I try to make this blog anything but a dream diary but I really couldn't help writing this one because again I am amazed at load of diverse unrelated rubbish my brain weaves together into what is fast becoming a night-time freak show, so here goes...
[ Background information needed : I have tuition today from 10am to 2pm after which I'll go to the Argus Open Quiz which starts at 4pm ]
So I leave the institute and as I am about to head home, the receptionist there also exits and tells me there's a good seminar thingy on some topic and asks me whether I would like to attend. I agree. So we start walking to the bus which will take us to the place. It's evening all of a sudden and we end up in this warehouse area and walk up to a biggish enclosure surrounded by a wall which had to be at least 20 feet high and an equally humongous gate. To my surprise, as if she was SpiderWoman, she effortlessly scaled the wall and headed for the bus which was inside the enclosure. I my jaw drops open and I try and find a way in, not wanting to miss the bus. Anyway I search the area looking for a possible way in and after about 5 minutes I do find a way in after climbing the smaller wall of the building / factory next to it and finding a low spot in the huge wall. I get in, board the bus which starts.. the huge gates open and the bus stops outside and picks up some students who were waiting for it outside ( It was at this point of time when it occurred to me that I could have just waited for the bus like the other people did ). So we're off to the seminar thing which we are told will happen some place ( I forgot the name but I do remember it was some place outside Kolkata ). It was some time into the bus ride when I remembered I was supposed to be at DI for the Argus Quiz.. I freak out, my watch says 6.30pm and I get off the bus immediately. I call my team-mate who I figured would be fuming because I didn't show up. To my surprise he tells me "chaap nish na, amra emniteo qualify kortam na, shob buro-buri ra stage-ey uthechhe". I am sort of relieved and start to look around. I had no idea where I was, all I knew was that I needed to head back home. Suddenly I notice 3-4 other people have gotten off the bus with me and one of them, a girl who I have never seen in my life, comes up to me and holds my hand and we start walking, as if she was my girlfriend :| :| .. I have no clue what is going on but think "Ok, this is nice, I have a girlfriend apparently" but disregard the fact that I have no idea whatsoever who she is. Interesting side-fact, her mother was walking right behind us. So we walk and meanwhile I ask for directions to get back to Kolkata and some people point me towards a bus stand. I am in this locality, sort of like a neighbourhood marketplace with a few teastalls, a grocery shop or two.. anyway I spot the bus stand and walk towards it when my 'girlfriend' bursts into song, '90s Bollywood style, with backgorund music and all. Her mother looks at her approvingly and I am like "what the hell is going on?!?!?!" .. Sadly, I don't remember anything after this and hence conclude.
No detail is made up. Feel free to comment.
I'm off to sleep.. more weirdness later.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Littering, Part Deux
As the lyad increases and the exams inch ever closer the posts dry up.. Anyway a significant 'breakthrough' if I might put it like that in my 'fight' against littering if I might put it like that..
The commute back from college recently has been tiring with the two hours of football it follows and the 15-20 minute wait for the bus at the 8B bus stand. Well on Friday I didn't have to wait, found a nice empty bus waiting for me at the stand so I got my preferred window seat near the door. This is not important. The guy who ended up sitting next to me apparently felt an urge to eat some chips and bought a packet from the guy who sells Roy Co. chips everyday at the Bus stand. This is sort of important. As soon as he opened the packet, thoughts began to race in my head and I started thinking about the politest way to tell the guy ( who seemed good-natured enough ) NOT to throw the packet on the road when he was done with it. So 15 minutes and 4 stoppages later I see him finish the packet and as he is about to throw it ..
Me : Sir, ekta request kortey pari ? Packet ta please rastaye felben na, amake diye din, ami pore fele debo.
Guy : * a blank stare on his face with hisleft hand still near the window *
Me : Ei packet e diye din, emniteo nongra achhe ( I had my football in that packet )
Guy : "ekhane diye debo?"
Me : Hain.
Guy : * drops it without another word *
Me : Thanks.
Felt good... Hopefully he was freaked out enough to repeat the incident to his folks at home. My folks reckon I was lucky not to get beat up.
End of story, more weirdness later..
The commute back from college recently has been tiring with the two hours of football it follows and the 15-20 minute wait for the bus at the 8B bus stand. Well on Friday I didn't have to wait, found a nice empty bus waiting for me at the stand so I got my preferred window seat near the door. This is not important. The guy who ended up sitting next to me apparently felt an urge to eat some chips and bought a packet from the guy who sells Roy Co. chips everyday at the Bus stand. This is sort of important. As soon as he opened the packet, thoughts began to race in my head and I started thinking about the politest way to tell the guy ( who seemed good-natured enough ) NOT to throw the packet on the road when he was done with it. So 15 minutes and 4 stoppages later I see him finish the packet and as he is about to throw it ..
