Activities in the last two months

It is always easy to start something new, but the hard part is to maintain it. I have been away from blogging since the last two months, although there were nothing unusual or special during this time interval. These two months went away in a mundane fashion, following the same routines, with the same familiar faces. However I thought of mentioning a few things which I did since July, and here goes the list:

• I watched Mithun classic Bengali movie Judhdho, where the opening dialogues of Mithun goes like this:

Amaar naam DSP Agniswar Roy, ami jekhane jai, se jaygata prothome gorom hoy, tarpor agun jwole, sesh hoy chhai diye! I think this one piece is enough to name this film as a classic, but there are lots of these types of "classic" dialogues throughout the film. Highly recommended for movie watchers.

• I upgraded myself from Blended Scotch Whiskey to Single-Malt Scotch Whiskey.

• Durga puja in Wichita will be on the 13th of this month, and due to lack of enough members, I have been included in the core committee of planning and advising. I have attended both the meetings being held so far, because the Eating in both the cases was simply mind-blowing. When the part of talking comes, I manage the job with frequent "Er s", "Oh yes", " Looks good", "Not a bad idea" type of phrases. The plannings are still going on, and I hope earnestly that the execution will be done before 13th.

• Initially very much reluctant about Harry Potter, now I am just swallowing the novels at a rapid pace. At the beginning, I thought of reading only the first book of the series, but after reading the first, I could not restrain myself from reading the second, third and fourth. Presently, I'm on the fifth book, and am confident to finish the entire series by the end of this year. I must admit now that if I would not have read these, it would have been a great mistake. JK Rowling simply rocks! Along with the books, I have watched the four movies also. The movies are good in their own way, the performances are really worth-watching.
  

• I have started "official research work" and hope to burn the face of my country soon.

• I am going home on the 11th of December.....................WHOOO AAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know it is always good to read from the top of a list, but sometimes, the other way round helps. This list, at least, has been intended for that way.

Junk Mails

Dear Arijit,
We are happy to announce that our country needs you! This is the opportunity, make your family and your countrymen proud. JOIN THE ARMY !!!!!! ..........................
No, I have no slightest wish to join the army! What a joke!! Actually, I received the above letter yesterday, and mind you, this is the second call !!!

This is just one of the numerous junk mails I receive everyday in my letter box. Every afternoon, when I come back for lunch, I see the letter box filled with lots of envelopes, of different colors. Previuosly, I used to at least open the letter, glance it through, and then make four equal parts, and drop in the trash-can. But now, I don't have to do that even. I just look at the sender's name, and without opening it, drop in the can!! Almost 90% of the letters (sometimes even 100%) make their journey from my letter-box to my trash can in less than 3 minutes everyday. What a severe wastage of paper, ink and money for the US government !!

A large portion of the letters are from various credit card companies, they are very eager to offer me a credit card with a healthy credit line, I just have to fill up the attached form and send it back, or even call them. Now, if I sum up the upper limits mentioned by these pre-approved offers, I would have own myself a fortune worth about $1,00,000 !!!!! Only one change I would have needed, instead of carrying a wallet , I would have carried an album full of credit cards .

I had tested them once. I have a credit card of a reputed name. When they kept on sending me offers for another one, I called them and asked, " What would be my lowest credit line in the new card ?" " Not less than $2000, Sir", a sweet female voice answered. I replied, "Look, I already have one of your cards, so instead of offering me another, why don't you put $2000 in my old one ???" Bewildered, the lady reamined silent for a minute, and then replied, " We'll look into it, Sir". Well, she indeed looked, and since then, that company has stopped sending me pre-approved offers.

Other than this, I keep on getting mails from all possible organisations, some wants me to offer a loan, a free trip to the Carribean islands, discount for buying food for my dog, willing to offer some money to my parents for carrying on with my education etc etc. Last time, when I came back from India after 30 days, more than a 100 letters were waiting for me. I found only 5 of them worthy: my contract letter, gas, electricity, internet and telephone bills........all others occupied an entire trash-bag!!!

My friend in Wichita once told me, " You know, these people are so alone by themselves, no one ever takes notice of them. It is only these companies that always try to help them. These people feel that there is at least someone who cares about them. This feeling makes them happy." I did not pay attention to his words then. Maybe he was right, maybe thats the reason and the purpose of these junk mails, who knows???

A bit of fresh air

It has been a long time since I watched new Bengali movies. Except the flics of Rituparno Ghosh, although I did not see his last two creations, I have no idea about other movies since I came here. Back home however, I sometimes used to sit in front of the TV set, but the titles of the movies were so ridiculous ( eg, Baba Keno Chakor, Swami Keno Ashami, Sujon Sokhi, Kulangaar etc) and the content so rubbish, that I could not help but go out of the room in less than 15 minutes. I got so frustrated with mainstream Bengali cinema that I decided not to watch any of those which are released after 1990, or at most, 1995!

Recently however, I have broken my rule, and in the last week, I watched 3 bengali movies, which are each of three different types, and all of them were really a pleasure to watch.

The first one was Teen Ekke Teen. It is a very light-hearted comedy, executed very nicely without making the comedy a slapstick one. Three young ladies, in order to expand their business of pickles (of three tastes: tok, jhal, misty!) , try to get a loan of 10 lakhs from banks and other financial institutions. Being rejected from all of them, the trio plans to rob a bank by themselves in order to aquire the money. The incidents which follow from that point are very hilarious and enjoyable. Sreelekha Mitra, Nilanjana Sharma and Koneenica performed their roles brilliantly, and the corresponding male actors: Saswata Chatterjee, Kushal Chakraborty and Badsha Moitro, gave a very good support. Overall, it was a two-hour funride, filled with lots of funny as well as exciting, serious moments.

The second movie is named Aabar Ashbo Firey, maybe 2 years old, directed by Ravi Ojha. It deals with the old topic of rebirth , but the director handled it in a neat fashion, and the actors performed very nicely as well. Saswata and Koneenica were in the lead roles, while Victor Bannerjee was too good in his negative role. The other actors, namely Rajatabha Datta, Ramaprasad Banick and others consisted of the supporting cast. Although a very long movie of about 3 hours, I never got bored of watching it.

The third, and the last so far, is titled Waarish, directed by Kaushik Ganguly. I have seen a few telefilms directed by him back home, and some of them were simply great. This movie is a serious one, dealing with complex relationships of man and woman, the futile hope of conceiving a child, the indomitable self-confidence of a single mother , the hopelessness and confusion of a reputed school teacher and things of those kinds. Sabyasachi Chakraborty was good, Debashree Roy was wonderful, but Churni Ganguly was simply amazing. The way she portrayed her character was really an experience to watch. Maybe slow sometimes, but I liked watching the movie very much.

