Updates

Those which come to my mind right now :

The BEd pre-test is due and so is the final teaching day. Breathing down my neck, night and day. So I'm working and studying on a regular basis. Hard work is a shortcut to success, I've always found.

I finally made a perfect omelette last night. Unfortunately, there was no witness and I ate it before I could photograph it. Very me, of course.

I'm planning to learn Spanish. At the beginning of the next year.

I can manage the household entirely by myself without losing sleep over the whole process. Of course, that excludes the cooking and cleaning bits. Come to think of it, work never ends.

I'm back to brushing up my proficiency in my mother tongue. I must be one of those rare specimens who think in English and then translate, most of the time. And no, I'm not proud of it.

I've finally lost enough weight to garner compliments most of the time. Of course, I too have those 'nothing fits me !' days once in a while. But Priyanka in 'Anjaana Anjaani' has given me enough motivation to remain in shape for the next few months ;-)

I'm finally looking forward to watching Bengali films. Of the 'Autograph' type. Even unexpected, I'm humming lyrics from contemporary Bengali film songs.

I've a career plan in place. Well, a few. There's the Gemini in me speaking ;-)

I discovered that I can still lose sense of time and place when reading a Mills & Boon.

I'm back to my culinary enthusiast self. Planning to cook something new this weekend.

I finally have some girlfriends with whom I can go holidaying alone. Although our pre-test dates seem to be hell-bent on messing up our winter vacation plans.

I'm planning to revisit my poet alter ego. Soon.

I've re-connected with my roots after a visit to my paternal grandparents' ancestral place and my paternal grandfather's sister's place in Shantiniketan. I feel somewhat sorted out and stable now. Freud was right when he emphasised that it's our childhood that determines the person we later turn out to be.

I feel I have a better understanding of the members of our apartment. I might be wrong, of course.

I feel I'm happily married, after all ;-)

Explanation

For all those of you who have been wondering why on earth I've gone into hibernation - I'm here, alive and in perfect health. The LCD of our laptop had gone so white that it was not possible to read anything on its surface without giving it a makeover. It came back with a new display attached. But soon after, the screen began to flicker intermittently and there was a problem with the brightness of the LCD. So it was sent to hospital once again ;-)

But it's back today. And(un)fortunately for you, so am I :-D

The Avocado

My latest crush is on the avocado. Sorry folks, I'm too old to go ga-ga over Bollywood any more, although I must admit to drooling over Imraan Khan once in a while (I even dreamed that I came across him in a library the other day !) but mostly I've got over the oh-I-shall-die-if-I-don't meet/get-this-person phase. My obsessions have been considerably diet-related, more healthy and less sinful of late.

As I was saying, I'm in love with the fruit that is called the avocado. I watched Rachel Ray, Ina Garten and Sandra Lee use it in their cooking, especially the salads, quite frequently. Well, I thought, why not try it myself ? After all, we'll be returning home sooner or later and it's not really a native to that part of the world, so let's capitalise on its easy availability here pronto. Hence, the next time we were at the Hillsborough Farmer's Market, I spent quite some time at one particular corner of the fruit section, eyeing the heap of freshly stocked avocados. Here I came up against a curious obstacle. Most of the fruits were dark green and one-fourth of the stock a grim purplish-black. I wasn't sure which one I should be opting for and what the difference between them might be. After much brainstorming, I decided the green ones looked more palatable and selected two of the same.

The Hillsborough Farmer's Market :

I was to discover to my misery that the green ones were green in all senses of the word. It was the unimpressive looking (and ripe) blackish ones that I should have shortlisted. Not having watched the cooking shows that closely, I now became a victim of my culinary ignorance. Especially since I had pounced on the first one immediately after my return from the market and been preparing to add it to a fruit salad for lunch where the sweeter fruit flavours might serve to conceal the taste of the avocado to K, in case he took a dislike to it (I'm never sure about him when it comes to a new food item). The moment I found it too hard to cut with a sharp knife, I knew something was wrong (with the fruit, silly, not me). After a lot of manual effort (with a variety of kitchen tools), I managed to dissect it, only to find the interior quite leathery and orange-green, which gave away the fact that it was yet to ripen. Disappointed, I wrapped it in a plastic bag and kept it on top of the fridge, so that it could make its slow way to maturity.

And then, as usual, I forgot all about it. Until a day when we had disposed of our trash sooner than we would, suspecting the recent stink in the kitchen to be coming from some fish we'd cooked the last night and whose bones now lay sulking in the bin. However, even after the apparently malodorous trash had been disposed of, the smell persisted and even grew worse. Finally, after considerable perplexity, the source was traced. The culprit was the cut avocado which I'd stored on top of the fridge and then forgotten all about. Naturally, I couldn't blame K for glaring at me after all the resultant chaos.

