Lead Kindly Light!

As a kid, I was very impressed by the poem written by John Henry Newman but today I am not writing about the poem but about something else. Kindness is not just a word or an adjective from a grammar book but a unique human quality. You cannot inherit it but have to develop it and only if you have a heart to feel the pain of those suffered ones. There are many peoples around trying to do something or the other for the destitute, feel proud looking at them that they exists in the same planet where I am living and I am lucky to be part of that. Often feel ashamed because all the time thinking for me, we and us only. Looking at the current situation, agree that it is very difficult to survive if you are totally selfless. Keeping a drop for self cannot be a selfish act but just giving a drop from an ocean is what all about known as act of selfish mind.

Sympathy and kindness are two different things. Sympathy is a mechanical process; it may or may not pain you when looking at others plight and can forget it a moment later. Kindness is the feeling that remains forever, willing to do something for others; it makes you restless until you are able to see the smile and joy on the faces of the needy one.

“Writing big thing but never do a thing for the people around me”, I agree to this point but have a heart to feel it. Pieces of news related to kind gesture shown by the peoples around the world always make me happy and at the same time feel a lump in my throat while reading it.

• When Mumbai flooded poor and poorest tried their best to accommodate the unknown faces in their house, provided them with food and dry clothes.
• When Mumbai bleeds after a series of bomb blast, people from all spheres of life queued at the hospitals to donate blood for the unknown victims.
• A rich man standing at the entrance of a government hospital to ask if anyone need anything and ready to spend every penny he has.
• A woman constable from Kerala gone to give her six golden bangles to get discharged an unknown woman from a hospital, who was denied same by the hospital because she unable to pay the bill. The news go further, when a famous jewelers P. C. Chandra from Kolkata decided to gift the same police woman with six gold bangle for her extraordinary gesture of humanity, its known as chain of humanity.

Philanthropic like Warren Buffet or a Bill Gates are spending billions on peoples who needs it. As I mentioned before, the Indian super rich have never done something that can be referred.

My hometown, Kolkata may not be a hot spot for any foreign tourist, but for only one person it was always a destination for the tourist as well as celebrities from all over world.

I am taking about, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Confused? Sounds very unfamiliar one, yes, I am talking about Mother Teresa. The lady shown the world what is kindness all about is.

So, you see, it does not matter where are you, be it in Kerala or Kolkata or Kawasaki or Kitimat, kindness can be stretch with willingness. Hope, me too able to get some courage and willingness like others to bring smile on those gloomy faces and certainly it will be the most cherished moment to live with and at the end I will think with a million dollar smile – ‘Yes, I did it’.

!!!Kindness is an aura, fragrance and dedication, done quietly, healed millions.!!!

Where is my Money?

We all share at least one common yet a peculiar habit, when failed to achieve something we try to find someone whom we can blame for the failure, no matter how and who, anybody can be the scapegoat. Always index finger turned to 180 degree than zero. Search for a harmless soul but it is very difficult job, blame game cannot be a one-way traffic. In our country everyday there is news regarding failure, the system and the administration always failed first, after looking at it we conclude, “Nothing will happen to this Country”. Excuse me, the real fact is that India never failed, we the people who failed and obviously kept blaming the country. You cannot deny the fact that we are living in a great country. Everyday we learn something than other while moving around or whenever try to explore the rich heritage of this great land. When one of my twitter friends wrote that, she is looking forward to visit India; it is something for which I should feel proud.

When I was away, one of my friend from Bangkok was having a habit of telling things about India, gosh, I used fight with her whenever she opened her mouth and uttered a word about my country and forced her to stop instantly. At that time I was very temperament and a big fighter cock who always ready to fight but with some logic. Today standing here if I look back certainly failed to recognize that BeeeBeees.

A famous politician and undoubtedly considered to be one of the best Ex. chief Minister of a Indian state, batteries of accountant may not enough to keep count of his wealth that he amassed in his lifetime, still hunger for wealth never die down. In the twilight of his political carrier, he decided to involve in the sport administration in higher level and the richest one too, I mean Cricket, difficult to resists the big money involved in it. Therefore, what done with IPL, it is your guess. Sir, where are going to keep all these money? At the end of the day, you can buy a bunch of sandal-woods than an ordinary one and that too does not cost much.

A few years’ back I was watching Television and looking at a happy Sunil Gavaskar jumping with joy along with many other starlets from sports arena of our country because India was just named as the venue for 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Today same Sunil Gavaskar or others who were present there on that day may be hiding their face in shame when they read about the happening at the behind of CWG. Once again, it is not that the India who failed but it is all those who taken this golden opportunity to harvest the gold, if goes by the news then the ratio are 1:10 (spent 1: pocketed 10).

