Darlin'... I am a Diamond

Darlin... I am a diamond...

I rose from the deep dark recess of the earth..

Plain... cold... and white...

Cut into faceted perfection...

I can over shadow the light...

I have shades... good, bad and ugly...

I have colours... pink and grey

I can blind u with my dazzle

or can bind u with my ways...

I can be the hardest ever...

and cut you to the quick

I can be closest to heart.....

and can ride your every beat

Darlin... I am a diamond

HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!!

To My Dearest Teachers,

It seems like yesterday... when I was running around in white & green... all the moments well captured in the very depths of my heart... The smile that lit the faces of our beloved teachers when we performed well or the echoing sadness in their eyes when the results didnot meet their mark... the indulgence they showed us or the scolding that they gave us... their unsparing efforts to impart knowledge & etiquette to help us step into the outside world with confidence.

Not a single day passes by when I don’t thank my beloved teachers:

Ms. K Avari, who was my first class teacher ever… for the gentle patience she showed as she tried to guide my very wobbly steps into order…

Mrs. Imam... Mrs. Wells may their lovely souls rest in peace…

Ms. H Coots… a warm, wonderful human being… who showed me that work can be done better if we treat others with tolerance, love & care…

Mrs. R. Ahmed…for her smiles…

Mrs. Q. Das… for being an angel…

Mrs. Philips for being the most graceful lady ever… she doesnt walk she glides…

Mrs. Mahajan, Mrs. Kocher, Mrs Peacock… for making Premchand ,Maithili sharan Gupt & Subhadra Kumari Chauhaan seem understandable…

Mrs. Chowdhury… for the Bangla lessons…

Mrs. Pillai for the number crunching aptitude…

Mrs. Matthews for being able to decipher C12H22O11

Mrs. M.Thomas, Mrs Singh & Mrs. Mondol… for making Biology my favourite subject.

Mrs. Sengupta for being a Super Class teacher & making history rise from the grave and talk…

Ms. T. Awari for being the most stylishly dressed lady & for infusing in me, a hunger for globe trotting…

To Ms. Z Dalal… thank you for making the whole world a stage… for all the talks on George Bernard Shaw & Shakespeare… I can only say that I am professionally what I am today because you gifted me your love for English Language.

Mrs. V.B Ghosh & Mrs Matthews… for being the pillars of strength, for being so approachable even while we were so scared… J

& last but not the least… Mrs Kerr… without her there would be no ‘Zephyr’ feasts… or any other reunioins…She is the thread that has, after so many years bound us all together again… as ‘Prattlers’… Kudos to you & God bless!

Happy Teacher’s Day!

With Love

Dost...

Gusse mein hum kabhi kuch aise keh jaaten...
Jo chahte huye bhi hum wapas na lauta paaten...
Gum iss baat ka hamesha rahega...
Ki Dost milke bhi hum use kho detey...

Just one of those tryin times...

Writing after a long hiatus of nearly 4 months...
My only excuse was sheer mental fatigue!!
Trying to divide time, working on, several projects at one go...
Desperately need a vacation to regroup... no one is listening...
Have been living out of a suitcase for the past week!!!
Came to Asansol for an event…
Event over… but still stuck in this godforsaken place…
Woke up early in the morning today… to catch the 7am Volvo service to Kolkata… only to be informed that due to a stupid phenomenon called “Bangla Bandh”, the bus will not ply… there were blockades at various places on the main arterial road and buses were being burnt!!!
I mean, why burn buses? How will that solve the problem of ever-rising prices of vegetables, I wonder?
A work day… the first day of the week…a month-end, goes waste…
30th of a month is a payday for most people…
There was a group of Japanese, who had boarded the bus, they had a flight to catch from Kolkata airport…!!! What must these poor guys be thinking?
I felt ashamed to be a denizen of this state…!!!
In the current scenario… the Indian industrialists, themselves, won’t venture into any investments in this state… so we can forget about foreign investments!!!
A bunch of jokers, who fancy themselves as politicians don’t bother to think along these lines… & the future of our country, depends on them…!!!
The egocentric morons, who do the frontline execution of the vandalism, fail to realize that they are mere pawns in the whole scheme of things… and will be sacrificed in the chequered board of dirty politics… once their need is over!!
And this phenomenon will never stop till the nexus between the police & politicians is axed…
Bandh has become, so much a part & parcel of our lives in Kolkata, that we often fail to react to it…
Today, however as I sit all alone in our office bunglow in Asansol…with a plate of cold… badly made chowmein… I can feel the level of frustration rising in me…. AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!!
I am missing home… especially my beloved Bala… who waits for me every day at the door, with a wet nose… grinning face… wagging tail… and love in his warm brown eyes…

Sakura...