Well, at least there was a second one to look out for. This one ripened quite uneventfully and I was able to do it justice. Extracting the fruit actually requires some skill. First, slide the knife deep into the peel and then allow the knife to make its way all around the fruit, lengthwise. Notice that you'll meet with some resistance when you come to the centre, which is where the seed resides. Keep the knife aside. Gripping the would-be two haves of the fruit, apply a little force to twist them around and hence apart. Then with a large rounded spoon which you slide under the seed, lift the latter out of its cavity. The result should somewhat resemble this :

Now, all you have to do is use the same spoon to ease the fruit in small scoops out of its peel, which is like a hard cup with distinctly soft content, texturewise. The fruit of your toil is quite literally, at this stage, ready to eat.

By itself, the fruit tastes uncannily similar to the juicy, velvety soft 'taal-shnaash' , the fruit of the palmyra palm, very popular in Indian village festivals and now a delicacy that the urbane have mostly heard about from their parents without ever really getting to taste the actual thing (photo below) except perhaps at occasional regional festivals :



(Photo : courtesy Wikipedia )

It's only that the avocado is a trifle more buttery and less jellyish in its consistency to the 'taal-shnaash'. It tastes even better with a sprinkle of salt, a dash of pepper and a hint of lime juice. And as for its nutritional value, let's not even begin enumerating that for then we shan't know simply where to stop. Just look up the wikipedia entry yourself for the info. And after that, if you have access to the fruit and yet haven't capitalised on the fact, don't bang your head against the wall out of regret. I did warn you !

Last words : Despite all my eulogising, I must confess that I haven't managed to convert K to eat the fruit under consideration. He took a small bite, grimaced, described the taste as ok and insisted he could do without it. So much for trying to make one's own husband follow a healthy diet !

A CRICKET MATCH

Game in progress :

We accompanied the Shindes on Saturday, 25th July, to Woodbridge, near Edison, where the NY-NJ League Cricket Finals (J & J, TCS and AIG, TCS) were taking place on a school playground. Other apparently choice locales had been rejected since they refused to allow any sort of activity on the grounds without having each and every player insured. No one was keen on taking such trouble, so the school, which did not create any such fuss, was accorded the due respect. We set out at about 11 am, armed with newspapers, sunscreen, granola bars, water, caps and hats and all the other paraphernalia necessary to sitting on a carpet of grass in summer for the sake of boosting the morale of the players (K's colleagues and our friends). We were specially prepared to cheer Madhav, whose wife was in India at that moment and who was also nursing an injured back, owing to a muscle he had pulled in an earlier match leading upto the finals and who wasn't therefore in a very happy frame of mind. We were also looking forward to watching Ankesh, who had done us all proud by notching up numerous runs to our credit in former matches and had thereby gained the reputation of a bankable player. Besides, there were Ajoy, Rensil, Tridib Da, Sumitro etc who we were all quite pally with and eager therefore to watch in action.

The gathering :

The game had already begun by the time we arrived. There was quite a gathering, mostly the family of the players and others like us, who evidently considered it their prime moral duty to utilise their Sat morning by cheering their own team and booing the other. The best example of this was one worthy spouse of a player in the other team who kept on crying out at suitably spaced intervals " We want wicket !", initially with considerable enthusiasm and later it seemed, out of sheer inertia of vociferation. Poor thing, she had evidently had no breakfast and was evidently keen on having some wickets instead.

Mid-day scene :

There were several chairs, mostly occupied by spouses of the other team members and we weren't sure whether we should be impudent enough to go grab the former. After considering the matter for several awkward moments, we opted out and settled down instead on a large mattress spread out for the occasion. Most of the boys prefered to remain standing (Abhishek and K obviously feeling that their providing company to their team would somehow compensate adequately for not playing in the actual match themselves).

The boys look on :

The HR proved themselves quite well equipped for the situation, handing out packets of Lays chips and bottles of water and soda at frequent intervals and even providing mini packages of Papa John's pizza for lunch (veg and non-veg ones stacked respectively in the dicky of a car and its front seat).

Alas. Our team, which was batting, outdid themselves. I think the fact that their last practice match had taken place the very day before this one must have messed up their muscles and morale. They looked quite tired and behaved quite spent. The extreme heat and scorching sun did nothing to make things better. Wickets fell, thick and fast. Despite some ear-splitting whistles from Abhishek and hoarse cheering from another team member I was unacquainted with (to the effect of pointing out that there were too many wides and no-balls and too much 'chucking'), things didn't go well. Sumitro later said that the pitch had seemed scarily long to him while Ankesh looked quite baffled, having been bowled out from behind (he was to remain mystified for the rest of the day). Madhav looked worse than before, having strained his already injured back muscle and not being able to make too many runs in such a sorry situation, although he did hit an overboundary and I clapped enthusiastically till my hands were sore. Ajoy, Rensil, Tridib Da were back by the time we were just warming up to watch them. In short, things were pretty grim by the end of the first session.

