Budget Buzz.......

Just a few hours and the suspense will be over!
The countdown had begun weeks ago....
The hows, the whos, the markets, the wallets, the masses, the classes....the talk is ON !!

Well, with the kind brouhaha created over the budget over the past few weeks, with any and every news channel airing something or anything and predicting, speculating, analysing with the different or same sets of experts, the BUDGET 2009 seems more to be a media circus and PR exercise than a statement of intent for the next fiscal in term of broad economic policies.

Never during our growing up years and thereafter have we been bombarded by such 'facts & figures' as has been the trend in the last few years! The crescendo has reached its peak during the current year when the tamasha has taken the minds of the junta by storm!

What we fail to realise is that the budget has never been full and final and can never be! And the government is at liberty to change, modify and introduce policies and taxes as per the need of the hour, throughout the year!

Well, as has been obvious in our present media-led society...the TRPs dictate...be it Ekta Kapoor's serials, T20 matches, Lakme fashion week or now.....Budget 2009!

So today as the day unfurls, We the People of India, will be glued to our TV sets, internet sites, watching, hearing, reading.... the BUDGET LIVE!!!!

PS:-Hats Off to the Marketing Guys....for successfully turning a serious matter into a Marketing gimmick, lapped up by us all

There are three kinds of lies.....

Just back from my weekly vegetable and grocery shopping with heavy bulging bags and a much lighter wallet.

I have this habit of keeping a note of my daily expenditure in a diary.

While turning the pages of the diary to make today's entry, the diary opened to the date 12th May 2007, when I'd bought, amongst other things, 10kgs rice for Rs.150 (@Rs.15/kg) and the week's vegetables for Rs.163.

Today's entry for the same items are Rs. 325 and Rs.398 respectively.

Exactly two years and every eatable on the supermarket shelves has doubled or tripled and yet the Economic Times has been gleefully celebrating every Thursday morning that inflation is -0.1%.

Is this what is meant by "lies, damned lies and statistics!!"

'Far from the Madding Crowd'

(This is not a travelogue...it's just glimpses of a wonderful experience from which I havent yet recovered)

Coinciding leaves and holidays of two and a half individuals is always a headache….the half is a teeny weeny three and a half-going on thirteen opinionated young lady!

Well, we finally managed to squeeze in a weekend and a bit more of free together time! A quick planning, hurried booking and off we were on a much needed break.

Four days of peace, tranquility, sea, sand and rock. Throw in a handful of spirituality; sprinkle some lip smacking medley of French-Tam cuisine, 24x7 beachside cafes; Lace it with a splash of multi-linguistic experience of Tamil-French combo, with smatterings of often unintelligible English and Hindi; Garnish with treasure troves of handicrafts, aromatic candles and incences; frame it with the delightful old world charm of heritage Villas and Bungalows...and hey presto! You have the magic of Pondicherry staring soulfully at you....

An interesting anecdote which was on display in a beachside cafe we frequented during our midnight strolls on the beach....

The Puducheri of yesteryears has come a full cycle. This coastal town named Puducheri (meaning in Tamil "new settlement"), was twisted to suit the French tongue who pronounced it as Poudicherry. And then some grouchy British clerk made a silly clerical error (mentioned in the poster in a tongue-in-cheek style as "a forgivable felony of a slack eye and hand") whereby the 'u' of Pouducheri was changed into 'n'. Thus was born the more stylish and Anglicised Pondicherry. Pondicherry was easier on the tongue and thus stayed on! And finally after a few hundreds of years and a medley of rulers later, it's back to being called Puducheri !

The serenity of the town struck me almost instantly. Tranquility opened her arms the moment we entered and wrapped us up in a warm welcome embrace. The canopy of green over the villa lined streets made me want to get off the car and walk on.... Quaint little bungalows, a deluge of bougainvilleas, emerald green-blue sea and black rocky stones guarding the lashing waves, Pondicherry stole my heart. I fell in love with the little town.

Where we stayed added to the spell of love at first sight. A delightful 18th century mansion, restored and brought to life. With non-identical suites and rooms named Mahe, Chandernagore, Karikal, Calicut, Yanaon and so on, it oozed old world charm wherever we went and whatever we touched. A central courtyard with a giant neem tree, this is where we had our breakfast. Early morning rises to catch the sunrise, so alien in our lives in the concrete jungles, we breathed in gusts of fresh sea breeze thus rejuvenating our senses and detoxyfying our souls.... Late night strolls along the beach concluded with cups of coffee at the little coffee shop on the Beach, while the sea roared on, and wild waves lashed itself on the rocks on which sat the cafe. The midnight moon shone through the swaying palms while the far horizon shimmered in its silvery glow....

Back in our hotel room, the freshly made bed would have a fresh garland of jasmine adorning the pillow, with it's delicate fragrance caressing the air we breathed in as we retired for the day....

The Universal Township of "Auroville" is an experience to be savoured and assimilated deep within. The few hours that we spent there were too too less to do any justice. I wish we had planned our trip in advance. Due to our unplanned visit, we couldnt enter the inner sanctum of the Matri Mandir and had to be content seeing this remarkable architectural marvel from a distance.

If only to live the experience of entering and meditating in the awe inspiring Matri Mandir, seeing from close, the crystal which is known to be the largest spherical crystal, I made a promise to myself.....I'll come back again, to savour the magic of this city.

Saturday Morning Rants

Since morning the television is blaring and SD is glued to the set, devouring the statistics of wins and losses, as the presenters, commentators scream and holler into their microphones!

Television in the morning is something I just am not fond of! I like my mornings peaceful and serene...maybe a raga or soulful music playing in the backdrop while I sip my tea and glance through the crisp fresh newspaper....of course the latter again is a luxury, as on most days, when I get to read the paper (in the evenings), they are crumpled with a page or two missing!

Well today my complaints and cribbings WILL NOT be entertained. I have been categorically informed ....the counting process is on and the dance of democracy of the last few months comes to its (il)logical conclusion!

Of the many highlights being passed on to me by SD, a few which caught my attention :
* Mamata seems to have swept the election in West Bengal....I wonder how! A politician who successfully drives away industrialisation and industries from a state in dire need of it, wins people's hearts and votes!! And not only the rural votes...she has won several seats in the heart of the urban metropolis!
*The mechanised counting process in India is way ahead, in terms of time and speed given the mammothness of the numbers and the geographical spread, compared to the most developed nations of the world! And I am supposed to feel privileged to be able to witness the execution of such a gargantuan task, LIVE!! Well, actually, one privileged person in the family is enough....
*Chiranjeevi is almost on the verge of extinction even before he strengthened his foothold in the political arena
*Of the dames of democracy, DIDI is up, BEHENJI is down and AMMA is floundering !

Even as I finish this post, the television continues to holler, papers and toys are strewn all over, AD's cartoons are on and with a throbbing head I get down to the business of bringing order to complete disorder....

Pictures : courtesy -Google images & http://promiseofreason.com/; http://www.manjul.com; http://www.lead.timesofindia.com/images/letthegamesbegin.gif;

Marriage, Misery or Mockery!

