Saturday, April 20
Sunday, June 9
Tuesday, September 21
Commonwealth Games coming up !
And india is at its best !
Thanks to commonwealth, govt. declares pple from other states [who doesn't have ration card from NCR ] can't work in NCR .. even a valid voting id card provided by govt. is not acceptable !!!! Indians are Indians only if they are Rich ! Of course this rule is not for everyone...The poor harmless people are always the victim. They are the victim by the politician's fake promises to gain votes and then the politicians themselve treat them as threat when required.
They actually broke all their homes and poor guys had to flee to their native places. They were beatean up.
I had heard the stories from my maid, Lata and felt so bad for her. Lata even had an id served as a permit to work in NCR. Then why were they allowed on the first place? Allowed them to settle down and breaking their homes according to govt's wishes ! wow !! When will govt understand how much energy, money it takes to build a house and settle in a new city. Why dont they have the right to work in NCR even though they are a Indian ?? Why ???
There is no maid, rickshaw wala, press wala etc etc none in so many sectors of Gurgaon today ! Ridiculous! Its damn irritating. They name it Security for Commonwealth Games... F*** !
Thursday, September 9
Help ! Post a Comment if you read this.
I have a constant thought in my mind.
It is about Calcutta/Kolkata [as you wanna call it.. some how i am more attached with the first name]
At first i used to think Bongs are attached and possessive about the same. But with time i realized thats not the case even non-bongs love the city. But whenever i have moved out i have heard many strong negative thoughts about the city from many people. Many talk good things too.
Today from my friend Sureeta's FB status i thought of making a discussion on it.
What do you guys think?
What was your experience?
Anyone who is not born and brought up like the city ?
How is Delhi,Mumbai,Bangalore better than Calcutta please help me on this. today i live in delhi... i can never say its better.
leaving away my biased side for calcutta, delhi is much way behind calcutta. I still put pune better than Calcutta.. but how on earth can delhi be better???????? A girl cant go home alone in Delhi post 8pm .... back i calcutta i used to travel in a Cab alone even at 11pm !!! People !!!
Please Speak up why and how other cities are better ! I really wanna know !
It is about Calcutta/Kolkata [as you wanna call it.. some how i am more attached with the first name]
At first i used to think Bongs are attached and possessive about the same. But with time i realized thats not the case even non-bongs love the city. But whenever i have moved out i have heard many strong negative thoughts about the city from many people. Many talk good things too.
Today from my friend Sureeta's FB status i thought of making a discussion on it.
What do you guys think?
What was your experience?
Anyone who is not born and brought up like the city ?
How is Delhi,Mumbai,Bangalore better than Calcutta please help me on this. today i live in delhi... i can never say its better.
leaving away my biased side for calcutta, delhi is much way behind calcutta. I still put pune better than Calcutta.. but how on earth can delhi be better???????? A girl cant go home alone in Delhi post 8pm .... back i calcutta i used to travel in a Cab alone even at 11pm !!! People !!!
Please Speak up why and how other cities are better ! I really wanna know !
Wednesday, May 12
KOLKATA by Vir Sanghvi
Most modern Indian cities strive to rise above ethnicity. Tell anybody who lives in Bombay that he lives in a Maharashtrian city and (unless of course, you are speaking to Bal Thackeray) he will take immediate offence. We are cosmopolitan, he will say indigenously. Tell a Delhiwalla that his is a Punjabi city (which, in many ways, it is) and he will respond with much self-righteous nonsense about being the nation's capital, about the international composition of the city's elite etc. And tell a Bangalorean that he lives in a Kannadiga city and you'll get lots of techno-gaff about the internet revolution and about how Bangalore is even more cosmopolitan than Bombay.
But, the only way to understand what Calcutta is about, is to recognize that the city is essentially Bengali. What's more, no Bengali minds you saying that. Rather, he is proud of the fact. Calcutta's strengths and weaknesses mirror those of the Bengali character. It has the drawbacks: the sudden passions, the cheerful chaos, the utter contempt for mere commerce, the fiery response to the smallest provocation. And it has the strengths (actually, I think of the drawbacks as strengths in their own way). Calcutta embodies the Bengali love of culture; the triumph of intellectualism over greed; the complete transparency of all emotions, the disdain with which hypocrisy and insincerity are treated; the warmth of genuine humanity; and the supremacy of emotion over all other aspects of human existence.
That's why Calcutta is not for everyone. You want your cities clean and green; stick to Delhi. You want your cities, rich and impersonal, go to Bombay. You want them high-tech and full of draught beer, Bangalore's your place. But if you want a city with a soul, come to Calcutta.
