Down with cough and cold

Uff.. The last few days have been terrible, to say the least. I don't think anyone was busier than myself! Even, that kept me away from the blogging platform. And to add salt to the sore, now I am down with cough and cold, the worst enemy I have ever encountered with! Oh, my PC is also reeling with high fever nowadays. Whenever I turn it on, there's this typical black screen, which I had never ever seen before. And the desktop time invariably goes back to the time I gave my plus 2 exams (2002). So I have invited a doctor to look after it! Hopefully it would not need hospitalization!

Anyways, cheers to life! I have updated my story "The Crush". You can read it here.
Let me know if you like it. :)

*sneeze* uff.. I need to get up now!

The keys

The keys to happiness:

Keep expectations to a minimum...
Enjoy life as it comes...
Give your best in whatever you do...
Help the ones who are less privileged...
Learn to love...
Never mind if you are not loved in return...
Smile often...
Work hard and party harder...
Control your mouth (tongue) ...
Remember, 'Loud-mouths' are not exactly the flavor of the season...
Ignore detractors...

What else! Happiness is all yours! Grab with both hands and chill!

Cheers!

Nostalgia resurfaces

A good 4 days away from blogging. And No, I had not disappeared. I was on a short trip to Farakka - a much needed vacation. For people who do not know me, Farakka was the place where I was brought up. Everlasting memories of my childhood are etched in my mind and would stay like that forever.

Where-from should I start: The lush green field in front of our Govt. quarters, the flowing Ganges, the evening cricket, the lazy stroll on the streets, the fall of dusk and the birds flying off to their homes, my school, the respectable and loving teachers, my friends - some of whom I might not ever see again, my first crush... I miss them all. I miss the morning prayers, the fierce competition amongst different houses, the sharing of tiffin in the recess time, the running around on the corridors, playing hide and seek and doing a big 'dhappa' after catching the hider, playing dumb-charades, doing skits and debates, participating in march past, playing 'antakshari' with our teachers too joining in. And how can I forget gazing at someone I liked so much, with rapt attention and still, pretending to be an idiot (probably, I really was!). I wish I could go back to those days, again get admitted in Class 1.

All said and done, it is not possible any more. So that was a small glimpse of what Farakka was, is and will be for me.

Back to the trip:
Those who have seen Farakka would admit that it is beautiful. Away from the hustle and bustle of the pollution stricken Metros, it is a place of great peace and tranquility. We stayed over at Bharat Sevashram Sangha and I, personally, was bowled over by the kind of charity and work that the Sanyasis out there do for the society, for the poor, the needy and the deprived. I found 40-50 children, most of them, orphans, who would stay in the adjacent hostels, study in the school that the Ashram has, and chant hymns day in and day out. They were also provided with appropriate clothing, food and study materials. Probably, few of them would aspire to become successful in their respective careers and others would hold high the flag which the Sanyasis have so far held aloft.

After staying for 3 days, we reached in the morning today and yes, last night I met 3 of my old teachers while waiting for the train at the Farakka railway station. They were as much delighted as I was. Nostalgia resurfaced once again as we chatted for minutes on end!




Picture: My alma mater- DPS, Farakka

A wish and more!

Hey

Wish my secret lovers and admirers a very Happy Valentines Day!
Hopefully, you were all very busy throughout the day with your sweethearts! Those who were not, well, don't be sad, I am also one of you and you have my best wishes!
Yesterday, I had a marriage ceremony to attend. It was one of my friends, who got legally slaughtered! As one not-so-famous guy once commented: "Either you are married, or you are happy" LOL
Jokes apart, anyone who has ever attended a Bengali matrimonial ceremony would agree, that it is a tedious affair. The groom who is called 'bor' in Bengali becomes a showpiece and howsoever intelligent or clever he is in actual, there's no respite for him.
Take yesterday's case (or should I say, today's?). The 'lagna' (timing prescribed by priest) was at 12:15 am. And it continued till 3:30 am. Oh, it was so painful, for the eyes. There were innumerable occasions, when I felt I would fall down from my chair, as the eyes refused to stay awake and the body gave in to sleepy temptations. Nevertheless, it required the strong will of myself and the sight of beautiful maidens sitting at the other end to keep my eyes open! Well finally it was through. I dared to think about having some sleep when, at 4:00 am coffee was served. Whatever little sleep was planned, vanished in thin air! Next was a series of musical debates. Our team on the groom's end was as strong (dare say, even stronger!) than theirs. However people put on mighty performances at both ends. There were songs and dance. There were instrumentals as well. I had never imagined that squashed polythene cups and fiber chairs can be put to such good use in the form of musical instruments! You should have been there to believe it yourself. Suddenly I glanced at my watch and it was 6 am. We packed and left the place.
There were much coaxing from the bride's kith and kin, so that we would stay till late. But what to do, there's more to life than attending a marriage ceremony!

