14 Nov '08

Its been a long break as usual from my blogin-space. Newaz beginin without ne ceremonies...
Wud begin wid d travelogue which has been pendin so long as I find it difcult to recall stuf to mention herein.

Trip : To xyz--MongPong??--Siliguri
People : 2 families & 2 Stags(includin ur's truly;)
Mode : train
Finally, a welcome change in d mode f transport i most prefer. Decent train(name:TRAIN) nun-d-les except for it halted for more than a bit usual at most unexpectd station but d scenary, weather made up for it...ohh! & d company as well :).
We descended at ALPHA station and took a Sumo to Wildlife Resort(XYZ km @ Rs. TAKA in 30 min). The resort was awsum : well furnished rooms at the bank of a stream with jungles elbowing just across it. Oh yes! rains feel diffrnt in jungles.
The next day, we took a trip to varios "observation points" in the morning. The first observation point was a huge success in terms we clicked the most damgerous animal habitatin the cities who didnt loose thr festiv picnic spirit evn in heart of 'nature'. The next one was a huge disappointment as we got a glimse of rhinos, peacocks, bison etc...roaming about d 'salt pits' & all d aforementioned species 'lost thr thunder' to accomodate observing way differnt lifestyle.
We roamed about amidst abundant tea estates, thick forests....i had a nice time sittin atop d jeep...:)
This is when we reached this place plagued by #$%^&*.

Anywaz, thrupon we moved to MongPong. Again, very nice resort-kinda-thingy. Another, advantage of all d aforemtnioned account was tht we cud c very little of tht dangerous species I hav refered to earlier.
But as all sweet things r get most plagued the most...so it was ....some idiots(names concealed so tht doz pests dont get another round f publicity) called-up a bandh. We were so imbued into our little quaint world tht by d time we came to kno f all dis, all d tourist had moved to Siliguri, jst on d brink f area removed frm this demonstration of sorts.

Thus, again findin hotel ,rather trying to find one, was an uphill task in tht rainy nite. Tho the two strong(married) men did thr best wid my moral support ;)...we ended up treckin our way to a guest house just 'outside' siliguri. We never r done wid adventure in our lives, it somehow or d othr 'drips' its way in.

Well, just dawned upon me as to make d followin two heads to make it more coherent to recall.
My 'firsts'

• jungle rains...drenchin...awsum
• playin ludo...
• eatin parwals...lots f it
• came to realiz its quite interstin to b aboard wid families on d trip(well! took sum time to phrase dis 1 : )

All in all, met one of the most amazin ppl who r quite remarkable, in thr own right, as a couple. Wish ppl hav such luck in one lifetime. Newaz, i did hav a streak f it to hav spend time wid 'm.

16 Sep 2008

cudnt find an apt title for this thingy....pennin down stuff after a long time...
jaihok, festive season is abt to begin in the following week...puja shopin is in full swing since perhaps the beginin of Sep' itself....
Hav had enuf f Calcutta pooja last yr...now luking forward to runnin away:)
Not tht its got ne thing to do wid puja but....

Anyways, today is Vishwa Karma puja -- Conveyance is a prob for doz who r accustomed to public transport...on the greener side....thr is less f traffic conjestion arnd.

Wut else...made a very gud friend...around a zillion yrs yonger to me,R is the name. Wont b able to make it home dis Dussera on account f a promise i made to attend her theater during tht time...

Hmm...i guess i will write another account f my trip to MOngPOng & arnd Jalpaiguri...all abt the 'bandh', being drenched & puffing in the wild, havin perhaps my longest dinners n lunches wid R amongst others , wild-wild-wild, playing ludo!!, & yes lots f 'parwals' ...perhaps some memories to cherish a lifetime....i guess, before it slips my mind....a thanx to Suv who made me agree for d trip...(not cos he reads dis crap at times:P)...more f his better-than-mortally blessed life & truly deservingly so also....

closing punchline :
"...y do ppl hav d same flavored ice-cream all along or rather is thr a need to buy d resto just to hav gud food...."

Random Musing.

Assortment of thots of evrythg in general yet nuthg in particular...


Smile,Happiness, Mirth:
thr r dez ppl wid dis contageous smile!! i guess, evryone has similar effects in varying magnitude tho.
mirth...hmmm....again, d closest i hav come to such kinda observation was wid kids...a narration of sorts:
During one of daz i used to running arnd all d time...was stuck at a Rly Xing whilst plying...kinda outskirts of LKO...world seemed to rushing....evrybdy...despising d travel to d fullest...pollution, horns blowing etc etc....except a kid girl...sittin happily on a hand-pulled ricksha(one used to carry sand/cement stuff)...havin a mango wich c was cherishing wid utmost delight...in tht setting...little knowin abt hazards, ambition, ego...n tht was mirth.

Expression , Eyes:
i have often felt d incapacity of words for expression which i realized to my dismay isnt co related to dexterity with vocab.
The only 'honest' rendition i find in d way eyes communicate. Also, i trust non-verbal cues. Its not in countenance, rather d transition from one set of quivers to other.
Which i gues is d reasn , while driving i dont look for indicators from upfront vehicle rather look at the driver & u shal kno his designs. It din fail me as yet !