All of the above-mentioned movies do not have big names attached to them, yet they are so good. It seems that Bengali cinema is bringing in some fresh air for its audience. Hope it continues, and maybe some day Bengal will regain its position of honor and glory it possesed 20 years ago.

Questions and "Answers"

Q : Name a country that starts with 'U' .
A1 : 'Y'ugoslavia
A2 : Utopia

Q : How many sides does a triangle have?
A1 : Four
A2 : None....err....one

Q : Who is Fidel Castro?
A : A singer

Q : Who is Tony Blair?
A : An actor.

Q : Why are Hiroshima and Nagasaki famous?
A : Wrestling and Judo

Q : What do you know about Kofi Annan?
A : Certainly I know about coffee, but "and" what???

Q : How many Eiffel Towers are there in Paris?
A : About ten, I suppose.

Q : What is Al Qaeda?
A : It is a group of suicide bombers and is led by Mr Yasser Arrafat.

Q : What is the main religion of Israel?
A : Israeli.

Q : What is a Mosque?
A : An animal.

Q : From which state of US does KFC come from?
A : You mean the chicken?? I have no idea.
Q : Do you know the full form of KFC?
A : Certainly, its Kentucky Fried Chicken.

What do you feel from the above sets of answers?? I made them? The answer is a strict "NO" ! Truth being stranger than fiction, these answers were given by the people of America which was conducted by The Chasers' War On Everything, a popular satirical TV comedy series in Australia. The motive was to show the rest of the world that the Americans are not that stupid what the world thinks them to be. I hope that after this telecast, both Australia and the rest of the world will have a better idea about the Americans, and will know about what they are really capable of.

One last sentence I want to add, which is " GOD BLESS AMERICA. THEY BADLY NEED HIS BLESSINGS"!!

Winners or Entertainers ?

Today, as I was having lunch at the school cafeteria, I heard a group of 3-4 students talking about lawn tennis. Back home, I used to watch this sport quite often, specially the Grand Slams, but here, I don't get a chance of watching them. Even if I would have got the scope, I doubt of utilising it.

They were talking about Roger Federer and arguing about the fact that who in the tennis world can beat him. Only one name came into picture, that of Rafael Nadal, who is unanimously accepted as the "king of clay" in the modern tennis arena. But he can only beat Federer in a clay court, whereas in all the other surfaces, Federer is practically unbeatable. His records speak for him. Federer has been winning the Wimbledon title for the last four years, the US open for the last 3 years, and the Australian Open thrice in the last four occassions. But he is yet to capture the French Open, where he has been beaten by Rafael Nadal three times in succession : in semi-finals in 2005, and in the finals of 2006 and 2007.

Isn't modern tennis getting too predictable? The three Grand Slams, barring the Rolland Garros, are being won by Roger, while the French Open by Nadal. This is the scenario for the last 3 years! Isn't that too long??

It is not Federer's fault that his opponents fail to beat him in most of the cases, but thinking in terms of a viewer, there has been very little twist in the tennis world for the last 3 years. When you can predict the results of all the major tournaments of the year beforehand and there is a very sleak chance that you'll go wrong, will you not lose interest in the game? While watching a tennis game featuring Federer or Nadal, it seems to me that the surface is being occupied by a robot, whose every movement is calculated, every nanosecond is syncronised to perfection, and the player can never make a mistake.


I agree to the fact that in a game , winning is vital. But winning is not the only thing people like to see. I still remember the matches between Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Andre Agassi and a few other true artists in the tennis court. I had always been a fan of Becker since childhood, its not that he used to win everytime, on the contrary his form used to go up and down very frequently. The same is true for Andre Agassi as well. They were the true entertainers who used to play the game only by sheer joy of the game itself. The results did not always reflect their class or style, nor they themselves were too much bothered about it.

That is the reason why we like Brian Lara more than Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards more than Sachin Tendulkar or Andre Agassi and Boris Becker more than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Whenever the first group has played, they have added something to the game and have entertained the crowd to the hilt. People have always loved the game due to the presence of these personalities. In their absence, the game still continues, but loses much of its warmth, charm and beauty.

A worthy collection

This time, while coming back from home, I brought with me the book titled " Doshti Kishore uponnyas" authored by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. Although not a "kishore" any more I am with respect to age, but still now, I enjoy juvenile literature-----the likes of "thakurmar jhuli", the evergreen works of Lila Mazumdar, Narayan Gangopadhyay(after all, who can ever forget the great Tenida???), Premendra Mitra, and above all, the great Sukumar Ray (as a child, I had always nurtured the dream of being Pagla Dashu ). From time to time, I go back and read these books, and refresh myself. Back home, during exam time, specially after a disastrous exam performance, I used to come home tired and gloomy. But as soon as I opened "Tenida Samagra" and started reading one of the stories, all the sadness would disappear instantly and my heart would fill with joy and laughter.

Among the current active writers, I admire Shirshendu the most , considering juvenile literature . I still remember when I read Shirshedu for the first time. The book was called "Manojder adbhut baari", and from that time onwards, I have tried not to miss any single creation of him. Even now, the first story which I read from the Puja number of Anandamela is Shirshendu's. He posesses a unique power of creating a world for the children, a world of fantasy, humour, fun and joy. Once started, its very hard to restrict oneself before completing the story or the novel.

I like the way he builds the plot. Most of the stories are set in villages, where we get all sorts of people : rich, poor, stupid, shrewd, petty thieves, beggars, the Officer-in-Charge of the local police station, a madman, one or two wisemen and so on. All the characters are so natural with their own peculiar characteristics that the reader falls in love with them. Some characters are so unique and funny that one cannot stop laughing, like , the O.C , rather coming to the police station, is taking lessons in Ghazals, a Hunter, getting frustrated with himself, is using his rifle to clean the drain, the madman is lecturing a scientist about Newton's laws!!!!!

Another aspect of Shirshendu's novels is the presence of Ghosts ! Most of them are very well-behaved, they always try to help people,supply ideas as and when needed to the helpless, punish the villains and bring peace to the village. His creation of villains also are much enjoyable, one likes them rather than hating them. The most important thing is the absence of violence ! All the stories end with a positive note, where the evil-doers vow to do good and condemn their own evil deeds.

I have been reading the book I mentioned at the beginning for the last couple of weeks. Although five or six novels were read before, but it is always a pleasure to re-read these and go back to childhood, and cherish some sweet old memories!

