Friday, December 25, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
- Hope is one of my biggest delusions
- Some things aren't just meant to be and I have to learn to leave them at that
- Not hope against hope that things will turn out to be for the better, for they never do
- I will always remain misunderstood
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Musings
Stuck in traffic today I started to muse at how
‘Thoughts are like runaway horses’, someone had rightly said. Having long accepted that I usually give myself up to a train of thoughts which have often surprised me at how much of finer details I can remember about many experiences. So today my train of thoughts led me to think about my last trip to
Those days, Im talking about the early 90’s when the Indian Economy had just begun its laborious process of opening up, people in Burdwan hadn’t quite heard of a Mercedes and literally gawked at the car. I wonder today what would be their reaction if they saw a spanking new BMW let alone a Mercedes, along with the whole plethora of auto companies which have flooded the market. Has it still remained that quaint little town which I had left 11 years ago? On impulse I Googled it, and to my utter surprise I found that modernization has indeed made its way to Burdwan which now even vaunts of an IT park. But like
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Bedlam
Slowly Im beginning to miss the comfort of the pseudo numbness and one thing that I know for sure is that, it is going to take quite some time before I get back to that comfort zone. By the time that happens I hope Im not hurting more than I already am.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Mumbai
We have often talked about the resilient spirit of India in her various cities. It was Hyderabad, Jaipur,Bangalore, Delhi, Assam and now its Mumbai all over again. Its only now that Im starting to see the seething anger that the citizens of Mumbai are feeling, questioning how many times more have we to show resilience; why is it that we have to show resilience; why cant we feel safe in our own country? I am hearing people talking about bringing in the Army rule to declaring Emergency but what remains to be seen is that how far we, as Indians, can carry forward this anger. Only time will tell if this horrific incident becomes one of the many which have been forgotten or will we be able to live up to our promise to Mumbaikars in saying that we will not forget this and not let it pass into forgotten history.
While I try to write this I cant help but mull over the ironic fate of Mumbai. From the title of Sreenivasan Jain's ongoing program which says 'Heroes & Villains' to the very fact that it was the Bihar Regiment which saved Mumbai, just weeks after Biharis were unceremoniously walloped out of Mumbai. There are people questioning the whereabouts of Raj Thackeray. There were reports that he had the audacity to try and attend Karkare's funeral where he was categorically asked to leave, though many say that he should have been booted out there are others who say that he should have been lynched. I have received numerous smses all day asking, "where is Raj Thackeray and his 'brave' Sena? It was the NSG comprising of North & South Indians, not a single Maharashtrian which saved Mumbai" and requesting the receiver to forward this sms to as many people possible so that finally it reaches the 'coward bully'. This was one chain sms which I certainly didn't mind forwarding but personally I feel that much more is needed than a few smses to tell him what a nuisance and shame he is to our country.
It is heart-rending to see relatives arrive full of hope at the information centres and subsequently leaving shattered, hearing the inevitable which was brought about so cruelly. Amongst all this angst we had not one word of support from our politicians, oh yes, our Honorable PM looked like a wax doll and his words which were meant to soothe were irritating. The head of the defence forces, our President is blissfully mum and more conveniently out of the picture.
These are the few issues which have come to the forefront due to this incident and the more I dwell on them the angrier I get. I just hope that as we are now saying that India stands with Mumbai, we should not forget and forgive to ensure that these incidents never repeat.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Kolkata
Its been more than a week since I got back from Kolkata and everytime I tried explaining what I felt during that time I found myself at a complete loss for words. It was certainly a trip down memory lane for me but never did I expect the present to resemble so closely to the past. Kolkata hasn't changed a bit in the last 6 years. Yes, there have been attempts of modernization in the form of scattered high-rises to mushrooming malls yet nothing has changed.
Its now been a month and everytime I try to finish this post I still find myself at a loss to describe the trip which Im glad I took but also glad that Im back to Hyderabad. I guess this is something too personal to be described and I will leave it at that.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
City Of Joy

Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Sands Of Time
There is a certain inevitability to certain things, and so was the decadence. The only whisper that I hear are the words which were so often spoken to each other:
"If you're cold I'll keep you warm
If you're low just hold on
Cause I will be your safety."
