The Foul Rag And Bone Shop Of The Heart

2008-07-02T11:08:00.003+05:30

Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror?

not horror...oreeeebaba!!
also, haven't read much fantasy to be honest

Hitchhiker or Discworld?

both?

Bookmark or Dog ear?

usually browse through to find it again and sometimes bookmark

Asimov’s Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction?

if fantasy + sci fi= Pterry then yes; if not then Asimov

Alphabetize by author, Alphabetize by title, or random?

random, i guess.

Keep, Throw Away or Sell?

keep (fighting against parents all the time who tend to give away my books to all the philistines of this world)

Keep dust-jacket or toss it?

keep but not while reading

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

Harry Potter has sorely dissapointed me....so Lemony Snicket (though i haven't read the first three and the last two)

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?

tired/sleepy

"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?

both, both

Buy or Borrow?

buy when there's money...which means mostly borrow

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse?

mostly the latter two

Lewis or Tolkien?

umm...haven't read T

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?

mostly afternoon and nighttime..sometimes morning too

Standalone or Series?

both (this is really pathetic)

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?

er...Char Yaari Kotha ?

Top 5 favorite genre books of all time?

jaani na baapu...ki qhoshchen!!

Favorite genre series?

same as above

Currently Reading?

Jeeves Omnibus: Joy in the Morning

2008-06-14T22:58:00.004+05:30

...

...

...

...

Polau "Polee" March-June 2008

2008-06-11T14:58:00.005+05:30

2008-06-07T10:14:00.009+05:30

my favourite season's in the offing...i must watch Pather Panchali now...don't remember the film...nor the brishtite bheja Apu-Durga...
haven't been out in a while...not in the rain...rain isn't as much fun as it used to be...jumping in puddles has lost its attraction...i grow old, i grow old...
i'm dying to use my new KING sized brolly...it's rather drab though...there's no accounting for some people's tastes, huh
the last two movies i watched were without that connection...primarily because, Donnie Darko i was told was a funny film...well, it is hilarious in bits...but it's not a comedy...it's quite dark..Romance and Cigarettes was okay...nothing great....didn't enjoy/feel it much...

also, talking about Apu-Durga...i think Taare Zamin Par is a terrible terrible movie...it's unredeemed by acting (on top of terrible plot + script and horrendous editing: it was sooooooooooooo long) because in spite of the choice of the kid being great the kid couldn't act....much like the pretty kid in Life is Beautiful (which is a superior film none the less because of the plot, story,Roberto Benigni, production, Roberto Benigni, etc)...well, maybe because i don't go gaga (gagagagagagaga) over kids, i refuse to see what was soo wonderful about the film...i'm not saying it's his fault--it's the director's...if you want examples of amateur young actors who excelled (often they just acted in one single film) look at Pather Panchali, Ladri di Biciclette, Le Ballon Rouge, Machuca, Shonar Kella, Malena, Makdee, Malgudi Days (which isn't a film, but still) etc

PS: It's a Magic Brolly!

2008-06-05T15:44:00.003+05:30

Lost in Translation is an incredibly beautiful film...like a heartache...almost too perfect for this rain-drenched cloudy Kolkata afternoon...although i was handicapped by the malfunctioning speakers and the fact that my version has some cuts....it is one of those films that i must come to again and again emerging, each time, with some newly dis-covered meaning

2008-05-30T08:28:00.004+05:30

Tag from Srin: The following is apparently a list of books, "most of them sitting unread in people's bookshelves to make them look smarter". The rules are: bold the ones that you have read and italicize the ones you have started but didn't finish.

NB: I have marked the books that were part of my Graduation and Post Graduation Courses to show, how 'nobby' my university education is. Except for things like Illiad and Emma, i had read most texts before (like Madame Bovary or One Hundred Years of Solitude). Also, i don't have most of these books. I have marked those i have in RED.

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2. Anna Karenina
3. Crime and Punishment
4. Catch-22
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude (text)
6. Wuthering Heights (text)
7. The Silmarillion
8. Life of Pi: a novel
9. The Name of the Rose
10. Don Quixote
11. Moby Dick (an abridged version, yes, and that i've read too, i think)
12. Ulysses
13. Madame Bovary (text)
14. The Odyssey (joint ownership with dibbo, nare?)
15. Pride and Prejudice (3 editions)
16. Jane Eyre
17. The Tale of Two Cities
18. The Brothers Karamazov
19. Guns, Germs and Steel
20. War and Peace (except the last 100 pages or so...i was tired of Freemasons and wars)
21. Vanity Fair
22. The Time Traveler's Wife
23. The Iliad (text)
24. Emma
25. The Blind Assasin
26. The Kite Runner
27. Mrs. Dalloway (text, but enjoyed a lot)
28. Great Expectations (2 editions) (text, ISC)
29. American Gods
30. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
31. Atlas Shrugged
32. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
33. Memoirs of a Geisha
34. Middlesex
35. Quicksilver
36. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
37. The Canterbury Tales (course text book: the millers tale :)
38. The Historian: A Novel
39. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
40. Love in the Time of Cholera
41. Brave New World
42. The Fountainhead
43. Foucault's Pendulum
44. Middlemarch (dibbo's book actually)
45. Frankenstein (text)
46. The Count of Monte Cristo
47. Dracula
48. A Clockwork Orange
49. Anansi Boys
50. The Once and Future King
51. The Grapes of Wrath
52. The Poisonwood Bible
53. 1984
54. Angels and Demons
55. Inferno
56. The Satanic Verses
57. Sense and Sensibility
58. The Picture of Dorian Gray (text)
59. Mansfield Park
60. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
61. To the Lighthouse (am sort of reading it now)
62. Tess of the D'Urbervilles (text)
63. Oliver Twist
64. Gulliver's Travels (text : have read selectively in course of one day before exams, was great fun)
65. Les Miserables (Bille August's movie adaptation is rather niceeee)
66. The Correction
67. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
68. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
69. Dune
70. The Prince
71. The Sound and the Fury
72. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
73. The God of Small Things
74. A People's History of the United States: 1492-present (huh? why??)
75. Cryptonomicon
76. Neverwhere
77. A Confederacy of Dunces
78. A Short History of Nearly Everything
79. Dubliners (text : i'm not sure whether i've read it entirely or not)
80. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
81. Beloved (text)
82. Slaughter House- five
83. The Scarlett Letter
84. Eats, Shoots and Leaves
85. The Mists of Avalon
86. Oryx and Crake
87. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
88. Cloud Atlas (text)
89. The Confusion
90. Lolita
91. Persuasion
92. Northanger Abbey
93. The Catcher in the Rye
94. On the Road
95. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
96. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
97. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Enquiry into Values
98. The Aeneid (course text book : bk 6)
99. Watership Down
100. Gravity's Rainbow
101. The Hobbit
102. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences
103. White Teeth
104. Treasure Island
105. David Copperfield
106. The Three Musketeers (can't remember whether i've read the original book or not...may have...)

2008-05-25T09:53:00.002+05:30

this blog is rather pretentious, but pretty...
hopefully, this day onwards, i'll be alone in the house for a few days (i'm feeling quite, quite hopeless in this regard, actually)
hopefully, buri will get fat with an extra scrambled egg (with milk and a li'l butter) added to her meal...perhaps Pedigree/biscuits in the morning/afternoon?
things might resume this thursday at Jodhpur park meaning chemotherapy for dog and spaying for Elvis-Pelvis

Also, 'hopefully' is wrong english i was told l-o-o-o-o-n-g back.

This is a genuine post...so i posted it here to infuse a degree of truthfulness in this fake template of smiling faces and pretty pictures

Haiku-- Kaikoo?

2008-05-23T14:20:00.002+05:30

a swollen eye
a batting lid
few watery drops--
a kitten injured at play

2008-05-14T13:35:00.000+05:30

2008-05-10T23:08:00.004+05:30

You

Uninvited, the thought of you stayed too late in my head,
so I went to bed, dreaming you hard, hard, woke with your name,
like tears, soft, salt, on my lips, the sound of its bright syllables
like a charm, like a spell.

