Happy New Year 2008

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year 2008 to all of you, Lets rock and have fun. Wish you all very successful and prosperous year and my best wishes to your family.

Apologies for not wishing you personally. Neither I will be able to check your blogs in near future. But I will come back. Need a break from blogosphere for some days/weeks. I will tell the reason after my come back. Don’t worry guys, I am fine.

Keep smiling and Take care
Pijush

PS: Couple of pics of last year in Syntagma Square – Greece where we started year 2007.

The Age I Wish To Go Back To Meme

Niki-chan tagged me asking "The Age I Wish To Go Back To ". Thank You Niki chan.
I followed the way Niki-chan did. Going through my album of childhood and found many interesting moments.

My life was not always in positive tune. Like most of us there are many mistakes I did, but I am not going to think about those days. Being an optimistic guy I always looked forward. So, I want to go back only to my happy days.

Happiness comes in many forms. When I read a good book, it makes me happy. But if I talk about special moments I can remember many of them. The day we won the football tournament in University Hostel was special for me as I scored some unbelievable goals, the day I first flew to outside India (London) was very special for me as I explored another World that day, The day I got job was also special, Even the small events like Swarasati Puja was special to me as we used to celebrate it in our home every year in our childhood.

One of the days I often cherished was the day we won the Trophy for our school in class X. It was an inter-school essay competition and being the first and second boy of our class I and my brother participated in this one and won the trophy together. Bro won the best individual performance trophy. That day my parents were proud of us and we were in jubilant mood.

Me:Second from Left

But apart from these success stories another day we performed together in our Babuline Colony (Kharagpur), was a fascinating day to cherish. I want to go back to that day to act a drama in our children’s club - Ankur. I performed 3/4 dramas in my childhood, and believe me I was not good enough in acting. I was good in many things like sports and academics, but not in acting. Still I enjoyed it. The collective effort and performing in front of our elders was something I can not forget. Given the chance I want to do it again and want to go back at the age of 14, when I performed this drama(I was a farmer in this one) in our para along with my friends and bro.

What Age U Wish To Go Back ? You can pick the tag or post a comment :-)

Dadaaa. Dadaaaaaaaa

I had written this post a year back And I got my no 10 on dada (Sourav Ganguly)

10) December 2007: A glorious double century in Bangalore followed by a magnificent century in Eden Garden, Kolkata and Man of the series against the arch-rival Pakistan to clinch the test series victory after 27 years in homeland.

Its just like a dream for me. The way he came back is awesome. He completed 1000 test runs in a calender year. He proved himself again. Dada is simply genius.

Dada is my hero. He impressed me many times. His reinvigorating fight back attitude and sheer mental strength rejuvenates me. I read his interviews when I feel low, I visit his site when I need inspiration, I truly admire him, love him from bottom of my heart.
He is the person for whom I loved cricket deeply, his exclusion (2005 from Indian cricket team) hurt me more than anything else, he is the reason I started hating cricket, and now he is the reason for my jubilant mood. Nothing can give me more pleasure than this man’s success, nothing can rejuvenate me than his character strength, nothing can make me proud than his victory.

I know there were many allegations against him and so as for his supporters. The Bong-connection factor was shown many times for our love to this great man. But now I should say, dada is not for Bengalis, he is the proud of India. In his bad days I was mentally with him, praying each and every moment for this living legend and I am concerned more than anything when he is under pressure. But today I am happy as my prince emerges triumphant.

Photo Source : Cricinfo
Sourav Ganguly is delighted after reaching a double-hundred, India v Pakistan, 3rd Test, Bangalore, 2nd day, December 9, 2007

And Back Again

This is what came in our first Corporate newsletter(i-sdc wave) 5 years(2nd June 2002) back. I thought to share with some of you. This week I have got net connection in my home, so I am back again in blogosphere, will keep posting..

Pijush Ranjan Ghosh - our very own artist at i-SDC who unlike most of us has an uncanny taste of creativity, as he captures the beautiful wallpaper on his desktop, to paper. Pijush has sketched this from a beautiful 'Victoria Memorial' wallpaper on his desktop. Heard anything like this?

Click to enlarge and Have a nice weekend.. Njoy

Am I a Liar?

My EQ is 153

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Kolkata in Curfew

Kolkata is again in problem, this time under communal fire. The AIMF (All India Minority Forum) is demanding cancellation of Visa of controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who is now in Kolkata. The other issue was Nandigram, where huge Muslims have been killed by cadres.

Definitely some opportunist political parties are playing important role in this kind of chaos, which turned out in a riot and RAF, Army called to control it followed by overnight curfew in sensitive areas.

Taslima left Bangladesh as many Muslim extremist parties threaded to kill the female writer for her criticism of Islam and now the same kind of threats are coming in India also, though I believe that it is purely a political issue now.

I have nothing more to say about it, but what I want to restore peace in my home town. I had to wait in the long traffic jam, but fortunately I came out in time. Others waited for hours and the whole Calcutta came to standstill, as the central part was blocked by the protesters. Many cars have been burnt and police was attacked, I am happy the way CM handled the situation, but not happy with the situation.