As the phone screamed out, shattering the afternoon stillness, I had no choice but to receive it. At least to stop its deafening cacophony. The sleep induced dazed mind was brought to consciousness by the high pitched voice on the other end. It suited a heady teenager more than a mom of a preteen. It was my friend R. I responded groggily, my Sunday slumberous intonation clearly giving away my activity! But the news filtering through my comatose grey cells galvanized me into the sitting position and we both, after an initial bout of silly giggles, reverted to our more sensible selves. Realisation dawned that it was not a laughing matter and a sensation of hollowness and a strange helplessness pervaded my being! Why, we discussed, was this farce being allowed to happen and the repercussions of this on all concerned !

This is about P...someone we knew from our growing up years. He was getting married next month and his engagement had already been held a week back.

Later, as I sat sipping tea on a quiet, still afternoon….memories of P kept flitting across. I remember him clearly.... a funny, entertaining fellow but different from the rest. After college got over, whatever little association we had with P, came to an end too. However, we knew vaguely what he was doing, where he was working etc etc. But it was his difference that would come up in our conversations from time to time.....
Though academically superlative and professionally successful, P was remembered by us for being a comical caricature...he himself had proudly narrated how popular he had been during his school days-enacting roles and mouthing dialogues of the reigning silverscreen queens! College was no different and he continued his exaggerated performances.

P was unambiguously effeminate…the walk, the talk, the gestures and facial expression.
Intelligent as he was, he loved (or so it appeared to us) to showcase his difference and seemed to bask in the misplaced attention he received! Leg-pulling, ridicule, crude comments never detered him.

He had the guts to be himself, indifferent to whether society laughed at him or with him ..

To me, a staunch introvert, this quality of his never failed to amaze me.....that he could laugh at himself and knew how to use the jokes and ridicule to his advantage by being in the limelight wherever he was! He was completely uninhibited and at ease with himself.

Back then, most of the guys would be in and out of love, infatuations, but not P. As a matter of fact no one expected him to fall in love in the ‘normal’ way. He never discussed this aspect of life....

So, even as many of us got married, and some confirmed bachelors continued living their bachelor lives, and some were too busy with careers to spare time for a family life, P always stayed clear of relationships of any kind. At least none in the public eye.

So news of his forthcoming marriage was shocking! The intricate details left me reeling and sad. Here was this 30 something fellow...successful and well settled in life, whose sexual preference was definitely NOT hetero; but emotional blackmailing by parents had forced him to sacrifice himself at the alter of popular preference. He has supposedly informed his parents not to expect anything more from him other than marrying the girl of their choice at the given date…his duty ended with that and the welfare of the girl was to be the parents’ responsibility!!!

I wonder what happened to the guy who was comfortable in his own skin and had the guts to be himself! I dont remember having known the escapist hypocrite who shielded the truth...but ten years is a long time and social stigma and parental pressure to conform to norms must have taken its toll...

And then what of this girl who was his fiancé? This girl, rather woman, of affluent background, was not only highly qualified, but a high-flying career woman. So what had compelled such a woman to agree to enter this farce of a relationship? Feigning ignorance regarding P was impossible as one just had to spend a few minutes in his company to know....

The woman’s point of view intrigued me more. Was she too succumbing to parental / social pressures of some kind?

Why is marriage so important in our society? And at what cost?

If even the well-educated, well-heeled and urban population are reduced to being mere puppets to unwritten social norms and would rather live a life of lies, hypocrisy, compromise and escapism, what happens to the less fortunate of the society!

Calendared Moodswings

Hate is a strong word. I don’t use it often. But in this context I am using it … or rather my heart compels me to do so….
No, not a person nor an object nor any food. I hate something abstract.. I hate a certain period of time. I hate three months in a year….for their bleakness, for their uneventfulness, for their all-work-and-no-play nature. I hate the months of May, June, July! And my hatred has almost reached a crescendo as I sit here, almost on the threshold of my days of sorrow……

***

Our country is a land of diversities in everything one lays one’s eyes on. From languages to rituals, colours of its people’s skin to cuisines, traditions to local costumes, everything is in multitudes! So when it comes to holidays, it’s an assortment of the various religious, social, cultural celebrations, anniversaries and national days of pride thrown in, in full measure. The whole year or for that matter a major part of the year is sprinkled by generous servings of holidays! A saying in Bengali aptly describes this state of affairs “Baaro Maashe Tyaro Parbon” whose literal translation would be - Thirteen festivities in twelve months.

And that’s where my heartburn comes into the picture….amidst a plethora of holidays round the year, why didn’t the months of May, June, July get at least one or two! Why are the poor months stark, unwelcome, barren periods devoid of happiness ..ahem…holidays! Unfair, biased, deprived trio...my heart screams out!

Every year, during January, when the holiday calendar is first displayed, I take my first peek ...with anticipation and excitement….the first look would always be at September-October, to check up when Pujo would be and which day of the week the Dussehra/Bijoya Dashami falls. That triggers my mental holiday planner and from the first of January, my plans for the Pujo vacation starts taking shape. This is closely followed by the cheerful winter months and the summery fiesta.

In my personal context, the 'bright & cheerful' season begins in August! That’s when my very own happy days begin… when there’s a spring in my step, dreaming of the upcoming festivities, and of course, the patriotism induced glee (!). In September – October, my joy knows no bounds and again October – November, arent bad either, what with Diwali, Id, Guru Nanak Jayanti all tumbling around in the calendar, bumping into one another. And December, with birthdays (OK no holidays, but still cause for celebration!!), Christmas, New Years and of course the wonderful holiday-mood-inducing-weather, is a joyous month indeed! January isn’t bad either and in February, it being our organization’s birthmonth, we are privileged to have an exclusive holiday!!! March also has its share of colourful mirth and my foster-state’s new year’s etc etc! and April is just about tolerable with a day of holiday thrown in!

And then tragedy strikes!!! Gloom descends. And along with the sweltering heat and thereafter downcast skies, my mood also oscillates between grouchy irritability to utmost melancholy. There’s not a day to look forward to….stark barrenness stares me in the face making me dejected ….making me wish away the three months from the calendar…making me crave for the light at the end of the tunnel - the auspicious August when Vignavidhaata arrives to remove all obstacles in the path of my mental peace and gives me FREEDOM from depression & deprivation!

Statutory Warning : May you all not BURN in envy reading the list of holidays during my nine HAPPY months!

I continue to be, as informed earlier, an underpaid and overworked employee. But the red spots on the calendar do give me immense pleasure. And whenever SD & AD enjoy their holidays (which are many more than my measly numbers), I dont hesitate in indulging in a Casual Leave or two....joining in the fun!!!!

For your peace of mind, let me reiterate.....My Holiday Count, unfortunately, continues to be a depressing 10 per year! sob sob sob....

Democratic Rights....

The world's largest democary goes to the polls today onwards ...to renew its tryst with destiny, to reinculcate its faith in the power of its people, to shape its destiny, to give it leaders who will dare to think, to implement and empower a nation where its intrinsic diversity shapes its unity!

When an astounding 750 million voters are eligible to exercise this right of democracy, an evolved infrastructure and fool-proof system need to be in place. The voting machines we use are indeed an evolution from the days of manual vote counting..but are they enough?

