My brother-in-law Mausam’s marriage was one of the most enjoyable events that I have attended in my lifetime. Those ten days had such a plethora of incidents from pleasant to worse, that, one would have to try really hard to erase even one bit of those memories. In this post, I would indite incidents only up to marriage-eve. In my next post, I would describe the marriage-day itself and events thereafter.
When I and Kuhu left Bangalore, our bodies had been toned to 21 degree Celsius, 50% relative humidity, huge reserves of energy and willingness to work. All that turned on its head, when we got out of our 6E-156 Indigo flight, on the night of 29th of July. Kolkata was simmering at 34 degree Celsius, with an equally sweaty humidity quotient of 97%. We got drenched in perspiration in 10 minutes, and tempers boiled straight away. “Dada ar shomoi pelo na biye korar. Bari giye oke bolbo jeno kuri khana A/C r byabostha kore. Uff ei gorome shajbo ki kore and kaaj korbo ki kore…(Big bro could not find a worse moment to marry. I would instruct him to get around 20 A/Cs planted all across the function hall. In this sapping heat and humidity, how can anyone do any work or embellish oneself with make-ups??).. ” were the first comments from an angry and irritated Kuhu. We reached the “Deb Household”, on 67B Beadon Street, on the evening of 30th of July, four days before the marriage, which was scheduled on the 3rd of August.
By that time itself, we had no energy left in us. We were exhausted already. Gallons of chilled water and soft drinks were flowing down our throats. There was no urge to talk, move around or even eat. Suddenly at 9.30 pm I realized that I had left my mobile phone inside the cab while coming to Beadon Street. We could not possibly have had a more dreadful and atrocious start to this supposedly happy sojourn of Mausam’s (Bubu) marriage ceremony. Luckily for me, the person who picked up the phone from the cab had been kind enough to keep it switched on, so that we could track it. He stayed in Rippon Street, one of the most notorious Muslim localities in south-central Kolkata. At 10.30 pm, Bubu, chotka and I picked the phone up from the gentleman’s residence.
The next two days were relatively less eventful, but the heat and humidity were really getting under our skin. It was getting exceedingly difficult to work and organize things for D-day, but we had no choice. The breakdown of a power station far down in Kolaghat, put the final nail on the coffin. To back the sapping heat, there was no power for two days. Extra power back-up was envisaged, in case there was a black-out on marriage day (that did not take place however).
On marriage-eve, the last night of bachelorhood (Iburo) for Bubu, we decided to have a blast. The rituals at lunch time were over and done with, and we were literally getting bored after that. At 8 in the evening, six of us including the would-be groom gatecrashed into a Saltlake Sector V pub to have a real party. Bubu himself described it as the “final piece of enjoyment” before getting hitched for a lifetime. We danced ourselves crazy to the loudest pieces of music you could ever hope to hear. For Bubu, it was as if he was emancipating himself even before bondage. On marriage day he had to get up at 4am for some small rituals, but the previous night, we returned at 1.30am. So basically that night he had less than 3 hours of sleep. That took its toll the next morning however, albeit to a very small extent.
It was a fantastic buildup to the marriage itself, and the best was yet to come. More of that in my next post !! So stay tuned…
Friday, August 26, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
An ensemble of sheer brilliance….
Sunday, the 17th of July 2011, will always be enshrined in my memory as a day to cherish and savor. It was an evening when three of India’s greatest classical artistes unleashed their rarest talents and overawed an audience who were left to ponder over their greatness. Pandit Bickram Ghosh, with his electro-classical variety of percussion, and, Shobha Mudgal and Bombay Jayshri with their “jugalbandi” of Hindustani Classical and Carnatic classical music, literally set the stage on fire at the MLR convention Centre in Whitefield.
I had never attended Shobha Mudgal at a live concert, which was always a grievance to date. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to absorb every moment of this rarest of rare opportunities. It is not that I am very knowledgeable about the nitty-gritties of Indian Classical music, but when great artistes put forward such extraordinary renditions, they are a therapeutic treat to the soul and senses.