Post-lunch, our team seemed to be picking up. The fielding was consistent and the bowling edgy. But the other team proved too well-organised and strategically sound to outdo. It was evident that the game would soon be over and we soon diverted our energies to watching the children in their activities than the game itself.

Children play their own games :

It was. The prize distribution ceremony took place almost immediately. Mr Suri, president of TCS, North America, did the honours. No mean feat that, considering he had flown in from India that very morning and must have been quite exhausted after a 20 hours' journey. He also cheered up everyone by stressing that the game had been played in the right spirit and that was what mattered at the end of the day.

Mr Suri :

The trophy, close up :

The runners up were all given mini-trophies and their captain, the legendary BRM(owing to his talent for procrastination) Ravi Rout, regaled all present with a short speech in which he hinted at another form of spirit being anticipated later, win or no win. The winning team took centrestage after that, one team member mysteriously nicknamed 'Funny' (Phani ?!) being cheered so noisily that it almost verged on booing. So much for etiquette. Finally, there was a photo session, where everyone from the respective teams, players or no, posed to oblige us.

The score-board :

The runners-up, TCS_ J & J :

The winners, TCS_ AIG :

I was secretly glad that the awards ceremony didn't last too long, because I'd left my cap on the grass under the shade of the tree where we'd been sitting and felt like my scalp was on fire, the sun was so offensively hot at that point of time (about 2.30 pm). To top it all, Sumitro announced that we had proved quite inauspicious after all. Talk of ingratitude ! We left soon after, although our departure was somewhat unexpectedly delayed by the heating up of the leather seats in Abhishek Shinde's car, which meant we had to wait haplessly in the fierce sunshine with the car doors wide open, while the car AC cooled down the seats enough for us to rest our sensitive behinds on it !

RANDOM LIFE

The newspaper is getting increasingly interesting by the day. Take the TOI, for instance. It is finally reducing sensationalism to the span of its city supplements and producing some 'real' news. Check out a random selection of news items here :

1 ) Effect of Mamata's annual rally on the routine of the citizens

2) The sorry side of the above story

3) How greed might prove to be one's undoing

4) The actual, insidious effects of increasing pollution

5) How airlines are trying to be indiscriminately careful

6) Making a mountain out of a molehill

7) How the needs of women are currently being capitalised on

Whew, quite some variety, I must say. Makes one regret that one can't really somehow manage the time to read the newspaper from cover to cover on a daily basis. It would evidently prove be both informative and entertaining. Of course, a lot of people don't like to read real news, just the relevant gist. But I find the whole rigmarole as absorbing as that of a good crime thriller : a lot is said, a lot is left unsaid. It's upto you to fit the bits and pieces together to decipher what the current state of the nation is like. Often it's painful, cutting you yourself to bits and pieces before you manage to desensitise yourself to emotions and indignations and just watch and wait. For the reality that is more a solution than a problem in itself. Which might mean waiting for a long long time, really.

On a lighter and more random note, you might, like me, prefer to watch other people wait for irresponsible others who leave them locked out of their own home. My lunch was interrupted yesterday by the most awful hammering and shouting possible, almost precipitating a heart failure. It turns out that a couple opposite were unable to enter their own house, since a certain 'Henry' was not answering the door. They screamed the whole neighbourhood down in his name, peeped through the animal entry/exit slit lower down on the main door, banged their fists against the former (it's a wonder it didn't collapse under the assault), went down the back stairs into the parking lot only to return in a moment or so (just when I had been about to feel relieved and jubilant at their departure) ; in short, they did everything to arouse the curiosity and annoyance of the entire residential complex.

Pre-Henry :

I just didn't get it : was it a child they were calling out to and who might have fallen asleep or who was ill and who therefore they shouldn't have left alone at home in the first place or a guest or family member who was taking a shower perhaps and therefore simply couldn't hear them ? I mean, why couldn't they just sit down on the steps and wait for for a little while for the person in question ? By the time the two were done, exhausted, I was too. My audibility limits had been severely challenged and to top it all, it had worsened a migraine attack which had started that morning. By the time the said Henry turned up on the scene - a 30 something hefty young man with a very red face, an unassuming, cheerful voice and a receding hairline - wiggling his way fast to the source of all the chaos with a huge soda in his hand, I was ready to beat the hell out of him for making all our lives collectively miserable by his unexpected and untimely disappearance from the scene.

Post-Henry :

In fact, I wonder what we'll do back in Kolkata, after all the tranquility we've become habituated to here now. This place is definitely a quiet, picturesque residential locale, and we often speak in whispers or at least hushed voices in our bedroom or over the phone or lower the volume of the TV at night, fearing that even the normal pitch of our voices or the latter might sound loud to neighbours because of the extreme quietude of the neighbourhood. Although this is much more peaceful than what I myself have been used to all my life in my own locality at Salt Lake, it's not half as cacophonic as our current home, post-marriage, at Kalikapur, where rickshaws, autos, taxis and whimsical microphones seem to own the place, rendering us residents an intimidated and even apologetic (!) lot. Add to that my extreme edginess and irritability after facing all the honking, hooting and hawking on the busy intersections of Gariahat and Ruby General and there you have a very jittery me, contemplating the distinct possibility of not being able to pen a single line of poetry for the rest of my life. Talk about stark contrasts and bleak prospects. I'm beginning to feel quite sorry for myself, after all.


