Why this happens?

Sometime I yearn to talk to someone and most of the time I dont get hold of him or her then. And when i get him/her I just dont feel like talking anymore!

I have no answer to this question. Why this happens? It happens only to me or to others also?

A lesson is learnt

Yesterday when I was pouring oil from 1 liter plastic packet to my narrow-necked oil bottle, this story struck me.

The story goes like this. Once sitting in Baikunth, Lord Krishna was in deep thoughts. Narad muni arrived at that very moment and asked what he was thinking about.

Krishna said “Look at that peasant. He is the greatest devotee of mine. When he gets back home, he never misses to pray for me even for once.”

Narad muni couldn’t agree and seemed a bit disappointed with his Lord. He always claimed that he was the greatest devotee of Lord Krishna. He was not happy with a peasant being threat to his claim. So he said promptly “But Prabhu, How can you call him the greatest devotee of yours? He takes your name only once in a day. But look at me. I take your name more than a thousand times a day.”

Lord gave his very famous smile. He said to Narad, “Can you do a job to me?”

“Is that a matter of question, Prabhu?”. Narad said.

“Ok, take a bowl of oil filled to the edges and travel around the entire world from sunrise to sunset”, Lord said.

“Oh, that’s such an easy task!”, Narad was excited.

“I have not finished yet. Make sure that not a single drop of oil spills from the bowl”, Lord Krishna finished his command.

....................

The next morning Narad was set on his task. He took a bowl of oil full till neck and started his journey through the world. After the sunset, he reached Baikunth all exhausted, fatigued, tired and retired. Lork Krishna welcomed him warmly. Narad was happy that he did not let even a single drop of oil to spill from the bowl. Lord listened to him patiently and then asked “how many times did u take my name today?”

Narad was visibly aghast as he murmured “But Prabhu, how could I possibly take your name the entire day? All my concentration was on the bowl so that oil doesn’t spill. I had no mind to think about anything else.”

“Then how can you disgrace that peasant for taking my name only once? From sunrise to sunset he works in the field to make his living. Still he never forgets to take my name at least once when he gets back home. And look at yourself. You didn’t even take my name once during the entire day.”

Narad was speechless.

“Then who do you think the greater devotee of mine; you or that peasant?” Lord Krishna quipped.

Quick Monday Morning Updates

My friend Punya got married yesterday in Silchar. Yes, I missed all the fun though I got some narrations over the phone.

My friend Devraj is getting married to his childhood love Alka today in Delhi. Yes, I am gonna miss all the fun for this as well. Yesterday when I called Devraj to wish him, he gave me an astounding piece of information. That, today there are 47 thousand (yes, you read it right, forty seven thousand!) marriages going to be solemnized in Delhi! That means 47 thousand baraats on the road and I just cannot think of the traffic condition of Delhi, which is otherwise very good, anymore. I just hope he reaches the marriage hall in Dilshad Garden (extreme East) from Dwarka (extreme west) at right time!

I spent my weekend romancing with cough, cold, fever, throat infection and thousands of sneezes. All thanks to my colleagues who make it a point to take a puffing-break 4-5 times a day and I being allergic to smoke, caught the infection on Friday. My two favorite activities of last two days were running to wash basin to blow the nose and gurgling with warm water. The latter is done to prevent my throat from getting a larynx infection.

Yesterday I caught some glimpse of Keanu (of course on TV!) as Constantine was on HBO at 9 pm. But as usual I couldn’t watch it :( It's been years since I have seen his movie. Probably after some years even I will forget that there was a time when I was really crazy for his movies!!!

Situations Tough to Handle

I don't know whether I will be able to go home today. Thanks to this news.