Lastly, the list of the novels in the book goes like this:

1. Gour er koboch
2. Harano Kakatua
3. Golmaal
4. Chakrapur er Chakkar e
5. Chhayamoy
6. Sonar medel
7. Patalghor
8. Horipur er horek kaando
9. Dudhshayor er Dwip
10. Bipin Babur bipod.

Kabhi alvida na kehnaa

Yesterday night, after dinner, I was surfing through Youtube, looking for some video performances of my favourite singer Kishore Kumar. I got only a few, and the picture quality of those were not good unlike we are used to see in the internet. But I got something very special after that-----------an interview with Kishoreda , narrated and conducted by Ameen Sayani. Although the programme was brodcasted after Kishoreda's death, but it was really worth-watching. Many renowned film personalities talked about him, and some glimpses of an earlier interview of Kishoreda, taken by the incomparable Lata Mangeshkar, were also shown. I wish I could have watched that as well !

After the programme was finished, I thought for a while with astonishment--------a person, with no "formal training" of music, had done so many things that the normal human beings could not even think of those ! He has performed all the activities associated with movies : Acting, Directing, Producing, Music directing, lyricist, and over and above, singing------with such ease and perfection that sometimes one would feel that he must have possessed some super-human qualities ! As Lataji said, " Kishoreda was born with all the musical qualities. He was an in-born genius!"

Rightly so. Due to the fear of Dadamoni Ashoke Kumar, Kishoreda first started with acting, which in his own words, he did not like at all. But he gave a new meaning to the comedy genre of Bollywood. His movies were packed with bomblastic hilarious elements right from the beginning till the end. Those who have seen movies like Half Ticket, Baap re Baap, Bhagaam Bhaag, Chalti ka naam gaari, Jhumroo, Padosan, Dilli ka thug--to name only a few-----can understand my point. Apart from acting in comedies, he directed a movie called Door Gagan ki Chhaon mein-------which, according to the critics, is a classic and Kishoreda, with his natural talent, proved that he can act in serious roles as well.

I dare not to say anything regarding his playback singing. I only wish sometimes if I could see at least one of his live performances! It is very hard to believe , after hearing his songs, that he had never been trained formally in his life. If I like to pick a dozen of my most favourite songs sung by him, the list, as of now, will look like this(in no particular order):

Aa chal ke tujhe (Door gagan ki chhaon mein)
Chingari koi bhadke (Amar prem)
Badi sooni sooni hai (Mili)
Dukhi man mere (Funtoosh)
Chanda o chanda (Laakhon mein ek)
Woh sham kuchh ajeeb thi (Khamoshi)
Pal Pal dil ke paas (Blackmail)
Aye tum yaad mujhe (Mili)
Koi humdum na raaha (Jhumroo)
Mere naina sawan bhadon (Mehbooba)
Kuchh to log kahenge (Amar prem)
Main hoon Jhumroo (Jhumroo)

Lastly, I would like to say, in his own words, a couplet :
Aye tum yaad mujhe gaaney lagee har dhadkan
Khusboo layee pawan, mehkaa chandan.

Awaiting a new look

It was my second or third day in this country. That afternoon, I went to a food station located opposite to my apartment, and ordered a hamburger. The girl in the counter told me something, which I figured out as "Wanna sit?" I answered her, " No, it's to go !" . I saw her frowning, she again repeated the same words. This time, getting a bit irritated, I gave the same answer, in a harsher tone. She did not say me anything, and after a minute or two, handed me the hamburger. Then I asked her confidently, " How much????" To my utter surprise, she told the same thing which sounded like " Wanna sit"!!!!! I took a few seconds to figure out what she was saying, then everything was crystal clear to me. The hamburger was priced one dollar and six cents, which the girl told as "One-o-six"!!!!!!!!!!!! This she was telling from the very beginning, which I was interpreting in a completely wrong way. Giving her the money, both of us smiled and I came out from the shop.

This was my first encounter with McDonald's , which was located just opposite to my apartment. Although the entire experience was not fully entertaining, but it gave me the start required for me. I stopped worrying about breakfasts and lunch. Whenever I had problem with cooking, I used to go to the McDonald's and filled my stomach.

The french fries available there was simply mind-blowing. Initially, I liked the crispy chicken sandwiches also very much, but the main reason of eating there were the fries. Often, I used to cook "daal" at home, and had a meal with rice, daal and french fries! Although as time went by, my visit to the McDonald's got fewer and fewer (may be once in a month or two),but it was always the last hope for me. When nothing would work, I always knew that McDonald's is there, waiting for me with the crispy sandwich and french fries.

But when I came back to Wichita this time after completing the Connecticut trip, I saw that the McDonald's is gone!!! The place is filled with a group of people, and some constructions were going on. It was a great disappointment for me. The location and usefulness of this shop----both were very favourable for me, and I was not happy at all by its disappearence. The nearest food station was 2-3 blocks away, and it was not as good as the McDonald's.

Last Friday, I was glancing through the University newspaper, when I saw the news that the McDonald's is going to reopen at the same location! They are rebuilding the shop, and ths time, it will be an entirely different one in terms of appearence " for the first time in Wichita" as they said. No doubt it was a great news for me. I am waiting for August, when I hope to see my old McDonald's in a new look, and will at least buy myself some french fries on the opening day.

Trip, yet again

I am leaving for Connecticut tomorrow. Whenever a semester ends, I make a chance to go somewhere to refresh myself and spend some good memorable time with my friends. Although this semster had the least workload among all the others I have had so far, but its always good to explore new places and mix with old pals.

My only concern is the flight time. The flight departs tomorrow at 7:45 a.m. , which means I need to reach the airport by 7! I have forgotten how does 6 a.m. look like, its been a while I woke up so early. But all problems have solutions, at least for me. In this case, the plan is that a very good friend of mine will call me in the morning around 5:30, so that I can get ready! So I am not that much worried about this issue, only a slight concern bugs me ! This time, the stopover is at Chicago, so I hope everything goes well.

In order to wake up around 5:30, one needs to sleep early. But for me, even if I go to bed at 11, I will remain awake till 1:30 or 2, which is frustrating and embarassing as well. So, knowing that I will get very little sleep if I go to bed now, I have decided to watch a movie. Its better to do something than staying awake in the dark room and praying for sleep!

I will be back on the 30th of May, and will continue from then, if not before. Till then, lemme have a good break !

Farewell to Spring (Semester and Season--both)

Today was the last class day of the Spring semester. Well, the semester has not yet ended officially, the final exams are yet to come. But since I have no finals this semester, the semester has ended for me.

This semester was a real fun. I must say that of all the 6 semesters I have had here so far, this one was the most enjoyable one for me. The entire 16-week tenure got partitioned into two distinct halves, almost equal, and more than that, without my knowledge!