As the city which has been my home for the past year or so goes to vote today, here I am sitting in front of my computer 'enjoying' a holiday...a passive participant in a dynamic process! I am not alone....there are thousands like me, who are unable to vote due to their frequently changing co-ordinates! Who are away from the city where they are registered in the electoral rolls! So dont people like us have the right to vote and be a part of the elaborate exercise of choosing the mandate?

In a country touted as a software superpower, churning out lakhs of engineers every year, cant we expect introduction and implementation of a new technology to address this handicap of a nation of mobile citizens?

If money transfer, bill payments, and many other exercises in which unique identity is not only crucial, but also essential, through mobiles and internet can become part and parcel of our lives, why cant the voting system be made online? An unique identity number or smart card (containing relevant details about a particular citizen) generated by the Office of the Electoral Commission can be used to cast our votes through SMS or the internet.

True, I'm simpilfying a complicated and a mammoth process involving years of micro and macro tasking. But with our giant force of technocrats, highly qualified technical experts, world reknowned and reputed software giants and a comfortable gap of five years between two consecutive elections, is it really an impossible task?

I doubt..... though such a system should have been in place during this year's much publicised, much maligned and much hyped General Elections, I sincerely hope, the forthcoming government will put this system in place in 2014 in joint collaboration with the best brains in the world!

So that wherever I am, I can exercise my democratic rights! Am I asking for too much too soon??

Summer Holidays

"Everybody has a summer holiday
Doing things they always wanted to"..... crooned Cliff Richard half a century ago.

And I couldnt agree more.....Summer Holidays or Goromer Chhuti were indeed the favourite and longest of all vacations during our growing up years. An almost two month long break from school, studies and schedule. Cousins coming over from different parts of the country. Lazy afternoons filled with games and gossip.

-Hide and seeks in the nooks and crannies of the attic and staircases, under the beds and behind the giant almirahs;
-climbing guava trees and scraping knees;
-listening to the radio in warm summer afternoons, all heads jostling for space right in front of the radio;
-recording our voices on the blank cassettes inserted into the coveted tape recorder;
-buying ice cream sticks from the ice-cream vendor who would take a break from his cart pushing right in front of our gate and call out "K..W...O....O...L....I...T...Y" repeatedly till we kids compelled our mothers to let us out and buy the orange or chocolate fudge sticks from him;
-sitting on the terrace oblivious to the blazing hot sun, gorging on the 'stolen' homemade mango/tamarind pickles, which had been put out on the terrace for the sun to give it a finishing touch;
-the Poila Boishaakh (Bengali New Years celebration on 14th/15th of April) celebrations and get-togethers....
Memories of summer holidays are full of fun, frolic and laughter. Days spent at cousins' or 'best' friends' places, family reunions and sometimes a family vacation.
Of course, the fights and squabbles, teasing and taunting, anger and making up were also there in all its glory...but that's what gave summer holidays its multihued tinge!

***

As I see my little AD growing up in a nuclear world so different from the one I grew up in, without her extended family to pamper and indulge her, I feel a trifle sad that she's missing out on the companionship and camaraderie with cousins and siblings that we took for granted. Her Summer Holidays too, are poles apart from our summer holidays.

In her world, routine is not abandoned for a month or two. The scheduled life goes on....The long and relaxed, fun-filled vacations are replaced by choc-a-block activity filled summer camps. Not camps in the true sense of the word, but planned, 'scientifically' chalked out programmes to keep kids busy in a host of creative lessons and activities. A continuation of her playschool sans the academics....I wonder whether they are half as much fun as the impromptu and myriad activities we indulged in during our prolonged vacations, eons ago....I hope so.

Times have changed. We parents are busy. And corporate jobs do not give us the luxury of long vacations. And living in a city with no family and equally busy friends as our social network, with cousins and extended families scattered all over the globe, summer holidays of yore have become an almost extinct phenomenon.

So the much advertised, exhorbitantly priced summer camps are not an option but more a necessity!

Last week as I went on a short trip to attend the last rites of my Mamu, AD met some of her cousins for the first time...Dadas (elder brother), didis (elder sister), bon and bhai (sister and brother). They played, they fought, they squabbled over a box of crayons or a teddy or just fought for the sake of fighting. They made up and played again....to fight all over again.....
I was glad ... to give her a slice of life as it was when we were kids. To cherish the companionship, the unadulterated love, the complex rivalry, the bowing down to say sorry, to resume normalcy and let bygones be bygones...

I hope every year, if not a long leisurely one, at least a fun filled brief holiday with cousins is what I can gift my AD...so that she grows up with her own handycam stored memories of summer holidays in contrast to our album filled with sepia tinged snapshots.....

"We're all going on a summer holiday.
No more working for a week or two.
Fun and laughter on a summer holiday...."

Hyderabad on the Rocks!

Millions of years in the making....smoothened and polished to perfection by the ravages of the elements. Cradling the cycle of life on a miniature scale in its nooks and crannies. And a mute witness to the birth of a city, its growth, its political turmoil, and again fast paced heady rediscovery and growth of the modern times! And then the silent bystanders were blasted away..silenced forever exposing in its place, ugly scars which tell no tales. Yes...the city is growing, its roads are widening but environment is being held ransom!

The unique grey-black granite structures which lend Hyderabad a distinct spot in the geological map of the world and has rendered a rustic awe-inspiring charm to the city’s landscape are what I am talking about. They are almost like pieces of abstract art and are a sheer delight to the eyes. However, insensitivity to the heritage nature has bestowed on us, a nefarious greed to encash on the real estate boom of the last few years and frenzied and unplanned growth of the city, has resulted in destruction of these beautiful rock structures which dotted the terrain of this city...located right in the heart of the Deccan Plateau. In most places what remain are skeletons of the erstwhile beauties....ugly quarries in place of natural splendours.

Geologists say that these are amongst the oldest and hardest rock formations in the world dating back to 2500 million years ago!!! The Government has woken up after the mass destruction is almost over to ‘protect’ a handful of the more prominent structures. But what about the other not-so-prominent, yet fine pieces of nature’s artwork? Just last month one such structure, right in front of my daughter’s school was blasted away to make way for a palatial concrete atrocity!

I am all for growth. I, like millions of my countrymen, want to see India at the pinnacle of success…as a leader of the world. But at the same time, I want my country to retain, nurture and cherish the bounty of nature that we are blessed with. Economic development will cease to happen in a country indifferent towards social and ecological responsibility. Our insensitivity towards ecology, lack of basic civic sense, a growing disparity between the haves and have-nots are not what leaders of the world ought to be. A balance must be sought. Where material progress, infrastructure growth happens… but not at the graveyard of ecosystem equilibrium.

Say, I Care - With Books

Reproducing a mail I received from a friend JHUMPA GHOSH mailto:jhumpa.ghoshray@gmail.com), closely associated with NGOs working to promote sustainable livelihoods in communities in and around rural and semi-rural West Bengal and upliftment and improvement of their life in general.

They have taken up a cause to come to the aid of children who due to various circumstances have to put a halt in their education midway.

