Simple Fun

Fun can be very simple. Like what we did today. There is a notice in men’s toilet in our office. That says “if any of toilets go faulty please contact so and so…” We wrote a comment below that- Toilet Assurance Solution Design(trouble to report).

Now that wouldn’t be fun for those who don’t know what trouble to report is and what solution design means and what is assurance. But it was for us who all the time are talking about assurance, solution design and troubles.

Another kind of fun was seeing a friend drunk the other day. He went drunk after a couple of glasses of wine and started shouting how much prestige Himesh has brought India with his latest flick (or should I say freak) “Aanpka Sunnroooooooooooor”!!

First few times I took the representativehood of all those blasphemous bastards and tried to point out how miserably we have failed to hide Himesh inside India and now he has reached Germany. And people all over the globe are laughing at our cinema. But he was not to be taken aback by all those bloody nonsense. And then my anger my nationalism and my rudeness gave way to humour. The next few hours were simply fabulous watching someone praise himesh as if he were his boyfriend. God save India.

There was a third funny incident which I didn’t find funny. Happened in transformer movie. Where an Indian call center guy with his funny accent tries to sell a package deal to a US Marine (those who do not know what a us marine is please read “Jarhead” by Anthony Swoff. Its basically a special species of animals who are terribly dangerous, expert in rape and murder and dreaded for their futileness all over the world.) and in that process gets the major almost killed. The public were roaring in laughter as if that is the funniest thing they have ever watched in their life.

So fun is of various types. You can have fun by pulling a girls skirt in the wide daylight and laugh your ass out all your life thinking about it and how you the goddamn lucky bastard didn’t get caught. But I would call you a rapist and demand for a prosecution. You can have fun at saying all bongs are horrendously meek and they don’t work they come to office late everyday without fail and all those normally people say about bongs, but I would call you a racist. You can say that all tamils are bloody idiots who do not know anything outside tamilnadu and my take on that would be such a poor take on joke.

Such was a funny movie which my room mate was watching today and laughing his ass out. “Partner” as the name says (could have been also named hitch-hindi). Well there is nothing funny in an over aged Govinda who it seems have left all the wonder with his dulheraja days and now have been left with a huge amount of buffoonery along with another muscular buffoon who calls himself Salman Khan (what a dhabba in the name of all Khans in Bollywood)!!

Fun my dear its all Fun.

Love ??

love and life are two different things and often we make the mistake of mixing these two. More often than not we see hindi film heroes go the debdas way just because a girl has ditched him, or even worse did not look at him, or sometimes has done the mistake of sleeping with the other man rather than sleeping with him. All these sentiments while on screen gives it a superiority it doesn't deserve, while looked at in the light of practicality becomes very sick, irrational sentiments.

Love is Love and should be looked at it as love only. Its not the only part of one's life, and its not the ultimate thing in one's life. Now don't look at me like preity zinta of dil chahta hai and start preaching that one day i will understand the importance of love and blah blah blah. I do understand that. I know that loves gives a lot and it can potentially take a lot too. And my objection is there. Is love such a great thing that you can allow it to take a toll on your life? I guess not. To me love is the name of a relationship, the relation which can not be described in any other name. Its a bit more than friendship and there is no blood ties lying beneath to give it a name and so we call it LOVE...


Friends, believe me love is no big deal. Its a mistake that people do. start trusting the other with their life. And so when it goes wrong, it feels like life torn apart. But have you ever questioned why? May be I am sounding too much defensive, may be i am a bit too negative here, but do think of the possibility that when love goes wrong what happens to love? definitely it is not something which should have the liberty to ruin your life...forget life not even a day or not even a moment of your precious life. Love is a sweet thing to have, a thing to feel proud of that you are loved by someone, and to love someone with same intensity is even more proud thing to do. but i do feel its not life.

Mudiwali Budi( The Old Lady Who Used to Sell Mudi)

Its a tale of love and pain. Love when it becomes unconditional it is heavenly feeling which my mother experienced. That was a long time back.
THat time I used to stay in Siliguri- A small town in West Bengal( on the chicken's neck of north eastern India).