When I look back on the years I've spent in Calcutta - and I come back so many times each year that I often feel I've never been away - I don't remember the things that people remember about cities. When I think of London, I think of the vast open spaces of Hyde Park. When I think of New York, I think of the frenzy of Times Square. When I think of Tokyo, I think of the bright lights of Shinjiku. And when I think of Paris, I think of the Champs Elysee. But when I think of Calcutta, I never think of any one place. I don't focus on the greenery of the maidan, the beauty of the Victoria Memorial, the bustle of Burra Bazar or the splendour of the new Howrah 'Bridge'. I think of people. Because, finally, a city is more than bricks and mortars, street lights and tarred roads. A city is the sum of its people. And who can ever forget -or replicate - the people of Calcutta?
When I first came to live here, I was told that the city would grow on me. What nobody told me was that the city would change my life. It was in Calcutta that I learnt about true warmth; about simple human decency; about love and friendship; about emotions and caring; about truth and honesty. I learnt other things too. Coming from Bombay as I did, it was a revelation to live in a city where people judged each other on the things that really mattered; where they recognized that being rich did not make you a better person - in fact, it might have the opposite effect. I learnt also that if life is about more than just money, it is about the things that other cities ignore; about culture, about ideas, about art, and about passion. In Bombay, a man with a relatively low income will salt some of it away for the day when he gets a stock market tip. In Calcutta, a man with exactly the same income will not know the difference between a debenture and a dividend. But he will spend his money on the things that matter. Each morning, he will read at least two newspapers and develop sharply etched views on the state of the world. Each evening, there will be fresh (ideally, fresh-water or river) fish on his table. His children will be encouraged to learn to dance or sing. His family will appreciate the power of poetry. And for him, religion and culture will be in inextricably bound together.
Ah religion! Tell outsiders about the importance of Puja in Calcutta and they'll scoff. Don't be silly, they'll say. Puja is a religious festival. And Bengal has voted for the CPM since 1977. How can godless Bengal be so hung up on a religions festival? I never know how to explain them that to a Bengali, religion consists of much more than shouting Jai Shri Ram or pulling down somebody's mosque. It has little to do with meaningless ritual orsinister political activity.The essence of Puja is that all the passions of Bengal converge: emotion, culture, the love of life, the warmth of being together, the joy of celebration, the pride inartistic ex-pression and yes, the cult of the goddess.
It may be about religion. But is about much more than just worship. In which other part of India would small, not particularly well-off localities, vie with each other to produce the best pandals? Where else could puja pandals go beyond religion to draw inspiration from everything else? In the years I lived in Calcutta, the pandals featured Amitabh Bachchan, Princes Diana and even Saddam Hussain! Where else would children cry with the sheer emotional power of Dashimi, upset that the Goddess had left their homes? Where else would the whole city gooseflesh when the dhakis first begin to beat their drums? Which other Indian festival - in any part of the country - is so much about food, about going from one roadside stall to another, following your nose as it trails the smells of cooking?
To understand Puja, you must understand Calcutta. And to understand Calcutta , you must understand the Bengali. It's not easy. Certainly, you can't do it till you come and live here, till you let Calcutta suffuse your being, invade your bloodstream and steal your soul. But once you have, you'll love Calcutta forever. Wherever you go,a bit of Calcutta will go with you. I know, because it's happened to me. And every Puja, I am overcome by the magic of Bengal. It's a feeling that'll never go away.
But, the only way to understand what Calcutta is about, is to recognize that the city is essentially Bengali. What's more, no Bengali minds you saying that. Rather, he is proud of the fact. Calcutta's strengths and weaknesses mirror those of the Bengali character. It has the drawbacks: the sudden passions, the cheerful chaos, the utter contempt for mere commerce, the fiery response to the smallest provocation. And it has the strengths (actually, I think of the drawbacks as strengths in their own way). Calcutta embodies the Bengali love of culture; the triumph of intellectualism over greed; the complete transparency of all emotions, the disdain with which hypocrisy and insincerity are treated; the warmth of genuine humanity; and the supremacy of emotion over all other aspects of human existence.
That's why Calcutta is not for everyone. You want your cities clean and green; stick to Delhi. You want your cities, rich and impersonal, go to Bombay. You want them high-tech and full of draught beer, Bangalore's your place. But if you want a city with a soul, come to Calcutta.
