The Rear Window

কলকাতার (কল্প-) বিজ্ঞানী

2012-01-29T13:46:00.002+05:30

“আমেরিকায় দেখবেন কেউ বিজ্ঞান নিয়ে কিছু বললে খবরের কাগজগুলো সেটা নিয়ে প্রথম পাতায় খবর করে, হইচই হয়, তারপর লোকে বিচার করে ঠিক না ভুল। আর এখানে দেখুন, খবরের কাগজগুলো এই সব ছাপতেই চায় না। আমি তো বলছি, ছাপুন, তারপর লোকে পরুক, প্রমান করতে বলুক। আমি প্রমান দিয়ে দেব। আমার কাছে প্রমান আছে। কিন্তু ওদের কারো সাহসই নেই আমার সঙ্গে কথা বলার।” এক নিঃশ্বাসে কথাগুলো বলে থামলেন ভদ্রলোক।

খুবই সাধারণ চেহারা ভদ্রলোকের, ষাটের ওপর বয়স, মাথার চুল পাতলা হয়ে এসেছে, পরনে সাধারণ শার্ট-প্যান্ট, বাঁ হাতে একটা সস্তার ঘড়ি, ঘাম মোছার জন্য একটা নীল রুমাল ঘাড়ের কাছে রাখা। ভদ্রলোক বসে আছেন বইমেলার একটা ল্যাম্পপোস্টের নিচে। সামনে অনেকগুলো বই আর লিফলেট, বেশ কিছু উৎসাহী জনতা, যাদের মধ্যে আমি এবং আমার সঙ্গিনীরাও আছি। ল্যাম্পপোস্টে টাঙ্গানো আর্ট পেপারের ওপরের লেখাগুলো বাংলা, ইংরেজি আর হিন্দিতে একটা কথাই বারবার বলছে, ‘সূর্য, পৃথিবীকে প্রদক্ষিণ করে/ THE SUN GOES AROUND THE EARTH ONCE IN A YEAR’

এতক্ষণে নিশ্চয়ই বুঝতেই পারছেন যে, আমার সঙ্গে বিখ্যাত কার্তিক চন্দ্র পাল ওরফে কে. সি. পালের সঙ্গে দেখা হয়েছিল এই বইমেলায়। যিনি নিজে আজ থেকে প্রায় ২০-২৫ বছর আগে কলকাতার দেওয়াল ভরিয়ে ফেরেছিলেন ‘সূর্য পৃথিবীর চারদিকে ঘোরে’ এই লিখে। আমার কলকাতার রূপকথার গল্পের একটি অংশ হলেন কে. সি. পাল আর তাঁর এই মতবাদ।

ভদ্রলোককে আগেও আনেকবার দেখেছি। বইমেলাতে তো বটেই, এমনকি কদিন আগেই তাঁকে দেখেছিলুম নন্দন চত্বরে।

কিন্তু এবার-ই প্রথম কথা হল ওনার সঙ্গে। দেখলাম একজন লোক কতটা আবেগপ্রবন ভাবে তাঁর নিজের চিন্তাটাকে সাধারণ জনতার মধ্যে ছড়িয়ে দিতে চান।

মনে রাখবেন, ওনার নিজের কাছে কিন্তু এই মতবাদ নিয়ে এক ফোঁটা সন্দেহ নেই। তিনি নিশ্চিত যে তিনি ঠিক, লোকে স্বীকার করছে না এইটুকুই যা। মনে মনে তিনি গ্যালেলিও বা কোপার্নিকাসের সমকক্ষ একজন। যে জন্য নিজের লাখ লাখ টাকা খরচ করে ফেলেছেন তাঁর এই মত প্রচারের জন্য। তাঁর এই মতবাদ জানিয়ে চিঠি পাঠিয়েছেন নাসায়, যে চিঠির মার্জিত উত্তরে নাসা তাঁকে জানিয়েছে যে, বর্তমান মতটিই তাদের পছন্দ এবং ওটা দিয়েই তাদের বেশ কাজ চলে যাচ্ছে।

যে দৃঢ় বিশ্বাস নিয়ে তিনি সূর্যের বার্ষিক পৃথিবী পরিক্রমণের কথা বলে যান তাঁর দর্শকদের (হ্যাঁ, দর্শক। অনেকেই শুধু দাড়িয়ে তাঁর কথা শুনে চলে যাচ্ছিলো, বই কিনছিল হাতে গোনা কয়েকজন), যেভাবে ১০ টাকার বিনিময়ে (সঙ্গে ২ টাকার লিফলেট বিনামূল্যে) নিজের বই বিক্রি করে নিজের মতবাদ প্রচারের সময় জ্বলজ্বল করে ওঠে ওনার চোখগুলো সেটা হয়তো সামান্য হলেও দাগ কেটে যায় তাঁর পাঠকদের মনে।

হয়তো ভদ্রলোক পাগল। হয়তো ওনার এই মতের কোন বৈজ্ঞানিক ভিত্তি নেই কিন্তু তা সত্বেও ওনার আবেগ, ওনার বিশ্বাস, ওনার নাছোড়বান্দা মনোভাবের তুলনা মেলা ভার। আর সেখান থেকেই ওনার সঙ্গে কথা বলার পর হয়তো সামান্য হলেও কোথাও যেন মনে হয়, যদি ভদ্রলোক ঠিক হন, যদি একদিনের জন্যও ভদ্রলোকের থিয়োরিটাকে মেনে নেওয়া হয়, তাহলে হয়তো সেই একটা দিন কার্তিকবাবু নিশ্চিন্তে ঘুমতে পারবেন, ঐ একটা দিন কার্ত্তিকবাবু হবেন পৃথিবীর সবচেয়ে সুখী মানুষ।

আর আমরা, যারা সকলেই কিছু না কিছু স্বপ্নের পেছনে ছুটে বেড়াই তারা তখন হাততালি দিতে দিতে জানবো যে আমাদের মতই একজন তাঁর নিজের স্বপ্নটা খুঁজে পেয়েছেন। কিন্তু ততক্ষন আমার এই ব্লগের লেখাটুকুই সম্বল ওনাকে সম্মান জানানোর জন্য।

Dwitiya

2012-01-21T11:31:00.000+05:30

Here comes the 2nd published story!! And it felt even more special than the First!!

http://kothatobolarjonyei.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post_19.html

Felt Really Good!!

Thanks 'kotha to bolar jonneyi' team!!

47, 43 and Other Stories

2012-01-16T02:19:00.005+05:30

[Generally, in any post with cricket statistics, I put my words of gratitude for the website www.cricinfo.com at the end of the article. But this one is so much dependent of cricket statistics and cricket scorecards, all of which obviously came from Cricinfo, that I thought it would be apt to convey my thanks even before the start of my post. Here it goes, a big thanks and complements for providing such detail statistics for every aspect of the beautiful game. All the pictures used in this article are also from Cricinfo ]

One of the most feared fast bowlers of last 15 years, Glen McGrath played 124 test matches to take 563 test wickets at an average of 21.64. Compared to his bowling records his batting statistics are pretty modest. He proudly carries a batting average of 7.36 with just 641 career runs.

But still I would start an article regarding batting statistics, mentioning him. This may be a good indicator of the issue I want to highlight here.

Out of his 148 test innings, in 92.75% times he came to bat at number 11 and there are matches like this where Glen came to bat at 578/9. ‘Batting as tail ender is good fun’, Glen must have thought. But young Nathan Lyon would certainly disagree. In his short international career of 9 tests and just 12 innings he had experienced coming to bat when his team was reeling at 21 for 9. And without his best test score of 14 and another dozen from Peter Siddle Australia was in a position to break

New Zealand

’s 55 years old record of lowest test score which was 26.

And do not make the mistake of thinking this is an isolated event. In that very match on that very day in Newlands, South Africa got all out in less than 25 overs for a paltry score of 96. Obviously, it did not get highlighted much as Australia immediately scored less than half of that team total.

Even if we look a few statistics over the period of last 4 years, comparing 2008-2009 lower team scores versus the 2010-2011 same data, it clearly shows a trend.

In the 24 month’s period from 1^st January 2008 to 31^st December 2009 we had 4 completed team totals of less than 100, 17 completed team scores less than 150 and for less than 200 completed team total the count is 40. But the same numbers for the period of 1^st January 2010 to 31^st December 2011 read 8, 26 and 49 respectively. And with total number of completed innings remaining very similar for these two periods (214 in 08-09 versus 210 in 10-11), percentage wise also it shows significant increase, shown in the below chart.

If you think

Bangladesh

is the big contributor in these low scores then you are wrong. Actually out of those 8 below hundred team totals, Pakistan and Australia has scored 3 each, with Sri Lanka and South Africa completing the list with one each.

In fact out of the 26 team totals of 150 or less, only 2 of them was scored by Bangladesh. Where as for Pakistan this count is 6 (All in 2010) and for

Australia

it is 5.

For England, India and Zimbabwe, this count is one; it actually shows 3 different aspects, supremacy of England, tendency of playing test matches in home-like condition for India and less frequency of test matches for Zimbabwe.

And now after a good dosage of statistics let me make the point I am trying to express here. All these data shows a worrying decline in the quality of test match batting throughout the globe. And no, it’s not only sub continent players who are the guilty party here in the green tops of Australia and South Africa but instead significant presence of Australia and New Zealand in those lists shows a global trend where with more and more T-20 leagues has started having a severe impact on the batting techniques as well as qualities like patience, determination and grinding out tough situation. I wonder whether we will ever see another Rahul Dravid, another Steve Waugh or another Mohammad Yusuf batting at 35/3 and scoring a 120 ball 50 or a 230 ball 100 to steady the ship.

It’s very strange that a good number of very decent one day and T-20 batsmen have stamped their authority in the period of last 3 years including Virat Kohli, Upul Tharanga and Shane Watson but these same players while playing tests looks awfully out of their comfort zone.

In fact Hasim Amla and a couple of young English Batsmen like Cook and Trott are the only few players who showed consistency and played some very important innings, but again England have not made a tour of sub continent recently and the final call can only be taken once they complete their tours of UAE and Sri Lanka.

But everywhere else the picture is pretty bleak. Let me take the example for Australia. Australia last went through a slump in early and mid eighties when the invent of World Series Cricket along with the retirement of some great cricketers like Lillie and Chappell brothers converted them to a mediocre cricket team. But things started changing after the 1987 world cup in Indian sub continent, which went to Allan Border’s young team. They regained the Ashes in 1989 and post which they were a steady successful team in the first half of the Nineties and around 1999 reached its peak. They won three consecutive world cups, won every possible honours including top ranking in ICC ratings for both test matches and one day internationals. They enjoyed a run of 16 consecutive test wins which was broken in a crazy test match in Eden Gardens in 2001. They were not successful that time but in the 2004 tour they finally won their 'Final Frontier', a series in India after 35 years.

Their downwards run started in 2005, when they lost the Ashes after 18 years. That hurt their ego, they won the 2007 World Cup as much dominatingly as one can think and then their greats like Langer, Warne and McGrath bided adieu to their cricket career with a 5-0 thrashing in 2007-08 Ashes. But, more players like Hayden and Gilchrist retired in 2008-09 and Australia started trying to find their replacements.