                               Falling in love
is glamorous hell; the crouched, parched heart
like a tiger ready to kill; a flame's fierce licks under the skin.
Into my life, larger than life, beautiful, you strolled in.
I hid in my ordinary days, in the long grass of routine,
in my camouflage rooms. You sprawled in my gaze,
staring back from anyone's face, from the shape of a cloud,
from the pining, earth-struck moon which gapes at me

and I open the bedroom door. The curtains stir. There you are
on the bed, like a gift, like a touchable dream.

-- Carol Ann Duffy

2008-05-10T02:16:00.002+05:30

http://sacredmediacow.com/?p=948

2008-05-05T09:10:00.003+05:30

This time around there aren't of those brilliantly yellow monjori...aam trees bear fruit every other year they say...but was yesterday a Kalbioshakhi? i miss them, those amazing summer respites...i was born on the third of boishakh...towards the evening...just before one of 'em sky-darkening, thunder-threatening, tree-root tugging, cool-breeze sweeping norwesters...

This was last year, obvi after the manjari stage...they are Lyangras...and very sweet

stor-i

2008-05-04T15:30:00.002+05:30

“Frisky grey kittens jumped playfully with each other in the soft green grass.” Tyara closed the book with disgust. Rot! They don’t jump playfully. They bite, scratch and yowl. It is training for the big bad world. And humans, with their inherent enjoyment of violence, love watching them. She snorted with disdain at the book: covered with pretty photos of smiling cats in rosy bow-ties. Huh! Had they ever tried doing that with real cats? Her inaudible rant was interrupted when Polee, the white scrawny kitten with a horsy face walked in with the self assured swagger of cats. Tyara picked him up and planted kisses all over his unwilling, wriggling body while saying things that sounded like “keyeneboekdomkewtykewtypighonchomoncho”. The book, wearing its habitual smug look wiggled a dog-eared corner at the clock which struck out its tongue in disgust (five times).

Summer Madness

2008-05-04T15:13:00.001+05:30

Beloved Dr R

That was an overcast summer afternoon too. The grayish sky was tantalizing with its unreleased promise. It was sultry. The rooks were cawing in the orchard. Their voices in the thick air created a curiously drowsy effect. Our heroine was sitting at a corner of the shady bower, bright-eyed and wide awake. Her light summer dress of white muslin was rippling in the cool breeze of the coming norwester. She lifted her head and sniffed the wet monsoon air. A dolphin suddenly leapt up from the river beside her spraying her with the sun-warmed water. It filled her with a sense of pleasant anticipation. She folded the letter on her lap. Leaning on the oak trunk she inhaled the fragrance of the blooming kamini flowers, deeply. She then, started writing the letter. Her dot pen moved smoothly over the sheet of blue inland letter: “Beloved Dr R”.

My life right now

2008-04-28T12:37:00.002+05:30

is a crappy adult diaper

Ach Du

2008-04-20T23:04:00.004+05:30

Panzer-man, panzer-man, O you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hHjctqSBwM

Polau

2008-03-25T11:50:00.001+05:30

Any takers?

Puppies need homes

2008-03-23T12:58:00.002+05:30

2008-03-07T21:43:00.002+05:30

somewhere i read the number of blog posts is directly proportional to how interesting your life is..i agree...life right now is interesting...and fulfilling...and crazybusy...and i have some new friends :D
i wish i had a digicam though :(

Tag

2008-03-05T12:43:00.005+05:30

Got this from Monideepa's blog...the unattainable men in my life...well, where do I begin :)

Chronologically:

Rh***: i was five and he was er, thirteen, i think
the last time i saw him i was twelve...by strange quirk of fate, he happened to be a neighbour of my then best friend from school...though i was most definitely in love with someone else at that time, i blushed, giggled, looked at him and looked away, &c (all those silly things which make you blush when you're older and wise) with my heart thumping loudly all the while

Alladdin: oh man! Brad Kane's voice added to the flawless animated smile... (and don't you dare laugh at me because i fell for an animated character)

(i'll skip a bit now, since the men in the intervening years hadn't affected me that much)

Edward Fairfax Rochester: stuff of dreams...the smell of his cigar smoke in the prelapsarian gardens of Thornfield Hall...those were the days

Marguerite Gautier (and why not?): yes a woman i loveeeed...i saw her through the eyes of Armand Duval...her skin the tint of an untouched peach, her dark eyes and hair, her tuberculosis--a beautiful tragic prostitute who was irresistible to my then unformed mushy sensibilities

Allan Donald: don't ask me why...just

Laurrie: i was so mad at Jo for jilting him...the eternal boy...the slightly more real-ish Peter Pan...the boy of my dreams (yummy!)

Leonardo Di Caprio: the Titanic back lash... and it's no surprise...apparently he was the most searched after thingy in those early days of the internet

Fitzwilliam Darcy: the handsome rich grumpy frog prince! how he transformed and how i wished that the proposal scene in the novel would be a bit more exuberant, explicit *sigh*

Prince William: not really, but because i adored his mother (and day-dreamt of becoming a princess)

Rhett Butler: now we come to the rake...the older, experienced, unscrupulous man who seems to know it all...he's so annoying and so sexy!

Amito: from shesher kobita...he shall always, always be the prototype of my dream man...the smooth-talker, the quoter of poems, the carelessly brilliant poet, the casual inflicter of soo much hurt... i will always run after such men, be embarrassed by the lack of my brilliance as compared to theirs and die humiliated and broken-hearted

Michael (Al Pacino): need i say more? the silent, handsome, inscrutable man

Bill Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes): ooh! he looked so delicious...imagine a man who really wrote those lines and made those sonnets up for you!!!

Gael Garcia Bernal: just go over the archives to see what i mean...i might have said Che...but though Che is undoubtedly one of the best looking and most attractive (a rebel, dudes!) men ever, i don't think he could have been as vulnerable and adorable as Gael in Diarios de Motocicleta...especially during the asthma attack...

Woody Allen: and lastly, the neurotic...i've always been attracted towards and wanted to emulate neurotic women...Virginia Woolf , Sylvia Plath and that pre-gothic gothic chic in 8 1/2...
the unattractive, bespectacled, neurotic man who boasts about his sexual prowess seems farthest from anyone's dreams...but i so wish my life was a Woody Allen film

and now i'd like to see some men do this tag...ok, you might all pretend to be sports loving sweaty hunks who stick out their tongues at mush, but puh-leez...go on do the tag

2008-02-22T22:37:00.002+05:30

You Are the Middle Finger

A bit fragile and dependent on your friends, you're not nearly as hostile as you seem.

You are balanced, easy to get along with, and quite serious.

However, you can get angry and fed up with those around you. And you aren't afraid to show it!

You get along well with: The Index Finger

Stay away from: The Pinky

What Finger Are You?

2008-02-22T22:05:00.002+05:30

Your Social Anxiety Level: 72%

You have high social anxiety.

You have a pretty serious social phobia, and it effects your life more than you may realize.

It's possible that you've made yourself comfortable by avoiding situations you dread.

But don't be fooled - you still probably need professional help.

Are You Socially Anxious?

2008-02-22T21:58:00.002+05:30

You Are 100% Bipolar

You have some serious ups and downs, maybe to the point of endangering your own life.

Consult a doctor to see if you may truly have bipolar disorder.

Are You Bipolar?

Why I Hate Pujo (not personal)

2008-02-02T12:04:00.000+05:30

because everybody pretends that it's this magnanimous festival accommodating all communities...and that is BULLSHIT...look at the street children and the dispossessed people in Singur and Nandigram...think about how everybody chose to forget about the Rizwanur incident during the last Pujo...and I know what I'm talking about because I met many people who seemed angry at the presence of the fun spoiling signature collectors to say nothing of the picture of a person belonging to another religious community...and here we the rich kids go gallivanting in the most expensive clothes to see pandals made with crores of rupees most of which (the money not the pandal, of course) go to the Pujo committee members (and not the poor rural artisans)...if half that amount was spent on the really needy then all the street children could have had decent meals and clothes for the rest of the year...and if we believe so much in communal harmony then why do we calcuttans not celebrate Eid or Christmas with as much gusto?I have never been to a midnight mass or celebrated eid with new clothes...nor do I know very many Durga Puja enthusiasts do that...and if Durga Puja (as sooo many assert) is not a religious festival at all but a four days excuse to enjoy, then why can we not choose a festival less imbued with religiosity like Basantotsav (which is not the same as Holi and was instituted by Rabindranath Thakur exactly to fill this gap in terms of non -religioius festivity) or Nabanno or New Year for that matter? in fact, we do celebrate new year but the suggestion to replacing Pujo with new year would sound blasphemous to all, isn't it?

