The Woof Woof saga of my life – Part 1

….now that my dog-love button has been restarted I remember all those years of pure fun, kindness (not just from me to them….it came both ways), love, affection, trust …..such sweet memories!

Where it all began…..

I was an avid dog-lover…yeah avid…that’s the adjective, n yeah it had b’com a thing of my past (until recently) since 2002! The place where I grew up in was a huge ECL (Coal India) colony with high walls lining its circumference. And we had dogs …. all over the place! About 20-30 dogs including pups (mostly pure Indian breeds) populated our colony. Most of the people there, about 60 odd families, loved them.

We (my Mom, me, bhai, n our next door neighbour Mukherjee aunty) had named each of them. There was Nepali (I named him this ’coz he had those cute Asian features), Kalu (me again - well ‘coz he had a black coat, which btw was beautiful n silky), Sush (courtesy Ma - coz she was the prettiest lil white thing n Ma’am Sush was the reigning Miss Universe then), Mejo (bhai had named this one…coz it was a mid-sized dog and in Bangla…mejo is a colloquial term for the middle one), Lalmoni (Mukherjee aunty – as this one had a lush reddish-brown coat n ‘moni’ stands for the dear one :) ), Tommy (we were out of names n since we had named it’s sister lalmoni, we just found a name n started calling him that :) ), B[n]adu (ma thought he was a Bandar-mukhi – the moneky-faced one), n there were many more. We loved them all. It’s been 10 years since we’ve moved more than 150 kms away from there. Ma used to make extra chapattis for them, we played with them all the time, they got a good yelling when they did something naughty…hehe just like me n bhai :p .

Sometimes when they’d get into fights amongst themselves, I would get inside their little woofy-howly episodes and break the fight. They never attacked me. I did this ‘coz they’d get bruised n wounded in these fights n I hated that ‘coz they’d limp after that, or have a broken ear, or something as painful. But you know what…I got into trouble because of this on a strange street long back. These dogs didn’t know me n I was in the habit of trying to break these fights. When I saw them getting at each other, I stepped close n stupidly enough tried to stop them…..tried making “tch tch” sounds, yelled at them asking them to stop. And while most of them got confused and stopped, one of the full-grown males suddenly came right at me ….. I managed a narrow escape. I swore I’d never get too close to unknown ones until I had ascertained to them that I’m not there to hurt them.

I so miss those good ol’ days, n I miss Nepali – he was one of my favourite friends. I loved him n patted him …. n even though he was not one of those dogs which loved being cuddled….he loved it when I did it. I miss him! He waited for me near the colony entrance gate just around the time when I’d come back from school. He’d jump up a bit, wag his little tail, make little groaning sounds until I patted him. Then he’d go. I’d have to call out to it to bring it back n feed it. He never demanded food … just a pat n some love J. Now, I am jealous of God ‘coz he has him. I hope he’s having a great time getting the fairy services in heaven ;)

However, I will always love you n cherish those days when you were around. I miss you! Btw, you still adorn many of my secret codes n passwords …. RIP!

A quick rendezvous with my roots - Magical Shantipur

This is going to be a lllooonnngggggg one ..... so., readers beware! I have been thinking of putting up this post to share my awe at the beauty of the past.....Oh what an experience! I visited Shantipur this Holi....it's my Ma's granpa's place. Yeah yeah ... I have said this before, but quoting Ross "I havent said what I'm about to say, vis-a-vis - the following" :p
hehe....ok ok it really was an amazing experience n let me not dilute it all up with silly jokes :|
so...here's an account of my experience.
I went there with my granma, uncle, aunt, n cousin and on our way heard some amazing tales about how Holi is going to be a completely out-of-this-world experience at Shantipur. I was already excited!

This is my granma btw....isn't she beautiful!!

Ma didn't grow up in Shantipur, she just visited the place with her family, every Durga Pujo until we happened :| However, when I visited Shantipur this time, I felt connected. I had never felt this way earlier; but that's maybe 'coz I've never stayed there for more than a day, n in my whole life, I had just been there thrice earlier. I felt so connected. The huge buildings are writhing with age, but they still ooze grace and bear the marks of the blue blood that flows down its veins....hopefully some of it has trickled down to mine as well :|

I remember when I had been here in 2004 (six years back).... the hazed part (right corner) of this picture bore a continuation of this building. We stayed there for a night. It was ok then...it's all breaking down. Ahhh...it made my heart ache. The little corners still seemed to call out, "come in my child, sit down here; I still have some shade saved for you", I almost heard it say. I wish we could do something about it...save it. When i asked granny, she said that ours is a large family.....it belongs to all of us....n technically I'm not a part of it as I'm a Chakrabarty n they're the Moitras.....I'm just a tertiary branch hanging somewhere far. My uncles want to save it too.....but it's a huge deal trying to pull out the rights to work on something that belongs to "everybody"....most of whom don't even give a damn.....whatever... "it is all very complicated", I was told.

See this well? It hasn't changed...probably the only thing that looks just the same....irrespective of how many walls crumble down, how many roots turn up, it never dries. It is known as an 'Idara' in Bangla.... a well that never dries.

This portion .... arghhhh.... looks spooky...n I wasn't allowed to go in and see....apparently no one has been in there for years. Still.....looks beautiful!
This is the 'Nachghar', at the entrance gate of out house - the 'Moitra Bari'. This was the 'Nahabat Khana' were music and dance performances were held during ceremonies and festivals, in ancient times.
Well.... it's cliched hotels and guest houses like this one that I'm thankful to for letting us stay in during our visits to our ancestral house. The house is in such state now that we could not stay in there. Sad but well.... all great things come to an end...and maybe that's what's happening to us and our majestic house. I just wish we .... at least us, brothers and sisters, can save the house some day and stay there during festivals.... we all want to, our parents too...let's see if we can achieve the impossible.
Beautiful temples built by our forefathers, eras before today, still stand tall, thanks to the lovely architecture. All the temples have a unique built. They all stand high on a 8-10 feet base, and are surrounded by thick walls, with not much room inside. Maybe that's the secret...not much of suspended stuff....so they are better armored to sustain the ravages of time.

