It ain’t over yet!

Yesterday, I met him while strolling in the park. He, who was an apprentice learning to weave fables and ballads at the dream factory. A strike by the workers followed by lockout in the factory rendered him jobless. Since then no one heard of him.
He was sitting on a bench lost in different world. I tapped on his shoulders and asked, “Hello my friend! How are you? Where have you been, so long?” He was startled.
“I went on a little vacation.” He answered still lost, “Were you looking for me? Are you missing me?”
“Yes of course. I am missing your fables, now that you are back, do we get to read your tales soon?” I inquired.
He looked up, pointed to the stars and muttered “maybe”. Then, walked out of the park without turning back.

If you are wondering what was the last paragraph all about. Well, it is about my meeting with my alter ego. It is said everybody has one. If you are a writer then you ought to have one. And my alter ego is the one who provides me with words that I weave and I was missing him for some time.

Talking of being a writer, one thing that every writer dreads is something called ‘writers block’. There comes a time in every writer’s life when words turn hostile. Stories just stop flowing and suddenly nothing inspires anymore and you feel helpless. What do you do then? I would say don’t panic; just relax, like they say ‘take the chill pill’. Let the writer inside go on a vacation. When it’s time, suddenly one day you’ll see the spark is back and words will start flowing like never before. It will all come back. I would like to thank my work friend L for  lighting the lamp by asking me to write a blog for our office internal blog .

Lastly, a remarkable year has come to end. The Mayans were not wrong after all, world did change for many of us. Looking forward to another eventful year. Wish you all a Happy and prosperous 2013.

PS: This an extract from a post for my office blog.

Braaazil la …la…la…. – story of my phootballish affair…

The Venga Boys song comes to my lips every time Brazil goes to play football more so during the FIFA World Cups.  The inspiration of this post is a conversation with Neha of Neha’s Blog fame and the passionate post Football and Calcutta by Guria where she talked about the religion that football is to the people of Kolkata. The post left me nostalgic.

Circa 1987 : I still remember the day when my sports teacher had put me in the class football team (it was mandatory you see) and told me that I will have to  play as the centre back (a defender).  I was told that my role would be to stop any opponent with the football from entering our penalty box. So as the game started I was lurking at my position ahead of our penalty box and rest of our team was jostling for the ball at the centre. Our goalie was insisting me to go and join the melee at the mid field. But I didn’t leave my post and just then a tall, bulky opponent with the ball was rushing towards our goal and I froze. Everyone from the goalie to sports sir was shouting at me to stop the hulk but I was staring at the oncoming giant and not moving (let me tell I was thin and puny in my childhood) then something happened and I had stopped the hulk ultimately, don’t ask me how.  So that’s one of my earliest trysts with the game of football.

Circa 1990 : I was still a school boy and the FIFA world cup was scheduled to begin, the air in Kolkata was heating  up as always but I was more into local football and didn’t know much about international football. It was my math tuition sir (a fanatic football fan) who not only quelled my fear for mathematics but also introduced me to magnificent football team called ‘Brazil’. He would come for tuition and analyze with precision the previous day’s matches for 10-15 mins.  Also another thing had happened that year my dad had brought home a colour TV just a few days before the World Cup opening match kicked-off.  It was a treat to watch the matches in colour.

Oh! How can I forget the opening match in which Roger Milla’s Cameroon  had stunned the reigning champion Argentina and the whole world with an unexpected victory and unique victory dance. For some reason I was happy that day(A potential Brazil fan was in making). Over next one month I witnessed the marvelous Yellow shirts, blue pants and white socks doing samba with the ball. Ok I was mesmerized by Maradona as well but knew it will be Brazil that will have my loyalty all my life come what may.  Incidentally Brazil had not been the champions that year because they were defeated by Argentina in Round of 16 itself. Finally was super happy when Germany lifted the cup defeating Argentina(seeds of Brazil fan were making inroads).

