I dream of making it big someday
I dream of flying high.
I hate when hindrances come my way
And my heart mouths out that poignant sigh.
I wish to reach a point from where all my problems seem so small
The place where from my dream seems so close
The place where it seems I have it all
A place where my aspirations would have no foes.
The path is not going to be easy or short,
I'll have to keep holding on.
For only then will I be able to proudly say "I fought"
For only then will I get the chance to say "I won"
I'll climb every mountain, I'll swim every sea,
I won't give up mid-way
I'll do everything that is required of me
So that "My dream is fulfilled" I'll say.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
A walk along the ocean
I walked past the rolling ocean, looking at the waves crashing,
The azure breeze,the fresh smell and the beauty of nature.
We were both here a year ago, sitting side by side
Oblivious to the rest of the world, lost in each others eyes.
We laughed and joked about random things in life
How the day was! What a pleasant time! Just you and I
The next morning I found you were not by my side
I walked around everywhere but simply could'nt find you.
As I reached the shore, the ocean waves brought you to me
In your hands were wild flowers you had got especially for me.
My world came crashing down on me. Why did he love me so?
He had drowned just to get those flowers for me, but it was him who I had loved more
As I open my diary now, I see those lovely flowers I had in it saved
I touch them with my hands and wish, you had'nt left me alone this way.
The azure breeze,the fresh smell and the beauty of nature.
We were both here a year ago, sitting side by side
Oblivious to the rest of the world, lost in each others eyes.
We laughed and joked about random things in life
How the day was! What a pleasant time! Just you and I
The next morning I found you were not by my side
I walked around everywhere but simply could'nt find you.
As I reached the shore, the ocean waves brought you to me
In your hands were wild flowers you had got especially for me.
My world came crashing down on me. Why did he love me so?
He had drowned just to get those flowers for me, but it was him who I had loved more
As I open my diary now, I see those lovely flowers I had in it saved
I touch them with my hands and wish, you had'nt left me alone this way.
Ode to a lost smile
Remember that time when you were stuck on your way,
Remember the time when you thought you saw your darkest day.
Didn't I come around and tell you things will be better and soon
Life has sent you enough curses, now it'll send you a boon.
See how my predictions became real,
The bright skies did end your ordeal.
I knew, I saw how hard you worked to get where you are,
I had seen you cry when the sweet success turned sour.
When you looked at me, I saw the dejection in those eyes so deep,
I promised you your smile and I don't make promises I can't keep.
I prayed and hard so you get could past the debacles,
I prayed so that you experience those unreal miracles.
And today when I see you smiling again
I realise my prayers haven't gone in vain
Remember the time when you thought you saw your darkest day.
Didn't I come around and tell you things will be better and soon
Life has sent you enough curses, now it'll send you a boon.
See how my predictions became real,
The bright skies did end your ordeal.
I knew, I saw how hard you worked to get where you are,
I had seen you cry when the sweet success turned sour.
When you looked at me, I saw the dejection in those eyes so deep,
I promised you your smile and I don't make promises I can't keep.
I prayed and hard so you get could past the debacles,
I prayed so that you experience those unreal miracles.
And today when I see you smiling again
I realise my prayers haven't gone in vain
Monday, February 9, 2009
Slapping Womanhood
It has been a long and a struggle for us, women, to reach where we have reached today. In times of woman empowerment it is indeed sad and shameful to see some amoral, religiously biased political group of goons physically assault women, that to in public domain. The recent mayhem in Mangalore showed the face of woman exploitation at its very worst.
Shri Ram Sena, a self-proclaimed morality preaching, political group, based in Karnataka, physically abused a group of youngsters, mainly women, who were enjoying themselves at a local lounge bar. The incident took place at the evening of the eve of the 26th of January which marks the celebration of 60 years of the Indian Republic. It all unravelled when the Ram Sainiks broke into the lounge bar ‘Amnesia’ and attacked the youngsters; their crime: stepping out of the ‘doctrine of Morality’.
The full sham was caught on camera. At the eve of Republic Day it was a shocker to see hoe some corrupted politicians misuse the power we have entrusted upon them. Those poor girls at the lounge bar were attacked with a volley of tight slaps and painful hair-pulling. The sights at the venue left us cringing and thinking ‘Are we safe?’