Our neighbourhood (photo : courtesy K-Factor)

NOVELTIES

Moumita just called and only confirmed what others are already suspecting : that I'm in a phase of extreme lethargy, which would be termed in colloquial Bengali as 'churanto lyaadh'. I plead guilty, of course. I've always been extremely transparent about my ideas, opinions and intentions,and would be only too pleased to have people consider me so too.


Well, this is not going to be a post dealing with righteous self-justification. I just wanted to keep the nominal few who are good enough to read my blog updated as to my current preoccupations. Now that summer has arrived (yes, at last !), I've undergone a radical transformation in my daily habits. What is torpor for others is actually a state of extreme planning and preparation for me.


Firstly, I mean to take my blog more seriously than ever. That has finally determined me to learn HTML online, which was precisely what I was doing before I decided to do this post. I was tired of googling websites all the time for help on how to make 'n' number of changes to my blog and I decided to make life simpler by learning the language myself. There seem to be quite a few good online and what's more, user-friendly tutorials on HTML and I mean to make good use of them. Perhaps I shall even go in for a certification later (hoping I continue in this enthusiastic vein for long, which is rather unlike me). As they say (well, maybe not exactly verbatim) : 'Laziness is the mother of invention'.


Secondly, also inspired by my blog and Orkut-olleagues, I am taking my photographic skills seriously. Which means, I'm venturing out into editing in a big way. I plan to apply this in future, of course. I may not turn out a Raghu Rai, perhaps, but any of the creative careers I might choose to take up back home would only serve to profit by such add-ons. Hence, I spend a couple of half-hours each day practising various editing techniques to keep my hand in, so to say.


Thirdly, I'm back to my voracious reading self. I have a whole set of books lined up for my express (pun intended, people) perusal and it's all the more challenging when I insist on reading more than one at the same (one of my numerous eccentricities, as K is only too familar with). Here's the list :


The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck
The Age of Innocence -Edith Wharton
Kim -Rudyard Kipling
Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis
Shirley - Charlotte Bronte


Of course, I'm also reading an Agatha Christie (for casual relief) on the side. I just completed her 'A Caribbean Mystery' which I had been following not only for the story, but also other reasons, which I'll return to in a moment. And I must say, I was as impressed as ever. She's certainly the 'Queen of Crime'.


I also tried to learn Spanish from a book I found in the library and which I had issued once in the not-too-remote past also. I say 'tried' because I just returned the book, having failed in my attempts to learn the basics of the language all by myself, without any tutor whatsoever. I really had my work cut out this time. It was hard to try to remember the Spanish equivalents of words without knowing for sure whether I was pronouncing the Spanish words themselves correctly. I think I'll buy some software/CD instead, to make my job easier. I spotted some language software packs on sale at the nearby Bridgewater Commons Mall and I think I'll go back and have a serious second look at them.


I'm back to poetry. Yes, I know. I do hear the applause. But as I did warn everyone, I do possess the artistic temperament, which renders me extremely sensitive and susceptible to the influence of such frivolous factors as the weather. I've really tried, but winter in New Jersey is just too severe to nurture my creative urges. And the good news this time is that I think I'm improving as a poet, favouring themes and topics athat appeal more to my sense than merely my sensibility. Which is not to denigrate the latter. Only reminding myself that I'm ageing and consequently need to address commensurate issues.


Last but not least, I've been influenced enough by Agatha Christie's autobiography to try my hand at story-writing. No, I haven't started yet. But I'm mentally preparing myself. A miracle might just happen soon. For the eager and impatient, I quote the Queen of Crime herself :


"It is an odd feeling to have a book growing inside you, for perhaps six or seven years knowing that one day you will write it, , knowing that it is building up, all the time, to what it already is. Yes, it is there already - it just has to come more clearly out of the mist. All the people are there, ready, waiting in the wings, ready to come on to the stage, when their cues are called - and then, suddenly, one gets a clear and sudden command : Now !


Now is when you are ready. Now, you know all about it. Oh, the blessing that for once one is able to do it then and there, that now is really now."


I rest my case.

P.S :

Speaking of novelties, here's the most recent one: Some weirdo named Paul Recherche just added me to his contacts list on Skype (where I have neither a photo nor any sort of personal details that would be even remotely likely to make myself sound attractive to anyone of his sort !) and sent me a message in French, which I not being very conversant with, just got translated on another website. I reproduce the English translation of the original message.