Circa 1994 : Then I was a young adult and was following the matches even at weird hours, remember it was played in USA. I used sleep with alarms to wake me up at right time but was very upset when missed a few times. The significance of this world cup was Brazil became the champions. What a memorable final it was, first world cup final to be decided by penalties. We were up till late night and that tension, frustration at Italy not allowing Brazil a goal. But it was all worth, Brazil won and we were out on the streets with drums,  pipes, people were coloring each-other green(Brazil’s colour is green). When most of the country was sleeping it was a Brazilian carnival in Kolkata.  One has to see it to believe it. Crazy Kolkatans one would say but that’s what we are.  BTW one of my favorite players in that tournament was Roberto Baggio but they were up against my first love, so couldn’t feel bad for him.

Circa 1998 : This was the tournament played in France and I was a college going boy.  But it was heartbreaking to see Brazil lose to France 3-0 in the final, one of lowest times in my football fan life till date. Though I liked Zidane a lot till then but could never accept the fact that his team had beat Brazil so badly.

Circa 2002 : Now I was a man (What? I was working come on). This world cup was held in South Korea and Japan, which meant matches were in afternoon and evening our time. Which created a problem of missing the matches while at work but hey I was in Kolkata. Like Guria mentioned in her post the city comes to stand still during the tournament. The place where I was working was our client’s place but the people were nice and allowed us to watch important matches in their recreation room where they had a TV, especially for the world cup!  Actually they would call us during the matches and we would be shuttling between work and the matches.  The tournament ended with Brazil lifting the world cup for fifth time. The celebrations this time were much mellow from my side as I told you I was not a boy anymore but a working professional.

Circa 2002 : That was a significant year for me as I had moved out of Kolkata for the first time and was still trying to adjust to new life in Bangalore and was not knowing how to watch matches because I still did not have a TV in Bangalore then.   But like they say when God’s with you nobody can beat you. One of my Bengali friend here and his wife are die hard Brazil fans, so they let me into their home at the dead of the night to watch the games. It was a new experience to be in the only home in the entire layout or probably the whole area with TV tuned to world cup match at odd hours.  We used to miss all the off-screen action of Kolkata.  I mean it was strange to see people in general not at all interested in football. I mean why or how? I had supported France in final just for Zidane and Thiery Henry but unfortunately they lost to Italy. Also the famous head butting by Zidane had shocked us.

2010 : This is my second consecutive world cup in Bangalore(outside Kolkata) but I see a significant change with more people following football. Actually my current office has a TV which is tuned to cricket all day long but now they tune to world cup matches and surprisingly there’s a sizable crowd for even matches not involving big names.  Good but nothing can match the euphoria back in Kolkata. The Bangla Channels show visuals of frantic fans in Bengal, making me feel a tinge but ….

This world cup so far is turning out very interesting with Vuvuzelas, the issues of Jabulani balls, the high altitude matches and bigger teams struggling while some unknown names shining(this is a specialty of FIFA world cups).

Final note : Like I said on FB “Seeing India play in FIFA World cup finals is a wishful thing maybe it will not happen in our lifetimes” but honestly how many of us know the name of Indian National League played every year or who is the captain of India team?

Finally, if you feel Kolkata is crazy about only football then just go and see during IPL or any other big cricketing event. I think no other city can match that as well.

PS: A 3-1 win by Brazil yesterday acted like a balm for the pain of my team being eliminated out of BPL.  Also a Big Thanks to all of you for the support you showered for the Inscribe Tribe.

Teeth are precious!

Aren’t they? Well ask me who has been visting the Dentist over the last 2 weeks. I had been to our family dentist long long time ago when I had a severe pain in tooth one night and the gentleman who knows our entire family teeth history had smartly extracted the culprit but scars remained engraved deeply in my memory and add to it several horror stories I had been hearing, I was firmly avoiding the Dentist and never complained of ‘little pain here and there’. So much so that two teeth fell off on their own after failing to draw my attention. I was relived that my body understood my equation with the dentist and healed itself. But yeah we all have buts in our life and if I had known that noone can ditch the inevitable(read dentist). This time my mouth had declared a full blown mutiny and no amount of ‘home remedies’ or prayers worked, things got to a point where I had to go without food and water literally.

