Saturday, July 26, 2008

Going to Kolkata with Ma from BIAL for the first time

Today I am travelling to Ma to Calcutta from Bangalore to Kolkata from BIAL for the first time.

We had arrived at BIAL airport around 6:45 am , but to our suprise we found that the Spice Jet counters had not opened up . On enquiry I found that the counter opens only after 7 a.m.

The Kingfisher airlines staff were helpful me in getting a wheelchair for Ma ; but I found Spicejet services pretty bad ... as there were no staff even while checking in.

To add to the above our flight has been delayed by one and a half hour ... that dampens it, but the excitement of going to Dum Dum is very much there .

Today most of the flights are delayed , the airport authorities are saying that the delay is because of the heavy showers in Mumbai and also for the Mumbai air traffic congestion ,

Friday, July 25, 2008

Seven bomb blasts rock Banglore

Updated news, seven bomb blasts rock Bangalore ....

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/25beng.htm

One person was killed in seven blasts that rocked Bengaluru and its outskirts on Friday afternoon. While four low-intensity blasts went off at Nayandahalli, Madivala, Adugodi areas on the outskirts, blasts also rocked the tony areas of Mallya hospital, Langford Road and Richmond Circle in Bengaluru city. Two blasts were reported in Madivala.

One woman was killed and several have been injured.

The blasts took place at 1.30 pm in Nayandahalli, 1.50 pm in Madivala (2 blasts) and 2.10 pm in Adugodi.

Gelatin sticks appear to have been used in the blasts.

Bomb blast rock Bangalore, India

Today bomb blasts have rocked Bangalore.

Even though news reports say there are 3 blasts, people in Bangalore are talking about 5 to 6 blasts

Monday, July 21, 2008

Timmi's Tenth posthumous birthday

18th July - This day always used to be another day for celebration at our house in Dum Dum ; until ten years ago. This day was Timmi's birthday .

But now instead of celebrations, we place a garland around her photograph.

I saw the calendar close to midnight, and saw the date was 18th July - more than anything else it was Timmi's birthday - Timmi, my only sister with whom I have grown up with.

Normally I remember her birthday every year - but this time it had slipped out from my mind ... which was just an excuse.

After Baba had left us, ( Timmi left us earlier than Baba) Ma did not do much of Timmi's "birthday celebrations". After all, there was nothing left for her to celebrate - she was looking into her future through our eyes - I think specially Sonamoni's. This time Ma had thought of putting a garland to Timmi, and she said to bring me one on 19th July. At that time I told Ma, "Timmi'r jonmodin to kaalke hoye geche" ; to which Ma replied "Aajke sotero july na, ami to kobe theke bhevechi Timmi ke ekta mala debo".

In my childhood days I remeber Ma and Timmi used to quarrel over things - both trying to confide in their own circle. Ma still does scold me , I reply back also -- but I know she loves me from the bottom of her heart.

The day Timmi passed away, 6th March 2008, Ma did not cry .. maybe she cried but it was not that open ... maybe it was profound grief and sorrow that overtook Ma and all of us in Dum Dum. I saw Ma crying alone one day in Baba's room - she was crying profusely in front of Timmi's photograph. When I saw her, she told me to leave her alone.

I cried a lot - I used to cry every day, Timmi was and still an inseparable part of me. During that time I was working on my first job, and every day I would board the return bus, it struck me, on reaching home I would NEVER see Timmi again.

Maybe I have become self centered with my family, that I don't even remember my only sister's birthday.

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven
Will it be the same
If I saw you in heaven
I must be strong, and carry on
Cause I know I don't belong
Here in heaven

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven
I'll find my way, through night and day
Cause I know I just can't stay
Here in heaven

Time can bring you down
Time can bend your knee
Time can break your heart
Have you begging please
Begging please

. . . . .