I request my Blogger friends to please spread the word to help this cause which will help hundreds and thousands of school going children. Some are talented beyond imagination. Most are so keen to study further. A little help, a small encouragement from our ends will go a long way in ensuring that the fate they were born to, doesnt become a permanent curse on their lives.

Small villages, Kantabelia and Madandanga in the Nadia district, have been facing a nagging problem of continuing education after the fifthstandard. The village school is till Class IV, and after completing that, if students wish to continue with their studies, they have totravel 5 to 10 kms. That is where the problem lies. Each year, a major percentage of students drop out due to this reason. For they say,that, the added travel expense would be a burden on the family income, not to forget the cost of books. In an ethnographic research in a collaboration with KIIT School of Rural Management, Bhubaneswar it has come out that a large number of students drop out every year after primary education because of the inability of their parents to buy books. In an educational awareness programme, a proposal for a mobile textbook library for class V to class X has been offered from Change Initiatives. Change Initiatives is already running a project - Telecenter on Wheel (ToW) - over there (Some details on ToW are available here, here and here). A manually run tricycle van has been equipped with ICT tools forinformation dissemination in rural communities. The library would bean added feature of the same. A set of textbooks for class V to class X and a few children story books kept in ToW have been displayed as amodel library. The library will start functioning from May 2009 alongwith the academic session. The members of the library will be allowedto read the books only. The van will be taken to the nearby villagesby rotation. The van has a portable three set tube light so thatstudents can read at morning as well as evening hours with adequate illumination. Change Initiatives has requested the local schoolteachers to involve the guardians and villagers as volunteers for the library. ChangeInitiative also proposed the local teachers to organize a meeting withpresent and retired teachers for making this initiative a success. Andwe are also planning to give books to needy students of Kantabelia andMadandanga for the session of 2009-10. Change Initiatives is seeking support from people like you for thesuccess of this mobile textbook library. You can contribute by donating the new textbooks and/or old used textbooks according to thenew Madhyamik and HS (Madhyamik - Class X boards & HS-Class XII Boards of WB Boards)syllabus, from Class V-XII. If you wish to support us but don’t have the books, we could send you the booklist and then you could buy them for us. We also need to encourage the reading habit of the students, so if you have fiction or non-fiction books that you wish to donate, please letus know.

The address where you need to send these is:

Change Initiatives

GC-79, Salt Lake City,

Sector –III,

Kolkata-700106

You could also contact Arundhoti Dutta (9831898803) for any further details Or mail at changeinitiatives@gmail.com.

All donors would be acknowledged, through the books they donate.

Your help can bring hope to many students finishing school, who are presently forced to leave study, start earning, stay home and lookafter their younger siblings or migrate for a better living.

____________________________________________________

Donations to CHANGE INITIATIVES exempt from income tax under Section80G of the IT Act, 1961.

_______________________________________________

CHANGE INITIATIVES, an NGO based in West Bengal, India, does development research and works for sustainable development with communication tools such as ICTs, videos and print.
The aim is to promote sustainable livelihoods by facilitating communication, raising awareness, promoting knowledge and enhancing access to information in communities

Of a Woman by a Woman

I was reading an article on Women in Workplace and how glass ceilings are being shattered here-there-everywhere. During the past few days, the media has done its bit to woo the fairer (?) sex. Advertisements on Billboards, television channels, print media and so forth... On women, their progress, their achievements and also the flipside of it all....their backward subjugated role in a major segment of the society irrespective of the social / economic strata to which they belong!

Normally I'm the unsentimental kind. Not one to be swayed by the much commercialised sugar dripping DAYS...the Valentine's, the Mothers, Fathers, Friends and what not....they do not touch my heart. The selling of emotions leaves me cold. I dont feel compelled to wish or send a card to the concerned persons in my life because I just cannot contemplate restricting their significance to a DAY per year. And thankfully, none of them care a hoot either for these DAYS!!!

However, today was a trifle different...
On the eve of International Women's Day, the other working woman in my house returned to her workplace....my home. My live-in maid (M), after an almost month long break, came back from her village. I've spent several bytes of cyber space recounting her workplace activities (here). But after three weeks of super juggling and multitasking, to say that I was elated to have her back, will be an understatement.
This evening when I saw M, I was shocked....the healthy woman who had left my home three weeks back, to meet her ailing mother, had come back a dark, skinny, starved and almost unrecognizable version of her former self. She had fallen ill, she said. And running around for her mother's medicines had supposedly taken its toll.

M too was today's Woman; A working Woman. Not by choice, rather by compulsion. Married at fifteen, widowed at eighteen with a one year old child, she had started working since her child was 2 years old. The child was brought up by the grandmother. M was the youngest of seven brothers and two sisters. When she joined me a year and a half back, I had asked M, a woman in her late twenties or early thirties, why she had never remarried..she still could, I told her. She couldnt, she replied. Her brothers had promised her a piece of land in their village, on condition that she retain 'purity of character', by not remarrying!!!
And we talk of Women's emancipation!
I wondered aloud - what's the guarantee of actually getting the piece of land from the brothers, who do not hesisate to demand money from the widowed sister, for the mother's upkeep and treatment. Their justification being....it was M's duty, apparently, as the mother was taking care of HER daughter!!

"They're my brothers after all...they cant cheat me. And if they do, that's my destiny!" was her naive reply.

The sentimental mushy mood I was in, I forgave her for her work-shirking, lazy attitude. I excused her habit of procrastination and gossiping nature. It was here at my home, her workplace, that M was indulging herself in a life otherwise devoid of any indulgences.....

As you & I wish our women friends and colleagues a Happy Women's Day, basking in our confidence and right to choose, remember we are a minority. In our country, women like M belong to the majority, for whom life is all about a constant struggle, to stay afloat. Choice is not a word they can afford to have in their dictionary. For them, being a woman, is a curse of destiny.

HAPPY WOMEN's DAY!

FunnyMen aka PoliceMen

Just couldnt not write about the traffic police of the city after sharing roadspace with them for almost 2 long years!

They are a strange lot. Almost docile, followers of Gandhian principle of non-aggression and non-violence, Policemen here (in most cases) are caricatures of their profession! They dare not fine a lady driver, despite her violating many a sundry traffic rules for which her male counterpart will be fined. But there again the fine would vary depending upon how much cash he is carrying. They are considerate enough to allow the offender to keep the change!! And if the offender is the assertive and hostile kind, they'll just let him go.....

Barring a few bulky mustachioed ''Men-in-Uniform", the rest of the lot are lanky, giggly just-out-of-teens "Boys-in-Uniform". And if the consequence of their immaturity and inability to handle the daily morning /evening choc-a-block traffic condition hadnt been so frustrating, their antics would have been downright comical.

Scene I : A group of two or three lanky, malnourished twenty something boys-in-uniform, standing in a cluster right in the middle of a busy crossing. A digital camera in hand, one of the group is showing something and the other two (or three) gangly chaps are giggling away, their backs to the honking traffice jam. Red light has turned green and green into red...the cars are all in a go-as-you-like mode. Chaos all around. But the boys (in their new avtar as cameramen) are oblivious to the pandemonium surrounding them...

