Goodbye 2009!

Citizen Journalism = blogging

God bless the concept of blogging. It has finally given the common, educated persons who are not literary experts or did not had the intentions of pursuing a career in journalism to have a platform to share their opinions, their thoughts, their point of view. This platform can be used as true citizen journalism, but the citizenship should include the entire world.

 

We may not be capable of creating a painting with our words like maupassant or tagore but may have some thing to say about some topic, which is related to our life, or the lives of our loved ones. Or may be we just want to share a beautiful experience, or warn others to not to repeat our mistakes.

 

Blogging has handed over that pen and writing pad to us, the common public of the world. The greater part of human population in the world. For the first time in human history- we have the freedom to express our opinion freely with the entire world and receive their responses. To open the window of our heart, soul and society wide, to let in air and light from the entire world.

 

Just like any political system, our political system too has its control over media. It may be well hidden but we all know that it is there, letters on sensitive issues are rejected, or articles on sensitive issues are rejected. Brave journalists get killed. Politics is always scared of media, the most popular weapon of public interaction, hence it tries to choke it or silence it, there is nothing surprising in that.  But recently, specially after the spread of internet and communication through internet one thing has come forth that the picture has changed and a new horizon has opened to the socially aware people to come forth and speak their mind.

 

Blogging has become the largest weapon of spreading public awareness among the masses. People who cant become journalist but have their say about whats going on around them. They are not ready to be tormented without committing any fault any more. Nor are they interested to stay mute spectators of suffering of others.

 

Time after time internet has been used as a strong weapon against injustice or public display board. Take it from attack on lovestruck youngsters to terrorist attacks. The net was used by the common public like you and me to show our displeasure. To tell that we are united, a handful of us may squabble in the provocation of others but majority of us mind our own businesses. We believe in living in peace and let others live in peace.

 

The best thing about blogging is its completely under the control of the blogger. He or she can say any thing he or she feels like, there is no one to interfere or reject that opinion. This is the true independence of mind, people are free in the real sense of the word to write what they mean. Others may accept, agree or reject these thoughts.

Aggressiveness

If we observe keenly we will sadly agree that modern world is of shoving and pushing. The more aggressive you are, the more mileage you will gain. Aggession and ruthlessness has become the mantra for success. Today the gentlemen are roughly pushed to back seat by less qualified or eligible go getters. The softer you are the worser nightmare your career life will become, no matter how capable you are if you cant fight tooth and nail for it, or opt for the “by hook or by crook” policy  you wont be able to make steady place.

 

There will be always a fear lurking in the corner that some one will grab your well deserved seat by some under the seat method.

 

If we see we will realize that its just the way the society is moving, it does not all of a sudden pops up its head once a person joins an office. Modern day children are brought up that way. Our parents used to teach us compassion, humility, affection. Today the children are taught to be competitive, ruthless, selfish. When they grow up they give the society the same. It does not have any connection with poverty, today the luxury in the life of common man is far more than it was twenty years ago.

 

We were taught by our parents that sharing never makes you poor, it makes you spiritually rich. The boys and girls who did not shared were called selfish, but today they are called smart.

 

 Some how the sharing tendency has changed to grabbing tendency. We have started to think mainly for only us, even our parents don’t fall in our private circle. We often take them as threat to our luxury too. We cant share our excess income with them, forget about bare necessities.

 

I have read in an article that its due to population explosion, a group of scientists have proved it with a group of rats in an confined enclosure. The more their numbers grew their aggression increased. If we study human society, we will see the same symptoms. There is an overeager ness for grabbing for things, which we may never need.

 

Say, for example, where is the problem in sharing our excess clothes or money with people who don’t have any? Is it necessary that we will have to make a postmortem or set up an enquiry committee to assess the worthiness of the stretched hand? How poor he really is, what does he does with the one rupee coin which we gave them or the rejected shirt we gave them? I remember the beautiful doha by rahim which meant those people who stretch their palm for favour are already dead, but those who refuse them are doubly so. They have died before them.

 

We are forgetting that every society moves together to get a goal. People bulldoze others in stampede or battlegrounds, not in a civilized society. If we turn away our face from the suffering of other peoples, burning down of their houses, our homes will not be saved either.

BEAUTIFUL GESTURES

When I was a child I have been taught by my parents that we should say thank you to everyone who does some thing good to us and sorry when we do something bad to someone.

 

The same thing has been taught in schools I have learnt. I have personally added a few things to it, I think we all can practice it with the touch of heart, or else it will become a façade.

 

One, I always find out a quality in a person who has paid a compliment to me, if not then, I later pay him or her a compliment for his own virtues. Actually I like paying compliments voluntarily, and finding out qualities in people. I think by paying a person a compliment I spread a little harmless happiness. That’s a thing worth spreading to me. Not only that, if we make it a habit of finding virtues in others life becomes more pleasant for us and others. Recently a wonderful lady asked me why do we look for virtues in others and ignore our own virtues. After a little soul searching I thought, whatever the reason might be it increases love, feeling of security and trust in both hearts.

 

Two, if someone helps me; I certainly try to help him back. I either help him back in the same manner or some other. But , I never help anyone with hope of return, only a thank you is enough for me, a thank you from heart.

 

Three, if someone gifts me something, let it be a petty thing like a greeting card or pen, I always keep that in mind and when I am out shopping I don’t forget to buy something for him. I have seen that some people have a habit of gifting near and dear friends but they rarely get it back. I don’t know whether they mind or not, but may be somewhere deep down it hurts.

 

Four, showing a little consideration to elderly, fragile or people facing emergency. But I have gladly noted that people of Kolkata are very kind in this regard. Some grumble but finally they let them have their seat.

Thus spoke the prophet

His Last Sermon

O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today. 

O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that he will indeed reckon your deeds. Allah has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligations shall henceforth be waived. Your capital is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. Allah has judged that there shall be no interest and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn 'Abd'al Muttalib (the Prophet's uncle) be waived. 

Every right arising out of homicide in pre-islamic days is henceforth waived and the first such right that i waive is that arising from the murder of Rabiah ibn al Harithibn. 

O People, the unbelievers indulge in tampering with the calender in order to make permissible that which Allah forbade, and to forbid that which Allah has made permissible. With Allah the months are twelve in number. Four of them are holy, three of these are successive and one occurs singly between the months of Jumada and Shaban. 

Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope of that he will be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things. 

O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under Allah's trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right, then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with anyone of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste. O People, listen to me in earnest, worship Allah, say your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadhan, and give your wealth in Zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford to. 

All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white - except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belogs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not therefore do injustice to yourselves. Remember one day you will meet Allah and answer your deeds. So beware: do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone. 

O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand my words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Qur'an and my Sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray. 

All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O Allah, that I have conveyed Your message to Your people.

This sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul-Hijjah 10 A.H. in the 'Uranah valley of Mount Arafat' in Mecca.

A little promise to myself

In this world of pain and betrayal not to lose my heart and spirit if my expression of love, respect and trust is misinterpreted

 

Instead of getting hurt making my heart and soul strong enough to radiate these feelings irrespective of the responses.

 

People get so much hurt because of their innocent nature that they flinch at every hand stretched at them.

 

I promise myself to be nonchalant toward their reaction as much as I can, and keep my heart and soul full of affection, respect and love for as many fellow human beings as possible.