Pic Source: ABP news paper 22Nov

Celine's Tag

Celine tagged me with some interesting questions and I loved answering them. Thanks Celine, here go my answers and a small painting in MS paint again :-)

Two names you go by (besides my given name Pijush):
1. Tony (my nickname)
2. Goba (in the blog world)
Two things you are wearing right now:
1. Dark Brown trousers (am at work)
2. White shirt with light color strips
Two longest car rides:
1. Athens to Delphi, and back (340 kms in a day)
2. Athens to Meteora, and return (850 kms in a day)

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Traveling
2. Photography and Blogging

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. To get thinner and lose weight
2. To win couple of projects that I am bidding

Three animals you have or have had: (We had in our childhood)
1. Parrot
2. Chickens
3. Rabbits
Three Things you ate today:
1. Apple, Orange Juice (after dinner)
2. Rui Fish (In lunch)
3. Chilli Panir Role (yum)

Two things you are doing tomorrow:
1. Office (during the day)
2. To visit the construction of my new flat

Two favorite holidays:
1. Durga Puja and Deepavali (Undoubtedly this is dream time for most of the Indians)
2. Christmas (the favorite of many us as we have vacation and relaxed days in corporate world)

Two favorite beverages:
1. Coke (once a day)
2. Tea/Coffee (anytime)

Nandigram , The Hell

After coming back to India, not only I have enjoyed cultural festivals in Bengal, but also went through regional shock, especially in my state, West Bengal.

Yes, I am talking about the infamous Nandigram Issue. In my post on 14^th March, I condemned the stand of the State Govt and now again they have implemented their unscrupulous idea by state sponsored terrorism.

Pic Source: ABP newspaper (Homeless Destitute of Nandigram)

Who is the state govt and how they are ruling?

CMP (Communist Party) is ruling the state of West Bengal for last 3 decades. They have complete capture on the villages of WB and there is almost no opposition in many parts of the state. Though the common people of the big town and Kolkata wanted change many times, but CPM managed to win by their organizational integrity in the sub-urban and rural areas.

What is this organizational integrity?

Today in WB, every organizations of the normal life, be it the educational institutions or the employee unions, are directly controlled by communalists. Not only this, CPM has their own Cadars (armed workers), who threatens the opponents.

And now they use the Police on their own purpose. The state security forces are manipulated by the whims of CPM.

How was the industrialization and development in last 30 years?

Absolutely nothing compared to the timeframe. Lefts (CPM) were against of the Capitalism, big industrializations, computerizations etc. They always fought for the rights of farmers and labors. They locked out many jute factories in the bank of Ganges. The snatched lands from Jamindars(Landlords) and dived into the common people (that’s the reason they have strong holds in villages).

Recently Thanks to Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee who has taken many initiatives for industrialization. Many of us have respect for him and we managed to form biggest industrial hub of eastern India, especially IT hub in Kolkata.

But, time has shown that he is not perfect leader. The egotistic leader has done massacre in Nandigram issue. The holocaust, the forcefully capture of the place created an environment of uncertainty across Nandigram.

But, what is Nandigram Issue?

Let me briefly describe the issue. In a move to form Chemical Hub in the state, CPM wanted to accusation of land in Nandigram in low price. The lands are fertile and thousands of families used to survive by cultivation. Show the protested, formed their community. But, on 14^th March, CPM wanted the accusations forcibly and Police fired on the common people, killed 14 local farmers.

After that heavy protest from the common people from different part of the state has taken the govt in back foot. They decided to build the chemical hub in other location. But, the egotistic govt wanted to take the revenge and attacked the general mass by armed caders, killing many of them and took control over the whole region. The press, opposition, media, central force have been stopped by CPM caders and turmoil reigned supreme in the province.

Lastly Chief minister told "They have paid back their own coins" - which is simply not acceptable in a democratic country. I hate this type of barbarism and revenged mentality.

Now what is the reaction of common people?

Common people across India condemned the brutal stand of the lefts, TMC called stick in WB and the whole state came to standstill. The cultural people of Kolkata, including famous media person, writers protested and they have been arrested for silent protest. Some TV channel has been threaten, CPM accused TMC(opposition party), TMC asked for CM’s resignation. BJP national leaders came and demanded Presidential rule in the state, intellectuals made protests and possession in Kolkata . CRPF(National force) has entered the site and took over control of the place.

What is my stand?

I want a change in the state govt. Lefts has done nothing significant in the state, the law-n-order, communication, infrastructure, environment is not suitable for proper industrialization and healthy life. They have got fairly enough time and now somebody else should get the chance to do something. CPM has deviated from their principle and communism is a flop theory. They have done many historical blunders, jeopardized the social system and now we desperately need a change. Let the common people arise awake and vote against the threats of bullets to overcome the political topsy-turvy.

10 Dreams TAG

I haven’t post last one week as I was down by viral fever followed by hectic schedule. But now I am ok and ready to enjoy Deepavali. Its called the festival of lights, but here in Bengal we have a special religious occasion called Kali Puja.

Wish you all very happy Deepavali and Enjoy the festive occasion.

Not going into the details, I would again like to play the TAG game. This time I would like to pick other set of victims, for a brand new subject.

Subject: 10 things I want to do before I die (I listed down my top 10 desire one year back in this post).

For another reference see Ananda’s Top 10 list. (He came across this book "Unforgettable Things to do Before You Die")

This are just few dreams, so be honest and write whatever you like; you want to do irrespective of opportunities and possibilities. That’s what we had done.

I want to Tag

1) Sigma : I know you will pick it; eagerly waiting for you interesting post.

2) Cuckoo : Haha.. this is my turn now. I know how much busy you are, so not sure whether you will pick it.

3) Keshi : I read your post on 5 things you want to do if you are going to die in next 6 months, but now the span is not limited. Hope we will have something equally amusing posts.

4) Kalyan: Same for you, not sure whether you will have time in your busy schedule, still interested to know what you dream.

5) Backpakker : Your post will be obviously interesting, so tagging you.

6) Aditi : Hope you will pick this one and I think your dreams will be completely different than others.

7) Anyone who is interested, niki , indicaspecies , CHEWY , Amrita…. I know You all have nice dreams. so, share it with us. Hope you all will enjoy this Tag.

The Book Cover Tag

I have been tagged first time for something in the blogosphere by Miss Cuckoo. The subject is Book-Cover Tag.
Rule (there is only one): Go to the advanced book search on Amazon, type your first name into the Title field, and post the most interesting/amusing cover that shows up.