Me : Sir, ekta request kortey pari ? Packet ta please rastaye felben na, amake diye din, ami pore fele debo.
Guy : * a blank stare on his face with his
Me : Ei packet e diye din, emniteo nongra achhe ( I had my football in that packet )
Guy : "ekhane diye debo?"
Me : Hain.
Guy : * drops it without another word *
Me : Thanks.
Felt good... Hopefully he was freaked out enough to repeat the incident to his folks at home. My folks reckon I was lucky not to get beat up.
End of story, more weirdness later..
Monday, October 20, 2008
Weirder Dream
This is a dream I had on 15th September, round about at 8am in the morning. Considering that I remember almost every single detail, this has to be one of the weirdest I have ever seen or even heard someone else recollect in my life.
So I am in this huge auditorium with a big stage which was empty for the time being. It was about half-filled with people my age and also lots of kids in school ( my old school, DBPC ) uniforms. Some of them are facing the stage, some are facing the opposite way ( that is the way the benches were arranged mind you ). Anyway I spot this kid near the back who was sitting alone and I go up to talk to him. Turns out, funnily enough, that kid was me, as a six year old. I somehow had managed to meet a 14 years younger version of myself. Anyway I remember talking to him ( me ) for a while.. we talked about school, about how our shoes were similar, stuff like that. Next, I'm getting the feeling ( finally ) that something ain't right, so I see a friend of mine ( college classmate who recently got a new cellphone with a 3mp camera ) in front and ask him to take a picture of me and me together ( to prove that I had met myself later ). So we go out of the auditorium and land up in the central wing of our school's top floor. It was raining pretty hard outside but anyway both of us stood, my hand on my (younger) shoulder and my friend took the picture. I actually did not expect the picture to come out well ( firstly, the younger me was fidgeting a lot and secondly, there was something going on in my mind, sort of like when you take a picture of anything remotely paranormal, it comes out blurred, like one of the Final Destination movies ). So my friend takes the photo and surprisingly manages to get a print-out of it from his phone ( !!??! ). It turns out to be a bus ticket for the Rs. 4.070 BUT it is, as I expected, sort of blurred in the middle. After all this I go in the auditorium again along with myself. I don't remember talking to him ( me ) after that. I did run into some classmates of mine ( school classmates in class 1A, they were 6-year olds too ) sitting with their back to the stage, about 5-6 of them together.
Next thing I remember, one of our Principals comes on stage, everyone stands up and the morning prayer begins when I realize my shirt was gone. I am standing and praying, without any shirt, feeling a bit embarrassed about it when I spot another schoolmate ( grown up though ) in the same situation. A bit calmer, I started searching for a shirt and fortunately came across an extra one in my school bag. Phew!! Next we line up to go to classes and end up doing so and going to the old 1st floor classrooms in the junior school side. One unnecessary detail I remember is that there were a couple of rolled up "The Telegraph" newspapers lying in the corridor. Anyway we enter class when I realize I didn't have a tie. Only place to search, I open our class cupboard and instead of books and hopefully a spare tie lying around I find it filled with my dad's shirts.. I search frantically and when I finally do come across a few ties in a corner, I feel incredibly drowsy, fall asleep and then wake up ( in real life ). End of dream.
Although some people, like my brother, thought that I had made most of the stuff up later, I didn't..
More weirdness later..
So I am in this huge auditorium with a big stage which was empty for the time being. It was about half-filled with people my age and also lots of kids in school ( my old school, DBPC ) uniforms. Some of them are facing the stage, some are facing the opposite way ( that is the way the benches were arranged mind you ). Anyway I spot this kid near the back who was sitting alone and I go up to talk to him. Turns out, funnily enough, that kid was me, as a six year old. I somehow had managed to meet a 14 years younger version of myself. Anyway I remember talking to him ( me ) for a while.. we talked about school, about how our shoes were similar, stuff like that. Next, I'm getting the feeling ( finally ) that something ain't right, so I see a friend of mine ( college classmate who recently got a new cellphone with a 3mp camera ) in front and ask him to take a picture of me and me together ( to prove that I had met myself later ). So we go out of the auditorium and land up in the central wing of our school's top floor. It was raining pretty hard outside but anyway both of us stood, my hand on my (younger) shoulder and my friend took the picture. I actually did not expect the picture to come out well ( firstly, the younger me was fidgeting a lot and secondly, there was something going on in my mind, sort of like when you take a picture of anything remotely paranormal, it comes out blurred, like one of the Final Destination movies ). So my friend takes the photo and surprisingly manages to get a print-out of it from his phone ( !!??! ). It turns out to be a bus ticket for the Rs. 4.070 BUT it is, as I expected, sort of blurred in the middle. After all this I go in the auditorium again along with myself. I don't remember talking to him ( me ) after that. I did run into some classmates of mine ( school classmates in class 1A, they were 6-year olds too ) sitting with their back to the stage, about 5-6 of them together.
