Thankless Well you are !

Well thankless job it is. I surely say so, you finish up the thing which is fit for human consumption and you don’t get that appreciation and much deserved adulation. I, myself belong to this smarter race of people. We want to scoff; we want to eat good food, authentic food. We are open, we are objective and we can eat anything under the only sun we have.

Bengalis are known for their eating habits and to top that elite list we have Bengali sweets. Not going far and keeping my self modesty at its own place let me explain, there is a round faced, cute looking; white colored sweet called Rasogulla which they say is the baap of all sweets. We have competitions which turn into ferocious battles of Rasogulla gulping. The person who eats the maximum is bestowed with all love and admiration and then my dear fellas he is a man to look upto.

Children or Older people without a single strong tooth take part in the widely regarded and prestigious ceremony of Rasagulla eating. Not dragging this Rasogulla eating thing further I will tell you a short account of eating

That one fine day, yes fine it was. My uncle was telling a heart absorbing and rib tickling tale of consumption. This is a story of those days when you would get a meal for Rs 6. He and few of his friends in their youth went to this place for lunch. They went to the eating place and ordered the meals. The owner of the shop came with a tinkling smile on his face and happily asked them.’ So fellas how is the food, eat eat this is unlimited meal’. Then it started and yes the metamorphosis started, the smile on his face was well substituted by a grin. He said ‘I did not say to eat this much’. It is being heard after that day the owner who was selling the meal for 18 long happy years had abolished the meal system.

So tales like this prevail in the land of gourmets, epicures and obviously few gluttons. I often sometime think what is there without food; it brings a smile to the face of the poignant one. It is a platform for people to communicate; to converse. It is the opportunity for the introvert to shed his laconic tint and to intermingle with people. It is a topic to discuss, a subject to debate, an object to love. It is a joy, a cheer which enlivens the grief.
Foodie hain hum
Well now it is my time for lunch.

It happened one week

Frank Capra would have got thrilled to know the title of this blog post of mine.I definitely wont do the audacity of consciously mistakenly thinking myself as Clark Gable.Now coming to the point.

This time when i went home, i could anticipated it as coming. And It happened. This is a feeling you get after you accomplish something. Nothing much to do in the weekdays; most of my friends would be typing in daytime as well as when owls start hooting. So this gave me the chance of lifetime when i found two great books were gleefully winking at me.

Witty, sarcastic humour for me is the highest form of emotion a writer could evoke.Doulgas Adams knew it well how to do it when he started writing ‘The Hitchhiker’s guide to galaxy’. It starts with ‘A Blue planet where people still think digital watches are cool’ and then I could sense what was coming in my way. Brilliant witty humour coupled with a mind boggling science fiction. After a long time i was reading a science fiction. Ray, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov or recent day’s Michael Crichton all are/were greats, Douglas Adams definitely climbs up into that list happily. His writing is completely diverse and refreshing to read.

After the joy ride of Hitchhiker’s I was faced with the thought provoking account of Bengal history in the Bengali Novel named ‘Shei Somoy’ by flamboyant writer Sunil Ganguly.An epic of a book capturing the history from 1840s to 1870s.He mentioned the main protagonist in this novel as none other than ‘The time’ itself. From Ishwarchanda Vidyasagar to Michael Madhusudhan dutt’ from Indigo plantation movement to Widow Remarriage, all the historically significant entities are captured and enlivened in this book. A Must read for all people who can read and fathom Bengali.

Last but not the least, i punctuated this marvellous journey of books with back to back splendid plays.Rudraprasad Sengupta’s Agaytwaas (The Incognito) told a story of an old lady who seem to lose her memory every now and which then ably followed by a rib tickling comedy of Arindam Ganguly’s ‘Chalo Potol tuli (it translates as lets die).That was based on the short stories of Shibaram Chakroborty, one of my favourite writers. One cracker of a week i must say. Let’s hope i am able to spend by well deserving breaks in this way.

A girl leans over Seine River with tears in her eyes

When I say love stories or romantic movies I have seen a many. From my childhood to now moved by lots starting from Notting Hill to Intermezzo. Starting from Julia Roberts to Ingrid Bergman. Do I really mean it? Do they really define the meaning of love and the passion of longing for each other.

Much not into this genre I kind of stumbled onto a French movie called ‘Girl on the Bridge’ in English by master director Patrice Leconte.The film is made in black and white to magnify the effects and emotions. It’s a story about a knife thrower and his target. How their luck change when they meet each other and how their love cultivates.

About the girl (masterful performance by Vanessa Paradis) who thinks perfect love has always eluded her. Who thinks she is bad at luck of finding a faultless and ideal love.

About a man who is a knife thrower who doesn’t want to get intimate with his target as so could make him weak, who himself is not successful just saves the girl when she tries to jump of the bridge and suicide. The film revolves around these two characters that emote, like, love each other. Their journey towards finding the true love, the true meaning that makes this feeling an oasis in the desert, the accurate connotation that makes long voyages a rather small stroll.

A true film on love, which asks us what is this feeling, what is meant by being together.

As Rogert Ebert said ‘There is nothing like being partners in a knife-throwing act to encourage a man and a woman to focus on their relationship.’

Talaffuz Janab

Its a finicky feeling when you have some retrospective aura around you with the Heritage and culture you inherit.I had that opportunity to spend one weekend in that charismatic atmosphere.Rather we recreated that mahoul for us.

Two factors contributed this post motivation for me.One is the Sudhir Mishra’s latest flick ‘Khoya Khoya Chaand’.Awesomely planted in the 60’s caressing through the intricacies of film industry.A tale of love and passion.Some resplendent screenplay and cinematography.Kudos Sudhir for rejuvenating the old spirit.Usage of Urdu and pure Hindi punctuated with awesome sets produced an undying aura which will be memorized.

Another is in the series of myself and my roomie Kaushik’s venture of discovering a new eatery every weekend.This time we stumbled upon a perfectly made pure Indian restaurant named ‘Roomali with View’.We grave for speciality and my boy this was the place.With Ghazals of Jagjit Singh,Ghulam Ali and Pankaj Udhas filling the atmosphere with just what the doctor ordered.Food served with Rajasthani,Awadhi and Kashmiri speciality made us being poised and paused while we were having the Daal baati which was well complemented by the Jaamun.

Always had wanted the heritage to be kept alive by travelling through the subtle nuances of life.I felt the weekend was perfectly ordered for me.Just again i thought let me concentrate on my Talaffuz.