Valentine's Day

Glimpses of the moon over the sea bed
Water sparkling in shades of gold and silver
With the sky, a tinge of blackish red
They relax for hours on end
Only the two of them with the moon overhead
A blissful silence all around
Only the occasional roar of waves splashing hard
Against the solid rock bed
The clouds wander about silently
Often overshadowing the moon
Far away, sailing on the waves, are few fishing boats
Evident from their orange lanterns
With this extraordinary ambiance
The lovers silently come closer and lean against each other
The dark silhouette making it difficult to make out
Who is he and who is her
They are so 'made for each other'
As the night silently grow darker
The surroundings go calmer
A feeble folk mixes in the air
Sung far away by one fisherman
The guy slowly places a tender kiss
On his lover's cheeks and whispers:
"Happy Valentine's Day, dear"





Image source: http://saimadreamz.blogspot.com

Taggo-mania !!!

Tonight I sat down to write a post on Valentine's day! And the plan got ruined, courtesy Vimmu. He has tagged me and I must fulfill it.

Quoting Vimmu, here is what needs to be done:

1. You are given a set of questions.
2. Google the image which best suits the answer and post a picture from first page of image search with minimal explanation.
3. After you finish tag 6 other blogger friends and let them know.

Here are my Google photo searches :

1.Your age on your next birthday

26

2. A place you’d like to travel to

gangotri

3. Your Favorite place
talsari

4. Your favorite food/drink
rabri

5. Your favorite pet
cat

6. Your favorite color combination rainbow

7. Your favorite piece of clothing sherwani

8. Your all time favorite song

9. Your favorite TV show
10. Full name of your significant other

alone

11. The town in which you live

kolkata

12. Your screen name/nickname

13. Your first job

14. Your Dream Job

15: Bad Habit you have blind in love

16. Your worst fear

losing a loved one

17. The one thing you would like to do before you die

18. The first thing you’ll buy if you get $1,000,000

19.Your favourite credo in life.

oh... finally this is over. No, wait. I still have to tag 6 of my blogger friends into this and here they are:
Hope
Alice
Nikhil
Oorja
High heels
Vishesh

YES. NOW THIS IS COMPLETE! :))

PS. All photographs are courtesy: Google search. I do not claim copyrights to any of them

Weird tag!!!

Yes, I got tagged by Hope. The tag is all about writing 6 weird things about myself. So, all you people out there, hold your breath! You have never come across something like this.... and HERE I GO:
(1) I am a master loser. In fact, deep inside my heart, I love losing. There's a kind of pain in losing things and that pain eggs me on to lose even more. In fact, I am not sure nowadays, what I really want.
(2) I am a master also at being misunderstood and getting my back stabbed. People, whom I think are friends, usually bitch behind my back and leave me wounded. Nowadays, I don't believe anyone, as a consequence.
(3) I am master of disguise. I like to keep a track of people I have interest in and check their whereabouts under-cover (007 anyone? ;))
(4) I am hot within and cool outside. As a result, people who feel I am weak are usually taken aback by the fire they encounter with when they try to mess with me. YES, I AM PROUD OF MYSELF! :D
(5) I can't go to sleep at night and occasionally stay awake till dawn!
(6) I am very particular about every single penny. So, even if you owe me Re 1, expect a reminder from me, every alternate day! :D

That's it! Now that I am done, here are the blogs (read blog owners), I would like to tag into this:

• Oorja
• Amreekan Desi
• Varun
• V-Lokam
• 18000 rpm

Happy tagging!!! :)

So near, yet so far!

