The world where sense doesn't make sense

Just remembering Sukumar Ray and his immortal creations once more on his birthday. May Pagla Dashu, Hijibijbij, Kakeshwar, Ramgorurer chhana, Nera, Gomratherium.... keep on being our best childhood friends and the dialogs like from Ha-ja-ba-ra-la and Lakshmaner shaktishel keep on enriching Bengali forever.

Dreams of art and craft and a morning room :)

Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca" is one of my all-time favorite books. Other than the main storyline, there are a lot of other things (and descriptions) that I like a lot. Say, the Happy Valley or the description of the first breakfast that Mrs. de Winter had at Manderley. Rebecca's "morning room" is my most favorite one out of that. I would dearly love to have a morning room for myself.

My room should have two big bay windows opening towards a rose garden and another one with a seat towards the kitchen garden. The windows would have light lacy curtains to let the morning light stream in. I would paint my room in a light yellow or peach color, as yellow brightens a room more than white. Peach adds a light warmth which also I like. The floor should definitely be wooden. I haven't yet decided between maple or rosewood. Either should be ok.

Now, coming to the furniture. I want a desk, like Rebecca had (with docketed pigeon holes) and drawers full of rich, white writing paper. I'll have to have a desktop and a nice lamp too. This should sit in between the two bay windows.

The center of the room should have a nice bright rug on the floor and I want the other furniture close to the walls so as to make the room not look stuffy. On the left corner of the room, just next to one bay window would be a comfortable recliner for me to work on my yarn crafts. The walls there would have shelves to keep my patterns and books related to yarns as well as stock my supplies needed for these projects. I might want to have a small rug on the floor right below the recliner.

Near the middle, but on the left would be a big table for paper crafting and jewellery making. It should have proper lighting, a big magnifying glass and shelves for supplies too. The near left corner would have a place for displaying my work and I'll have some comfortable little seats scattered there for my visitors to come sit.

Now let's see what's there on the right end corner. That would be next to the other bay window and I guess it will have a lot of natural light. So I'll set up my easel over there. Next to it would be the drying rack, the table to put my paints and brushes on, and a book case for my art books and magazines.

Coming towards the entrance, on the right hand wall would be a smaller window with a seat. That is for me to curl up with a good book and utilize the throw I recently crocheted :) Oh, did I mention I want a mug of hot cocoa?

The near right corner would be for my quilting and sewing stuff. I need a sewing machine there and a bright daylight lamp in the corner. I would also have my sewing supplies in that corner.

The walls, I would not keep them bare, but as the room would anyway be very colorful, I'll put up only a few of my own artwork. The little seats that I have scattered can be well utilized when you come to join my knitting group :) We can pull them up towards the center and can also sit on the big rug and knit/crochet warm fuzzy things this winter :)

[PS: This is all in a dream, but when I finally start my non-profit organization, I'll surely have some studio like this for myself.]

Best of Bengal

This being the Pujo season, I am thinking of Bengal quite often, though to be very honest, to me Bengal and Calcutta are kind of intermingled. I'm actually more Calcuttan than "Bengali", because I can relate more to the rainwater puddles near Deshapriya Park than to the paddy fields of Bengal. So, I would use Calcutta and Bengal interchangeably as needed.

These are a few things which are absolutely Bengali, can be called symbols of Bengal too, that I like very much!

The big debates:

Bengalis are renowned debators. We love to argue. The typical "coffee house" setting would speak of endless arguments about various topics from all over the world that has intrigued Bengalis. But those topics that even Bengalis are at a loss to determine are ones totally home grown. That's about bangal versus ghoti. That is which group has produced better people, whose food is better - that continues to which fish is better, with ilish representating the bangal (people from East Bengal) and chingri, the symbol for ghoti (people from the west). That can't keep the arch-rivals out of the argument for long. So inevitably it comes to which football team is better - Mohun Bagan or East Bengal. This is continuing for ages. Major problems arise when spouses hail from the different teams (like us) or when a supporter of one team finds him/herself surrounded by the rival supporters.

Another debate is about north and south Calcutta. The north being the older part and the one where heritage still resides, north Calcuttans say that it bears history and the richness of the place, whereas south Calcuttans would always find the old quarters back dated and time barred, the roads too narrow and proudly say that it is the south which is the hub of modernization that is so necessary in the 20th (or 21st) century.