Beyond the door
There's peace I'm sure.
And I know there'll be no more...
Tears in heaven

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven
Will it be the same
If I saw you in heaven
I must be strong, and carry on
Cause I know I don't belong
Here in heaven

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven

Monday, July 14, 2008

Selfish Sujay

Sometimes I dont realise that what I like is also liked by others. Both me and Ritu had come back from work ..... a hot cup of tea is what I need after reaching home .

There were 2 sweets left, I finished 2 of them. When Ritu came to look for the sweets , I said I had finished it.

Ritu said "tumi amar jonyo ektao rakhle na".

I felt very bad .. later Ritu told me she had taken only one sweet out of the boxful of sweets Rangapisi had sent.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Golden times with Misti Rangapisi - some cherished memories

This time Rangapisi has sent lots of sweets of SenMohasoy along with Ritu . I dont remember the last time I had sweets of SenMohasoy , maybe it was 5 -6 years ago.

Rangapisi has sent dorbesh and khirer chop .. these are few of the Bengali sweets one need to have in Bengal. There are so many Bengali food items, including sweets that it is hard to enumerate. I am having 2 sweets twice a day. Before leaving for office I have two of them with tea , and after reaching home I am having another two .

Rangapisi told me she had sent the sweets specially for Ma, because Ma loves sweets very much. When in Kolkata, Ma used to get it from Basanti Sweets , most of the times she had rossogolla and doi. When I used to go to Calcutta from Bangalore, I used to buy sweets every day , Ma used to have them as in-between-meals . When Baba was there with use he used to tell me, "Tor maar jonyo miste niye ashis to , maajhe maajhe dekhi fridge niye kheye nicche".

In my childhood days , we used to quarrel among ourselves ( me, Timmi, Pinki ) that who should go with Rangapisi. Going with Rangapisi was alluring, because we knew we would be getting a nice treat ,whereever she went .... be it the local fish market at Nagerbazar, or to a nearby movie show , or if it was New Market, Ma told us she would not be making dinner for us.

I remember in my childhood, during the evening ... around 7 p.m. , Rangapisi used to call one of us. She might have called for different reasons various times, but most of the time we assumed that she shall be going to the local fish market for vegetables, fish and other household stuff . Whoever was lucky that day, would accompany her to the market. .... if there were lot of shopping to be done, she would have preffered me, as there were lots of bags to carry .. otherwise it would either be Timmi or Pinki.

The fun started from the house itself. Nagerbazar was the closest market at that time, and it was a 10 minute walk from our house at Devinibash. But with Rangapisi along, we used to go by rickshaw. On reaching the market she continued with the regular marketing ; there were some shops Rangapisi used to buy vegetables from , in fact Dadu also used to take vegetables from them ... so Rangapisi also took from them. Well, marketing continued as usual ... we used to wait when shall it get over...becuase most of the time, we knew Rangapisi would take us to some eatery after the marketing was over.

There were a couple of them during my childhood . Pagoda, Alice and Madhurima ..... I dont know how many still exist among the above names ... but I remember Madhurima had closed down when I was in Kolkata itself, dont know about Alice and Pagoda .. they were pretty good resturants to us at that point of time.

Pagoda was a specailist in Chinese foods, in fact that was the only Chinese resturant in Nagerbazar at that time .. and it was quite well . About the price I think it was reasonable and within limits as the resturant was full most of the time, and we had to wait. Nagerbazar and Dum Dum were not a posh locality at that point of time, a very calm place from what it is today. The people in Pagoda had come to know us very well, as we frequented there often .. courtesy Rangapishi. Most of the time we had fried rice, chilli chicken or garlic prawn ... to me that dinner was the key to all the marketing I had done with Rangapisi. Sometimes we had the dinner there, and packed the same for Chotokaku and barir bacchader .... ( everyone below the age of Rangapisi was barir baccha). Sejokaku often commented that "bacchader modhye singh bhanga buro rao". ache.