 

We can never know why a person bites the hand that feeds him, may be someone has misused his gratitude in the past one too many times. Or may be his past is so dark that he cant see light in human beings. I should try not to judge his actions, in place of that I should let his rudeness trickle down my soul like a drop of water trickles down the leaf to grass, without leaving behind a scar.

 

In place of expecting rewards from human beings I should hope that God, who sees it all, blesses me with more chances of serving his children happily.

Merry XMAS!

A carol

those of you who want to read the carol, just copy it in your computer and read it, its worth reading, atleast i loved it very much. :)

Gratitude for life

Every morning when we wake up if we thank God for giving us a brand new day, a roof over our head and bread on our plate, our point of view towards life changes.

 

Gratitude for what we have in life, the good things and what we don’t have in life.. bad things turns our life into a piece of stable happiness.

 

When I was a child I used to wake up looking forward to a brand new day, this continued till first job. Then slowly I became worldly wise. That world is not made of only good people, there are people who will ruin you for nothing, just to make the path of their life easier.

 

Then for a decade or so my faith in human beings started to go downward.. and suddenly I realized one thing, that God is our best friend and she keeps the faith.. every thing changed thereafter.

 

We suffer most when we live without gratitude. There is one entity to whom we can be grateful through out the life.. God. Apart from God there are so many things which we can be grateful for.

 

A healthy body, a life, a home, food, clothes.. the sense to enjoy them all. Our tastes, our hobbies…the list can go on if we sit down with gratitude in our heart.

 

I have once read a beautiful mail that said every morning I wake up I thank god..

 

For giving me another day

For life to meet it

For eyes to see it

For mind to know it

For a tongue to speak

A pair of hands and legs to perform my duties.

For a tongue to speak and taste the various tastes.

For a roof on my head, a bed, a clean set of clothes…..

 

Our list of gratitude will go on and on if we let it.

A beautiful bond called friendship

A beautiful bond called friendship, it is one of the purest and unselfish bond which binds two human hearts together. A bond praised by even angels. A relationship admired by human beings for centuries. This brings together two complete strangers and ties them together with a bond deeper than love or affection.

 

When we love we seek the pleasure of the physical companionship of our mate, his closeness, his loving, and his companionship.

 

When we love our parents we hope for their guidance, their protection and other helps.

 

When we love our children we hope their affection and patience with us when we are old.

 

Somehow our own happiness gets mingled with theirs to form a complete relationship. But when we share affection with our friends all we need is a little time and place from their life. Our expectation starts and ends there. We stay content with whatever we get, never complain.

 

We always back off when our friend is chasing his priorities, his love, his family duties or career, we back without complain. We never demand any thing from him.

 

Next time when any of your relationship loses all its colour and splendour, don’t bid it goodbye, mould it into friendship and see the difference, the only requirement is both will have to be willing to do so.

half justice

Today morning i was reading a news piece in a newspaper. The story really moved me. Its really painful when protectors become hound.

The story narrated was a girl won the lusty eyes of a very powerful man, refused and lodged a case ending in her suicide and destruction of her family, while  the rest of the society watched a ganged up harassment of that family.  (The case is still awaiting judgment so I cant say who is true or what is the actual story but this thing is quite a common practice these days...)

These wolves in sheep's attire somehow remind me of those German Shepherd dogs who used to gobble up the lambs while the Shepherds thought that the wolves have eaten them.

Whenever someone shows the courage to fight them back they bring down hell on their victims and their famillies.

Why does the rest of the society acts like a pack of lambs? Dont we know that if we let our neighbour's home burn the fire will reach ours too?

I used to think that incidents like these are rare, i very sadly realized that its quite common in India. May be Indian society needs a real shaking from the roots to wake up and stop acting like lambs.

Gratitude

Gratitude, a divine word, but this feeling, and its expression should be measured for our own sake. Because this feeling is often used as a weapon of exploitation against a noble heart.

Every one has read the epic Ramayan, how Dashrath’s grateful nature resulted in his death pining for his beloved son. Those who have not, Dasharath was a great king, one of his queens once saved his life, he promised her that he will fulfill her three wishes. Then time passed by and time came when Dasharath was about to hand over his throne to his elder-most son, Sriram that very day the queen requested him to fulfill her three wishes, as a result Sriram went to forest and her son Bharat was made the king. Dasharath died pining for his beloved son in a very short span of time.

It’s a very true word, gratitude blesses the heart which holds it, I some how feel that a person without gratitude is hardly a human being. But, then again this feeling can be overwhelming, it can blind us from realizing selfish motives behind a petty act of kindness. I have often wanted to discuss the flip and the flop side of this coin.

Lets first take up the beautiful sides of this divine virtue which makes our soul beautiful, without which we somehow lack to be human being. It is often quoted as essence of humanity. It gives happiness not only to the person who does a good deed, it makes the person on the receiving end a happier person. Because by realizing the good deed and its beauty he relishes it twice.

On the other hand this is a virtue which can make us puppet in the hands of a scheming person. People who help others and in return of that help sometimes completely control their life. I am not talking on this topic based on assumptions, they are mostly based on my personal experiences, and experience of years.

I once personally knew a lady from intimate proximity, who used to give gifts to her own siblings as payment of services, or as advance payment of services. She used to give gifts after some one did her some service, or give some one a gift and immediately thereafter request that person to do some thing for her. Now, most of the people will execute that request out of gratitude. And usually her expectations were far more higher than the petty gifts she used to hand out. She used to control the very life of her hapless gift receivers, preying on their sense of gratitude. But can we call them gifts? Or shall we call it the price of those works? Or she never helped any one unless she extracted a bigger help in return of that help. Can we call these help?

So very often have I heard people boasting or stating to their close persons, that they have helped a person in his bad days so he is bound to help them anywhere, any time that I have started to believe that some people help others to enslave them. Do we help others to create a right on them for a pay back of that help? Its natural that we will expect some gratitude from a person we have helped, but why shall we expect return, or be more precise demand return? After all, a help is supposed to be an unselfish action, or else it will be called a paid service, not help.

I have seen a few persons actually doing like that in my life, heard a few more complaining about help that were not returned, but, there are high chances that there are more people like them. Who help others with the expectation that they have bound that person in a string of emotional or real obligation.

Some introspection and study of human nature has taught me one thing, which I don’t think a lot of people agree with, that is, its ok to not pay back every help. Or feel extremely grateful to every one who has helped us. I firmly believe that one should try his level best to not harm a person who has done him some good, but to feel overwhelmed by helps… well…

Compassion

Recently I was reading a news and some thoughts expressed about that news in newspapers. Recently a panel of judges have expressed their opinion that as human civilisation has not been able to abolish flesh trade, it should be legalized.

the thing which really shocked me was it was stated as a huge portion of our country is below poverty level we cant stop flesh trade.

so where are we heading? We cant share our bread with our fellow human beings when they have empty plates, but we can exploit their poverty in the most outrageous ways.... we should seriously think about having "compassion" for our fellow beings. Human and Non Human.

I wonder, how about giving this women the dignity which they deserve and give them the direction and help to return home and live a healthy life? Accepting them as human beings not lepers.... which they are.

there was a time when burning wives with their dead husbands was a rule of our country, or hating a huge section of persons on the basis of their birth, were they good things? they too have not been abolished completely but we are working for that.

power of people

I truly admire the POWER OF PEOPLE. This power has proved itself again and again. Sometimes for good and sometimes for bad. Sometimes it has caused World wars and sometimes it has brought peace.. like the era of Budhdhism or this present era. Which is slowly but firmly saying "NO" to violence. The signs are too clear, human beings are exhausted with mindless bloodshed, only some places are disturbed, like the aftermath of a great explosion, others are slowly falling back to peace.