"Hello, this is Paul Recherche here. I'm looking to establish a serious relation that might end up in marriage. Here is my number" (I refrain from reproducing the latter).

What the hell ?!

ODDITIES

Any idea what the above is ? No guys, it isn't the latest version of the computer accessory we're more familar with nowadays than the typical household pest we learned to live with and tolerate. It's a battery operated can-opener.

Having had a miserable track record in can-openers, where

1) either the plastic coating came off and made the basic handling of the article a veritable torture

2) the grip seemed to loosen by the day, making our nerves as jittery as the can-in-waiting itself

3) the contraption came without a necessary part and it took us intellectuals a fortnight to reach enlightenment,

we finally decided to take a $18 worth plunge into the ocean of 'As-Seen-On-TV' items that even Aamir Khan could not resist . I, personally, am rather wary of the whole ad world in general, brought up as I was on a rigorous diet of post-1980s cultural studies at JUDE. And when it comes to risking several dollars in a new-fangled and over-hyped invention that may turn out to be a major flopshow after all, I promptly shy away. But there are times when K pretends to be completely oblivious to my perceptions of marketing in general and goes entirely by his whims. This was one of those red-letter instances.

The instruction on the manual seemed few and simple. First, one was supposed to insert two AA batteries into the designated grove. Now, batteries are the things that you somehow always seem to have spotted around the house a couple of days ago but now seem to have not even the faintest idea of their probable whereabouts. However, frantically searching our respective 'pet' storage areas, we managed to hunt a couple of them down. After this eventful start, we moved onto the actual functional aspect of the tool. All one was apparently supposed to do was place the can opener 'on top of the can with its rim positioned in the groove at the bottom of the can opener'. K proceeded to turn the thing over and study its underbelly.

After identifying the aforementioned 'groove', we moved onto instruction 2. This said that 'we had to place the can opener on a flat surface'. Fine. We positioned it on the kitchen countertop. Next we had to 'press the start button for about one second and release it' once the can opener started to cut the can. Here, we faced the second setback. Several such 'one second'-s passed. But the can opener simply refused to make any motion whatsoever, much less initiate its assigned role. K stopped and stared, first at the tool, and then at me.

I decided it was time I took over. I re-read the first two instructions. Try as I might, they had no hidden meaning and were simply not ambiguous enough to occasion any other intelligent interpretation. Crestfallen, we proceeded to try the whole series of steps all over again. No result.

K didn't look very happy. I did, since I was already anticipating this as another occasion most likely to climax with one of my "I-told-you-so" and "see, this-is-why-you-should-always-listen-to-your-wife" speeches. I was just considering the degree of conceit that should suit the speech, when K rudely intervened. "I think we need to recharge the batteries", he burst in, looking disgustingly confident and detestably hopeful. My face fell. So much for presumption.

He tried with the recharged batteries the next morning. Nothing happened. I cheered up.

As a last, futile attempt, K suggested, before leaving for office, that I try my hand at getting the thing to function. There's a reason underlying such an audacious hope. We bought a fruit/veggie chopper from Walmart a few months ago and after several hours of vain persuasion and brain/muscle-storming on K's part, he had washed his hands off the "damn thing" and handed it over to me. The next morning, after he had duly departed to discharge his engineering duties, I sat down on the sofa, read the entire instruction sheet, inspected the thing from all angles possible and after almost memorising the construction of the whole thing, actually (and quite miraculously, I must confess) managed to make it roar into function. Hence, the use of me as a last resort. I too, however, failed this time.

That very night, we re-read the manual, re-charged the batteries (once again !) and re-tried, on a different can. It worked ! All we had to do now was follow step 3, which ordered us to 'lift the Can Opener off the can. For your convenience, a magnet in the center of the One Touch Can Opener will pick up the lid as well'. That part was duly and quite uneventfully executed.

We finally got to the root of the problem. It appears that the surface of that particular can had not been level. Hence, the thing had failed to take off.

Whew.

To be honest, I think, we were both relieved.

I think I'll soon put up a video of how the can-opener looks when work is in progress. It's really fun to watch.

Btw, here's an interesting photo for you . Had you ever imagined that an ordinary everyday capsicum can actually be made to metamorphose into a flower ? Have a look !

Now, this was a fun and educating read. It reminds me of this !

AWARD CEREMONIES

A few months back, we had been watching the 15th Annual Star Screen Awards 2009 on Youtube. Later, we watched the 81st Academy Awards on the ABC Family channel, here, in USA. And not to mince words, the contrast between the demeanour of nominees and participants at the two awards ceremonies could be best summed up in the adjective 'stark'.