Sometimes we had snacks in Alice, sometimes in Madhurima .... but Alice was the preferred one as it was near to the market . However, if Rangapisi did not take me along, I knew that I would get the share as I was one of "barir baccha" ...:-)

Years have passed, I have gone to better resturants ... even to seven star hotels.

But I shall cherish these memories for my entire lifetime .... they shall remain PRICELESS .

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Problems, problems....with travel agents , flights

Sonamoni.Ritu and Baba has come back to Bangalore yesterday. There were so many problems in between .

At the Kolkata airport, Sonamoni was denied a boarding pass . I had booked the tickets through a travel web portal (ezeego.com ) for Sonamoni and Ritu and the ticket clearly showed the same. However the airline officials (at SpiceJet ) had a different story to tell . They said that the ticket PNR number was not valid for the infant , and in order to get a boarding pass , she should get a new ticket - Rs. 750 was the amount for her . Guess what would happened if there was an adult instead of an infant ... the adult would have not been allowed to board the plane as there were no other seats .

I called up the travel portal and after several verbal exchanges they informed me that they would let the higher officials know about it and if there has been a mistake on their part they shall refund the amount .... they also promised me to call me up , but still now I have not received any call.

After the booking problem was solved , there came one more problem .... this time .... a flight delay due to bad weather. I knew that Kolkata was experiencing severe thunderstorms , it always happens this time .. as June - early August is monsoon time in West Bengal , India. The flight which was scheduled to leave at 3:55 p.m IST was delayed to 6:50 p.m IST.

The funny thing was that since I had registered my number for flight information , the SMS and automated calls came to me informing about the flight delay - and I was in Bangalore. Ritu , Sonamoni and Baba who were the ones to board to the flight were in Kolkata Airport , were unaware of the delay... and so were the flight officials at Kolkata Airport !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What would one call this...... real time updates dont happen for some flights still .

As this was a no frills airline, there was no refreshments for the delay. I was calling up Ritu now and then ; Sonamoni was doing all kinds of pranks in the airport , and Ritu was running behind her. We have found that she is very freindly with people she has not seen ever, but I dont know why does she start crying all over again , when she goes to our house at Dum Dum.... need to look into this .

Again after sometime I received one more SMS , it read the flight had been delayed to 7:25 p.m. IST . A little later Ritu called me up saying that the security check is over ... that time I told her that the flight has been delayed to 7:25 pm.

I had thought that I would take leave on this day to meet Sonamoni ; but now it looks I shall be reaching home before Sonamoni and Ritu. My office bus starts at 6:45 p.m and I should be back to my home by 8 pm.. it goes through a winding route ... not the shortest route.

On boarding the bus I enquired with the City Taxis at BIAL , and they informed me that they is no need to book a cab, it is available at the Bangalore International Airport 24 x 7... 24 hours. I informed this to Ritu, as this was her maiden arrival at BIAL .... dont know when the guys shall start the HAL airport ... it used to be so convenient.

I reached home and later called up Spicejet - the flight had arrived at Bangalore at 9:50 p.m. IST ... that was a great relief .. at least the flight has landed. It was easy to get a cab, and Sonamoni, Ritu and Baba reached the house at around 11:15 pm .

Sonamoni was now Naramundi Sonamoni... yet she was looking sweet . She was wearing a frock which Rangapisi had given her a couple of days back.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Sonamoni's Hair Cut

Today Sonamoni had a hair cut ; and now she is Naaramundi Sonamoni :-)

She had been given lots of toys to play , while cutting her hair .

After her hair cut , she was looking at the mirror and laughing to herself , and saying "nai nai".

Friday, July 4, 2008

Monkeys in our house

Ma just called me now .

Two monkeys have come inside our house and taken off two bananas .

