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"!!!!!!!!!!!!!