They did find a few promising fast bowlers in Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhause, Pattrick Cummings and James Pattinson. They are not yet sure about their spinner which was pretty much expected but the most worrying fact was their batting. In the top order they have tried options like Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh but none of them manages to get a test average of 40 after multiple chances and they are still dependent on their middle order or Ponting, Clarke and Hussey. Both Warner and Cowan started pretty well but before making the final call, they have to play a couple of away test series in places like India-Sri Lanka and

England

Similar story is for India also. From that 1996 Lords test match which announced the arrival of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, India slowly built themselves a strong batting line up and with the arrival of VVS Laxman in 98 and Virender Sehwag in 2001, in the first decade of 21^st century Indian middle order batting looked much secured. That middle order till now has scored around 42,000 test runs and with an opener in the top who averages 51.51 with a test match strike rate close to 82, Indian team achieved many great feats in last 10 years.

And then Sourav Ganguly retired in November 2008 and the trouble started. Now it is 3 years since he has retired and

India

still has not find a steady replacement for him. They have tried players like Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Chetashwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, some of the very successful players in one day internationals and Indian domestic cricket but none of them could cement their place for that number six position in the Indian test batting order. Not only that, due to injuries and other reason they have to find replacements for their openers time to time. Murali Vijay has already played 12 test matches to have an average of just little above 30, where Mukund has played 5 tests to manage an average of just 21.

For

India

, the most worrying part is that sometimes in 2012 both Dravid and Laxman would hung their boots and we fear about their replacement who do not show any sign to make the fans feel that those guys are ready to take the mantle of Indian test middle order.

And it’s not just the low scores; it’s the manner by which the teams are surrendering meekly in difficult conditions. 27 completed test innings in 2010-2011 did not last even 50 overs, it shows how the teams are now not ready to bat out the difficult phase of an innings, they lack the patience to bat out hours, they do not believe in giving the first hours to bowlers any more. And if you are interested to know, the same count for 2008-2009 is just 18.

So, what could be the possible reasons for the drop in test match batting ability?

Many will answer IPL. But is it only IPL? I don’t think so. Yes, IPL is one of major cause of concern. Not only it provides easy money to youngsters, it also supports a style of batting where prime objective is scoring runs quickly and not score runs with correct textbook technique. In a T-20 match, there are only 120 deliveries to score run off and hence batting for even 10 balls can give you fame and recognition if you can hit 4 of those 10 balls out of the ground. And even if you get out in the 11^th ball, no one will question because you would carry a Strike rate more than 275 and which can eventually help your team to win by 10 runs. So there is nothing called getting your eye in or playing for draw in these limited over formats. More and more players are now forgetting these essential qualities of test match batting and failing dreadfully in tough test match situations.

Another key aspect for decline in test match batting, especially in overseas tours is the quality of pitches in most part of the world. Think about a youngster from Indian sub continent who plays his domestic matches in the dead and placid pitches in places like Ahmedabad, Chennai, Karachi and Pallakele, for him it would be absolutely difficult to adjust quickly when he needs to bat in places like Headingley, Perth or Durban. They could have still managed it if they had the proper application and vision to give up their ego and bat with the aim of staying in the wicket for long. But that's where the problem lies and we found scenarios like Brad Haddin getting backed away to drive inside out to a short of length delivery and got caught behind when he was on zero and his team was wobbling at 18 for 5.

The same story are for players from England and New Zealand too, who are very comfortable with the bounce and swing in their home conditions but finds their techniques awfully short of what required to play quality spin bowling in pitches like Kanpur and Delhi.

Hence, as long as countries will keep making pitches to support their team’s strength in home matches we will find more and more teams would become ‘Home bully’ and ‘Foreign laughing stocks’ at the same time.

The last thing I want to point out is the lack of time for practice for the young batsmen. Please do not think that I am questioning their dedication and talent. You have to posses certain level of talent, hard work and dedication behind you to reach international level. But a year full of test matches, one day internationals, T-20s, IPLs and Champions league gives them hardly any break. And then there are promotional events organized by the sponsors which they need to attend and it seems like the only time which they can have to improve their skills and add new weapon in their armor is the time when they get dropped from the national team. And for some even that time is not good enough.

Now I would like to share another interesting statistics which will support the case.

8 debutant bowlers have taken 5 or more wickets in their first test in 2011. It includes pace bowlers, swing bowlers and spinners of various types. Are these bowlers coming to test arena being all prepared? Many of them are failing to continue their good work for longer, what could be the reason?

In my opinion, with the decline in test match batting ability, more and more batsmen now find it extremely difficult to handle different scenario or a different bowling type. So if a new bowler offers anything new for the batsman he is getting instant success in test match cricket. And that’s why debutant bowlers in total have taken 114 wickets in 2011 tests which is highest count by a pretty big margin.

Another side of the story could have been that, with the increase in T-20 crickets batsmen have found the scoring easy but for bowlers the life has become extremely difficult and hence bowlers have become mentally very strong and invented many new weapon to add to their skill set which is finally helping them in their performance in all formats of the game. Remember, the average run per wicket in tests in 2011 is 32.31, lowest since the year 2000.

For one day internationals, the picture is in very similar line. Number of low scoring innings is increasing like test matches. For example with 125 as cut off, we can find 30 completed ODI innings below that in 2010-2011, compared to 23 in the year 2008-2009. Many of them are contribution from teams like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Scotland and Ireland but many of the big boys are also the guilty party with Pakistan, South Africa and India all had team totals of below 100 in last two years. And Sri Lanka has already lowered the bar by scoring 43 in their first One day international of 2012.

So just to make a summary, the quality of batting is going down drastically with every passing day. I agree it is making the test matches more competitive and interesting by virtue of some really low scoring contests but overall as a test match fan we are missing the pleasure of watching classic, gritty, fighting test match batting and that is loss for the game itself.

The epic rivalries like West Indies pace quartet against Sunil Gavaskar, Lara versus McGrath or Sachin versus Akram may just have become extinct, the future Lara and Sachin may score thousands of runs in their own land but will keep finishing with a below thirty average in foreign tours. The Future does not look bright!

Thank You and Good Bye

2011-12-31T11:52:00.003+05:30

So, we have reached the 365th day of the year 2011.
A year full of Happy memories and Sad memories. I have seen events which made me Delighted and Excited and there were events which made me Shattered and Heart broken!!
2011 was the year of change and it did change my perception towards the life, I realized "Jeta chhilo na chhilo na seta na Paoai thak, sob pele noshto jibon". It helped me grow and find happiness from certain aspects of life which I did not try out seriously earlier.
As usual this year was a year of great Friends and awesome friendships!! Made lots of new friends, some of them are now very close to my heart, lost touch with some old ones and obviously there are some eternal ones to fall back on when you need them.
In Summary, 2011 might have more bad memories than good but being that eternal optimist let me call this as a 'Mixed Year'!!
Bring it On, 2012!!!

Missed Chance

2011-12-29T10:36:00.002+05:30

You go to a foreign country. In the first test you face a difficult bouncy pitch and overcast conditions. And you guys fail. Collective batting failure in both the innings and you lose by a huge margin.
I will accept that. I will take that loss. Obviously it's difficult to go to new country and play your best immediately. 'Fine' I will tell myself, "This guys will play better in the next test."
But what you did today? I mean seriously. You guys were in control. very much in control. Still you let it go. Yeah, I am not upset with Ponting and Hussey's partnership yesterday. Those are great players and they would fight till their last innings, but James Pattinson! How come?? This kid with 3 test matches in his bag scored 37!! How??? Low intensity? Just waiting for things to happen? Taking things easy??
You made me upset. Gautam gambhir, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli, I love you guys. I am so proud of you. Gautam, my 'T-20 Don', VVS who made me write 'Why fight for Ram when we have Laxman' as my Facebook status message after last year's Mohali test and Virat, the best of his generation, or is he?
333 and 240 are not big scores. At least the pitch was not so bad that, I would expect Australia to score less than that. Yes, still we could be more attacking. Some more close-in fielders to Aussie 9-10-11 was required. But that's part of the strategy. Overall bowling looked good. Zak looked awesome, Umesh looked threatening, Ashwin looked working on a plan in the first innings.
But batting? Still problem continues. SRT and RD looked solid till they bat and then suddenly got out to good balls. Sehwag, I will not make any comment, he is like that only.
I am not watching the match any more so don't know how MSD is batting.
The most disturbing part is, what can we change in the next match? Yes we can bring Rohit Sharma in place of Virat. What else? Any other change in the team? I can't see any.
Strategy wise, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, please be attacking. Please talk to Sourav Ganguly. Please use couple of players in both side for bat-pad catches while Ashwin is bowling. put more pressure. Trust me, this Aussie team is vulnerable. There are lots of self-doubt in their batting line up, exploit that. Attack that.

I know I should not do this, I should not write this piece till the 10th wicket is down. I should have faith on MSD, Zak, Isshannt (that's the new spelling of his name which he changed after consulting a numerologist) and Umesh to fight hard, keep grinding and bat as long as they can.

But this is not a match report. Even if India win or draw this match with any divine invention (they call Melbourne, the city of four-seasons a day, how much I would like Melbourne to have a monsoon, starting in next half an hour and continuing for next forty-eight hours) that would not change the fact that you guys have missed a chance. A great chance to stamp your authority and run away with this series.

All the best for remaining matches. Just remember, cricket is just like life. Life rarely gives us a second chance, I hope cricket will give you another chance in the new year test.

BELIEVE

Sorkari Christmas... Dorkari Christmas

2011-12-25T10:55:00.000+05:30

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Friends!!

Ravindra Jayanti

2011-12-06T01:23:00.000+05:30

Till 2007, the name ‘Jadeja’ in India would identify with a man with true all round ability, a prince, who debuted during a world cup match in Australia, who went berserk on Waqar Younis in the next world cup quarter final in one of the most anticipated sporting encounter of that decade, who was one of the greatest ODI finisher for India in late 90s, who is holder of a bowling world record, who also flirted with a young Bipasa Basu in a Close up ad and starred against Celina Jaitley in ‘Khel’ after his cricketing career was over due to his alleged involvement in match fixing during early 2000.

