Today I was chatting with a friend of mine, as we always do, and were talking about every possible topics , recalling incidents from the good old days and narrating incidents from the not-so-good present daily happenings. He was telling about an incident of encountering a ticket-checker in a rail station which was quite enjoyable. I could not remember my solitary experience at that moment, but now, I can remember about that incident which was not pleasant at all.
It happened in 1998, during a winter afternoon. It was before exam time, and I went to see-off a friend of mine after a "study session" - which was chatting and eating mainly - at the Bidhannagar rail station. Bidding him goodbye, as his train left the platform, I was on my way back home, when I was caught at the exit gate by a ticket checker.
Ticket checkers were rare species even then, and for a station like Bidhannagar, one could hardly expect to meet with them. But whatever it was, I was right in front of him, and the following conversations followed. For getting the right tempo, I am narrating them in Bengali:
TC : Ticket dekhi.
Me : kisher ticket? Ami ekjon ke chharte esechhilaam.
TC : tahole platform ticket dekhi.
Me : seta ki jinish abaar?
TC : platform e dhukte geleo ticket laage, seta kothay?
Me : ohh, seta jantaam na, ami -
TC : shotyi ki kauke chharte eschhen? apnaar bondhu kothay?
Me : ki aschorjo, bollam je chole gechhe? train ki etokkhon dariye thakbe naki?
TC : fine lagbe.
Me : Poysha nei! kotobar bolbo je ami berate jachhilaam na, bari theke esechhi, bari jaabo.
TC : hmm......promaan ditey parben? ki kore bujhbo je apni kothao theke aschhilen na?
Me: dekhchhen na, hawai choti pore keu kothao theke ase? tar opor ei dress, eta dekhe ki mone hochhe na e ami bari thekei aschhi?
TC : jodi boli na?
Me: tahole bari cholun, fine diye debo, amar bari ei kachhei. aar noyto ektu bade eshe diye jachhi.
TC : Hmmm. ki kora hoy?
Me : porashona.
TC : besh, ekhonkaar moton chhere dilaam, in future, erokom bhul jeno aar na hoy. Bari jao!
As soon as he said this, I walked hurriedly past him without looking back. This person must have been a teacher sometimes or a lawyer it seemed, the way he was questioning me!
This incident has left such an impact on me that from then, I have never entered any platform just for seeing off somebody, and fortunately enough, I have not encountered any TC since then while travelling too, maybe because everytime I had a ticket with me!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Shaurya- the story of Valor
I do not normally write anything about any particular movie in this blog, the reason being I do not get the technicalities and intricate details in a film with the eyes of a movie-critic. Only once, I deviated from this norm, I blogged about a movie which I did not like at all (Race). To make matters even, I have decided to jot down something about a movie which I liked very much. Another reason is purely personal. I was feeling to write something, anything in fact, today, and movie is the easiest topic which I could think of.
The movie Shaurya, directed by Samar Khan and starring Rahul Bose, Kay Kay Menon, Javed Jaffrey, Minnisha Lamba and Deepak Dobriyal, tells the story of a soldier in the Indian Army who has killed his commanding officer during a raid, but is silent about his crime. A court-martial has been ordered, and two lawyers, Major Akash Kapoor (Javed Jaffrey) and Major Sidhhant Chowdhury (Rahul Bose), are summoned for the legal matters. Although long-time friends, this time they are opposing each other, since Major Sidhhant is defending the accused Captain Javed Khan (Deepak Dobriyal).
The case appears to be an open-and-shut one, where the only thing the defence counsel needs to do is to plead guilty and then the sentence would be announced against Javed Khan for violating Army rules and commiting a murder. Here enters the journalist Kavya (Minnisha), who forces the defence counsel to think otherwise; the matter, although it looks simple, may have some depth, which needs investigation. Quite reluctantly, the defence counsel meets Brigadier Rudra Pratap Singh (Kay Kay Menon), who claims himself to be the God of the Army checkpost and when the defence counsel wishes to investigate the "scene of crime", he mocks him for his audacity and sends him back. This inflames the curiosity of Major Sidhhant to such an extent that at court, he pleads "not guilty" for Javed Khan.
From this point on, the film becomes worth-watching. Gradually, it is revealed that the commanding officer whom Captain Javed murdered, used to misuse his power, he used to torture the innocent Muslims of the adjacent village in order to make them "confess about their links with the terrorist groups", and when he was about to kill a small girl- when she was crying after seeing her brother dead in front of her own eyes- Javed had no other option than to kill the evil officer. According to Javed, the true valor of the army uniform lies in protecting the innocent Indians, irrespective of their religion.