Scene II : A lone youth-in-uniform, again with his back towards the chaotic rush all around, is happily chatting away on a cellphone, laughing and talking. That he is on duty which requires contant vigilance is a fact he is apparently unaware of.

Scene III : Again at a busy 'chaurasta', manned by a burly mustachioed man-in-uniform, geared up for action with a baton in hand, supervising another skinny chap in an ill-fitting uniform, shooting images of the passing cars on handycam. So what if the traffic has gone berserk and Autorickshaws, Cyclists, Mercs, BMWs and modest mortals like us, are vying for inches of roadspace. Neither of the Laurel-Hardy police duo bothers to budge from their self-designated spots on the road to clear the jam.

These are a few of the many scenes I am a witness to, daily to and from work.

Now coming to the catalyst for this blogpost?

SD received an inland letter. We were pleasantly surprised, because in todays age of e-communication, inland letters are remnants of the past and we were receiving one after almost a decade or two. We teared open the blue folded sheet in anticipation and wonder only to be deflated and disappointed that it was an e-challan (Traffic ticket) for jumping signal!! And that's when the mystery of the utility of those handycams and digicams was solved!

Just a question to City Traffic Police dept? Innovative and effective though the idea may be to punish the violaters, wouldnt automated cameras be a better idea and let the 'men' do the manning of the commotion that our road traffic is?

PS: I am waiting for an opportunity to click pics of the antics of the men in uniform. If and when I successfully do so, I will amend this post and add the pics

BRAIN JAM

A writer's block we've heard of!! But a blogger's block? What's that?? Well....When bloggers like me, who have nothing earth shattering to write about, who just blabber away whatever comes to mind, who love indulging their latest whim of blogging, are at a loss of things to say, that is, I guess, a BLOGGERS' BLOCK!! The problem is I want to blog but my grey cells up there arent co-operating...hence bear with me..indulge me please!!!!

Life has been terribly boring of late. Well, not quite. Friday - Saturday were quite different - exciting, if I may say so. Saturday was spent celebrating Saraswati Puja and especially AD’s ‘Haathe Khori’ or formal initiation into education with the blessings of the Goddess of Learning. Friday evening was spent in doing the preparation and groundwork for the religious fervour we were subjected to the next day.
Realisation dawned on me that I was growing old. How else could I explain, why all of a sudden I had become such a sucker for tradition and ritual!! Agreed, I never was an atheist or the ridiculously rebellious kind. But I don’t remember being a stickler for the intricate rituals associated with our Pujas and Prasad preparations. In the past I was quite happy being the onlooker. Was it the parenting bug within me which was making me do all this under its spell? Just to ensure that AD grows up with bits and pieces of tradition....who knows?

Well, all went well...except the fact that the three hour long puja ritual during which it was mandatory to sit on the floor cross-legged left my legs and feet numb and subsequently aching! Another proof of my advancing years!!!

Though winter was conspicuous by its total absence from this city, at least the last few months were pleasant. With February just having begun, one would expect a few more weeks of pleasant evenings. But Global Warming or sheer callousness of the weather Gods, whichever way one looks at it, Summer has set in!! Fans and Air-conditioners have begun their round the clock duties!!
Wonder if this trailer to the scorching summer months ahead, has anything to do with my dysfunctional brain cells!!

A First in my BlogLife....

This, as is evident, is not a FOOD BLOG.

This is a space where I indulge my WHIMS and WISHES...mollycoddle them and pamper them to the hilt.

While browsing through the blogosphere, I came across this food blog - Sudeshna's 'HERE I COOK' which had an event called 'HARVEST : THE FESTIVAL OF RICE'.

Suddenly a brainwave hit me and I thought 'Why not?'
I had a post on a similar topic (RAMBLINGS..) a week or so back....so why not just link it and give the recipe for the Patishaptas I successfully dished out.....

The reason why I chose to make Patishaptas on the Poush Sankranti, as I have already mentioned, was because it was the easiest of all the pitheys and I had all the ingredients at home
Patishaptas are folded Pancakes with coconut and jaggery filling (pur).

So here goes the recipe which is my contribution to 'HARVEST : THE FESTIVAL OF RICE' hosted by Sudeshna of 'HERE I COOK' :
WHAT I USED :
* 1 medium sized Coconut - freshly grated
* Patali Gur (DatePalm Jaggery) - 225gm
* Sugar- 1/2 Cup
* Flour (Maida)- 1 Cup
* Suji or Semolina - 1/2 Cup
* Rice Flour- 1/2 Cup
* Milk - 1.75 - 2 litres
Note:Khoa (dried or thickened milk) is normally used alongwith the Coconut and jaggery to make the filling. I did not have it at home and so thickened a litre of milk to half litre and mixed it while preparing the filling

HOW I PREPARED : Instructions are given in the sequence I prepared
-PATISHAPTA BATTER -Part 1:
I mixed the Suji and Rice Flour. Then soaked the mixture in adequate milk. Left it aside and got on to work on the Filling.

- PUR /FILLING :
Took the freshly grated coconut in a wok (Kadai) and added the sugar and 150 gms of jaggery. Stirred it around well. (Sugar provides the binding)
After mixing it considerably well, put the wok containing the mixture on fire and continued stirring.
Added the thickened milk gradually (I was thickening the milk on the other burner while I stirred the coconut, jaggery, sugar mixture) and NOT in one shot.
The stirring and mixing is the most important aspect of making the Pur.
I continued the stirring process for about 40minutes, till the coconut turned a rich brown and became sticky in texture.

-PATISHAPTA BATTER (Continued):Part 2
I added a spoonful of ghee to the Maida and mixed evenly.
Added this to the already milk-soaked mixture of Suji-Rice Flour. Had to mix it well as to ensure no lumps are formed. Added more milk to make the batter of medium consistency so that it spreads evenly on the tawa.
To sweeten the batter, add some broken pieces of jaggery. The batter should be of mild sweetness.

THE FRYING PROCESS:

1. I used a non-stick Tawa (a non-stick frying pan would do fine)
2. Smeared some oil/ghee (I used ghee....sinfully delightful!!) on the Hot Tawa. (I used the top of a brinjal cut horizontally, with the stalk intact..it makes the ghee smearing easy as the stalk acts as a handle)
3. Poured a ladle of batter and spread it in a circle by tilting the tawa.
4. Fried in low to medium heat to ensure the patishapta is crisp yet soft. Flipped it over.
5. Made a snakelike shape with a tablespoonful of Pur and laid it lengthwise as is shown in the pic.
6. Folded the patishapta and turned it around a bit to give a golden brown look to it.
7. Served hot!!!

Have a look at the pictures and also at the original post

Ramblings.....

At the onset wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! Albeit a belated one..

Had been away from blogsphere the past three weeks. Reason? Nothing in general....didnt have the urge to peep into my cyberden. Not that there weren’t any topics to discuss....
Lot of events took place, especially in the India Inc scenario..and the skeletons continue to tumble out even as I write.. but I guess more than enough has been and is being written and spoken about the same.

Frankly I have nothing in particular to jot down.
A holiday midweek (Pongal) is indeed a bonus. So I guess I'll indulge myself and just ramble ....