When I look back on the years I've spent in Calcutta - and I come back so many times each year that I often feel I've never been away - I don't remember the things that people remember about cities. When I think of London, I think of the vast open spaces of Hyde Park. When I think of New York, I think of the frenzy of Times Square. When I think of Tokyo, I think of the bright lights of Shinjiku. And when I think of Paris, I think of the Champs Elysee. But when I think of Calcutta, I never think of any one place. I don't focus on the greenery of the maidan, the beauty of the Victoria Memorial, the bustle of Burra Bazar or the splendour of the new Howrah 'Bridge'. I think of people. Because, finally, a city is more than bricks and mortars, street lights and tarred roads. A city is the sum of its people. And who can ever forget -or replicate - the people of Calcutta?
When I first came to live here, I was told that the city would grow on me. What nobody told me was that the city would change my life. It was in Calcutta that I learnt about true warmth; about simple human decency; about love and friendship; about emotions and caring; about truth and honesty. I learnt other things too. Coming from Bombay as I did, it was a revelation to live in a city where people judged each other on the things that really mattered; where they recognized that being rich did not make you a better person - in fact, it might have the opposite effect. I learnt also that if life is about more than just money, it is about the things that other cities ignore; about culture, about ideas, about art, and about passion. In Bombay, a man with a relatively low income will salt some of it away for the day when he gets a stock market tip. In Calcutta, a man with exactly the same income will not know the difference between a debenture and a dividend. But he will spend his money on the things that matter. Each morning, he will read at least two newspapers and develop sharply etched views on the state of the world. Each evening, there will be fresh (ideally, fresh-water or river) fish on his table. His children will be encouraged to learn to dance or sing. His family will appreciate the power of poetry. And for him, religion and culture will be in inextricably bound together.
Ah religion! Tell outsiders about the importance of Puja in Calcutta and they'll scoff. Don't be silly, they'll say. Puja is a religious festival. And Bengal has voted for the CPM since 1977. How can godless Bengal be so hung up on a religions festival? I never know how to explain them that to a Bengali, religion consists of much more than shouting Jai Shri Ram or pulling down somebody's mosque. It has little to do with meaningless ritual orsinister political activity.The essence of Puja is that all the passions of Bengal converge: emotion, culture, the love of life, the warmth of being together, the joy of celebration, the pride inartistic ex-pression and yes, the cult of the goddess.
It may be about religion. But is about much more than just worship. In which other part of India would small, not particularly well-off localities, vie with each other to produce the best pandals? Where else could puja pandals go beyond religion to draw inspiration from everything else? In the years I lived in Calcutta, the pandals featured Amitabh Bachchan, Princes Diana and even Saddam Hussain! Where else would children cry with the sheer emotional power of Dashimi, upset that the Goddess had left their homes? Where else would the whole city gooseflesh when the dhakis first begin to beat their drums? Which other Indian festival - in any part of the country - is so much about food, about going from one roadside stall to another, following your nose as it trails the smells of cooking?
To understand Puja, you must understand Calcutta. And to understand Calcutta , you must understand the Bengali. It's not easy. Certainly, you can't do it till you come and live here, till you let Calcutta suffuse your being, invade your bloodstream and steal your soul. But once you have, you'll love Calcutta forever. Wherever you go,a bit of Calcutta will go with you. I know, because it's happened to me. And every Puja, I am overcome by the magic of Bengal. It's a feeling that'll never go away.
Monday, April 19
I am Missing You !
I am Missing kolkata and its charm !
Missing 100s of loved ones there !
Missing chelo kabab at Peter Cat ..
the Greenery at Maidan ..
i miss the Gigantic Victoria..
i miss the boats lined up at Princep Ghat ..
I miss fuchka ...
12rs yummy egg-roll ....
the chops... the egg-devil ... kebabs ..
I miss shopping at New Market ..
i miss the Chambalamba ...
I miss the Nandan and its essence ..
I miss the narrow roads of North Kolkata ..
I miss to speak in my mother-tongue ..
I miss my mom's handmade yummy mutton curry..
I miss my room .. my bed ..
I miss the Heat with the humidity !
I miss the traffic ..
I miss the Lifestyle..
I am missing Kolkata so much !
Missing 100s of loved ones there !
Missing chelo kabab at Peter Cat ..
the Greenery at Maidan ..
i miss the Gigantic Victoria..
i miss the boats lined up at Princep Ghat ..
I miss fuchka ...
12rs yummy egg-roll ....
the chops... the egg-devil ... kebabs ..
I miss shopping at New Market ..
i miss the Chambalamba ...
I miss the Nandan and its essence ..
I miss the narrow roads of North Kolkata ..
I miss to speak in my mother-tongue ..
I miss my mom's handmade yummy mutton curry..
I miss my room .. my bed ..
I miss the Heat with the humidity !
I miss the traffic ..
I miss the Lifestyle..
I am missing Kolkata so much !
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