It changed somewhat post 2008. I still remember, I was in my office and going through cricinfo pages in a lazy evening when I came to know the just announced Indian team for the U-19 cricket world cup in Malaysia. And it was kind of fun to find a team with super ambitious names like Napoleon Einstein, a Bengali wicketkeeper in Sreevats Goswami, a MS Dhoni look-alike in Saurabh Tiwari and a captain called Virat. Among all these I could have missed Ravindra Jadeja, but then I suddenly noticed his birth date and became an instant fan! 6th December, 1988! The year was not important but here’s this guy who is playing for India, even if U-19, whom if I wish ‘Happy Birthday’ then he should reply back with ‘Thanks and same to you!’
So, I obviously decided to follow this guys performance in the tournament and he was kind of star. With his slow left arm spin he did bamboozle a lot of those English, kiwi and South African kids and was quite tight with his economy rate.
India won the tournament and with the first season of Indian Premier League around Jadeja was picked by Rajasthan Royals. And for rest of the season the story was quite magnificent. RR won the IPL; Jadeja was recognized by the Great Shane Warne as one of the most notable young talents in India and he became a star which followed up with a great Ranji season with 739 runs and 42 wickets.
He was picked to play for India and scored a gutsy 60 in losing cause in his first game. All was good. He was fighting for the all rounder spot with Yousuf Pathan and did come on the top for the battle of the number 7 position till 2009.
Then the path towards downhill started for him. He was mediocre in 2009 IPL, still picked for world 20-20 in England, where he had a very poor match against England. Chasing 153, India was lost by 3 runs and Jadeja, coming at number 4, ahead of Yuvraj and Dhoni, scored a scratchy 25 of 35 balls. His technique against moving ball was questioned. Poor form continued. His ability to tackle the pressure situation was questioned once again when he was run out 3 balls after Sachin’s dismissal of 175 in india’s epic chase of 350 which they end up being 3 runs short again.
Big blow came before IPL 3, when he was suspended by Rajasthan Royals for trying to make unauthorized deals with other teams, a big disappointment for a youngster like him and it also shows that success was going in his heads. He sat home during the entire length of the IPL but promptly selected by Indian team for 2010 world 20-20, to be held in West Indies.
The poorest display came in the match against Australia. 12 balls in his two overs went for 0,1,0,6,6,6 6,6,6,0,0,1. 38 runs in 2 overs and then he was again run out for 4. It was the final nail in the coffin and most of the Indian cricket fans wanted his head.
He still got selected for the tour of Zimbabwe, Asia cup and tri series in Sri lanka and after his moderate success was dropped. A victorious world cup campaign came and gone with no Ravindra Jadeja in it and lots of pundits in Orkut and Facebook were glad to see that team management’s obsession with Ravindra Jadeja is gone.
After a decent IPL-4 with the new team Kochi Tuskers Kerala and a not so noteworthy Ranji season Jadeja was picked for the Indian ODI team in their disastrous England tour in 2011.
His comeback match was once again a close loss for India, but unlike earlier times Jadeja was the only saving grace for the away team. After 0-4 thrashing in the test series and already 0-1 behind in the ODI series, India collapsed to 25/4 and then 58/5 in the 19th over when Jadeja entered. He was out in the 50th over after reaching his highest ODI score of 78 and pull India to 234. England finally won by 3 wickets in D/L method but with his 2 wickets Jadeja got the man of the match in his return.
Post this he has played all the following 9 ODIs for India till today, scoring runs at an average of 39.80 coming at number 7. His bowling was more note-worthy with 18 wickets at and average of 23.44, more importantly in all the 10 matches after his return he took at least 1 wicket with 33/4 being his best in this period coming against England in Eden Gardens.
In his second coming, Jadeja looks solid with the bat and effective with the ball and he is always a wonderful fielder. But a new urgency can be observed in his cricket now, may be finally he has realized the importance and the immense pleasure of getting a chance to be in India’s playing eleven. With his captain supporting him strongly, I will hope that this guy will make a very successful career of his own. He is one of those true all rounders which India craved for long and if he can make himself good enough for number 6 spot in tests that would give India lot of variety, specially in foreign conditions.
So, Happy Birthday dude! Play well, play sincerely! Let me be proud of another player who shares his birthday with me after the Freddy- Shirt waving- pedalo riding-beer drinking- Flintoff, and Rudra Pratap- Raw Pace- Singh!

Post Script: I finished the above piece on Sunday morning and decided to post it on 6th. Then I realized that he has a match on 5th and decided to add those stats with his stats after making a comeback to India team. But for the first time in his return he went wicket less, got run out again for just 11 and India lost a close ODI. I just hope his terrible form is not coming back and it’s just the effect of law of averages.

Carry on the good work boy!! Happy Birthday and All the Best for the coming year!!

Protipod

2011-12-02T00:44:00.001+05:30

Finally, celebrating my first published story in a web magazine!!

http://kothatobolarjonyei.blogspot.com/2011/12/blog-post.html

It's an awesome feeling!!

Thanks 'kotha to bolar jonneyi' team!!

My Favorite Movies

2011-11-23T01:26:00.002+05:30

First of all, a disclaimer: I am not a movie buff. I do not watch two movies every day; I do not go to KFF or any other film festivals. In fact I rarely go to a movie theatre to watch a movie. Most of my movies were downloaded using the IITK LAN or Bit-torrent. But, yes, I like to watch movies, mostly comedies and romantic ones, also I can bear a few serious ones time to time but action-adventure is not my genre, I find it mostly too artificial, except Bond flicks, because I watch them as flicks and not movies.

Also, I like to watch my favorite movies multiple times. In a choice between a new movie and some classic which I have already liked, I more often than not end up watching the old one again.

And obviously, I am not a movie expert or critic; I can not catch the flaw in script or impact of great camera work easily. So, I am not going to try that. The following is my tribute to 10 all time favorite movies of mine, which I can watch any time of the day, any day of the year. I am going to touch a few things which I remember about them, please do not look for serious movie discussions then you will be disappointed.

The following list is in chronological order not in any order of preference.

The Great Dictator

Thanks to my father’s influence and ‘Dooradarshan’, I am watching movies of Charlie Chaplin since I can remember. But most of those were his tramp act and not the other ones and I absolutely loved them in my childhood.

So, in Kanpur, as soon as I got my own computer and get connected to LAN through DC++, I started downloading all the Chaplin movies, ‘The Kid’, ‘Modern Times’, ‘A King in New York’ and obviously ‘The Great Dictator’. Chaplin in a double role as Adenoid Hynkel and a Jew barber was just awesome. I loved the movie. Such a wonderful message was given in such a simple way. The scene of Hynkel playing with rubber globe is one of the most memorable which I have watched many a times, even sometimes in You Tube.

Ladri Di Biciclette (The Bicycle Thief)

This one is another movie which I watch for the first time during my IITK days. I have heard of it before and wanted to watch it. But I knew it is a serious movie and hence kept it untouched after downloading it, waiting for a proper mood. Then one of those days, when I did not feel like going to class, I started watching it at around 8 o’clock and missed my break fast as I could not move for next one and half hours.

This is one of the most realistic movies I have ever seen. In none of the scenes it looked like a movie is going on. The kids playing that pebble throwing game, the general conversation between the people and the traffic flow in the road, all were so simple and real.

My personal favorite part is the relationship between Antonio and Bruno. I liked they way they roam around the streets of Rome to find the stolen bicycle, those small conversations, the rain scenes, and obviously the scene in the restaurant have taken a permanent place in my memory.

I remember the sadness I felt for Antonio when he tried to still a bicycle himself and was caught red handed, when the man decided to let him go then some guy said, “And you can thank God.” Seriously! After that whole day!!

The background music of this film also merits a special mention.

Roman Holiday

* AUDREY HEPBURN *

* GREGORY PECK *

And what more should I write. The number of remakes has been made of this movie in all possible languages that is the biggest testimony of this film’s appeal. I watched it every time and I find it as fresh as ever. The beauty of Audrey and the personality of Peck will remain forever in my memory.

Don’t want to write anything much, but yes I will remember the message which I got from this movie, ‘World’s Greatest Love Stories do not necessarily end up in a Wedding Hall.’

Nayak

A man is sinking under huge amount of money. That was the only scene I could remember after watching it for the first time when I was around 10-12 years old. And then I watched it again, in Kanpur (no surprises there) and I loved it.

By then I have already seen some of other ray movies and was well known to his treatment. For me the most interesting part in this movie was not the hero but the unusual mix of fellow passengers in the train. The way they become such a strong part of the movie was mind blowing. Obviously the life story of the hero was fascinating. Uttamkumar was in one of his sublime best and one of the scenes I will always remember when he banged his fist and said, “I will go to the top, the top, the top!”

Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen

The book ‘Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen’ is one of the earliest which I received as a kid. As with all my other books in childhood, I have read this one lots of times and almost memorized it by heart.

Then in 1990 I was admitted to the same school as the great Satyajit Ray. Obviously at that time that was something to be proud of and with his Oscar and unfortunate death during early 90s he was pretty much in news. So I also read his biographies and movie lists in various newspaper articles and came to know about this movie.

Now, during the same period DD Bangla started a special summer vacation show called ‘Chhuti Chhuti’, where during vacation every day there used to be an hour long show in the afternoon which included magic show, animation movies, song & dance and obviously children’s movies, both Bengali and English. But since it’s just an hour long show, they used to show the movies in 3-4 parts and that’s how I first watched ‘Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen’, the movie, over a period of 3 days. I still remember in my first viewing the most fascinating scene was the dance of ghosts. To me that was one of the most innovative and creative works of Ray.

Obviously as I grew up with ‘Gugababa’ in last 16 odd years, I could identify more and more mesmerizing aspects of this movie. I have watched it in all possible ways, in DD Bangla, with the ads of ‘Jhharna Ghee’ and ‘Kabj har’, in my local cable, with ads of local jewelry shops and private tutors. Even I forced my then Marathi girlfriend to watch this one; I told her that she has to watch this one to complete her transition to Bengali culture!!

Sriman Prithviraj

I think this one is the best Bengali comedy film of all time, a wonderful story, some brilliant dialogues and some good acting by very young Ayan Banerjee and Mahuya Roy Choudhury.

But above all there was Utpal Dutta. His antics throughout the movie were tremendous. And obviously he came up with one of the all time great Bengali dialogue, “You will burn the face of the country.”

Can watch it any time and laugh!

Golmaal

The only Hindi movie in this list, but no way less important. At some point few years back my mother actually refused to switch on the television as me and my father was planning to watch it again in the afternoon show in Set Max.

But still whenever it happens in TV both of got glued to the TV sets to enjoy the antics of Ramprasad Dasharathprasad Sharma and Laxmanprasad Dasharathprasad Sharma.

Obviously, it has the great Utpal Dutta, Dina Pathak, Deven Verma and Om Prakash. Keshto Mukherjee as the business man (!!) showed his class in last five minutes!!

Hrishikesh Mukherjee made a number of great comedies in late 70s and early 80s, but this only clearly takes the cake for the best of them all.

The Shashwank Redemption

By now, you must have realized that in IITK, I have learnt more about movies than Statistics through the number of great movie discussions and movie download sessions! In one of those days I came to know that, previous night around 10-12 of my batchmates have watched a great movie called ‘The Shashwank Redemption’. By that time I have heard of ‘The God Fathers’ and ‘Sound of Music’ and ‘A Beautiful Mind’ but never heard of this one. But all my friends were praising it so much that I was forced to download it and then watched it with another friend of mine who also missed the earlier show.

And wow! What a movie, so intense, so thrilling and with that wonderful twist at the end.

Morgan Freeman is always one of my favorite actors, and I also liked the restrained acting of Tim Robbins. So I end up watching this movie another 4-5 times in last 5 years and also suggested this one to lots of my friends!

Finding Nemo

I love animation movies all my life. From the Spiderman in 1987, He-man in early 90s to Duck tales and Uncle Scrooge in late 90s. And in between there were Aladdin and Lion King.

So obviously, once I started downloading movies, I looked for good animation movies. In last five years I have watches the Toy Stories, Shrek, Monsters inc., Tangled and many more but still my favorite is the one which was my first animation movie in my computer, which is Finding Nemo.

I loved the adventure of the fish world to find the little Nemo. I found the story of this movie pretty heart worming along with great animation and great characters, which included a fish that was inspiration for Aamir Khan for his role in Ghajini!!

The Dark Knight

This is the 10^th and last movie in my list but may be one of the Top favorite movies of me. After watching it twice in the theatre in a week, I actually stopped watching movies for a period of six months. I was so overwhelmed that I thought no movie would match the awesomeness of this experience.

