Welcome Monsoon'2008

Trickle down the drops of rain
Across the hazy window pane
Thus refreshes the soul
Gives a new meaning to everyday goal
Gives new hope
And new refinements

As the birds chirp merrily
As the leaves ooze out greenery
Seems as if an artist has painted nature
With water color taking great care
Splashing beautifully all the seven colours of the rainbow

And have a look how the children play
Down there, in the small waterlogged alley
As you watch all these
As you observe
Don't you feel the urge to do something pure
Something for mankind
Something for God to bless with

There remains sorrows, miseries
Nature has its own vagaries
Did you look at that old wretched man on the other side of the road?
Did you see the shabby old linen cloth?
now soaked wet with dirty froth?
If you did not, observe...
If possible, serve...
Something soothing for him to thank you
....and to thank god !

Strike ceremony - latest ritual of Bengal

Hi friends
Guess what ! Today again we have a bandh in Kolkata. And yesterday too we had a bandh !
Out of 365 days in a year, West Bengal faces strikes almost for 100 days. People enjoy the days, play cricket, watch television, play computer games and make merry. There are a few workaholics like me (;)) who brave all these and reach office by 6 am in the morning to avoid all kinds of trouble. A few unfortunate ones get stranded on the roads midway through their journey. There are a few daily labourers who get deprived of their bread. The political leaders think, "People support us". This goes on and on and on....
It goes without saying that the image of West Bengal is tarnished because of these strikes. People who matter fail to understand that industries would soon pack their bags and leave. In the developed countries, they can't even think of calling a day off without substantial reason. As India heads in the right direction of globalization with a GDP hovering around 8%, each step taken in the right direction, gets a setback, all due to these strikes.
And last but not the least, the days often see open vandalism and hooliganism by antisocial elements who think they have every right to do whatever they wish ! And why not ! They have got support from people whom we had voted for, in the last election. Still today, people are ready to give their lives away in the name of parties, I don't know why ! As if these corrupt leaders have formed a blood relationship with them. The root cause to all of these, according to me, is illiteracy of the masses. As long as people are illiterate the trend would continue, no matter whether people like me cry out foul.
To sum it up, gone are days, when strikes would have helped resolve problems. Today situations demand for more open discussions and dialogues. Disrupting public life is no way of achieving objectives.
Alas ! All these go in deaf ears !