The first 8 weeks went away in preparing for the Qualifying Exams. All the students who have come here in US for higher studies know the importance of Qualifiers, or nicknamed as "Quals". It is like the qualifying matches before the FIFA World cup. Clearing this exam is just like getting the pass to participate in the main event. Actually, this exam marks the beginning of the "research work" people do here, at least officially. I cleared the exam somehow, although I must admit that on the day of the declaration, I experienced the most tensed 3-4 hours of my life so far, watching Amitabh-starrer Sharaabi, with my fingers crossed!!

Since I was supposed to study "hard" for my exam(which I didn't), I was allowed to enrol in only two courses in this semester, although the original requirement is 3. The courses required 2-3 hours of study every week atmost. So, I got into a lot of trouble once my quals were over. Then I planned something new to spend the remaining 8 weeks.

As I have mentioned before, I have been watching a lot of movies since I came here. This time, I decided to watch some Hollywood movies! Those who know me can imagine how weird this idea is! But, I was determined this time. I gathered the names of some notable movies, and started watching them, one by one. To my surprise, I started liking them (only thing is, I need to pay more attention while watching) . For the last one-and-a-half months, I have watched quite a good number of Hollywood movies, and have become an admirer of Tom Hanks and Kevin Spacey! I do not like the action movies, rather the Drama genre attracts me more. I am hoping to gather a better knowledge of Hollywood movies as time goes by.

The Spring season is also bidding farewell it seems, alike the semester. It is raining consistently almost everyday for the last 15 days or so. I think this is the time of monsoon in this area. Rain always makes me nostalgic, walking in the rain without an umbrella was one of my favourite activities back home, which is continuing here as well.

Last, but not the least, every meeting must end with a delicious eating. The classes ended today, and tomorrow we are having Lunch in the department. All is well that ends well.

Bon Apetite!

Down the memory lane(3)

I still remember the day when Boyoshko brought a football along with him in class. We were in class 9 , and generally we did not have that leather sphere till then. Rarely we were permitted to play with the footballs the school possessed, and those days used to come once in a blue moon. We were satisfied either with tennis balls or rubber spheres, much smaller than the actual ones.

So, on that day, all of us were overjoyed. Fortunately, we had a Games period that day, right after the tiffin break. I remember all of us finished tiffin in rocket-speed and jumped out of the classroom into the green playground. Due to the games period, we got more than one hour of non-stop playtime. As the games period was over, the bell rang, but none of us were willing to enter the classroom leaving the playground. We continued playing for about more than 10 minutes, when we saw Mita teacher approaching the playground. It was her geography period (one of the most barren subjects to me!). Reluctantly, all of us came back to the classroom and were about to take seats, when Mita teacher, in a very sarcastic tone, said, " This is the third time I called you. Why don't you listen to us? Why not you go back to the playground once more??" The last sentence was the only one which we heard, and quite obviously, all of us left the classroom once again, and went to the playground!!! Mita teacher was so surprised that she could not utter a single word, although the classroom was nearly empty by then.

Two full periods of play simultaneously!!!!!!!!!! We were literally flying with joy. At last, we came back to our classroom after the bell rang. Ohh, i forgot to mention about the rain! It was raining heavily that day, and the ground got muddy in a little while. So when all of us entered the classroom finally, it was a real scene!! Almost all the white shirts turned muddy, the hairs looked as if someone has pulled them ferociously, water falling from the head in drops! The entire classroom and the benches got wet. Mita teacher, meanwhile, informed our teacher-in-charge(Ghosh teacher) about our "non co-operation", and she , along with Thakur Sir(He was very strict and arrogant), came to the classroom.

After the usual scolding(as everybody does!), Thakur Sir, with an evil grin, told," We will not punish you, Nature will punish you! You people played for two hours in the rain??? Huummm, we'll see how many of you come tomorrow!!!" Tomorrow came, and the good thing was, the attendance was more than normal!!!!

I would like to finish up stating one more incident. We used to play in the morning also, just before the beginning of the classes (from 9:20 to 10 atleast!). One day, due to overnight raining, the ground was muddy, and the match was in its full momentum. Ghosh teacher entered through the gate, very neatly dressed. As she was passing by the ground, Kaku Das (most probably) punched the ball. It was a grounder, and carrying a lot of mud with it, the ball went out of the ground, and hit Ghosh teacher lightly! The physical injury was none, but there were 3-4 "beauty muddy" spots on her saree! All of us stood standstill. Ghosh teacher, with a very peculiar tone (a mixture of sorrow, anger, frustration, and may be many more), told, " Tomraa e ki korle???? Aaj school committee r saathe meeting chhilo!!!!!!! Ekhon ki hobe????????????"

I still remember these words , and the expressions in her face! All the memories might get wiped out, but this particular one is very difficult to fade away.

A perfect day

Yesterday was a very good day for me, more accurately, I should say it a "perfect" day. As all of us know, things always do not remain under our control. If we could have controlled things and certain chain of events, the world would have been a different place to live in. But I should also say that the life would be boring in that way, so it is better to always live in uncertainity , rather than making everything predictable.

I usually do not wake up before 10:30 in the morning. Yesterday, my sleep was shattered around 10:15 when I heard a strong "knock-knock" on my door. I opened the door with a lot of anguish and irritation, when I saw that it was the Postman. He wants my signature to deliver a registry packet. He also gave me three other mails I had.

The packet was none other than 3 cartons of Marlboro cigarettes!!!!!!!!!! I was really overwhelmed. Cigarettes are tooo costly here ( about $4 a single pack), but online stores really sell them cheap-------where 3 cartons worth $51, so each pack comes at $1.70!! Arrival of this packet will make me happy at least for the next 2 months! Glancing on my other mails, I was happy yet again. A new credit card has arrived from American Express. There is nothing to be happy for such a trivial matter, but I was, for a strange reason.

Have anyone ever heard that letter boxes attract thieves????????? This credit card was scheduled to reach me long before, at least a couple of weeks before. But it was stolen from my mail box about 15 days ago, and I was informed by the police that they have got hold of a person who has my card, although it was unactivated!!!!!!!!!! I was really amazed. I have never heard of anyne who steals inactivated credit cards!! Maybe the person is a collector of such item, who knows?? Amex agreed upon sending me a new card, which finally reached yesterday,and I was much relieved!

The rest of the day was good in the department as usual. Coming back home in the evening, I decided to work on a project due next week. To my surprise, that idea clicked too, and I did at least the beginning in a very neat fashion!! I was so happy with my progress that for celebration, I went for dinner in a Chinese Buffet!!!!! After dinner, coming home, I watched the movie ,The Aviator, and after some chatting over phone, went to sleep at 2 am!