Yesterday evening, as is my normal routine, I was talking to my Mother over phone and she was expressing regret that we were not around to have the goodies she was preparing on the occasion of 'Poush Sankranti'. As I kept the phone down, and continued with the normal chores, I kept thinking of the regret in her voice.....

Ours is a family where cooking is considered almost fine art. And in both my maternal as well as paternal sides of the family, there is an unwritten rule whereby cooking is not considered a chore but an art form which is ‘performed’ by the 'Kortree' of the family. Coincidentally both my grandmothers were famous in their respective extended families as great cooks and hostesses. My mother and aunts have upheld the tradition to a very large extent. For that matter I guess Bengalis, in general, are foodlovers and Cooking, Feeding others and Eating a wide variety of great food are intrinsic part of the Bong tradition. I guess none but Bongs will spend hours debating, analyzing and in general discussing the finer nuances of the culinary experience.

As for me, I have inherited the love for good food but unlike my grandmothers, mother and aunts, I do not love cooking to distraction. However, thank God that the genes did not desert me completely and despite my lack of fondness for cooking, I can dish out edible and at most times moderately tasty food!!!
Whenever I delegate a portion of the daily cooking to my maid, I do feel a twinge of guilt at not being 100% sincere in carrying on the family tradition..!!

Well, coming back to where I started .... yesterday's conversation with Ma brought back memories of the 'Poush Parbon' celebrations back at home.

What is Poush Parbon in Bengal, is Bihu in Assam, Lohri in the north and Pongal in the South... Traditionally a rural festival celebrated down the ages throughout India, whereby the winter harvest is ushered in with joyous ceremony, now these are social festivities celebrated in moderation in many an urban family.

In Bengal, on the ocassion of Poush Parbon (also known as Poush Sankranti), sweet dishes made of inherently agrarian ingredients like rice flour, coconut, sweet potatoes, datepalm jaggery (patali gur) are used to dish out mouthwatering delicacies. In various nooks and corners of the country, variations of such sweet delights are served during this time of the year. It is inherently a celebration of India’s agrarian roots.

As families are getting scattered, extended families gradually becoming distant memories, our children are growing up in a nuclear world. Rituals and traditions which we took for granted during our growing up years are becoming rarer by the day.

While we are busy embracing the world and are becoming global citizens, we are gradually losing our rich culture, tradition, folklore which lend India its distinct characteristic so unique in the whole wide world.

Being the impulsive person I am, it struck me, that as a mother, I HAD to do something to familiarize my child with atleast glimpses of the traditions I grew up with. This being my maiden independent effort, I was not too adventurous or ambitious. Hence I decided to try out the easiest of the lot of pitheys..i.e Patishapta. And incidentally I had all the required ingredients at home. Reconfirming the recipe from my mother, I got down to work.

Well….the day is over, the patishaptas having been gobbled up and here I am rambling away aimlessly..
But the satisfaction that we all derived eating the hot, moist and soft patishaptas was worth every minute of the few hours spent slogging in the kitchen,

Long live our exotic local delicacies!!!

Bibliography

Poush Sankranti - Poush sankranti or Makar sankranti is a nationwide celebration to usher in the winter harvest. It also marks the Sun's passage from Capricorn to Aquarius and is a very auspicious day in the Hindu calendar.

Kortree - First Lady of the Joint Family who reigns over the inner domains of the home

Patishapta - A sweet dish. Pan Cakes made of Rice flour+all-purpose flour with a filling made of coconut and jaggery

Me, Maid and Madness!

Busy, crazy, hectic, stressful. Some adjectives describing my life and yours!

Domestic chores; surviving unruly traffic on potholed roads; deadlines, grumpy bosses & difficult subordinates in office; scouting for good school for kid and her admission tensions, participating in her various games & activities, attending birthday parties; entertaining guests, socialising on weekends...Wooof!!! Multi-tasking is the name of the game!!!

Imagine you were granted a wish...something to get respite from this madness...What would you ask for? If in India, (as I am), it would surely be a LIVE-IN MAID!!!!! A much in demand 'commodity' in today's urban nuclear families who do not have the support system of the joint family our previous generations were so accustomed to.

Once you are fortunate enough to 'acquire' one, life would be a cake walk ...or so you would think....!

The other day my husband and I were discussing the day’s editorial on the current economic scenario- recession looming over our heads, leaving no industry unscathed. (These days, we wake up to stories of joblosses, paycuts, recruitment freezes splashed all across newspapers and media every single morning). My husband stated in his characteristic deadpan style that the maidservants were the ONLY recession-proof professionals in the current scenario!

Though it was a statement made on a humorous note, the words struck a chord and made me think….

I tried to analyse my maid's case. For convenience, let's call her M.

Working Hours :

For five days a week, M's working hours are five-six hours per day. Her employers (i.e WE!) are out of home at 9AM and back only after 7-30PM). On certain occasions when my husband / I have come home unannounced during the afternoons, we’ve found her either watching TV or sleeping. Sleeping so deeply that we’ve had to wait for five to ten minutes before she obliged us and opened the door…looked at us groggily in her sleepy daze and stated point blank that we hadn’t informed her that we would be coming home (in a slightly offended manner conveying her irritation at having her afternoon siesta disturbed). On one ocassion, I just couldn’t tolerate her insolent tone and subtly rebuked her that lest she’d forgotten, the home happened to be mine and I was free to come and go as I pleased!!!!!

Perks

Phone calls. To her mother, daughter, cousins, uncles spread out all over the country...M has informed her umpteen relatives to give her a 'missed call'. She has gleefully told them that she would call back!!! I wanted to scream and tell her ...lady, it's our hard-earned money that you're blowing away to maintain your social network!!!! My plight (refer to Para 1) was such that I could only mildly admonish and tell her to restrict her calls to a total value of Rs.50 a month. Well..as the next telephone bill told me, my admonishment had indeed fallen on deaf ears!! Upon reminding her, I was told with a non-chalant shrug that she has no control over emergencies.... Well well welll!!!!

Employee Health Benefit (beauty, nutrition): 'Health is weath' is M's motto in life! We discovered this over a period of time, accidentally!

My sister, during her visit, noticed her applying something on her face during afternoons and nights. I enquired and her reply left me speechless.

She had supposedly started developing pimples on her face ONLY after she joined my home. Prior to that her face was flawless..so now the onus lay on me to revive her lost glow! To be frank , I really dont remember having noticed her flawless complexion or lack of it, when she joined me a year back. So I had to give her the benefit of doubt!

So now she uses raw tomato juice in the afternoons and Haldi & malai paste at night...and in a self satisfied tone told me that she was benefitting from this treatment! For your information, the tomatoes, malai and haldi are all sponsored by me!!

I wonder why I hardly remember to use the cold cream at night regularly!!!! Shame on me...

Last week my husband volunteered to do the weekly vegetable shopping. And predictably forgot some regular items. One of them being lemon. M expressed extreme dissatisfaction that 'Dada' hadnt got all the stuff. When I sternly informed her that I would get them during my next visit to the store and she HAD to make do with whatever was available, she proclaimed that she needed the lemons for her daily dose of 'neembu-paani' -a must to keep her blood pressure normal !! By then my blood pressure had soared and she got a taste of it instantly!!! Result - sulking and gloominess for the next 24 hours.

