his sexual starvation, the answer to his critics who often feels that he is incapable of having a girl, the perfect ego-booster .. this is love for a man, a young man. Some of its aspects gets diminish over a period of time and some adds up.
After marriage, be it a love marriage or an arranged marriage, the excitement is high, the energy is endless... the exploration to another soul, another physical body is great. So the initial days are spent in great joy, thus he realizes that is love. But the expectation keeps growing and there is no end to it. Slowly the growing expectation brings a lot of uncertainties.
Then the middle age. Priorities changes with time. Nothing to discover anymore. The same old body and soul. Son and daughter had come and he realizes, this is love. When I touch my son in the glowing son, that is love. When my daughter comes running to me and puts her small arms around my neck .. that is love.
The man is old. No where to go. The libido has admonished with the time. Son and daughters are old enough to take care of the. Above all the time has changed and the relationship also. No one has the time to look after him but his companion. Whose who are fortunate has someone to take care... a wife or a companion. And there exists a mutual dependency. It is the same kind of dependency that he shared with his mother in the childhood. Is this love. He reinvent himself again with the new love of his life. Perhaps this is love.

mumbai massacre

2008-12-02T07:02:00.000-08:00

One of the worst incidence of human race had just happened in Mumbai. For me it was really a painful scene seeing those clips on the news channel. I share a special bond with the city as today what I am is because of the city.
The city that gave me shelter for 10 years, the most crucial years of my life... where I did my engineering, got my first job and got married... the city that gave me a lot of unforgettable memories. My heart goes for all of those people who were killed by those merciless victims of the darker society that has tried capturing the human race by surprises and unethical means of showing their power.
I often have a debate whether those 10 men to be blamed or the people who are behind them. If you walk down the history, there were people who used to blindly fall for a cause. The Japanese suicide bomber who used to kill themselves for killing others probably had started this act of sacrificing themselves for a cause. I wonder how intelligent are those people who makes these people believe that what they are doing is good for their race, their religion or the society. How can an educated person believe that killing innocent people is the way to heaven.
Our political systems also need to be blamed and above all, we ourselves need to share the blame as well. Often I wonder what is my contribution to the society or to my country? Nothing? Apart from standing up reluctantly in a cinema hall when the National Anthem is played, what else we do to pay respect to our nation? Nothing.... just nothing.
We are the people who had created this corrupted socitey. We are the people that goes to a cinema hall and pay a few rupees extra to get a balcony ticket, we are the people that goes to the passport office and pay 500 extra to an agent, we go to a hospital and pay the nurse a few rupees extra to take care of my patient... we are the people who vote for these useless creatures that rules our country and mention the Mumbai incidence as one of those small incidence that often took place in bigger cities?????
I think it is a wake up call for the citizen of India. We can make the change. We can do wonder by just using democracy to its fullest. Look at Lalu Prasad, how intelligently he used the democracy in his favor. If he can use it for his own convenience, can't we take the advantage of this national democracy and use our power in an intelligent way to do some good to our country. Common ... wake up... stop paying bribe from today, stop spreading rumors, stop spitting in the roads, stop electing the wrong people, stop asking our sons and daughters to be only doctors and engineers and not a politician. The socitey needs some good men to come now and take this nation ahead.... We are proud Indian but it is time for us to be real Indian.

2008-11-10T02:09:00.000-08:00

End of an era... A few minutes back... The new Indian team has gifted their DADA a memorable series win over Australia. The process he started long back with the Steve-Waugh's Australia ... and it was nice to see the Dhoni gesture at the end giving Sourav the privilege to do what he liked the best .. captaining the side.

Sourav Ganguly retired with pride and I think it will take possibly a few decades to find a replacement to this remarkable man. The man who played the game with intense passion and I am sure has given us a bunch of passionate cricketers..
It was his captaincy that showed India that it is possible to even beat Australia. Today I feel better when I feel even I am a Bengali but it makes me more proud to have Sourav Ganguly as an Indian who showed the world how to react when you are pressurized.
Dada has done it... and I wish him all the best and a great life ahead...

Farewell Sourav

2008-11-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

Today Sourav Ganguly is coming to the field to play his last Test Match for India. It was a wonderful moment for all of us who loves cricket. For a moment let us all forget the regionalism , racism and acknowledge this great player for his attitude, his mental strength, determination if not only for the thousands runs and accolades he has achieved in his colorful career... I salute to this great fighter... You made us proud!!

Hail Sachin!!