Ministers, administrations and all those involved, be it macro, mini or micro level find nice way to enrich their bank balance. Whenever India tried to stand, these are the peoples who always forced the country to go back to its crawling days.

!!!Therefore, Common Wealth is for all, I also deserve a few drop from the ocean of thirty thousand odd crore rupees. Where is mine?!!!

Nothing Uncommon about it!

A Common Man or Woman (do not miss her) is the backbone of any civilized society. In our country story of rich getting richer and poor getting poorer is no new thing, thanks to the inflation, such stories will make you sleep. When you see a Common Man finding a place in the headline with his or her extraordinary effort, everyone sit up and forced to think –‘yes I can do it too, just need to do it’.

Couple of week back director Priyadarshan tried to project Akshay Kumar as “Common Man”; I think director had no idea about a “Common Man”. It was just a mockery of great Indian middle class man, whose life is all about struggle and suffering than fun.

I grown up with R.K. Laxman’s ‘Common Man’ or can call ‘Common Couple’. Years after years, whenever I opened a ‘Times of India’, first thing I looked for was “You said it”, a cartoon strip appeared in the middle of the rightmost column in the first page. R.K. Laxman’s ‘Common Couple’, were a middle-aged confused looking couple discussing the current affairs with a great one-liner, unbelievable.

A common man has lots of quality, which may be very difficult to write, with my due respect to the great man, I am trying to inscribe a few from my kitty.

1. Who stood in a ration line for basic commodity, found fresh stock disappear before he/she got their respective quota and one fine day got a coloured ration card to prove whether he/she is a BPL(below poverty line) or not, a option between poor, poorer and poorest.
2. Who never lured by a “sabse sasta” advertisement from those big supermarkets and always preferred the neighbourhood grocery, because it given a chance to gossip with the age-old grocer.
3. Who pained by the corruption, bribe etc. still ends up paying it.
4. Who traveled in a second-class compartment and liked to share and bare all with a co-passengers
5. Who mostly travelled by a bus, but whenever afford to take a Taxi, his/her heartbeat and pulse rate gives the meter reading a very tough time.
6. Who goes to a school and college and always calculate what kind of job or rather salary he/she will draw.
7. Who vote for a new Government and every time believed that he/she would get what promised.
8. Who pray and often try to bribe the god.
9. Who like to love, laugh and hurt by the rejection.
10. Who always living under thousand burdens but never succumbed and willing to live another day.
11. Who, once in a crazy and weird afternoon found standing in a queue to feed spoonful milk to a Ganesh idol. (Ha! Ha! Ha! Believe me or not, I did it too and successfully).
12. Finally, the common man always sleep well.

I also liked take the opportunity to mention his elder brother Late R. K. Narayan. One of the first English writers from our country, who can forget Swami from his “Malgudi Days”. Certainly, they inherited some of their respective quality from their father Dr Shivaram. He was a doctor by profession and also was an eminent humourist in Kannada.

While talking about “Malgudi days”, it will be unfair if not mentioned the director Late Shankar Nag, a wonderful and talented director, who died young in a car accident. This page is a tribute to the Karantaka trio.

In current situation, there are no takers for the value of a Common Man when there is other option alive I mean “Con Man”

!!!So, let us see who is going to last long, the planet or the Common Man.!!!

Coup contre Maharajas

It is happening everyday, everywhere and with everybody, I mean with the fairer sex. In our time while studying in school it was there, incidents like girls pushed by the roadside rowdies while passing in a cycle, a few lewd comments, ignored all by thinking it as an act of insane mind. Life of a girl in India never improved but got worst with the time. You fall in love without your guardian’s permission you are going to die in the name of family honour. I stayed better parts of my life in big cities and all alone, always lived surrounded by a self-created wall and no one dared to get beyond that boundary. Rather call it I was one of the luckier one, who always surrounded by best of bests so never had any horrible experience to write. Today I will write some clipping from newspaper or events that disturb me.

Apart from presenting the shadow from my own past, often wrote about some current affairs in this blog but always maintain a healthy one which readable for all ages. Today I wanted to say sorry to my reader, mainly to my young students because today’s topic may be not a soothing and pleasant one for all.

It happens with everyone no matter where are you. A former American Vice President alleged for asking sexual favour from a woman, who was there for other paid services. A former American President and most popular one, having it all with an intern. Recently editor of a world famous publishing house sexually exploiting his junior in the office itself. These incidents are from other countries where law above everything. You have to born twice to get justice in our country. Let me see what I have under my sleeve.