Pandit Bickram Ghosh was the first one to take stage however. He has always been an artiste who loves to engage the audience with anecdotes, little details about the number that he and his team is about to play, the “raagas” involved and so on. Yesterday was no different. He pumped us up straight away. That made the experience all the more exciting and sweet. He started with the “Dance of Shiva” which was based on “Raag Jog” and never looked back, until he signed off with a number that was part of his debut album with Sony Music in 2000, based on “Raag Banjara.” We clapped, we whistled, we moved with the rhythm and we enjoyed. His music was a confluence of the east and the west, classical and rock, orthodox and the abstract. I was attending Bickram Ghosh live after almost 8 years, and it left me speechless.
The ten-minute break between performances seemed too little to take us out of the awe that Pandit Bickram had put us into. Shobha Mudgal and Bombay Jayshri, in “jugalbandi”, were much more purely classical in their performance, serene, slow and soothing, but equally enthralling. They were more focused in performing themselves, and did not engage the audience too much. That was the biggest contrast between the two sets of performers. If Pandit Bickram set our hearts pumping, Shobha and Jayashri cooled us down, with their greatness.
The experience would not have been a reality if Kuhu had not informed me about the happening of the event, the venue, and the contact person for passes. Hence I am thankful to her as well. At the end of it all, we were left to remember, ponder, reflect and savor the performances of these magnificent sons and daughters of our proud motherland. In a nutshell, we were enriched by an ensemble of sheer brilliance.
I had never attended Shobha Mudgal at a live concert, which was always a grievance to date. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to absorb every moment of this rarest of rare opportunities. It is not that I am very knowledgeable about the nitty-gritties of Indian Classical music, but when great artistes put forward such extraordinary renditions, they are a therapeutic treat to the soul and senses.
Pandit Bickram Ghosh was the first one to take stage however. He has always been an artiste who loves to engage the audience with anecdotes, little details about the number that he and his team is about to play, the “raagas” involved and so on. Yesterday was no different. He pumped us up straight away. That made the experience all the more exciting and sweet. He started with the “Dance of Shiva” which was based on “Raag Jog” and never looked back, until he signed off with a number that was part of his debut album with Sony Music in 2000, based on “Raag Banjara.” We clapped, we whistled, we moved with the rhythm and we enjoyed. His music was a confluence of the east and the west, classical and rock, orthodox and the abstract. I was attending Bickram Ghosh live after almost 8 years, and it left me speechless.
The ten-minute break between performances seemed too little to take us out of the awe that Pandit Bickram had put us into. Shobha Mudgal and Bombay Jayshri, in “jugalbandi”, were much more purely classical in their performance, serene, slow and soothing, but equally enthralling. They were more focused in performing themselves, and did not engage the audience too much. That was the biggest contrast between the two sets of performers. If Pandit Bickram set our hearts pumping, Shobha and Jayashri cooled us down, with their greatness.
The experience would not have been a reality if Kuhu had not informed me about the happening of the event, the venue, and the contact person for passes. Hence I am thankful to her as well. At the end of it all, we were left to remember, ponder, reflect and savor the performances of these magnificent sons and daughters of our proud motherland. In a nutshell, we were enriched by an ensemble of sheer brilliance.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Enlighten your loved ones, but never hold yourself accountable for their misery…..
Some relationships, sometimes, make you feel shockingly helpless. The bonds are so strong that you cannot let them go, but at the same time you are frustrated that they are not on the path of truth, righteousness and self-dignity.As an individual, I strongly uphold my self-esteem and principles. Hence it becomes extremely difficult to handle a situation, where, my loved one keeps compromising on these attributes, and most importantly, never listens to my words of abandoning such cowardly acts inspite of suffering immensely for this folly.
A scenario arises where your loved one is complaining to you about his/her sufferings in life, you have the solution to the malady, you provide that to him/her, but he/she is not strong enough to implement that solution and end the suffering. It is very frustrating and infuriating for you in such a circumstance. Neither can you abandon your loved one with his/her problem, nor can you find peace with yourself by solving the problem.