You chose to move on and now so do I.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
We The People: Scarlett Keeling
Of all the episodes of 'We The People' that I have watched, this particular special edition based on the murder of Scarlett Keeling, with due apologies was the most irritating. Barkha Dutt is no doubt a good journalist who has managed to change the face of journalism in India where she brought the war scenarios of not only Kashmir but also Afghanistan to Indian homes. I still remember one Kargil War documentary of hers on Capt. Vikram Batra who was killed in action just days after being interviewed and that programme shook the whole nation but today her programme makes the right noises about the burning issues disturbing our country but it stays at that, just making noises and nothing else. Understood that there are time constraints but why aren't the people allowed to finish their statements, allegations and questions? But apart from that the most annoying factor about today was the complete change of course of the discussion. It started off as a discussion or rather a debate about the Scarlett Keeling murder and then suddenly moved on to a debate between the outsiders and insiders in Goa.
Outsider and insiders??? What exactly is wrong with us? What is wrong with us not only as individuals but also as citizens of a country which has all this while taken pride in calling herself secular? I ask, where has all this secularism gone?
It has definitely vanished in Mumbai or rather Maharashtra per se, where innocent migrant labourers were ousted from the state for not belonging to that state and surprisingly many film stars have also signed a letter supporting this act not realising that the set and technical work of their films are done mostly by these very people who are termed outsiders in their very own country. India is a country which has been a melting pot of different cultures and religions, we prided ourselves with being the most tolerant country but where has all that gone? We are now terming our own countrymen as outsiders in different states. Is this what you call tolerance? How can I be an outsider in my own country? I am born and brought up in Hyderabad inspite of being a Bengali; so does that mean I am an outsider in Andhra Pradesh which I have called home for the last 18 years of my life. If this is the level of tolerance with our own countrymen then how can we say that our country is tolerant towards outsiders?
The Scarlett Keeling murder was a shocker for most of us. A rape and murder of a 15 year old girl has exposed the long hidden but omnipresent underbelly of Goa which hides drugs, sex and rave parties in its shrouds. There are many ways of looking at this situation, but what comes to my mind right now based on my own experiences, not in Goa but in other parts of the country with foreigners forming the majority of tourists is nothing but the mixing of two cultures which has given rise to a confused sub-culture. In India sex has always been a taboo and its only now that it is being talked about in the open but not openly, and more often than not we as Indians are asked to nurture a subtle sexuality which has lead to frustration in many sects of the society. Today when this frustration has found a tiny opening it has burst out of its fortress. Its not only foreigners who are being targeted but we Indians also bear the brunt of this burst of sexuality. I remember my trip to Rajasthan where I noticed the men openly staring at the foreigners just because they were dressed in shorts and short tops. Those men just couldn't stop leering and ogling at them, just because of the way they were dressed. As far as sexuality goes the western world has always been quite open about it and don't have any qualms flaunting multiple partners, but this is not the case in India and this has sadly led to a situation where we look at foreigners as amorous and promiscuous people. Yes, there have been cases where some Russian girl forced herself on a Goan but that doesn't mean we generalise foreigners as amorous. There are conservative families even among them. Why is it that most often than not women are looked down upon as mere sex objects meant to give pleasure and then discarded once the fascination is over? Was Scarlett's rape and murder due to this attitude towards foreigners or the general attitude towards women of any race? Only time will tell.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Farewell Time
Yesterday was my last day as a student attending college, not only was it the last day in college but also my last day as a student. No more late submissions, worries about pending practical records or for that matter low attendance, but thinking back they had their own charm. Its surprising how vividly I recalled my first day in college and contrasted it with the changes that have taken place within me. There have been many eye-openers, by-gones and yes, letting go. Its been quite sometime I stopped worrying about exams, marks and its likes; certainly not to the extent of showing nonchalance about them but now I do realise they are not the end of the world.
For 3 years I struggled through the gruelling (well almost) schedules, complained no end yet at the end of everything I get nostalgic the moment I think about the days gone by. More than the place I will miss the times spent there. The times we spent snickering at some silly comment, giving proxies, bunking classes and hanging out in the canteen, giggling with impunity in the library, sitting in the last bench and stuffing our faces with food during a class, trying our level best to stay awake during the most boring classes or even giggling at a grammatical mistake made by the lecturers. I will miss the times when we created a ruckus in the basket ball court (our favourite haunt), or screamed our lungs out at the sight of a lizard (on the contrary I guess the poor creature was terrified hearing 46 girls screaming) and even those times when we ran from the Princi for not being in the proper dress code! The way we ducked under the tables at the mention of a seminar or showed complete non cooperative behaviour at the mere mention of a test, even the times when we bombed an apparatus in the Chemistry Lab. never fail to make me smile.
