The Deep Cut

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