Next thing I remember, one of our Principals comes on stage, everyone stands up and the morning prayer begins when I realize my shirt was gone. I am standing and praying, without any shirt, feeling a bit embarrassed about it when I spot another schoolmate ( grown up though ) in the same situation. A bit calmer, I started searching for a shirt and fortunately came across an extra one in my school bag. Phew!! Next we line up to go to classes and end up doing so and going to the old 1st floor classrooms in the junior school side. One unnecessary detail I remember is that there were a couple of rolled up "The Telegraph" newspapers lying in the corridor. Anyway we enter class when I realize I didn't have a tie. Only place to search, I open our class cupboard and instead of books and hopefully a spare tie lying around I find it filled with my dad's shirts.. I search frantically and when I finally do come across a few ties in a corner, I feel incredibly drowsy, fall asleep and then wake up ( in real life ). End of dream.
Although some people, like my brother, thought that I had made most of the stuff up later, I didn't..
More weirdness later..
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Memories.. and a small Tribute..
I listen to the genius, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee on his birthday ( he would have turned 77 if he would have been with us today ) as I write this.
As mentioned before, Yaman Kalyan is too awesome to pen down in words. The sense of peace I get listening to this alaap by him is tough to recreate. I am yet to hear anyone who can create the 'mood' which is required while listening to any classical piece as good as Pt Nikhil Banerjee did. Here ends this simple tribute..
Two days back, my father reminded me of a 'funny' gag he and my family used to play on me when I was very little. Whenever I was out, my father would say "Ebar tor biye debo, meye khuji" ( "time to get you married, let's search for the girl" for those less conversant in Bengali ) and I would absolutely freak out and start screaming in terror !! I think I was about 3-4 years old then. The funny thing ( to them at that time, NOT to me ) was that they got me worked up and terrified every time they said that, I wasn't able to call their bluff, not even a single time. As of today I am officially old enough to get married and it's strange how this incident, one I had completely forgotten, came back into my memory two days before today!
Speaking of terrifying little kids, another memory came rushing back. Back when my grandparents ( Dida and Dadna ) were alive, we used to live in the ground floor of my house. There was this show on TV "The Invisible Man" which I was scared to death of, so when my brother watched it I used to run upstairs and "take shelter" in the company of my grandma. What my dear older brother decided to do one day was turn both TVs .. upstairs and downstairs to "The Invisible Man". What resulted was me running upstairs and downstairs continuously for half an hour, screaming and crying. Everyone found it unbelievably funny but I sure didn't back then. I am willing to forgive my brother in spite of the traumatic experience if I get a full written apology though :P.
Like most others, I often wish I could relive my childhood again. We were truly innocent back then, I wonder how much has changed for kids nowadays..
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Music I
The first of many rants about music you can expect here..
I am currently listening to Comptine d'Un Autre Été by Yann Tiersen for the 7th consecutive time. It's part of the score from the movie 'Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain' ( Amelie to you and me ) and jointly the best piano track I have ever heard in almost 21 years. ( The other one is a track in my computer called Piano Concerto 26 by Mozart ) .
Real music is undescribeable really. By real music I mean real music, not the sort you get to hear in recently released Bollywood movies or VH1's "Hip Hop Hustle". To me good music has to have the ability to make you forget anything else is going on around you. That's it..
I learn sitar, but Piano has to be my most favourite instrument after the Sitar. Any good pianist can take you away to somewhere else altogether. People like Yanni, Richard Clayderman, Robert Miles are all really really good but what sets apart the track I'm listening to from those by Yanni and Clayderman is the fact that no other instruments were used in the song. I listened to that track 14 times in a row once, 9 times now.. Most people would fall asleep listening to the same song over and over again, but that's the basic difference between my type of music and theirs.