2008-10-17T06:15:00.001-07:00

Congrats Sachin. It was a great achievement. As an Indian, I am sure we all are proud to have you among us. It reminds me the time when Sunny Gavaskar made 10000 runs and became the greatest scorer of International cricket. It is indeed a great moment to cherish. Congrats to Saurav also for crossing 7000. He has once again proved his worth in International cricket and for India in the crunch situation. I think all our dear cricket lovers should admit and appreciate that this man is the maximum run scorer in the last 2 years that is after his return to International cricket. I think his decision is right to hang his gloves with honor. For a moment we should all stop criticizing these great players and pay our gratitude to them for making us hooked to cricket for the last 2 decades. It was mere joy to see Sachin hooking Imran over the covers, Saurav removing his shirts at Lords and the resolute Rahul batting like a wall against the most dangerous bowlers of the world. The contribution they made to Indian cricket will be remembered for years and I am sure shall be cherished by the generations to come. It is a pity that everything on earth has an end and the real looser will be Cricket itself. Hail Saurav, Sachin and Rahul.

The State of Affairs in West Bengal

2008-09-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

Born in West Bengal, one word was learnt late by me and that is "industrialization". Being ruined by a pseudo Marxist, Mr. Jyoti Basu for 25+ years, the state has lost all its glory and good spirit. Had there been a Noble for Politics, undoubtedly it would have been awarded to this man for ruining a generation and making them a bunch of clueless self-destroying species still called as Bengalis. You may think I am here to criticize Jyoti Basu as sitting in couch and criticizing the world is the only inherited tradition still left with Bengalis. Let me clarify that I am not here to criticize any living or non-living personalities but to mourn. The state of affairs in West Bengal today has made me feel horrible and I am ashamed as a Bengali and I feel there are many people like me who in the deep of their heart carries similar feelings.
I came back to Kolkata after spending 10 years in Mumbai. Many of you had warned me that time that am making a mistake. But being honest, our current chief minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharya had been able to infuse a sigh of relief with his attitude and path-breaking resolutions. I am sure there are plenty of people who thought that the days of darkness are finally over and West Bengal is going to see the light of the modernization yet again. Better late than never and we believed in “Do it now”.
Many of you often say that the CM is arrogant and he never listens to the so called bureaucrats. I feel every country; every state at some point of time needs a dictator to come out of the shit. Especially that kind of autocracy was the need of the hour for a dying state like West Bengal.
The recent fuss regarding Singur is making me sick. Everyday I open the news paper and every statement where the TATAs are threatening to back out from the state makes me feel horrible. I still don’t understand why our so called intellectual leaders are not making an all-out attempt to come out with a solution. I understand that something gone grossly wrong for the farmers who had lost their land. Land for anyone is a valuable asset and losing land is never a good feeling for anyone. But can’t they see what had happened to Jamshedpur after TATA STEEL? I feel pity on this psychopath lady who has lost all her good sense and more than everything the love for the state. CPM as a party is also not in favor of the CM and that is primarily the reason for which all these problems are happening. With its power and cadre-driven political strength the party could have easily made a full stop to all the agitation. That is what this party had been doing for the last 30+ years. But this time even they have become silent spectators to what is happening.
Had I be in TATA’s shoe, I would have shifted the factory to more friendly state where people are accepting them with open arms. And I feel it’s just a matter of few days for them to formally announce that they are leaving Bengal. For millions of people like me, that will be the doom’s day for our state. I am sure that day will surely bring smile to Ms. Banerjee and many of those illiterate, illogical pseudo Marxist leaders who can then announce it as a moral loss of the CM and brings back another era of darkness to the state.
As said by some idiot, TATA is not the end for West Bengal. It is certainly not the end; it is just the beginning of another dark-age to completely ruin whatever glory was still left to West Bengal.

Indian Dancebars of Dubai

2008-08-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have successfully (?) completed 4 months in Dubai. Someone asked me a few days back, what I have seen in Dubai in these days. Well... a tricky question indeed. I really thought about it for a while and then proudly told him, “Malls”. Can anyone tell me if they have seen anything beyond Malls in Dubai?

Well I have seen some other things as well. But I feel those are very well present in almost all metros. Scarcity of an association that we often term as "Society", a gathering where people talk something else than shopping and cinemas, what we often term as "cultural get-together". I believe these are certain things which will be obsolete from the world very soon. Apart from that the extreme difference in classes in masses, the scarcity of Middle Class to be more precise. I believe these are all became a part of the life in any other metros as well.

