The Deep Cut

Hey guys, I'm in Mumbai..! Came over just today morning and am already having a nice reunion time with my cousins and a soon-to-be sister-in-law! I had decided to take a train this time, a V-long distance and excruciatingly time taking option compared to a flight.. But it's worth it for the sake of saving money (for I'll soon be bleeding chips in the nearer future..) and I get to meet new people (I know, that's a TLC trademark cliche!) However, I did meet new kind of people, whom I'm not really familiar with - the highly self-decorated, working class Bengali kakus !

I was summoned to the passport office today to submit a few documents regarding address-proofs, and the entire effort managed to wreck my whole ambition of getting a passport and all the future prospects of travelling abroad.. Let me describe you the various experiences.. I'll try to mellow down on the infuriating details. First things first, had breakfast and left.. Ma had asked, 'Son, two loaves of bread won't do!' 'Oh come on Ma, will be back in a jiff... Just a few documents need submitting, will have lunch together!' She gave a visibly doubtful, 'Best Of Luck!' as I left.. ... I was made to sit in a corridor filled with people, all kinds of people - and by all kinds, I mean all kinds! There were people in suits, jackets, shirts, t-shirts (myself), dhotis, sarees, kurta-pajamas, burquas.. then men with variety of beards - mutton chops, handlebars, goatee (mine!), chin curtain, cop-stash standard, pencil.. then there were men, women an

Last few weeks have been hectic: exams, quizzes, tests, assignments, seminars and what not - you name one, you got one.. The merciless professors successfully managed to seek their vengeance on us for we enjoyed ourselves in the quick, short vacation, that was Diwali! So my seventh semester, theoretical exams started today.. By now you think it would mean quite light only, but I still managed to screw up the very first exam..  Its a boring one - Bio-process Principles, one of the rarest subjects this semester that I have good internals in! My favorite part was supposed to be the 10 marks question based on Stoichiometry, as they usually seem very interesting to me in the class.. Amidst boring questions forwarded to us throughout the syllabus, it is a proactive mathematical workout, with definite answers.. sort of a refuge! However, usually in my case, before the 'calculated' rise comes a 'trigonometrically tragic' fall.. So much that I enjoy solving mathemati

Mothers.. they know how to love you best, know how to care for you best and definitely know how to embarrass you in front of your girly friends best.. 'Look! This was when Deep was just a year old!!' And I'd usually be naked in one of those photos she'd show to them.. My friend Rahul's mother had a ride in an brand new Audi A6.. when she got back, he asked how it was, the ride? And all she could think of, was 'Hm.. the AC was nice!' Then again, Noelle comes to the classes, having this weird expression and would declare, 'My mum's on a shopping spree for herself!' When we'd ask if she's out to buy things for her too, she turns and blurts out 'I'm not sure yet and that seemingly is killing me inside..' Recently my mum had to go on a long distance travel, and not surprisingly, she was absolutely horrified at the aspect of travelling alone without dad nor me.. it's been a while of her being absolutely sovereign, bo

So it happened one day that I was waiting outside the library for someone.. I was on the phone and as a force of habit, I stroll around while talking.. Apart from just hanging out in front of the library, talking on the phone, the esteemed multitasking genius that I am, I was checking out people who passed me.. weird-hairdo-guy, overtly-conscious-of-her-neckline-girl (then why wear it at all!!), few Tamil day-scholar girls, shrinking away from my glance in case I be a escaped, most wanted rapist (few still do it for some odd reason, I don't look like a molester, do I!).. then there were couples - holding-hands-couples, misfit-height-couples, fighting-bickering-couples, smiling-and-gliding-along-couples (someone I know..) They were all people you generally see in college, passing in front of the library, but rarely entering it.. I was on the phone for quite sometime now and nearby security guards and professors had begun to look at me, disapprovingly. Here in my colleg

So, what was the first thing you noticed when you entered college? To me, it has to be the underground concept of trading a girl's phone number. In the very 1st day of college, every fresher needs to have a new cellphone number - Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone, Idea making the most here, in VIT. And somehow along those process, the number, exclusively that of the girl's, always get transferred to the most comical people I've ever spoken to, or heard of, in my life.

Do you know anyone who'll kill for money? Not an assassination. Neither its just a single person. Its more of a mass genocide - kind of Saddam- ish . I'll be a paying customer. And I know for sure that the act will be highly hailed and rewarded among masses. It so happens that we have this sorry-excuse-for-a-shop, a sad namesake of the baker from The Godfather (who saved Michael Corleone when his pop got shot.. sob!) - it's called 'Enzo' in our men's hostel campus. The people there are rude, make pathetic coffee and worse, they don't even try to understand our language! They are crazy people, I'd say.. However, it doesn't stop me from chugging down bucketful of coffee everyday that I get from there. And neither they're the people I want to kill! (Wait a minute.. given a choice, I mean, given a guilt-free pass, I would definitely give it a moment of thought..) All I want to kill are the damned CROWS that gather in front of that wr