There have been many phases in the last couple of years, phases lasting two or three weeks when I used to hear a single song at least once every day and at most 5-6 times consecutively at a go. Does this happen to everyone? For example, for the past two-three weeks I have been listening, without fail, to a 5 and a half minute piece by Ustad Imrat Khan ( in which he plays alaap in Surbahar in Raga Yaman Kalyan ). After watching American Beauty there was a phase when I listened to the track "Arose" about 50 times in 2 weeks. There She Goes by Sixpence None The Richer, True Love Waits ( piano version ) by Christopher O'Riley, the Amelie track, the Mozart track, a piece of music that played in the process of installing the Rogue Spear game, Trade Winds by Craig Chaquico ( guitar piece ) .. I could go on and on.. have all been part of such 'phases'.
I have been successful in changing many of my friends' taste in music by nagging them continuously to listen to my favourite stuff and it seems to have worked, cos Smart Primate apparently listened to the Amelie track 30 times today :P. Lots of other examples are there but this is getting boring, I stop here. More when I think of interesting stuff to write.
Statistics : Music I have listened to while writing this post :
Comptine d'Un Autre Été by Yann Tiersen x10
Arose by Thomas Newman x11
Piano Concerto 26, Mozart x3
Trade Winds by Craig Chaquico x3
Piano Concerto 21 in C Major by Richard Clayderman x1
I am currently listening to Comptine d'Un Autre Été by Yann Tiersen for the 7th consecutive time. It's part of the score from the movie 'Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain' ( Amelie to you and me ) and jointly the best piano track I have ever heard in almost 21 years. ( The other one is a track in my computer called Piano Concerto 26 by Mozart ) .
Real music is undescribeable really. By real music I mean real music, not the sort you get to hear in recently released Bollywood movies or VH1's "Hip Hop Hustle". To me good music has to have the ability to make you forget anything else is going on around you. That's it..
I learn sitar, but Piano has to be my most favourite instrument after the Sitar. Any good pianist can take you away to somewhere else altogether. People like Yanni, Richard Clayderman, Robert Miles are all really really good but what sets apart the track I'm listening to from those by Yanni and Clayderman is the fact that no other instruments were used in the song. I listened to that track 14 times in a row once, 9 times now.. Most people would fall asleep listening to the same song over and over again, but that's the basic difference between my type of music and theirs.
There have been many phases in the last couple of years, phases lasting two or three weeks when I used to hear a single song at least once every day and at most 5-6 times consecutively at a go. Does this happen to everyone? For example, for the past two-three weeks I have been listening, without fail, to a 5 and a half minute piece by Ustad Imrat Khan ( in which he plays alaap in Surbahar in Raga Yaman Kalyan ). After watching American Beauty there was a phase when I listened to the track "Arose" about 50 times in 2 weeks. There She Goes by Sixpence None The Richer, True Love Waits ( piano version ) by Christopher O'Riley, the Amelie track, the Mozart track, a piece of music that played in the process of installing the Rogue Spear game, Trade Winds by Craig Chaquico ( guitar piece ) .. I could go on and on.. have all been part of such 'phases'.
I have been successful in changing many of my friends' taste in music by nagging them continuously to listen to my favourite stuff and it seems to have worked, cos Smart Primate apparently listened to the Amelie track 30 times today :P. Lots of other examples are there but this is getting boring, I stop here. More when I think of interesting stuff to write.
Statistics : Music I have listened to while writing this post :
Comptine d'Un Autre Été by Yann Tiersen x10
Arose by Thomas Newman x11
Piano Concerto 26, Mozart x3
Trade Winds by Craig Chaquico x3
Piano Concerto 21 in C Major by Richard Clayderman x1
Monday, September 29, 2008
The Shawshank Redemption
Tribute to the best movie I have ever seen, one of the best ever made.
The first time I saw the movie was way back in about 2001 or 2002 on my brother's recommendation. I liked it then but since i was pretty much a kid back then I didn't really appreciate it much. Next time was some years later when I got the 'full blast' sort of. The most underrated movie ever, it's impossible to describe in a few words really, almost every aspect of the movie is about perfect. The best part of the movie has to be the voice-overs by Morgan Freeman as "Red". Each one is beautiful, each one is perfect.. the choice of words, tone of speaking, everything.. Events in the film are very well spaced out and the ending has to be one of the best ever. So for all the lesser fortunate souls who haven't seen the film, I strongly recommend getting a hold of it. If you doubt my choice, 376,534 other people have voted to make it #1 in IMDb's list of top 250 movies. Go watch it.
Cheers!!
The first time I saw the movie was way back in about 2001 or 2002 on my brother's recommendation. I liked it then but since i was pretty much a kid back then I didn't really appreciate it much. Next time was some years later when I got the 'full blast' sort of. The most underrated movie ever, it's impossible to describe in a few words really, almost every aspect of the movie is about perfect. The best part of the movie has to be the voice-overs by Morgan Freeman as "Red". Each one is beautiful, each one is perfect.. the choice of words, tone of speaking, everything.. Events in the film are very well spaced out and the ending has to be one of the best ever. So for all the lesser fortunate souls who haven't seen the film, I strongly recommend getting a hold of it. If you doubt my choice, 376,534 other people have voted to make it #1 in IMDb's list of top 250 movies. Go watch it.