So the eve of the Historic May Day was a perfect one for me. Today is 1st May, and I must say cheerfully:

May dibosh Jindabaad

Down the memory lane(2)

When I was in class 3 or 4( I don't remember exactly), Verma Teacher was the Assistant Head Mistress of our school. She used to teach us Geography , and I was afraid of her. She was very strict ( Asst Head Mistresses are like that!), and also very, very reserved. Rarely any student has ever seen a smile on her face, and I never saw. But she used to teach nicely, a bit slow, but the method was entertaining.

In the first Geography monthly test, I got 23 out of 25. That was the highest number I have ever obtained in any Geography exam till then, and it has remained as my "all time best"! So, one can imagine how happy I was after the exam, and I started to fear Verma teacher less than what I used to do.

Her class was in the 4th period, that is, the one before the tiffin break. We had a 15 minutes tiffin break, and 15 minutes play break. We, the boys, used to have the tiffin secretly during the 4th period itself, so that we can have 30 minutes to play! But I feared eating during Verma teacher's class, and I feel that the other boys also had the same feeling.

One day, in the midst of the class, she asked one question to a friend( I dont recall the name now). When he was unable to answer, she told him the correct answer, and then started advicing him. The tone was so boring and monotonous that I could not help myself, but started laughing!! I have this strange habit of laughing, and once it starts, its very difficult to stop it! Verma teacher saw me trying to conceal the smile, she told me to stand up, and then again turmed her attention to the other boy. Again the monotonous tone started, and after a couple of minutes, unable to control myself, I burst into laughter!!!

Verma teacher was really surprised, probably, she had not seen such a scene before. She ordered me ," No tiffin, no play either. Stay in the class during the break!" What a strange punishment it was!! The class ended, and when the tiffin period started, my friends started eating opening their tiffin box. I had brought maggi and chocolates that day. So after a while, unable to bear the scene that Godol is putting a whole Paratha in his mouth , I opened my box, and finished the contents within 2 minutes.

Since I disobeyed the first order, I decided to break the second one also, and went to play. After 10-15 minutes, somebody told me that Verma teacher was looking for me. Fully sweat, and without a tie(while playing, all of us used to get rid of that nuisance), I stood in front of Verma teacher, and she asked me:

Where is your tie?
- I was playing, teacher.
- What???? I told you not to do so, isnt it? Did you eat your tiffin also???
- Yes teacher, I like 5 star very much, and I was hungry!!

Verma teacher, undecided about what to say, looked at me in an eye which bored the expressions of surprise, disbelief and a bit of anger! I was certain that the matter is going to get worse, but to my surprise this time, she told me," Go away! From next time, never ever disturb the class laughing, understand??" I nodded, and again went back to play. My perception about Verma teacher changed from that day, and from the next class, my fears went away, although I followed her advice, never laughed in her class!!!!

Down the memory lane (I)

It is almost a uniform belief that school days are the best days in one's life. I do believe the same, and one of the vital reasons for that belief is, those days were really free from the tensions and boredomI face now. Today morning, I thought of writing about some incidents of my school life. There are numerous events which I can recall, most of them are still very much alive in my memory. These are the events which I like to cherish the most, so I have decided to blog them from time to time.

NICKNAME : In school, almost in each class, the boys have a nickname which is more famous than their original names. I dont know about the girls, although our school was a co-ed one! According to our teachers, our batch was "notorious yet brilliant". That is really a unique description I have ever heard of. Nevertheless, we had some out-of-this-worldnicknames, and I would like to list a few of them: Amartya : GaNtu , Mainak : Oshur(Demon) , Samrat : Lali , Prithwish : Latka , Sandip : Bile/Boyoshko(old)/ Rat-tat , Anirban: Pant , Dibyendu : Biri(this guy have never smoked in his life yet!!) , Souvik : Godol, Soumik : Krishno/Boudi , Shantangsu : Keshto, Animesh : Chasha, Subhankar : Kochi, Suman: Kathi(for his one-dimensional figure!) , Tamojit: Tommy, myself : Badam, Sumonjit : Kaku das , Pradeep: Danob/DeNto/DaNtal and so on.

Why Badam???? One day, while returning from school in a bus, it happened. We usually used to board a bus in a group of 4 or 5 friends. From the bus-stop near our school, a hawker used to board the bus too, and he used to sell badam(nuts) and candies. On that day also, as we took our seat, the hawker boarded, and started calling : e badam e badam, ek taka packet, lobenchus takay 6 ta ! I don't know what occured to me, I too started calling : e badam, e badam!! To my misfortune, Siddhartha was there with us, and he and Mainak were responsible for all the nicknames I have mentioned. Hearing me, Sidhhartha said, " Array, tui to or thekeo bhalo bolchhis re!!! Ekdom professional badamwala r moton!!!!!!!!" Then obviously, he proposed that I should be nicknamed as badamwala, which the other boys found no reason to oppose. Thinking a while, Sidhhartha said, " Nah, naam ta boro hoye jachhe. Ok badam bolei daka hok".

For obvious reasons, all the other guys supported him, and the nickname Badam was unanimously accepted. The next day, as I entered the class, Mainak yelled, " Array Badam bhai!!!!!!"

I have left school 10 years ago. But still now, school friends call me "badam". Earlier this year, we had a get-together, where we were meeting with each other after almost 8 years. Seeing me, Mainak shouted, " Array badam bhai, koddin baade dekha?" Hearing this, the scene at the private bus came in my memory. Those sweet old days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. : I tried to write the conversations in english, but did not get the feeling. So I wrote them in bengali to keep the tempo intact.

Fire ! Fire !!

It was 11:15 this morning, I was in the middle of a presentation, which was about to end at 11:30. Suddenly, the building was alarmed by a shrill--------which was low at the beginning, but gradually went on increasing. My professor, a little bewildered, popped out of the room. After a few moments, he shrugged, and telling me that we would be continuing next time, left the room quietly. During that time, I figured out that this harsh noise is the sound of a fire alarm! So, gathering my belongings, I came out of the room.

11:15 is the peak time in any university, so I saw that a lot of students coming out of the classrooms and heading towards the stairs. Nobody opted for the elevator, probably because of the fear that it might get stuck in the midway. The entire building was evacuated within 3-4 minutes. I came down to the parking lot, and lighting a cigarette, noticed the different groups of people standing there.