Let me share my experience of going to an Indian Dance Bar. This is again one of the most popular hangout spot for Indians. I went to a 3 star hotel in Bur Dubai with a friend of mine. He seems to be a regular customer especially seeing the kind of reception I got at the entrance. But after a few minutes I understood that is nothing but the most natural way of greeting almost everyone who is coming. As if they know him for a long time. Someone clad in a black suit comes to you and with a wide smile welcomes you and shakes hands with you.

Then I entered a place which is like any other Pub. But the music was little louder than the usual. There was a dance floor with multiple automated lighting arrangements. Some really beautiful girls were sitting there. We sat on a table and after few minutes the bar-tender came to my friend with a small bottle of Black Lable and soda.

He was trying to show special care to me. Asking atleast 10 times, if I need anything special. There were Hindi songs played one after another. And they were announcing names of those ladies who were coming on the stage and started dancing. I have noticed very minutely that all of them had around 4/5 steps like come walking towards the end of the stage and suddenly bend their waist and make a quick ‘jhatka’ kind of a move and went back till the end of the stage. Sometime in the middle they bend a little to expose themselves a little more.. Sometimes they even sit on the floor like Rekha in Umraojaan.

I was quite amazed to see a man wearing a black suits suddenly raising his hands and swirl in a rapid movement directing towards one of the dancers and the other hand pointing towards a man sitting and having his drink. Then again he goes to another person's table and did the same.

I could not make out what or why he was making such funny poses. Finally I asked that friend of mine and he wisely said, that man in that table is putting money on that girl.. wow!! that means, the man is appreciating the dancers and giving her close to 500 Dihram.

I was fascinated by that. I saw my friend also spending almost 1500 Dirham on 3 girls even without knowing them, talking to them or even knowing their real name. Appreciating dance!!!!. I never knew that my friend had that sense of art in him before. Anyway.. After a few minutes I have started feeling perhaps I am not in the right place.

I have seen Indians from various parts of the country coming in this city and working really hard to earn some good money. Many of them come leaving their family back home, even those girls on the dancing floor. But how easily they spend those hard earned money on something like this.

It seems after the ban on the Dance Bar in Bombay, this is the favorite place for all those Dance Lovers!! And it seems even some key people from the underworld also appears sometime in those hotels.

I didn't feel like going there again. But I sincerely felt real pity on those poor souls who has nothing more entertaining that spending their hard earned money like that....

2008-08-01T03:48:00.000-07:00

This is me in Dubai. This is eTQM a technical institute. They had invited me to speak on ERP. Never really thought that I would be speaking to an audiance of atleast 20 nationalities who knows perhaps much more than me.

In the middle of Sand

2008-07-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

From Bangkok to Dubai. From the exotic South East Asia to the hot, humid summer of Middle East. Again a new assignment with new challenges. But one thing that remained almost constant and that is I miss my family here also.

I am not very sure again whether I will settle down as I can see this place is definitely not the place to settle down. Well... I was thinking perhaps the time has come now to settle down. But today morning I was hearing the Commencement address of Steve Jobs at the Stanford University and I was amazed to hear what he said.

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

And I think even I need to keep looking until I find the one I love. For several reasons, I was looking for an Investor to start a company of my own. It is also true that I had not been able to invest that time into looking for one. But there are few propositions and one of which looked really bright. I felt, well, the time has come finally for me to do what I always wanted. And that is possible by doing it the way I want. I have been doing this for other companies, why not the same in the way I wanted to do. I was really happy. But like all those early morning dreams, it also didn’t last long and ended when it started.

So the new challenge is to fulfill that short dream.

I started writing about Dubai, isnt't it? Huh....!! A place that has almost everything that the west has perhaps even more than that. But what is lacking is the peace of mind, I am not sure though whether people from west possesses that. People who came here probably a couple of years back are the happier lot. But it is tough for the people who are coming now. The cost of living has reached a level which I feel is far more expensive than staying in NY. The population explosion is also there. But apart from all its problems, like every city it has a life of its own. It is too some extent like Bombay. A pure multi-ethnic city with liberty to express one’s own culture and choices. Probably in a little conservative way but conservation is better than over elucidation.

I keep on interacting with the Pathans and the Pakistani taxi drivers. And what amazed me is their love for India. I have not yet met a single person who is anti-Indian. On the contrary, I still have those nightmares of staying in Bangladesh, supposed to be the friendly neighborhood country of India. I still remember after a few days, I had actually stopped reading news papers as they had only one topic to publish and that is how evil the country India is.