I saw you the other day. You were flashing a billion dollar smile, that made my heart melt instantly. Oh, you are so beautiful, sweetheart. I can stare at you without my eyes straining, for hours. The mesmerising smile, the beautiful lips, the curves, everything is so enticing, so inviting.
Alas! You are so far away!
Pity! The people who have made you stand there have no mercy on you!
You are there at the same place, every day, every hour, every minute, every moment.... staring at me with the same kind of intensity, the same kind of ardent devotion.
A silent prayer in your lips... "Please take me away from here, I am so tired, I want to sleep, I want to rest, those spotlights tire my eyes, I want the cosy corner of the bedroom, not the expansion of the blue sky above, not the drizzle and thunder that I encounter with, occasionally"
I say: Yes, my dear, I understand... I am not inhuman...
But... there is a big 'but' in here...

How can I reach you? You are so far away? So big on me? The nearer I get to you, the bigger you seem to me... Because, sweetheart, you are destined to be like that... Because, you are only a billboard!

Do you like it?

Yesterday was a hectic one for me. I was bored and felt confined with my old blogger template and desperately needed something new. I did a lot of search on the internet and finally, got myself a new template for my blog. Yes, if you ask me, I am quite satisfied with it. But, I would still like to know how do you feel.

Take the simple poll below and let me know your valuable and honest feedback!

The pledge

Standing tall amidst ruins,
Strong amongst the weak,
Island in a sea,
A lone sugar cube in a cup of tea.

I hereby pledge:
Not to turn into a ruin,
Not to become weak,
Not to be submerged by the arrogant waves,
Not to melt in heat or get frozen by cold

Whatever be the adversity,
Whatever be the calamity,
I WILL face everything with a brave heart,
Show the world that living is an art,
Canvas is the same for all,
Colors are the same for all,
Whether I sketch grief or sorrow,
Whether I paint happiness or gratification,
It all depends on me...

Life is a big big party,
Let us all enjoy it before it ends,
Do not stand there in the corner and feel shy,
Come, take the floor, try and fly...
You never know...

Because...

A bird never knows...
...until it tries to fly

Life of a dog

Oh... the last few days have been tiring, to say the least, giving me little opportunity to blog. Now that I have got some, let me narrate what happened in the morning today. While I was waiting for our office bus today, I saw three stray dogs lying close by, probably exhausted by the crazy things they did at night. Their eyes were half-closed and were relaxing to their heart's content. Then I saw a gentleman having tea at the nearby 'dhaba' and buying a pack of biscuits. Next, what he did was he tore open the packet and placed biscuits in front of each of the dogs (four in front of each). They were pleasantly surprised as if they could not believe their luck. [Remember, a stray dog's life, though independent, is not exactly a happy one!]
Without much thought, they gobbled up their individual parts and started looking at each other, as if trying to find out if someone has anything remaining. Then, one of them smartly stood up and started watching each of the human beings in the vicinity (including me). He had somehow not noticed the face of the person who had done him a big favor by serving him breakfast! In his eyes, there was admiration and gratitude for all. What happened next was he went towards a guy standing nearby and started wagging his tail. Do you know what happened after that?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The man kicked him hard. There was a loud cry. The admiration in his eyes had suddenly turned into fear and hatred. He had learnt his lesson! He ran away crying and barking...........

Awards!!!

Hi

Received the following blogging awards from Alice and am over the moon!!! :D

I am not sure whether I deserve them, but since she thinks I do, I am accepting all of them.

Thanks Alice, thanks a lot!!!

I am passing these awards on to the following people who deserve them more than I do:

Rob Carey (Have a look at his paintings and sketches)

18000 rpm (Utterly meticulous, honest and humorous)

amreekan desi (His articles are always insightful)

oorja (This is different, has a dignity of her own)

varun (Lazy one, but when he writes, he writes very well!)

v-lokam (A good singer and a good blogger)

PS. I know there are more people out there who are extremely deserving candidates for these awards, but they have already received these, so it's no use giving the same awards to the same people again and again! :)

Alpana

I was fidgeting with Windows Paint today in the evening, when I created this one. I am not very much satisfied with the resultant, there are many flaws already.... however it is very colorful.