Two students were writing an exam, and they were having a tough time. Leaning against the wall, they continued writing , the faces bored the expressions of anger, frustration, surprise------a threesome mixture of feelings. Some of the students were very happy though, chatting with each other, and enjoying the unexpected break. The faculty members , in small groups of 3-4, were chatting in a serious manner. The alarm, however, was continuing, only it got shriller and we were gradually adopting with it.

After 10 minutes or so, the alarm stopped as suddenly as it had started. A good portion of the crowd clapped their hands, some of them uttered, " Thank God, we are safe!" . Happily, the people started retreating towards the entrance.

Coming upstairs, I gathered that the fire alarm just "went-off" . For a number of days, it(the alarm) did not utter a single noise. So this fine morning, it "went off" ! Today is 3rd April, so the behaviour of the alarm can be considered as a "belated April Fool" event . I had to admit that inert objects have their own sense of humor, which comes out under the most unexpected circumstances.

Rain rules

It is raining here for the last 2 days, sometimes heavily, sometimes light drizzle, what in bengali we call as "ilsheguri bristy". In Wichita, we do not get much rain, in an entire year, it rains only for 10-12 days. Back home, I used to enjoy rain very much. I still remember the days when the streets used to get water-logged , and while returning from school, I , walking in the water barefooted, with the shoes in hand,and occasionally splashing water to the passers-by, and quite naturally did not care at all about what remarks or curses they used to bestow upon me.

But here, since the rainy days are very few, I do not get those good old days. Also, here the streets do not get water-logged, so the splashing business is out of question. The only thing I can get here is to drench in the rain. It is really a great pleasure for me. The walk from my apartment to the department takes about 10 minutes, and when I reached the department today, I was totally wet, and on entering the office, the carpets got wet as well. One of my office-mates, in a not-so-pleasant tone, asked me " Don't you have an umbrella? " I , reluctantly, replied," Yeah, I do. But I did not bring it. Its great walking in the rain without an umbrella". Hearing this, he looked at me in a such a way that he is looking at a lunatic or a totally insane person, and as if I have committed a crime or something of that kind.

For Bengalees, Khichuri and ilish machh bhaja are synonymous with rain. I cannot, or more precisely, do not, try khichuri(specially after the spinach disaster), but ilish is very much available here. So, yesterday night, as it was raining outside, I had a delicious dinner with rice, daal and ilish bhaja. I hope to repeat the same thing today. A peg of Bacardi Gold with coke, accompanied by some soft instrumentals, will create the perfect friday night ambience required. So am finishing off today, and intend to return some other time with some new information.

California trip

The California trip ended today. When I landed in Wichita at 7 in the evening, I felt like coming back home. I realised that somehow, I have started loving this city , no matter how desolate or unimportant it is. Maybe staying for almost 3 years here is the primary reason.

The very first thing about this trip is: the Law of Average worked this time! I reached California safely, and came back safely----both on time. For the first time, there were no hindrances or delays. The trip was excellent. I met with my friends after a long time: about one year or longer.

Although I came to California in 2005, we did not go to the Sea World in San Diego. So, this time we visited Sea World, and it was worth-watching. The shows were excellent----------specially the sea-lion show and the dolphin show. There was another show named Pet's Rule! which consisted mainly of dogs and cats. I was amazed by the level of training they got, and was surprised by the timings as well. It cannot be explained in words to anybody who has not seen the shows in person. Above all, there was Shamu, the main attraction of the Sea World.

For most of the time, however, we stayed home chatting and eating. The lunch and dinners were mind blowing-------ranging from luchi-aloor dum to shorshe ilish, from muri-chanachur to tel-koi, from mutton kasha to tangra machh er jhal!! For a food-lover like me, it was really awesome. I am sure that I have gained a few pounds in these 10 days. The desserts consisted of cakes, pudding, ice cream and gajar ka halwa!

I need to go back to work again from tomorrow, but we all are waiting for the next trip in early August, although nothing is decided yet. But something will come out, and we'll be having a gala tour again. It is this spirit which keeps us going. Whenever a tour is finished, planning for the next trip starts and we get engaged mentally! This is something very unusual. Hope it continues as long as we stay here.

Aamar ei path chalatei anondo

Time for a break

I am leaving for Riverside, California, today and will be returning to Wichita on March 20. After working too hard (supposedly) for two months, I need a break badly. In Riverside, I will be meeting my friends, two of whom I haven't seen for almost two years.
The most important thing is, this time, the stopover is not Dallas, its Denver. This one has a 'D' as well. For me , 'D' is Delay, Drama, Damadol(Hotch Potch). Hope this time I wont face any problem, after all, there is something called Law of Average.
Bon voyage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exquisite Excuses

Excuses--------this is a very useful technique we all use in everyday life. In bengali, this is termed "ojuhaat" . A friend of mine once told me that we, the Bengalees, have three hands ( haat), namely, the Right hand ( or daan haat), Left hand ( baaN haat) and Ojuhaat. When neither right nor left hand works, we use our third hand, and in most of the critical cases, if we can use this hand properly, we succeed in getting away with the trouble.

Here, besides studying, I also need to teach math courses to the undergraduates . These students do not like maths, and most of them has a sort of "math phobia". In order to skip classes, or to turn in a late homework, or to take a late exam, they come with a lot of different excuses, and some of them are really fascinating. I want to list some of them below:

• I cannot come to class today due to stomach upset/flu/fever/headache. Would you accept if I turn in my homework the next day?? This is a very reasonable excuse, the illness changes as the season changes. In winter, its headache, and when the temparature fluctuates , the illness changes to flu, fever, cold etc, and stomach upset is perennial.

• I was not in town yesterday, as I had to attend the funeral of my paternal uncle's mother-in-law. Can I submit the homework later? This is quite common an excuse for skipping classes. Only, the relation between the deceased and the student changes from occassions. Grandma, Grandpa (from both sides), step-mom and dad, and then, these type of distant relatives. Some students are not so imaginative, or they have a weak memory. So they kill their Grandma or Grandpa more than once!! But, most of them are cautious in this respect. Relatives die mostly when an exam is scheduled.
  

• I was on my way, but my car battery got into trouble / I had flat tyres./ I got a ticket. This is the one for which you cannot protest. In wintertime, specially in the morning classes, batteries do not work quite often, and on friday evening, the tyre gets flat, because Friday party is more lucrative in all means than a mundane math class.

• Dear Sir, I did my homework , but while submitting, I got distracted watching a pretty girl, and followed her. Can you please--------? This is the most imaginative excuse I have had so far . I appreciated the student very much for his on-spot innovation, and really accepted the homework.

• Sir, I could not come to class yesterday for the exam, because my lovely dog died. Can we reschedule the exam? I was really amazed by the humbleness of the student. This will be the second best innovative excuse I came across so far.