Heath Ledger was a master, in this movie he was as mesmerizing as John Denver by his songs and may be that’s why both of them are legend with mysterious and untimely deaths.

Great direction by Chris Nolan combined with smart fast paced story and Heath Ledger made this one as the movie to watch whenever you want some thrill.

My List is done. But as my dear friend Abhishekda always says, any list should consist of 11 members and not 10, here goes my tribute to the greatest Hindi movie of our time.

Gunda

Kanti bhai Shah is a genious and Gunda is simply a masterpiece. There are only two types of people in the world, people who have watched Gunda and people who do not know anything about movies.

The first 15 minutes of this movie should be made compulsory for everyone in this world to watch. I can not describe this magnificent piece of art with my limited writing power. I can only say that, awesomeness was dripping from each and every dialogue ‘jaise nanni munni bachcha-ki nunni se pisab tapakte hai… tap, tap…’

Don’t even dare to think the last expression was my creation, it was written by the Great Guru KB Shah; I am just a mere follower.

I consider myself lucky to watch this one, now I could do with never watching another single movie in rest of my life.

My Blogging Life

2011-11-21T00:08:00.000+05:30

Today evening, I got pleasantly surprised when Rik asked me about how to choose template for a blog. Rik is one of my closest friends and owner of a wonderful sense of humor. So, Rik writing a blog is always an interesting piece of news.

So while helping Rik, with the instructions to get a template for his new blog, I realized that even my blog template merits a change, my template was old and also had limitations like a very narrow column structure which does not help when you want to add photos with your writing.

So, I also started exploring all the possible template options and after some research which included preview of almost all available template I selected the one, which is called 'Picture Window', this gives a soothing blue background and I was quite happy with it.

So, I changed the template, re-arrange my other gadgets like, 'Labels', 'Logo', 'About Me' etc. and then I felt nostalgic about this blog and decided to walk down the memory lane regarding this blog. Although I have to accept this blog is just 3 years, 10 months and 4 days old with just 31 posts.

I read my first post. I re-lived the happiness and pleasure I got when I found a way to express myself, when I finally decided to blog seriously. I was ecstatic to have my own space in the web world.

And then I saw that I had promised myself to write about almost all the things possible under the sun! If I go in Tarapodo Roy's way and quote myself, I said,

'I will write about the earth and the sea, I will write about the winter and the autumn, I will write about the mountain and the desert, I will write about Tiger Prawn and Pao bhajji, I will write about the casino of Las Vegas and slums of Kolkata, I will write about Harry Potter's wand and Sherlock Holmes' pipe, I will write about Marlon Brando and Rajanikanth, I will write about friendship and love, I will write about the Tajmahal and the Pyramids, I will write about George Bush and Steve Bucknor. I will write about life and death.'

Yeah... too dramatic! I feel now. Excitement for my then newly found toy may be. But what I have actually written in last 46 months? I did a check, check of all my tags and what did I found?

I have written 10 posts about cricket! Not a big surprise considering my love towards the game and players. Also another fact is that my 2 only published works are about cricket only. Those 10 posts include player profile of Sourav, VVS, Harbhajan and Sehwag. Also there are two fictions including one of my favorite 'The IPL Overview' written during the first season of IPL. Even I managed to find time to write one post about the 'Fake IPL Player'.

One of my most searched and most commented post is 'Kopai-e KelenkariO Anyanyo'. It described our 'Once-in-a-lifetime' trip to Shantiniketan in 2008. It was one of those completely crazy trips and we had some very very memorable moments there. It was very easy for me to write that post as so many peculiar events happened in that trip that I did not have to do anything to make my post funny.

I also like my 3 posts regarding 3 of my most favorite Pheluda stories. Those ones also pretty much well read and well appreciated by my friends.

Outside the blogging world my life was very very eventful in last 3 years, with some good memories and some not so good memories, some laughter and sorrow, some new friendships and some broken relations and all those events gave me enough reason to inscribe my random thoughts and that's why you will find 9 such posts and may be this will be the 10th one.

In 2008, with all the excitement for my newly started blog I completed 11 posts, which reduced to 7 in 2009 and 5 in 2010, even first 9 months of 2011, resulted in only 2 posts but then somehow I found my motivation and now I have promised myself write more often.

I don’t know whether any one is going to read this one, but someone manages to glance through it I am sure he would find this one quite boring, so let me make a promise that in my next post I will write about something interesting.

Let’s call it a day for today, Pakistan is trying to change the course of a cricket match from seemingly a no-hope position, which they do quite frequently when they are in Sharjah, let’s see what can they do today.

PS. Started this post by mentioning Rik's attempt to start a blog and here is his first post. Pretty neat work! Keep writing!

Have a Very Very Special Birthday

2011-11-01T11:38:00.003+05:30

You are a very cool person. In the field, you smiled all the time. When you bat you look like a painter, you just flick your wrist with a bat in hand and it feels like you are drawing a soothing picture with your brush. A very nice, light colored picture. It does not include bright colors, it's not a picture full of darkness. More often than not it's like an uncomplicated painting of a flowing river or a beautiful scenery with mountains in the far end.

One ball, you flick an outside off stump delivery to mid wicket and in the next ball you lean on to the same delivery to drive through cover. You did that and then give a smile to the bowler and your partner. The way we connect toughness with Dravid, Passion with Ganguly, destruction with Sehwag and something grand with Sachin, for you I always connect calmness. You go very easily about your business and keep scoring runs or take most unbelievable catches standing/ diving in the slip cordon.

You love to play against the Aussies. You scored a breathtaking 167 in Sydney in a loosing cause during the 2000-01 tour. And then you have played your greatest innings against them in the return tour. 281 in the second innings in Eden gardens, then 148 in Adelaide Oval, and again 200 in Delhi. But in their last tour in 2010, you have played which perhaps the greatest fighting innings by an Indian cricketer. Those 73 runs, scored in just over three hours with severe back pain are part of Indian cricket's folklore. Last 92 runs of the chase was scored with number 10 and 11. What an effort!
And with 6 runs left you did the unthinkable! You got angry!!

Cricnfo describes,

57.5
Hilfenhaus to Laxman, no run, 137.4 kph, Angry Lax A rare sight. Laxman is furious. He is shouting at Ojha. OMG! It was driven to right of mid-off and Raina had set across for the single but Ojah wasn't so sure or so confident.. They both get back in time. Laxman actually used a couple of expletives there! They all get together and now smile. Calm heads now!

And then I realized, yes you are a human being too. You are tough, you are passionate and the way you wave your bat you could have been destructive too if Ojha would not be in the non striker end.

I am sorry I could not write more as I have to go to office early today. But it's because I want to take a couple of leaves in the week of 14th. In my last visit you have scored a century and frankly speaking I got addicted. So I will go again hoping to see Sachin and Dravid and VS but also, I hope you make a hat trick of centuries in Eden Gardens where your average stands till date at a Bradman like 94 plus.

Happy Birthday Champ!! Have a Special Day!!

Miss You, My Friend

2011-10-29T17:14:00.016+05:30

Dear Bhajji,

First of all, belated Diwali wish for you and your family. As you know, I was little busy with the arrangements of the last ODI between

India

and those hapless English boys, hence could not send you a timely greetings card. I thought I will wish you during your visit in November and us being best of friends you will understand.

I still remember you first trip here. It was the year 1999; you were a young Sardar, still in your teens, playing in your 5^th test match, that also against

Pakistan

in the first match of Asian Test championship. Indian team was full of ecstasy and euphoria after beating

Pakistan

in Delhithanks to Anli’s ‘Perfect Ten’ in the second innings. You were pretty much a young apprentice under him, learning the tricks of the tread.

To tell you the truth, I did not notice you much during your first visit. There were so many other great performances in that match. Javagal’s 86/8 in the second innings after his first innings return of 46/5, which I think one of the top three bowling performance by an Indian pacer on Indian soil, Anwar’s 188 runs in the second innings against that rampaging Javagal. And obviously that fast bowler called Shoaib Akhtar, who took 8 wickets in the match including the great Tendulkar for a first ball duck in the first innings.

Also, there were shameful crowd troubles after Tendulkar’s dismissal in the second innings and also in the last day. Among all these drama, I did not notice your two wickets. I faintly remember that you hit one boundary through thirdman, coming at number eleven in the first innings.

I vividly remember your next visit though and I have to remember it. This was the visit when you and VVS put me permanently in the heart of every Indian cricket lover. But before going to that, let me remember the background history.

You played your 8^th test match against New Zealandin October 1999. Then you were dropped in favor of… who were those guys? Right, I remember. There names were Nikhil Chopra and Sarandeep Singh. Then thankfully, the good sense prevailed. Captain Ganguly fought for you in the selection meeting and was successful to include you in the squad of the first test againstAustralia. You got 4 wickets in the first test in Mumbai, and despite the 10 wicket loss you kept your place in the team and came here to play your 10^th test.

The test match was from11-15^th March, 2001, test match number 1535. Against those all conquering Aussies, who came here to avenge their innings and 219 run loss in 1998 and to get their 17^th consecutive test win.

But, Australians were humbled and the face of Indian cricket changed forever. Millions of cricket fans started believing their adored Indian cricket team. They knew this team can fight now, they have learnt snatching wins form the jaws of defeat. They knew this team consists of fighters like Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and off course you. You are a Sardar and you behave like one in the field. You carry your heart and pride in your sleeves and every movement of yours on the field exhibits that.

People always talk about VVS’ 281 and Dravid’s 180 and their unbroken partnership on the fourth day. But, you, Harbhajan Singh, you had started the fight back with those seven wickets in first innings, three of which came in consecutive deliveries to make you the first Indian bowler to take a test match hat trick. I still remember, my heart started beating fast when the decision for that catch of Shane Warne went to third umpire. Those 20 seconds were cruel, painful. But I can still see the elation in your face when the red signal was given. A star was born in front of my eyes. A star who would come back again and again to create history.

You finish the match with 13 wickets and although VVS got the Man of the match, you effort was no less important.

And after that you returned many times and not only became the most successful bowler in this part of the world, you also became one of my favorites, almost like a family member.

India

never lost any test match in Eden since then. We won once against

Pakistan

and twice against

South Africa

. Also drew against West Indies and

Pakistan

. In one of the test wins against

South Africa

you took seven wickets in the second innings and were given Man of the match award.

I also remember the last test match. That kid from

South Africa

with a long beard, Hasim Amla, he was not ready to get out. He kept batting on and on. You guys were a bowler short due to Zak’s injury. But you also kept trying and fighting. You bowled ball after ball, over after over. You finally got Morne Morkel in front of leg-middle, 9 balls before the end of mandatory play. You bowled 48 overs and 3 balls, almost half of those were maiden. And you got 5 wickets for 59 runs. I remember your mad dash towards the crowd after getting that last wicket. You ran, you jumped, your beat your chest and shared all your happiness and joy with them.

I have seen lots of players in last 80 years. I have seen the big muscular Dilawar Hossain batting with a fractured skull against Douglas Jardine’s

Eng

land

team in 1934. I have seen Rohon Kanhai’s poetic 256 in 1958. I remember those three artists from Hyderabad, ML Jayasimha, Md. Azharuddin and VVS Laxman. And they also shared a special relationship with me.