Outcast

2008-01-28T09:19:00.000+05:30

I am a wet blanket, I know.I dampen festive spirits--the veritable grinch.That doesn't make me oh-so-happy happy either.Grim pleasure(s).Self-righteousness.Or not. No parties for me.For nobody will take me.Or I won't go.I don't want anything to do with you and you. And You.I have nothing to do with South City Mall. Except for Ma of course, who insisted on going.I love spoiling the Puja for everyone.Bloody Hindoos.BigBloodyHindoo festival.Bloody BJP.I think there are people who think like me.I know them.They are not my friends, though.And they are not so bitter-cynical-pessimistic-anxious-angry-depressed.I'm sick of pretending homophobia in order to be polite to people cracking homophobic jokes.Next time you do it, I shall go right ahead and be the dampest blanket ever and tell you just what I think about your sorry homophobic ass.I'm sick of this place, this mess.I'm sick of having to see everything, everyone in shades of gray.Give me back my peace in black and white.

2008-01-20T16:17:00.000+05:30

achha, would it be possible, really, to blow someone up by holding a flame near her/his arse when s/he is farting?

Yes, I'm Bored

2008-01-20T16:14:00.001+05:30

Friends Graphic Comments

2008-01-18T22:22:00.002+05:30

You Are Destined to Rule the World

You have the makings of a very evil dictator...
Which is both kind of cool and kind of scary!
Will you rule the world? Maybe. Maybe not.
But at least you know that you could.

Are You Destined For World Domination?

2008-01-18T22:13:00.001+05:30

You Are: 30% Dog, 70% Cat

You and cats have a lot in common.
You're both smart and in charge - with a good amount of attitude.
However, you do have a very playful side that occasionally comes out!

Are You More Cat or Dog?

2008-01-18T22:10:00.002+05:30

You Have Low Self Esteem 44% of the Time

While you sometimes feel good about yourself, you tend to struggle a little with self esteem issues.
It's not about changing who you are, it's about accepting your faults. You just need to be less critical and demanding of yourself!

How is Your Self Esteem?

2008-01-17T22:02:00.001+05:30

If I were a beginning, I would be: the Big Bang
If I were a month, I would be: April! ( no surprise there)
If I were a day of the week, I would be: Friday
If I were a time of day, I would be: after midnight
If I were a planet, I would be: mars?
If I were a season, I would be: monsoon
If I were a sea animal, I would be: a sea lion
If I were a direction, I would be: east
If I were a piece of furniture, I would be: a bean bag!
If I were a sin, I would be: gluttony
If I were a liquid, I would be: red wine
If I were a fraud/scare, I would be: Frank Abagnale Jr
If I were a gem, I would be: sapphire
If I were a tree, I would be: the tree of knowledge
If I were a tool, I would be: a hammer
If I were a flower/plant, I would be: jasmine
If I were a kind of weather, I would be: stormy, kalbioshakhi-type
If I were a musical instrument, I would be: a piano
If I were an animal, I would be: a cat (duh!)
If I were an emotion, I would be: sorrow
If I were a vegetable, I would be: alooooo!
If I were a sound, I would be: a beethoven sonata
If I were an element, I would be: air
If I were a car, I would be: a small two seater operating on battery (NOT nano)
If I were a song, I would be: love song to a stranger by joan baez
If I were a food, I would be: mutton biryani
If I were a place, I would be: calcutta
If I were a material, I would be: silk, tussar
If I were a taste, I would be: tangy
If I were a scent, I would be: smelling like the Brut Mask aftershave
If I were a religion, I would be: Roman Catholic (don't judge me)
If I were a sentence, I would be: It's elementary my dear Watson.
If I were a body part, I would be: clitoris
If I were a facial expression, I would be: a grimace
If I were a subject in college, I would be: Special Author- Sylvia Plath :)
If I were a shape, I would be: a rectangle
If I were a quantity, I would be: ???
If I were a colour, I would be: azure
If I were a thing, I would be: a book
If I were a landmass, I would be: sunderban and ladakh
If I were a book, I would be: a hitchhikker's guide to the galaxy (the real one, not the novel)
If I were a monument, I would be: the sistine chapel (is that a monument?)
If I were an artist, I would be: Van Gogh/Michelangelo
If I were a collection of poems, I would be: Collected poems of Sylvia Plath and Jibanananda Das
If I were a landscape, I would be: bumpy and very green
If I were a watch, I would be: fastrack
If I were God, I would be: Aphrodite
If I were a vowel, I would be: a
If I were a consonant, I would be: m
If I were a formula, I would be: e=mc squared (i can't remember any other formula)
If I were a Science, I would be: veterinary science
If I were a theory, I would be: feminist/queer theory
If I were a famous person, I would be: howard hughes/annie hall
If I were an electronic equipment, I would be: an electronic razer
If I were a sport, I would be: football/soccer
If I were a movie, I would be: the royal tenenbaums
If I were a cartoon, I would be: the tom and jerry show
If I were an explorer, I would be: marco polo
If I were a scientist, I would be: newton (he had a cat, didn't he?)
If I were a relation, I would be: umm?
If I were a river, I would be: I wouldn't be a river...they'd dam me up...ok maybe, Narmada
If I were intoxication, I would be: induced by shots of tequila
If I were alone, I would be: lonely
If I were a question, then I would be: where's the party, yaar?
If I were a hobby, I would be: a collection of big colourful and rare stamps
If I were a habit, I would be: nymphomania
If I were an end, I would be: the end of the universe

Oh Wow!

2008-01-15T23:05:00.000+05:30

My last post was the 100th :)
Now i'm blogging because now that the monitor has been fixed i'm back after two days break to timewasting and other such stuff...these two days were GOOD...in more ways than i can tell you about ;) but i'm apprehensive that my mad-bad mood'll be back with the comp, internet, wiki and imdb (not to mention azureus)... i think my new year resolution should be using the comp just to watch films...and listen to music sometimes, or maybe not (since i tend to listen to each song 100 times before i move on to the next...and just before college too)...hmm...in the absence of comp i finished the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy in 1 and 1/2 days for the first time (sheesh! there--i saved you the trouble of saying that) and also the government inspector...I think i like so long, and thanks for all the fish the best (ok, so i'm a sucker for romance [maybe], so what??)...and i just discovered via Wiki that there's FIFTH part to the trilogy(?)...anyone? (and DO comment, i do NOT like being ignored, even if you think you shouldn't/you're making a fool of yourself/both)...also, is there anyone who's seen Annie Hall and really liked(/adored/fallen in love with/lovvvvvvvveeeeeeeed/all of these)? (yes, please oblige and for chrissake comment pleasepleaseplease)
Oh, and if i didn't mention it before, i really like Leonardo Di Caprio...not nearly as much as GG Bernal, but almost

Yes, there's no Titanic picture because i don't believe in dragging snaps out of people's past and embarrassing them (yes, yes, i know, i drooled myself silly over them...my mother even bought me a book on titanic in bangla) but the point is, i think he's one hell of an actor and it's grossly unfair that he has to keep a beard to be taken seriously and let me not even mention academy awards...my heart doesn't thump anymore at his babyface or even bearded face...but hell, i respect the dude...

'who let you become the demon I cannot forget?'