Really dont know where this bout of artistry came from....
Well.. I guess it could be worse.... :)
This is my take on the famous Cherry Blossoms of Japan....

Chick Meet

It was just one of those days...
I spent the whole day running helter- skelter, trying to be on time for a barrage of meetings...
Getting wet in the rain... being refused by cab drivers for upteenth number of times...
Wading in stubborn, cold, murky water... which refused to go down our beloved city's superior drainage system...!!! (YUCKKK! dont even want to think about what the water contained... SHUDDERRRRRR!!!) Thank god... for my CROCS!!!
And ofcource, ended up being late for the meetings due to downpour which as usual threw the city's traffic system out of kelter...
But what made me go through the whole gamut of the day's activity was, my friend Pragya's hurricane visit to the city...

I received an SMS early in the morning saying "Lets meet at Flurys, 6:30pm"... I was elated...
However as the day wore on.. I became a bit skeptical... the sky was overcast... it rained quite hard... the drizzle didnt let up...
But when I called to ask.. I was strongly reassured that we were meeting...
I just about wrapped up work and ran out of office... knowing that it wiuld be an uphill task getting a cab in this weather...
Strangely... I got a cab from inside the building... and made it quite quickly to Flurys on Park St.

Pragya was aready there with Kasturi... I joined in...
I had skipped lunch and was quite hungry... so was Kasturi... Pragy had had a heavy lunch... so she was not keen on food...

What followed was a hilarious episode of us ordering food...
The whole day I had been wanting to have freshly made pancakes with icecream and maple syrup.... waiter who came to serve us, took kasturi's order for toast and omlette... but there was no pancakes... (Sighhhhhhh!!)
I ordered for a chicken mushroom quiche after a lot of consideration... that too was not available...
totally fed up... I asked for the Manager... who happened to be an ex- colleague of mine...
On learning about my predicament... he asked for something... that too was unavaiable...!!! (LOL)
At last we unanimously decided on chicken wings in barbeque sauce...
All the while... my friends were laughing!!!
The food arrived... (pretty fast... by Flurys standard...)
We happily dug in... while Pragy sagely enjoyed her cuppa...
The current went off.... and we decided that it was the best time to take a few photographs...
Tomali joined us just then... perfect timing... we said...
The waiter, Abhishek very sweetly took our photos....
We had already finished our food by then...
Good in a way as Tomali was on a diet... (Tomali's diet- 'TD', Kasturi named it...)
She ordered for tea and cookies...
We ate... chatted... bitched...talked a lot of nonsense.... discussed the 'Swine -flu'... & laughed a rather too loudly...(who cares..)
We were a happy bunch of like-minded Gals....
Tomali's "Taxi Khabo..." had us into fits of laughter as we left Flury's to go back home...
A total stress buster...!!!
I believe Chick Meets like these are very refershing... and we should do it more often...!!
What says?

Khola janala...

Akasher rong kalo hoyechey
Ghoniye aelo bayla,
Brishti bheja, phooler tora
Dichchey hawaye dola...

Mishti shure pakhir daakey
Hotchey kichi-michii...
Itchey holo, tari shathey
Amio kitchu shikhii.

Hothat aloye uthlo joley
Drisheyr chari deek...
Gorjey awaj korlo pheley
Ghono meghta, thik.

Shroter joley nauka choley
Kagoch diye gora,
Sheyi khushitey shishura nachey
Haanshite mukh bhora.

Shonda matir ghondho bheshey,
Elo chupi sharey
Bhoriye dilo pran o mon,
Anando bhicharey...

Khola janalar paney cheye
dekhilaam eyi chobi,
Shudhu tumi nai, pashey amar
Naholey, petaam shobi...