I tried with my first name Pijush and as expected got no match. Pijush is a typical Sanskrit/Bengali word which means nectar or ambrosia (though I am not that juicy lol).
So I had to try with my blog nick name “Goba” and got couple of them. The first one was “The Goba of the Zambezi: Sex Roles, Economics, and Change by Chet S Lancaster”, which is associated with many amusing subjects, but not interesting enough to me.
The second one was "The Goba Name in History by Ancestry.com", which sounds ambiguous but bit interesting. In the book you'll find out about where people with the Goba last name originated. Waoww.. Goba is surname of many people that I didn’t know. Isnt it amusing !!

The Editorial Review of The Goba Name in History is given below.

The Goba Name in History is a customized book offering a unique blend of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary about the Goba name. The book is just one of an entire series of family name books in the Our Name in History collection. Each book in the collection is printed on demand and is compiled from hundreds of millions of records from the world's largest online resource of family history, Ancestry.com. This particular book follows the Goba family name through history and makes the perfect gift for your family members and anyone interested in the Goba name. In the book you'll find out about where people with the Goba last name originated. You may discover the countries and ports they left behind, the ships they sailed and more. You'll get a better idea of where people sharing the Goba name settled and where they may reside today in the United States, Canada, England and other countries. You'll get all this information and much more in your Goba family name book. If your last name is not Goba, then check out our collection of nearly 300,000 family name books to find other available names in the series.

I would like to tag..

1)Amrita – I know you will pick it and come up with something very interesting
2)Ananda – In Bengali your name own a big publication, I doubt what will be in English
3)backpakker – For sure you will find many books in your blog name, but not sure about your real name.
4)Celine – and indicaspecies Both the names are interesting. Looking for the search result.
5)CHEWY – Search for something amusing and share with us.
6)David – The search will be in Title field, otherwise you are the only person in the list who will have a perfect match with the full name in the author field.
7)Niki – I am sure that your search result must be intriguing and mischievous.
Eager to see a colorful sweet book covers.

Durga Puja - A Small Recap

Finally Durga puja ended with expected grandeur and solemnity. Be it rich or poor, Hindu or non-Hindu, Bengali or non-Bengali, everyone enjoyed the festival here in Bengal. But the end of the festival has left me heavy hearted, thus not feeling to cherish these days. But still want to share some moments and shots that I have captured.

I haven’t been able to see many pandels and idols, but still have had nice time with family and friends. The best idol I have seen is the above one of Jagriti Sangha club of Garia, close to my flat. I like the fearlessness and reinvigorating face here.

Then comes the goddess of our apartment/flat. We the flat owners organize Durga puja in miniature and we spend most of the time here. Its our own puja, everything is done by us, starting from creative decorations to prepare the bhog (holly food).

The purohit (priest) are performing some rituals. This is called arati and the next one with some lamps are called Sandhi Puja, which happens between the third(Astami) and fourth(Nabami) day of the festival.

On last two days we went to Kharagpur from Kolkata and enjoyed the festival there. It was fascinating and real refreshing. I have not downloaded kgp pics yet, here go some of the pics of Garia(my locality in Kolkata).

This is one of the biggest festivals in India as well as in World (few hundred thousands pandals and idols are created and almost hundred million people are directly participate in this festival). If you are planning to come to Kolkata or Bengal, this is the right time of the year. The last day of the puja is called Dusshera, which is celebrated across all states in India.
Some of the perspectives are reflected in my cobloggers posts, so I want to mention some of them. Honorable mentions are listed below.
1) Amrita's Idol preparation post
2) Kalyan's Chants of Mahalaya Post (pre puja rituals)
3) Greatbong's sarcastic post on Pandel controversy
4) David's posts on Puja
5) Kalyan's Durga Puja post
6) Greatbong's The Magic of Maddox Square
6) Anada's Puja review

This puja where creativity wins over the rituals is wonderful occasion in many ways. The idols and pandels are only kept for four days, but for sure it leaves an ever-lasting effect to each and every viewer.
Here goes few slides of our apartment puja and of nearby locality.

Random strokes

Found few minutes from my schedule and drew these two pics in MS paint with random strokes of mouse, Can you suggest some captions ?

Updated: 24th Oct 2007
Thanks everyone. I just picked up 10 captions from your comments I liked most .

Snake Demystified - Amrita
Electric Snake Dance – Chewy
The Invisible Snake Charmer and his Pet – Celine
Lines of fate - Bagpakker

Sky is the limit – Aditi
Flying Home – Amrita
Flight of Fantasy – Celine
Flight out of Greece- Chewy
Goba-chan flying home - Niki
"Athens' Smog" or "Καπνός της Αθήνα - Volodya

The Goba Returns

You have heard of migratory birds. In winter they come to the warm wonderlands, they enjoy the charming weather. But they never forgot their roots, the fragrance of their own soil, and return after the winter. So as Goba, migrates often on request but never forgets to comeback to his motherland, the incredible India.

How it feels to leave the place where you are living for more than a year? Not really good, Goba misses many things of the wonderlands and sometime he becomes nostalgic. He misses the culture, people and specially the new friends he got here. He misses the weather, the rare natural beauties. He misses very small things like the smell of the office floor, the basketball in the workplace, the view from his window.

But how it feels to go back to hometown? Heart is thrilled and the mind is full of joy, especially when it is festival times in India. Durga puja was always the favourite occasion in Goba’s life; I guess it is same for most of the Bengalis. It takes him to the old days when small Goba used to visit at least 100 pandals during these three/four days every year. He was amazed to see the different pandels decorated with lights, coloured cloths/materials and in the middle the holly goddess “Ma Durga”. This festival is called “Durga Puja” which has a rich mythological history, mainly associated with Bengali culture though deeply influence almost all Indians (especially Dusshera occasion, the last day of the festival is celebrated across India).