I am waiting for the day when this power will be applied to save earth, our planet from the destruction towards it is heading.

if we, the people wake up and realize that measures to save the earth SHOULD BE taken then we may not be too late.

Planting trees and taking care of them is one of the best ways i guess. And if we love birds and animals then we may opt for fruit trees instead of other trees.

Educating others about the environment disasters can be a very good way of fighting this cause. I myself have learnt most of it from others, because i dont know much about these things other than the things i read in internet or newspapers. Its there i have read that planting trees can be one of the best ideas and preserving the waterbodies and other things can be equally nice idea.

I think in this over crowded planet educated people should be parting logical solutions for saving the earth and every one should try to spread those message around them. best way i think should be targetting the school children, because they are the best teachers in the whole wide world, with greatest level of enthuciasm.

a fair warning

When i first saw men in black II i was particularly amused by one scene, in that scene a giant alien was gnawing on the end part of a metro train, poor will smith first told the commuters to immediately rush to the engine, they of course ignored him, none even asked him from where has he appeared all of a sudden....

he was taking a free ride on the head of that alien, who sent him crashing through the back door of the metro.

then the commuters saw the alien and went all crazy, every body running for their life. i still remember with a grin the sarcasm which was dripping from Will Smith's face when he saw them running.

In my long run of blogging i have met some people who dont mind stealing other people's works on net, or harassing others. i have been harassed to no end by a gang of trolls for more than two years, WORST PART IS THEY USE MY BLOG NAMES, AFTER SLIGHTLY MODIFYING THEM OR OPENING THE SAME BLOGS UNDER OTHER WEBSITES. That is why i always keep my friends informed about the blog sites i am using/not using. I hope my friends are not like the commuters of that train.

i dont want them to be fooled by any troll or favour seeker using my name. i recently even deleted a remote desktop connection file from my computer, and my brother said these files are mainly used by favour seeking spammers... "please help me in transferring millions of dollars my husband left in a foreign bank before dying :)"

so... WHEN I SAY SOMETHING .... BETTER KEEP THAT IN MIND. There is one thing i can certainly vow about, I WILL NEVER ASK ANY ONE ANY KIND OF FAVOURS, IF SOME ONE ASKS YOU SOME FAVOUR THAT WILL NOT BE ME. :)

price

When I first read a quotation by famous Indian politician Chanakya I was a little skeptical of it. It said there is nothing called an unselfish relationship in this world, every relationship has its price tag attached to it. Then I started to toy with that quote in my mind and concluded that he was right, as long as he was talking about normal human beings. Human beings like you and me.

Just a few days back I was exchanging sms with one of my friends, a wonderful human being. In response to one of his comments I said that I don’t change my mind about friends, when I call a person my friend I mean that for lifetime. They may walk away or our paths may part but their affection keeps burning like the home hearth. But that hearth also needs its fuel, does not it?

Chanakya was right, only he went superficially, every relationship has its price, nothing good comes for free, the better the thing, the higher the price is.

Last week I read a poem in one of my friend’s blogs, it said that every pond holds jewel in its heart but they are not for fools or lazy persons, and I wanted to add that not for those who don’t know what a jewel is.

Earth and me

I was born in a tiny town in Uttar Pradesh, our quarter had a small garden attached to it, which was trasnformed into a jewel by my father. He loved plants, and the garden was forever vibrant with flowers of different colours and their constant companions.. birds, butterflies and bees.

Just a few hundred metres from our door started a long stretch of almost empty land, stretching upto the next railway station. we used to take long strolls in that field with our two mutts.

it was not a flat land, was quite wavy one, not much green but green enough. there were rabbits, foxes and lots of peacocks there. i have only seen the peacocks but my smarter siblings have seen all three of them.

when i shifted to my ancestral home in west bengal after a brief stay in delhi it was again a wonderful friendship with nature. it had a pond attached to it and half a dozen more ponds visible from our roof top.

in deep contrast to UP and Delhi, my hometown was green, as green it can be. Its the greenest district of West Bengal i believe.

I used to wake up at 4 in the morning to roam around the town in my bicycle. that was simply divine. i used to relish the early morning in its full glory, first light, sunrise, dew drops, cold wind... the waking up of birds.. list is never ending. to add up to the joy the gorgeous river damodar runs just beside my hometown and i used to see the sunrise from its bridge without a break.

This is the reason i believe in harmonious live together of man and other children of nature.

beautiful weather

This year's pleasant winter in Kolkata is most probably the gift of Kolkata High Court's anti pollution activities. Atleast thats what news papers are saying. That shows how much pollution tampers with the environment. Simply controlling the pollution has done this magic, I wonder what will happen if trees are planted too.

It will be really beautiful if nature is restored as much as possible even in metros like kolkata. I dont think its impossible. I think its urgent that we start thinking that way. Otherwise we will lose more and gain less from urbanization.

I wonder if our builders and developers can find out a way of not playing with environment and nature.

Lotus

We can learn a lot from lotus, it is born in mud, venomous snakes encircle it yet its divine beauty makes it an essence to every hindu puja. People take the trouble to pick them out of ponds braving all problems because without them the puja is incomplete.

In my family with history of hundreds of years of different pujas and our direct involvement in them I have had the pleasure of making lotus buds bloom by hand.. that is they arrive as buds and then we, the entire family slowly give them the form of blooming one by gently opening their petals by fingers. Without the exact number the puja is not perfect. Knowing their importance. I guess I have sentimental reasons for loving it too.

I love this flower exceptionally, because it often works as a wind under my soul’s wings which strictly follows principles and will stick to them through thick and thin. In a society where principles are challenged every day its fun to stick to them, but one sometimes gets down… during those hours the thought of lotus brightens up my spirit.
They teach me one simple thing.. whatever situations destiny lands you in, dont be afraid, just know one thing, if you keep yourself clean and pure you will find your place in god's feet. And through out your life you will reap the benefit of that.

People often think that a life of purity is a life of self deprivation.. it is when it is forced upon.. by oneself or the society. But if one takes up this life voluntarily, as acceptance to one’s nature, no one can be happier than him. A pure life means living a life as blissful as a flower, all it will have to do is stay in the right path, after that whatever problems will come to him will never be able to effect his being.. just like rain drop on lotus, they will roll down.

That’s quite an adorable mindset in this world full of ups and downs to me. Hence I am quite sincerely working on it. And whenever I meet the snakes, thorns or mud.. who challenge my target I remind myself of the thousands of lotuses who brave that.

butterflies and birds

Trees have two types of friends. butterflies and the birds. The butterflies are the gorgeous ones, the ones who light up their drab surroundings, stay with them as long as they bloom or fruit then fly away.

Birds are the lasting ones, those who come with the intention of staying. they dont care if the tree has flowers, leaves or even if it has life....

They come to it, build their nests in its branches and start living there. they are not half charismatic as butterflies. but they are lasting.

Both have their own charms, if we recognize their type we will be both way gainers.

idols fall

Yet another idol proves that he is just a human being. With moderate self restraint, and they gather all around that fallen idol. The laughing hyenas and the grim vultures.