And I have observed you. You are from Punjab and although now days you earn millions and wear costly clothes and watches there is something very earthy, very simple about you. You chat with crowds. You clap for them. You take off your hat when they applaud for their appreciation of another great over. You make them feel that you are one of them. As if at any moment you can just jump this side of the fence and have a chat with them about the latest bollywood movies.

I heard that, your performance was not up to the mark in last few matches. I was sad. I wanted my friend to be here. So I did some research on your test performance in last 12 months. I found pretty interesting stuff.

(For a better view click here)

So, you have played 11 test matches in last 12 months to capture 38 wickets. 3 of those tests were in home against a mediocre

New Zealand

side, where you took only 10 wickets. Although your economy rate was decent, both your average and strike rate were significantly higher than your overall average. You got two hundreds though, first one after coming to bat at 65/6 but since your primary job is to bowl will not give you much points for that.

Still you went to

South Africa

and West Indies and your performance in the both the series was top rated. Your average was below 30 in both those series. You also took 7 wickets in Newlands to give

India

an outline chance to get a series win. You also score a gutsy 70 at Sabaina Park, coming at 85/6, but you are an Indian bowler, if you can’t bat at a crunch situation you are useless, if you can bat at critical situation then you are not useless but a bowler and your job is to bowl!

And then you went to the

England

tour. Indian team was thrashed and you performed miserably. You played two tests to end up with a bowling average which was 3.8 times higher than your overall overage. And your strike rate for the series was 173% higher than your average. You got a stomach ligament tear after that and headed back home.

India

lost the tour 0-8 (combining tests, ODIs and T20s) and then although you recovered you were dropped.

They do not think that this

England

tour could have been what in Statistics called an outlier. Like the general public memory these selectors also seemed to have a pretty short memory and they only consider your latest performance and dropped you from the ODI team.

And then yesterday, I heard the news that you are dropped from the test squad too, after playing 98 tests. And I am heart broken. I desperately wanted you to get selected for the first two tests, so that you can come here to play your 100^th test. You deserve a great celebration for playing your 100^th test and what could have been better than reaching that milestone in your favorite ground in front of me. I had dreamt of each event of that match, when you would step on the grass, when you would bowl your first delivery, when you would get your first wicket, may be a typical plumb in front of Ramnaresh Sarwan or a nick to your Doosra by Marlon Samuels I would leapt in joy, shout my heart out and even start doing a bhangra with my terrible dancing ability.

But everything is lost now. You are not coming to Eden Gardens to play your 100^th test match. They will be players like Sachin, Dhoni, Gautam and Rahul but I will miss you my friend. There will not be another Harbhajan Singh amidst all those great names.

Another T20 match is going to start in some time. Let me go now. I need to be ready for the occasion. But I will be sad, the club house, the big scoreboard, the lash green outfield they are sad. They are going to miss their man, their passionate friend called Bhajji.

That’s it for today from my side. I will write to you again pretty soon.

Yours,

Eden Gardens

PS. I may have been teary eyed while reading the news of you being dropped from the team. Hence, I missed one small detail. The latest team is for the first test only and you can still come back for the second test. But even if that miracle happens you will play your 99^th test match here and not the 100^th one. But still I will be overjoyed to welcome you. Something is always better than nothing, isn’t it? Your dream of playing your 100^th test here is shattered but you don’t always get all the wickets you deserve in the game of life. Right Bhajji?

Your friend, E.G.

My Experience with Eden Gardens

2011-10-26T00:49:00.008+05:30

Kolkata is home of lots of great personalities. It was the home of Rabindra Nath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Swami Vivekananda and many more. It is the home of Rosogolla and Mishti Doi. Kolkata is also one of the homes of Indian cricket. We may not boast of too many great cricketers from Kolkata but we can definitely be proud of Eden gardens, one of the most beautiful place for playing cricket under the sun. One of the largest cricket ground in world with a history of more than 75 years of test cricket, Eden Gardens is a very very special place for lot of cricket lovers including me.

My first memory of Eden gardens was a one day international in 1991. Incidentally this match was also the first international match for the South African cricket team after their return to international cricket. I remember watching it in our old B&W television set. Sachin Tendulkar and Allan Donald was the joint man of the match in that match. India won chasing 177 despite Donald got 5 wickets for just 29 runs.

In next 15 years, thanks to our televisions (B&W replaced by a colour one just before 1999 world cup), I have seen some unforgettable matches in Eden gardens.

I saw Azhar’s 182 against England in 1993. Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble’s magic on the Hero Cup semi-final and final, the massacre against Sri Lanka in the world cup semi-final, Azhar’s 74 ball hundred against South Africa, and that match against Pakistan where they won, after being 26/6 in the first hour of first day, thanks to Saeed Anwar’s 182 in the second innings. This match also gave birth to a new star, fast and controversial Shaoib Akhtar who showed both those aspects of his game through his two dismissals of Sachin Tendulkar.

Obviously I can’t forget that special match against Australia in 2001. Some very special memories are attached to that match. Let me recollect a day by day account:

Day 1: Australia came to India with 15 consecutive wins in their bag. They thrashed India by 10 wickets in the first test in Mumbai and in that process got their 16^th consecutive win. In the second test, they were around 150/1 when I left for my Stats tuition. In those days of no cell phone, there was no way to follow the score and even KC (one of the greats in the field of Statistics) was also not so keen to check the scores. After I returned around two and half hours later I came to know that Australia was 7 down with Harbhajan Singh taking the first hat-trick for an Indian bowler.

Day 2: Despite that heroics from Harbhajan, Australia ended with 445, thanks to a typical gritty century by great Steve Waugh with able support from Jason Gillespie. But I still think one of them was caught behind earlier which was not given. Indian batting collapsed again. At the end of day 2 they were 128/8, trailing Australia by 317 runs, follow-on was on the cards. Although VVS Laxman was unbeaten on 28 but I remember there was a news article on next morning’s ABP, which said, India is going for wholesome change after their loss in this test match and one of the person who is going to get dropped would be VVS!

Day 3: India finished at 171 thanks to 59 from Laxman. Steve obviously put them to follow on (A trend which would become rarer and almost extinct after this match). Tendulkar failed again. Captain Ganguly scored 48, post which he lost his concentration apparently due to some sledge from McGrath regarding his wife and lost his wicket. VVS reached hundred which at that point I thought would give him license for another five tests. When the umpires called time India were 254/4, VVS and Dravid were batting. Still the deficit was 20 runs with two more days to go.

Day 4: 90 overs, 335 runs, zero wickets. Do I need to say more? I still thank myself to take that splendid decision of bunking school because of my trust on the Indian team which did let me down in many past incidents but not that time. I can still see, VVS Laxman, stepping out just outside leg stump and cover driving Shane Warne time and time again. My respect for Sunny G increased, as he was as enthusiastic as a kid for Laxman to overcome his 236, which at that time was highest by an Indian in single test Innings. India was leading by 315 runs at stumps on day four.

Day 5: The day started with a host of debates. Should Ganguly declare overnight and give his bowlers the maximum possible overs or should he add some more run to ensure that Aussies can’t chase it down, the flaw in this plan was that at the end of the day you could face a scenario where Australia were 7 or 8 down and match got over.

Ganguly went for the second option and let his team bat for another 13 overs to add another 68 runs. He had confidence on his bowlers and I remember him saying after the match that, his thinking was that if his bowlers couldn’t get those 10 wickets in 77 overs then they would not get it in 90 overs either.

Australia started slowly, reached 24 without loss in 12 overs at lunch. Between lunch and tea, they added 139 more with loss of 3 wickets. Ganguly dropped a tough one at leg gully and it looked like the match was going for a draw.

The magic started 14 balls after the lunch. One of the greatest fighters in cricket history, Steve Waugh was gone. Ponting went in the same over. Gilchrist goes for a pair in the next over. Suddenly Sachin Tendulkar decided to become the greatest leg spinner in cricket to give some complex to certain Shane Warne whom he got with a googly. He also got Hayden and let Harbhajan got the other lesser mortals to finish with 12 wickets in the match. Kasprowicz and McGrath survived 53 balls before umpire SK Bansal got fed up with McGrath’s pad play and gave him out.

India won by 171 runs, pandemonium took place in Eden Gardens, one policeman jumped in joy along with 100 thousand more and Tony Graig captured that moment in his incomparable commentary. My consecutive bunking got justified.

There were some more matches from 2001 to 2005, especially one against West Indies where SRT finally got his first Test hundred in this special ground.

And then I started going to Eden Gardens to enjoy it live, in front of my eyes. I will get back into this after another small childhood memory.

Around 1993, I visited our ancestral home in Munger. One thing about my relatives from my father’s side is that, almost all of them are keen on reading and hence in most of the time you would find a library in their house. Same was the case there and my father suggested me a few books and let me carry a few of those books home. Two of those books were called ‘Cricket Omnibus vol-1 & 2’ by Shankari Prasad Bose.

These two books were collections of some of his books on cricket written in 60’s with some very romantic names (‘Eden-e Shiter Dupur’, ‘Romoniyo Cricket’ and ‘Laal Ball Larwood’ to mention a few). Those books gave his account of following a few matches in Eden gardens during that time period. Those old wooden stands in Eden Gardens, Bugle after every good shot, the wind from the Ganges, he did create the magic for a 10-11 year old me. I still remember his version of India’s first test win in Eden in 1962 against England, His bias towards Chandu Borde, His pun of Nadkarni (Nad Kori ni) and his frustration to see Vijay Manjarekar scoring 4 runs in an hour ( ‘15 minutes for each run!’).

Those books also covered historical times of W.G. Grace and cricket in England as well as a detailed account of the famous bodyline series. But I later found most of those were word by word copy of the Great Nevil Cardus but still Shankaribabu was successful to build the base of this young boy’s fascination regarding cricket statistics and history which finally reached its peak when I met www.cricinfo.com. So, whenever I think of Eden gardens these books also come to my mind.

Generally I do not go to Eden Gardens with a group. I go there alone, to feel the vastness of the ground, to absorb the enthusiasm of the crowd, to enjoy some special performance by players, to make sure that there is no way I miss any beautiful moment of the game.

I am not a regular visitor to Eden Gardens. I have been to Eden not even 10 times. That includes 3 times to watch a test match (two against Pakistan, one against South Africa), 4 IPL matches (2 against RCB, 1 each against CSK and DC), 1 domestic one day match between Bengal and Orissa. I also went to Eden as the part of U-13 team of our local club in 1995 but could not get a chance to play.

But even in my short visits I have seen some wonderful matches and awesome performances. I remember the brilliance of Chris Gayle when he hit 7 towering (and I mean it) sixes to score 102 of 55 balls in my last visit to Eden. KKR lost but on that day, against that in-from Chris, for any team the result would have been same.

I remember Harbhajan taking 7 wickets in the second innings to give India a win against South Africa in 2005. This is somehow a very low profile performance and according to me this should have got more respect than it received. I realized why Bhajji was an instant hit with the crowd as he was regularly chatting with them, was taking off his hat at their claps and even did some bhangra when Africans were nine down.

I have also seen Rahul Dravid at his technical best scoring a hundred with Dinesh Karthik as company, who was unlucky to be dismissed for 93.

But all these memories were nothing compared to what I experienced on 1^st December 2007.

The second test match between India and Pakistan was started on 30^th November. India was already 1-0 up in the series thanks to their win in Delhi, where Misbah-ul-Haq did this.