And look at the coincidence, Goba is returning on the same day (17th Oct) the festival will start, the most desired festival. It takes him down the memory lane. He can recollect some memories when his family was living in a small railway quarter of Babuline in Kharagpur. There were grossly fifty small quarters and they used to organize one combined puja. A committee was formed every year for organising the festival. His father was very proactive and used to be a part of the committee. At the age of twelve he had written a poem in the souvenir of Babuline Puja Committee and his father wrote an editorial. It was a cultural bonanza, starting from forming structures to creative literature.

Thus Goba is exited and eager to go back to the home soil, close to the near and dears, friends and colleagues and of course to enjoy the festive mood.

PS: Durga puja is one of the biggest cultural festivals. It has a deep influence on the common Bengalis and Indians, they decorate their houses, buy new cloths prepare sweets, meet each other, and go out to see the idols. The crowed, the make-shift stalls, pandels, images/idols, decorations, crackers, lights, songs, and cultural programs everything makes it a perfect occasion to rejoice.

I will not be regular during next 2 weeks as I am leaving Greece for good. So little busy. Will keep posting after Durga Puja.

I have drawn the sketch in the first one in MS paint and pasted some pics captured by me 2 years back.

What I like most about Blogging.

Blogging is like friend with whom I can talk always

Goba: Hi buddy, howz life.
P1: Hello Mate, I haven't heard you long.
Goba: Ya, I haven't had much of time recently, its almost the end of my assignment and bit busy as usual.
P1: Hmm, I can understand, though I am relatively free as the project is not in peak and Easters are coming. Bit of holiday mood here.
Goba: Waoww… that's nice, so enjoying spring. Here the autumn is not that bad. Nice weather nice colors, will soon post something in my blogs. Now I am enjoying blogging. You know I have many new friends here ..
If you don’t mind can I ask you something? I need to know what do you like most about blogging.

P1: Ya I have started to be a regular blogger. You know it's a nice world. But I am very new to this World and I really don’t know what to like most, but I like the creativity of bloggers, the innovative thinking on different topics I have never thought of.

Goba: Yes that really an interesting part of the story, but I would say this is not the reason I was blogging.

P1: You are right :-) You were blogging for many different reasons, to know some of it lets call P2.

{P2 joined the conference}

P2: Waoww.. I am lucky today. What for you have remembered me?

Goba: For a simple question on blogging. I guess you have few blogs now, what do you like most in blogging.

P2: What!! Blogging!! Its just another virtual world. N+1th illusory existence of Nth replica. To me this World is virtual; we think therefore we are, same for the blogs.

P1: oh mate, not again. Believe me the veil of illusion or Maya will be torn very soon once you will have some strict deadlines to meet. But I still believe the same philosophy.

P2: Ok friends, let me answer then. I think I like it as it is easy to share my photos and travel experiences. I am in the net for free and I have a space of my own. My friends and relatives can see them and in future I can cherish the memories. I write blog for me, and some of them are wired to others like this one. But still I want to write down my thoughts here as it may help me to understand the virtual life in future. That’s what I like most in Blogging.

Goba: Yaa, I forgot you believe you are in a illusory World now. Well now I can understand your explanation. But P1, I think your choice is now quite different?

P1: Yes buddy, I am now in a new World, A world full of color and friends, some of them are very good and slowly we are forming our family, It has no color, no boundary, no religion, no status. It is simply a community where everyone is free to express their views, there thoughts, their experiences and also can reciprocate or contradict others views. This Blogging World is amazing and that what I like most.

Goba: Waoww.. I also think the same, but since I am bit more mature I will say the essence of blogging is much deeper. The thirst for innovation, the desire to come up with nice stuff always haunts me. I feel rejuvenated after reading nice posts, after encountering awesome pictures and by the constructive criticism and comments. I found the medium to fulfill my future desires. That’s what I like most. Thanks for joining me for introspection and find out the answer.

{Goba was trying to talk with himself to find out the answer asked by David, P1 is his replica 6 months back and P2 one year back}

Gandhi Jayanti - Gandhiji's Birthday

Today is 138th Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of India. In this occasion I want to share one of my digital paintings I just finished (I used only few lines to draw the face, so easy to draw a great personality, which tells how simple he was) and his 10 quotes which made me thinking many times rather influenced me in many ways.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong

I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life. I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

Raghupati Raghaba Raja Ram, Patito Pabana Sita Ram
Iswar Allaha Tero Nam, Sabko Sammati de Bhagoban

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind

Hate the sin, love the sinner

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
You must be the change you want to see in the world

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

Guess the inner meaning I tried to illustrate in this painting?

Who was my best childhood friend?

I wouldn’t have thought if not someone asked this. But thanks to David, who asked and confused me by this simple question.

I thought of the many different things.

Was it the nice ball that my uncle has given me? I was delighted after getting it and played many years with that football.

Was it the cricket bat my father gifted after passing class I? Not to mention cricket was and still very close to my heart. We couldn’t live without playing cricket, be it small or long, we had to play everyday.

Was it the sets of kites or the ducks in the ponds, I used to see by my window in leisure times?

Was it the solitary banana and papaya tree in our house? The fresh guava, coconut, palm, mango, jackfruit, and pineapple we used to get/stole from the neighbouring areas climbing the trees.

Was it my drawing board I used to paint anything and everything? Especially I used to draw sceneries.

Was it my mirror, where I used to check how much I had grown up and always feeling scared as I thought, I will die soon if I grow too much?

Was it my dairy, where I used to write some funny things, small poems, cricket scores and paste the paper cutting pics of sportsmen?