My office has just announced that unless and until the authority is sure that the employees will be able to reach their homes safely, no employee will be allowed to leave the office :(

21 November, 2007. 3:36 pm

Update:

I got home safely and comfortably yesterday and on time :)

22 November, 2007. 10 am

I wish I were Christopher

I wish just like Christopher I could also put the head phone on my ears when the world around me is buzzing and humming at its peak. Christopher has a special choice of radio channels when he wants to cool himself. He likes to put the antenna in between two channels that gives a sound jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj………cooling the mind slowly but certainly. But I’m not suffering from autism like him and hence I’m expected and accepted to make adjustments and compromises. So, I'm doing exactly that. Trying to concentrate on my work since morning. But thank God, I have this blog to share my wildest and remotest of thoughts.

Hey my readers, don’t bother. The above post is totally impromptu and instantaneous.

A R Rahman Interview at TIMES-NOW on 18.11.2007

Yesterday at 2:30 pm in Times-Now Channel, A R Rahman appeared in the Frankly Speaking with Aranab. Thanks to Amith who told me to catch the program in time.

It was after a long time I was watching an ARR interview in TV. As I cannot manage to watch TV, my missing out his interviews continues. As the title goes, ARR was candid with Arnab except for the fact the interviewer seemed quite bewildered in his attitude.

What I liked about the show was that Arnab took five songs and kept asking what ARR feels about those five particular songs.

Let me jot them down here before I forget them.

Roja

When asked about Roja, ARR chose to speak about Roja Janeman. He said that when he was asked to make a love song, suddenly the starting melody, which was in Desh (then he hummed a little) struck his mind. Then came the mukhra, which was in Pilu. This was a song which contained the emotions of love, separation and patriotism as well, which he never planned to make. But again, when it comes to music, no planned things work. Music has to be spontaneous.

Tanha Tanha

Here ARR said how Ramu used to describe the scenes. In his words – Ramu was very visual always describing the scenes like – there’ll be crane, there’ll be long shots, etc. When he was composing for Rangeela, he was not sure whether the things were working properly. Then one day, while in a meeting with Ramu in Hyderabad, Tanha Tamha came up. Then everything fell in place.

Bombay

When Arnab mentioned about Bombay and mentioned ‘Humma Humma’, ARR was visibly not happy with his pick, though he was smiling. Then Arnab asked him, “which song do you associate with Bombay.” ARR said Tu Hi Re and said that how it was slow and that it was very likely that people would be bored. But the emotion of the song was took it forward.

Dil Se Re

He said that he was in love with a Nusrat song (I forgot the song) and always wondered how Nusrat captured the quiet mood in that song. In Dil Se Re he tried to do that though it was no way inspired from that song.

Fanaa

I don’t really remember what he said here. I just remember that Mani Ratnam asked him to make a different song and he came up with the sound. Here he explained the meaning of ‘fanaa’ so beautifully. He also said that though the meaning of the song seems to be quite light, but it has got very deep meaning.


I didn’t like Arnab, kind of, nagging but not insisting for ARR to sing a piece of music. So ARR easily evaded him with his trade mark smile.

At the end of the interview, Arnab asked ARR, what was his non-ARR favorite song. ARR asked ‘Old or new?’ and then hummed a little bit of ‘Apki Nazron ne Samjha Pyar Ke kaabil Mujhe’, though he didn’t remember the lyrics.

United to Sangamam

Yesterday night while having dinner I was listening to Sangamam. This is one of those albums by ARR that just doesn’t let me go. I get hooked to it so much and so easily that I know for next one week I will be listening to it continuously. The title song of the movie was the last song that I heard and then I went to sleep. Until I slept, I kept humming its tune, quite naturally. But surprisingly, whenever I woke up at night I found myself humming some or other portion of Sangamam! Well it continued. The very first tune that caught me today morning was the flute piece played just before MSV starts singing. This happens very rarely to me when the song that I’m addicted to keep lingering in my mind. So, today I started my day with a happy ‘tune’ :)

Some moments of life....