It is also revealed that the murdered commanding officer was working under the orders of Brigadier R P Singh. In the last scene, when Major Sidhhant summons the Brigadier in the court room, the Brigadier makes a venomous speech against the Indian Muslims. He wants to uproot the entire community from the country it seems, and the reason for his act lies in the fact that years ago, his wife and daughter were brutally murdered by the Muslim servant of the family. After this tragedy, Brigadier Singh has taken oath against the entire Muslim community and will carry on his job as long as he survives. The film ends in declaring Captain Javed innocent and a new investigation is started against the Brigadier.
Both Rahul Bose and Kay Kay Menon have acted superbly in the film. Rahul Bose seems to be perfectly natural and spontaneous in the role of the open-minded Army lawyer. Kay Kay has appeared only in three scenes in the entire film, but he steals the show. In the courtroom monologue, he bears an astonishing resemblance with Adolf Hitler. Javed Jaffrey did justice to his small role, as did Minnisa Lamba. The young Deepak Dobriyal mostly acted with his eyes, and full credit goes to him as well.
In the year 2008, among the movies which I have watched so far, Shaurya is the best. Although there has been comments that the film has been adapted from the Hollywood flick A Few Good Men (starring Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise and Demi Moore)- although I have not watched the Hollywood film- but the fact remains that Shaurya is brilliant in its own flavor. Salute to director Samar Khan for making this film.
The movie Shaurya, directed by Samar Khan and starring Rahul Bose, Kay Kay Menon, Javed Jaffrey, Minnisha Lamba and Deepak Dobriyal, tells the story of a soldier in the Indian Army who has killed his commanding officer during a raid, but is silent about his crime. A court-martial has been ordered, and two lawyers, Major Akash Kapoor (Javed Jaffrey) and Major Sidhhant Chowdhury (Rahul Bose), are summoned for the legal matters. Although long-time friends, this time they are opposing each other, since Major Sidhhant is defending the accused Captain Javed Khan (Deepak Dobriyal).
The case appears to be an open-and-shut one, where the only thing the defence counsel needs to do is to plead guilty and then the sentence would be announced against Javed Khan for violating Army rules and commiting a murder. Here enters the journalist Kavya (Minnisha), who forces the defence counsel to think otherwise; the matter, although it looks simple, may have some depth, which needs investigation. Quite reluctantly, the defence counsel meets Brigadier Rudra Pratap Singh (Kay Kay Menon), who claims himself to be the God of the Army checkpost and when the defence counsel wishes to investigate the "scene of crime", he mocks him for his audacity and sends him back. This inflames the curiosity of Major Sidhhant to such an extent that at court, he pleads "not guilty" for Javed Khan.
From this point on, the film becomes worth-watching. Gradually, it is revealed that the commanding officer whom Captain Javed murdered, used to misuse his power, he used to torture the innocent Muslims of the adjacent village in order to make them "confess about their links with the terrorist groups", and when he was about to kill a small girl- when she was crying after seeing her brother dead in front of her own eyes- Javed had no other option than to kill the evil officer. According to Javed, the true valor of the army uniform lies in protecting the innocent Indians, irrespective of their religion.
It is also revealed that the murdered commanding officer was working under the orders of Brigadier R P Singh. In the last scene, when Major Sidhhant summons the Brigadier in the court room, the Brigadier makes a venomous speech against the Indian Muslims. He wants to uproot the entire community from the country it seems, and the reason for his act lies in the fact that years ago, his wife and daughter were brutally murdered by the Muslim servant of the family. After this tragedy, Brigadier Singh has taken oath against the entire Muslim community and will carry on his job as long as he survives. The film ends in declaring Captain Javed innocent and a new investigation is started against the Brigadier.
Both Rahul Bose and Kay Kay Menon have acted superbly in the film. Rahul Bose seems to be perfectly natural and spontaneous in the role of the open-minded Army lawyer. Kay Kay has appeared only in three scenes in the entire film, but he steals the show. In the courtroom monologue, he bears an astonishing resemblance with Adolf Hitler. Javed Jaffrey did justice to his small role, as did Minnisa Lamba. The young Deepak Dobriyal mostly acted with his eyes, and full credit goes to him as well.