In the Mahabharata, Bhishma had asked for the remedy to his woes to Lord Krishna. He had pleaded enlightenment on what is the right path for him – to provide moral and armed support to the Pandavas, or to get rooted like an immovable banyan tree to his paternal Hastinapur, thereby fighting for the prurient Duryodhana. The dilemma for Bhishma was that he knew Pandavas were on the path of truth, but he also knew that Duryodhana was the face of the kingdom by virtue of being Dhritarashtra’s eldest son. Lord Krishna had advised him not to divert from truth, but Bhishma ultimately took Duryodhana’s side in Kurukshetra and got laid in a bed arrows until death. This was the culmination of his one wrong decision despite knowing what was right and what was not.
Lord Krishna had later said that his job was to explain the right things to Bhishma, but the job of implementation was upto him. At the end of the day, decision making and assertiveness has to be the prerogative of the person who is suffering, although imparting enlightenment and wisdom is the duty of well wishers. The latter should be in no way held responsible for the miseries of the former, especially if words wisdom had not been hidden.
I guess, this philosophy is easier said than followed in actual life, but there is no doubt that this is the wisest thing to do. Hope I and all others like me can do the same and save themselves from unnecessary emotional disturbances. After all, detachment and performance of duty, and not the repurcussions of these, are the two pillars on which our religion stands, isnt’t it?
A scenario arises where your loved one is complaining to you about his/her sufferings in life, you have the solution to the malady, you provide that to him/her, but he/she is not strong enough to implement that solution and end the suffering. It is very frustrating and infuriating for you in such a circumstance. Neither can you abandon your loved one with his/her problem, nor can you find peace with yourself by solving the problem.
In the Mahabharata, Bhishma had asked for the remedy to his woes to Lord Krishna. He had pleaded enlightenment on what is the right path for him – to provide moral and armed support to the Pandavas, or to get rooted like an immovable banyan tree to his paternal Hastinapur, thereby fighting for the prurient Duryodhana. The dilemma for Bhishma was that he knew Pandavas were on the path of truth, but he also knew that Duryodhana was the face of the kingdom by virtue of being Dhritarashtra’s eldest son. Lord Krishna had advised him not to divert from truth, but Bhishma ultimately took Duryodhana’s side in Kurukshetra and got laid in a bed arrows until death. This was the culmination of his one wrong decision despite knowing what was right and what was not.
Lord Krishna had later said that his job was to explain the right things to Bhishma, but the job of implementation was upto him. At the end of the day, decision making and assertiveness has to be the prerogative of the person who is suffering, although imparting enlightenment and wisdom is the duty of well wishers. The latter should be in no way held responsible for the miseries of the former, especially if words wisdom had not been hidden.
I guess, this philosophy is easier said than followed in actual life, but there is no doubt that this is the wisest thing to do. Hope I and all others like me can do the same and save themselves from unnecessary emotional disturbances. After all, detachment and performance of duty, and not the repurcussions of these, are the two pillars on which our religion stands, isnt’t it?
Friday, June 10, 2011
Anna and Baba have sent shock waves among India’s leadership brigade…..
It has been almost a month-and-a-half since we first saw a septuagenarian Gandhian rise like a phoenix from the ashes, and take the government head-on, to curb corruption and elicit accountability and integrity amongst people who have responsibility and power. As he conducted his first fast, the media enlightened us a lot more about him and his past. The government started to take notice as well, and a Lokpal Bill with relevant provisions was mooted.
The only reason why an irrelevant Lokpal Bill, with a whole bag of loopholes, has not been passed in Parliament is because Anna has not let that happen. He has rightly demanded that each and every of the 1 billion heads in this enormous and diverse country have to come under the purview of this bill, including the PM and judiciary. Quite expectedly, this has not gone down well with the policy makers, but the agitation continues on our part through Anna.