When I contemplate the Star Sceen Awards, I cringe at the way Ashutosh Gowariker publicly insulted Sajid Khan at that occasion, paving the way for the media to mire the incident in controversies that leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Ensuring one would remember that ghastly moment first of all when one recalled this year's function. Not others that had eminently more recall value, such as Akshay Kumar's abdication of his most popular actor's trophy in favour of Aamir's role in 'Ghajini' (however cynically detractors may dismiss or decipher that) or the sensation that a relatively low budget (and certainly less hyped) film like 'A Wednesday' created by director Neeraj Pandey getting to share stage space and acclaim with the best director of the best film 'Jodhaa Akbar'. Or how 'Rock On' really did rock the Bollywood community, sweeping off several successive awards (Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Most Promising Male Newcomer, Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role). It's a different issue that Sajid's jokes did often sound forced or insipid and even seemed to border on the inane or farcical at times, but even an audience of laymen would vouch for his disarming non-malicious good humour at any point of time. If you are part of the 'acting' industry but cannot laught at jokes directed at your actor's persona, then you're in the wrong place at the wrong time and need a reality check pronto. It was all fine when Gowariker, coming up to accept his prize for the best director, began to express his grief at how he felt Sajid and Farah were capitalising on box-office collections as a means of dismissing films like 'Love Story 2050' or 'Tashan' that saw a whole film crew's vision falling flat on its face. But those in the audience secretly lauding his representative humane side received a rude jolt when he threw a crude "shut up" at Sajid and proved to be as bad as Sajid, if not worse, using the podium to make a mockery of the sponsors' goodwill, effectually jeopardising the reputation of this annual event. The trepidation on the face of Suzanne Roshan or Hrithik or Priyanka Chopra sufficed to suggest that Gowariker would do better to limit his philanthropism to directing films.



I couldn't but help compare this bizarre turn of events to the poignant cameraderie that bonded nominees for this year's best actor and actress awards at the Oscars. It was a moving moment when yesteryear's awardees were called on to announce and accolade this year's shortlisted few. Be it Anthony Hopkins on Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman on Angelina Jolie or Sophia Lauren on Meryl Streep, the warmth and emotional connect in the film fraternity was evident from the body language of everyone present. The actor giving away an award seemed to be as proud of his role at that point of time as the awardee him/her-self . Everyone seemed to subtly sense that the occasion was one that highlighted the entire Hollywood film industry and was more about them all than any particular winner as such. Their behaviour happened to be commensurately classy.

And now this , this , and this !



Bollywood, er, Ashutosh Gowariker I mean, is getting bizarre by the day. And I so agree with Subhash K. Jha's conclusion, although that could be applicable to himself too. On mumerous occasions, he has received verbal brickbats from newspaper readers for dismissing /dissecting/ detractive statements on actors of known stature and calibre, which have indeed called his integrity as a critic into question. But let that rest for the moment. The question is why AG needs to portray Bollywood as a squabbler's h(e)aven to the rest of the world. At the rate he's endearing himself to the film fraternity, he might soon have to contend with a premature termination of his career due to all the lead actors making themselves scarce to him !

DISASTER DRAMA

This is the incredibly sombre, sobering forward I discovered today morning in my mail-box :

"Subject: A330: AIR FRANCE CRASH PHOTOS, AMAZED BY GUY'S INSTINCT......2 photos after Collision and before Death....


Feel so sad for all the passengers including the extraordinary photographer, who kept his cool even in his last moments of life and took this photo. Hats off to him !!!

Yesterday the world saw the disappearance of an A330 Air France during a trans-Atlantic flight between Rio and Paris. Very ironic that a day before, I got a mail of the photos taken by a passenger on a flight mins after a mid-air collision, and mins before the crash of the said aircraft : two shots taken inside the plane before it crashed. Unbelievable!

A B737 had a mid air collision with the Embraer Legacy while cruising at 35,000 feet over South America. The Embraer Legacy, though seriously damaged with the winglet ripped off, managed to make a landing at a nearby airstrip in the midst of the Amazon jungle. The crew and passengers of the Embraer Legacy had no idea what they had hit. The B737however crashed, killing all crew and passengers on board.

The two photos attached were apparently taken by one of the passengers in the B737, just after the collision and before the aircraft crashed. The photos were retrieved from the camera's memory stick. You will never get to see photos like this. In the first photo, there is a gaping hole in the fuselage through which you can see the tailplane and vertical fin of the aircraft.



In the second photo, one of the passengers is being sucked out of the gaping hole.


Photos taken inside the GOL B 737 aircraft that was involved in a mid air collision and crashed.....

These photos were found in a digital Casio Z750, amidst the remains in Serra do Cachimbo. Although the camera was destroyed, the Memory Stick was recovered. Investigating the serial number of the camera, the owner was identified as Paulo G. Muller, an actor of a theatre for children in the outskirts of Porto Alegre. It can be imagined that he was standing during the impact with the Embraer Legacy and during the turbulence, he managed to take these photos. Just seconds after the tail loss, the aircraft plunged. So the camera was found near the cockpit. The structural stress probably ripped the engines away, diminishing the falling speed, protecting the electronic equipment but not unfortunately the victims. Paulo Muller leaves behind two daughters, Bruna and Beatriz."