We had a house in that town where I grew up. We did not have a very affluent life. Everything me and my sister asked were not to be fulfilled just by wishing for it. My parents made me understand the value of money and the hard work that goes behind to earn it. But parents words were not enough untill i saw poverty in my own eyes.
An old woman used to come to our house to sell Mudi (kind of puffed rice very popular in Bengal). She was old, too old, i would say, too carry that huge sackful of mudi on her head and walk around. But she seemed to me surprisingly stron inspite of her thin stature. She used to come everyday and sit in the varandah for a while in those hot summer afternoons. My mom used to sit with her for sometime. And the old lady would tell her lifestory. It seemed to me like an endless saga of pathetic incidents pain poverty and sobbings. Which although I was not from a affluent family seemed quite odd to me. I could never believe that life can be this tragic. Somehow it seemed unnatural and blown out of its proportion. She used to come everyday and sit there, probably in my mom she got a friend who would listen to her day to day life lessen her boredom loneliness for sometime atleast.
I used to mock my mom. I used to tease her calling her mudiwali's best friend. Mom would scold me to talk like that. But i never stopped. I thought this lady comes because my mom gives her things( like old clothes, sweaters and all...Once a piece of jewellery as well for her daughters marriage).
What i gathered from the other things that my mom later told me is her life was very painful. and she is very poor. Somehow her son is going to a school in the night to pass the secondery atleast. and her daughter will be married soon( which she was and soon she became the source of another unfortunate event).
This lady was all by herself. She lost her husband as soon as she got pregnant with her second child. She had to work even in her labor months on the field and its only hard work which made her earn a living for her two children. she was lonely and living in a place where few ppl cared about her. In her village none really was a friend to her to whom she could talk aand probably relieve herself from her agonising lonliness. So there was my mom.
As I said earlier I thought this was a give and take relation between these two individuals. I tried not to think as my mom's son, but some third person who doesn't know any of the subjects and analyse their condition. I while doing that I more and more became convinced that this was a petty poor rich relation, the poor is living totally on the consideration of Rich( The word RIch is to be taken relatively here).
But what I failed to notice is the other small gifts that is coming from the woman to my mom, and the smile in my mom's eyes. My mom knew she is poor and can not probably afford to give gifts, but everytime she came she used to come with some or other small things like a small ripe mango from the tree just beside her house in village. a half of a Rohu Fish which her son had caught while fishing in a pond nearby. These gifts were unique in nature. Mom always wanted to discourage her from bringing gifts as she feared this would put additiional pressure on this old lady. But she never stopped. Once she said, "eigula je ani tumar jonno ete amar bhalo lage. "Probably it gave her the chance to give off the burden of all those things that mom used to give her and stand side by side to mom. Probably these enabled her to think mom as a friend and not as a giver. Mom also told me the same thing when one day i asked her. I got a new angle of this relationship that day. I learnt friendship.
Then came the time when we were moving out of Siliguri to Kolkata( previously known as Calcutta). I was not there at home that time. Dad, Mom and didi were there. Few days before the day of departure, the lady came home. My mom had already told her that we were shifting to calcutta. that day it became a spectacle really when she started crying. She was sad. She was crying like a mother who is going to loose a child. She was crying and telling who will talk to me if you go away? who will care for me? when after many days mom told me about this i saw those blinks of tears in her eyes. and I knew there was love. there was friendship a kind I never experienced a kind which I would die for to feel and a kind only people who are very lucky like mom can feel. I am proud of you mom. I really am.

[The picture on the side is not the real woman just an illustration copied from Google Image search]