Or Was it my strange thoughts and imaginations? I was crazy sometime and behaved abnormally for these thoughts.

Or the imaginary structures we used to make with dirty clays and sands?

Or Was it the fairy tales of “Thakurmar Jhuli”/ “Gopal Bhar” / “Sujon Harobola” or “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata”, two of my favourite TV serials I used to see in my childhood.

I am totally puzzled. Ten choices, and I don’t know what my favourite thing was, whom I can call my best friend. Which is why, I took some time to answer this question.

I decided to think again on my childhood. Closed my eyes for five minutes and got the answer.

I can see, With Him, I am playing funny games like kith kith, Langra chor (have to touch other player by running in one leg), hide and seek, football and cricket, sometime customized TT and hockey in the adjacent areas of our house in Kharagpur. I was never alone. He was always with me, from the day my first cell formed, from the moment I landed in this earth. He accompanied me each and every moment in my childhood, starting from going school, to play in the evening, from stealing the mango pickle in kitchen, to study together, we were together even when we fell sick.
I really miss his presence now. He was my best friend and still he is and will be. I love him.
He is no one but my Twin Bro :-) my best childhood friend.

PS: Both the pics are drawn in MS paint, I was conscious while drawing the first one, so personally second one is better to me.

--------------------------------------------

Update on 01st Oct 4:00pm - This post is mentioned as one of the Top Posts Of The Day in Davids blog and another good news is, our project in Greece has gone live today successfully. So I am happy.

Chak De, Chak De and just Chak De

The Chak De effect is still on.

Yesterday India won first Cricket World Cup Tewnty20 final in Johannesburg. It is a great moment for us Indians. I want to congratulate Dhoni and Indian team for a spirited and wonderful performance. Special thanks for defeating arch rival Pakistan two times in this tournament, both the time they kept their nerve cool in close nail biting contests. We are now the World Champion and nothing can make us happier than this.

Yes, I am happy, happy the way the boys fought, the way they kept their temperaments cool, demonstrated perfect attitude and gesture. I am happy with the captaincy of Dhoni, an honest and cool Captain. He apologises in front of media for his mistakes (done after first match), donate t-shirt to his fan(after final), and cheer up the weakest member of the playing eleven(Joginder Sharma). What more we can expect from a new young captain.

He is not rigid like the wall, not whimsical like mr chappal, not tensed like the pakis, not arrogant like the Freddies. I can remember those days when he used to come to Kharagpur to play small tournaments which was played with tennis balls. He came from a lower middle class family of Ranchi, Jharkhand. Jharkhand state is close to my home town Kharagpur and one of the local don (Ram Babu – who is now enjoying life time imprisonment) used to organize cricket tournaments at the time of Durga puja. Dhoni played one innings brilliantly and DRM (Devotional Railway Manager) promised him a group IV (lowest rank) railway job, his father is also a group IV railway worker. That small boy is now the leading the World champion team.
Thank You Dhoni. You are our ideal leader, inspiration for millions of youths.

Thanks to Yuvi (the most aggressive player of the tournament, six 6s in an over and fastest fifty, 2 MOM), RP (My man of the series – I don’t know how Afridi got it!!), Pathan (Hero of both the Pak match), Rohit (MOM against SA), Gambhir (highest scorer of final, second highest of the tournament), Uthappa (for 50 and bowl out pak in first match), Sreesanth ( for agressiveness and outstanding against Aussies), Joginder (for two great final overs), Viru, Bhajji for their mature guidance and whole team India (except Agarkar – who virtually turned India’s game to other side couple of times in this tournament). It was a dream journey for the young team. Thanks for entertaining us.

I thank Misbah-ul-Haq for being the tragic hero and making both the Indi-Pak game so close and exiting. He lost his nerve in the nail biting contest. My sincere sympathy is with him but not with Pakistan team, whose captain claims that “All Muslims of the World” are Pak supporter. Probably Shoaib Malik forgot the hero of the final is an Indian as well as from the same religion. I don’t know when they will grow up.

Even our Chak De hero Shahrukh Khan was there ( in New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg) who represent India and not any community. It is a matter of great coincidence or a deep influence or utter surprise I don’t no, Indian emerges triumphant in three major tournaments in last 2 month, Neheru Cup Football, Asia Cup Hockey and Now World Cup T20 Cricket, after the release of movie “Chak De India”. They simply outplayed opponents in these championships.

Prabhjot, Rajpal, Tirkey, Baichung, Pradeep, Subrata are our heroes and it’s the time to cheer for them. But I doubt how long they can keep their consistencies.

It is not possible that a movie will influence the performance of a team, but can motivate some players. Last year we came across same kind of situation when the student mob protested in the “Rang De” fashion against the Indian Govt for anti-reservation issue. Similarly there are discrete incidents where “Lage Raho” rejuvenated some of us for 'Gandhigiri'. But I think one movie can not change the society or nation or team drastically. What do you think?

PS: This pic is not taken by me. source: ABP news paper.

Couple of pics in MS Paint

In a charming sea
Sailing a solitary boat
Like the flying birds, it is free.

The setting Sun
A lady is waiting in a rowing boat
Deeply embedded in nature with the melancholy tone

PS: Recently I am enjoying Microsoft Paint (Programs->Accessories-> Paint) like as the early days of my computer usage. Though I can not make the lines perfectly in paint (like the face of the lady in second pic) still enjoying it. Nature was always my favorite subject of painting in childhood. I guess the same thought is coming back again while using this tool.

And here goes the link with some more imaginations.

Piece of bread

A small shop
Few items to buy
In hurry bread dropped

In the lane
The beggar sat on a corner
Next to a street dog, together

.....