However, just as the policy makers were slowly starting to immune themselves from the Anna struggle, Baba Ramdev gave them a huge jolt. He started agitations and fasts to bring back black money which are stashed away in foreign banks for the last 50 years. This was even deadlier to the government, because unlike a low-profile Anna, Baba, through his Yoga exploits, has become a huge mass leader. He can gather millions with just one call for justice. That is what exactly happened at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi last week. On top of that, there were thousands of NRIs who were with Baba from foreign shores. This rattled the governement to such an extent that they were forced to evict Baba with all his supporters out of New Delhi in midnight hours, through brutal police force. Some columnists have also compared this incident to the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.
It is now imperative that Anna and Baba compliment each other to the fullest, and bring the perpetrators of corruption down on their haunches. They have singular styles of revolt – one is austere, non-violent, demure and believes in deeds more than words, while the other is flamboyant, well-versed, expressive and motivating. Right now there is talk that Anna and Baba should combine their movements and become an even more potent force against money-laudering and corruption. I really do wish that this happens, because their independent movements have sent shock waves amongst India’s leadership brigade. Their combined movement would uproot them.
The only reason why an irrelevant Lokpal Bill, with a whole bag of loopholes, has not been passed in Parliament is because Anna has not let that happen. He has rightly demanded that each and every of the 1 billion heads in this enormous and diverse country have to come under the purview of this bill, including the PM and judiciary. Quite expectedly, this has not gone down well with the policy makers, but the agitation continues on our part through Anna.
However, just as the policy makers were slowly starting to immune themselves from the Anna struggle, Baba Ramdev gave them a huge jolt. He started agitations and fasts to bring back black money which are stashed away in foreign banks for the last 50 years. This was even deadlier to the government, because unlike a low-profile Anna, Baba, through his Yoga exploits, has become a huge mass leader. He can gather millions with just one call for justice. That is what exactly happened at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi last week. On top of that, there were thousands of NRIs who were with Baba from foreign shores. This rattled the governement to such an extent that they were forced to evict Baba with all his supporters out of New Delhi in midnight hours, through brutal police force. Some columnists have also compared this incident to the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.
It is now imperative that Anna and Baba compliment each other to the fullest, and bring the perpetrators of corruption down on their haunches. They have singular styles of revolt – one is austere, non-violent, demure and believes in deeds more than words, while the other is flamboyant, well-versed, expressive and motivating. Right now there is talk that Anna and Baba should combine their movements and become an even more potent force against money-laudering and corruption. I really do wish that this happens, because their independent movements have sent shock waves amongst India’s leadership brigade. Their combined movement would uproot them.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Bangalore needs to address some serious issues to sustain growth….
I have spent almost four years now in the garden city of Bangalore. I have witnessed the rapid growth in the infrastructure here in that period of time – roads, shops and malls, multiplex theatres, ring roads (albeit they are tolled right now), meaningful flyovers that really reduce commuter time without creating bottlenecks, and of course, housing societies. It is absolutely incredible to see that almost every other day, new housing complexes with all modern amenities required, and plush and spacious villas are coming up on the outskirts of the city at strategic locations.
People in my hometown in Kolkata, who have never been here, knowingly or otherwise have always showered praise and expressed awe at the mere thought of their son/daughter getting a job here. However, are things really that good here? Or to put it in another way, are all the good things that are happening here really enough to sustain this unprecedented mad growth in human capital? The question becomes all the more relevant, especially, when we consider that Bangalore is the IT hub of India, almost 35% of India’s technical workforce are based here.
The two biggest problems here according to me are the availability of electricity and water. These are, on the whole, India’s problems as well, but it seems that other cities are better off. These problems are even more exaggerated in summer. One wonders during that time, when water supply is only for a couple of hours a day, that how on earth we are working in the world’s biggest company, and at the same time do not have enough water to take a shower at a convenient time.
In my childhood days, I had heard stories about the dark days in villages. Apart from regular power cuts, there is another problem that exists in rural India. The power goes off as soon the wind picks up to 50 km/hr, or there is slight heavy rainfall with lightening. This is exactly the phenomenon that is commonplace in Bangalore. Sometimes we get the impression that we are living in a remote village in Bihar or Chattisgarh and not in the Silicon Valley of India.