This incident left the woman activist groups enraged and seeking answers as to who gave these people the right to outrage a woman’s modesty in public. “We will not tolerate this. If they have the right to police women this way...I have an even greater right to police them” said an agitated Minister Of Woman & Child Health, Mrs Renuka Chowdhury. A lot of television news channels termed this incident as ‘talibanisation’. When confronted about it, the founder of Shri Ram Sena ,Pramod Muthalik, frankly dismissed any eventuality of an apology. According to him, it was a noble cause of spreading morality but it was carried on in a wrong manner. This gentleman even went on to term this as a minor issue which was enlarged by the media. It seems to these people that we are blind.
So where do women go from here? Even a bagatelle of a move out of so-called evangel of morality will have us brutally beaten up in public! The percepts of political moral policing are getting unfair by the day. We talk of Talibanisation of Pakistan and just how ridiculous it is; but i guess it is high time we look into our own homeland where something quite similar to Talibanisation is growing and growing fast.
Woman Developement is a chaplet for India. This kind of exploitation not only insults womanhood but also subjects India to shame and hinders its path towards development. It is high time that we do away with these kinds of incidents for we want our country to be a better and a safer place where everyone lives in harmony and no one feels the need for any kind of brutality.
Shri Ram Sena, a self-proclaimed morality preaching, political group, based in Karnataka, physically abused a group of youngsters, mainly women, who were enjoying themselves at a local lounge bar. The incident took place at the evening of the eve of the 26th of January which marks the celebration of 60 years of the Indian Republic. It all unravelled when the Ram Sainiks broke into the lounge bar ‘Amnesia’ and attacked the youngsters; their crime: stepping out of the ‘doctrine of Morality’.
The full sham was caught on camera. At the eve of Republic Day it was a shocker to see hoe some corrupted politicians misuse the power we have entrusted upon them. Those poor girls at the lounge bar were attacked with a volley of tight slaps and painful hair-pulling. The sights at the venue left us cringing and thinking ‘Are we safe?’
This incident left the woman activist groups enraged and seeking answers as to who gave these people the right to outrage a woman’s modesty in public. “We will not tolerate this. If they have the right to police women this way...I have an even greater right to police them” said an agitated Minister Of Woman & Child Health, Mrs Renuka Chowdhury. A lot of television news channels termed this incident as ‘talibanisation’. When confronted about it, the founder of Shri Ram Sena ,Pramod Muthalik, frankly dismissed any eventuality of an apology. According to him, it was a noble cause of spreading morality but it was carried on in a wrong manner. This gentleman even went on to term this as a minor issue which was enlarged by the media. It seems to these people that we are blind.
So where do women go from here? Even a bagatelle of a move out of so-called evangel of morality will have us brutally beaten up in public! The percepts of political moral policing are getting unfair by the day. We talk of Talibanisation of Pakistan and just how ridiculous it is; but i guess it is high time we look into our own homeland where something quite similar to Talibanisation is growing and growing fast.
Woman Developement is a chaplet for India. This kind of exploitation not only insults womanhood but also subjects India to shame and hinders its path towards development. It is high time that we do away with these kinds of incidents for we want our country to be a better and a safer place where everyone lives in harmony and no one feels the need for any kind of brutality.
Love's labour lost
It was a love affair everyone was talking about; It had all the ingredients perfect for a best-selling romantic novel. It was a story where the man and the woman left the world just to be with each other. Sounds like a fairy- tale, doesn’t it? Well it was, until the male protagonist decided to play the phantom and to break the well-known concept of ‘Happily ever after’.
When former Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Chandramohan Bishnoi, decided to get married to Attorney General of the same state Ms Anuradha Bali, it raised quite a few eyebrows. Not only was Chandramohan married, he also decided to convert to Islam along with his lady love, divorcee Anuradha, so that there were no legal hindrances to their marriage. Before a wink of the eye, Chandramohan was Chand Mohammad and Anuradha Bali was Fiza. The couple then got married only to be disowned by their families. The two were then dismissed from their high profile jobs but that only made their love go stronger. The very next day after their dismissal, Chand called the press and confessed his love for Fiza in full public view. It seemed that there was nothing in this world that could break them apart.
