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.