• A school-going girl in Mumbai raped repeatedly by her cousin within company of neighbours, one of whom is over sixty. Who knows what store in future for the girl?
• A girl from Bangalore repeatedly raped by the Director of the same school inside girl’s hostel itself, the culprit was staying in the same hostel and most probably for the same purpose.
• In Noida, a Brazilian student raped by her landlord of two days and for two days.
• Finally great Maharaja (Maharaja indeed), coach of Indian Women Hockey team allegedly asking a player if she had S** before. I think all girls should add an extra row in their Resume and mentioned that they are experienced or novice in this criteria. Don't you think it is a very innovative idea?

These are just .001% incident other may be never heard or known by the world. In India, not the offender but the victim who bear the burn and has to live with a stigma, so nobody ready to disclose such incidents. Come on girls, even you may not get the justice at least expose these animals. Shout at the system from the top of Kutub minar and do it without any hesitation.

There are many woman houses running around in the name of helping the helpless, often they forced to satisfy the top brass from our society.

Shame on you, shame on civilized world. These people will come out within few days and again back to the business, hunting for flesh. Harsh punishment for each case may make things better and I have some suggestion too.

!!!Government decision to sterilized stray dog, poor animal! Why not…..?!!!

Board of Boredom

Scoring a perfect ten in ones life is an impossible task but looking at the multiple options available today in the field of education certainly want to rewind the clock back. Only thing that I can trade is my little intelligence and power of remembrance and if given a chance still can conquer the world. Sounds too greedy? Should be satisfied with what I got. In our time we had to move along a routine path, a straight line and never looked for other options, our lifestyle was an unpolluted one. Our parents too were very novice and never tried to find something for us that can be call as path breaker. After all these, we can say that apart from examination blues we spent pretty tension free life as a student.

Student certainly benefited from these widen path of today’s education system but we cannot overlook the problem exists in the system. This current system and a demon called entrance exams put so much stress in a student and no one there who really can imagine the pain and agony the students had to bear during these period. Be it CAT, MAT, XLRI, IIT-JEE, WBJEE, MCET, VIT or others; make the student feel like an animal that preparing to enter a slaughterhouse. I mainly deal with students those studying in higher Secondary, Engineering and under graduate science so very familiar with the situation during this period.

Last year was worst of it, a few students of mine who were sure of clearing entrance examination with moderate rank but failed to do so. They were with me when the result declared and that afternoon I have to console them, kept telling, “Come on! This is not the end of the world”, because I was damn scared for them.

Admission in a reputed college is like a lottery ticket. The way things are going on one-day cut of marks will be 100 and even it ends with 101 then there is nothing to surprise of it. The counseling for engineering colleges is like a circus, playing mind game with the students who unable to get a good rank. Students already psychologically drain when one by one desired college or a stream start vanishing from the list. Before entering to a college students had to go through tremendous amount of grinds and stress, cannot imagine what stored for them in future. Parents are more interested about the campusing status than the infrastructure of the said college.

All educational boards and the peoples who are running it, is least bother to look at the real problem and just busy minting money. West Bengal University Technical (W-BUT) is full of BUTs and Ifs, all together is a big messy affair. Hardly try to clean up their education system, how can a student who hardly knows anything and still getting away with a score 7 to 8.5 per semester, amazing. No proper timetable for examination or result declaration. For them students are like a guinea pig.

!!!Can we say All IZZ Well? No, very pathetic, hollow and scary.!!!

The Fire-Within (Synopsis)

Today for the first time I am posting a Synopsis and this is from my latest work. This story loosely named “Antar-Dah”, it is very difficult to translate the word, if you go by the book then it means “Mental agony” but let us call it “Fire Within”. If I translate the story in English then certainly name it “Untold Story of Lisa Dias”.

Story

Jean, an eighteen years old girl from Salem, comes to Mumbai to study electrical engineering. She got a chance to enroll herself in one of the prestigious college in India. On the first night itself, Jean got a CD containing a single file. She was stun by the content, her mother was against her coming to Mumbai but she never thought that it had something to do with her mother's own past. A very dark and painful truth that Jean has to face and it was all about her mother.
Here onwards, what Jean will do?


Characters


Lisa Dias

After losing her mother and brother in an accident, Lisa comes to Mumbai with her father. Being a Christian, she was able to get an admission in a Convent school but due to poverty, she had to fight against all odds to keep her school going days intact. However, all hell breaks out with Lisa’s father death. Lisa, then seventeen years old, all alone, penniless found herself on the dark lane of Mumbai. Finally, she decorated herself in a plate and started serving to the sex-starved man. Lisa Dias matured like an old but child in her heart, a unique combo.


Ronnie Fernanades

Ronnie’s father was a lawyer and mother was a teacher. While studying in school Ronnie met Lisa. After completing school, Ronnie had to move to Bangalore but after two years, he had to come back to Mumbai to enroll in a law college. At that time Ronnie, became handicapped due to an accident that also took away his father and mother. While studying in college Ronnie tried to locate Lisa but found a new building coming up at the same place where once Lisa used to stay and nobody could tell him anything about Lisa’s whereabouts.