This is our 'Ananda Gopal', the baby Lord Krishna. Ahhhh...he's adorable! His little palm stretched out asking for a 'Kheer Laddu', his large eyes bearing a naughty look calling out "pamper me, wont you?". Oh...I love him...we all do and we miss him when we come back every time. Probably he'll make our wishes come true one day.
I know we can't return to Shantipur for good, but I hope we can save the land that bears our roots, so that we can visit to catch up - with siblings, distant uncles and aunts, people who we connect to oh so easily, and with a little part of our soul that's stuck there! :)

shredding n simplifying n ...... you figure it out

One fine day, when I was walking down the brick-stud lanes of IIMA, chirping like a gay robin thinking “what a pat I’d get on my back for my game theory term paper!” I was bombed. You know who dropped it on me? My current advisor, who during that time I was trying to impress with my work so that he’d agree to guide me on my juggling acts of putting together a decent dissertation. Well….when I got my senses back I realized that the injury was primarily from splinters that had lightly scraped the hell out of me….. “ooohhh….ahhhh…ouuchhhhh…phooo…phoooo”!

What he had said was this...."Patrali...what's the matter with you? your writing makes no sense". And all my life...in school, grad days....I was told that I had excellent writing skills....it all fell flat...shhmmughfffllleeee splat!

I am still recovering…don’t know if I’d ever come out of the shock. Even though experts say that I’d be fine….I don’t see any signs.

As a kid, almost all my well-wishing elders preached me the virtues of honesty, modesty, and simplicity. Well….let me tell you what I’ve got out of this thus far. Maybe it’s possible for one to muster some flair along the lines of the 1^st two ….of course you’d have to trudge rough roads a bit (me? not there yet...not even trying). And if you’re talking about attaining simplicity…..forget about it! Who would’ve thought while coining this innocent term that it wouldn’t after all be all that simple?

I realized this when I attempted writing up my research. “ooohh…aahhhhh…splinter splinter….phooooo”! The 1^st feedback I got from my then would-be advisor was that I write like I was creating a jigsaw puzzle and messing up the pieces for the reader to figure out. All the pieces were there …but if you were reading it you'd want to beat the hell out of me (the writer) and file a section 307 against me. It’s been 3 years since I was that gay robin; now.... I’m all messed up….except that now I know that I’m messed up.

So what is this simplicity….a tongue-slurping lizard of some kind? Freaking the hell out of young writers? Following is a gist of what I’ve figured out thus far. The 1^st thing we need to achieve in order to attain simplicity in writing is get the FOCUS right. Well, at the end of my thesis journey…I hope I’ve got that…for the least :p

But that doesn’t stop the damned lizard from flashing its nasty tongue at you ….. there are several other levers attached to it. It’s like a lifestyle! Being able to identify jargons from terms, being able to know when you type the equation and when you type out runny sentences to explain ….a-a-a-a….not too much…just the right amount! It’s making the work sound interesting without making the reader wonder “Boy I must be stupid; or did I miss something? Oh…check out the nice chick at 10 o’clock!”, or worse still making them go “what the hell are you reading?”

Now some side-effects of missing the catch called simplicity…. I’ve been shredding reams of copies of my whole work – spiral bound and everything…glad it’s less than 120 pages. I was told not to dump them like our usual course-mats. I have some 10 more of those lying around ‘coz my palms and fingers are sore, as there’s no shredder bot on campus. I was thinking it might be easier to eat them…. At least I’d get my daily dose of fiber…not so prevalent in our canteen menu ;) Or maybe I just need some sleep!

an ode to the burn....

Burn the fire in me, set thee free
Smoke'll shroud the world to let me be.
A hue, or should I say a stain, will sure cling back;
A hue that's now part o' my soul, part o' my esprit.

Peace!

well if you winced........I'd pity you!

This is my new-found love. I spotted her/him (?) well dunno.....well spotted it (safer :p) near an old temple (Shyam Chand) in Shantipur, West Bengal. I was visiting my mom's ancestral home to seek blessings from our ancestral deity -the dear 'Anando Gopal'. Boy...does he have a great pampering during Holi. I also got to meet my siblings and we all had a great time this Holi :)

Well....coming back to my love :) ....as soon as I stepped out of the car, camera hooped around my neck, this cute little creature came up to me - a little afraid, but wagging its tiny tail vigorously to express its affection. It was absolutely adorable. Its large brown eyes looked up at me, a cute little mouth turned up in a pout. I loved it. I sat down and it came closer in excitement. It had some kind of skin disease, the hair had disappeared here and there and I was a little skeptical about patting this cute little thing. I wanted to, but I didn't 'coz I feared I'd catch its sickness. Arrggghhhhh I pity myself and feel sad at the thought of how selfishly I behaved. I tried to show it my affection by making little sounds; trying to say that I loved it. And all the while I felt guilty of not being able to get close to it out of a petty fear that it was a sick pup. We left. I feel sad now that I didn't care enough to show some love to this little creature; innocent as it was, it probably got this sickness 'coz of us...people, who pollute this world left-right-n-centre. And the worst bit is...whoever sees this pic laughs at me and says that I'm crazy to have kept this picture :(
I am sorry my dear love, you wont believe it but I so yearn to see you again and if I do, I'll cuddle you and love you so much. God bless you dear friend!