The food:

Street food from Calcutta still comes in my most pleasant dreams, but the ones that are "signature luchi, rasogolla and mishti doi. I would also include the fine Darjeeling tea in this group. I don't know the history of mishti doi, but know that the sweet version of regular yoghurt is a speciality from Calcutta and is renowned all over the country. It probably comes second to the other great one - rasogolla. It is not for nothing that Nabin Chandra Das from Bagbazar is called "rasogolla'r Columbus". Luchi is another concoction to which bangals have to bow their heads. Luchi and rasogolla are the two foods which can compete with all the ilish recipes that bangals have produced so far! The flaky thin white balls of luchi, paired with mutton curry or the simplest cubed potato in light gravy can make any Bengali nostalgic.
food" from Calcutta are

The clothes:

The moment you dress a 21st century corporate woman in a red bordered white saree (laal paar shada saree)and make her wear the traditional red and white bangles, you bring out the essence of a Bengali girl in her! This is "the dress" of a married Bengali woman and is a trademark of traditional ceremonies. It changes the entire look.

For men, white dhuti-panjabi, especially the ones that have crinkly sleeves (the sleeves are crinkled by using a fruit) adds that special "bengali touch". The white clothes also look very nice in summer.

Related to clothes and fabric, another thing which started off with humble beginnings but are now selling for $128 at Nordstrom is kantha. This is an essence of Bengal as well, where when babies were born, they were wrapped in kantha (quilts). Those were lovingly made by the grandmoms or aunts by reusing old soft sarees. Those sarees were stitched together with some soft stuffing in between. Some artistic women didn't just stitch them together, but used to design those stitches in beautiful patterns. These are now sold as "kantha throws" in Nordstrom!! Anyway, the design is reused for sarees and other types of tops as well. This is one of my favorites too.

The celebrations:

Even if I was an unbiased third person, I would still think traditional Bengali weddings are the best! It
is colorful, absolutely gorgeous but without elderly ladies dancing on the streets. The bride's dress in red and gold is stunningly beautiful and the groom's white provides the subtlety contrast. Overall, it's as beautiful to look at as it is to feel.

Indians celebrate a lot of religious, or should I say socio-religious events. Durga puja is the one for Bengalis. The pandals (decorated tents) in which the idols are kept for five days have crossed the level of good craftsmanship and had elevated itself to be a work of art. That is beautiful to look at and sustains many families all the year round.

The creativity:

Bengali names are very creative and almost all of them have come from Sanskrit words. Unlike most of the world, Bengali names are not always derived from gods and goddesses (at least that is not the criteria in naming someone) and are very modern. People think of unique names, with Rabindranath setting the bar really high in this regard. Some names are a bit too intellectual, but still I am very proud of Bengali names, and my name too. (Well, I am still hanging on to it even with all the distorted pronunciation that I hear.)

That's the thing...

The journey from "barnaparichay" to Java

Rabindranath's poetry and songs are my favorites, my all time best ones. One of those that I like most is - বিপদে মোর রক্ষা করো (bipode more raksha koro) - guard me at the times of trouble. That which prays to God saying that make me know you during happy times so that I never doubt your presence when the world is all against me. I try to follow that. I may not be "praying to God" but I do feel grateful for my life when things go well, and when they don't, I try to remain as patient as possible.

Anyway, recently some stuff went really well which made me very happy and inspired me to grow myself by challenging my intellects even more. Encouragement can do wonders to anyone. Especially if you were not expecting them. All these make me grateful for my life and thank that person who is behind all of this. He is Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Now when I am gradually evolving into the role I have always seen myself in, the dream career in a fast paced sci-tech industry, the economic independence and the confidence this entire thing imbibes in me, I need to take a look back at that day when Vidyasagar said "they [girls] are also getting educated now. Their time is also coming", the fact that he wanted to see us empowered, lacking neither in education nor in the freedom to pursue our dreams...and makes me realize that I can't thank him enough. I can't ever pay his debts.

The only thing I can do is to take myself up to that level where Vidyasagar can be proud of me, proud of the fruitfulness of his relentless battles. That girl whom he had one day taught how to write the Bengali alphabet can now automate cloud (server) behavior  with Java.