In the year 2008, among the movies which I have watched so far, Shaurya is the best. Although there has been comments that the film has been adapted from the Hollywood flick A Few Good Men (starring Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise and Demi Moore)- although I have not watched the Hollywood film- but the fact remains that Shaurya is brilliant in its own flavor. Salute to director Samar Khan for making this film.
Monday, April 21, 2008
My dreams
I dream often.......quite often......in my sleep, and the key thing is, I remember most of them when I wake up. Normally, as people wake up from their sleep, they don't often remember their dreams, if it is not a nightmare. But I, fortunately or unfortunately, remember them quite accurately for a good period of time.
The funny thing is, the characters which appear in my dreams do not have any apparent connection between themselves, although each one of them is known to me in different contexts and happenings of life. It is almost impossible that a professor of my department will turn up in one of our family gatherings. But in my dream, everything is possible, and even more, that professor, who rarely smiles while teaching in the class, is seen to take my 7-year old cousin brother on his lap and sing nursery rhymes to him!! In numerous occasions, I have seen my father chatting with my Department Head about Indian politics, which I know, can never happen in reality. But dreams are dreams, as people say, manifestations of our subconsious mind. But even if that is taken into consideration, I can never think of such a weird conversation between the two persons who will never, in fact, meet each other in reality.
Recently, after coming back from home, I am dreaming a lot about family picnics and get-togethers. Only yesterday, I dreamt that our entire family, along with all my cousins, aunts and uncles, have gone to a place for a Sunday picnic. The place was at the suburbs of Calcutta, about two-hours duration in the local train. Since it was a picnic, however, we went by a rented minibus. But here the situation was like a repetation. We indeed did have a picnic in 2006, when I went home during the winter, in the same place. Yesterday's dream was just an imitation of the entire chain of events which did happen two years ago. But, in the end, as far as I can remember, all of us ended up over the top of a mountain, and the road which leads to the plainland was blocked due to the falling of a giant tree because of severe storm. The dream ended there, where everyone of us were staring at each other, but the reason which resulted this event was never explained. It was as if a movie coming abruptly to an end.
Apart from these abrupt endings, normally my dreams are quite nice, which are mostly about family gatherings (the fact remains that, I miss my family very much even though I am living alone for four years), where sometimes some unexpected guets turns up. I have never dreamt that I am along with some celebrity, or myself doing some spectacular stunts like going to the moon, beating up a gang of robbers single-handedly or things of these kinds. My dreams, sadly, does not deviate much from the family genre(What a mess, dreams are also being divided into genres!!).
Only once, I was chased by a gunman in my dream. But instead of beating him up, I fled and ran as hard as I could. After running for a long time (dreams do not allow to record the duration), I was able to see the door of my house. As I was approaching the door, I heard that the gunman unlatched his revolver, and was ready to fire. I could just open the door, led myself in, and closed the door when the shot was fired. The bullet missed me for an inch, creating a hole in the door. At this point, my dream was broken. When I realized that it was just a dream, or more accurately, a nightmare, I was relieved. After that, I have tried many times to see the ending of this exciting event, but without any success. Dreams, I think, never repeat themselves.
The funny thing is, the characters which appear in my dreams do not have any apparent connection between themselves, although each one of them is known to me in different contexts and happenings of life. It is almost impossible that a professor of my department will turn up in one of our family gatherings. But in my dream, everything is possible, and even more, that professor, who rarely smiles while teaching in the class, is seen to take my 7-year old cousin brother on his lap and sing nursery rhymes to him!! In numerous occasions, I have seen my father chatting with my Department Head about Indian politics, which I know, can never happen in reality. But dreams are dreams, as people say, manifestations of our subconsious mind. But even if that is taken into consideration, I can never think of such a weird conversation between the two persons who will never, in fact, meet each other in reality.
Recently, after coming back from home, I am dreaming a lot about family picnics and get-togethers. Only yesterday, I dreamt that our entire family, along with all my cousins, aunts and uncles, have gone to a place for a Sunday picnic. The place was at the suburbs of Calcutta, about two-hours duration in the local train. Since it was a picnic, however, we went by a rented minibus. But here the situation was like a repetation. We indeed did have a picnic in 2006, when I went home during the winter, in the same place. Yesterday's dream was just an imitation of the entire chain of events which did happen two years ago. But, in the end, as far as I can remember, all of us ended up over the top of a mountain, and the road which leads to the plainland was blocked due to the falling of a giant tree because of severe storm. The dream ended there, where everyone of us were staring at each other, but the reason which resulted this event was never explained. It was as if a movie coming abruptly to an end.