I, on my part wonder who has given me the right to peek inside what goes on inside a man's bedroom, unless he is someone whose fall will mean the fall of the country. Even in that case I think I will simply demand that he should step down from throne because he cant jeopardise a country's safety/wellbeing on the altar of his amorous escapades.

Being a human being made of flesh and blood, who stumbles every alternate day and pulls herself up again to walk tall i dont see any thing wrong in the falling of the idol, he will stand up and walk tall again if he doesnot gives in to the jeering of the hyenas and cruel beaks of the vultures.

Negative relationships

Treating a friend as a punch-bag, pillow to cry on is a big mistake people make and as a result lose a really good friend. We often forget that we cant let out our personal miseries on others all the time, if we are in real trouble, we may share our feelings once in a while with sympathetic friends, but we should never vent out our frustrations on those who care to be with us, those who love us in an endless loop.

It may be tough, really tough, but much wiser to try to forget our trouble when we are with our friends, try to borrow some positive aura from them, instead of dousing their flame with constant drizzle of our pain or misery.

The tactic to attack a problem should be quick and final. If some thing is bugging us, we should first try to analyze if we can solve it ourselves. If no, then we should share it with our friends in concise and then simply lock it and bolt it. The quicker the better, and spend the remaining time in positive thinking. Its not as easy to do as it is to write, but with patient self training we can do it. I have personally done it. I usually don’t say any thing which I have not tested and done myself. Its better to force our mind to positive things than brood over things we cant change forever.

Is not it foolish to hurt some one who loves us for the mistakes of some one who does not loves us? That is what we do, a stranger picks up a fight with us and we vent out that fury on our friends. Or keep pouring our personal problems in them for weeks, months, years.. one day they get tired and walk away.

winter

Its simply great this year, the winter has come down to Kolkata in mid november, thats too hard to believe but its true and I truly am thankful to nature and God for this, for giving us this beautiful relief after the scorching summer.

Usually winter pays us a fleeting visit in end december and stays till mid january at the max but this year she is planning to bless us for a while it seems.

hope she wont change her mind :)

Winter was and is my forever favourite weather. I love winter days, they are so fantastic and comfortable. they come back to my mind with childhood memories of basking in sunshine, eating hot peanuts just bought from the vendor with black salt (yum), gardens full of flowers and butterflies..... chattering teeths even when we are standing in the sunshine... beautiful memories.

Farewell to a noble man

Its goodbye time for Mr. Gopal Krishna Gandhi from Kolkata. I believe every true bengali will wish him luck and prosperity through out his life.

People like him remind us that when we are in a strong position we should stretch out our hands to those who are not and help them rise above.

There are very rare politicians of post independent era I admire. Because very rare of them show strong attachment to the country and its people, the thing they are supposed to have in their hearts. Especially its grass root level people.

I should say our silver screen heros and heroines are far more socially aware than our representatives in parliament. Its really a beautiful thing to notice the way they reach out for others. There are so many examples of them Salman Khan, Amir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Vivek oberoi, Celina Jetley… these came to my mind instantly but I know there are others who are actively participating for the betterment of the country. So many of them. that must be the reason that they are more popular than the representative of people I guess.


That is the only reason I like Rahul Gandhi and Gopal Krishna Gandhi. I should humbly admit that there must be quite a lot more of them who work silently, but they have slipped the media attention, as a result I too am not aware of them. And I should again admit there are other gems too who are taking the country forward on other grounds, but my heroes are those who care for the hapless people of this country because unfortunately they are too many in numbers.

My views are the views of an average indian who is blissfully ignorant of the world of politics, and loves her country and most of its people (truthfully speaking I don’t love all of them). Whose heart goes out for those who have not received a bread crumb of all the luxury which we are habituated of. These two people showed through all their actions that there are still people in political arena who care for the destitutes.

Misdirected anger

We all do it at a certain point of time, when we read about misuse of religion by its representatives. We instead of targetting the representatives target the religion itself or worse God. I myself have done it while I was young, so when I see someone else targetting God or religion instead of corrupt priests or sadhus it hurts a little. Not much, because I know God is not hurt or effected by their outburst, like a mother doesnot feels heartbroken when her tiny toddler hits her with his tiny fists.

Priest or sadhus are more or less self appointed representative of God, religion. They are neither God, nor religion.They have not been chosen by God. In today’s world we can not blindly follow and worship them just because they are priests. We all have our reasonings and we should abide by them.

If the gardener of a garden is bad that doesnot makes the trees bad, the garden bad or nature bad. It just means that the particular gardener bad.

Control

This is an ugly obsession which often becomes a monster. We will see so many examples of this starting from bedroom through the temples to boardrooms..

At one place a spouse wants to control the other one, at the other place the religious minded people want to control the society. Then there are politicians who want to control the country and businessmen who want to control the market.

It becomes unhealthy when we forget that we don’t have any right to force our thoughts on others, especially at the cost of humanity.

Any thing which is based on hatred or greed crumbles to ashes sooner or later. To have a lasting change a thing has to have positive ingredients.

Why do people hate tyrants but love messiahs? Though.. if we study history we will see that they both begin their path with a surge of extreme popularity among others. They are apple of people’s eyes in the early years, then the tyrants start to lose that gradually and the messiahs rise higher and higher.

That’s most probably because saints don’t want to control others, they don’t even want respect or gratitude. They just share the light which God has given them and then leave the world. People pick up those gems and hold them close to their heart.

Whereas the tyrants act exactly the other way round, they start their journey with the help of public support and then they try to crush the same people in their iron fist.. as a result they lose every thing.

Eagerness of controlling others is what differentiates a saint from a tyrant or a guru from a fanatic.

Man shows first sign of true wisdom when he realizes that every human being has his/her own mind and perspective. One should learn to respect that fact to be respected in return.

Musing

I sometimes get shocked by this beast within me too. Sadly its very much existent in me too, I don’t let it express itself by earthly means.. by words or actions but it sometimes corrupts my thoughts or behaviour.

This beast which gloats when it sees some kind of vulnerability in others. Some flaw, vice or weakness and instantly starts to think that it aka I is/am flawless or superior being.

Painful part is when this beast overtakes the human being within us and we end up taunting a person because we know that he wont hit back and we hate that he is different from us.

It reminds me of animals which sometimes cruelly attack a sick or injured animal and ultimately kill it.

I once had a cage full of budgerigars, there was a bird with a paralysed legs. And I used to observe with great fury the way other birds completely rejected her and used to peck her or pull that crippled leg of hers.

It is acceptable in animals and birds, but is it acceptable in us?

Still here

I am still residing in earth, have not left for my home in Andromeda galaxy. My great enthuciasm to cut down my computer hours is shooting sky high.

I will try to post one blog every day like i always do :) because i am addicted to keep my brain active.

if i fail, dont worry about me, and when you get a comment from islandofpeace@gmail.com that will be from me.

i may sometimes check your blog from outside and leave comments.

happy blogging. i hope i will be back to normal from tomorrow.

Criticism

Recently i was reading an article in Reader's Digest's website about real criticism, it was sort of eye opener to me. It told me what true criticism is made of.

The last part was done by a friend of mine who mentioned to me that Thomas Hardy (one of my favourite novelists) stopped writing novels because of harsh criticism and started to write poetry. In his case it must have been pure jealousy of mediocres or "big nothings".

Why sometimes we use criticism as a weapon of correction only? Its real motto should be pointing out someone's big defects and show him the way of conquering them.