Samsing Travel- Written in Bengali

tokhon ami Kolaghat college err second year er student...bari theke onek dure hostel e din katai..second year complete kore ekmaser chhuti te deshe firechchi...desh mane holo Siliguri...tomra kojon siliguri cheno jani na kintu siliguri amar kachhe khub e basto ar modern shohor ekta...ebong oboshyoi gola bajie ami tokko kori kolkatar loke der sathe je kon kon bapare siliguri bhalo...to sebar siliguri ese jothariti amra char murti hoechhi ek jot: ami , Piku, abhirup ar sanjib...sobai boys' school er bondhu...sebar hotat pratik e dilo prastab ta chal kothao ghure asi.. ami bollam,'ghurte jabi kire ekhon to almost barshakaal charidike khali brishti bonya'...kintu bakirao utsaho peye galo tai ami o raji hoe gelam...
kintu kothai jaoa jai?? jaiga thik kora ta khub mushkil er kaj hoe daralo...nana munir nana mot..keu bolchhe darjeeling..keu bolchhe karseong..keu bolchhe funtshiling...keu bolchhe kalimpong...keu abar soja gangtok...kintu kono tai amder monoputo hochhilo na. karon esob jaiga guloi amader bar pachek kore jaoa hoe gachhe..tokhon pratik e dilo idea ta..oi amader idear bhandar chhilo chirokal...bollo je chal samsing jai! Samsing?? Abhi bollo seta abar kothai re? keu konodin naam sone ni... but that was the whole idea...emon ekta jaigai jaoa jekhane keu konodin jai na...jekhankar shanto sundar jeeboner bhagidaar hoa...jekhane nodir jole pa chubie bose thakle thandai jokhon payer lom gulo khara hoe darai tokhon tar onbhuti ta ke nijer kore paoa. eisob onek kichhu asha nie ar adventure hisebe berie porechhilam amra charjon.... 2 b contd
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Bari te esei chechamechi jure dilam...ma bag dao...sweater dao...ei dao sei dao...packing korbo...ma kichhui jane na esob voyonkor plan sune akash theke porlo...porer din jalpaiguri te bonyar red alert roechhe...ghontai ghontai local cable channel balason, teesta, mahananda sobar water level nie report aschhe...Kintu amrao beparoa...jabo jokhon thik korechhi tokhon jaboi...ekta bag e kichhu habi jabi jinish dhukie nie berie porlam...Bari theke cycle nie pikur bari...sekhan theke soja bus stand... kintu bus stand e ese mathai porlo baaj. sob bus cancel hoe bose achche odlabari te bonya hoe gachche ar kono bus jachhe na oi route die. Kintu latest khobor paoa obdi chalsa te tokhono haalat thik thak sutorang chalsar bus gulo ghure ghure jachhe. thik kore fellam je ar tahole chintar kono dorkar nei...oi ghuronto pothei ber hoe pora jak. Bus er tkt kete fellam chalsar jonno. Uthe porlam ekta mandhata amoler ekta lorjhore bus e... bus er haalat dekhe abhi bollo bonyai e bus to bhasbe bole mone hoi...karon lohar ar kichhu baki nei puro tai kather toiri tai amader kono chinta nei. Ami o ekmot na hoe parlam na. bus sevok hoe madarihat die jete parchhe na tai bus er route puro ulto dike ghurie deoa hoechhe..bus jabe tista canal er pase je sodyo pathar fela rasta ta roechhe tar upor die. O rasta ta amader khub favourite. Ami ar piku bohudin gie o rastai cycle chalie giechhi onekdur obdi...jekhane boikunthapur forest range suru hochhe tar ektu age ekta swashan ghat achche chhotto ekta naam na jana nodir dhare. sekhane gele ek pash die boye jachche tistar upor sodyo kata ekta canal ar onno dike sei sundari nodi
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ei khane ese amader purono ekta experience bole di...ekdn oi rastai ami ar piku cholechhi. seidintai chhilo bodhhoi prothom dn oi pothe. Char dike gachh gachhalir majhkhane pathar fela rasta...tar opor cycle nie laje gobore dosha dui adventurer. rastar ekdike sei amader priyo nodi ta chhilo. onno dike amader canal ti. ekjon jol die bhora..,joler gorbe gorbini hoe nachte nachte cholechche ...arekjon jeno thik sorbohara...tir tir kore tar jibon nie boye choleche edike odike kono rokom e sob badhar pash katie. onek khon dhore cycle chalanor por hotat kheyal holo je ekpashe nodi ta to ar nei kothai jeno