Glancing out on this July evening, I could see the blue black evening sky curving over our city. The lights were coming on, and the darkness in between were becoming even more pronounced...Underneath this magnificent natural canvas, were lurking the fanatic, cycling away with tiffin boxes, supported and funded by people with an agenda.
In ordinary times, one could spend hours looking at the myriads of colours and their interplay.
Now people scurry home, away from malls and cinema halls, furtively check email, play with their dog within the four walls of their house and are curiously silent.
A horrible anticipation is in the air....
A war has been unilaterally declared....
But the people hold up the lights which shine bravely as the darkness increases....

Looking down is an attitude we often use. We look down when someone makes a raucous laugh in the library, when someone slips and land on their backsides, when someone wears clothing or shoes which are cheap and tawdry. And we look down most on persons who are ill behaved, quarreling, taking bribes,road hogs etc. But we look down most on persons taking innocent lives, maiming others for life, destroying families,whom they have never met.....
Sometimes creatures from another kingdom, look down on us with amazement as to why we are forsaking lives and life itself, bent on a path of self-destruction, creating discord and animosity. Why are youngsters falling prey to committed personnel ? Why do women have no qualms in self destruction?
This pigeon settled down on the small iron bar and looked right and left.Then it glanced down and liked what it saw. It muttered to itself--"and these humans talk derogatorily about pigeon brains...at least we do not, like cowards, kill each other....
The morning light has just fallen on the buildings in the city--will it at least light up our conscience?

The monsoon is on in Kolkata. The city looks pristine in the morning after the first showers of the day.The roads look washed, the buildings too and the trees and grass never looked more green.Nowhere is this more apparent than the vast stretches of the Maidan. I go to my place of work after travelling over the Circular road flyover. Occasionally the traffic piles up and you are left waiting on the flyover itself. Turning right, looking through the rain splattered car windows, I saw the Victoria Memorial staring at me.White, a little sodden, but huge..an overwhelming presence. All the cars were pygmified, static and curiously silent. The gusty winds made the tallest trees sway--but the edifice just looked through it, as it stood proud, haughty and aristocratic. As the traffic lights changed, we silently slinked past, ordinary mortals beside a legend. Victoria Memorial didn't bat an eyelid.....

History

Ther is something awesome about history. Not only the saying that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it, but a feeling of the difficulties faced and overcome with infinitely less facilities, mostly by dint of hard work and perseverance. Somehow these qualities are at a premium, but looking back (I can say that approaching the mid fifties!!), there is no substitute for it.Stating the obvious somehow seems to make a statement more definitive...
The picture above was taken in 1942, and shows the Great Howrah Bridge being constructed. One can only marvel at this unique engineering feat, which still is the major lifeline between Howrah and Kolkata. As I see it from my bedroom, there is comfort that some things are still right in this world of ours....

Vicky joins WWI

My son,Vikramjit has joined Whistling Woods International for a 2 yr course on Direction. In my 4 visits there, I have been highly impressed by the Technology available. The building has the WOW factor, and its location inside Film City with shootings going on throughout the day only adds to the atmosphere.The Library is superb. But then it is the utilisation of the facilities, the touches of human creativity, the discipline and teaching which will be all important.
Boni and Smriti came over and enjoyed themselves. Being Design students, they were also impressed with the facilities. Let us see how the script unfolds......

Many people focus on the feelings of loved ones, specially children who go away to make their lives.Rarely do people comment on the feelings of those who are left behind. Recently as both children left to pursue their dreams(one of them had left 2 years earlier), the house suddenly seems different, quieter and with vast open spaces. Though they are just a speed dial away, they are away...There seems to be just a little more time for us, my wife and I look at each other more, buying just 3-4 singaras for tea seems to be more than enough, dinner is on time with no one having to shout and call people absorbed in a book or the computer screen.
I remember the first time we left them at school. Dragging feet, the slow shuffle, shoulders drooping, the look back....
Now the leaving behind is more confident, the eagerness is more, the trepidation is less---and after a few weeks the steps are assured, the head upright.
I watch my son go and no, he doesn't look back as he disappears over the inclined pathway--leaving behind one more picture imprinted in my memory.
As we grow older, pictures are getting more and more important.