Whats the use of telling a person that "your nose is too big" unless we are paying him for his cosmetic surgery, or he is in modelling and that is the reason he is not getting consignments.

I have worked as a proof reader for almost two years, i loved that job. Fortunately even after that when i read a piece of literature i ignore silly mistakes, because its not my job to point out silly mistakes. If I was a proof reader and that same piece was one of my assignments of the day I certainly would have pointed them out but as it is not ....

I sometimes really observe how different people look at the same thing, give the same piece of poetry to ten people and you will know.. one will say its too mushy, too dreamy; the second will be busy finding out spelling mistakes, third one will be scanning for rhythm, fourth will scan for punctuation faults.. in the process hardly one will absorb the true beauty of the poem. And that one person is luckiest among them.

When we see a flower do we scan for its perfection? Well being born and brought up in homes full of gardens I know, that most of the flowers are defected, by one mean or other, but we love them all. I personally believe that will be the way we should think about the rest of the world. We should try to concentrate on the beauty and ignore petty faults.

Sometimes we should ask the critic inside us to " just shut up and enjoy the world and let us do the same".

scary movies

have been watching a lots and lots of scary movies lately, two results.. i am sleeping with my nightlamp on, and second i am bored of mindless gory movies...

i am addicted to horror movies, serials and stories... i just loved them since childhood, tell me about a movie that its horror and i sure will watch it.

i have noticed that horror movies become disgusting the moment they concentrate more on murders.. not on the environment.

for example, i watched both the new exorcist and to kill a mocking bird. To kill a mocking bird is a serious movie, but its suspense scenes were far more hair raising than all that blood and gore poured down in exorcist.

i have seen half a dozen japanese horrors, most of them did not had a single murder, yet they scare me a lot more than movies like scream or halloween.

i really felt a little sad because the new exorcist had a very good storyline, which was ruined by (sometimes stomach churning) violence.

i guess, our new directors can take some tips from japanese horror film makers if they want to scare us, or from the director of the omen part 1 if they want to make a classic.

loving life just the way it is

Life is a bliss, no matter from which you judge it, if you have an amply healthy body, a roof over your head, food on your plate and some cash in your pocket and bank life is a bliss.

Then why do a huge majority of us forget to love life after a while? Is the explanation as simple as that life gets tough with age and responsibility?

I guess not, I believe we let the power of enjoying life slip by with age and responsibility.

Its true that our responsibilities with age are graver than childhood responsibilities, but children take things like study and result equally gravely. Their bad performance in school is equally devastating as our bad performance in job.

I believe it all depends on the chance of mindset, in childhood we used to count our blessings like today is Monday, that means four more days of school then it will be Saturday, half day.. and so on. Now we wake up and think, “Monday..oh no, another week to drag by!”

In childhood we had time for all type of fun, no matter how busy our life was with school, after school and pre school tutions or other serious activities. We always had some time to climb trees, eat junk foods, take a solid soaking in rain, a sun bath in sun..but matured us, we ignore these urges and try to show ourselves as something grumpier than we actually are, even when we are alone.

We deprive ourselves from happiness, that is why become sad with growing age. If we stop depriving ourselves and start to look for happiness in every thing then we will see that life was just the way it was but happiness has increased in thousandfolds.

movies

Its interesting to think how movies sometimes absolutely transform our point of views. Just like any normal human being I have seen countless movies, and some of them have absolutely transformed me.

Machis by gulzar taught me to look at terrorists as human beings like you and me, a green mile taught me life is not always fair, sometimes an innocent man fails to prove his innocence and dies in the hands of law, which was supposed to protect his life. Schindler’s list moved me so badly that I was not able to smile for an entire day (I am infamous for laughing too much).

Time and time again this medium has been used as a great weapon to wake up sleeping human souls, recently I saw a movie that again reminded me how much transforming a movie can do..shawshank redemption is a movie about an innocent man who landed in the jail and the horrors he had to go through.. it was a really, really creepy movie because reality was just placed in black and white with none other than Morgan Freeman narrating the story in background, I dreamt of the movie the whole night. Well, it made me a little more kinder toward so called criminals.. that’s for sure.

Recently I saw Philadelphia, well i am horrible when it comes to watch sad movies.. so I will not indulge in elaborate discussions about the limit to which it moved me, but will certainly request people to see it before they hate gays or HIV positive people.

These two movies really shook me up in recent times, and they convinced me that my policy is correct- to not hate someone unless I have enough reasons to do so. Thank God I have always been taught by my parents to walk in someone’s shoes before hating him/her.

Caring for oneself

We often confuse that caring for others has some clash with caring for oneself. We think that by taking care of our own needs we become selfish. I have seen too many people suffering from this complex, I also did, even now I am not fully over it when it comes to physical needs but in case of mental or spiritual needs I have grown up a little.

A little more explanation ……

I only mix with people who leave positive impact on me. In case of people who make a negative impact on me by their rude behaviour, complaining nature, incurable gloomy nature I first try to change them and then I slowly distance myself.

A person once doled out a million dollar wisdom to me, he said that we let these people linger around us because we look for friends too desperately. When I soul searched I realized that he was true. So I moved another step toward my goal. And started to de weed these persons from my life as a result my life transformed a lot.

Second, I treat myself as a queen, and others too, if they don’t force me to change my mind. I am determined to enjoy my stay here, no matter what. So I treat myself with compassion, kindness and sweetness. Before believing any sarcastic remarks I think who is correct, if the person is correct I just remind him that a remark can be made properly, and then thank him for his honesty and keep his words in mind. But not before reminding him that he should stay within limits of manners.

Third, I never let gloomy souls suck me down to their whirlpool, I stay clearly away from that quagmire and throw them the rope, right on their head, and if they catch it and let me pull themselves out I do that, but I don’t let them make me a part of their misery. I clearly show them the ways they can combat it, and cure themselves. A real human being never wants to make others miserable, he may need a hand to clutch from time to time but he doesnot uses that hand to paint his benefactor’s heart black. He clutches that hand, walks out of his hell and blesses his benefactor for the rest of his life.

Fourth, I never let anyone make me believe that the world is bad, I always stick to my belief (which was once lost but regained) that most of the human beings are good, but a big proportion of them are misguided by doomsayers, so I try to bring them out of that misconception by drawing their attention to goodness of human beings.

Diwali-the injun way!!!!!

Indians call deepawali ( a row of earthen lamps) a festival of light.

Me says, it’s the victory of sound demon on earth. I used to be one of the worshippers of this demon before I crossed my twenties.. that is on my twentieth birthday I had to say goodbye to crackers courtsey a shivering ball of furs, about 16 inches or so high from ground.. my pet.

She taught me how inhumane the torture is on other living beings. While we crack those stupid crackers with loudest possible sound other living beings suffer.

Good that she persuaded me to give up crackers. Because ever since last ten years I have started to cherish the feeling that I am not a part of these demon worshippers. These superior, intelligent beings (actually dumbest beings ) who believe that they are smart and do the dumbest things. Like harassing others for fun.

The crackers which can be finished up before the bed time of others start to come out of their sick closets past bedtime.. I could imagine their ghoulish faces lightened up with ecstassy of bothering others.. sorry, I just cant make any other picture of these people.. they remind me of the ghoules I have seen in a movie who used to crawl out of sewerage when every one was sleeping… to eat people.. the only difference is that these ghoules eat our brains.. a thing which they sure need in extra proportions. I personally believe the dumber a person is the more addicted he is to loud sound…..