2008-01-11T09:28:00.000+05:30

I must be in a time warp--the present (and recent past) seems to (have) flash(ed) by and things of the past seem so much more near (to the heart?)...but all that is an illusion..examining the past i see that the seemingly crystal clear memories have gone fuzzy towards the edges...covered with soft dust, dead leaves and pollen (why pollen? beats me!)...all that remains (and passes for authentic) are the feelings that i (supposedly...because memory plays all kinds of tricks upon you) felt then--love, shame, anger, happiness and incredible, incredible sadness...but shame above all, and sadness...maybe not even sadness...the sadness comes because of reliving the moments of shame...as ADG says the one kind of memory that you can exactly revisit over and over and feel the same is the memory of having experienced shame...that's true...i can't remember the exact words often, when it comes re-membering happiness...but always, always the words which fixed me eternally in a sick cycle of humiliation come back clearly through the fogs of time...
this post is occasioned by a brilliant poem (as the blog title shows)...but I do insist on knowing...always pestering others for information...and no floodgate of memory opened up before me when i heard, though i tried to recall things and pretended to feel sad...what i felt was not sadness...no...but the kind of sensation that you feel when you think you're stepping on a stair and your feet lands in mid air...i think that at last i'm ready to let go of 'all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule'...which is why i'm writing on a public blog in the first place...a very nice man (older and wiser...not what you think!) told me that i was bottling up too much and that it would have serious repercussions...i believe him, it's all so very true

So, let go, so let go
Jump in
Oh well, what you waiting for?
It's alright
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown
So, let go, yeah let go
Just get in
Oh, it's so amazing here
It's all right
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

- Frou Frou (OST Garden State)

I'm Cheery Littlebottom

2008-01-10T10:07:00.000+05:30

Discworld: Which Ankh-Morpork City Watch Character are YOU?

2008-01-06T17:03:00.000+05:30

my life sucks...speakers not working, so no music or movies...cousins and niece-nephew leaving...so are friends...i intend to party very hard beginning now but when i'm ready no body else is...i've got this immense workload...and i soon have to take decisions about french, latin, GRE...maybe i need an addiction to keep me away from the craziness and business..see? my life sucks more than yours, ok?

PS: this shop i went to refused to pierce my ears on very flimsy grounds...can somebody please help with suggestions? i'm seriously interested in self mutilation (and shaving all my hair)

Busy Bee

2007-12-27T15:18:00.000+05:30

...or a social butterfly? Suddenly I'm everywhere. Yet I have work to do--the NCW project via Womens' Studies as well as reading up on the courses. This sem should be better--marks as well as interesting (actually the two depend on one another); not in terms of core courses though. My optionals are Queer Studies and Sports Lit. There were other courses like American Lit 20th c (Ginsberg, Plath), Sci-Fi (Ursula Leguin), Special Author: TS Eliot, etc.
On a brighter note, cousins seem like fun. It's so rarely that we meet now. Should be able to meet at Princeton next; Glass Onion's playing and the whole city's gonna be there. But Dibbo's cat's operation is scheduled the next day. Anyway, it'll all be okay, I'm sure.
Now I have party to go to--a farewell of sorts at Parni's. We rarely talk/meet these days but hell, I'm gonna miss her so badly. :(
What should I wear? Should get a move on now.

New Slang by The Shins

2007-12-17T13:18:00.000+05:30

Gold teeth and a curse for this town were all in my mouth.
Only, I don't know how they got out, dear.
Turn me back into the pet that I was when we met.
I was happier then with no mind-set.

And if you'd 'a took to me like
A gull takes to the wind.
Well, I'd 'a jumped from my tree
And I'd a danced like the king of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.

New slang when you notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries.
Hope it's right when you die, old and bony.
Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall,
Never should have called
But my head's to the wall and I'm lonely.

2007-12-17T10:46:00.001+05:30

I have been tagged by dibbo on facebook...the random songs thingy...truth is, i meant to do it ever since i saw it on doyeeta's blog...but thanks to my fucked-up comp's low memory space half my music's on a dvd...more than half actually... i could've used dibbo's ipod but it has a lot of stuff that i don't listen to...dhuush!

watched some films recently...i liked Garden State...mostly the soundtrack--New Slang and Lebanese Blonde...and i can't download Let Go (Frou Frou)...it's most pissing off...
loved Notes on a Scandal...that scene where Cate Blanchett screams 'I'm Here' reminded me of Aakrosh....

just read Kite-Runner...it's nice, one can say...but i hate these kinds of liberated-in-US stories...and the book has just the right amount of roussie-hatred, taliban bashing, et al...it's not honest enough for me (though not as blatantly pro-american as i just made it sound)...honest would be God of Small Things....which is to say, it can create an aura of genuine-ness which this book cannot...
Also re-read Going Postal...loved it...but had forgotten loads of stuff...even groat...hehe!

2007-12-15T12:26:00.000+05:30

Winter and Madhura--they don't go together...i don't know what it is about this season, weather that gets me down so...but i hardly feel like getting up from bed on most days...and even when i do, there's this irresistible urge to get back in there...
it's rather cloudy and depressing today...and i'm sick of the world

Snaps

2007-12-03T19:52:00.000+05:30

Courtesy: Pradipta Sarkar

Apologia/Comeback : or is it?

2007-12-03T15:56:00.000+05:30

This template works for me. I like it. So, although I wanted something different from my blog-diary, I ultimately came back to this. It also gives me back my list of blogs and all. The template merits more posts. les-see.

Leo: Our report(4)

2007-10-27T16:24:00.000+05:30

Realising that the police could not help any more and that the Malanis would continue to ill-treat the dog if we did not check on Leo regularly, we wrote to Maneka Gandhi on 14.10. 2007 asking her to take action in order to rescue Leo. She called up Mr. Malani and Mr. Malani promptly agreed to let go of Leo. On 17.10.2007, we took away Leo from the Malanis and Mrs. talwar, a dog-lover in Salt Lake agreed to adopt him. Mrs. Talwar has a large house and two rescued pedigree dogs and also keeps stray, injured mongrels in her house while treating them. When we went to check on Leo on 19.10.2007, we found him in better living conditions than he has ever experienced. he was kept indoors and was well protected from extremes of weather. Mrs. Talwar is treating him for ear and eye infection. She had given hima bath and would also treat him for skin diseases and cataract later.

Leo: Our report (3)

2007-10-17T23:42:00.000+05:30

Third report

In September 2007, Kolkata was under water for about a week. Sarat Bose Road is one of the worst hit areas. We went to check on Leo after the rain stopped. We saw that Leo was kept in the garage which was wet and he was extremely wet as well. He had developed skin diseases and was suffering from severe cold as his eyes were swollen and completely mucous-filled. On questioning the Malanis (only Mayank Malani was available at that time), he said that the dog was kept inside the premises of the house during the flooding but from what we observed the dog was very wet and bore all the marks of being subjected to severe rains. On asking him to consult a vet as soon as possible, he said that his vet's house was also submerged in water and therefore he couldn't come. He told us that of we wanted, we could bring in another vet and treat the dog with our resources. In the past, we had given him the contact number of another vet and our contact numbers as well but he never called us up to tell us that he needed some other vet to treat Leo immediately.

We went to check on Leo after two days and we saw that he was better, as the skin diseases seemed to have healed and his eyes were no longer mucous-filled. The gardener cum caretaker told us that their vet, Dr. Goutam Mukherjee had treated the dog earlier that day. We went to the police station then and told them about the developments and said that if we do not check on Leo frequently, the Malanis stop taking proper care of the dog. SI Thakur suggested that we contact an NGO and get the dog picked up and re-homed. He put us in touch with an NGO called 'Animal Release and Care'. We met the representatives of this NGO but they informed us that only the CSPCA is empowered to forcefully take away dogs. The representative checked on the dog and said that the dog seemed fit then and thus could not be taken away.

The Malanis stop taking proper care of the dog if we do not check on the dog for 3-4 weeks. They have not kept their promise of shifting him to a damp-free garage and have not installed the fans that they promised that they would.

The Pup Died

2007-09-26T16:17:00.000+05:30

bzzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz or why i don't blog anymore

2007-09-24T12:54:00.000+05:30

I have a private blog (tada!) elsewhere...very private and er, well protected...I've had it for some time now

Updates (random order):
Kombol has found a home with t'da
Rains and consequent water logging
Laziness
Murakami
Bad hair days
Fat (lots of it)
Shordi
Shantinketan
FOOD!
Scary Stories
Fear of sleeping alone (without cats, that is)
CPI(M)-Ashok Todi

Anyone willing to adopt a 6 weeks old kitten?

2007-09-03T19:36:00.000+05:30

Are any of you willing to take in a 6 weeks old kitten? I had picked up this kitten from near 8B on Saturday as I had been assured that someone would take in the kitten today. However, things have not gone as planned. I also have four other cats and two of them were sterilised today. These two need a room to themselves and there is a space problem as well as I cannot keep the small kitten confined separately. The kitten is mostly black in colour with white patches. The kitten is also female. However, if adopting a female cat is problematic for any of you then I can take care of her sterlisation when she reaches puberty. Do not worry about that. If no one is willing to take in the kitten, then I may have to leave her out on the streets. So, please contact me by leaving a comment over here or call me up or email me if you know my phone number or email address.

quiz

2007-08-18T22:22:00.000+05:30

Which HP Kid Are You?