So on a fine weekend I had to give in and see the dentist. The doctor was a man with grey hair and told him my condition and that I had lost two teeth to which he smiled and said I’ll loose a few more and not to worry he and his team will fix everything. So now came the treatment plan which was three teeth to be extracted and two root canals to be done. Then came the actual thing – the cost which was going to almost a lakh rupees(yes you heard it right after all it was one the best hospitals in Bangalore). Naturaly I almost fainted and  the doc understood immediately, said well he can offer some discounts and work a way out. I said whatever way it would be I can never afford it. I was not willing to go  bankrupt for my teeth.  The man was very nice and worked out a solution where it would cost around 40K but still my heart was pounding. He said we can do it in several installments and he will help me in whatever way he can.

So after money issues were solved came the real treatment time and I was terrified as root canals were to be done. The doctor said they will take only an hour and he promised that it will not hurt a bit with a big smile. The doctor who came for treatment was a cheerful young man and he was joking but I was petrified as he asked his assistants for ‘bayonet’ no seriously I had heard it right. Midway through the treatment he asked whether I was feeling any pain and when I replied in negative, he confidently said I’ll say the same when I walk out of the door. Well he was right I actually didnot have much pain when I walked out. Over the next two weeks my treatment was  completed and now I am almost normal.

The moral of the story is if you dare to ignore tooth issues for long the dentist not only drills your teeth but a big hole in your pocket as well. So take good care of the teeth and slightest bit of discomfort in tooth go see a dentist because ’Teeth are precious’.

An Update : The break up of the initial estimate for treatment or rather mouth restoration(thats what they were saying).

2 teeth implants with bone augmentation = Rs. 60K

A bridge with 3 crown units = Rs. 12K

2 single crown units = Rs. 8K

rest for extraction, root canal treatment etc… almost 1 Lakh right….

Who or What am I?

Well before I delve further into the question let me talk about how I came upon this question in first place. While post hopping I ran into a post ”What or Who is a Bong ?” which ultimately lead to a post “The Bong“. These two are posts which describe in detail what does the term “Bong” actually mean. While reading  the posts sometimes I was nodding cheeringly though mostly it seemed the posts were very dated because whatever the characterics of a “Bong” mentioned in there are true but it was something the so called “Bong” used to be many years back. Then I found that one of the post was 4 years old and the posts were written by probasis( expat Bengalis). This fact gave way to the question Who or What am I?

In my earlier posts I have mentioned  that I was born in Hyderabad and spent my early childhood there and then spent 18 years in Kolkata and now staying in Bangalore for last 4 years. So before I go about the actual question let me quote from one of the posts above

“There are two kinds of Bengalis that I know. Probashi or Expatriate Bangalees, a fairly large and diverse group about which I can’t write as I am one of them.

And Bengalees who are from Kolkata. This group is incorrectly known as Bongs, as they are merely a subset.”

Isn’t it a strange classification but thats how we Bengalis are ‘quite strange’. Actually there is a clear distinction between the two mindsets which probably can’t be explained to anyone other than Bengali.

Now going by the above definations where do you think I fit because I have grown up in Bengal but now live outside. You would say a probasi but I really hate to be called that. No I don’t have anything against the expat Bengalis but simply I don’t want to be labeled one. There is another term in Bengali which is onabasi (non resident), I think this one suits me perfect as of now till I switch to any one of the  camps …( after living outside for quite sometime one becomes a probasi)

PS: As far as my information goes the term “Bong” was initially coined by expatriate Bengalis and I first came across the term in English newspapers referring to bollywood actresses who are Bengalis as “Bong beauty”.

The journey continues

Before I get on with the nitty gritties of where I was? What I was doing etc etc. Let me tell that while reading One year old and Counting… at Neha’s Blog I remembered that on 13th March 2009 I had started blogging and that meant I too have completed a year here. Actually a landmark personal event in last few weeks had wiped out the memory of this ‘little’ event.

My story of How I started blogging is nothing special, which I have probably told earlier but I think no harm in revisiting.  It so happened that last year around this time I was having ample time(a rare commodity in my profession) and somehow landed up in the blogosphere and started reading some amazing blogs. Its then that I got inspired and thought why not try it after all it costs me only electricity & internet bill(back then I didnot have the unlimited plan).

Looking back at the first post I see I had called it ‘Jatra shuru’ which means the journey begins and truly never thought I’ll reach here as I do not have a very big network. Those of you who have added me in social networking sites can see that half of the ‘friends’ are fellow bloggers. Only person who would read my blog was my dear little sister.So How did it happen?