At the end of first day, Indians were 352/3, pretty comfortable position with Wasim Jaffar batting on 192 and Home boy Ganguly on 17. Till then Ganguly had only one fifty in Eden Gardens. 65 in a test match in 1998 against Australia where India’s batting card looked like this:

VVS 95, Sidhu 97, Dravid 86, Tendulkar 79, Azhar 163*, Ganguly 65, Mongia 30* and 18 extras with the team total 633/5 decl.

No wonder, India won by innings and 219 runs.

But in general, Sourav was not very successful in Eden. It looked like he used to get tensed, could not convert his starts and got out after scoring 20 odd. Even his previous two test innings in this ground were 12 runs each. He was almost reaching the end of his career and with the rotation system for test grounds by BCCI he would not get many more chances to fulfill his long cherished dream of scoring a hundred in his home ground. And yes, it goes without saying that my dream was to see him score that century.

I reached there nervously at around 8.45 in the morning. I was in H block, which was near long on if you bat right handed from Club House end. India started briskly. Jaffar got those two boundaries required to reach his 200 in the second over of the day and then suddenly he got out to Tanvir. VVS Laxman joined Sourav.

I was sitting with a mixed crowd. Just beside me there was a man in mid forty with his son who was around 9-10 years old. There was also a group of people in late twenties-early thirties who were those typical ‘Parar Dada’ types, who kept shouting at almost everything. And yes there was fair share of fairer sex in our stand to keep the crowd excited in case of some dull moments in the game.

Both Ganguly and Laxman batted in a pretty relaxed way for next forty minutes. Suddenly in one Sohail Tanvir over they gone crazy and shared 4 fours between tham. The thing with VVS Laxman is that whoever his partner may be, let it be a rampaging Sachin, Sehwag or Sourav if VVS is in form then you can not ignore him. He is one batsman in my cricket life time who literally paints picture or pens poetry through his shots and that day he was sublime.

In lunch India was 449 for 4 with Sourav notout on 62. By that time, the murmurs were started, “This time… Dada is looking solid… it will happen…Dada can do it…”, the chants of “Dada- dada” was ever increasing. I realized that I have another 90K people with me, who could not have a proper lunch due to the nervous energy inside them anticipating something special may finally going to happen in front of their eyes.

Around 10 minutes after the resumption the small amount of lunch from those people were almost puked out when Ganguly fended an Akhtar bouncer but Yasir Hamid could not hold into the tough chance, the ball went to the boundary and Dada reached his highest score in Eden Gardens.

Ganguly kept grinding through singles with a couple of boundaries of Kaneria in between. As he reached 80’s I realized that crowd was getting tensed. There was silence after every dot ball and huge cheer even after every single by Ganguly. A boundary each of Sami and Butt took him to 98 and then he was ready to face Danish Kaneria, batting at Club House end.

The crowd was scared. They were not ready to take the pain if he would get out at that point. For last twenty odd minutes I was silent. I kept praying to my god and clapped sometime for his boundaries. Ganguly got his 99^th run. I do not remember how. I was just too tensed, waiting for that moment. Laxman gave him the strike back with a single couple of balls later and Sourav Ganguly took stance.

How many balls is he going to take? Is he going to play couple of maiden overs now? The ground was electrifying, people were tensed. Everyone got numb.

Kaneria started his run up, it’s too short to give people some time, I can still see that ball, it was on the off stump, Ganguly leaned forward, drove it in the mid off, he is running, running as if his whole life depends on it. He has reached the other end. He did it, he kept running towards us and then he jumped in the air. He celebrated his century with his supporters, the most loyal group of supporters for a sportsperson in the world. His tears were shared by them and then he shared his joy with them.

The entire crowd got crazy. Each and everyone was standing on their seat, jumping, shouting, clapping, dancing and waving their shirts. And then I found my self crying. Uncontrollable tears were rolling down my cheeks. I realized that small kid was looking at me; he was surprised to see me crying. I did not care. I clapped so hard my palms became red. I did not care. I still wonder if anything at all could have any impact on me at that point of time. I sent an SMS to my then girlfriend, “I have seen him scoring a century for me in front of my eyes!’

I am sure Ganguly was also exhausted after fulfilling his dream. He got out after another five minutes trying to put Salman Butt out of the ground. He left the ground content, with a standing ovation from 90,000 people after an extraordinary knock.

Laxman kept hitting those beautiful cover drives and mesmerizing flicks to reach his hundred soon afterwards and a younger maverick MS Dhoni scored a 50 to take India 600 plus. But I was not following those events much. Old memories were rushing through my mind. That day in 1991 when my dad woke me up at 5 o’ clock to let me watch “a Bengali lad playing for India”, I was sleepy and went back to sleep as soon as he got out for 3. I remembered Those days in 1997, when I used to woke up at 6 o’ clock to catch the 6.30 news in radio and TV to get the result of Sahara cup matches, where SG made it a habit of wining the man of the Match award match after match, his six hitting against left arm spinners, especially Nicky Boje, his captaincy, his shirt waving antics in Lords after India’s Natwest win.

I remembered those times when I got into nasty fights with a pan-Indian population in Orkut and in the canteens of IITK, explaining time and time again how Sourav Ganguly was a much better player than Venugopal Rao. That Pepsi ad came to mind, “main hnu Sourav Ganguly, bhule to nehi?”

India declared after scoring 616 and then Pakistan reached 50 at stumps losing one wicket. But all those details become insignificant for a huge chunk of crowd including me who left the ground very happy and proud to see their prince achieve his dream.

I am sure I will again go to Eden Gardens in future. But I am sure I will never get the same feeling which I felt at the end of that day. Unless something as big as winning a world cup happens in front of my eyes.

Couple of notes:

Although I do remember lots of details regarding old cricket match scores but I do not possess a photographic memory and hence I am grateful to this amazing website to help me with the details. I have also relived some of those moments thanks to another brilliant website.
Initially my plan was only to write about my feelings on that day of December when SG got his only 100 in Eden Gardens in front of me, but as I started writing this piece I realized how much I cherish those 5 days of March 2001 and could not stop myself from penning down a day by day account. I know people do not need so much detail but personally I felt good while writing them.

Magic of the Golden Fortress

2011-10-23T01:19:00.010+05:30

[Disclaimer: The following piece is a memoir of my experience and observation of the book/film Sonar Kella by Satyajit Ray. Please note that, it includes some of the detailed plot discussions and spoilers regarding the mystery of the novel.]

Sonar Kella, the name evokes a host of childhood memories, not only for me but I am sure, for a lot of my friends too. That’s why, when I first decided to express my admiration for this wonderful novel and the brilliant movie I thought of sharing one of my personal stories from childhood. Well, it is a funny story and as you know, more often than not a funny story is at someone expenses. In this case that someone is me.

The year was around 1990. I was in the first or second standard in school. There used to be a writer named Ananda Bagchi who wrote adventure stories for children. Now, one day in school, one of my friends praised a lot about an adventure book by Ananda Bagchi. The name of the book was ‘Sonar Biscuit’. It was basically a story of three school friends going to North Bengal in holidays and then discovering the secret of a gang of smugglers, smuggling golden biscuits, and helped police to solve the crime in the process. He also let me read a couple of pages of that book and I was kind of hooked.

I was the youngest member of my local club library. So that day, I went there in the afternoon and asked the librarian, “Uncle, can you find me the book ‘Sonar Biscuit’?”

He searched for sometime, could not find it and then got another book from the rack and asked me, “I can’t find ‘Sonar Biscuit’, but this one is called ‘Sonar Kella’? Are you going to take this one?”

And I promptly said, “No uncle. Please find me ‘Sonar Biscuit’ and not ‘Sonar Kella’! I don’t want to read this one!!”

Well, you have to consider the fact that, I was just seven. Seven, at which age Harry Belfonte asked his father ‘about the stories of man and woman, man to man’! Some friends of mine may also call this one as the first recorded incident of me making a Taux Pass (Tapo’s version of Faux Pass) but yeah, I do accept the fact that I was little foolish at that time. Anyhow, the fact of the matter is that I got my first Pheluda book pretty soon after that incident and then keep reading all of them all the time.

Now, I sometimes think, why is Sonar Kella such a popular book in Pheluda series? Is it because this is the first Pheluda story which Ray decided to convert to a film? Or is it because of the grand entry of Mr. Jatayu, especially in the film accompanied by a porter and his famous red suitcase? Or because of its background in historical Rajasthan? Or is it because, Mukul’s story of previous birth was really interesting and new to people? (I know Sharadindu has written quite few stories on previous births, but those were mostly for adults and not for youngsters)

What I always felt is that, the key to Sonar Kella’s popularity is the fact this is an out and out childrens’ book. Obviously the main theme of the book is solving the mystery of Sonar Kella but that’s not the only theme. The funny bits involving Jatayu, the bits of history, the stern, aloof presence of Mukul, the adventure of camel ride and a chilling villain in Mandar Bose - all these factors together have created such a mood, as a child I sometimes found this book too intimidating. There were times when I read this novel and then for next few days kept thinking about Pheluda’s Personality, Sidhujyatha’s list of trivia, Lalmohanbabu’s description of camels using their stomach as source of water and the man disguised in a red shawl.

The plot of this book was as good as any other Pheluda stories. I liked how the mystery was constructed through various incidents in Kolkata and Rajasthan, with help of new characters like Jatayu and Mandar Bose. I still remember how I started guessing who could be that man whom Mukul met just outside the Circuit House which followed by the mystifying comment of Dr. Hazra that this man can be someone from Mukul’s current birth or the previous birth. The readers also got a chance to put their brain into work, trying to solve this puzzle:

And yes, the climax inside the Golden fortress merits a mention. I found it a perfect finish of this book after the incidents of previous twenty odd pages. Pheluda and group chased Mukul and Dr. Hazra, their journey was hampered thanks to Mandar Bose and board pins and glass pieces, they chased a train on camels, they spent a whole evening in the semi dark Ramdeora station with bandits and then threw Mandar Bose away from a running train. And all these events finally culminated when the fake Dr. Hazra got attacked by a peacock and was promptly hold by inspector Rathod, friend of the original Dr. Hajra.

(Could this be Mukul's Home? Or is this Giridhari's?)

In recent times I have spent lots of time by cursing and discussing the number of slipups made in Sandip Ray’s version of Pheluda movies. Yes, the list is pretty long and for me one of biggest follies of the new Pheluda movies is that there’s no mystery! From the very first scene, you know who the criminal is and then basically wait for Sabyasachi (who in ‘Kailashe Kelenkari’ looked like a middle aged man with…umm… to quote Chandrabindu ‘…modhyikhane chhotto ekti Bhnuri’) to finally announce that. In one such discussion someone told me, even Satyajit used to do the same, right? In Sonar Kella, you knew that it was Mandar Bose and fake Dr. Hazra, who were the bad men. And yes I agree, but then, although the audience knew who is the criminal in first half an hour of the movie still they have to wait to find how the mystery of Sonar Kella got solved? Did Mukul actually fulfill his dream of being in his Sonar Kella? And that made the movie such a wonderful watch.

Also, we have to think about Satyajit Ray’s treatment and directional skills, which to put mildly, were way better than his son. Sandip Ray fans (and yes, I am sure such people do exist. If Himesh Reshmiya can have a fan base then Mr. Ray also surely can. Yeah, those fans may be from Tuvalu or Guyana and know nothing about Pheluda but they can still like Sandip Ray’s Facebook page thinking that talks about some electromagnetic or photonic spectrum impacting the Ozone layer) have to agree that the script of those movies are the weakest part. Nothing new in those, it’s like converting the entire conversation from the book to a script.