Leo: Our Report (2)

2007-07-21T10:15:00.000+05:30

We went to see Leo 18.07.07. He played for a long time with us though he does not respond to (when called by name) to any of the gardeners/handlers at Mr. Vinod Malani's place. Our main contention in the agreement was that Leo being a golden retriever is a family dog and that he needs much more human contact, love and affection--which the Malanis cannot provide. To this Mr. Vinod Malani had said that his grand daughter plays with the dog for 5-10 minutes everyday and that he will try and increase human contact. We did see her 'play' with Leo. She's extremely scared of the dog and runs away the moment Leo takes a step in her direction. Nor did we see any of the handlers/gardeners pet Leo in our almost 2 hours long stay. We don't think it is possible for the Malanis to ever provide the dog with the kind of affection and care he needs simply because they are not fond of dogs/animals. The photos linked below bear ample evidence in support of this. Anyone who cares about animals will not treat it like the Malanis have treated Leo for nearly nine years now. Also, we cannot fathom the reason why the owners are so eager to retain the dog.

As far as food is concerned the caretaker informed us that Leo had been given his usual rice and milk with gourd. We had specifically stated beans, carrots, pumpkin as well as nutrella (soybean chunks which have high protein content). The reason why we included so many vegetables is that Leo has practically never received any of the essential vitamins. His sight in the dark is quite poor, we noted on an earlier occasion but on the eighteenth we also found out that he can't see properly even in broad daylight and therefore he requires vitamin A ( present in carrots). His persisting sores may also result from a lack of vitamins (particularly vitamin C). This forces us to conclude that Dr Gautam Mukherjee is not a competent vet at all because he declared that Leo was in the best of healths.

The garage in which Leo is kept is spacious enough though gloomy, hot and damp. There is an electric light which is kept on and Mr Mayank Malani (eldest son of Mr Vinod Malani) promised to install two fans and white wash the walls to do away with the damp.

Leo : Our Report

2007-07-18T10:53:00.000+05:30

In September 2006, a troupe of theatre performers went to perform a play at Uma Gallery, 2/4 Sarat Bose Road. Mr. and Mrs. Vinod Malani, who have been tenants at that address since 1956, had been keeping a golden retriever named Leo (born 1999) in extremely shocking conditions. The troupe saw that Leo was chained and kept on a narrow flight of stairs. The steps were so narrow that the dog had to lie across three steps. As a result, the dog’s legs were damaged. In addition, Leo had sores all over his body. Sarat Bose Road was flooded and Leo was kept chained outside even in that flood. His legs were submerged in the water.

The theatre performers called in a doctor to treat Leo. Following their lead, some students of Jadavpur University saw the dog and spoke to Mr. Malani regarding the ill-treatment of the dog. Mr. Malani told them that they had been keeping Leo like that ever since they adopted Leo in 1999. He also said that the dog is never allowed inside the house. The students found out that as the Malanis are vegetarians they had been keeping Leo only on a diet of milk, rice, chapattis and paneer. Vegetarian food items high in protein were absent from Leo’s diet. The dog had become extremely fat and unhealthy because of a lack of exercise as he was constantly chained to a pillar or on the staircase. He did not respond to his name and never wagged his tail. This led the students to assume that the dog had minimal human contact. Mr. Malani told them that he kept the dog as a guard dog and when the students informed him that golden retrievers are not guard dogs he told them that he realised this now but the reason why he had adopted a golden retriever was because previously he had an Alsatian named Tiger who was very furious whenever let loose. The students assumed this was because the Alsatian was also kept chained like Leo all the time and had thus developed an irritable nature.

The students lodged a complaint with the CSPCA in November as the Malanis were in direct violation of 11f, 11h, 29(1) and 29 as a whole of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The CSPCA officials assured them that they would look into the matter immediately and if the dog was being kept as we reported they would take away the dog from the Malanis and keep him in their dog shelter. However, the CSPCA never did this and whenever the students asked them what action they were taking, they kept on saying that they would look into the matter after a week or two. Fed up by the inaction of the CSPCA, the students went and lodged a complaint with the local police station (Ballygunge Police Station). The police (Sub Inspector Soumya Thakur) summoned Mr. Malani to the police station and told him that he was performing certain illegal deeds by keeping the dog as he was. Mr. Malani assured SI Thakur and the students that he would not keep the dog chained, would keep the dog in a garage, and appoint a dog handler to exercise the dog. However he went back on some of his promises. Instead of keeping the golden retriever in a large enough room, he built a cage approximately 6 ft by 2 ft in size and kept the dog in there. He admitted that the dog was let out for 10 minutes in the morning, 10 in the afternoon and 10 in the evening and was let loose in the compound from about 10 pm to 6am. Though the dog was much healthier thanks to getting minimal yet some exercise and being kept unchained and not being kept on a narrow staircase which damaged his legs, the dog was not being given a proper diet and didn’t have access to water at all times. Also, his food was left out in the open for long hours so that it became fly infested. The cage being open on three sides was also not sheltering the dog from the damp, heat and the rains. On being asked why Mr. Malani was torturing the dog and not letting him go, he re-iterated that he kept the dog as a security dog and not as a family dog. Instead of hiring a security guard like his neighbours, he wanted to keep a security dog (This despite the fact that a security guard is also present at the main gate leading up to his house). On being requested to let the dog go, he said he might and would adopt an Alsatian next instead of a family dog like a golden retriever. However, his means of keeping dogs – not allowing the dog inside the house, locking up the dog, allowing the dog to have minimal human contact and general ill-treatment of the dog – makes the students believe that he will ill-treat any dog he keeps in the future.

Indrani Laha, Joint Secretary of Friends of Dogs and an animal lover (she takes in stray and abandoned dogs and cats and finds homes for them or keeps them in her home when she is not able to re-home them), also looked into the matter and found out that Leo was being subject to extreme ill-treatment.

They went to the police station again in July and told SI Soumya Thakur that Mr. Malani had not kept the promises that he had made. SI Thakur told Mr. Malani to either take better care of the dog or to let him go. One of the students is also willing to take in the dog in her house. On 17.7.2007 in a meeting at Ballygunge PS, Mr. Malani agreed to keep Leo in a room of at least 12 ft by 12 ft in size, give him a proper diet including proteins, make water readily available to him, ensuring sufficient human contact.

There is also a lot of discrepancy between the statements he makes in front of the police and otherwise. For instance, in course of the last meeting he denied ever having promised to keep the dog in a refurbished garage or appoint a trainer. He also alleged that the students were biased and were harassing him and pressurising him. Both Mr and Mrs Malani keep asserting that he is a heart patient and is falling ill because we are trying to take the dog away. They also requested the students to not come to the police with their grievances but to directly ask him. However, from earlier experience, we have learnt that he dismisses the requests as not possible for him to implement and however he is treating the dog is the best that he can do.

Given Mr. Malani’s previous track record, the well-wishers of Leo believe that Mr. Malani will never allow dogs inside his house and will always ill-treat them. Even if he gives away Leo, he will adopt another dog (probably an Alsatian) and subject the dog to the same ill-treatment again. The well-wishers of Leo are trying to re-home Leo (one of the students is already willing to adopt Leo) and also to prevent Mr. Malani from adopting dogs in the future and keeping security guards instead. The students also believe that this is financially feasible for the Malanis because they own three cars (one Hyundai santro, one Ford aikon and one Tata indigo).