All the Kudos to YOU, wonderful fellow bloggers who opened their floodgates of comments and encouragements. People generally have awards, rewards etc to commemorate this type of event but I just have two words THANK YOU. Today I wish to keep this blog running so that I can have many more such anniversaries and I am sure with you guys around we can together continue this journey into infinity(literally ofcourse).

Again a “small” post which means “bigger” ones are waiting to hit soon so BE  PREPARED.

The dreary stubbled face is back

WordPress bloggers or blogs that support gravatar must have started seeing the depressing stubble face again on their blogs and the rest are seeing the name and the familiar url. Yes! I am back( music please). I have kept my promise and was completely absent from the wired world so much so that didn’t answer your comments even!(a grave sin).

Meanwhile within this time loads and loads of posts have flown under the blogsville which my google reader has been diligently recording, the current count says 430 unread posts. So as I clear the mountain of posts reading and commenting it will be some time before you see posts in this blog . And yes I have a lot to talk about. Last obviously not least it was very reassuring to see a post wanting you back soon , a post awarding you awards and the blog receiving traffic at a constant rate. Though Indiblogger rank has gone down drastically but that’s temporary we all know.

Note: Was away only three weeks or so… but seems ages…

Kingfisher Indiblogger Meet @ Kyra, Bangalore

Indibloggers must be aware that Indiblogger team had organised a bloggers meet on Sunday 21st Feb at Kyra Theatre Restaurant  Bangalore. I remember last year when I had first registered with the Indiblogger I had seen that I just missed the blogger meet @ Bangalore and was disappointed. So I ensured that I attend this one.

The plan was to reach the venue at least 10 min early but in my life hardly things go according to the plan ever. Some last minute work created a delay of about 20 mins so when I rushed into the hall the sessions had already began and I had to sit at the last seats quite far away from hub of activity. By the time I had settled down the “30 seconds of fame” session had already begun it was a sort of ice-breaker session where everyone introduced themselves and their blogs etc. One of the advantages of  being the back bencher was that I was among the first to get the BEER so as people were having there moment of fame I was sipping my BEER. Let me tell you that I am severely mike challenged, that is till date whenever I was handed over the mike it ended in disaster. So I was really working in my mind how to handle my ‘mike moments’ in front of such elite audience. God probably was with me as the mike moved away toward the front from row ahead of me and Gosh I was relieved but with Indiblogger coordinators around no-one was spared not even people without blogs. Yes there were a couple of them I hope this meet inspires them enough to start blogging. So the mike came to me eventually and I stood and spoke a few impromptu words without any hesitation or goof-ups(see nothing goes according to the plan I said earlier), Thanks to Kingfisher. The BEER had cooled my nerves I guess.

Next we were given chart papers and crayons with instructions that we hang the chart papers at our backs and move around the hall to meet up with fellow bloggers and collect comments on the chart paper, person with highest comment would recieve a  prize. Let me tell you a well known secret that I am very bad at networking so first 10 mins I didn’t move an inch from my place and was sure I would not get a single comment. But you know how kind bloggers are. People came along and voluntarily started interacting and writing comments just like they do on blogs.Thats when I spotted Laxmi Rajan of  ’gingerchai‘ and as he came towards me with a huge smile and said that he had come this side of the room just to meet me I was so elated. Thank you so much Lakshmi. Then I met Harsha who calls his blog ‘Voices in my head‘ he is a fellow blogatonic and I think most of you know him. Then came Mohan who has voted most of my posts in indivine.

My Comment Sheet

Next up were discussions on How to become a better blogger, live blogging & tweeting(some people did that with this meet as well), plagiarism, then a very important debate which was about monetization of blogs or blogging is just a passion and it was good to know that there was a final consensus that Bloggers blog out of passion and if it brings in some moolah then thats a bonus along with your creative satisfaction. Another inspiring thing was to see age range of bloggers there were teenage bloggers to someone who has retired from day job but still hasn’t stopped growing in life and blogs actively.

Amazing! Finally the meet ended at 6 PM and I left for my home after the good byes. All in all a hot Sunday afternoon was spent in a very productive way as I was enriched by discussions, interaction with bloggers.