Hmm...lets jump context now.:)
Truth :
I find it as an over hyped phenomenon. Ppl may hav reasns to alter it...i believe in cause. An escapist approach, mite b...

Understanding:
Again, i fail to appreciate it on multiple accounts. First n foremost u dont draw reasns esp wid things tht reali matter...how can u quantify d smell of a perfume, the hue of sky, d stars glittering at nite, d way somebody special changes ur perspective f d day gone haywaire...On second thot even if i cud i wudnt wish to...talk about un conditional affection...i dont do deals.

Finance:
besides bikin, d only thing i hav an inherent aptitude for(Disclaimer: d views expressed r entirely personal & r yet to b cross examined...heck the latter doesnt matter in d least...l0lz). I dont beleive in long-term investment, sacrificing present comforts for a greater cause at a later stage. A generic concept tht is not limited to just d aforementioned domain. My take: In long term we r all dead.
The only way to resist temptation is to yeild to it. Live in d moment. Who knows one mite not get a chance to c next.
On over way to grave, lets have a gud time meanwhile.

Rain:
i m fond of it! Just look up towards d sky. Feel it on ur face. N i thn realize my 'form'.

Love:
Controvertial ;) I wont evn try to encapsulate it in words coz it wud b perhaps d most futile endeavor. I guess it is in some form when:

• just dont feel as d weathr is parthetic, sunlight is scorching, its filthy al arnd....u jst c d person u r enamored wid. Nothing more.
• 2 ppl holding hands n thr is dis luk in d eyes...of strength, of weakness, of ecstacy, of fear... wen nuthing seems to matter....nuthg....a medley!...& of wut a kind!

i give up...it a gross injustise to representation...go find fr urself !!...

About each of the aforementioned, i jst dig in to find 'm arnd....perhaps at times u may borrow for urself frm others'

...to b continued

That thing u do...

Recently, i had spent a lot of time pondering as wut wer d stuffs i usd to like doin alon. But had a tuf time jotting it all down amidst the blues. So tht memory doesnt fail me at crucial time i decided to jot them down apriori. Here goes d list :

1. Walkin/Bikin in d rain(kurkure wont hurt !).
2. star watchin
3. riverside in moonlight
   
4. Insignia.
5. Readin novel
6. Cold-drink/"Kulfi" if its cold(no errata herein)
7. Drivin along a riverside or rustic settin.
8. Cookin.
9. Hmm....if thrs a reali-2 gud play goin.

...if evrythg fails...thinkin abt a certain moment tht nvr fails to lure me to life...

I ideally shud NOT do dez things wen i m down:

• Shopping (GKB fiasco! :P )
• Talk with ppl except amongst my 'coterie' !
• Smoke more than 2 sticks.
  

Fotolog vs tavelogue

here's a link to my pics during various travels undertaken during the previous year.
They include trip to Mandermuni, Mayapur. All d related info r accopanied along with the foto's so do chk 'm out at ur own leisure time.

At Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76881091@N00

At Picassa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/siddhartha.shankar

Regards
~Urs Truly

Weekender: Babu Ghat, Millenium Park &....

Date: 15-17 Feb'08

hey!
Finally! went to babu ghat. Nice setting all in all. Can go thr once in a while esp. b4 dusk falls(as its a well known couple spot too :)
Took E1 bus frm 8B bus stand, Jadavpur which too us all the way. Then, about a 1 km's walk towards the Interstate Bus Depot to finally reach d place. The place offered a nice view of both Howrah Bridge.
Then,walked along the same direction towards Princep Ghat, which looked more congenial n rustic. & took d famour Circular Train, which runs along Ganges & offer excellent view meanwhile, to reach B.B.D. Baag(called bee--baa--di baag).
Then, went upto Millenium Park. The park is huuuge!...nice setting again(i soo like d lampshades). Worth goin!!

On way back went to Academy of Fine Arts & watched d famous play Phateru(Have yet to watch Wimble twinkle). The plays' message to d best f my undrstanding(Disclaimer: Since m stil in d process f learnin bangla!) was "anti-establishment". The words used therin were by no means modest. It used props like Godhra incident( extremism), R.N.Tagore(famous poets), etc to bring out d lietmotif.

Ohh! i almost missed. Listened to ChandraBindu on Friday at JU, Arts' fest.

Times u shudnt b away frm Kolkata

well some of 'm are :

Durgapuja:
Oct 6-9 : Saptami thru Dashmi
A must b...esp since Saptami

It is followed by Kali Puju being held in a weeks time. Then followed by Lakshi("Lakki") Puja.
Finally it concludes with
Saraswati Puja or the Bengali Valentine's Day : Feb11

Also, on 24Jan there is a mela at Shanti Niketan. Quite famous!!. Even holi out thr is almost equally famous but former rulez all d way.

Sprinfest of JU(Engg Faculty) is in arnd March1-7.
Arts Faculty thou celebrates arnd Feb15

Imp dates thus r :
Oct 6-9 : DPuja
24Jan : Shanti Niketan
Feb11 : S. Puja
Feb15 : JU(Arts Faculty)
March1-7 : JU(Engg Faculty)