Hey You !

Heidi lived in Alps with her Alms uncle - I read this story in a book that was called The Big Big Story Book and it had a compilation of amazing stories that were my first foray into the world of English story books. Recently on a long flight I watched the movie much to delight of the young steward who was our attendant that night. My first glimpse of the Alps was from our flight ...the dawn breaking to spread the orange hues over the snowy terrain...looked mesmerizing even to someone who is not too fond of the mountains. Switzerland was beautiful, with its manicured terrain and flowers like pretty maids all in a row, picture perfect setting and breathtaking, like a touch me not porcelain beauty. Coming from my "elo melo" city I wondered how people managed to keep a country so organized , I have trouble keeping my room in ship shape...... No, I would not like to live there ......it's too distant and too cold ,but what I will carry in my heart is  the awesome time .......

This write up came back with a note of regret – for not being able to make to the next round in the competition, to the editor's table. Well, this is the first time I competed , that is if I do not count the House Competition essay writing, where I came second after Champa. Actually I do not why I took part – chance, curiosity or plain gambling …..because writing for me has always been a catharsis – an expression that I can share …..So no regrets , really! The road may be narrow and dark…….. It was 1983 and life with Baba always veered on the unexpected and the adventurous. Like that road trip from Kolkata to Delhi via Agra. We had this faithful Ambassador that took us on this journey with Baba at the helm and our cleaner Kalipada as his first assistant. I was the official navigator and Giri uncle, my father’s friend, in charge of our ummm, let’s say security, since me and my cousin Dimpi, both all of 18,  needed an escort , officially. Baba always liked the un-tr...

I changed my FB DP to a solo pic after eons. I guess it's time to let it go...Store away the memory and move on with the times.  Some memories die a natural death and some a sudden death.  I stood in front of 1/11 B Maqbool Alam Road in a state of shock. Those 3 minutes were like eternity when I realized that my childhood memories are lost forever.  I had  always wondered who lived in that bungalow where I had spent all my childhood vacations. I  often wondered if I went back. will  someone allow me to lift the shutter of the iron gate and let me take a peek at the "Champa gaach" , under which I used to build pebble houses and played with my dolls.And where we found a  snake coiled into a roll one morning much to everyone's horror!! We had a neighbor who went by the name of "Aloo". And we had a neighborhood school called "Bal Niketan"run by a lady called Suchitra , who dropped her surname because she was married to a Muslim , and the...

It's summer here - though Facebook announced with a lot of panache " Today is the first day of spring", a couple of days back,it still is summer. I kept a customary bowl of water for the sparrows inside my box window and it was a pleasant sight to see those birds flying in and out chip-chipping, fluttering their  wings and toppling over each other. Pretty sight definitely, especially as I enjoyed my unhurried cuppa tea and flipped over yesterday's papers. Champa's post on her  animal loving daughter took me back to a time when we had more pets in the house than people , thanks to my mother. In our sprawling Lansdowne Road house we has dogs, parrots, pigeons , rabbits , mynahs , fultushi and myriad pets that my mother was so fond of. She also had a family of Shalikh Pakhi who would follow her into the house and each year would bring back their "baby Shalikh" for her to see , whenever it was ready to fly and meet their Grandmom. The bunglow at Benaras  h...

Valentine's day is again round the corner, and as I was in the line collecting my tickets for the movie, the girl before me exclaimed  to her friends, " Ei dekh dekh, aj propose day te ki message likheche!!" And all her friends hovered around her, over giggles and titters! The effects of our man -made Cupid- not bad really, love any day is better than war !!! And I love love stories ! I like people who give me stories! But not the stories that we read everyday - break ups and affairs and mundane marriages. But something that happens in a tangent like the breaking-the -stereotype marriage that I attended a few months back- a young boy marrying an older girl with a son. I quite marveled at their courage and for breaking the odds and the great societal barrier! Amrita Pritam and Sahir  :) and their unfinished love story , till she met Imroz, again much younger than her !                             ...

Have been meaning to write this for a while - without sarcasm. But it is kind of difficult....to write about love then and now !  And watching Dilwale past midnight makes me think of mindlessness...... about that crazy little thing called love :P  Then  Strange that I found you in the most unlikely of all the places - in the pages of memory . You were surprised that I remembered your address How many cigarettes you smoked And how your eyes crinkled in a smile.... And how you kissed and I cried .. When we said goodbye ... Now  Stage 1. Level 1 She smiles. He likes. She likes.    He loves. She loves . He pretends.            Game over  Stage 2. Level 2 He stalks. She stalks. He pretends. She pretends. He confesses. She confesses. He loves. She loves. He leaves.She loves.          Game over. Stage 3 Level 3 He loves. She pretends. He loves. She likes. He proposes. She ...

I live with pain these days - literally ! My knees, my joints , my wrist , my heart .... it's not a happy existence , but I live through it all- partying , movies , friends, reunions , award ceremonies, limping through and not giving in to the different degrees of pain. 2015 has been a year of goodbyes- Too many of them . Mostly painful - some had to be that way and a few conscious. Saying goodbye , or partial goodbye to work has been a conscious decision. People around me think I am too young to quit, give up on the money - sustain my lifestyle and live with this doing- nothing- asking -for -nothing mode. I do not know it myself - it's just another experiment , another mid life blue , when I do not want to run with the time, after moolah and after expectations! Tall order that - but I see life with it's sell by date is passing me by. At times I ask myself what do I live for ? And I realize I did not do so much cos I was waiting for the right time and it never happened....