After a long time Tanuj pinged me in Orkut. It was nice getting his message after so many days. Why he pinged? What else may be the reason of my Delhi friends to remember me now? ARR is performing in Delhi on 17th November. For last two weeks I'm endlessly answering my mobile phone, sms, mails and scraps saying that I'm not coming for the show. I cant blame them. All my friends know how much I love him and almost all of them instantly remember me whenever they find a glimpse of him in TV or News Paper. But, honestly I'm tired now. On one side when I cant really console myself for missing ARR's show for the second time, I just dont find words to answer them. I wish it were a nightmare and I would wake up to find that I'm in Delhi only; I was never gone anywhere actually.

An Ideal Idle Morning!!!

As I’m an early riser, I can hardly insist myself to be in the bed for long hours. Though I wake up quite early, my ideal idle morning starts at around 7 in the morning. I just keep day dreaming for some time and then put the headphone on my ear. There’s no strict choice of any song involved, anything by ARR is just more than perfect. Then I really need to be completely secluded as I don’t want to be caught as I gaze at my favorite wall of the room without forgetting to blink. My most wonderful morning has thus just started. I spend some more time huddling in the corner of my bed, listening to some of my loved tunes.

Then I need some break. After having breakfast I spend some time reading the novel I am continuing. In my ideal day, I should be alone in the house and I should be free to do anything I want. Like sing for some time, then may be recite some poems, then listen to some more songs.......no cooking, washing, cleaning.......no talking......................my ideal day continues........

Saawariya - my take

I saw Saawariya on Saturday and I loved it immensely. Probably, this is the first movie I saw in Hindi where the director is damn confident to transform his out-of-the-box vision into a commercial movie without sacrificing art even for a second. And this is the thing I liked most about Saawariya. Forget about storyline, music or acting. Just see how the director makes you sit for 3 hours (I’m not sure about the movie length though) in the movie theater while three and half central characters roam around inside the same set – a set with one bridge, one restaurant, some gullies and a tree - telling a clichéd story. More than appreciating the movie, I was stunned with the bold approach of Sanjay Leela Bhansali that he introduced the Victorian drama format in the Hindi movie, that also in such a successful way. Though he tried this story telling in Black also, but I found Black too hammering.

Saawariya may be boring, yawn provoking or disgusting for a lot of viewers, but I found it a masterpiece. I am not trying to prove myself an ‘intellectual’ but honestly that is what I feel about the movie. I am glad that I chose the right movie to watch this Diwali. And believe me, if you can forget the conventional Hindi movie format for some time, you will also enjoy the movie as much as I enjoyed.

Transparency is not allowed!!!

Transparency is not allowed. If you are transparent in your nature, talking and expression, then you are more prone to fall in the social pitfalls. The more lucid you are in your attitude, the more you are mistaken! You may say some of your friend very casually ‘I don’t like Mr. XYZ’……and it can turn out to be an official statement! Or if I say ‘I like Mr. XYZ’, suddenly I am being linked up with him. Give me a break! I may not be very good hypocrite but do I have to go ahead and explain all my said lines! Anybody aware of any crash course on 'hypocrisy'????

- by a very frustrated Doell

Finally Finally and Finally……

I have set Kehna Hi Kya as my hello tune!!!!!!!

Ever since I came across with the hello tune concept, ‘Kehna Hi Kya’ is always my hello tune. I have received numerous appreciations for that and even more requests from people saying ‘I will call you, please don’t pick up the phone’…..The magic of ARR always mesmerizes…..

No need to mention that on those occasions I felt proud to be a Rahman fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love is also contagious!!!

I didn’t know that like conjunctivitis, measles, pox, etc, Love is also contagious!!!

I happened to develop this theory following the changes occurred to my two colleagues. Let’s name them girl A and girl B. Girl A always makes big and long statements on the disadvantages of ‘love marriage’ and advantages of ‘arranged marriage’. She says “I’ll never go for love marriage. I will always rely on my parents to find the match for me. They are more experienced than me and I believe that they can find a better match for me”, etc. etc.