Ice Age 3 - My favourite characters

Ice Age has always been one of my favourite animation movies, and I have seen all the parts...
Each of them cleverly conveys a set of different messages...
The much awaited Ice age 3, though not as brilliant as its predecessors, has its moments of sheer mirth....
As has been the modus operandi... this edition also introduces many new characters, while uniting us with the old ones....
The movie on a heavier note deals with hardships of single parenting, when Sid finds 3 egges and tries to build a family of his own....
I simply fell in love with the dino babies - "Rex, Sera & Chomper" from the moment they said "MAMMA" in chorus & rushed to hug Sid....

The playground scene was hilarious... where poor Sid, tries his best to control the naughty, hungry Dino hatchlings... who go around swallowing all the other babies...
Another scene which is a laugh riot is the one in which Sid, goes upto a bull and tries to milk it...
The angry bull charges at him... and Sid runs away screaming "I thought you were a woman!!!"
The woolley Mammoths also gave birth to their first baby- "Peaches" ... I could only say.... AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW...... sooooo cute... I wanted to cuddle her...
The first time Sid saw Peaches he exclaimed "It's a Boy!" Only to be interrupted by Diego, "That's her tail." Sid then says "It's a Girl!" (LOL!!!)
Another message comes through.... parents always try to do the best for their children, trying to give it all kinds of comfort... and cushioning its fall... but as Elle rightly says,"This is the world our baby's gonna grow up in, you can't change that..."
While children can just enjoy the wonderfully animated characters... Adults can dwell upon the the more serious undertones...

Friendship, is the string that binds the trilogy beautifully... Its about trust, sharing, space and being together through thick and thin... a point that today's generation often misses out on, while chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow....!!

On the whole its funny and thought provoking, the movie has something for everyone...

My Parent's Anniversary - 16th June 2009

Being an Event manager by profession, I love creating special themes and color codes for Birthday & anniversary celebrations at home.
Since my work schedule is hectic, my planning starts a month before the date of the event, as I shop in bits and peices, quite the jig-saw puzzle... (LOL!!!)
And I am quite finicky about the finesse with which the ultimate scenerio is presented. This often makes me go to great lengths to find 'The Perfect thing'.

• I chose a mix of pink and mauve this year for My Parent's anniversary celebrations.
• The card I created echoed the same color-mix

Creating the card:

1. I chose a mauve colour for the card paper.
2. Pulled out a leaf of self adhesive, solid golden polkas from my sticker file.
3. Scouted for the perfect faux Orchids to be inserted into the card (which I managed to find at last at Nik-Nish!!)
4. Used self adhesive silver alphabets for the lettering on the card.

The Set up:

• I ordered a special bouquet from the florist at New Market with a mix of mauve Orchids, baby-pink Lilies & Gerberas.
• On one of the shopping sprees, I bought a big, baby-pink spiral candle.
• And strangely on one of my official trips to Duragpur, I actually found a bottle of pink cider. Perfect for my theme... I carried it back home!!
• I raided New Market again to find a perfect set of champagne flutes...
• Last but not the least... the fresh cream- pinnaple cake from Cakes... (yummmm...) completed the table.

Weekend Rocks @ Durgapur City Centre

My first series of events after joining Bengal Shristi was titled "Weekend Rocks!!" out of sheer lack of inspiration!!! (LOL!!!)
Getting sponsors onboard was not a song... and there was hardly anyone who would come forward for the same...
I am extremely thankful to Debopriyo Ghoshal, Head Marketing, Reliance Mobile, who liked the concept and agreed to become a sponsor....

The First Weekend - 13th June 09, the Band, 'Shorojontro' was sponsored by Purple Music, for this I am extremely thankful to my friend & ex-colleague - Roopal Kabiraj, Managing Partner- Purple Music!!!

Band: Shrojontro, performing @ Kalangan, Durgapur City Centre

The Second Weekend - 20th June 09, the Band, 'Sandhan' was sponsored by Karma Events, thanks to my friend & ex-colleague - Satadru Sarkar, Proprietor, Karma Events!!!
Band: Sandhan, after the event @ Kalangan, Durgapur City Centre

Standing on the bridge to watch the setup from above....

The Third Weekend - 27th June 09, their were two Bands, both sponsored by Big Music, thanks to my friend & ex-colleague - Shouvik Dutta, Manager Content, Big Music & Video!!!

1st Band: Comus @ the Odyssey Club, Durgapur City Centre

2nd Band: Samik & troupe @ the Odessey Club, Durgapur City Centre

With only the final show to go... taking a breather with Hritik... (RODL)!!!