There are so many memories like this over which even now we laugh and Im sure even if we all get together after years at an alumni meet the charm of college days will never wear away.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Times Gone By

Lessons aside, I have made great friends, who have managed to chip the wall which the cynic inside me had build up as a shield against the world and shown me that certainly all hope is not lost for humanity. Looking around the building for one of the final times I realised that every nook and corner held a special memory. They held memories of the times we laughed at some silly joke, passed a comment or simply laughed because we wanted to. They held memories of confiding in each other, of trust being broken, of forging new friendships and most of all finding out what we really wanted from life.
In a week's time I bid adieu to the building which has given me a sense of belonging and peace in its antiquity and also my class consisting of people I have now come to appreciate after 3 long years. Contrary to what I thought there is an element of sadness in my heart to leave behind a sanctuary of 3 years, to leave those nooks and corners which I often haunted when I just wanted to withdraw myself from the world and wanted time for myself. There is feeling of nostalgia when I look around myself and absorb the way these 3 years have made me evolve into a person that I am.
Gone are times when we stood in the Chemistry lab trying to figure out what went wrong with the experiment, staring in absolute shock at the remnants of the bombed test tube in hand and the giggling faces around. Sorely missed are those times in the Physics lab when we combined readings and experiments, to get the records certified as our only aim. Remembered are those times when we imitated the lecturers under their nose, got caught yet behaved with impunity. It was obvious that at that moment we were scolded, but now as the last day draws closer, those days are remembered in the true colours of their humour by both students and lecturers. We face the last class in each subject with excitement of never having the to bear the torture of sitting through the examination of each paper; but at the same time there is also an inkling of sadness as the comfort of returning to those classes after exams is not there nor will there be anymore exchange of notes, mischievous glances, sarcastic retorts and the eternal scoldings. Nostalgia sets in when we remember the times we spent hanging out of the buses due to the crowd and still laughed at how we all had managed to adapt to our ever changing environment in college.
Even though 3 years have passed by it still feels like it was just yesterday I had walked into college for the first time, looked at my classmates and thought that the 3 years would feel like eternity. But doesn't it always feel like that when you are going through it? Only after the time has gone by do you wonder at the lightening speed of time.
I can never put down in words describing the time I spent in college, cause they are as diverse as they could be. But this is cheering college life for giving me what I needed in a mixture of the good, bad and the ugly!!!
Friday, February 01, 2008
Eve Teasing
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Lessons Learnt
Many a times I have heard this and oft repeated it to myself, reiterated the lessons learnt in life and today has been no different but for the fact that it gave me more than I expected to learn.
Patience, yes patience is the key to solving every problem.Never, I mean never take people on their face value.It certainly takes a lot of patience and perseverance to maintain your poise in times of trouble.It takes cool logic and cold practicality to unnerve the other person.
This was my way of showing those people who took me for granted that I can hold my ground even while I feel your cold eyes piercing through my existence and that I certainly do not, I repeat do not believe in taking the easy way out of situations and life per se.
There are many lessons to be learnt and I await them will all the eagerness that I can summon.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The End:Part 2
Truly the ironies of life never cease.
There are three full circles that we have come. I wait patiently for the others.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Freedom
Antarctica. A sheer white blanket enveloping the surroundings, stripping down all illusion with the dazzling sunlight and chill, to bring you down on your knees to admit the ferocity of Nature. I wish to be there, to be able to look towards a blinding horizon, feel the biting cold and the much needed silence around me. To be able to admire the beauty of Nature in monotone. A colour which is synonymous with my name. To admire the chaste beauty and the splendour without any jarring or meltdown of colours, just conformity yet a different spectacle everytime I turn.Feel the freedom of standing atop an iceberg and imagine myself soaring through the skies, without boundaries, limitations or shackles of an ephemeral life, into the inky black space and look back with a fondness of the times that have gone by. Feel the time stand still around me and yet see that it has sped away.
This is what I perceive as freedom, which does not mean freedom in terms of space or dimension but of the mind; by which I can travel to any place, any era, quench my thirst with all that I want. This is my freedom, which can be conquered by none.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Independence
If it existed in everything surrounding us including our own being then why the dependence on others, emotionally. As I believe that the universe is an extension of my thoughts, actions or rather my whole existence per se; then why do we need someone else to fill the void of this universe? Humans as we are, independence is another illusion that life shows.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Content
Im content finally with a secured future for both of us with the hope in our hearts to rise to heights which we have never dreamed of. This space might never be able to express what exactly I feel, but this time I guess my relaxed poise shows the way I have formed this post. All the same this is cheering life for all the ironies it has made me experience and also for the fact that it has given me the first step towards looking back on life in a few years to say, 'Yes, I had fallen but now look how high I have reached. This, my dear is life and life is a different history.'