When we were children we had strict instructions of finishing all sound crackers on diwali before ten p.m. then we were worshippers of goddess of light not sound demon.

I only feel truly unhappy when cops or fire fighters perish to put out the fires set by these brats (some times middle aged brats too, I have seen people as old as forty years bursting crackers). Like six fire men perished when they went to put out the flames in THE SAME BUILDING for the second time on dipawali night.

Kalipuja in rustic way

Most of the urban Bengalis celebrate deepawali, but to some rare and lucky people like me, who have a “desher bari aka family home in village” are blessed with the chance of celebrating the real Kalipuja.



Well, let me warn you in the very beginning its not for feeble hearted people.

My ancestral home is under Khandaghosh P.S., its an old single storied home, atleast a few hundred years old, surrounded by ruins of our earlier abodes. The scenery is simply mind blowing.

On one side there is river damodar with its vast spread banks of sand and small gardens, on the other side are ruins, bushes, trees, bamboo groves and empty land.



Our home lights up only five days per year, during the durgapuja, when the entire family gathers. They bring generator sets and electricians who light up the entire house. It is enveloped in darkness through out the remaining year, the only mean of light is primitive forms like lantern and candle.

I have been to the Kalipuja a few times only, the place is not very safe so I had to stop myself from visiting regularly, but the memory of those puja is never to be erased from my heart and mind.

Kalipuja starts at midnight of the amavasya and the idol is immersed on bhaiphonta aka bhaidooj (the day after kalipuja). We - I, my two siblings and my uncle used to land in home at about noon of Kalipuja, after that my uncle used to leave to locate the purohit and see if the preparations are going in the right direction, and we used to fish out the pradeeps to clean them up and fill them with oil.



We used to place them all around the house after the dusk has settled in, with the help of others. I still rue the lack of a good camera, by which we could take the snap of that marvelous picture which those lighted pradeeps used to make at night.

Those of you who have a little imagination can just close your eyes and imagine a very old house surrounded by utter darkness. Only the house is lighted with simmering pradeeps, lined up beautifully against the dark sky and the dark surroundings. I still can see that scene after ten years in my mind’s eye.

After the puja used to start we used to gather in the pujamandap with handcounted villagers, who had sacrificed the funs of crackers to attend the puja. The pujamandap used to be dimly lit, with a couple of lanterns and petromaxes (a lantern like thing which burns atleast ten times brighter). We used to silently sit there, half dozing or watching the puja.

I used to slip out before the balidan (animal sacrifice), and go to the home, and sit at the gate, silently watching the people of Burdwan bursting crackers. As the only thing between Burdwan and my village was vast bank of Damodar river and the river itself I could see the bright crackers.



That’s a non forgettable memory. Not a single soul any where, just me and the silent surroundings. The sky full of stars, a silent dark row of ruined rooms where once was atithishala (rooms for travellers seeking shelter for night), and our own ancestor’s abodes, a sleepy riverbank lined by trees, the sky full of light of firecrackers.

We used to return the next morning, the purohit used to take care of the puja of the remaining two days, and the bisarjan.

Happy dipawali!

bear and bee

There are two types of people who get fame in world, bears and bees. Bees are those who get fame by hard work or talent and bears are those who get fame by hitting bee’s fame. That is bees built the beehive stock it up with honey and bears just paw at it and get it.

Everyone has heard the name of tagore, everyone loves and respects his work, I used to observe that some writers had a habit of ruthlessly attacking him and his works, as if that is the sole motto of their life. They were born for this. I almost worship tagore hence I really hated them, till one day some one pointed out a fact to me.

She said if you visit them invisibly you might see that they are devouring on tagore’s works, but they use him as easy way to fame.

She said, if they praised tagore like everyone does half of the people might not have even read the articles, but as they are acting against the tide, throwing mud at a respected figure, they are earning everyone’s glare.

People have forgotten a lot of people who even died for Gandhiji, but none has forgotten Nathuram Godse.

There are people who act like trees and there are people who are like mistletoes, thrive on them.

Just like the bear and bee, one piles up the honey other gets the honey by pawing on it.

Letting go

Letting go.. well, I am an expert in this field. People often express wonder at my expertise but I do.

It doesnot matters how much I love a thing/person if I can convince myself that its not mine I can let it go, and finally get over that pain.

People often struggle hard to let go, I have often pondered why..what is it that is different in me?

There was a time when I was addicted to movies, television but my duties in home started quite early as per bengali famillies so I just could not afford to watch them even though I longed to.. slowly I won over the addiction. I stopped regretting my inability even the least.

Were these seeds which made me strong inside? as they were sowed in my heart too early… or am I blessed?

There were times when I truly doted after a friend but realized that the feeling is not shared, I never chased that person though I loved him or her dearly. I simply backed off.. a thing which lot of people find next to impossible, people do almost every thing to keep people they like with them. in my case my love doesnot changes, I don’t stop loving them, but I let them walk away without being heart broken.

Why will I bother a person who doesnot shares my feelings?

I have an added blessing, which I really, really adore.. its really tough to make me addicted to any thing for long. There was a time I was addicted to spider solitaire.. it just went away one fine morning. Lately I was worried that I was getting addicted to intent, internet and computer.. durgapuja proved me wrong.

When my computer crashed I realized that I can survive without them happily. I have last logged in intent on 23rd october, and my computer+internet time has sliced down to 8 hours from more than 16 hours earlier.

Is it really that tough to let go? Or we make ourselves weak? Thinking that we cant live without it?

A strange syndrome

Well, I have only one feeling toward politics .. I hate it. in my eyes it’s the greatest business in today’s world which reaps golden harvest without any investment or with the investment of sheer sweet nothings. So I observe the activities of politician completely without interest..

Lately it has started to appear that indian politicians have started to suffer from a clinical condition where the skin of a person becomes extremely thin.

First the incident of shashi tharoor, second the incident of the kerala cop who called rahul gandhi “our friend”.. every thing points towards it. I think rahul gandhi is very sincerely trying to prove it that he wants to bridge the gap between the true citizens of india (people who live in mud walled huts) and the would be prime minister of india. Though just like majority I too don’t like the way he ignores his safety. I have a deep trust that he will turn out to be a good prime minister and most probably he will do something for the deprived people of the country.

Now back to the clinical condition, as I don’t count rahul gandhi among one of my enemies.. I have nothing against the poor cop who called him “friend” I think that showed his sweetness.

Is it our dignity that gets hurt in these incidences or ego?

INTENT.COM

Some experiences become a part of our soul. I stumbled into intent.com looking for some details about actor rahul bose.. and found out a treasure trove.

Intent.com and its bloggers changed my opinion about human beings permanently. Very frankly speaking I have never seen so many unselfish and affectionate persons under the same roof aka in the same website.

Intent server crashed on 23rd September, the day my computer crashed, I have not been able to log in since then..

This durgapuja has brought boons in disguise of irritation.. first I got over my addiction of internet + computer, second I got over my hyper addiction of intent. the intent server is still not up. But when it will I will most probably not log in, because I used to spend 8-10 hours there, which is impossible for me now, because I have sliced down my computer hours to one third and am busy writing stories.

