Through the viewfinder

Glimpses of Kolkata through my viewfinder....

After the winter rain on a New Year morning...

P.S. Victoria was a woman, n hence the pink theme :P

A thousand words...innumerable thoughts...and some memories...all rushed through my mind when my eyes captured this frame through my cam's viewfinder....

Sharing with you some moments, stolen from my mind.

I was never fond of flowers....but this, somehow, changed my mind!

A bunch of flowers...love and joy galore...

and a precious smile in return!

Sharing in itself makes one feel good...n happy inside...

and sharing what i see with the world is an even better feeling... :-)

Kolkata: my homely project!!

Recently I had been asked to prepare a presentation as a College project. After hours of thinking i finally selected the topic suggested by my friend Nilakshi. According to her we should select topics close to our heart. So, I finally settled for the topic "Kolkata"...what better than my home sweet home...

Thank you Kolkata for being my Home and being the topic of my College project. Where would i be without you!!??

Ohk...here's a short summary of the project i finally made...

I called it "Kolkata: a City in transition...a journey from Kalikata to Calcutta...to Kolkata"

This project shows the changing face of the city over the years...right from the British Era to the present Metropolitan City.

Two major aspects of the city have been highlighted here:

• the identity of the City as the Cultural Capital of India.
• the socio-cultural life of the City

These two aspects have been focussed upon because:

• any change that creeps into a city so culturally rich is bound to get reflected in the culture of the City
• "a city is what its people make it..." so obviously the changes will be evident in the life of the citizens

hence the socio-cultural references.

This project is a tribute to the City that gave India her first martyr of the Struggle for Independence, Khudiram...its a tribute to the City that was home to the first Nobel Laureate of our country, Rabindranath Tagore...its the city of the first Modern Man of India, Raja Ram Mohan Roy...Netaji, Vidyasagar,Vivekananda, Mother Teresa....n so many others...

Excerpts from the project:

"It is believed that India as a whole did not witness Renaissance...but Bengal did, and Calcutta was the centre.  The growth of the Bengali Intelligentsia due to the introduction of Western Education in India under the initiative of men like Raja Rammohan Roy led to an intellectual awakening...popularly known as the Bengal Renaissance..."

"The existence of a distinct duality in the City is evident through the ages. Be it the Babu culture (a group of Bengali intellectuals who though Indian by blood were British in nature) or the Bongs (the globalised/westernised Bengalis)...be it the intellectuals or the modernists...a distinct duality persists."

"Penurious...prosperous...progressive...

a culmination of diversities...

a harmonious coexistence of deep rooted culture and modernisation...

that's the city for you...

Welcome to Kolkata" 

"Kolkata Kolkata dont worry Kolkata...amra tomari Kolkata..........tumi je naya Kolkata..." ~Usha Uthup

A Demise: An End

A Confession: Am not a political expert nor am i much interested politics. But i'm interested in people and how they mould the History of our World with their own hands.


Jyotirindra(better known as Jyoti) Basu: a leader, an icon...a man who reigned over Bengal for over two decades, 23 yrs to be precise. Died yesterday, 17th January 2010, at 11:47pm. With him ended an era...almost a century...a chapter closed in the history of Bengal.
Bengal has always played an important part in shaping or at least contributing to the history of our country. It was in Bengal that Nawab Siraj-ud-duallah lost the skirmish, dubbed in History as the Battle of Plassey. Bengal was the only state in India to witness Renaissance. Bengal was home to Rabindranath Tagore, Mother Teresa, Amartya Sen...even Ronald Ross worked in Bengal. Jagadishchandra Bose, Prafullachandra, Vidyasagar, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Michael Madhusudan Dutta. Bengal gave India her first Martyr...Khudiram was the first to die in India's struggle for Freedom... Raja Rammohon Roy ("the first Modern Man of India"-Rabindranath Tagore)...Netaji...
Bengal gave to the country Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramkrishna....
Bengal was the only Indian state which was said to have had maintained its independent existence right through the ages...remember Gopala, Bengal's Raja....he was elected by the people to rule the people for the people!
Uncountable contributions...lets not count them any more. Except this one...the man named Jyoti Basu.
His achievements, his victories...also his failures, yes he did have his shortcomings...his 23 yrs as CM of West Bengal has given India a reason to add a new chapter to its History.
Initially what Basu had done in his reign, was a need of the hour. But two decades were a bit too long. His ideas got stagnated. The world changed but his outlook remained just the same. Finally in the year 2000, he stepped down from the post of CM of West Bengal. Even after stepping down from his political post, his connections and allies remained. The respect people had for him remained. And Basu remained in Indira Bhavan.
At 96 yrs of age, Basu breathed his last in AMRI hospital Salt Lake, after fighting for his life for 17 days. He has reportedly donated his eyes. The very eyes which saw the world for 96 yrs...fought battles...sought arguments...planned strategies...shed tears...and even loved....
Basu believed: "it is man and man alone who creates history..." 
...and he did create history.
 Even in death he created History. He is the only India politician to be a trending topic on Twitter that too twice....see that too counts as history...genZ type!!

Date: 03/01/10 :First post of 2010

To the World its the third day of the second decade of the 21st century.
To me its one of the best-est days of my life...
let me first talk about the last day of the first decade of this century...31st Dec '09. It was a great end to a great year. The Kolkata Tweetup at Mani Square just rocked!! Anirban's James Bond taxi driver...the crazy trip to the Scary House (at Mani Square)...the crazy foodie visit to McDonald's and the super crazy run across the busy EM bypass side road...the mad balloon and the silly Docomo song...it was a MAD evening!!
But that was last year. Trust me, back home that night...i had just one feeling...that of happiness...i was super happy...n a little scared. I don't want anything to happen to this happiness...its just too precious to lose.
On 1st Jan I planned a trip to my Grandparents house...my Grandparents were overjoyed to see me. Got super pampered. Loved every moment of it! My Grandfather took a keen interest in blogging. He loved the concept of Sa'matri'yoni.
And today...finally 3rd Jan. Praveen, Anirban and me...Kolkata was never more joyful...the traffic was never more frustrating...the Ganga was never so beautiful...the breeze was never more pleasant...today was a memorable day. Victoria...the Monkey show (worth 70 bucks!! huh!?!)...the roadside fresh lime soda (Praveen taught me the proper name but i've forgotten it...have to ask him again)...the waaaaaaaaalk to Baboo Ghat...the sugarcane juice...our madness...Praveen and Anirban's camera...Anirban's non-stop photography...the steamer ride...the beautiful Ganga...and then finally "home-ground", City Centre.
It was a day well beyond my Rulebook life...a day i spent with my two most favourite people in this world! Am going to remember this day all my life...and recall these crazy memories when my hair'll be all grey and most of my teeth will be gone!! :-P
Am looking forward to 2010...am sure the rest of the year's going to be awesome!!
Thank you Mr.God...for everything!
Happy 2010 everyone!