Well... It is summer in Dubai and the temperature is rising. The scorching sun makes it almost impossible for human being to roam around the city until it is dark. The humidity is also more than 60-70% which makes it almost impossible to come out of your house. The result is that I am getting fat. I came here 76 and now I am 81. High time for me to control. I have taken an oath not to look at those lovely biriyanis and kebabs. Oh... How lovely those foods are. Karama the place where I am staying these days has some amazing restaurants like Karachi Darbar, Amravati (This one is a typical Andhra Restaurant), Moti Mahal. To make you nostalgic about Bombay, they have Haji Ali Juice Center, Bombay Chowpatty etc.

Sometime I feel like leaving this consultancy job and start a restaurant chain of my own. A Bengali Restaurant chain in Dubai. Any takers?? Please contact me as I have a full proof Business Plan for that.

yea - calcutta...By Suhel Seth

2008-03-16T04:18:00.000-07:00

After several years, I spent six nights in Kolkata, which, thankfully enough, were like spending six nights in heaven after the kind of lives we lead in the Delhis and Mumbais of the world. There are no pressures of work; there is almost an embedded fait accompli in people's demeanour, which many a time suggests that this is the pace we follow, and bad luck to you if you don't like it. I also had the luxury of spending these six nights in unbridled comfort at what is certainly the finest resort hotel in India: the ITC Sonar Bangla.

The editor of this paper, M. J. Akbar, thankfully agrees that the charm of Kolkata has still not dimmed, which is why the last time he and I were in Kolkata together we spoiled ourselves at the various impromptu dinners that were held in our honour.

There is also a certain basket of values that never escapes Kolkata. The city just doesn't care who you are as long as you, at some time in your life, have been a part of it. Which is why even the empty barstools at the Light Horse Bar at Saturday Club tell you tales you may have heard aeons ago. The butter chicken at Kwality's tastes just as good and thank god the ever evolving Priya Paul has done nothing to modernise the cuisine of Flury's which still serves up the best rum cakes and chicken patties! I went back to some of our theatre haunts and remembered with great affection the time I spent with Ashoke Viswanathan savouring the Afghani chicken at Sutripti or partaking of Bacchus' generosity at Chota Barrister.

I even drove past the famed Lover's Lane several times just to relive those moments when we would sneak our girlfriend of the time to play hooky under a starry sky until the ubiquitous Kolkata sergeant would show up on his well-preserved Bullet motorcycle [ It happened to me ! I was parked in a car though... ]. I watched with fondness the various cricket matches going on in the Maidan and the same Maya Ram pao bhaji being advertised with gusto. I took an afternoon off and strolled within the corridors of Jadavpur University and was delighted to see Tommy Hilfiger stickers outside the SFI office: even the communists have realised the worth of Tommy.

But has Kolkata really changed? Have the people become smarter in terms of making the best of every opportunity? I think not.

And this is why Kolkata is still such a special place to be. The only place where a lunch is incomplete without a Campari; where there is a distinction between the dining room and the smoking room and where round-collared T-shirts still find no acceptance in club bars.

There is also a certain panache that Kolkata has with regard to the music you hear.Item girls and Daler Mehndi have still not replaced Barry Manilow or for that matter Nat King Cole.There are hundreds who can still recite their school song and have preserved their College blazers and not replaced them with some foreign brands.Where photographs are in photo frames and not in cupboards, so that you can litter your drawing room with garish vases.It is this about the city that makes it so special.

I took long walks in the malls only to witness for myself, first-hand, the consumerism that has invaded Kolkata and then I thought to myself, why not. If Kolkata can erect malls and frequent them without forgetting the Victoria Memorial or the National Library, then more power to its collective elbows. I smiled when I saw the queue of people trying to enter the American Centre. In no other city are libraries as crowded as cinema halls. And that is because Kolkata still has a mind when all others are busy losing theirs.

Many years ago I was part of a movement called "Concern for Calcutta"and it delighted me no end to see that Ward 63 was still sprinkled with the work that CC, as it was known then, was doing. It is perhaps the only city in the world which has a nature study park in

The costliest real estate of that city. I went to Dalhousie Institute and saw an impromptu quiz just as I went to CC&FC and saw prompted drinking happening. The other unique dimension about this city is, if you belong here, you are never a guest when you return.

The family asks you no questions: it merely expresses unbridled delight in seeing you back. You can walk into dinners and parties alike; to cricket matches and merchant's cup soccer matches on the back of your past. Kolkata doesn't really care about the present or what you are up to!

The visit was even more special because I staged two shows of our English play Alipha: and the memories rushed back of a time when I would be staging a play almost once every three months. The halls as beautiful and the audience as well-behaved. No one picking up his or her mobile phone and screaming Advani or Sonia. Just watching what they've come to watch intently and with the respect it deserves.