Now, the important thing: what did I learn from this list? Well, to apply these same excuses as and when required. Last semester, I was assigned to teach early in the morning from 7:30!! Its a real pain. Students can be late, they can sleep in the class snoring, but, as an instructor, you have to be in class on time. One day, I woke up at 7:25 !!!! It was a real disaster. I hurried to the class at 7:47. The students were waiting for me, although 3-4 of them left. As I entered, one guy told, " We thought you won't come today". Without any prior thinking, I announced, " Sorry guys, my car-battery was not working, so I was stuck in my parking lot . Sorry for the delay"!!!!!!! The reality is, I do not have a car! But the students do not know it. They were happy, I was happy, and the class started happily.

Movie magic

Back home, I used to watch movies rarely, specially in theatres. When I was in college, my friends used to go to movies very often, almost twice a week. But I accompanied them once in 4-5 months. The only notable movie which I watched during my college days in a cinema-hall was Gladiator, and that was a "First Day. First Show". Excellent movie no doubt about it. But I nearly stopped watching hindi movies , specially in cinema-halls.

But once I came here, away from home, I gradually picked up the habit of watching movies, almost regularly, and sometimes heavily! In the weekends I have nothing to do except chatting over phone and watching movies. Getting tired of chatting, I watch a movie, and after watching the movie, to discuss the movie with friends, I go back to chat! This is a vicious loop, I must admit that!

I am so much updated with the present bollywood movies that sometimes, I really feel amazed! I did not know that I possessed such a knack of movies. From DOR to WOH LAMHE, FANAA to TRAFFIC SIGNAL---------I have watched almost all of them, missing only may be a couple! Here, movies can be watched on downloading from the internet, absolutely free. So it is not a problem. If a certain movie is terribly irritating (eg, WOH LAMHE, RISK, THE GAME) , I just go on skipping the details, and complete watching the movie within 10-15 minutes, although these movies were nearly 2 hours long!!

This weekend, I watched a lovely movie: BLACK FRIDAY --------it investigates the reasons and minds behind the MUMBAI BOMB BLAST of 1993. It was a great movie to watch, all the actors performed splendidly. Bollywood probably has never seen a movie like this. It showed the courage of calling the mafias by their own names. Tiger Memon was not mentioned as Panther Demon, as most of the bollywood movies do!!!

I am now looking forward to watch NISHABD, it has aroused a lot of gossips and controversies already. Hope that the movie will not dishearten me.

Fight with Flights

There are certain things in life which does not fit the way you want to fit them. No matter how cautious you are, how minutely you work out with it, it simply does not work. One such thing in my life is related with aeroplanes, more precisely, my journey with aeroplanes.

The first time I boarded an aeroplane was when I came in US. At that time, I enjoyed the journey very much, although many people told me that plane journey is boring, hectic etc etc. But I did not feel any of them. But things started getting messy when I boarded for the second time, and its still continuing.

I was very excited last summer, when I was going home for the first time. My friend dropped me at the Airport, well ahead of time. I completed the security check-in and all formalities, and reaching the announced gate of departure, I started chatting over phone. There was still 40 minutes left before boarding. Slowly, I got involved into the conversation so much that I forgot I have to go somewhere, I am not in my drawing room, I am at the Airport. Anyways, after some time( of whcih I have no idea) I glanced at the clock. According to the watch, the boarding should have started by then. Only 5 minutes were left for the plane to take-off. I stopped chatting, and enquired at the front desk.

The person told me," It is about to take -off"! I exclaimed, " But when did the boarding take place? I am sitting here for the last 40 minutes??" He, without any expression, told, " Well, the Gate has changed. Instead of gate 5, passengeres boarded from gate 6" !! I , bewildered, told, " Didn't you announce?" He told, " Yessir, I announced thrice. Where were you???" I was stunned. I understood that I have missed the flight due to my sheer carelessness and dumbness. Then, I enquired," When is the next flight to Dallas?" He told in about half an hour. I was lucky that time, because I was able to catch up with the connecting flights without much hassle, and reached home safely.

This is not the only mishap with planes. Few months back, I went to Gainesville. While coming back, my flight was scheduled at 6 am, I reached the airport on time, boarded the plane on time ( with my cell phone off) and getting to my seat, I slept.
I woke up after sometime(later I realised I slept for nearly 2 hours). I felt that the plane is not moving. I thought that I have reached the destination, which was Dallas yet again. So happily, I started approaching the gate, although I saw a few people were still seating there. On reaching the door, the air-hostess told me, " Sir, the next flight to Dallas is not scheduled yet". I was amazed! Trying to keep myself cool, I ejaculated, " What????????? The flight has not departed yet? Damn it!!!!!!" Yes, due to mechanical fault, the flight was delayed for more than 2 hours!!!!! Quite obviously, I missed the connecting flight from Dallas. On reaching Dallas, I went to the airlines desk and told them my situation. They knew the matter, and a guy told me that a flight to Wichita is going to take-off shortly, and if somebody fails to show up, they can put me in.

I sat nearby, and was glancing at my watch in every 2 minutes. After about 15 minutes, I went again, and asked him whether there was any vacancy. The person looked at me as if he saw me for the first time! I expalined him the matter once more, showing a lot of patience. He told," I'm extremely sorry sir! All passengers have already boarded, though there is one vacancy. If you wish, you can go straight to the runway!!!!!" Without wasting a moment, I rushed towards the runway, and confidently was about to board the plane, when 2-3 security guys told me, " STOP! STOP!!!!!!" I'm sure they thought that I was a terrorist or something and started running towards me. After listening to the matter, they called the desk, and finally I was allowed to get in!!!!!!

The last time when I boarded a plane was one month ago, while coming back from home for the second time. Everything went smoothly till I reached Dallas. But again, i got stuck there. Due to severe snowstorm without any prior notice, the runways were covered with ice, and all the planes from Dallas were cancelled for 8 hours! I wasted valuable 8 hours at the Dallas airport!!

So, thats how it is going on so far. Either I am late, or the flight is late, or if everything works fine, the Nature intervenes. I dont know how long will it continue, but one thing is for sure: I will NEVER EVER make a stopover in DALLAS!!!!!!!!!

Morning Chronicle

After being away from this blogging business for 2 weeks, I am back yet again. Not a bit of my life changed in these 14 days. The same old monotonous routine, followed by the same person(I mean myself), in the same mechanical way! But still, I thought of scribbling something as I am sipping the morning tea.

2-3 days ago, a friend of our department took me with him for lunch at his home. Well, in US, one should never reject a lunch/dinner invitation, specially a laid-back person like me. So I went with him to his apartment.