Why I write

I hated writing essays in school. Especially the ones in Bengali. It still seems to me that the expectations of the teachers were set in stone. They wanted us to write in a particular way, using flowery languages and dotting the essay with quotations. The topics were so cliché that it was hard to improvise something based on our imagination and I still don't understand the use of quotations. Were we supposed to read (and understand) all those poetries from which we excerpted the quotations? Or were they supposed to be just memorized (like we did anyway)?

Another thing was, whenever we were supposed to write about the seasons or festivals, somehow all the stuff we wrote about describing nature and all were related to villages. That was very artificial for me. It never really made any sense and I was happy when it was all over. I definitely don't miss my Bengali classes.

English literature was much better. The topics for essays looked more normal and within my grasp. I think the English teachers were better than the Bengali teachers too and grammar and spelling were of more importance than flowery language. That made a big difference.

Anyway, I still didn't like to write.

I write

Later when I was preparing for GRE and TOEFL, I liked the debate type essays where I had to make a point. I always love to argue (with points) and debatable topics just make me fluff my fur up! That's why I love blogging. I don't have to "publish" them, I can scribble, well ok, type away whatever I think without giving a hoot to what others might think if they, one sunny day stumble upon my blog. Also, here is a place to vent out my opinions without really getting into a fight. I mean, I am entitled to free speech, so why not make the most of it?

I write to voice my opinions and to give form to my feelings. Sometimes, when I feel strongly about something but can't really DO anything actively, then also I write. I try to make others see my point, to make people realize their power and take active part in things they like to do, instead of just idling away their lives. I write to encourage good deeds and criticize the wrong ones. It's a free canvas where I can dabble away with any kind of paint!!!

Now I like writing because it is on my own terms and nobody is grading me for that :)

On being Bengali

Rabindranath has said in his timeless creation "shesher kobita" - the last poem that knowledge is a diamond, but that rays that come out of it is culture. Knowledge has mass, culture has brightness. (কমল হীরের পাথরটা কে বলে বিদ্যে আর ওর থেকে যে আলো বেরোয় তাকে বলে কালচার । পাথরের আছে ভার আলোর আছে দীপ্তি । ). With Durga Puja just round the corner, Bengalis all over the world would feel a tug in their hearts and get nostalgic over the simple things that remind them of the Durga Puja at home.

Shiuli

Little white cumulus clouds floating through the clear blue sky, a cool breeze heralding autumn that blows over green paddy fields creating gentle waves, shiuli and kaash flowers blooming and through the fields in the villages would walk a throng of dhakis (drummers) beating their dhaks in the typical Bengali rhythm, the rhythm of festivity, the one that tells everyone Durga is coming from her husband's place in the Himalayas to her parents' little mud huts in Bengal. Durga is not really a goddess vanquishing the demon, for us, she is that daughter who brings her four children to visit her family once a year for five days.

Dhaaki

Mahalaya acts as the threshold for this. The people of Calcutta, for the last eighty years have been waking up at dawn on the day of Mahalaya to listen to this radio program of Mahisashuramardini - "annihilation of the buffalo demon" - where chants are read from the religious text Chandi by the famous Birendra Krishna Bhadra. I cannot describe the feeling, but the fact that it is still going strong for five generations should be enough to clarify its popularity.

Bengalis pride themselves on the culture aspect. That's the reason of my opening line. But culture is something that should shine from a person, it is something that would define us. It can't be imposed upon. I have seen many Bengalis here, who on trying to impose this "culture" on their second generation kids, drag them along to anything that is Indian, including Bollywood parties or make them grudgingly wear traditional clothes at Bengali Association events. What's the outcome? They start hating the "culture" thing and shirk away from that very concept which should have actually made them proud. One hour of speaking Bengali at home would not help, a general understanding of Bengal should be the key.

What did Rabindranath say? The first thing needed is knowledge. That's the diamond. If knowledge is absent, what would you shine with? That knowledge would come from reading and being exposed to your own roots as well as of the rest of the world. If you fear other cultures, it means you don't have enough confidence in your own. You are worried about them taking over your own. However, if your roots are strong then you would not have any fear of spreading your wings to fly off to the distant horizon. As you know that what has been imbibed in you would always be in there to enrich you.