Last words : Sukanta Chaudhuri, one of our most respected professors at JU, once told us when teaching 'Macbeth' : "Disaster is what we think always happens to others. Until it suddenly dawns on us that tomorrow, we may be the others." I just remembered that.

Eco-friendly

The sight of this ad in today's TOI (click to enlarge) gladdened my heart...at last we're going commercial with eco-friendly products !



Way to go, guys !

Doomsday

"I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it. " ~Alexander Woollcott

Source : THE TIMES OF INDIA, 05-06-2009 (HEADLINES)


Diarrhoea grips Sunderbans

70% Aila Victims Suffer, Govt Sees No Crisis

Prithvijit Mitra TNN

Kolkata: Sunderbans is in the grip of the worst diarrhoea epidemic to break out in south Bengal in three decades. Nearly 70% of Aila-affected people are suffering from the disease as they have no choice but to consume contaminated water.

The sachets of water being supplied to the mangrove islands are but a trickle for thousands of thirsty villagers. And a poor distribution system has prevented it from reaching villages in the interiors. Voluntary organizations working in the cyclone-ravaged areas have come up with shocking data and warn that things could get worse.

The government, however, paints a completely different picture. It says the situation is under control and not more than 5% of the population has been affected.

Doctors, voluntary workers and paramedical staff working in the area say the disease is spreading very fast. Figures compiled by the South Asian Forum for Environment (SAFE), an NGO, reveal that 67% villagers in the Sunderbans are suffering from enteric infection and diarrhoea. A further 18% are victims of snake bites, dog bites and accident injuries, 9% are suffering from skin infection and 6% from other diseases. Which means there is hardly any healthy individual on the storm-struck islands. And less than a dozen doctors to treat them.

A team of doctors from the Medical Service Centre (MSC) — a voluntary organization — confirmed the figures. It could be even worse, they fear. “There is not a single safe water source left there. Millions of gallons are being supplied, but they are either diverted elsewhere or do not reach the people at all. Medicines are sent but unless steps are taken to provide potable water, the epidemic cannot be curbed,” said Angshuman Mitra, who led the MSC team. No more than 30-35% of the victims have access to relief support system, the NGOs said. The only drinking water sources in the Sunderbans — tubewells and PHE pipelines — have got contaminated.

A Sandeshkhali resident fetches water amid the debris on Thursday

How about us all pitching in for a change, instead of playing the old blame game all over again ?

Election results

It's scary when there's no strong opposition to pose a serious threat to the ruling party, I've always thought. It makes the govt complacent and socio-eco-political conditions moribund, people secretly rebellious and optimism about the future difficult. The election results in West Bengal especially reflect the common man's opinion : it's time for a change. It remains to see how effective the change is, for mere histrionics (I refrain from mentioning the MB name) do not constitute a revolution.

Yeahhhhh !

Ok, so my favourite couple is back. Moumita and Sabya Da, of course. Yesterday evening, by Lufthansa (on which the food seems to be getting cheesier, both literally and metaphorically), via Frankfurt. Spring's certainly the harbinger of better things !



Not so in Kol, it seems. Apparently, the temperature there was 41 C yesterday, as Titai announced over the phone, sounding thoroughly disgusted. Mamoni tried to sound merry as she described their collective efforts at minimal yet decorous attire, but wasn't very convincing. With elections approaching, power cuts are likely to get more frequent and worsen the already bleak scenario. It was only 24 C here on Sat and people seemed to have gone berserk with joy. We could hear children playing outdoors till almost 9 pm and past, the neighbours were all outdoors in the skimpiest of attire : shorts, spaghettis and tanks, hosting full fledged barbecues ; we ventured out to clean the car and then take a walk, without a single sweater or jacket and me actually in a skirt ; K got a haircut and we kept on downing bottles of water. We actually had to switch on the AC on Sat night. Wonder what on earth we're going to do back home. Well, at least we'd be returning to summer from summer, so there won't be as drastic a change as it could have been at any other point of time during the year.



Abir's film, Cross-Connection is ready for a May release and the crowds at South City Mall are getting worse. Moumita was astounded by the spectacle of a queue that stretched right till Jadavpur Thana ! That reminds me, I again forgot to congratulate Mamoni for winning a prize at the Spencer's Hypermart quiz, organized by Sananda Club. Mani Square seems to be getting its fair share of attention too, what with irs first IMAX and the inaugural Rs 177 worth food buffet at Haka. However, people are as ill behaved as ever, disowning all etiquette when it comes to getting their money's worth of meat. Well.



K got his narus (he calls them 'diabetes inducing agents') and I got my medicines (he calls them 'diabetes reducing agents') and my hair serum 'Silk-n-Shine' from back home. So we're both happy people right now.

City Centre

City Centre, Salt Lake, has its own website , I just discovered...I'm a happy girl now :))))

At Last !

We were almost dying of anticipation but this just revived us...what fun !