Now those of you who have seen the ‘real’ me can you spot me in this picture from Mohan’s site. Just Try!

Ok enlarge the picture do you three guys standing right at the back and just in front them a guy is seated in black T-shirt sort of craning his neck…yeah thats me ! I know you can barely see me(that is ‘IF’ you have spotted me), so don’t strain your eyes too much you have my Avatar anyway.

PS: As I had mentioned in my previous post anybody willing to write guest posts please email me at [dmanji AT gmail DOT com].

Filler Post Again

What else can happen in my current state .

So here is the link for my latest Short Fiction aptly titled “Winter of 99“. Do read it and let me know how was it.

A bit of statistical puzzle my earlier fiction “First Day at School“(old timers of this blog remember?) is for last 5 months receiver of highest visitors around 15 per day. Mostly these days this post is topper for the day but the comment count still stands at about 6 so what’s it about post that’s making it apparently most visited post yet I am not sure whether its most read. Any ideas?

Last but not least soon I’ll be going off air that is will take a break from the blogosphere. Recent past many of the friends in blogosphere have used the Guest Blogging effectively. I too wish to keep the blog alive with your help in form of guest posts. So anybody willing to volunteer please email me at [dmanji at gmail dot com]. Lets keep Chronicles of a Techie ticking for the period of my sabbatical.

Endless Footsteps to Ballygunge Court

This Sunday became a movie day for me. It so happened that I was clearing my shelf and stumbled upon a bunch of CDs/DVDs which I bought from Kolkata but had safely forgotten. So I discovered that the bunch had two unopened films namely Ballygunge Court and Padakhep. So I picked them up with Antaheen(family’s choice as I have already seen it) the film which seems to have swept the national awards this year. Infact lead actor of Padakhep Soumitra Chatterjee won a National Award for Best Actor and the director of Ballygunge Court Pinaki Chowdhury won the National Award for Best Director in previous years.

Ballygunge Court is a film based on Bani Bose’s story. The film deals with a problem that India and Kolkata in particular  is facing for past few years. That is the mass exodus of youngsters for greener pastures. Which is  creating a serious social problem of empty nests with elderly people left all alone to fend for themselves. Add to that the crimes committed against these helpless senior citizens. The movie struck a cord with me and my family as we could relate to it straightaway. Today when I go to Kolkata the apartment where I grew up  bears a deserted look, a complex that once was bustling with lively children screaming around holds an eerie silence. I just want to add here that like the movie showed people are not always happy to move far away from their roots looking for better opportunities but what do you do if you have no options left. I am not going to do an elaborate review as you can get them on internet if interested.

Next was Padakhep. This film is the story of a middle-class, retired, widowed, banker(Soumitra Chatterjee). A man who potters around home arranging calenders, candle stands and reading books/Newspapers. His life comes to a full circle when a NRI family comes to live as their neighbors and their little daughter becomes the center of Soumitra’s life. We see that the old man too starts behaving like the child. In one of the interviews the director Suman Ghosh mentioned that he was inspired by Curious Case of Benjamin Button which is a story of a man who ages backward.  In Padakhep we have the story of a man who’s mental age reverses. Truly how many times you have felt that your parent or grandparent is behaving like a child. These two movies back to back were dealing with similar issues.

What I liked about them is that both films were not sermonizing and were very balanced in its approach to the respective subjects. While in Ballygunge Court we have one character who encourages and guides his children to fly away whereas we have another character who stops his son from following his career. At the same time in Padakhep the old father stoops down on floor  to watch ants and be intrigued by their activity.  Yet gets into an argument about her daughter’s boyfriend being a Muslim. After two films portraying reality I felt we need some change so we put on Antaheen.