Bhikhu Patil

At age of 15, Bhikhu came to Mumbai from Belunki Village of Kolhapur. He worked as Mathadi, mainly carrying fruits and vegetables at Masjid Bunder. Bhikhu used to stay in a slum near DhobiGhat Colaba. Bhikhu was married and has two daughters. When nearing fifties, Bhikhu enable to continue as a goods carrier and finally landed himself in a Gujarathi Business Man’s house as a household helper. Here Bhikhu came face to face with an eighteen years girl name Lisa Dias.


Jean Fernandes (1)

Twenty-five years old, Jean was an architect. While travelling in local train Jean came to know Lisa but apart from exchanging smile and little hi’s and bye’s, there was nothing more between them. Nevertheless, for Lisa, Jean was having a very special place in her life and when she gave birth to a daughter, she named her Jean too.


Suhash Patil

Twenty-seven years old, Suhash Patil was the only son of a Real Estate giant from Mumbai. A spoiled brat and an offender having encountered with numerous offences but he was always unscathed, thanks to the loophole in the law and the system. More than once Suhash Patil tried entering Lisa’s flat but was enable to get in, once he even tried to kill Bhikhu Patil to revenge this.


Plot Summary

After nine long years while waiting for a train, Ronnie met Lisa in a railway station. During one of the meeting, Lisa informed him the truth about her and requested him to distance himself from her. Nevertheless, they kept bumping into each other and as a result, they came close to each other. After a year Ronnie had to go away from Mumbai for a few days, just before leaving, he put a proposal in front of Lisa; she hesitated but finally accepted it. While waiting for Ronnie and looking forward to a new life, in a cold rainy night of December Lisa herself walked towards the man called Suhash Patil. What compelled Lisa to do this?


Some quotes from the story:

!!!If Jesus Christ can be crucified then why not me?!!!
!!!If I am happy for a reason, that will be the biggest gain, why celebrate for it?!!!
!!!Sympathy is a very funny thing, sometime soothing and sometime insulting.!!!

BreakFail?

Flying in a Concorde, once that was my dream and which never fulfilled. Sadly, before my dream can take any constructive form, Concorde decided to it retire. A few Airliner was operating these supersonic, decide to stop 2003 onwards and my dream was staring at those beautiful grounded machine once known as Concorde. Many out their may be got a chance and many more are there too those travelled by an Airbus or a luxury cruise which I never did but how many are there who can say that they travelled by a car which had a break fail. Yippee! Yahoo! I did it. This one is a very big achievement of my life. It happened to me and very much here in Kolkata. May be fourteen or fifteen years back, I was here on my yearly vacation and going to New Market with my sister-in-law, all off certain the Taxi we were travelling had a break fail and gone to hit the road divider then stopped with a big jerk. Thank god, it was moving slowly and so I am still here and writing. Still, I laugh about it but cannot do the same for this break fail that I am going to write today.

It is all about bad and bad world of glamour. Start with Bollywood, why Bollywood, Hollywood, Tollywood and all woods, including Tiger Wood too, outside shining brightly and inside full of termite. Everyone want to part of this industry, I think those are failed are luckier than those made it. Once you make it you going to live under tremendous stress, thinking of failure always will be a fear factor. More success means more loneliness and when downfall comes, it worked as a silent killer. Fashion and advertise industry are worst, you does not need much creativity just a face and body to show and when both are not there you are all alone living in the oblivion. There are only few those escaped from this cruel veracity.

The sad demise of the Viveka Babajee is one of many examples. Indian man, always have a double standard attitude, after all they are from Mars and a civilized(?) animal. Having few credit cards, a couple of car, a house in a posh area and good look, start marauding for an arm candy to flaunt at the so-called social gathering, they treat them like an escort. Use them for their sexual pleasure, when time comes for commitment, they want somebody else, I mean a Sati-Savitri, he can indulge with multiple affairs. Not all girls are same. Once vicious and beautiful Hollywood actress of yesteryears Ava Gardner said that men looks at her and think her something else, which only suits her look, but never tried to understand, inside she was a simple and homely woman.

Same thing happen to Viveka, a man used her, fulfill his all needs and when time come for commitment he may just told her ‘Go to Hell!’ Gosh! She did exactly that. What he did? No conscience, neither have the guts to tell the truth, ready to save his skin and the black face, so ends with a ‘Good Friends’ tags. Use and throw, nice strategy, after all a product of Dalal Street, keep it up until your turn come, no one going to get away with such beastly act.

R.I.P. Viveka, wish gets all happiness at the other side of the sky.

!!!Beware Girls! Sharks are prowling around, do not fall prey, some will shed crocodile tears for you too but you should realize that you might be sleeping with an enemy.!!!