Apart from these abrupt endings, normally my dreams are quite nice, which are mostly about family gatherings (the fact remains that, I miss my family very much even though I am living alone for four years), where sometimes some unexpected guets turns up. I have never dreamt that I am along with some celebrity, or myself doing some spectacular stunts like going to the moon, beating up a gang of robbers single-handedly or things of these kinds. My dreams, sadly, does not deviate much from the family genre(What a mess, dreams are also being divided into genres!!).
Only once, I was chased by a gunman in my dream. But instead of beating him up, I fled and ran as hard as I could. After running for a long time (dreams do not allow to record the duration), I was able to see the door of my house. As I was approaching the door, I heard that the gunman unlatched his revolver, and was ready to fire. I could just open the door, led myself in, and closed the door when the shot was fired. The bullet missed me for an inch, creating a hole in the door. At this point, my dream was broken. When I realized that it was just a dream, or more accurately, a nightmare, I was relieved. After that, I have tried many times to see the ending of this exciting event, but without any success. Dreams, I think, never repeat themselves.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Back to square one
Yesterday night, I went to sleep around 12:45 AM, which is my usual time to go to bed. But then, suddenly, I woke up from the deep sleep; glancing at the cell phone, I noticed that it is only 4:45 AM! Unimpressed, I again tried to go back to sleep, but after a long futile attempt of about an hour, I decided to give up. Waking up, I brushed my teeth, made myself a cup of tea, and read few pages of a story book.
In one way, this was enjoyable, because around 6:30, looking through the window, I could see the first light of the dawn. The road was getting busy, with the number of cars passing through the intersection gradually increasing. It was nice to see the night making its way for the day, watching the veil of darkness being removed by the appearence of light. The feeling was really soothing and refreshing.
I was feeling hungry, and so I decided to have a breakfast at the McDonald's. Its been a long time since I have had a proper breakfast. It was 6:45 then, and the McDonald's opens at 7. So, I went back to bed, thinking to rest for 15 minutes, and then go to McDonald's, have a nice breakfast, and then go to the department to study. I was happy that the day was going to be unusual in my standards.
When I opened my eyes after my 15 minutes rest, the outside world seemed a lot noisier than it was 15 minutes ago. Again I glanced at my cell phone, and saw it was 11:05 AM!!!!!!!!!!!
In one way, this was enjoyable, because around 6:30, looking through the window, I could see the first light of the dawn. The road was getting busy, with the number of cars passing through the intersection gradually increasing. It was nice to see the night making its way for the day, watching the veil of darkness being removed by the appearence of light. The feeling was really soothing and refreshing.
I was feeling hungry, and so I decided to have a breakfast at the McDonald's. Its been a long time since I have had a proper breakfast. It was 6:45 then, and the McDonald's opens at 7. So, I went back to bed, thinking to rest for 15 minutes, and then go to McDonald's, have a nice breakfast, and then go to the department to study. I was happy that the day was going to be unusual in my standards.
When I opened my eyes after my 15 minutes rest, the outside world seemed a lot noisier than it was 15 minutes ago. Again I glanced at my cell phone, and saw it was 11:05 AM!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Young Democratic Socialists, Republicans and Tomatoes
A couple of days ago, as I was passing by the university Rec Center, I caught sight of a guy who was carrying two buckets full of something down the sidewalk of the Rec Center. Then, he approached a person, who gave him a handful of coins, and happily, the first guy went away.
This is quite an unusual scene I have come across in four years of my stay here. As I looked around, I noticed some guys were holding up a poster to attract people. But I was attracted by the slogan written on their T-shirts, which read "Exploitation King". Feeling curious, I took a few steps towards the poster to read through its contents. It was labelled as Young Democratic Socialists, from which I gathered that these guys are members of this party, and they were protesting against the food-shop chain Burger King.
Reading through some more posters in and around the place, I came to know about the reason of their protest. They were in favor of those farm workers in Florida, who earn 40-45 cents for every 32-pound buckets of tomatoes they pick, and to earn a descent amount of money, they are bound to pick nearly 2 tons of tomatoes! These workers have appealed to Burger King for a 1-cent per pound rise, which the BK refused. The Democratic Socialists are in support of these workers, and they have named this event as "Fast Food Slavery". The act which the guy performed in carrying the buckets was a way of protesting against the oppression and exploitation of the giant food corporations.