But I have plans of getting broadband connection, then I certainly will be able to squeeze out some time for intent. till then this fabulous site and its priceless people will stay in my heart and soul.

blessings of maturity

Aging is a process which is often looked at with dismay, a feeling of nostalgia. I feel quite the other way round. I think that aging has its own glory, own merits and advantages.

I think we grow more as we age, because it gives us inner strength and calmness. A strength and calmness which is not available when the body is young, beautiful and vibrant with energy. But age too has its own beauty. If we don’t compare our looks with people half our age, or who are as pretty as flower, we will be quite content with our looks. And the lack of physical strength is compensated with inner strength.

The more we grow up properly, the more we learn to live and love life. Accepting life and human beings and their various sides. Knowing the golden truths of world. Thus creating true bliss for ourselves and those around us.

Some simple truth dawn on us with age …….

Like, we cant change the world, we have to change ourselve in harmony to it.

If we want to be truly happy we should make our surroundings happy. Otherwise our happiness wont last long.

If we cant forgive others for petty faults we make ourselve miserable not them. Because we all have faults and get accepted by others, so, if we don’t accept others, they too will refuse us and we will end up lonely and miserable.

The bigger our heart is, the greater chances are that we will live a content life. Because love is what makes the world go round. We may not get the love from the person we loved but sooner or later this tree starts to bear fruit and we get more than we need.

Love and friendship should be cherished like God’s gift. We don’t do a favour by loving someone, people show their beauty by loving us. So we should give it its true honour. This humility will shower more love on us.

Honesty and hard work always pays in the long run. The fruits of dishonesty or robbery are quickly plucked but are tasteless and decay soon.

copycats

These people are those who due to one reason or other copy others. They may not have least talent or interest in that field but they due to some reason of their own cling to that field.

Apparently they are harmless, right? What harm can come if a person copies every thing you do?

Well, for an instance it can irritate you. You may lose the joy which you used to get from wearing that dress when you come out and see that he is wearing the same dress, and same dresses every day.. one of my cousins had this habit, why I don’t know but she used to buy every thing I did.

Then there is another thing about them, which is not common to every one but a large proportion of them, they try to copy you and fail.. because you have talent and they don’t. they shine, may be outshine you for a while but after that their light ebbs away like lamp and yours keeps shining with the steady light of star.

Jealousy creeps in and they try to pull you down trying every method.. finding faults, mocking, trying to misguide you…

When one has talent one should simply follow his own heart and intuitions. Should never let anyone else force him to change his ways.. he can very nonchalantly hear whatever the other has to say and keep if there is any thing worth keeping in his words, or else simply throw it all away.

be responsible

People often say that the things which happen to us are results of our own actions, in this life or past life.

I don’t believe in this, because I have seen evil flourish and virtue perish more than a thousand times. But I believe that when we take the responsibility and consequences of our willing actions with dignity and strength we prove that we are matured.

If we have that strength in ourselves two benefits can be reaped from that, one, we will think ten times before doing any thing which may cause negative impact. Two, we will go to sleep with a peaceful mind, we will know that we committed a mistake and we paid the price. We bore the punishment with dignity, we did not cried or complained or attempted to blame some one else for our own fault. I think it’s a very big victory upon our own weakness, the tendency of disowning our own mistakes.

So my eternal earnest prayer to God is/was to give me the mental strength to be fully responsible for my own, willing actions and accept their consequences, by heart, soul and mind.

Shubho Lakshmipuja!

Shubho Lakshmipuja! May the blessings of the mother shower down on entire human race.

Ma Lakshmi is the hindu goddess of prosperity, luck, peace and almost every thing good for domestic life.

As my dearest brother ibne hanif said, this fantastic diversity of belief of human beings amazes him, it does the same to me too. I truly relish being a Hindu and specially bengali. The only region which gives so much importance to mother goddesses I guess.. its quite a nice feeling…

Bengalis worship ma lakshmi today, the first full moon after durgapuja.

May the mother goddess visit and stay in your home permanently.

Shubho Bijoya

Well, I was planning to share some memories of durgapuja with all of you, and my monitor crashed on 23rd.. the service guy certainly did not showed up, which delayed me by three days to wish you all a shubho bijoya :), which I can do as per bengali system, which allows us to wish shubho bijoya till lakshmi puja, which Is the day after tomorrow. Wish me luck with my new monitor..

May all the blessings of the mother goddess shower down on you all...

Happy festive seasons..

Eid Mubarak... Shubh Navratri.. Shubho Durgapuja...May all the blessings of God shower down on all human kind.

Mahalaya

Mahalaya

Mahalaya: well, the very word opens a barrage of sweet memories in mind. Those days back in childhood when we used to wake up to the ring of shrill alarm clocks and gather around the primitive transistor after quickly brush our teeth.. the morning sun was nowhere in the scene. The pure sky was studded with night diamonds sparkling in early winter.

Then the magical voice of birendra krishna bhadra boomed out of the transistor.. and a magical journey started for a bunch of children eagerly waiting for durgapuja. The greatest festival of bengalis. Which was to start from the sixth day of mahalaya.

Those who don’t know any thing about durgapuja, well, in ancient times a demon named mahishasura procured two boons from Brahma, one said he could change his forms and every form was immortal. Second one said that neither a man, a god or a demon can kill him. After procuring these two boons he went on rampage. So the Gods gave their powers and formed mother goddess durga.. and armed her up with their weapons. She killed mahishasura when he was changing his form from mahisha (buffalo) to asur (demon) on vijayadashami. The war started today, on mahalaya. This is why mahalaya is so much cherished by bengalis, its called the beginning of devipaksha (15 days of the goddess). On this day bengalis offer prayers for their parted ancestors. The banks of rivers are clustered with men offering their prayers to their ancestors..this is called tarpan.

To me mahalaya means magic of birendrakrishna bhadra, that person was one of the most genuine devotee of mother goddess, one listening to his program will convince any one that his soul, his entire being is behind those recitations. What a truly blessed soul.

I was addicted to his program, had to stop it after joining the first job.. then slowly I became lazy. But the ecstassy is still there.. I still remember listening to his program while the morning sky slowly turned to red.. promising the sun rise. Or that specific night when I stayed up all night because the only alarm clock was dead and I did not wanted to miss his recitation.

better beware

I have once worked for an organisation which was run by a selfmade man, he has built quite a nice business starting from scratch. So he had every reason to be quite protective toward his business.

He is a issueless guy with plenty of money and I thought it was his careless attitude for money which made him buy two computers for one computer operator.. one stand-alone only for internet and the other connected with the LAN. There was separate printer and necessary things for both the machines because every day huge amount of official emails used to arrive there.

Then slowly I became net savvy and I realized that he was intelligent. There are too many ways of hacking in your computer when you are online. I have personally seen some proofs.. hints that were too much blunt to be ignored, as I don’t believe in telepathic communication.

Before that I used to think that all the stealing is done after you post something in blog, then I realized that posting is no longer required, being in the computer is enough.. I have a good antivirus installed but geeks say even that is not enough if someone is determined to steal.

The bitter fact is we, the normal users can never fight hackers, when they can hack into NASA etc then what are we? A big nothing. So being careful is the best way.

intolerance

Well, during growing years no one is spared from this vice, the inability to accept a view which clashes with our own. Only the degree of inablity vary. Some argue, some start fist fight, some cower, some fume and some keep silent but stick to their own view thinking the other one is wrong.