Dishwasher's Day Out

We brought a small bottle of 225 ml Vim Dishwash Liquid, costing just Rs 25, from Gariahat More to USA and guess what, we managed to use only 95% of it in a total of 5 and a 1/2 months ! Can you beat that? No, I'm not stingy by nature, certainly not so when it comes to dishwashing. Neither am I exaggerating. The bottle is designed to deliver exactly one drop per push and that one drop, I once noted, could clean no less than 4 extremely greasy, typical-Indian-oil-and-turmeric-cooking tainted dishes. I still have 5% of it stowed safely away (you can see it in the photo), for cleaning my gas range top. In mid-Dec, I bought this huge bottle of Palmolive Dishwash Liquid (25 oz/739 ml) from 'Stop N Shop' and 2 and a half months down, there's only about 2/5th of it left. It's fortified with the extracts of aloe and supposedly 'softens your hands while you do the dishes'. That's nice, no doubt, but I wish it would live upto its promise of being 'Tough on Grease, Soft on Hands' in a more practical manner. There's a whole lot of foam and suds generated when it comes in contact with water to be sure, but I have to use quite a generous dollop of it to get my dishes spanking clean. Dawn and Palmolive being the most widely used brands over here and available in quite a few variants (not to speak of colours, where they might match upto VIBGYOR effortlessly), I certainly harboured a lot of expectations from them. And now that I consider, I think I'd rather stick to my moisturiser for a handcare routine rather than a dishwash liquid. If it's so hell bent on skincare, why don't they store it in the cosmetics aisle instead ?


And when it comes to cleaning my spotlessly white (well, initially, I mean) gas range, that's what I've actually reserved the rest of my Vim Dishwash Liquid for. The lemon in the Vim just brushes away the dirt like magic. I once tried using the Palmolive one, but it just turned the black marks into light brown and then gave up. May it rest in peace.

Oh, and I mustn't forget to sing paeans to Scotchbrite. I got two teeny weeny bits of them from Spencer's, Kalikapur, prior to our arrival. Over 8 months down the line, they're still alive and kicking, though a trifle discoloured and denuded of their initial evenness and flawlessness. No, I'm not about to compare Scotchbrite bought in USA to those bought in India. I'm just lost in wonder at the versatility and durability of the article concerned. Its abrasive surface is rough enough to remove all the cooking generated scum and grease and yet soft enough to scrub the bathtub surface with it. And no, I don't (shudder) use it for the two simultaneously; I do actually have two. One observation I just need to make is that the two pieces I brought over from India are almost 1/6th the size of those available here. That makes me infer that we in India could perhaps afford to be much more economical in our lifestyle (though I shouldn't generalise, keeping in mind the mysteriously open taps on streetside corners, irrespective of human presence/absence). Well, the small sized Scotchbrites should at least inspire us to make the most of limited resources. Less Scotchbrite obviously would need less water to moisten it and therefore lower water consumption etc. That makes sense to me for sure.

Following this chain of association led me to discover some interesting ads in YouTube on saving water. I give you the best of the lot below:

Funny Fish Cartoon:




A child's cry:




Simple, stark contrast :




This was just plain brilliant :




Although I do consciously try to minimise the wastage of water in my everyday chores, I think I've probably still got a long way to go in terms of my water management skills. What about you ?

Bookworm

I'm going crazy, trying to read several books simultaneously at the moment. I just returned two and took four more. God help me !

Here's the list :

• How To Win Friends And Influence People : Dale Carnegie (to improve my PR skills)
• Creating A Beautiful Home : Alexandra Stoddard (interior designing & decoration)
• The Oxford Book of 20th Century English Verse : Edited by Philip Larkin
• Contemporary Drama, 13 Plays : Selected & Edited by Stanley Clayes & David Spencer
• Blogging For Dummies : Brad Hill (well, I like to consider myself one, floating in the endless sea of knowledge, Newton-style)
• Razor's Edge : W. Somerset Maugham
• Slow Man : Coetzee (just completed it, deserving the name 'Slow Woman' for sure)
• Agatha Christie, 5 mystery novels (just returned it)

Here's a list of what K has been reading :

• Unholy War : Terror in the Name of Islam
• Fugitive From the Cubicle Police, A Dilbert Book : Scott Adams
• "If This Is A Lecture, How Long Will It Be?" : Lynn Johnston
• Calvin & Hobbes, a collection (just returned this one)

Whoa !!!

Adding a couple more :

• The Notebook : Nicholas Sparks
• The Crying of Lot 49 : Thomas Pynchon
• The Known World : Edward P. Jones
• Protect Your Home PC (Hackers, Viruses & Privacy) : Gateway Press
• The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need : Joanna Martine Woolfolk

Mr India: Comic Book

Just managed to locate this on the net, endless thanks to Beth who left the link on her site for us lazybones. Go have a look. I loved the film and now I love its comic book version too !