LTAs & Mandatory Offs : Her to and fro ticket fares to her village are obviously borne by me. And though her departure date normally coincides with ours, during our Puja vacation, though my husband had taken a leave of just 4 days and i had been off from work for 9 days, M HAD to take 20 days vacation. She wanted a month's leave. When I refused, she informed that she wouldnt and couldnt settle for less than 20 days as she had social and religious obligations to meet!!! Well duty could wait....if only we had that privilege!!!

***

Life, as is evident, hasnt become a cake-walk. Sometimes I wonder whether the comfort of having a live-in maid is worth the money and effort! Managing her various demands, mood-swings sometimes becomes a tad too much after a tired days work!

But juggling a multitude of domestic chores in addition to the office work, was taking a toll on my mood and stretching my ability to it maximum limit...so a live-in maid has become, not an option but, a necessity! So what's the guarantee that M's probable replacement would be any better than her? At least she's honest (apparently so), forgetful but responsible, cooks edible food and most importantly, is affectionate to my kid!

Do I even dare ask for more??

Bibliography:

Dada - A Bengali word which means elder brother

Haldi - A Hindi word which means Turmeric. It is an Indian spice as well as a natural antiseptic & skin conditioner

Malai - A Bengali/Hindi word which means Milk cream and is a natural skin moisturiser

Neembu-Paani - A Hindi term which means fresh lemonade

Trivia or Truth? A peek into our 'Education Industry'

In India there is a myth….which may also be interpreted as a joke. That when you conceive your baby, you register her/his name in the school or playschool of your choice to ensure admission a couple of years thereafter.

That it is a myth or a joke, was a misinformation.
It is neither... Well, at the most it is an exaggeration...but definitely not a myth neither a joke!

I realized this recently when my daughter completed three years and we started enquiring about schools. Browsing through the websites of various reputed school, another fact which hit me was that in some cities of our country (in my hometown of Kolkata, for example), she would have lost an academic year because she falls short of the ‘CUT OFF’ date for admission by 4 days!!!

Yes! Had she been born 4 days earlier she would have gained a year, at least academically!!

If only I knew, I would have asked the doctor to advance the Caesarian operation by four days ! Huh!!!! What a joke!

Yes, in our country that is what school admission procedure is all about.
Well to make matters worse, in some (read ALL METROS) cities, money is the solution to all hurdles of education. The more you ‘donate’ the better the school your child gets admission in. A Lakh or so for your three year old!!! Too expensive? Who cares.....

And of course I forgot the recommendation part….an MP, MLA, or for that matter any ‘angootha-chhap’ politician or someone with some clout in the society or government will make the admission process a cake walk.

The admission process begins in another day or two…commencing with the form distribution, followed by interview (of the parents and their two and a half to three year old unpredictable, temperamental kids!).

I am tensed and anxious! My husband is cool and unperturbed! And the person (albeit a miniature one but a person she sure is!) in question, whose academic future or non-future is to be determined in a month or so, is NOT EVEN AWARE that the first judgemental event of her life is about to happen.
I guess, amongst the three, the onus of worrying and anxiety falls on me…!!!!

Bibliography:

Angootha chhap-A Hindi terminology used colloquially to imply illiterate individuals who place thumb impressions on written documents in lieu of signatures

Terror on Television

There was so much angst, sorrow, disgust to express ….but I had no words.
Stunned, we watched the devastation unfold ‘live’. The sheer audacity, meticulous planning, the cold blooded killings of hundreds of people by young boys just out of their teens, left the whole nation and the world speechless with horror. Who were these people who had no qualms, no conscience and were daring enough to not even bother to hide behind masks we so associate with terrorists and gunmen?

What started as a ‘minor’ attack (or so we thought) took the shape of a bloody battle in the following two days. The common man on his way back home, the urban elite having an evening out, tourists and business travellers, the waiters and staff of cafes and hotels, brave men in uniform, a rabbi and his family from a faraway country….all apparently unconnected till the 26th of November ‘08. But a common destiny brought about their gory end for no fault of theirs.

I salute our men in uniform. Some of our most able, honest and senior officers laid down their lives combating terror. India needed these brave honest men to fight...not only terrorism, but also the rot infested system they were part of and yet had the guts and integrity to fight against, to safeguard the interests of the nation. The NSG , who fought a valiant battle against urban guerilla warfare, despite all odds.

But some questions asked by not only me but every angst-ridden Indian …why couldn’t the Government mobilize their services IMMEDIATELY instead of waiting for 10 hours and hundreds of deaths later? Why aren't our Police armed with sophisticated weapon instead of measly revolvers in these terror infested times?

One more question which has been bothering so many of us? Where is the ‘saviour’ of the ‘Marathi Maanus’? Why haven’t we heard even a single word from this gentleman who created havoc trying to safeguard the interest of 'his' state & its people and tried to divide the nation based on regionalism if not religion? Instead of wasting his force, energy, manpower and abundant political resources on non-issues, why could this gentlemen not fight the menace which has struck his city time and time again.

We are calling the war on Bombay as India’s 9/11. I find it an odd nomenclature. India has been unfortunate enough to be living with terror and terrorist attacks decades before 9/11 was even conceived. And what is more shameful is the fact that despite the ‘experience’, our power hungry politicians are still groping in the dark as to how to go about the process of eliminating these pseudo ‘warriors-with-a-cause’. Our esteemed politicians are perpetually busy, pointing fingers at one another, determining the religion of the terrorist, rather than realizing that these killers have no religion. I wonder how power poisons people to the extent that they also lose their conscience to act with basic honesty and integrity. Human lives cease to have value in the eyes of our politicians as serving their self interest is of highest priority. Can sheer greed for power and position do this to a section of people WE have chosen to represent us and lead us? Is the rot in our whole system so deeply ingrained?

True, terrorist attacks are not directly the result of corruption in politics. But the negligence, indifference, callousness, lack of synchronisation in the intelligence system have aided the strikes not once but every time...and every time they have been successful in their murderous intents, the failure of our system has become glaringly obvious.

Every time urban terror has struck India, there is an initial uproar, fervent superficial security measures, lot of talk and mudslinging between political parties and finally inaction. No steps are taken. No law is enacted. No concrete arrests are made. No kingpin terrorist is ever caught, put behind bars and hanged as he so rightly deserves. Public memory is short lived. Life continues. Other than those, whose lives are shattered by these episodes of mayhem and murder, life goes on for us others, with a nagging fear about the uncertainty of life …we are only armed with a prayer on our lips each time someone steps out of home…

But is this how it ought to be? Is this why we elect these people to their chairs?

Today India is anguished and outraged. But are we doing anything worthwhile or constructive? We, as an united entity, need to channelise this anger, fury and make our chosen leaders realize that they are in the position where the common on the streets cannot and will not be taken for granted. They are accountable for their actions and inaction to us. Just a perfunctory resignation, change of portfolio does not reassure us anymore. We want an end to this prolonged nightmare which has claimed lakhs of lives. We want a normal life. We want our children to step out of home, assured they’ll be back safe and sound. We want them to grow up in a world we can call beautiful, in a nation which is safe and secure with capable, honest leaders at the helm of affairs.