As usual, the Republicans are in complete disagreement with the Democratic Socialists. According to their view, if the fast food corporation like McDonalds', Burger King, Taco Bell etc agree to pay the farmers what they are demanding, then the "dollar menu" available in these shops will cost nearly 3 or 4 dollars, which would not be cheap anymore for the students. Hence, they support the corporations, and are not in favor of the wage-hike.
The entire story is really interesting. Coming back to my office, I browsed through the internet to learn some more about this aspect. The university newspaper also provided some valuable information. All the information had one thing in common: these firm workers are being treated very badly, besides paying them a bare minimum amount for their labor. I also learnt that an indictment has been issued against a farm labor corporation located a few hundred miles from Miami. It stated that the workers in that farm were locked in trucks and godowns, beaten up and were forced to work against their will. In various newspaper articles, the lives of the farm workers have been compared with the miseries of the slaves, an inhuman practice which was supposed to be nonexistent in the modern world. But it is still there, and the irony is, it is prevalent in a country which is regarded as a supreme power in the world, the country which control the fates of numerous third-world countries.
It is still unsure whether the corporations will raise the wage, or whether the living conditions of the farm workers will improve or not. But the striking fact which is obvious from this incident is that the poor people are bound to live a life in subhuman standards, irrespective of the geographical boundaries in which they belong, which we term as "countries", and label them as First World, Second World and Third World, a cunning way to hide the failure of the leaders and statesmen, and to project a wrong picture in front of the outside world.
This is quite an unusual scene I have come across in four years of my stay here. As I looked around, I noticed some guys were holding up a poster to attract people. But I was attracted by the slogan written on their T-shirts, which read "Exploitation King". Feeling curious, I took a few steps towards the poster to read through its contents. It was labelled as Young Democratic Socialists, from which I gathered that these guys are members of this party, and they were protesting against the food-shop chain Burger King.
Reading through some more posters in and around the place, I came to know about the reason of their protest. They were in favor of those farm workers in Florida, who earn 40-45 cents for every 32-pound buckets of tomatoes they pick, and to earn a descent amount of money, they are bound to pick nearly 2 tons of tomatoes! These workers have appealed to Burger King for a 1-cent per pound rise, which the BK refused. The Democratic Socialists are in support of these workers, and they have named this event as "Fast Food Slavery". The act which the guy performed in carrying the buckets was a way of protesting against the oppression and exploitation of the giant food corporations.
As usual, the Republicans are in complete disagreement with the Democratic Socialists. According to their view, if the fast food corporation like McDonalds', Burger King, Taco Bell etc agree to pay the farmers what they are demanding, then the "dollar menu" available in these shops will cost nearly 3 or 4 dollars, which would not be cheap anymore for the students. Hence, they support the corporations, and are not in favor of the wage-hike.
The entire story is really interesting. Coming back to my office, I browsed through the internet to learn some more about this aspect. The university newspaper also provided some valuable information. All the information had one thing in common: these firm workers are being treated very badly, besides paying them a bare minimum amount for their labor. I also learnt that an indictment has been issued against a farm labor corporation located a few hundred miles from Miami. It stated that the workers in that farm were locked in trucks and godowns, beaten up and were forced to work against their will. In various newspaper articles, the lives of the farm workers have been compared with the miseries of the slaves, an inhuman practice which was supposed to be nonexistent in the modern world. But it is still there, and the irony is, it is prevalent in a country which is regarded as a supreme power in the world, the country which control the fates of numerous third-world countries.
It is still unsure whether the corporations will raise the wage, or whether the living conditions of the farm workers will improve or not. But the striking fact which is obvious from this incident is that the poor people are bound to live a life in subhuman standards, irrespective of the geographical boundaries in which they belong, which we term as "countries", and label them as First World, Second World and Third World, a cunning way to hide the failure of the leaders and statesmen, and to project a wrong picture in front of the outside world.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Blame it on the Weather
It is very depressing out here. For the last 4-5 days continuosly, there is no sign of the sun, it seems that the clouds have banished him away for an indefinite span of time. No notable work has been done from my part other than procrastination and watching handful of movies. Whenever I am looking outside through the windows, the gloomy sky is making me gloomier and an urge of getting inside the warmth of the comforter is growing up. So as soon as I am getting done with my classes, I am returning home and taking naps at weird hours of the day. It is unsure as to how long this will continue, but unless and until the weather improves and the sun comes out from his exilement, my sleeping hours will be more than working hours.
After all, if Mother Nature intervenes, how can a simple human being change the inevitable?
After all, if Mother Nature intervenes, how can a simple human being change the inevitable?
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