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 :)