PCA Act : http://www.bluecross.org.in/PCAact.html#Chapter%20III%20-%20Cruelty%20To%20Animals%20Generally

11.1 b:

*(employs in any work or labour or for any purpose any animal which, by reason of its age or any disease) infirmity, wound, sore or other cause, is unfit to be so employed or, being the owner, permits any such unfit animal to be employed

11.1 e:

Keeps or confines any animal in any cage or other receptacle which does not measure sufficiently in height, length and breadth to permit the animal a reasonable opportunity for movement

11.1 f:

Keeps for an unreasonable time any animal chained or tethered upon an unreasonably short or unreasonably heavy chain or cord

11.1 g:

Being the owner, neglects to exercise or cause to be exercised reasonably any dog habitually chained up or kept in close confinement

11h:

Being the owner of (any animal) fails to provide such animal with sufficient food, drink or shelter

29: Power of court to deprive person convicted of ownership of animal

(1) If the owner of any animal is found guilty of any offence under this Act, the court upon his conviction thereof, may, if it thinks fit, in addition to any other punishment make an order that the animal with respect to which the offence was committed shall be forfeited to Government and may, further, make such order as to the disposal of the animal as it thinks fit under the circumstances.

(2) No order under sub section (1) shall be made unless it is shown by evidence as to a previous conviction under this Act or as to the character of the owner or otherwise as to the treatment of the animal that the animal if left with the owner, is likely to be exposed to further cruelty

(3) without prejudice to the provisions contained in sub-section (1), the court may also order that a person convicted of an offence under this Act shall, either permanently or during such period as is fixed by the order, be prohibited from having the custody of any animal of any kind whatsoever, or as the court thinks fit of any animal of any kind or species specified in the order

(4) No order under sub-section (3) shall be made unless-

(a) it is shown by evidence as to a previous conviction or as to the character of the said person or otherwise as to the treatment of the animal in relation to which he has been convicted that an animal in the custody of the said person is likely to be exposed to cruelty;

(b) it is stated in the complaint upon which the conviction was made that it is the intention of the complaint upon the conviction of the accused to request that an order be made as aforesaid and

(c) the offence for which the conviction was made was committed in an area in which under the law for the time being in force a license is necessary for the keeping of any such animal as that in respect of which the conviction was made

(5) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law for the time being in force, any person in respect of whom an order is made under sub-section (3) shall have no right to the custody of any animal contrary to the provisions of the order, and if he contravenes the provisions of any order, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with both

(6) Any court which has made an order under sub-section (3) may at any time, either on its own motion or on application made to it in this behalf, rescind or modify such order

Leo

2007-07-15T16:14:00.000+05:30

2007-07-08T21:53:00.000+05:30

i'm sleepy and its MA tomorrow...its just normal...as in fireworks didn't burst because i graduated (or not--the results aren't out yet)...it sometimes feels weird when i think about it...i mean i'm not that old, right? oh well, i'm...er...22 it's like sex...all your life you think wow! not a virgin...as if that's gonna feel different somehow...you're still the same you...it came as a real shock to me

and NOW, the list of books i have been reading (pointless, yes but then i have nothing else to post)

My Name is Red (yes finished it)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
The Prisoner of Azkaban
Orlando (yet to be finished)

books bought (worldview) (jointly with the bhoot)

bluest eye
memories of my melancholy whores
to kill a mockingbird
death kit (susan sontag)
crime and punishment (landmark)

movies downloaded (now i have an unlimited connection yay!)

ratatouille
the squid and the whale
edward scissorhands (seen)

movies acquired

amadeus
run lola run
deconstructing harry (seen)
capote
bitter moon
being john malkovich
the big lebowski
all the president's men
i am sam (seen)
closer (seen)
goopy bagha trilogy (seen)
y tu mama tambien
la mala educacion
dot the i
apu trilogy (only remember apur sansar)

and when am i supposed to finish them when i have to finish these within a few weeks?

paradise lost
comus
paradise regained (and other miltonic stuff)
bleak house
middlemarch
faerie queen (book 6) (but still!)
piers plowman
canterbury tales
all 154 sonnets by you-know-who
short stories by borges
novels by david mitchell, david malouf, allain robbe-grillet, etc
and god knows what else *%$##$(*&^!#$~**@%$#*#*$@%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-06-30T22:12:00.000+05:30

the tastes are returning...why is it that your taste buds malfunction as and when you are recuperating/suffering from viral fever? weird! but i'm still not hungry...those hunger-causing thingies have gone numb...but FAT chance of growing thin with so much makhon and gheee

2007-06-28T23:23:00.000+05:30

it's very windy tonight...fleecy clouds whipping across the moon which is casting mother-of-pearl glow on the clouds...billider thanda lege jabe chhate

e moi...

2007-06-07T22:10:00.001+05:30

...c'est moi

Tagged!

2007-06-03T22:58:00.000+05:30

ok..so i have been tagged by Ahona...since i have nothing to post, i might as well....so here goes:

total number of books owned
i have no clue whatsoever...it maybe 500 and it maybe 1000...probably in between

last books i bought
Madame Bovary (Norton second edition)
Kag Noy by Lila Majumdar
a collection of short stories by Borges
a collection of poems by Neruda

last books i read
Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Murder in Mesopotamia
Mrs Mcginty is Dead, etc
One Hundred Years of Solitude (second time)
Outsider
Madame Bovary (second time)
{the last three were part of a course}

books i am currently reading
Cat and Mouse by Gunter Grass

five books that i have really enjoyed or that have influenced me
One hundred years of solitude
Shesher Kobita by Rabindranath Tagore
the watch novels by Terry Pratchett
Shadow Lines
Honyoman by Jaya Mitra
Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (her poems and journals and short stories too)
Mrs Dalloway
'Black Venus' and other short stories by Angela Carter
Sula by Toni Morrison
God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

books that i plan to buy next
Memories of my melancholy whores
some Llosa
Orlando
novels by Sontag

books that caught my attention but never read
Trainspotting
Orlando
The Unbearable Lightness of Being

books i own but never got around to reading
Light in August by William Faulkner (i tried thrice)
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (soon)
My Name is Red by Pamuk (started once)

i tag bob and dibbo

2007-05-28T01:15:00.000+05:30

i cannot say i enjoyed Cars...at all...i mean the whole idea of a movie devoid of anything but cars...i mean not just car people but car birds...yech! cars kinda turn me cold...now...blame it on the one-lakh-car...mostly, at least

2007-05-22T10:49:00.000+05:30

its so hot...the shirt's sticking to my back...AND i have fever...you cannot beat that combo...

any way, what i thought i would write about is the farewell...the PG 2 farewell...initially it was great fun...like small homely fest and stuff...and bapi keno papi was a winner all the way (are ya reading this little 'un?)

but then the evening got late...it started with Rohan's band...following Rimidi's lead everyone started dancing...including all these PG 2s...it was so incredibly sad...all those people laughing around me and dancing...they were all going their separate ways...this was the last time...the atmosphere was positively oppressive...it was so heavy....or maybe it was just me and my imagination...only i was thinking that way...i was closer to tears than anything else...everyone will go away...even me...weird, huh?

2007-05-13T23:00:00.000+05:30

ar bhallage na! exams, exams and more exams! i have one tomorrow for which i haven't yet started studying...faiiiiiiilllll korbo...zut alors!

2007-05-13T12:22:00.000+05:30

2007-05-11T22:31:00.000+05:30

'Moon! Moon!'

2007-05-05T02:22:00.000+05:30

a little while ago, i was watching Pretty Woman in the dark and moonlight was filtering through the window creating geometric shadow shapes...shaped like the grills...that day (i think yesterday, or was it?) when i was returning through bypass there was this honey coloured moon following us/the bus...i like moon

kittens...

2007-04-21T21:34:00.000+05:30

ma-er ko-le

boka billi or "amaye boka manushgulo eto jalay na"

like father, like son

kalo/pachhu

shada/potty

yipeeeeeeeeeee!

2007-04-17T09:56:00.000+05:30

whut a nice budday, mun!
thankeeeeeeeeeee all *mmmmmmmmmmmwah*

PS: hopefully there will be a camera next time around (even if miss bhoolo forgets to get one)...so will be able to upload snaps :)

waaaaaaaaaaah

2007-04-15T22:09:00.000+05:30

ki kori?

Hail Caesar!