But, if I start writing about the script of Sonar Kella I think I can continue for next twenty pages. It was Satyajit Ray at his best, so witty, so humorous, so subtle but at the same time simple enough to make a ten year old follow the story. From Jatayu’s Hindi to Mandar Bose’s lullabies it was an awesome experience. Some legendary dialogues have truly become a part of urban Bengali dialects! “Chokhe chhani noe, pete panita ektu beshi porechhe!”, “Hajar hajar doctor Hajra!”, “Knata ki era bechhe khae?”, “Hyena to China-e moshai!” the list is just too long. I will just mention another one which I noted in my latest viewing of Sonar Kella.

Just after the second puncture in their way to Jayasalmer, Pheluda (Soumitra Chatterjee) was sitting with a train timetable in hand, Jatayu (Santosh Dutta) came to him.

Jatayu: “Kirtita kar kichhu bujhhte parlen? Sara prithibir joto rokomer knach somosto niye ekhane joro korechhe!”

Pheluda: “Taholei bujhhun kirtita kar?”

Jatayu: “Anya!”

So subtle and so wonderful! I realized the advantage of watching the tenth time watched movie for the eleventh time after capturing this gem!

Now, let’s get into the characters. Who is your favorite? Santosh Dutta as Lalmohan or Kamu Mukherjee as Mandar Bose? Because for me it is one tough choice. I absolutely love Santosh Dutta with his antics in train, in the car and on the camel. But still Kamu Mukherjee just blew me away. His Card printed shirt, his magic tricks to Mukul, his duplication of camels in Nahargar everything was so real. Scenes involving both of these wonderful actors are just too good and keep you spellbound.

And yes I liked Pheluda’s subtle one liners too. Soumitra Chatterjee’s controlled, intellectual and intelligent portrayal of Pheluda was just the right foil along with all the madness from Jatayu and Mandar Bose. And obviously there were Ajay Banerjee as Barman, Kushal Chakravarti as Mukul and Shailen Mukherjee as Dr. Hemanga Hajra. I specially like Harindranath Chattopadhyay’s Sidhujyatha who exclaims, “Jeete raho bachcha!” after Pheluda answers all his questions.

I watched the movie and read the book in two consecutive days before writing this piece, and if you ask me, I would say I did not like it much. The book and the movie are so different despite being on the same story that it’s very difficult to compile those two and make it one single entity. I know that, I may again watch/read ‘Sonar Kella’ in next six months’ time and I will ensure that I do either of them and not both.

A lovely book, a legendary film and a part of my childhood- that is what I call Magic of the Golden Fortress.

The Mystery Begins

2011-10-16T17:55:00.016+05:30

[Disclaimer: The following piece is a memoir of my experience and observation of the book Badshahi Angti by Satyajit Ray. Please note that, it includes some of the detailed plot discussions and spoilers regarding the mystery of the novel.]

Every story in life has a beginning. Sometimes it is awesome. Like Sourav Ganguly scoring a hundred on his test debut in the hallowed ground of Lords. Sometimes it’s not so good. Amitabh Bachchan starting his film career with ‘Saat Hindustani’ can be an example. And then there are times when the beginning is plain ugly. Like RCB’s IPL experience, that started with a 140 runs thrashing by KKR.

Satyajit Ray knew a few things about auspicious beginnings, his journey of life started with losing his father when he was two and half years old. He started his movie direction career at the age of 34 with one of the greatest documentation of human life and emotions, ‘Pather Panchali’, in 1955 which brought him lots of fame and let the cinema lovers of the world meet with a genius. And then, in 1966, Pheluda started his journey through novels as a detective in Badshahi Angti.

I first read Badshahi Angti at a pretty young age and absolutely loved it. Lucknow, Bhulbhulaiya in Bara Imambara, Residency, Banbiharibabu’s private zoo of ferocious animals and the climax in Lakshman Jhula, all of it actually blown me away.

I have read this book in next twenty or so years many a times. Not only had I loved it more and more, I have actually realized some very special characteristics of this book, compared to other Pheluda adventures.

Have you ever thought which kind of normal day job Pheluda would do? Well remember, according to this story he was working for last two years. I wonder whether it was a government job, or may be in some of those marwary private firms of 60s, where he might be working as a sales or marketing guy. Or should I dare assume that, he was in a bank, doing a very basic level of analytics! If you ask me, I would assume him to be in a management kind of role with his wonderful ability to read human minds and act accordingly.

Also here, Pheluda is a young man. He talks about his college days and spin bowling and more importantly people do not give him the importance which he started gaining from the very first page of the future books. But, yet his wit and sharpness was as good as ever.

He finally cracked the clue of ‘spy’ which was Piyarilal’s last words. With his detection power and great mind he did create one of the great moments of Pheluda stories when he described Topse about how he identified and memorized the entire plan of Bhulbhulaiya and hence used one of the chambers there to hide the ring of great Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

And not only Pheluda, Topse was just a kid in this story, who does not know about Residency, tried to read Pheluda’s notes written in Greek font, did not get it why Pheluda was receiving threat letters and forgot to take his hanky at the climax. But this young Topse suddenly became a hero when accidentally finds the ring inside Pheluda’s matchbox.

Bonbihari Sarkar was the first proper villain in the Pheluda series. He was an intriguing man with a polished look (thin mustache and pointed beard), knowledge about various historical events and a collection which includes a rattle snake and a black widow spider from Africa among others. And yes he was an intelligent man too. He used his strong man Ganesh Guha to follow Pheluda at places, instructed him to act as if Guha his leaving his job and also was smart enough to put the tape recorder below Topse’s cot in the dharamshala, anticipating a conversation between him and Pheluda regarding the ring. And that’s why I found it a little dumb for him to behave as if he does not recognize Mahabir as he should have realized that this move of his would bring suspicion on him atleast from Mahabir. But taking the duo to that jungle and left Pheluda and Topse with a rattle snake in the same room was a scary business by a smart man.

Now, one thing has happened with me pretty frequently. Whenever I have been to a new place I try to connect that place with any great book I have read. It happened in Jayasalmer when I asked a shopkeeper the time of sun rise to see the golden fortress at its best. This story did not end well though, the shopkeeper asked me the reason and then told me that, although Bengalis are coming here all the time but this place is actually hyped.

Similarly, when I and some of my other friends decided to visit Lucknow on the 31^st December of 2005, my first thought was that I am now going to visit the land of Pheluda’s first exploit. Ray was a keen observer and a great story-teller. And that’s why he had this ability to draw a very lively picture of any place he was describing. I went to Lucknow more than 35 years after this book and yes the roads were different, lots of government buses and autos along with the tangas but those historical places were exactly as I dreamt of after reading this book again and again.

I have already said that Pheluda was a young detective in this one. Hence he did not have his Colt 32 revolver which would become one of his most trusted companies in the future adventures.

Instead his choice of weapon (except his Magajastra) was something which we mostly associate with those teen-age detectives who get into trouble while following a suspicious man with beard and sunglasses while coming back from school. Feluda called it ‘Churnikrta Bramhastra’ which was nothing but black pepper powder. But obviously it had a pretty good effect on the villains and I was happy.

Badshahi Angti is definitely not the best Pheluda work by Ray but this book was a very potent foundation of a great series. A series which was carried on for next 20 years with 18 more publications and with times which is converted into a life long legend for most of the literary minded Bengalis.

Mahabharat Premier League

2011-10-15T00:43:00.004+05:30

Two young men enter stage from opposite sides, wearing quite cool clothes.

First: Hey Dude!

Second: Yo Man!!

First: Wassup? Hey have u heard, Tapo is writing some skit!

Second: I know!! That also, based on Mahabharat!

First: Yeah! No originality! All copy-pasting!

First one shakes his head!

Second: Seriously! But one thing… Brother Nakul!

First: Yes bro Sahadev?

Sahadev: Every time there’s a play on Mahabharat, we always become side characters!!

Nakul: Right! Very Bad!!

Sahadev: Think about a bollywood movie on Mahabharat… for brother Judhishthir, Bhim or Arjun there will be Shah rookh Khan, Salaman Khan, Hrithik Roshan…

Nakul: But, you know for brother Bhim, Dharam paji would be the best… Kutte, kamine maine tera khun pi jaunga…

Sahadev: Ha ha… but the point is for us there will be Fardeen Khan…

Nakul: Rajpal Jadav!

Sahadev: Sushant Singh!

Nakul gets confused!

Nakul: Who is he?

Sahadev: Whatever. So, this time we are not going to do the same. I am sure there will not be any good line for us. So we will improvise!

Nakul: You are right!

Sahadev: We will make all the jokes and will give the punch lines!

Nakul: Right bro!!

Nakul punches Sahadev on chest! Sahadev gets hurt!

Sahadev: Uff! You don’t need to take the punch line part so seriously!! Well, there come the heroes!!

Nakul: Yes, I can see bro Judhishthir, Bhim, Arjun… also Durjodhon is coming with Shakuni!

Judhishthir, Bhim, Arjun, Durjodhon and Shakuni enter. Judhishthir and Arjun are talking between themselves, Bhim is busy eating something, Durjodhon has earplug on his ears, Shakuni is busy with his cellphone, some more phones in his hand.

Durjodhon: Ha ha ha ha ha ha…

Judhishthir: Why are you laughing?

Durjodhon: I am the bad man!! I laugh just like that! Have not u seen Gulshan Grover or some other bollywood villains? Ha ha ha ha…

Judhishthir is not impressed!

Durjodhon: Anyways, as we were discussing, I am going to challenge you in some game!!

Arjun: The dice game?

Durjodhon: What do you think I am? Am I Buladi??

Arjun is scared, he goes to Bhim. Durjodhon goes to Judhishthir.

Durojodhon: Boss, I want to challenge you in a game of Angry Birds!!

Suddenly Nakul comes in the front.

Nakul: Are those birds really angry?

Judhishthir: uff Sahadev, don’t disturb!

Nakul: Bro, I am Nakul!!!

Judhishthir: Whatever!!

Durjodhon: Anyways, are u going to play Angry Birds with us or not?

Judhishthir is not sure!

Arjun: Nehi Bhai nehi!

Arjun starts crying on Bhim’s shoulder! Bhim keeps munching food! Durjodhon is surprised! He goes to Judhishthir.

Durjodhon: What? You don’t know how to play Angry Birds?

Judhisgthir shakes his head!

Durjodhon: Ha ha ha ha… shame shame! Now you will tell me that, you don’t have a Blackberry either!

Judhishthir did not reply. He walked away. Arjun’s cry increases! Durjodhon is surprised! Then he starts laughing!

Durjodhon: Really!! You don’t have a blackberry!! I have two and my uncle Shakuni… he has five!! He is a world champion in Angry Birds!!

Durjodhon and Shakuni start dancing on ‘We are the blackberry boys’. Nakul also join with them! After the dance, Sahadev took Nakul to one side.

Sahadev: Why did you dance? You don’t have a blackberry!

Nakul (confused): But I have an apple!

Sahadev: Ohh really… wah! Wah! You know, I always knew you have very classy choices.