The lad smiled
What a nice gesture
He must remember me for ever

PS: pic is drawn in MS Paint in 2 min, so bit of imperfection, Guess whom I tried to portray in the left one

Few more aspects of Blogging

I discussed many features of blogging in my previous posts, and some of the interpretations have been agreed by other bloggers. Here I am writing about another interesting aspect of blogging - words used in comments and tagging, back linking.

Why choosing of words are delicate? It is sensitive because of the cultural difference and word interpretation by non-eng speaking bloggers.

We are not playing any world championship in blogoshpere, not competing to each other like liberal and conservatives. So, if you don’t like a blogger obviously you will not tag him/her and will not write abusive posts. Your rigidness can make you infamous, so everyone try to be polite in his or her blog.

But sometime it may happen that a comment, constructive criticism can be taken wrongly. Even a positive tagging can be inerpreted in different way. For an example I tagged one friend analyzing his/her blog “simple” .. and excellent. The word “Simple” created a mess and s/he interpreted it wrongly. I feel sorry for that. I like the blog and that the reason I tagged. This confusion happened because of language issue. I strongly feel if English is not your first language you have to be careful in choosing words. For an example last Friday I have seen one status message of one of my friend’s gtalk - “Again Friday”. It sounds like “oh no not again” – though what he meant was completely different. Basically he translated from his mother taungue and achieved this phrase.

But the most important thing is the cultural difference. Let me give an example, last year I wanted to invite one old colleague (she is older than my mom) in our house. We thought its better to go and knock her door, rather call her for dinner. That’s what we do in India, but not in Europe. Basically we disturbed her that we realized later, she felt offended and we apologized. There are many delicate examples like this where simplest behavior, small gesture matters most. These are nothing but cultural difference of different society.

Thus when you are commenting/replying any comment or tagging/back linking others its better to keep in mind about these factors. We have to appreciate each others culture. Words like thanks, nice weekend, Namaste matters. Try to reply the comments from other bloggers if s/he has given some elaborate feedback, coz s/he can expect your reaction against the comment. Even a small :-) smile can make us happy.

I have read some of the posts regarding Tagging. So we all know its importance and do not want to discuss it now. Similarly back linking is important (tagging a specific post is called back linking - You can track tagging or back linking by Technorati or by setting->comment->enable backlinks in blogger service). Don’t forget to back link if you are writing your post based on someone’s basic thoughts.

PS: this pic is the back view from our apartment.

Post of the Month : David's Tips for Free Writing.

There are many aspects of blogging, one of them are obviously to enhance our writing skills, but if we get ready made tips in a series of posts, that’s really helpful. Yes, David Mcmahon a Melbourne based journalist, photographer and bestselling novelist, came up with a series of amazing posts in his blog for aspiring writers.

David emphasised in one the post that – “This series of posts is not just for people who are writing novels or other books. It is for writers of any description - essayists, those doing creative writing courses, or any of the many niches for writing, photography or blogging.”

He has discussed following topics in his blog so far. I find all of them extremely helpful, may be helpful for you also. I thank David for sharing so much valuable experience in free, helping and motivating others and cheering us constantly.

How Do I Get A Monopoly On Query Letters?,
So You Feel Like You’ve Hit A Brick Wall?,
Don't Drive Yourself Too Hard,
Gotta Go With The Flow,
Let Me Help You With That Book You're Writing.

Here go some of the tips I liked most in his Telling Write From Wrong series.

“To those writing books or novels, my first piece of advice is to write a short synopsis. When I wrote my first novel, Vegemite Vindaloo, I started with great momentum. But I didn't write a synopsis, so I got derailed very quickly. I could not figure out where the plot was going.”

“First sentence ain't happenin'? No worries, just start with the first thought that comes into your head.”

“Recognise a moment of inspiration. Write it down. And when you are back at your computer, allow it to guide you. Sometimes these ideas ``write'' themselves, but sometimes they need a lot of sweat and toil to translate into words on a computer screen.”

“..there is no "correct" wordage on a daily basis. A steady output works for some people, while bursts of frenetic writing interspersed with several days away from the plot works for others. You write what you want to write, when you want to write.”


This is my choice for best post for the month of August-September 2007.

Hits and Comments in Blogs..

How important is to read other blogs?

I will say, it is extremely important. Otherwise there is no meaning to be in blogosphere. I conducted a poll in this blog few weeks back and 85% of the voter claimed that they read more than 10 blogs per week. This is amazing.

Reading others blog is important because if you are not a good reader you can not be a good writer, something like, to be a good speaker, you must have to be a good listener. Another point is to know different dimensions and mindsets of bloggers. Believe me you will not be biased by other bloggers, you will learn a lot, will know many different things, like photography, innovative way of expressing yourself. It will basically widen your thoughts.

To read others blogs you can use Bloglines or subscriber or reader. I guess this is much better than blogrolling, as you will see the update instantaneously. You should not have to click manually to every blog.
But sometime blogrolling is good, to let others know about your choices, to access your favorite blogs directly.

What blogs to visit regularly is depends on you, but recently I found one funny thing, that most of the bloggers prefer to visit the blogs of opposite sex. Initially I thought it is my personal trend, but gradually discovered it’s a common trend. However there are exceptions. Just see your comments or last visited blogs, you will have an fair idea about it. In my case the proportion is 60:40 (sometime 70:30).

How important is to have comments and hits in your blog?

If your quality of blog is good, it is obvious that you will have huge no of hits. But its not going to happen in a day. You can track no of hits in many ways like feed burner, site meter.

Hits and comments are important for inspiration. One of my senior told me each of us needs a bit of motivation for next step, except few great men like Buddha. Thus every blogger is concerned about hits/comments and its trends. See the comment below from Chewy – (wrote to me against my last post)
"Some people try blogging because it's the "in thing" to do. Then they stop because they don't get any comments.I've learned that if I visit other people's blogs and leave a comment they will most likely return the visit and leave a message."