Are these too much to ask for???

Holiday Hangover...

First and foremost - Thank you all...for all the wonderful words of praise and encouragement that you've sent my way...

I had been away from blogsphere for almost a month....

A month which had started with the anticipation of Pujo vacation, followed by Pujo shopping. Then came the cleaning and washing spree - a must-do before the festive season sets in...so what if the festivities are not celebrated in this house itself? Moreover, I have this fetish of returning after vacation to a sparkling clean and tidy home..otherwise the already down-in-the-dumps post-holiday mood crashes into a state of severe misery and depression. My husband calls me "Baatik-grostho" which if translated into English would be something of a mild psychological disorder.

And finally came the week before the trip.

Last moment packing, last moment shopping, last minute office work, instructions to the maid...it was a week bustling with activities. To add to all the craziness, just three days before the journey, the cooking gas decided to get over at late evening 8:30pm. And what with the 21 days Gas booking cycle and all (as if the Gas Company has been authorised to ration the quantity of cooking I do at my home!!!!!), and as already mentioned in my last post, the microwave being stranded at the service centre, I was left with no fuel to cook!!!! I was just short of having a nervous breakdown when my husband walked into the house after office and was quite unperturbed upon hearing the calamity that had befallen us!! And that made me even more mad, if that's possible! Well not only was he least bothered, his very patronising suggestion of "we can always eat out the next few days" had me boiling mad! I left the house hyperventilating (I always do when I'm tensed and without a clue as to what is to be done).

Suddenly I had a brain-wave, patted myself on my burst of commonsense, went to the nearest local market, asked around for a "Chhota Gas" and finally said yippee when I could locate the right store. There stood only one set of locally made, crude mini-gas cylinder with a burner fitted to the top. To me it was the most precious and coveted object at that moment! Very unsafe, but in circumstances like I was, it was like a God-sent! Lucky me...had I been two minutes late in reaching the shop, I would have missed it. Another sullen faced man frantically entered the makeshift shop in search of a similar "Chhota Gas" just as I was making the payment and expressing my doubts over its safety! The sullen-faced-prospective-buyer must have been in the position of my husband...bombarded by the wife to take some proactive disaster management measures and was decent enough to actually make an attempt to do so ... in glaring contrast to my husband, who had found the situation and especially my condition, quite amusing. Well.. though I brought the "Chhota Gas" home with a lot of fanfare, I couldn’t rest in peace till I somehow got the Gas Boy to deliver a full cylinder before I left for vacation. Well ...at a price though!! This was one occasion when I had no option but to indulge in bribery!!

I wonder when basic amenities like cooking fuel will become a matter of right for any ordinary citizen instead of us having to resort to bribery or the black market!

Thereafter, reached Kolkata for the much awaited vacation without any further excitement or untoward events.

As usual, Pujo vacations are never long enough. So ten days passed in a jiffy. Short, enjoyable, hectic..with Momo's (my daughter) double birthday celebrations, Pujo rituals, Pandal hopping, Belur Math trip, meeting family, Bijoya Dashami lunch & dinner parties, Lakshmi Pujo, the vacation was chock-a-block with activities. There wasn’t a moment to sit, relax and let the holiday mood to seep in...Pujo vacations are nothing but a mad mad sea of hundreds of activities that just have to be packed in during the five days.

Durga Puja, I feel, is not only about religious fervour. It is a blend of art, creativity, skill and a celebration of our life in general! By art and creativity, one has to see to believe the awe-inspiring craftsmanship and skill that go into making the Pandals which are just temporary structures dismantled after five days of the Puja. It's a shame that they have to be dismantled. We should have a museum to preserve these masterpieces by the unsung master craftsmen. What is more fascinating is the conceptualization of the themes for the Pandals which are both topical as well as innovative.

For example, one of the Pandals I had visited was based on Global Warming and the entire material, colours etc were environment friendly.

Another Pandal was a prototype of Tata’s much-maligned Nano factory at Singur. This pandal, which looked like a factory from the outside was tied with a chain and a lock to symbolise West Bengal’s industrial doomsday. Wish circumstances were different and Bengal had had the opportunity of celebrating the launch of Nano from its backyard......

The variety, the beauty and the grandeur of the clay idols of the Goddess and her entourage leaves one speechless. They too are immersed, as is the custom, at the end the the Puja. If one happens to pass by the Ganges the day after Dashami, one finds thousands of remnants of the grandeur ... the carcasses littering the water and adding to the already over-polluted river.

As I said, THE PUJA is a time for celebration ...not necessarily and exclusively religious It is a social potpourri where the whole community and society, irrespective of religion, caste, creed get caught up in a festive gaiety so unique to this particular festival. I am not exaggerating when I say irrespective of religion - I have seen Muslim families in Kolkata dressing up, renting cars and going from Pandal to Pandal, enjoying the lighting, decorations, and in general getting immersed in the celebrations. That is what I feel is unique and the very essence of any celebration…where no one ought to be left out! Happiness should not be ethnicity/religion specific….it should be all-encompassing!

Lastly as I end this piece, I can't help but write about a section of the society we love to hate but without whose tremendous support, the non-stop travelling within the city, commuting between my two homes (parents and parents-in-law) in two corners of the city would have been nothing short of a series of nightmares. THE KOLKATA TRAFFIC POLICE!!!

I was amazed and very very pleasantly surprised to see their super-efficient handling of the enormous bulk of traffic. Fantastic manning of the roads, supported by widely publicized road maps leading to the Pujas, aided by SMS helpline resulted in smooth flow of vehicles. The whole scenario could have and would have turned nasty if this daunting task had not been handled deftly…Kudos to the Kolkata Police…

We're back in our Hyderabad home with suitcases bursting with gifts of new clothes and various goodies. Life has gone back to normal. Office, home, cooking, …the list is monotonous and common! The holiday hangover is gradually receding to the background and the orderliness of day-to-day life is coming to the forefront. Ordeliness is boring and commonplace...but that's reality, I guess!!!

Looking forward to next week’s festival of light …DIWALI!

HAPPY DIWALI TO ALL

Bibliography :

Baatik-grostho-A Bengali terminology referring to a habit bordering on obsession/fetish for a particular characteristic/way of life;

Chhota-Small/mini;

Durga Puja-The most important festival in the Bengali calender celebrated during September/October;

Pandal-A structure made of bamboo, plaster-of-Paris, canvas and various other material meant for housing the Idol of any Hindu deity;

Pandal-hopping-Pandal visiting spree to have a look at the decor and the Idols;

Belur Math- Headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda. Situated about 15kms from Kolkata on the banks of the River Hugli;

Bijoya Dashami-The fifth day of Durga Puja, after immersion of the Goddess, friends and family meet, exchange greetings and offer sweets to one another;

Diwali-A major Hindu festival celebrated all over India. Fireworks, Lighting of oil-lamps, candles and worshipping the Goddess Lakshmi /Goddess Kali are significant aspects of this festival