Then we grow up and some of us learn that there can be hundreds of results of an argument if we put it under a microscope.. we both might have been wrong, we both might have been right, we both have been partially right etc etc. more than that we learn to respect the rights of others, the truth that everyone has right to hold his/her own opinion and stick to it if it is not harming someone.. but some of us refuse to grow up, they still keep attacking anyone/everyone who holds a view other than his own.

I sometimes read them and think how vicious this mindset is, it doesnot minds to do any thing/every thing to a person who just doesnot shares his views.. Ahem!!! Now that’s a little too much for me atleast. To ridicule or hurt a person just because he doesnot thinks my way.. well!!! Hope I never do that!

God and us

Throughout my life I have always believed one thing, God is/was and will be my best friend and greatest benefactor. I never had second thoughts about that.

My relation with God is so peaceful that I often wonder that why do some people have complain against god? after analizing their complaints the thing which I have gathered is:

When we worship God with desire in our mind, we forget one thing, that is.. God only controls our souls. Whatever change she wants to make she can make only through souls which have surrendered to her. She cant make us win lottery or make us mistress of the world. All she can do is make us not care about money or luxury. She can give us the wisdom to enjoy and relish the things which are on our plate. Destroy greed, and that, my friend,to me is the biggest bliss.

I strongly believe that the deeper the bonding between a person and God is, the happier that person will be. All he will have to do is surrender every thing to God.

My relation with eternal mother has been quite intimate, just like biological mother and child. Through out my life, she has been there to warn me from dangers.. invisibly of course. Whenever I used to take some step heading to blunder, I used to have premonitions, as if she was warning me to not do it. Well they were too subtle, so some times I used to ignore it and suffer, but with age I learnt to listen to that inner voice.

When goings used to get really tough, I used to observe with gratitude that she always offered a way out, it might have been a temporary one, but that’s what was needed most at that time.

Not only that,she has played the ideal guardian in my life. I have seen that often I have yearned for some thing, even begged God for that but to no avail.. disappointed, sulked for a while. But later things showed that it was best for me to not get that thing.

rabindrasangeet..songs by tagore

Music in my eyes is the most beautiful creation of human souls. It reveals every emotion of human being..love, anger, hatred, adoration, affection… no human feeling or passion is untouched by this.

Rabindranath tagore is most probably the expert of exploring human emotions through songs. I have not heard another single person with such a splendour of talent.

I have listened to rabindrasangit for years, his music can mould your thoughts to purity. Whatever he touches becomes pure.. love, nature and devotion.

With his magical grip on pen he wrote song after song covering every emotion of human beart. The miraculous part was his choice of magical tunes for his songs. They fitted in perfectly. They enhanced the beauty of his already fabulous poems to the level of heavenly.

He was born amongst and surrounded with people of extraordinary talent. Who helped him in creating tunes for his songs but he always was a part of it, so it was his taste which reflects in all of them.

Whenever I listen to rabindrasangit this is the thing which overwhelms me, how can an artist be so perfect. Not only that, the singers whom he handpicked and trained to sing his songs are the most beautiful singers I have ever heard.. kanika banerjee, shantideb ghosh.. as if he left his soul in them.

Tagore left a magical legacy for us, who can understand his thoughts and lose ourselves in his music.

Saratchandra : a brave writer

Well, I guess every one has heard his name, atleast most of the people have courtsey multiple super hit movies made on his novels.

I think all his stories has been shot in bengali and everyone of them has made good impact on viewers. I appreciate him more as a writer. A brave, reformist writers. I have been reading his works since I was five or six years old.. no don’t smirk, he has written for every age group. I have read, re-read his works and the more I have read them the more I have become mesmerized by his mental strength, reformist mentality and power of creating magic by pen.

In one hand he portrays the pain of women.. widows, children of sex workers, sex workers.. on the other hand he portrays the steel which some women have in them, through all adversity. Their affectionate nature which fills up their entire being even when they are in dire straits. Different complexity of human nature, specially the nature of women.. their vices and their glories. Their rise and fall. I wonder if any other writer of indian origin has captured the mindset of women this perfectly.

I particularly love his character shodashi bhairavi.. a woman who was the priest of a village temple, the eyes of the lusty landlord fell on her and the surrounding village politics.. that woman inspires too much of my awe.. well my head simply bows to that woman of extraordinary mental strength and courage. There are some equally touching softer characters too, or the rebels like kamal, rajlakshmi, annada.. so many of them. somehow he had a strange capacity of giving his female characters a complete, normal yet above normal life.

bankimchandra: emperor of bengali literature

Not a very popular writer, if we count by the number of people who read his works and will admit anonymously that they love his work.

I have picked up some odd writers because of my mother, who was an avid reader and had a uncommon taste. Bankimchandra is one of them. She just loved his works and so do I.

He was more like shakespeare, picking up the most exquisite words and painting a picture out of them. He was truly the emperor of classic bengali language.

I often feel awe struck, how could he use such exquisite word yet create fantastic novels and immemorable characters. Characters so real, like kundanandini or kapalkundala. Bhramar, Indira or Suryamukhi. Kapalkundala is my favourite character in fiction world.

The immense strength of character which this lady had I have never seen another lady with such strength of character. She embodied truth and honesty. Her fearless honesty is awe inspiring for any woman.

Just like I will never forget anandamath, durgeshnandini or bishabriksha… such fantastic usage of language yet such immemorable characters.

relishing solitude

People often get scared by this thought, spending time with oneself. But if we think thoroughly, is there any ONE person in this world who is absolutely out of human touch? Unless he lives in some god forbidden place... without electricity, cell phone towers etc etc :)

We always have so many things around us which keep us directly or indirectly connected to others..phone, television, radio, internet, books, movies…. We are never deprived of human connection "absolutely" are we?

I am not asking anyone to confine himself or herself to rooms and live a lonely life against will... like monks. I wanted to say that in today’s busy world if we are forced to a life for a while where we don’t have much company or no company at all.. then enjoy that solitude.

People of younger age are more vulnerable to this feeling, I too have been once. I lived away for a year in a state which had nothing common with west bengal, and only five relatives. So I used to spend my free time roaming around the roads in my sunny or licking the brain of a tenant of the same house... now when i look back i really feel embarassed of myself. But the circumstances of next few years taught me invaluable lessons in solitude, it made me a better and more composed human being. More adjusting and forgiving.

As I slowly made a habit of staying alone, I saw people will raise their eyebrow in both cases (craving for human companionship or being nonchalant to it) and pass remarks, but in the second condition, that is my present way of life, I will have full control on my time, my life and I will never feel like a fool when I will look back at it... the last point counts a lot to me :)

I utilize my time with myself by listening to music, writing, reading or working. There are too many productive hobbies we can take up. But I always take up a hobby to enjoy, not to toil on. They always leave me refreshed, looking forward to do it again. We should always select hobbies which wil leave us a better person, and enhance our capacity as a human being.

If we start to love ourselves and our own company it will fill our arms up with a lot of positive things..
one, we will be able to survive without depending on any outer source for happiness
two, we may save our necks (and dignity) from time to time for not being part of some gossip.. :)
three, people will welcome us if we visit them, in place of making excuses like "i was just going out to see.." they will grin and welcome us.
four, we will be able to do something with our time which will make us really smug..
five, in today's internet savvy era we can share all our feelings with our close friends instantly without bothering them.

but we should always keep some time to meet our friends too, so that the friendship doesnot vanishes.