All was hunky-dory until, towards the end of January, Chand decided to hide behind the clouds. He had mysteriously disappeared. Fiza was inconsolable. She called the press and openly accused Chand’s brother Kuldeep Bishnoi of kidnapping her beloved. “He is a terrible man. That day he came with his son and took my husband away in a car” said Fiza clearly pointing her finger towards Kuldeep Bishnoi. Bishnoi denied all the allegations saying that they were baseless and that he had not spoken to his brother ever since he turned to Islam. To add to the chaos, Fiza attempted suicide and, yes, that too after she had called the press, after all it’s not every day that one attempts to suicide for their beloved. But, as the saying goes: strange are the ways of love, Chand soon resurfaced only to claim that he was still in love with his first wife. He also blatantly said that Fiza was creating an unwanted commotion even after knowing where he had gone. Soon all news channels flashed the breaking news: “Chand Mohammad says he still loves his first wife Seema.” It seemed Chand had clearly taken too much into spreading the ‘love’ around. He wanted the best of both the worlds.
Betrayal was not what Fiza had expected. She yet again showed her fondness towards publicity and called a press conference to slam Chand. She was not going to take this lying down. Fiza read all the text messages that Chand had sent to her practically begging for her hand in marriage. She went on record to say how he had exploited her mentally and physically and also hinted at the fact that he was under pressure to give statements of his love for Seema. “He has not only made fun of me but whole of the woman community and has played with religious sentiments. He is a wretched Python that engulfs innocent women. I will fight for justice and will take legal action against that man” threatened Fiza, the same woman who claimed that she would not hesitate to completely change herself for the man in her life, Chand. Through her actions Fiza explained how much she was in love with publicity; and even at the time of her loss she called the press for she wanted to give them an excuse to flaunt her on the news channels. Well all the publicity of the twisted love saga paid off. IPC, an Indo-Canadian production house wanted to turn this real life political drama into a film. Besides 25 Crore rupees, Fiza was also offered the lead part in the movie. Sources revealed Fiza was actively considering the offer.
From all the happenings one could easily make out that the iconic Chand Fiza love affair was now headed towards Splitsville. While on one hand Fiza was more interested in spending time calling the press instead of herself going on a hunt for Chand; Chand was definitely not in the mood to come out of his absconding mood. It will be interesting to see just how many more times Fiza will invite the press and for how long Chand would like to play the phantom. Like a Bollywood flick after stances of love, betrayal, drama, accusations, politics and revenge we would surely like to see, if not a happy, but an interesting end to it. May the best lover win!
When former Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Chandramohan Bishnoi, decided to get married to Attorney General of the same state Ms Anuradha Bali, it raised quite a few eyebrows. Not only was Chandramohan married, he also decided to convert to Islam along with his lady love, divorcee Anuradha, so that there were no legal hindrances to their marriage. Before a wink of the eye, Chandramohan was Chand Mohammad and Anuradha Bali was Fiza. The couple then got married only to be disowned by their families. The two were then dismissed from their high profile jobs but that only made their love go stronger. The very next day after their dismissal, Chand called the press and confessed his love for Fiza in full public view. It seemed that there was nothing in this world that could break them apart.
All was hunky-dory until, towards the end of January, Chand decided to hide behind the clouds. He had mysteriously disappeared. Fiza was inconsolable. She called the press and openly accused Chand’s brother Kuldeep Bishnoi of kidnapping her beloved. “He is a terrible man. That day he came with his son and took my husband away in a car” said Fiza clearly pointing her finger towards Kuldeep Bishnoi. Bishnoi denied all the allegations saying that they were baseless and that he had not spoken to his brother ever since he turned to Islam. To add to the chaos, Fiza attempted suicide and, yes, that too after she had called the press, after all it’s not every day that one attempts to suicide for their beloved. But, as the saying goes: strange are the ways of love, Chand soon resurfaced only to claim that he was still in love with his first wife. He also blatantly said that Fiza was creating an unwanted commotion even after knowing where he had gone. Soon all news channels flashed the breaking news: “Chand Mohammad says he still loves his first wife Seema.” It seemed Chand had clearly taken too much into spreading the ‘love’ around. He wanted the best of both the worlds.