Hence the bottom line is irrespective of how much improvement is achieved in infrastructure and job creation, it is imperative and obligatory for Bangalore to provide uninterrupted supply of electricity and power to all its citizens all the time. Otherwise, it would not be long before Gurgaon, Noida and Pune would become flocking capitals for India’s youth brigade.
People in my hometown in Kolkata, who have never been here, knowingly or otherwise have always showered praise and expressed awe at the mere thought of their son/daughter getting a job here. However, are things really that good here? Or to put it in another way, are all the good things that are happening here really enough to sustain this unprecedented mad growth in human capital? The question becomes all the more relevant, especially, when we consider that Bangalore is the IT hub of India, almost 35% of India’s technical workforce are based here.
The two biggest problems here according to me are the availability of electricity and water. These are, on the whole, India’s problems as well, but it seems that other cities are better off. These problems are even more exaggerated in summer. One wonders during that time, when water supply is only for a couple of hours a day, that how on earth we are working in the world’s biggest company, and at the same time do not have enough water to take a shower at a convenient time.
In my childhood days, I had heard stories about the dark days in villages. Apart from regular power cuts, there is another problem that exists in rural India. The power goes off as soon the wind picks up to 50 km/hr, or there is slight heavy rainfall with lightening. This is exactly the phenomenon that is commonplace in Bangalore. Sometimes we get the impression that we are living in a remote village in Bihar or Chattisgarh and not in the Silicon Valley of India.
Hence the bottom line is irrespective of how much improvement is achieved in infrastructure and job creation, it is imperative and obligatory for Bangalore to provide uninterrupted supply of electricity and power to all its citizens all the time. Otherwise, it would not be long before Gurgaon, Noida and Pune would become flocking capitals for India’s youth brigade.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Importance of English being stressed is a good sign….
About ten months back, on this very blog, I had commented that there is a severe crunch of good English speakers these days, especially among the youth we talk to and meet in our everyday lives. It was very refreshing indeed to see that last week, Chetan Bhagat opined on this very issue in an editorial on TOI.
The fan-following and the literary stature that Bhagat enjoys among Indian youth are bound to trigger an earnest effort on the part of the latter to improve their English speaking and writing skills. Chetan, in that column itself, has also suggested ways on how to improve one’s ability to use and apply the language cogently and in a very simple manner. For me, that column is a highly recommended piece of reading.
There is still a high proportion of young kids in our country who have no option but to study in non-english speaking schools, thanks to the lack of vision and the atrocities of the responsible authorities including parents. Learning the English laguage well becomes all the more imperative for these kids, because they have to put in that extra bit of hard work and inconvenience compared to their more fortunate counterparts who study in english-speaking schools.
Bhagat’s ideas may not yield results overnight, because good spoken English is a process rather than an event. You need time to master it. However, such good advice is always worth considering, especially if it comes from somebody who is a master of writing the most enthralling of novels in the simplest of words.
The fan-following and the literary stature that Bhagat enjoys among Indian youth are bound to trigger an earnest effort on the part of the latter to improve their English speaking and writing skills. Chetan, in that column itself, has also suggested ways on how to improve one’s ability to use and apply the language cogently and in a very simple manner. For me, that column is a highly recommended piece of reading.
There is still a high proportion of young kids in our country who have no option but to study in non-english speaking schools, thanks to the lack of vision and the atrocities of the responsible authorities including parents. Learning the English laguage well becomes all the more imperative for these kids, because they have to put in that extra bit of hard work and inconvenience compared to their more fortunate counterparts who study in english-speaking schools.
Bhagat’s ideas may not yield results overnight, because good spoken English is a process rather than an event. You need time to master it. However, such good advice is always worth considering, especially if it comes from somebody who is a master of writing the most enthralling of novels in the simplest of words.