2007-04-15T17:33:00.000+05:30

i'm addicted to it (Caesar III)...have to submit a term paper by tomorrow...ugh! i hate exams and the like intensely...especially at this time of the year...no new shoes yet...so will be hobbling/sweating in torn/dirty floaters/sneakers to college tomorrow...have a class...so...

nandigram

2007-04-13T20:33:00.000+05:30

it's very difficult to assimilate this time...because i have it from a reliable source...i mean, hell, i was supposed to go with them but *&%$!@#$*&^!

i mean how am i supposed to rationalise and internalise all that i heard this time around?
a girl my age, a year or so younger really, wanted to study with support from her family...and study she did till class eight...but she couldn't continue because the local party goons started throwing acid at her the moment she ventured out of her house...undaunted, she bought a cycle...they in their turn started chasing her on bikes...she has decided she won't marry ( at least not immediately) and wants to continue her studies at whatever costs...but now has to stay at Tamluk Hospital with her injured mother...for fear of what might happen if she went back to her village
an old lady suffering from tremendous trauma at the Tamluk Hospital was interviewed...she says this kid (she indicates the height but can't tell the age...so around seven/eight years old) came running to her during the open firing in nandigram because his mother had been taken away by the police...he clung to her as she fought with the police telling them they had to kill her first...however, the boy was torn away from her and was beheaded in front of her with what she calls a jontro...probably a bayone
an unidentified doctor (because the patient does not know his name) made an injured woman spread her legs in full view of police men and others for an internal examination and actually invited others to come and take a look

and here we are sitting and taking about women's lib, free speech, living with dignity, debating over 'development', etc, etc.

the fascination of abomination

2007-04-13T20:21:00.000+05:30

it's a wonderful phrase...i had discovered it at the tender age of seventeen (Heart of Darkness was the text for Elective English)...and since have found it very useful...you can very aptly describe that horrendous feeling when you can't avert your eyes from the site of an inevitable accident or its aftermath (usually a mangled carcass of some animal/bird plastered onto the road) for instance, by merely invoking these four words in the given syntactic arrangement...and of course you sound quite gyaani and smart in the bargain...

the test (on the same novel) went pretty badly...did not go to the convention on SEZ at student's hall either...felt lazzzzzzzy...too far away...

have to finish the term paper (Image of the Orient in Romantic Literature) {see how fond i have grown of brackets? i even put some in my answer today}...and submit it by monday...whut a pagne!

he said, she said

2007-04-09T10:02:00.000+05:30

me: ar ki ki novel achhe in that course?
d: She, Kidnapped aar Dracula
me: She kidnapped a dracula?!?!?!?! ke likhechhe?

i chickened out

2007-04-08T10:58:00.000+05:30

i didn't go to Nandigram...which is why i am here typing in the first place...i let me down...i chickened out...and elsewhere i might produce a long list of excuses but not here...

hmm..so i can't act high and mighty and noble anymore...can't reprimand others for being less interested or not attending meetings...

the thing is, it wasn't as if i wanted to go out of some exalted magnanimous motive (which in itself is quite out of the place and suspect in such cases)...but partly out of curiosity...partly to be able to justify my involvement in this whole issue...

curiosity...to see how people live on in the aftermath of a tragedy of such proportions...how do you deal with genocide? doesn't the mind shut down? how resilient can you be to face such events and go on? is it possible ever to 'go on' at all? in the sense that we mean?

it's such a farce...this vanity of mine...it doesn't matter whether I chicken out or not...it's not important...maybe this is one time that will teach some us to think beyond the 'i', the pettiness of our meaningless existences

Nandigram Orphans

2007-03-16T16:39:00.000+05:30

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/36147/nandigram-leaves-many-orphaned.html

2007-03-16T00:23:00.001+05:30

You Have a Choleric Temperament

You are a person of great enthusiasm - easily excited by many things.

Unsatisfied by the ordinary, you are reaching for an epic, extraordinary life.

You want the best. The best life. The best love. The best reputation.

You posses a sharp and keen intellect. Your mind is your primary weapon.

Strong willed, nothing can keep you down. Your energy can break down any wall.

You're an instantly passionate person - and this passion gives you an intoxicating power over others.

At your worst, you are a narcissist. Full of yourself and even proud of your faults.

Stubborn and opinionated, you know what you think is right. End of discussion.

A bit of a misanthrope, you often see others as weak, ignorant, and inferior.

What Temperment Are You?

2007-03-16T00:06:00.000+05:30

Who Should Paint You: Gustav Klimt

Sensual and gorgeous, you would inspire an enchanting portrait..

With just enough classic appeal to be hung in any museum!

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

rich people; poor people

2007-03-02T20:29:00.000+05:30

there's this trend now...of abusing/demeaning poor people
i'm talking mostly of the ads...
that ad of a plano tv which went a day in the life of an ordinary man ("feeding fish": he is feeding his pet dolphin, etc.)
there are several others...i'll edit this post and put them up as soon as i remember...

the point is, i find it disturbing...to say the least...its "ordinary" to be poor in a country where about 70% of the population lives below the poverty line...but being extraordinary with help of money (that you earn mostly by shady deals)...think about the defence provided for Ambani in Guru...that he has done it for the people of the country...(surely, if he has amassed that amount of money through other than completely transparent means, he has been depriving, cheating and decieving people, right?) it doesn't get better than that really....

i was wondering if this is the reason why what is being done all over the state (at a microscopic level) and all over the world is not being stopped...we are aiming at "development" like the western countries...the rich western countries (with the world's 20% population) live on 80% of the world's resources....it is NOT logically possible for the rest of us to live like that...yes, so 20% of the third world population can live like that....and all this "development" is really for them, about them...

i dont know, but that really strikes me as unfair...if you know what i mean

2007-02-28T20:43:00.000+05:30

eventful life it is...things pass me by...poems move me from happiness to sadness, instantly...i feel the ferric taste of blood in my mouth as i try to resuscitate a kitten...i see a mendicant in a blood stained shirt and a bood stained bandage around his head being pushed violently out of a sweet shop...i see mangy dogs all along the road to uni...i don't see the oscars...

as i sit typing a pair of cats are gettingiton in the other room...and a couple of kittens are napping atop the potty...

i see posers all around me...and feel sooo tired...at them...at myself for doing nothing...letting things pass me by...

seen babel and parzania...made M. daltonien buy a *pink* shirt and a *maroon* kurta...

have read hungry tide and chokher bali...am reading the idiot...

i want that house (apparently owned once by B.C Roy) on southern avenue...when i have lots of money (working as a ghushkhor police officer in manali) i will buy land...like the industrialists are...and convert them to wetlands...and forests...and when i become a totalitarian ruler i will kill george bush, narendra modi, bal thackeray, biman bose...

i noticed spring today...light green leaves, and redredredred palash on bare trees...the mango tree just beside the window here is bright yellow with mukul...also, in and around the jheel the black-and-yellow basanta bouris are twittering away...the sliver of moon through trees bereft of leaves, or the layers of pink-magenta-blue-gray at twilight...was everything always this pretty? the sunset at outram ghat, the tree out of russian fairy tales at national library...i think i am getting better at observing...and i have discovered a rather good poetry blog:

Tell me who unleashed the city
over this landscape
Stretched it like an unrolling carpet
rugged with time,
rugged
so,
if you reach beneath the surface
you will
feel the grass and the mud and the soul.
Tell me who it is the city awaits.

http://the-city-in-july.blogspot.com/

RE:

2007-02-19T23:06:00.000+05:30

bhogoban gachhe chhilo
huku huku dak dilo
gachh bhora ata chhilo
shob ata...

to the powers who be...

2007-01-12T22:12:00.000+05:30

doberer chang dekbi?

photo-trippin'

2006-12-29T14:06:00.000+05:30

fuser

octavio

zahara

one of my favourite people

2006-12-29T13:37:00.000+05:30

whine OR us and them OR worthless venom

2006-12-29T13:29:00.000+05:30

went to see Happy Feet on wednesday...dressed up and all...was feeling sooo bubbly-happy-nice...and then they punctured mah happy bubble *waaaaaaaaaah*...the tickets (minimum price) cost 120 bucks each...its CRIMINAL, i say...i hate THEM...bloody blood sucking capitalists...and really, 120???? THEY will just get richer and richer and the expense of others sorrow and THEY will just sit and munch popcorns worth 100 bucks and talk on the phones or makeout....sheesh!

heather corinna

2006-12-29T13:22:00.000+05:30

[women once visited the romany distressed when husbands had taken to the bed of another.the wise gypsy women would at once lift the arms of the worried wives and they'd cluck when a razor had left their underarms barren. let the hair grow back, they would say, and he will not stray, for hair is power]

[245.01. Exposure of a person
A person is guilty of exposure if he appears in a public place in such a manner that the private or intimate parts of his body are unclothed or exposed. For purposes of this section, the private or intimate parts of a female person shall include that portion of the breast which is below the top of the areola.]