December of 2010. A year ago.. Dad has always surprised me, when it comes to going on a family-trip.. for the best of reasons, he just never tells me! Saves me the cut-throat anticipation, yet throws me, a 22 year old (an experienced child is what I'd call myself), off-my-ground when he opens up, declaring that we're going somewhere.. and thankfully its always a new place. So last year on Christmas and for the New Years' eve, we decided to leave our worries back in Kolkata and Chennai to leave for the pristine beaches and uninhabited and unclaimed jungle islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.. and it happened to be my favorite family-trip, at least in terms of the number of scenery and photography.. Although I mildly dislike beaches and prefer mountains (comes from my hatred for water, especially salt water!).. this trip was GRAND! I even did my bit of snorkeling and scuba diving and swam among the brightest colored fishes I've ever seen in open waters..

I've always missed the essence of simplicity, in the Durga Puja festival that is celebrated in Kolkata.. Maybe I'm biased, for I've almost always observed (read celebrated ) Puja at my native place in Jhansi - a small encroachment of Uttar Pradesh into Madhya Pradesh - right at the Uttar-Madhya inter-space of India.. that is the heart of the country. People will always come across this place either in history books, or while preparing for the Railways and Armed Forces.. But I remember this place with Durga Puja being celebrated in my home! Its just huge - both in size, appeal and grandeur.. The idol in Jhansi would always be 'ek chali' that is single frame - the Devi herself and her sons (Ganesh and Kartik) and daughters (Saraswati adn Lakshmi) are on the same frame, with a background of patachitra and pith 'shola' . Patachitra are the series of paintings depicting various gods and goddesses in a semi-circular panel. These paintings depict the

Heylo kind readers! I'm back with a brand new story - this is the story of my friend Ronny, and his relationship with Anushka. I know my friend Ronny from the sad old days of my school hostel life.. We had remained friends, for we were both survivors from our own little Vietnam.. Splitting our own ways after college, he remained in Bengal, while I came down south to Chennai.. kept in touch 'on' and 'off' which is how I came to know that he had got a girlfriend named Anushka sometime around December of 2007.. And he wanted me to meet her as soon as I could get back to Kolkata.. Show off! My friend Ronny's girlfriend turned out to be a pretty one. And I could totally relate to why he liked to stick around close, most of the time.. She had a large, lumbering and square shoulder (why what else could you think?) and a sweet voice that told me she had years of Rabindra-Sangeet practice in the evenings of her childhood till she came up to her teen ages and r

My bestie Beatle George Harrison aside, Ringo Starr is my Musician-of-the-month.. The way he played the drums throughout Tomorrow Never Knows (from the album Revolver) is just amazing! This is my crayon drawing of the Beatles' legend.. The best thing about Ringo is his casual and cool persona in the Beatles.. While George was the quiet one, John the thinking one, Paul the good-looking one, Ringo will then be the goofy one.. Although he always has supported the popular 60s' catchphrase 'Love and Peace' Ringo himself was never much deep as compared to Lennon's acrid wit! Ringo was the funny one. The man brought a down-to-Earth appeal to the band and it definitely helped a lot to the public acceptance of the band.. the friendly one, whom all the grandmas and the children love.. Ringo was a musician before he became a Beatle. He was a drummer before the Fab Four and is still a drummer in his latest incarnation as the All Starr Band. Apart from b

'Egg or Idli?' Mess food. Even if I had not been informed of the menu, I'd have guessed it's redundant contents for breakfast.. However, the way the word 'Idli' was pronounced, made me look up. It was different, the way I couldn't exactly place it anywhere. I placed the egg carefully on my plate beside the bread and asked the guy to give some butter. He stared at me momentarily.. or my iPod, I think. I look back at the kid standing behind the barred window with a bucket full of jam. He could hardly be 10 years old. He seemed tall for his age and stuck out like a black smudge on a white shirt. I couldn't help but notice how awkward he looked. For one, his clothes were too big. It looked like he was swimming in them rather than wearing them. And his eyes were too wide, his mouth too small, his nose just a little bit crooked, as if his face didn't quite match his head. I smiled, rather to him than at him, but that probably raised the c

'How many tuition-classes does your son attend?' asked a mother of my classmate-to-be while I was inside, giving an admission test to get into one of the finest institutions (as was told to my dad), that the schools in Kolkata have ever bowed down to. The question was however, aimed at my mom. And she replied, with a mild hint of amusement and pride, 'None.. We recently have shifted to Kolkata, so we didn't have time for one anyways. But he's never been in any tuition before..' To her surprise, the reply was met by suppressed laughter and grunts and smiles and apparent sarcasm. 'My son has been training for this admission test for the last 2years.' replied the other woman. She was proud too, utterly eclipsing the similar hint my mom had made for the exact opposite reason! The other mothers sitting there spoke up, almost synchronized, about the length of time their wards had prepared under a number of teachers from the same school and ex-school