The Girl B is that type of girl whose only concern in the life is her ‘boyfriend’. I have come across such type of girls a number of times. They are the happiest when their boyfriends are pampering, gifting or taking them out and the saddest when their boyfriends call 14 times a day in stead of 15 times. Then they feel highly ‘neglected’…..

Anyway, I have been watching some changes in the Girl A as she very recently developed a good friendship with Girl B. Some days back suddenly the Girl A asks me if I know anything about the ‘compatibility theory’ between various zodiac signs. (Let me confess here that I find the talks on zodiac signs, moon signs, palmistry, number theory, tarot cards, etc, etc……too boring.) First I was taken aback by such a question and then came to know that she's having a crush on someone!!!!!!!!!!

An interaction with a doggie

Today while coming to office when my bus was standing at Ruby crossing, I saw something. A rickshaw was passing by and the passenger was an Indian doggie. It was very evident that the doggie was uncomfortable with this unusual ride and so he rather chose to stand than sit. At the same time he was getting bored also – he was yawning!

The story that no one read

Some days back TOI Kolkata announced for a story writing competition under the event name – Spellbound. With the boosting support from my friend Sonali, I sat to write the first story of my life. Six story beginnings were given and the stories were not supposed to exceed the word limit of 400. I picked one, developed the plot, drafted it and sent it across – all within 15 minutes. In the hurry I forgot to give a name to it! So it was very obvious that my story would never be published and it never did as expected.

Here is the story –

She had almost retired for the night when the doorbell rang. She wearily got out of bed and put on her nightgown. She opened the door and was almost taken aback by the sight of the visitor, Nisha!

“What does she want after all these years?”, was the first thought that struck Anjali’s mind.

Nisha was standing abashed, sweated and embarrassed; very much unlike her, thought Anjali.

“Please come in”, said perplexed Anjali, as her own voice sounded strange to her.

In hesitated steps, Nisha entered and sat uncomfortably on the sofa. Her undone hair, unmanaged dress and a bit swelled face was conveying that something was seriously wrong. “What’s that? Kaushik?” Anjali shivered.

Anjali sat in the opposite sofa. She couldn’t find words to start conversation. She was at a loss.

“Can I have a glass of water”- it was Nisha who broke the silence.

“Oh sure” – Anjali was on her feet. She could see Nisha moving her face on the other side, to hide her tears.

Some pieces of memories were rushing fast in Anjali’s mind.

Five years back, it was the Diwali night, when Anjali saw Nisha, for the first time. Nisha Kothari, the very smart and efficient private secretary of Executive Manager Kaushik Sengupta. It seemed a little odd how Kaushik got too cozy with her new subordinate almost overlooking all other guests. Nisha was there till late, of course on her boss’s special request. Anjali remembers, that night Kaushik went to drop her as it was very late to let her go alone in a city like Delhi.

She met Nisha for the second time in Kaushik’s office. The peon asked Anjali to wait outside the bada sahab’s cabin as he was on an urgent meeting! To Anjali’s surprise, it was Nisha who came out of the cabin when agitated Anjali caught her husband over phone.

The third time she saw Nisha, along with Kaushik, near Regal Cinema in a taxi. But Kaushik told he was going to Bangalore for two days on an office trip!

She came to the hall. Nisha looked at her. Now she didn’t try to hide her tears. All she could say before hiding her face with her hand was “it’s all over”.

“Anjali, do you remember what you said the last time we met?”

Anjali nodded. She could remember very well. “Be careful Nisha, the next turn may be yours” - the words almost echoed her mind.

“You were right Anjali. I’m leaving Delhi. I couldn’t have gone without seeing you at least for once.”

At Present

My Mobile Ringtone - Aararai kOdi paergaLil oruvan

My Mobile Hellotune – None

Book I’m hooked to – Godfather by Mario Puzo

Music I’m hooked to – Tamil MP3 sent to me by Dinesh

My Desktop Image -

source -wikipedia

Kolkata Durga Puja Images 2007

Click on the images for bigger and clearer view.

Heartiest thanks to Suchismita and her friend for the images.