I had come once in his place. The guy is otherwise fine, but he talks too much, and most of the time, he talks about himself, his beliefs, his girlfriend, his research, and on top of all----------- about GANDHI!.

He admires Gandhi for "plain living, high thinking", and so, he is also trying to do the same. One important fact what he told me before was that, he and his girlfriend, never go to big shopping centers like WALMART or so. They hate these big corporate houses and try to support local businessmen and farmers. A very noble way to think, off course! My friend, LAGE RAHO!

He prepared vegetable noodles(chowmein in my language). One thing is for sure, although he follows "Gandhian" principle, his eating habits are quite good, strictly veggie , though. He is a good cook as well!


While coming back to school, he started talking about America. He gave me some new concepts about the people of this country, which I did not notice before. I want to mention a couple of these ideas:

1) In coffeeshops, book stores, foodjoints, there exists a class of young men and women, mainly teenagers, dressed neatly, with ipod in the ear, laptop in front, looking very anxiously at the screen. This is the newly-emerging "Intellectual Class" of United States. They are always busy without any business.

2) We see a lot of SUV s in the streets here. I do not know the actual full form, but my friend told that SUV means Spoiled Useless Vehicle !!!!!!!!! Whatever might be, 95 % of the SUV s are droven here by skinny ladies. weighing 90 pounds or so ! A person of 90 pounds is driving a car weighing 4000 pounds!!!!!!!!!! That is really a significant point to note.

These two ideas, specially the second one, amazed me very much. Whenever I see a SUV now, I try to look at the drivers' seat, and in some cases, I really see a skinny lady !

I wish my friend all the besh wishes for his keen observations , a couple of which I mentioned here. Once again I want to say him, "LAGE RAHO"!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mystery of minutes!

Today is very cold out here, the temperature fluctuating between -18 to -20 degree celsius. Sitting idle in the department, I was browsing the various features of my cell-phone. Well, it does not have a lot of features as the handsets people use nowadays. I am not quite expert in managing gadgets, so I am happy with the simple features which my "old cute" handset provides me.

I was curious to know how many minutes do I have so that I can make a call during daytime. In US, you can make unlimited calls from 9 pm to 7 am on weekdays, and on weekends, its unlimited during the day as well, and more than that, this unlimited time is offered for FREE within US.But in the daytime, you have limited amount of minutes which varies from 300 to 900. Mine is 450. This is one of the very few aspects of this country which I like.

I saw that I have more than 100 minutes left to make calls during daytime, so I was really happy. There are only 3 days remaining for the curent cycle to end, so more than 30 minutes daytime is somewhat really fascinating. Now, I turned my attention to see how many FREE minutes I have utilised. I was "shocked" to see that I have already used 11,000 FREE minutes!!!!!!!!!!!! This is something very unusual, more than that, unbelievable!!!! I have talked over 183 hours in a month, which is over 6 hours a day, and that too after 9 at night!!!! This is something very weird. I wondered about this matter for sometime, and was a little disappointed. I am getting tooo talkative, "a chatter- box."

But then, after a while, I realised the actual scenario. It is not that I have talked so much. All the cell phones here have the facility of 3-way calling, that is, you can call two people at a time. So , if you talk with them for an hour, the phone will record the talk-time as 2 hours . So, that makes my actual talk time to about 6000 minutes, which although big, is not unusual. We usually do have long conferences over phone, 4-5 friends talk together, so everytime, the talk times are doubled for us.

This realisation made me so happy that ----------guess what?????????------- I made a call during the daytime for about half an hour!!!!!!!!!
Dude, you talk tooo much!

Holy Friday

Friday is a very good day for me. I can say that, all over the week, I eagerly wait for friday. The main reason for this is, Friday marks the starting of a weekend------------- which is the time to relax and chat with friends. Well, well, that does not mean that all through the week ( Monday through Friday) I do not relax-----------the usual norm is to relax while you work. But my case is different: I work sometimes while I relax! Workaholics may sue me, but thats how I am, and I wish to remain like this as long as possible.

Anyways, another reason which makes Friday so important is-------once in every two fridays, I get a paycheck from school. Actually, that is the usual custom in almost all the universities here in US. So, the fridays which fetch us dollars, we call those weekends as "Wet Weekends", and those in which we do not get any check, are referred to as "Dry Weekends". This particular Friday is the "holy wet Friday".

But I can tell one thing: weekends were not that joyous when I first came here about 3 years ago. In fact, weekends at that time was a real pain. I did not have a cell phone, nor did I have any computer. I used to wake up early in the morning (because, I was not habituated to sleep till noon when I first came here), and used to sit idle till 10. It was around 11 that the computer labs in the school used to open, and only then, I could get a chance to chat in YM, send emails, read newspapers etc etc. The evening was also no good, sitting alone at home and getting bored to the hilt! It was only after a couple of months that I realised the fun of weekends. In one way, the boredom was good, otherwise I would not relish the weekends as I do now.

I end here with one single note: Hail Holy Friday ---------kaash har friday aisa hota!!!!!
Keep smiling

Potato v/s Spinach

I have never enjoyed cooking, it is a real pain to me. I think that I am the worst cook in this world. So, I do not usually try to go beyond my cooking capabilities, which mostly consists of rice, fried fish(usually rohu, or 'rui') and dal, and once in a while, chicken. But one day, I over-estimated myself, and got into a lot of trouble.
On that "auspicious" day, I went to the grocery shop. I usually do not visit the "frozen food" section. But that day was different. I wandered through the various entries, and my eyes got stuck to a very interesting item: chopped spinach! Back home, I liked this item too much.So, getting nostalgic, I purchased one pack of spinach and happily came back to my apartment.
Now I need the recipe. So I called one of my friends here, and got a recipe from him. Then I was about to start cooking, when another friend of mine called. When he heard that I was "trying to cook" spinach, he adviced me to use some potatoes as well, which my first friend did not tell me.
What I cooked, is not the reason of this post. After an hour, when I was having dinner, the second friend called me again, He asked how was the preparation? Only one sentence I could utter," thanks yaar for your advice, i was lucky that I put the potatoes"!!!! Well, the original words were," bhaggyis aloo ta diyechhilaam!!!!!"

The Beginning

I have created this space only as a way to express my feelings. There comes a number of occasions in life which are memorable in one way or the other. Memories fade away, and as for myself, I have a very weak memory. So this is just a way to preserve my memories. I hope that my current initiative will be long -lasting, if not ever-lasting, because I am a very laid-back person.
At least the beginning is done. Hope that it continues.