Sometimes, only sometimes, I wish we could throw the residents out of Delhi and replace them with Kolkatans. The purging would mean so much to all of us. But then when one ponders, one is gratified that Kolkata is still a city of remarkable joy. Of prose and passion. Of poetry and phuchka. Of people and, thankfully, no prejudices.

Bangkok Days

2008-03-03T00:18:00.001-08:00

This picture was taken at the Khaosang Road. One of the areas on Bangkok where you get to see a lot of Bag-packers.

Ziad - The untold Story of an Iraqi

2008-02-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

It was a very bad at office until I start speaking to Ziad, one of my colleagues, from Iraq.
Ziad is leaving in Thailand for nearly seven years now. He came over here after the 1st Gulf War. And fortunately had not seen the second Gulf War. It has been seven years in exile for him. He is one person I really love speaking to. We talk about a lot of things mostly about religion and culture and habits. We could share a lot as we both are away from our homeland we belong to almost similar cultural upbringing. It sounds odd but Iraq and India, to be specific West Bengal, the place from where I am, has many things common. Probably this is due to the river-centric civilization. Our food habits, our community feeling, and the way we greet our guest, living in joint families… many things are common to us. Well not to mention the whole lot of differences that we have grossly because of the religion.
I could have never imagined the pain behind his green eyes until yesterday. We were discussing about an incidents took place in Texas where a young boy started shooting from a revolver in school which killed some of his friends and teacher, and then suddenly he spoke out, “I saw 13 of my cousins got killed when I was 10 year”. And he goes on..
It was the time of the first Gulf War. 1991, His father was a civilian a diplomat for the state of Iraq. They had a huge house and a beautiful family of 5. His father an aristocrat Iraqi, mother and they were two brothers and a sister. His green eyes looked as if he was seeing it again in front of his eyes. When every night there used to ring a siren asking people to get into the shelters and suddenly the sounds of various decibels start coming from different directions. He was small but matured enough to understand this siren means that it is time for them to stop playing football and get back to your room.
That day, he was playing football just in front of his house and suddenly a sound whisk passed his ears. Something like a huge bullet just passes a few inch of his little body and struck the thick wall of his house. He ran and found a huge hole in his beautiful house. It was still hot and smoke coming out of it. He was busy collecting those metal dusts as this was something that he hadn’t seen before. And this was something more interesting than collecting those metal bullets that rain down from the sky one of which killed his own uncle. His uncle was trying to park his car when the bullet hits him from the sky. It was then he heard that siren again. Oh no! Again he has to stop playing football and run to his house.
It continued for more than a month. Everyday someone of his known fraternity was getting killed by either bullet of missiles. He was too small to realize why this was happening. The only thing that used to bother him was the reducing numbers of his friends. He still remembers how strange it was even at his age to stand in a queue to pour gasoline in their car.
It was another day, when he saw even his father, a man of strong character losing his patients and asked his mother to move to the nearest shelter. Ziad was really happy as his best friend was there. And he was excited as he heard that it was really fun inside as it was somewhere below the ground. But his mother said “no, we won’t go. We’ve lived in this house, if we die, we’ll die over here together”. He was small but he could realize it was not that funny. And probably for the first time it was fear that propelled in his small mind. But God has something else planned for them. That night the USA force had successfully found out one of the greatest shelter for civilian and they dropped a bomb in it. And hundreds of people died of suffocation. His own relatives, his next door neighbors, his best friend were dead. But they escaped.
I could not talk for a long time. This man has lived through this! And look at us? With such trivial matters we get pissed off with life! We say something is wrong with us? We curse our fate. It is true that Iraq is in a chaotic situation now, but it is also true that this man is away from his home for the last seven years. The once happy family is scattered now as his parents and sister are in Jordon and he along with his brother is in Thailand. Over here he has a Thai Girlfriend, with whom he will probably tie the eternal bond soon. He has a new Thai family to look after. And he is in a place which is in no way even a fraction closer to his birthplace. But like millions of Iraqi he still dreams of going back to Baghdad. He still imagines an Iraq with no war, without any siren blowing to run. An Iraq, where all his uncles and aunties with their sons and daughters again have a great get together over a cup of tea followed by nice kebabs and khaboosh. He still misses the smell of that tobacco his father used to export and kept it in the refrigerator mixed with small pieces of apples. And then he used to pour it into a pipe and smoke.
I simply wish Ziad and millions of people like him will return to their homeland. I wish the future generation will only read about wars and terrorism in books. I wish the world will again be a beautiful place to live.