Friday, May 27, 2011
A long drive to remember….the first in our Manza
It was the beginning of a long weekend on Friday, April 22, 2011. Our new Manza Elan was about a month old, and Kuhu and I were waiting to launch ourselves into such an occasion. We decided to witness the sunrise atop the Nandi hills. Preparations started the previous day. We bought cakes, chips and cookies, loaded an ipod full of immortal melodies, had a light dinner at 8.30 pm (our normal eating time is around 10) and went to sleep at about 9.30 pm.
We knew we had to leave by 4.15 am in the morning to reach Nandi hills (around 75 km) by 6 am. When we got up at 3.15 am, a light drizzle was on. It was exceedingly romantic. We embarked on our first long drive amidst the rain at 4.17 am, with Shreya Ghosal buzzing one of her most romantic numbers in our ears (the song was from the film “Autograph”). Even in those wee hours of the morning, there were quite a few cars and cabs around, especially the ones which were on their way to the airport.
We raced through outer ring road to Hebbal junction and took a right turn towards the international airport. After crossing the airport at about 5.10 am, the traffic eased considerably. Hence we had the time and space to take some mighty cute photographs of ourselves in the middle of a highway in pitch black darkness. It was an experience of a different kind. We reached the foot of the hills at 5.40 am and it was still dark. About five cars were lined up in front of us waiting for the check post to open at 5.50 am.
We could see traces of dawn in the horizon. The clouds too were almost within touching distance and it was starting to get chilly. Kuhu was starting to shiver as well. As we started our ascent in a cloudy morning, the scenaries started getting from beautiful to magical to heavenly. We reached the top (about 2250 mts above mean sea level) at 6.17 am. We could only see a silhouette of the sun amongst some grey clouds, but even that was a visual delight. As time passed, the crowd started to grow. We walked around a bit, savoured the moments and had a cup of coffee in that chilly weather. It had started drizzling again, and we were feeling as if we were in Darjeeling.
We left the place at 7.45 am and started our sojourn back. A kite, in its mission to capture its hunt, slammed into the windshield as I was blowing my car on the empty roads at 100 kmph. Luckily it was quick enough to fly out just in time without injury. We reached home at about 9.30 am. These 5 hours that we spent in contact with each other, with Mother Nature, music and the magnificent roads, were moments to remember and cherish forever.
We knew we had to leave by 4.15 am in the morning to reach Nandi hills (around 75 km) by 6 am. When we got up at 3.15 am, a light drizzle was on. It was exceedingly romantic. We embarked on our first long drive amidst the rain at 4.17 am, with Shreya Ghosal buzzing one of her most romantic numbers in our ears (the song was from the film “Autograph”). Even in those wee hours of the morning, there were quite a few cars and cabs around, especially the ones which were on their way to the airport.
We raced through outer ring road to Hebbal junction and took a right turn towards the international airport. After crossing the airport at about 5.10 am, the traffic eased considerably. Hence we had the time and space to take some mighty cute photographs of ourselves in the middle of a highway in pitch black darkness. It was an experience of a different kind. We reached the foot of the hills at 5.40 am and it was still dark. About five cars were lined up in front of us waiting for the check post to open at 5.50 am.
We could see traces of dawn in the horizon. The clouds too were almost within touching distance and it was starting to get chilly. Kuhu was starting to shiver as well. As we started our ascent in a cloudy morning, the scenaries started getting from beautiful to magical to heavenly. We reached the top (about 2250 mts above mean sea level) at 6.17 am. We could only see a silhouette of the sun amongst some grey clouds, but even that was a visual delight. As time passed, the crowd started to grow. We walked around a bit, savoured the moments and had a cup of coffee in that chilly weather. It had started drizzling again, and we were feeling as if we were in Darjeeling.
We left the place at 7.45 am and started our sojourn back. A kite, in its mission to capture its hunt, slammed into the windshield as I was blowing my car on the empty roads at 100 kmph. Luckily it was quick enough to fly out just in time without injury. We reached home at about 9.30 am. These 5 hours that we spent in contact with each other, with Mother Nature, music and the magnificent roads, were moments to remember and cherish forever.
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