Betrayal was not what Fiza had expected. She yet again showed her fondness towards publicity and called a press conference to slam Chand. She was not going to take this lying down. Fiza read all the text messages that Chand had sent to her practically begging for her hand in marriage. She went on record to say how he had exploited her mentally and physically and also hinted at the fact that he was under pressure to give statements of his love for Seema. “He has not only made fun of me but whole of the woman community and has played with religious sentiments. He is a wretched Python that engulfs innocent women. I will fight for justice and will take legal action against that man” threatened Fiza, the same woman who claimed that she would not hesitate to completely change herself for the man in her life, Chand. Through her actions Fiza explained how much she was in love with publicity; and even at the time of her loss she called the press for she wanted to give them an excuse to flaunt her on the news channels. Well all the publicity of the twisted love saga paid off. IPC, an Indo-Canadian production house wanted to turn this real life political drama into a film. Besides 25 Crore rupees, Fiza was also offered the lead part in the movie. Sources revealed Fiza was actively considering the offer.
From all the happenings one could easily make out that the iconic Chand Fiza love affair was now headed towards Splitsville. While on one hand Fiza was more interested in spending time calling the press instead of herself going on a hunt for Chand; Chand was definitely not in the mood to come out of his absconding mood. It will be interesting to see just how many more times Fiza will invite the press and for how long Chand would like to play the phantom. Like a Bollywood flick after stances of love, betrayal, drama, accusations, politics and revenge we would surely like to see, if not a happy, but an interesting end to it. May the best lover win!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The Ethos of Bengal
-A tribute to Bengali Food
The average Bengali who might not even have heard of Irishman George Bernard Shaw, however, seems to live by Shaw’s quote “There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” While most Bengalis like to argue on random facts of life, I am sure no Bengali will argue with me when I say “Bengalis do not eat to live; but live to eat.”
Be it the occasion of a marriage or the auspicious Durga Puja or even the unobtrusive occasion of a new car; we Bengali’s do not actually need an excuse for a good grub. Even as i write i am sure there are at least 100 or more feasts going on in and around Kolkata, and i am honestly not exaggerating. The British custom of ‘get together’ has been strikingly redefined in Bengal. While it used to be a formal gathering for the upper class, it has now turned into an event where on being invited our only incentive to attend it is the Menu.
Be it the majestic Chingri Macher Malai Curry or the humble Panchmeshali Chochchori, Bengalis sure know how to relish even the most minute crumb of their dishes. A recent survey showed that a majority of Indian food connoisseurs have their roots in Bengal. If you were to take a trip around the city of joy, you will be amazed at the variety of food that the streets have to offer; Punjabi, Mouglai , Chinese, South Indian you name it. The continental food of Park Street requires a special mention, for the eateries there date back to more than 150 years. That’s not all, Park Street also is the place to be at the time of the year-end festivities. Even the indigenous breed of ‘Indian Chinese’ was invented right here on the very soil of my city, Kolkata.
When you talk about the ‘BANGALIR BHURIBHOJ’ how can you forget the mention of fish? Bengal is undoubtedly the ’FISH CAPITAL’ of India. To Bengalis fish is not merely a food item, but the symbol of the intellectual and cultural Bengali. The fish delicacies of Bengal are just as famous around the globe as the Parisian platter. Mach bhaja, Macher jhol, Macher chop; the very inclusion of the word ‘mach’ makes it a necessity to us Bengalis.
Bengalis are mostly non-vegetarians. Even mutton has its share of popularity when it comes to the Bengali platter. Rich mutton dishes are something that symbolise the social stature of a Bangali babu. While speaking of non-vegetarian food i cannot deny the poultry for its genourous contribution in the Bangalir Bhuribhoj.
We Bengalis might be the epitome of unhealthy diet but the ground reality is that we just cannot miss out on the pleasures of the delectable Bengali cuisine just for the sake of our health. It may sound appalling but when it comes to food, it is not just important to us but it is and will always remain our very reason to live.
The average Bengali who might not even have heard of Irishman George Bernard Shaw, however, seems to live by Shaw’s quote “There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” While most Bengalis like to argue on random facts of life, I am sure no Bengali will argue with me when I say “Bengalis do not eat to live; but live to eat.”
Be it the occasion of a marriage or the auspicious Durga Puja or even the unobtrusive occasion of a new car; we Bengali’s do not actually need an excuse for a good grub. Even as i write i am sure there are at least 100 or more feasts going on in and around Kolkata, and i am honestly not exaggerating. The British custom of ‘get together’ has been strikingly redefined in Bengal. While it used to be a formal gathering for the upper class, it has now turned into an event where on being invited our only incentive to attend it is the Menu.