I have seen some blogs where there are huge no of hits but limited comments; it’s mainly because they don’t comment in other blogs. But commenting is very delicate matter in blogosphere. Comments like “Nice post”, “Thought Provoking Post” are not very interactive way of communication or putting your opinion. Try to write something elaborately about what you like and dislike. But I think its better not to write what you dislike strongly, because it can hurt the blog writer. We are in a digital community where everything is being judged by words and images. So try to encourage others and avoid putting hard and abusive comments. If you are a blogger never use anonymous coating.
Constructive criticism is most important thing in a comment. You must put your thoughts which reflect your personality. But many blogger can not accept it easily. It happened to me as well, I get bit depressed when I got poor rating in my pictures.But I still I like negative comments as it helps me to improve and it reinvigorates me.

You can have many hits from different types of Internet users, but very few of them will put comment. If the reader is not a blogger, he hardly gets interest to put comment. Thus even though you write well and don’t comment others, you are not going to have a proper reflection of your post. You may think this is superb, but most of the readers may not like it. I think a post without criticism means nothing. So if you feel to comment others post just write it, but never do it for shake of writing comment. I read almost all posts of my co-bloggers, but don’t comment in all.

Tagging and back linking are another interesting topic in blogging, I will write in another post.

PS: This pic is off the topic, of my niece (my sister's daughter) was taken when she was only 1 month old, now she is 3 months old. I am missing her.

What to post?

I read many blogs in a week, now it has become much easier to use this one as I started reading them by Google reader (see this video if you are still not convinced to use any reader).

The natures of posts are really varied in nature, quality and representations. Most of the bloggers posts observations about their own life or things associated to them.

But I doubt how many of us are writing the sensitive issues of our mind? Aren’t we afraid to post controversial issues? Like political, religious, erotic topics ..
Well its up to you, what will you post, post any topic in which you are comfortable.

But in order to attract wider audience your posts have to be versatile or generic. If you are an Indian and mainly post on India always how a person from UK will feel interested in your blog. Its natural. The topic should be interesting, not always in a politician’s voice, like do this, we have to do that etc.

Look and feel and innovation matters. The layout have to be colorful, posts should have relevant pictures to attract readers. No one of us have enough time to read each and every line, unless it is interesting or nicely written.

But the question I face from new bloggers is what to post?


My answer will be post whatever you want. In my last post I talked about blogging in a theme of your interests. And it at least helped one person.
Its important what you want, more readers, more hits, more comments. Then think of the bigger audience, post on the hot and burning but interesting topics. But if you are free bird, just post whatever you feel, its your own domain and you have absolute freedom of expressing yourself.
But be careful as well.

Why Blogging?

Because I want to blog, I want to make an identity, make a community, and share my thoughts and pics?

No, after certain point most of us blog because of our blogging syndrome.

We come here to write something, but at the end of the day end up in nothing. Because of work pressure, lack of innovation, not having good writing skills, not being able to put up the thoughts?

No. The main reason is we don’t know the reason why we are here. It has to be clear in bloggers’ mind.

Innovation does matter, but what matter most are the ideas. Ideas are basically thoughts of a particular direction; I mean to say of a particular topic or aim.

Skills and time are not big factors, you can accrue skills with time and you can always find time for your things of interests.

But if only blogging is your interest, you are gone. Soon you will suffer from blogging syndrome and haunt for topics.

Random thoughts can not keep your blog regular and ever lasting. It will die after few months/years unless you have extremely good skills. I am sorry for being harsh; I know how much we love our blogs, but this fact dear.

Then what can make your blog be exceptional, different from others?

One way is to attract your readers with some interesting tags. Keep a suspense tag which will invoke regularly and bloggers will come to your blog, just for it.

Another way is if you live with an idea and if your blog reflects that idea/dream then you are in the right track. The momentum, pace will come from your dreams. You should not have to haunt for subjects, because you know exactly why you are here.

Let’s come to some examples.
David’s Authorblog has many innovative tags to attract bloggers worldwide. Weekly blog rating (Aussiejourno's Weekly Blog Awards), Weekend Wandering, Post of the day etc. His blog will be ever green as he knows why he is in blogosphere (“Totally committed to encouraging excellence in others”).

There are many examples. Chewy, from Western Massachusetts, United States, just enjoys painting, this is her passion. And she knows why she is here.

Well, not everyone has a passion and that never means you should not blog. You can catch a theme of your interest. A good example if Niki’s blogs, a very simple but straight minded and excellent blog of an honest Japanese girl. The blog is nothing but her online dairy. So she enjoys every bit of it. It is important.

Blogging is a good addiction as long as you are enjoying it. Happy Blogging.

I donno what to answer

Dear dada,

Thanks for sending it such a good gift in my 10th birthday. I like Harry Potter very much. I am very happy dada. Missed you a lot in my birthday party. You know, I got a video games set from papa. Mom prepared lot of sweets and dishes yesterday.

All my friends came in yesterday’s party except Rahaman. I missed him too. I want to go to his house just to know if everything is well, but mom is not allowing me. She is afraid that I will eat something bad in their house. You know beef is prohibited in our society. Papa told Cow is treated as our mother in our religion. In our house we have a picture of God Krishna who stands with a Cow. Mom worships him everyday. She tells cow gives us milk, cow is our mother. Then why others eat it? They should not.

But then why we eat mutton! Last time we went to Kalighat temple in Kolkata, I have seen hundreds of innocent goats for slaughter. I asked papa why we are killing them. Papa told it is religious practice. I don’t know what religion is. But if religion asks my father to kill any man, will he do the same.

