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???
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, July 2, 2007
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"!!
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"!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)