Be it the majestic Chingri Macher Malai Curry or the humble Panchmeshali Chochchori, Bengalis sure know how to relish even the most minute crumb of their dishes. A recent survey showed that a majority of Indian food connoisseurs have their roots in Bengal. If you were to take a trip around the city of joy, you will be amazed at the variety of food that the streets have to offer; Punjabi, Mouglai , Chinese, South Indian you name it. The continental food of Park Street requires a special mention, for the eateries there date back to more than 150 years. That’s not all, Park Street also is the place to be at the time of the year-end festivities. Even the indigenous breed of ‘Indian Chinese’ was invented right here on the very soil of my city, Kolkata.
When you talk about the ‘BANGALIR BHURIBHOJ’ how can you forget the mention of fish? Bengal is undoubtedly the ’FISH CAPITAL’ of India. To Bengalis fish is not merely a food item, but the symbol of the intellectual and cultural Bengali. The fish delicacies of Bengal are just as famous around the globe as the Parisian platter. Mach bhaja, Macher jhol, Macher chop; the very inclusion of the word ‘mach’ makes it a necessity to us Bengalis.
Bengalis are mostly non-vegetarians. Even mutton has its share of popularity when it comes to the Bengali platter. Rich mutton dishes are something that symbolise the social stature of a Bangali babu. While speaking of non-vegetarian food i cannot deny the poultry for its genourous contribution in the Bangalir Bhuribhoj.
We Bengalis might be the epitome of unhealthy diet but the ground reality is that we just cannot miss out on the pleasures of the delectable Bengali cuisine just for the sake of our health. It may sound appalling but when it comes to food, it is not just important to us but it is and will always remain our very reason to live.
From Sigur to singer
We have seen directors and actors doubling up as singers and vice –versa, but this time around it’s a rather unusual crossover from politics to singing; and well it’s our very own Mamata Banerjee who tried her luck at the art. We know Didi for all the wrong reasons, be it her hobby of calling Bandhs every now and then or her infamous stint at driving away, what could be termed as West Bengal’s industrial uprising- the Nano.
It now seems Didi is surely looking for an image change. When the famous reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, hosted one of its promotional tours in Kolkata, Didi showed up there. This time, surprisingly, it was not to protest but to show off her talent in singing. More than her singing spectators there were amazed at the fact that didi could do something constructive as well. While she sang ‘Ae mere vatan ke logo’ I could not help but think that it was the same voice that we hear in the microphone on a daily basis in Kolkata; but this time around it sounded much more pleasant and caused much less irritation than it usually does.
Though one cannot compare Ms Banerjee to any noteworthy singer, her attempt was not so bad either. It was amazing how this lady managed to have a pretty decent voice even after the continued assaults to her vocal chords by her own protest speeches. It was evident that didi needed help with her diction for the Bengali accent in the Hindi song was a little odd to the ears of a sane listener.
All said and done, Mamata Banerjee has got skill in something other than calling for bandhs. We recommend she nurtures this talent and devotes most of her time towards it for we would really like to see her voice her thoughts through melodious tunes rather than the unwanted Bandhs.
It now seems Didi is surely looking for an image change. When the famous reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, hosted one of its promotional tours in Kolkata, Didi showed up there. This time, surprisingly, it was not to protest but to show off her talent in singing. More than her singing spectators there were amazed at the fact that didi could do something constructive as well. While she sang ‘Ae mere vatan ke logo’ I could not help but think that it was the same voice that we hear in the microphone on a daily basis in Kolkata; but this time around it sounded much more pleasant and caused much less irritation than it usually does.
Though one cannot compare Ms Banerjee to any noteworthy singer, her attempt was not so bad either. It was amazing how this lady managed to have a pretty decent voice even after the continued assaults to her vocal chords by her own protest speeches. It was evident that didi needed help with her diction for the Bengali accent in the Hindi song was a little odd to the ears of a sane listener.
All said and done, Mamata Banerjee has got skill in something other than calling for bandhs. We recommend she nurtures this talent and devotes most of her time towards it for we would really like to see her voice her thoughts through melodious tunes rather than the unwanted Bandhs.
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