Though I had seen it earlier but did sit through it for the second time. What do I say about Antaheen this movie is all over internet. With experts dissecting and a lot of talk around it most of which are in line with my feelings too about the film.  Like the endorsements I mean Nihar Coconut oil, Cafe Coffee Day, Reliance Mobile, Reliance Money actually we were not missing the commercial breaks but I guess  even a thoughtful cinema director has to keep the  financiers happy as well so its perfectly fine. One more thing the music was very high point of this film its beyond doubt that Shantanu Moitra(whose 3Idiots is making waves )  did a fantastic job and in my Common Man opinion he deserved a National Award for the music. Also understood some portions of  Chandreel/Anindo’s lyrics after watching the movie second time(Bengalis who listen to Chandrabindoo should know how difficult it is to interpret their lyrics for dumb-asses like me).  The National award for Best Cinematography too was well deserved by Avik Mukherjee as I have never seen such  beautiful shots  of Kolkata. You want to know  more about plot,  cast etc then please jump to this Wiki page.

Finally just to add this Saturday watched Ishqiya. Free advice go watch this movie if you want to see a mature yet not as complicated as Kaminey , bold and humouros movie. Another wone this movie has some of most elaborate yet aesthetically shot deep mouthed smooches of bollywood till date and some raw language spoken by a woman(which may not bleed your ears) so people with kids watch it as per your comfort level with them.

The Historic Journey

That’s what SB my friend had named the journey back from Kolkata. Reason? Simple, it was a journey which technically spanned two decades but was only lasted 36 hrs. Puzzled? We boarded the train on 30th Dec 2009 and landed, No! We don’t land from a train!! Ok we reached Bangalore on 1st Jan 2010. Hua na ‘Oithihasik jatra’(tr: Historic Journey).

SB was complaining that we should welcome the new year/decade in a particular city that is either in Kolkata or Bangalore not somewhere between but as usual the tickets were not available so we had to undertake this historic journey. We had decided that we will meet directly at Howrah station. Earlier we would have said we shall meet below boro ghori or the book stall but with cell phones around who cares about the landmark meeting points. Actually we reached well in advance(2 hrs before departure time) but I find spending time in a busy Railway Station like Howrah Station not an issue at all. After meeting SB we went for the book store naturally to pick something to read for the lonnnng journey. I spotted ‘Feluda omnibas’ the entire collection of Feluda series by Satyajit Ray but SB suggested that it is more of a collector’s item not something for the journey, so after checking many options and arguing over them we settled for Ahem! Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States: The Story of my marriage. Let me mention here I have read all CB books in train journeys. Of course with due respect to CB, I think his books fit the bill perfectly.

Equipped with CB we boarded the train. Which itself was an adventure as the queue for the General compartment was covering the entrance to our A/C coach and we had to bulldoze ourselves with the luggage into the compartment and in the mêlée my mother got into a different compartment which none of us noticed. But luckily she used her brains and stayed near the gate of the compartment she got into and after some frantic searching by me we were reunited and a potential crisis was averted(She doesn’t carry cell phone). Hindsight: Badi Badi rail gadio mein aisi choti choti batein hoti hai Senoirita!!! (tr: In big trains such small things happen).

Once everybody settled down I realized that this time the compartment was primarily occupied by mostly Senior Citizens, little children and their parents. Naturally the entire journey was uneventful with SB reading 2 states and narrating in bits. One more thing I celebrated my birthday on train with Britannia Cakes and Sprite purchased from the Railways. So 31st night myself & SB had snoring co-passengers, A/C coach attendant and the Ticket Checker as company. A point to note here is since I am in Bangalore SB has always been there by my side to welcome the new year. Yes we have many ‘New Year’ stories but they cannot be put in public domain.

At exact midnight we were at Tirupati and we saw some fireworks also some houses along the tracks were decorated with lights felt good that somebody atleast was celebrating the New Year out there. As mentioned earlier the compartment was filled with senior citizens so next morning people woke pretty early and switched on the lights and created commotion to get their
luggage at the gates beforehand and jam them. I don’t blame the poor souls first time I also had the same anxiety as officially the stoppage time is 2 minutes but every time I have been able to get down quite comfortably. So we were relaxed moreover Bangalore is now a known city so we can get down anywhere and can still get home. Finally this historic journey made me realize that 31st December or 1st January is just another ‘normal’ day for many people like the engine driver, guard, TTE and all the railway staff who relentlessly make sure the trains reach their destination hassle free and on time.

This is the last post of the series which covered my trip to Kolkata. Generally these kind of vacation posts have pictures of the city or events but it never occurs to me to carry a camera to the city where I grew up and once lived.