Morning of February 17th, 2008
Was supposed to catch an evening flight to Mumbai to join a new workplace in a new city, a city that i just did not like and the very thought of staying here for more than a few days was repulsive. Just did not feel like going away from HOME.....where I had lived a protected life for 24 years and 364 days as on Feb 17th, had not packed my stuff!!! Mom did that for me and i was not even aware what was packed and where was it kept, and I was so repelled by the whole situation that I did not bring in any unnecessary luggage/material with me, anything that i found remotely unuseful was thrown out and at the end of the day, I was left with a midddle sized suitcase and a bag, that was all that I was carrying to Mumbai having agreed to relocate. Phew, was that not an indication of how happy I was to be leaving my home :(
Evening of February 17th, 2008
Time to leave my place. Our car got stuck in a traffic jam and could not reach home in time for me to take it. So happy was I that even destiny was contriving to make sure that I stay back. Little did I realise that there was no Taxi Strike that day; of all the strike days in Calcutta, wish there was a strike on Feb 17th!!!
Took a taxi to the airport. The thought of tearing the tickets and returning crossed my mind more than a thousand times, but I was supposed to be a strong individual, the self obsessed beast who could not come across as a loser by going back on what I dug for myself. I had to take the plunge, not because I wanted it but because I had to protect my self bloated ego.
So, I took the flight and here I was in the next 2 hours listening to the in-flight announcement by the Captain.........."Welcome to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport at Mumbai".......my heart sank!!!
12 AM : February 18th 2008
I Get a call from home......"Happy Birthday Appu....!!!", and i was in tears with a lump in my throat....someone said that men don't cry, but I did, may be I am not a man, but who cares anyways!!! Could not sleep till 3 in the morning, and got up at 6 as I had to make it to the office on my First Day for my joining.
February 18th 2008 - First Day in Office
Nothing special!!! Just the normal form filling activities and stuff. And no matter how much they say they care about their employees, the HR and the company failed to notice that it was my Birthday!!! So much for caring for Employees; not that i was looking for a Birthday cake. At that time I cared a damn about these people.
Throughout the day, the phone kept buzzing with wishes and messages from family and its one huge family that i got, relatives and friends. Realised the importance of real people, and not fake ones!!!
February 25th 2008 - Deported to Coimbatore
A week old in Mumbai, and was sent for an assignment for 12 weeks to Coimbatore. I did not protest as I was only too happy to be avoiding the city that I did not like for the first few months.
May 15th 2008 - Back to Mumbai from Coimbatore
Came back as I was required on a new project.
Mumbai.....Part 1.....
I had decided to leave this place pretty soon, and had set myself a target of July end to be returning back to my place. Moved in with a friend's friend's friend for a couple of months; and was just waiting for days to go by for me to return back to Calcutta.
Mumbai......Part 2......Things start to change.....
As I started travelling up and down from my temporary place to work, I realised I was wasting 4 hours in travelling almost daily.
The Search for a Place Begins.......May 16th 2008 till July 15th 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Write up by Vir Sanghvi on Calcutta........Amazing!!!!!!!
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 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 NewYork, 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 or sinister 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 in artistic 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.
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 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 NewYork, 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 or sinister 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 in artistic 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.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Am I a Fake???????
Thts the question i'm trying to find an answer to. Is the modern day life real? I do not know but I think it isn't. In the year 2001 when I passed out of school in class 12, I still remember I used to give birthday treats for 40 bucks and treasure the 4 rupees canteen snack that I could manage, the 2 rupees contribution to buy a cricket ball of 25 rupees.........Come 2008!!! What a change it has been. i do not mind spending 150 bucks on a cold coffee with chocolate sauce and ice-cream....that for me is the price I pay for trying to be "in tune with the modern ways of society".......but is that who I truly am.....because my history and past pattern of behavious does not suggest that it is the real me.....then the question which comes up is - "Who am i trying to become?"....and the only answer i can come up with is " I'm trying to be a year 2008 man".......to be identified with a type of behaviour that is considered 'cool' in the modern day society......but for what and at what cost????....
I am losing out on my original self....the self which helped me through the most wonderful and impressionable period of my life......the self that a child learns from its surroundings and from its habitat....the real self that makes the character of a person. Why am I falling into this trap?????.........