Cheers!!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Littering
I had the fortune of visiting the US of A in 2004 ( lucky as in I got to go there when things were a bit better than today of course ). The first thing that struck me in the 1 hour drive from the airport to my Aunt's house was the 'Greenness' of the place.. It was like driving through a sea of lush greenery. [ I need to work on my vocabulary and learn good comparisons and stuff but you get the general picture ] Anyway the other thing about most of the places I visited in my month-long stay was the general cleanliness of it all. Roads, parking lots, public places were unbelievably clean ( everything is relative of course, I have been living in Kolkata all my life.. ) Places like Maumee, Ohio had roads which could have been sat on without your clothes getting dirty. It was sometime around that point where I made a vow never to litter, consciously or unconsciously anywhere and prevent everyone I knew from doing so. This has made me sort of unpopular when I am with my friends in certain situations. While eating a roll for example, I prevent everyone around me from throwing pieces of paper on to the street just because "everyone does so". I can proudly claim to have littered just once since 2004 ( I threw a toothpick in the side of the road in Park Street ). My next aim is to pluck up enough courage to tell random strangers off for littering, the guy who sat next to me in the bus ride home for example. After enjoying a good number of 'tele-bhaja's and muri, he promptly proceeded to wipe his hands using the paper 'thonga' and throw it out on the street when he was done. All I could muster was a disapproving glance at him *sigh*.
So here's to anyone who reads this.. Stop throwing stuff on the roads, or anywhere for that matter. Stop your friends and family from doing so. Only two things can be gained.. a pretty satisfactory feeling and of course, cleaner surroundings.
As a footnote I would like to add that I bring home stuff if I can't find proper places to dispose of them. Frooti, Appy tetra paks, Monginis paper boxes, bus tickets, etc have all found their way to the waste-basket in my kitchen from various parts of Kolkata.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Weird Dream
OK so this is my first blog entry, ever.. What better way to introduce my weird brain than with this dream I saw recently ( which was big hit with whoever has heard this by the way ).
So I'm in my ground floor of my house ( it's two - storied, we live upstairs, only furniture and stuff downstairs ) minding my own business when this short, overweight, fair, female ninja with a blond ponytail ( oh yes ) comes up to me with what can only be described as an agressive attitude. The courageous guy I am, I run for my life, into one of the bathrooms and try to lock myself in but she's too quick, pounds against the door while I desperately try to keep her from getting in ( the sort of scene you get to see in any cheap thriller, except with the gender reversed ). Suddenly the 'struggle' stops and I see a knife being passed to me under the door and she says "Take that one, I have an extra" !! Uhhh okkkk .. I take it and we start fighting .. a sudden blackout .. I am standing in the dining room, 4 such knives in my hand, she has none and is begging for mercy but I decide to kill her, which I do.. Now what?? .. I have a dead body and no way to dispose of it... So I do the only logical thing, flush her down the toilet, but she gets stuck.. END OF DREAM..
Judge me if you want, I have absolutely no idea where all this came from.. Didn't see any sort of movie the night before, I'm not scared of short fat ninjas or knives for that matter.. Anyway beats me, more weirdness later..
I'm off to sleep now.
So I'm in my ground floor of my house ( it's two - storied, we live upstairs, only furniture and stuff downstairs ) minding my own business when this short, overweight, fair, female ninja with a blond ponytail ( oh yes ) comes up to me with what can only be described as an agressive attitude. The courageous guy I am, I run for my life, into one of the bathrooms and try to lock myself in but she's too quick, pounds against the door while I desperately try to keep her from getting in ( the sort of scene you get to see in any cheap thriller, except with the gender reversed ). Suddenly the 'struggle' stops and I see a knife being passed to me under the door and she says "Take that one, I have an extra" !! Uhhh okkkk .. I take it and we start fighting .. a sudden blackout .. I am standing in the dining room, 4 such knives in my hand, she has none and is begging for mercy but I decide to kill her, which I do.. Now what?? .. I have a dead body and no way to dispose of it... So I do the only logical thing, flush her down the toilet, but she gets stuck.. END OF DREAM..
Judge me if you want, I have absolutely no idea where all this came from.. Didn't see any sort of movie the night before, I'm not scared of short fat ninjas or knives for that matter.. Anyway beats me, more weirdness later..
I'm off to sleep now.
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