Bengal - home

I am known to be quite an "international" person. I never go to the local Bengali Association, nor has the local Hindu temple seen me. I see no reason to gang up with the Indians simply because they and I belong to the same country. However, the tradition passed down from the Bengal Renaissance is still somewhere inside. That's what makes me try my hand at cooking and carefully noting (in English, for May and Mota's wife probably) old traditional Bengali recipes. That's the thing that makes me read Sarat Chandra's works on my PlayBook and doodle Durga's eyes on a piece of yellow post-it as I wait for my code to build.

Gifts

What is the best gift that you have received? No, it's not that cricket bat or doll's house, nor even a good book on your birthday...it's life. It's sad how we don't realize that and as a result hardly ever feel grateful for it. When we wake up each morning, we look at the clock and say "oh man, today I'll definitely miss the meeting" but we never ever say "oh wow! Another day in my life, in good health! Great!" That means apparently that meeting is of more importance than our entire existence.

Exactly so!

If we value our lives, then we would want to search for the purpose behind it. Whoever the creator is, God or the eternal pool of conciousness, whatever you'd like to believe in has created us for a purpose. The first thing is to realize that. Then you need to find the purpose and finally to follow that path. Otherwise, you'll end up spending your life watching soap operas or doing something totally worthless. Some people are creative by nature, they love to paint, write, cook. That gives them and people around them much pleasure. They are creating a better world. Some others are just hard workers. They are not artistic, probably wouldn't understand any fine thing, but they'll go out of their way to help others. If the purpose in your life is to change the world to a better place, you'll do it as much as possible. You might just do a tiny little thing at a time, but rest assured that tiny thing would bring huge changes to someone's life far off.

What would be the best gift that you can give? Well, you technically cannot "create" life, but you can make someone's life better. Can you make a new born feel welcomed? Most poor families all over the world are not well educated enough to prepare themselves for a baby either physically or financially. Can you help child survival centers that will provide care to mothers and neonates? Even in so called developed countries, many babies are born in poverty. Can you help families by sending much needed things like diapers and towels or little knitted things just to brighten up the dreary hospital room?

H2O

I received a picture from a child survival center that I support of a child drinking clean water. I have put that picture on my fridge so that every time I reach to get water I am reminded of how fortunate I am. Not everyone can walk two steps to get cool filtered drinking water. Can you give the gift of safe clean drinking water?

Can you give babies and children gifts of medicines and vaccines so that they can grow up to be strong and healthy young people? Or mentor someone in a distant land and enrich their young minds with the gift of knowledge and the importance of education?

Give the gift of a good life

How about saving some death row animal? There are thousands of kittens and puppies unnecessarily euthanized because animals shelters cannot keep them any more. If more people opt to adopt from shelters instead of "buying" show piece animals from breeders or more people came forward to foster them, these death row animals would have a normal happy life like every other pet. Can you not do something to this? A senior dog or cat with medical needs can have a perfect life with a little love and care too.

There's so much to do in this single life span. Who knows if rebirth is for true? Why waste our lives doing petty things? The stuff we value most are actually the ones without any meaning. Stop leading a clueless life. Believe in yourself. Believe that you have the power to make a difference. Stand up for those who can't speak for themselves. You would not be rewarded in money, but you'll for sure be happy.

Harvest time!

I was standing on a little undulated hill, gently sloping down towards green fields of corn. There was a pumpkin patch too. Green vines studded with different sized pumpkins, ranging from tiny round ones to big Cinderella's coach kind of ones. Those varied in color as well. Some were patchworks of green and gold, some white and some the traditional bright pumpkin-ish orange! Those fields blended into dark green forests, green hills and beyond those ranges of blue mountains emerging from the blue sky. This is not a dream...this is a scene I saw when I was going on a hay ride to pick pumpkins at a farm near our house :)

This was my first trip to a farm and I am in love with it! Fall is the best time to visit farms, when the harvest is ready for the year. The life that I have led so far in a city is so far away from the Earth, from our connection to the soil. When I was picking up the dusty pumpkins and tugging at the vines, I could feel that connection. The smell of fall in that crisp breeze from the nearby pond, ears of corns ready to be picked (and roasted. "I'll have the garlic flavored one, please"), caramel apples, the smoky smell of hot-dogs all intermingles to make me welcome the harvest season.