Everyone is competing with one another....trying to prove that one is better than the other......trying to fight against this world......trying to live a life for this world....to create opinions about ourselves the way we want the world to percieve us..........why???????????........why do we attach so much importance to this world???....for me it is a different case....for me this world does not exist and if it does its a small world made up of people who I care for and people who care for me........(To be continued.......)
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Upcoming Event at Calcutta : "Coffee with SIBM" for all MBA aspirants from the city!!!
As the D-Day for CAT 2007 approaches near, here is an offering for all the city aspirants to unwind the very next day after the exam with an informal interactive session with one of the top B-Schools in India, SIBM Pune. For all the interested people, the event is being held at Gyan Manch on 19th of November, 2007 from 4 PM to 8 PM. So be there to drink it with SIBM, coffee that is...............and yes you also get served hot samosas......and yes its all free..........!!!!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Dilip Vengsarkar needs to go...................
After the drama being played out in Indian Cricket over these last few months, I am pretty sure now that the Chairman of Selectors, the Colonel needs to be court marshalled to ensure that Indian cricket remains healthy. Now, we can understand why Rahul Dravid resigned..............
Sachin Tendulkar was made the vice-captian for the England Tour. The Mumbai lobby wanted Sachin to be the Captain and Vengsarkar was the man to put it right for them. sachin had agreed to take another shot at captaincy after the tour to Australia by which time Vengsarkar would be putting a lot of pressure on Dravid and then Dravid would be removed from captaincy when the team returned from Australia badly beaten and bruised. But Dravid called their bluff and resigned after a successful England tour and the Vengsarkar-Sachin coup went disarray. And now when Sachin was offered the captaincy, he declined because his past track record is not good and he does not want to be the one to lead his side to demolition in Australia..........It would have worked out so beautifully for the Mumbai lobby to have Sachin as captain in the easier matches after the tour Down Under but with Dravid being a step ahead of them, the plan now stands exposed..........
I wish we had more people like Rahul Dravid in Indian Cricket..........he is the only player who stands for credibility, dignity and respect...................
Post script: Just another example of his professionalism : In the Ranji match in which he scored 200, he was at all times wearing the clothes of Karnataka Team and Karnataka's cap and not the Indian dress..............I have seen a lot of players from Indian team playing domestic matches in their Indian dresses which is not permissible...........way to go Rahul............I take a bow....
Disclaimer : The above post is only my personal thought and opinion and I do not have any evidence to suggest that there was such an understanding between the persons concerned, and is only an interpretation of what could have happened given the circumstances and is speculation on my part.
Sachin Tendulkar was made the vice-captian for the England Tour. The Mumbai lobby wanted Sachin to be the Captain and Vengsarkar was the man to put it right for them. sachin had agreed to take another shot at captaincy after the tour to Australia by which time Vengsarkar would be putting a lot of pressure on Dravid and then Dravid would be removed from captaincy when the team returned from Australia badly beaten and bruised. But Dravid called their bluff and resigned after a successful England tour and the Vengsarkar-Sachin coup went disarray. And now when Sachin was offered the captaincy, he declined because his past track record is not good and he does not want to be the one to lead his side to demolition in Australia..........It would have worked out so beautifully for the Mumbai lobby to have Sachin as captain in the easier matches after the tour Down Under but with Dravid being a step ahead of them, the plan now stands exposed..........
I wish we had more people like Rahul Dravid in Indian Cricket..........he is the only player who stands for credibility, dignity and respect...................
Post script: Just another example of his professionalism : In the Ranji match in which he scored 200, he was at all times wearing the clothes of Karnataka Team and Karnataka's cap and not the Indian dress..............I have seen a lot of players from Indian team playing domestic matches in their Indian dresses which is not permissible...........way to go Rahul............I take a bow....
Disclaimer : The above post is only my personal thought and opinion and I do not have any evidence to suggest that there was such an understanding between the persons concerned, and is only an interpretation of what could have happened given the circumstances and is speculation on my part.
Liverpool thrash Besiktas 8-0.
With yesterday night's victory at Anfield, Liverpool give themselves a chance to qualify for the last 16 in the Champions League. That said and done, the job is still not done yet, I mean, it takes more than one victory to undo a solo point from 3 games, but it gives us hope and with Liverpool Football Club, we always BELIEVE and I think that belief will be more strong now after yesterday night's result. It is absolutely clear now that Peter Crouch needs to start every game until Fernando Torres is fit and we need to play our best team on the pitch and for God sake, Rafa put your rotation policy in limbo for the moment..........rotate in Carling Cup and FA Cup.......
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