Ma is getting tense :-)

Thursday, July 3, 2008

The Room behind our house - Kakumonir Ghor

Kakumoni was a person whom we used to wait for in our childhood days. I remember he used to bring in loads of fruits and various kinds of plants from Guhawahati, a place in Assam . Well at that time I was more interested in the fruits ... there were some kinds I never used to see in Kolkata.

I remember he used to fruits in crates and one more thing he bought a cake from Sheikh Brothers. The cake tasted so different , we used to crave for it ... but of course stock were limited.

After retirement he came down to Kolkata and build his own room ... beyond our house . There was a small passage which connected the house with Kakumoni's room.

Kakumoni was an amateur artist , but his art sense was acclaimed by great contememporay artists. There were many paintings in his room .... some of it seemed unmeaningful to us ... but we heard it was from a great artist .... did not spend such time comprehending the meaning of the pictures.

Sometime back, before Baba , he has also left us .

The room is still there with the pictures ... only Kakumoni has left us.

Remembrances of Baba Ghosh

Baba - one whom I adored and feared the most. I remember when I was a child I always used to escape to Dida , when Baba was looking for me .. maybe I had done my homework.. or something like that.

During my higher studies, Baba always used to accompany me with the study materials and he was very instrumental in various phases of my life.

Even when I started working, Baba used to take daily reports from me, what I have done.... if I used to say the same thing again , next day he would say me ..."Eta to kalkeo korechis, aajke natun ki korli tahole" and scold me. As Baba had come to know something by interacting with me everytime, he also questioned me about various aspects in software engineering.

I never used to take care of my planning .... I knew Baba would do it for me.

I last spoke with Baba, when I was in Mumbai... before FIFA World Cup 2006 on the phone .. it was regarding the inagural match ... Germany vs Costa Rica .

I was telling Baba, I shall stay awake and watch the match ... and I remember Baba saying to me, in a taunting voice .... "Tui janish Costa Rica kothai .. oder match dekhar jonyo tui raat jagbije". .... little did I know that time that this would be my last conversation with Baba.

I got a call from my home at Kolkata after a couple of days, that Baba is not well . Ritu also told me I better go to Calcutta.... she could comprehend it.

I hastily went back to Kolkata to see Baba in a state of coma .. he had suddenly suffered from cerebral haemorrhage.... the same state continued for the next 5 days .

Within the 5 days I saw Baba's hand coming up and down and was very happy and told it to Ma.On listening Ma turned very happy too.... "Tahole bol Baba fire ashte pare"... we were so happy... But Sejokaku told otherwise, he said this is happening because of pain.

21st June 2006 - It happened to be my birthday . Our phone rang around 7:10 am ..... Ma received the phone and called Sakakaka. I hastily woke up and took up the receiver ... the caller on the other side said something which I still have to live with .

Baba HAD LEFT for the heavenly abode.

........
And I'm underneath the streetlight
But the light of joy I know
Scared beyond belief way down in the shadows
And the perverted fear of violence
Chokes the smile on every face
And common sense is ringing out the bell
This ain't no technological breakdown
Oh no, this is the road to hell

And all the roads jam up with credit
And there's nothing you can do
It's all just pieces of paper flying away from you
Oh look out world, take a good look
What comes down here
You must learn this lesson fast and learn it well
This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway
...... Chris Rea - Road To Hell ( Part II )

Where have all the flowers gone - long time ago

Timmi , my sister was always an inspiration for me. I remember all those days when we used to share over small things and sometimes quarrell on them also. She always wished I would become better in my life .... always was there by my side when I was down..

Timmi left us on 6th March 1998 .... and lots of new things have been added and subtracted from our lives.

I have moved to Bangalore, working on a better job, got married, have a daughter Sonamoni, ... Ma is also with us ... Baba has left us on 21st June 2006 .

After Timmi , Dida, Pisimoni, Kakumoni and Baba has also left us ... but life still continues .

Lives of all great men remind us,
We can make our lives sublime .....
And walking leave behind us,
Footprints in the Sands of Time
--- H.W.Longfellow