The added fun was the farm animals. I LOVED the mustang!!! How I'd want to have one some time :) The grey bunny was super soft and a black cat was watching the roosters in the pen. Arnab said that the cat was deciding which one to roast and which one to curry for his meals during the week! Here are some pictures from that farm...

With friends at the pumpkin patch

The farm :)

Look who's pushing the wheelbarrow!

With a mustang

Some things that just can't get better

There are some perfect moments in life. Perfect weather, perfect relaxing atmosphere, perfect vacation...like that. Sometimes on sunny Saturdays when I come downstairs in the morning and open the door to our backyard, looking out to the foliage and smelling the air, I feel it. That's a perfect thing! Most of these moments make us happy, may not be crazy happy but more in a subtle way. For me, these can't just get better..

Cornflower skies, golden sun and a cool breeze bringing a smell of the trees. It's that kind of a day today. The sudden dip of the mercury is heralding cold weather, but the skies have forgotten that summer is over. They are still without a trace of cloud (yes in Western Washington) and the leaves are changing color... it's heavenly!

Puppy kisses. Can there be anything better than a happy dog licking your face? Same about a content kitty curled up on your lap and purring when you scratch behind his ears. Seeing a happy pet is one of the most rewarding experiences as well.

Puppies

That stretch from the luggage carousel to the arrival lounge of the airport at your home town. When you know that it's a matter of a few moments and you'd see your family right there!

Waking up on a weekday as the alarm goes off and then realizing it's a holiday! One of my most favorite things is to sleep, so I am a little biased towards this one.

Sky full of stars...and waves lashing in front of you. Nothing ever can surpass this.

Compassion and mercy. Have you seen anyone cry for someone else? Anyone going out of the way to make others feel good? That is another beautiful thing.

Bonding that surpasses the differences, those that don't need verbal language to communicate. Like this Airtel commercial: 

When I experience these I say to myself, what a wonderful world!! I'm so grateful to cherish these :)

It's ok to be mean (at times)

If there is someone who spells attitude with a BIG A and the rest in bold caps, that is Happy Bunny!! I have never seen anyone coming up with passive aggressive (mostly aggressive) statements with a big, bright smile. And man, how much I want to tell those stuff to people around me...

The one on my door

My encounter with Happy Bunny was when I saw a poster of her (I think she's a girl) at Wal-Mart, years back. That poster was displayed at my office for a year and half when I worked as a research assistant in UAB. Then it came to my apartment in Redmond, and now it is stuck on the door to May's room (an appropriate place I should say).

Here are some of Happy Bunny's quotes which just brightens my day and brings a mischievous smirk on my face... (all the following pictures are from Google images).

                     











                 

Everyday I find situations (and people) to whom I can say this. Sometimes I do, at other times I can't as it would sound inappropriate. Whatever it is, I would never have enough of this bunny......
And here's my new t-shirt that says - "I did it, but I'm blaming you"!!! :D :D

Words of wisdom

... to make our daily life easier. These are not famous quotations (other than the first one), but stuff I realized myself...

1. "Know thyself "- if you don't, then try to. Because if you yourself don't know what you can do, and what you cannot, don't expect others to do that for you.

2. People around you are not thought readers. So, if you want them to know something about you, you have to take the pain to tell them, explicitly.

3. If you don't know something, ask. We are not supposed to know everything. So question if you are in doubt or need clarification. That solves a lot of problems.

4. Admit it when you are wrong. We are not supposed to do everything correctly all the time, so it's not bad to goof up once in a while. Admit and be done with it. Argue and you drag being goofy.

5. Sit back and relax. Don't be so hard on yourself all the time. It's ok...

Stay happy

6. Forgive. This is the same as letting others have their way once in a while too. The man you just swore at for driving like crazy this morning might be in an emergency. Who knows?

7. Don't judge others. A continuation of the last one. You don't know what's going on with others. So don't judge them according to what you think is right. It just doesn't make any sense.

8. Take a break. From what you are doing and think of happy thoughts. I know it works wonders!

9. Talk to people. Lack of communication causes a lot of misunderstanding. So talk and get your thoughts clear and well understood.

10. Smile. It puts everything straight and surrounds you with an aura of brightness and cheer :)