In Bengali New Year my papa worships fishes and then mom cooked it. We love fishes. But if we worship, it is also god. Papa told we can eat it as it is allowed in Hindu religion and I have to follow the same as I am also a Hindu by birth. But I don’t know other religion. Why can’t I choose my religion? I will be biased if I follow one religion. I don’t know. I only wish Rahaman is well and will join me today in football match. I love him.

And dada Love you too.
Yours’ Papu.

Do you believe in ghosts?

David asked: Do you believe in ghosts?

No David, I do not believe in Ghosts, but can not rule out the possibility of its existence, because I can not prove it.

As I have said many times that I believe this World is virtual and we are just part of the game. Well, I can not prove this one as well, but I can feel it by some patterns. Similarly the possibility of existence of a Ghosts World can not be overruled, more interestingly my sis believes in ghosts strongly.

I can share an incident we experienced last year. We went to our maternal uncle’s house where we were celebrating some festival of Hindu Goddess. It was close to the burning ghat (Samshan) of Kharagpur, where the dead bodies are burnt.
At the time of coming back, I told my sis about the place and she was somehow influenced by an uncanny feeling, her eyes were unnatural and her face was surrounded by a fear. She was terribly frightened. It was tough to come back home and the night was even more dangerous. In her hallucination she was watching a black woman in a while Shari and red sindur, who was threatening her constantly. She was crazy and my whole family was not able to control her.
I was also started to feel something, totally moved by the state of my sis. That day I realized that I can not overrule the possibility of a mysterious World.

If we think about the n-dimensional state of a certain point, then the same place can be used by many different things invisible to each other. The basic function of our brain is to feel what we can see, perceive. But there are obviously limitations of it, or in a better way we can say that the program installed in a game is for a specific World. So we can not feel the other World. But there can always be some overlapping of different worlds, may be this is the reason someone can feel or experience the Ghosts World.

If we think in different way, we have so many emotions, passions, thoughts, relations, desires in this World. It can not be vanished in a moment (after we die). Well it can not be proved by the law of conservation of energies, but many things can not be proved which we can not deny. So these can exists in any forms, may be in forms of ghosts.

I can not deny their existence, I can not prove, I can not overrule, but also I can not feel it. May be weak hearted people can feel it, I don’t know!! But I don’t believe Ghost; neither have I had any experience of it.

PS: David, here people often misspell my surname, which proves ghost exists :-)

This intriguing picture is a collage of Goddess Athena, Socrates and Acropolis in Night .

Updated with one story from Kalyan.

I was talking about the story, where Sarat chandra Chattopadhyay had a challenge with his friends that he will go to the cremation site(sasan) on a new moon night(amabasya) alone and prove to his friends that no ghosts exists. To prove that he has indeed visited there he will bury a stick in the ground given by his friends. On the faithful night in the midst of howling foxes and other night animals he went there as was agreed but he also being an human had certain fears or nervousness, so he was also in a hurry to bury the stick as agreed and run away quickly. In this hurriedness his dhoti got struck in the stick that he buried and for a moment he believed that there is a ghost and is pulling his dhoti, and so he fainted in the ground. In the morning his friends got worried and they ran to that place only to see that Sarat babu's dhoti has got struck in the ground stick and that made him faint in the ground, which he was thinking as the ghost.

Cats : India and Europe

I have been to India last month . Whenever I visit my home soil, it gives me amazing feelings. The smallest things, tiniest creatures give me immense pleasure, I can feel the difference when I come back here in Europe. Its completely a different planet with strictly defined laws, different atmosphere of work, different life to lead.

I like the balance of both the life, which is why I usually spend half a year in India and other half in another countries (although now it has become one year in India and one year in other countries). The balance makes it more interesting, otherwise it would have been a boring life for me. But now I can not enjoy life in a place more than a year, which is definitely not good. I think this trend is now in my family, because we moved a lot in last 60 years, starting from Bangladesh(Dhaka) to Maharastra(Nagpur) and then back to Kharagpur(where I born) and now in Kolkata(where I live in India).

Coming back to the main discussion, I can feel a basic differences in every creature in Europe and in India. Let’s take an example of dogs. They are mainly domestic in Europe, trained and nurtured in proper way, thus they are well behaved, they don’t bite everyone, do not make chaos because the basic needs have been taken care. The situation is quite different in India.

See the cute sweet cats next to my doorsteps in Kharagpur. Their eyes are telling that they are hungry; they need little more love and foods. They were struggling for foods, but still not complaining as they have such a sweet heart. The most unfortunate part of the story is the small one died next day by a bit of a street dog.
Whereas the cats in Delphi, Greece are looking quite relaxed as they don’t have competitions for basic needs, having a small nap in a typical way. They look happier than the common people of poor countries.

I want to draw an analogy not only for dogs and cats, for people also. The basic atmosphere depends on the mentalities of common people. In India 50% people are poor, fight for the basic needs, for Food Shelter and cloths. They struggle to make both the ends meat. When I was standing in a traffic jam, a small boy came with a bouquet and I refused. Then I asked about the root, he happily guided me without any expectations. The smile was genuine which only can come from a lovely heart. I felt sorry for the kind hearted boy, who is struggling to survive; whereas the dogs in developed nations are leading much better life than them. This is the reason I hate pets.
Not everything is measured by self interests in India. A country with a beautiful heart is struggling to make both the ends meat, though many of them are happy.
The situation here is completely different. People can do whatever they want to, can play football for entire life, can focus on anything, because they are not afraid of basic needs. The health and education is also covered by the state, thus the environment is not so competitive (though we can see healthy competition in all environment) and the life is peaceful. They can focus on many different things in which the country can prosper, can write blogs for years, and can enjoy long vacations.
I strongly believe that mere charity can not solve this issue. I really don’t know how we can bridge the differences. A poor Indian can not afford to go to school while they fight for foods everyday, whereas if not they are properly educated the state is not going to improve.