Singur

2006-12-23T09:36:00.000+05:30

i've said a lot of the things i wanted to say here...please take a look.

link:

2006-12-17T23:19:00.000+05:30

http://mrinalini-sen.blogspot.com/2006/12/cspca.html

ps: the post on singur will be up soon....its under construction.

2006-12-12T10:57:00.000+05:30

oh and the kittens (born on 6th december at around 4 in the morning) are fine...will post their photos soon...
and as to why this sudden spate of posts, well, i have an exam tomorrow...heh!

2006-12-12T10:46:00.000+05:30

"Man's discovery that his genitilia could serve as a weapon to generate fear must rank as one of the most important discoveries of prehistoric times, along with the use of fire and the first crude stone axe. From prehistoric times to the present...rape has played a critical function. It is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear."

--Susan Brownmiller (from: Against our will: Men, Women and Rape)

2006-11-29T14:32:00.000+05:30

meni is expecting! anybody who'd want ickle kitties to play with?

2006-10-09T19:54:00.000+05:30

meni sleeping

hulo on the fridge

chhana with dori

snaps

2006-10-08T23:08:00.000+05:30

2006-10-07T20:44:00.000+05:30

i'll have to give up the kitten...so i'm practising detachment...starting now...you see i'm saying kittten...not otherthings...even a few days back i was anxiety-ridden (stilll am to some extent)...everywhere, in every thing, i'd hear phantasmic tiny meows calling out to me...frantic small paws scrabbling-scrabbling-scrabbling reaching out for me...which reminds of some poem by heaney which describes the drowning of a kitten...shit! now i'll worry about crib-deaths again....or whatever...am trying not to think, feel (or is it that i am feeling nothing really and trying to put that down as a voluntary effort?)..will upload the snaps soon

2006-10-02T21:29:00.000+05:30

Nizam has stopped selling beef.
and the decor's horrendous
Nizam has stopped selling beef.
and there's an underground shopping mall in new market
Nizam has stopped selling beef.
i have two term papers to complete
Nizam has stopped selling beef.
and absolutely no clue
Nizam has stopped selling beef.
and there still exists an israel
Nizam has stopped selling beef.
the kitten's woken up again
Nizam has stopped selling beef.
and i can only come up with this lame excuse for a post
Nizam has stopped selling beef.
and now my imagination has completely shut down
(though)Nizam has stopped selling beef.
and i cant think up anything that is putdownable
(so)Nizam has stopped selling beef...

section 377 of the indian penal code

2006-09-17T22:25:00.000+05:30

i feel very strongly about this...so will need to organise my thoughts before posting something...
but here are the links:
http://www.openletter377.com/
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1798366,00120001.htm
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1798316,0008.htm
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1798374,00120002.htm

also look up : http://baghaescup.blogspot.com/ (my source)

since you say so...

2006-09-15T21:42:00.000+05:30

you guys say its contagious...who am i to challange your superior judgements?

Q: What is the penis of a whale called?
A: Moby Dick

*ouch! easy with those brickbats*

eheu* : nothing new to post alas!

2006-09-15T21:28:00.000+05:30

bekar bhat bokchhi,bokbo...

amader chhat-ta na khub shundor...hawa-tawa dey...voyeur-istic tendencies-o satisfy kore...you can stand unobstrusively observing the various pigeon holes of activity simultaneously...hmm..that's a flaneur-istic surely...because everybody, excepting me, is doing something....cooking, smoking, talking, watching tele, checking the son's homework, talking on the phone...mundane meaningless things which seem oh-so-important...so, conversely by not doing these things i'm assuming a superior position...an ironic self-detachment...mane, forget it...i'm brain-fucked with modernism....

nyara chhat-o ekta achhe...sheta is my refuge in times of trouble..ekbar rege-tege ami bari theke beriye oikhane lookiye boshechhilam...ar aakash-ta shob shomoy-ei boddo shundor, chhat theke...aajkal pray-i raat-e jai, hulo-ke niye...ekdin ekta bhootoore holood chand jhule chhilo khub niche...it seemed something not quite this-wordly....there was a haze of yellow light around it...it was spooky in a way...but beautiful too

2006-09-09T16:20:00.000+05:30

ami.khub.lyad.khachhi.
therefore...no posts...
also...have nothing to say, in general...right now i have people to talk to...people who read my blog...don't want to be repetitive...and.....well, its not important

have deleted a lot of posts...i didn't like them...come to think of it, i don't like this one either...so i'll delete it...tomorrow

ps: have also been told that my blog is boring

2006-09-02T23:07:00.000+05:30

all thanks to bhoot :)

2006-08-23T23:20:00.000+05:30

link

2006-08-05T20:49:00.000+05:30

A: so...have you had any one-night-stands?
M: who me? oh yessssss!! sooooo many...i've lost count
A (after a suitably long pause): but...how? i mean you're not allowed to stay out late...

a perfect day

2006-07-08T01:40:00.000+05:30

i got up around 11 thanks to phone call from banarman...then i brushed my teeth had brunch...procrastinated...took a bath..had lunch (coz i was hungry, again..duh!)...then i roamed aimlessly online for sometime...then i decided to watch shakespeare in love..i quite like it ( i even got suitably misty-eyed at times) though i agree with NC that its a nyaka movie...then i went online again with the sole purpose of finding snaps of mr. gael garcia bernal...was delighted with my finds (shan't tell anyone : p)...then i was hungry again...so i ate one packet of biskfarm's royale and britannia's maska-chaska while watching the bloopers of shanghai knights on Zstudio...then i cooked some maggie...then it was time to go fer swimming...when i was getting outta the pool it started drizzling...by the time i was suitably attired it was pouring..i hadn't got an umbrella...so after 1 minute of patient waiting i started off...the road running parallel to the lake is full of bloody potholes (read mucky puddles) and dark...it was close to nine...and trying to walk fast i tripped twice and then my shoe-strap gave way...i tried dragging my feet in it..much to the amusement of the boka couples doing their routine lovershavtagetdrenched ...so i cussed (under my breath) took off both the shoes and started walking barefoot along the RKM pavement...heehee!!...it was delightful...i forgot about the dirt...the very novelty of the thing made my runny nose stop (for a while at least)...then i got into a cab (wondering, as he drove me through deserted streets whether he was gonna take me somewhere shady and rape me) and sneezed all the way home...hmm...though i must say i was quite disappointed at the roads being empty and nobody being there to gape incredulously at my barefooted march...ooooff!! such an attention seeker i am

Help!

2006-07-08T01:33:00.000+05:30

ami ei loktake biye korbo...pls kichhu koro tomra shobai ...

heeeeee-haaaaaaa

2006-07-02T23:14:00.000+05:30

brazil lost!!!!!! YAY!!!
i couldn't sleep outta the excitement till 3:30 ...then hulo woke me up at 5 by pushing a chair over which hit my forehead causing a rather painful bump...am feeling very lucky to be alive still..
and BRAZIL LOST
...isn't life beautiful? *sniff*

da phunz

2006-06-24T12:42:00.000+05:30

ooooreeeeeee! khub phun holo du-din...ekhono gaye betha korchhe..i can't really manage a detailed post right now...so here are the snippets....

sweaty mother in front of ju pg arts building: achha, presidensy-r english-er result-ta kobe berobe bolotoh?

worried parent in front of ug arts building: opore ki bathroom achhe na eikhan theke koriye niye jabo?

brilliant examinee's answer script(1): "that fellow is an inkling"

beas(2): inkling is a baby bird

beas(3) {introduction to an essay on A WINTER"S EVENING}: "man is a social being. so am i. therefore, i like taking vacations. so on a winter's evening i went to a sea side."

applicant (on the application form): relation with guardian - GOOD
sex - NORMAL

lost examinee: ami comaparative english-er porikkha debo

examinee(to a bewildered volunteer): sit! ( she meant "sheet")

poster outside ug arts building:

THE LAST PARENT TO HAVE CROSSED THIS LINE IS BURIED IN THE BACKYARD
by order
-- S.K.C

and while u are at it, check this out as well