kono jadukar ese ek fush mantar die bata ke dieche haoa kore. amra dujonei khub chintai pore gelam. erokom rata rati nodi ke to haoa hoe jete dekhi ni kokhono...rastar pase canal ta thik e cholchhe kintu onno dikta chhilo onekta nichcu jekhan theke bechara nodita boye jachhilo...to kichhuta back track korar pore ter pelam je nodi ta hotat kore canal er niche ese haoa hoe gache. Amra dujonei chorom excited vugorbho basini ekti nodir abishkar korte cholechhi amra dui adhunik livingstone. cycle nie rastar paser soru paye chola poth beye niche neme ja dekhlam se prokritir aschorjo noi...manush er dara sristi kora ek aschcorjo. Tistar canal ta ekhane ese boye cholechhe ekta bridger upor die..ar tar nich die amader dukkhini nodi ti nijer moto apon bege boye cholechche. Sei nodir jole pa dubie amra dujone bose porlam ekta pathore. mathar upor die tokhon boye cholechhe borshar gorbini canal tar 20000 cusec er chondo nie...payer niche ektara bajie apon pothe cholechche amader dukkhini. Sei din je engineer oi bridge ta baniechhilo tar upor khub sroddha holo ei nodi tike bachie rakhar jonno.. tar ostitwo lunthan na korar jonno. technology ar nature er ei sohobaas e amra dujonei mohito hoe sei khane canal er niche bose joler chonde mashgul hoe gelam.
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fire asi amader journey te. To amader sei chena pothe amra raona holam ojanar sondhane. Elo rangapani. Bus e uthlo besh kichhu chhagal ar murgir jhuri. amar payer niche ek ekta murgi bhorti jhuri lagie die bollo je tumi baba ektu pa die chepe boso..noito bata ra palie jabe. ami o pa die ektu chepe chupe boslam. bus bhorti lok. ar tar modhyei ek badamwala badam bikri suru korechhe. motamuti bus na bole ekta hut bolai bhalo...jai hok kharap lagchhilo na bapar ta. erpor amra chole elam sei canal ar nodir modhye die boe chola pahture rastai. tar opor die amader bus dulte dulte lafate lafate egie chollo. jani na totokhone amar payer chape murgi gulo bikot chechcamechhi suru korechchilo koikata nischoi potol o tulechhilo...kintu kichhui korar nei. obosheshe sei rasta teo chena ongsher pala sesh hoe elo ek notun rajyo. ekpashe ghono bon boikunthapur range. tar theke duek bar chital horin era uki mere dekhe galo kara aj tader shanti nosto korte esechhe. tar por onekkhon bon er majhe die cholar por hotat kore charpas forsa hoe galo. hotat kore onekta akash ese galo amader mathar upor...obak hoe samne takie dekhlam bishal book nie samne sue roechhe rongini teesta. tar neel jol prochondo probaho ar ohonkar er dala sajie. Teesta amar mote duniar sobtheke sundari nodi. er rup er tulona paoa bhar. gorom e ei teesta jokhon tir tir kore shanto hoe boye chole tokhon taake kono gramyo grihobodhu bole bhabte ektu o osubidhe hoi na. jeno sondhyer snan sere pradeep jalate esechhe tulshi tolai. ar jokhon borshai sei teesta hotat kore proloyonkori rup nie cholat cholat sobde kapie dai ...atonke fire takie dekhi sei mohimamoyee rup seeno sakkhat dakate kali.er haat ar tandav theke jeno rokkhe nei karo.
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teesta paar hoe amra probesh korlam jalpaigur jelai. gramer majhkhan die edie cholechhi odlabarir dike jani sameni bonya hoechhe kothao. Prochur lok odik theke chole aschhe edik pane. amra tao egie cholechhi. odlabariri samne ese amader bus ekta onno chhotto rastai dhuke porlo. erpor theke kichhui temon chintam na.ar ektu ghum ghum pachhilo...klanto chokhe chokh lege elo. hotat kore tarapor jokhon chokh khullam bus jure loker chechamechi sune bujhlam chalsai pouchhe gechhi. chalsa theke dhorlam ekta jeep. sei jeep e motamuti 15-20 jon moto lok hoe driver ekgaal hese jeep chhere dilo. chalsa thekek rasta ta hotat pahari hoe uthlo. pahar er ga beye amra charjone uthte laglam samsing pahar er upor. dudike cha bagan er sobuj er majhkhane die amra egie gelam sekhane jekhane ar age jaoar jaiga nei. rastar sesh prante ese ekta chhotto pahari gram...Samsing.