Nakul takes out an apple fruit from his pocket and offered to Sahadev.

Nakul: Bro, you want a bite?

Sahadev got angry and took Nakul to one side.

Durjodhon looks to Shakuni.

Durjodhon: Uncle Shakuni, what game should we play now?

Shakuni: Don’t worry dear boy, I am also a champion in Roadrash, Need for Speed 2009, Counter Strike and Farmville!!

Durjodhon: Wonderful! Uncle Tussi Great Ho!

Durjodhon goes to Pandavas.

Durjodhon: So, what game you want to play?

Bhim: I think we should have boxing match!

Arjun: Uii Ma! It will be painful!

Judhishthir is thinking. Lagan music on the background.

Judhisthir: I know what game we should play. The most popular game in India!! We will play cricket! Mahabharat Premier League!

Nakul: You mean we will be in Mahabharat Paysa League!!

Judhishthir gets offended!

Judhishthir: Where is Krishna?

Krishna enters with Draupadi!

Draupadi looks at Durjodhon!

Draupadi: Hey Handsome!

Durjodhon: Hi Sweety!!

Durjodhon winks. Then Draupadi looks at pandavas.

Draupadi: Ohh here are my five husbands cum bro-in-laws!! It’s so confusing!

Bhim: Krishna, where were you?

Krishna: I was taking music lessons from Anu Malik! You want to here??

Krishna starts singing.

Krishna: Barish ho raha hain… it’s raining… it’s raining…

Judhishthir: Off… cut it. We are planning to have a cricket match with Kaurav’s!

Krishna: Really? What’s the rate for bowling a no-ball on the spot?

Judhishthir: Stop! I am Dharmaraj… I do not do spot fixing… and anyhow the rates are very poor nowdays, those Pakistanis cheap labors are affecting the overall industry.

Durjodhon: So, is it all final? Are we going to play a cricket match?

Judhishthir: Yes… but you are 100 guys, we are just five and this good for nothing Krishna. Let us invite some of our cricketer friends.

Durjodhon: Ok, we will also invite some cricketer friends of ours.

Arjun goes to Draupadi!!

Arjun: Panchali, Panchali, have you heard, we are going to play cricket match!!

Draupadi: You guys will play cricket!! Ohh no!! Let me call my dress designer to order 30-40 pieces of clothes!!

Arjun: Clothes!! Why?

Draupadi: Have not you seen B.R. Chopra’s Mahabharat in TV? Rupa Ganguly showed 20 types of sharis in that scene!!

Draupadi leaves the stage. Krishna goes to Judhishthir.

Krishna: Hey, one of my friends is a great player!

Judhishrhir: Ohh, really? Who? Sachin?

Krishna: Let’s that be a surprise!

Bhim: Let us go and practice for the match!

A Week Later.

Reporter enters the stage. With a headset and microphone.

Reporter: Hallo and welcome to the Mahabharat Premier League. I am reporting for the match between Pandavas and Kauravas. It’s very important match and let me start with taking interviews of some of very famous cricketers.

The reporter goes to the side, ask something, gets shocked. Then sadly comes to the center of the stage.

Reporter: Ok, guys, we have a situation here. Apparently, this script is so bakwas, we could not find enough actors for our play and hence, the same guys will come as players. So let me invite, friend of Judhishthir, Mr. Ricky Ponting!!

Ricky Ponting (Judhishthir) enters the stage while keep spitting on his palms. He comes to the reporter and extends his hand, the reporter refuses.

Reporter: Hi Mr. Ponting! Please tell us how you are feeling as you are playing for Pandavas?

Ponting: Very happy! But I must say great choice by Judhishthir, I am one of the most honest players around!!

Reporter: err…

Ponting: Do you doubt my integrity?

Reporter: No no… so you are the captain! How many runs you want to score?

Ponting: Great! By the way, do you have the team list for other team?

Reporter: Yes!

Ponting: Can you tell me whether Harbhajan Singh is in that team?

Reporter: No Ricky.

Ponting: Any other Sing, Ghising… anyone?

Reporter: No no… no such player!

Ponting (smiling): Great! I will make a double hundred!

Reporter: Great! Thanks Ricky. Please wait for other players.

Ponting goes and stands in the back.

Reporter: Let me invite, Bhim’s friend Shoaib Akhtar!!

Shoaib (Bhim) enters with a bat, very slowly.

Reporter: Hurry up Shoaib. You are a fast bowler!

Shoaib: Only my bowling used to be fast. I do not move fast!

Reporter: So, why do you have a bat in your hand?

Shoaib: Who is my captain?

Reporter shows to Ponting: He is your captain!

Ponting: Right Shoaib, why do you have a bat in your hand?

Shoaib: You drop me once from the team and then I will show why I have this bat!

Ponting gets scared. Shoaib goes and stands with Ponting.

Reporter: After the fiery Shoaib Akhtar let me invite Sourav Ganguly, friend of Arjun.

Sourav (Arjun) enters the stage and then take of his shirt and starts waving!

Reporter: Hallo Dada… any comment?

Sourav: Main hnu Sourav Ganguly! Bhule to nehi ?

Reporter : right... right...

Sourav: I am now anchoring the KBC! Let me ask you a question… ha ha ha!! Who will win in a 100 meter race? Your options are Spiderman, Superman, 90 year old man and fast bowling loving Indian batsman??

Reporter is confused!

Reporter: umm… not sure dada!

Sourav: The 90 year old man, because others do not exists in real world!! Ha ha ha…

Sourav goes and joins Ponting and Shoaib.

Reporter: Next, let me invite friends of Nakul-Sahadev, Murali Karthik and Dinesh Karthik!!

MK and DK enter.

MK& DK (angrily): Again side characters!!

Dinesh Karthik: And do not make any lame joke about ‘Kartik calling Kartik’ being our favorite movie!!

Reporter is scared. Mk and DK join the others in the back.

Reporter: Ok… that’s the team for the Pandavas. Let me invite In-Zamam-ul Haq, Durjodhon’s Friend.

Inji: Illellellellalla… the boys plays very well. We try hard but their balling was good, they win. Next match, we played well to win. Thank You.

Reporter: But Inji, the match has not started yet…

Inji: Ohhh… sorry… I thought post match presentation ho raha hain! Ramiz bhai knaha gaya?

Inji goes in the back.

Reporter: Now we have uncle Shakuni’s friend, Sreeshanth!!

Sreshanth enters the stage doing moonwalk then do some break dance and other steps.

Reporter: Hi Sree, great dance. Anything about the match?

Sree: I will give my 200%!

Reporter: Ok… so any bowling plan?

Sree: What plan? I will give my 200%

Reporter: Ok, so if you lose what you will do?

Sree: Will go to a party and give my 200%

Reporter is totally confused. Sree goes to Inji.

Reporter: Ok I just got info that a special player has landed just now; he is Krishna’s friend…

Someone enters in an Argentine Jersey with a cigar in hand.

Reporter: Who are you?

Man: I am the greatest player in the world. I am Maradona!!

Reporter: Maradona!! In a cricket match??

Maradona: What cricket! Let’s play football! I will score my hand of God goal again!!

Maradona Starts fighting with other cricketers!

Reporter: Friends. I am sorry to say that the match has been called off. It’s crazy here! This should be called the ‘Mahabharat Pagal league’!!

The reporter runs away from the stage!!

Change

2011-08-13T13:05:00.008+05:30

Changes are coming. I know that... and I am ready for it. The game called 'Life' is getting more interesting with every passing day. C'mon God, whatever happens let it happen, just let me have some fun!! Give me strength to face the easy and difficult times of life!!

Cheers!!

World Cup 2011: One day to Go

2011-02-18T01:17:00.010+05:30

Feeling very exited about the return of world cup to sub continent after 15 years. 1996 world cup was the semi new phase of my cricket watching as a thirteen years old.

I remember that brutal innings of Jadeja in Bangalore, I remember Brian Lara's beautiful 100 against the South Africans. The upset by Kenya on the lip year day against the Windies are still fresh in mind so as the 100 by Arabinda De Silva while chasing in a world cup final. And then I remember how that little dark, bold guy from Sri Lanka announced himself in the world stage and remained the 'Matara Dasher' for next dozen of years!

But if you ask me to mention two stand out moments of that world cup, here goes my picks:

The happiest or the proudest moment I remember was that awesome comeback by Venkatesh Prasad after that moment of madness by Aamir Sohail.

And the saddest moment came in the very next match! The disaster in Eden Gardens where Indian team crumbled while chasing on an under-prepared pitch, effected by the inauguration ceremony which was a debacle in itself with the flop Laser show. And I want to delete this from my memory for a very long time.

Another world cup comes with lots of hope, expectation and passionate fan fare!!! I just hope the quality of cricket remains good and some new stars take birth during the cup. I also pray that my team make us proud, they don't need to win the world cup but should dominate significant part of it!!

All the best boys!! Go and have a blast!!

Miles to Go Before I Sleep

2010-11-07T19:43:00.013+05:30

The above as you know is a famous line by Robert Frost which is one of my favorites from a very young age. I have quoted this line in various essays during my school days. Now during my latest Rajasthan trip I was thinking about the places I have visited and the places I wish to visit. I realized that the second list is much longer and hence decided to put this one as the title of this piece.

I was born in Kolkata in late 1983. First time I went outside West Bengal was in 1985 when I visited my ancestral house in Munger, Bihar to attend my grandfather's funereal. So as you can understand, I was less than two years old and hence has no memory except one. It was a famous story about me happily eating 'Pneyajis' sitting on a tractor in the garage adjacent to our house on the day of the funereal!

My next adventure outside Bengal was in Benaras, the year was 1986. I was two and half years old and it was time for my 'Mundan' ceremony! For this trip I have a couple of memories. One of them was during the train journey. my parents got a couple of side berths and as my mom confirmed I was awake whole night chatting with my dad. The other memory was a beautiful one. Standing in one of the ghats in Benaras in the evening, holding my father's hand and watching those boats and vessels on the water. I still remember those reflection of light in water.

During 1991-92 me and my parents visited places like Deoghar, Raajgeer and Goa. I was still quite young at that time to have clear memories but I still remember the huge statues of Gautam Buddha in Raajgeer and also the beautiful churches in Goa. I do remember the beaches though I was not grown up enough to have all the fun in the beach!

And then there was a long gap with various reasons including my father's transfer to Patna and my studies. And next time I went out of West Bengal was to Kanpur to do my masters in 2005 and in since then I have made trips in Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi, Rajasthan and Sydney.

Also visited a few places inside West Bengal like Digha, Bakkhali, Tajpur and how can I miss the number of awesome visits in Shantiniketan!

And now comes the places which I want to visit in Future... let's see how it goes!!

1. Mumbai (Full trip)-Pune-Aurangbad (Ajanta-Ellora caves)- Goa
2. Vizag- Araku Valley
3. Laksadwip
4. Bangalore (to visit a dear friend)

5. Sydney (I liked the place and want to have another visit when I do not have a fractured skull)
6. Bangkok and Phuket (the beachs)
7. Egypt (Pyramids! Obviously!!)
8. Europe... now this will be a big list... let me start with Greece, Rome, Venice, Paris and then Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands. And obviously how can I ignore that small Island called United Kingdom!
9. US of America... well this place has hardly any history but well, being the most powerful country of the world I can't ignore it. Also I have so many friends around USA that accommodation will never be a problem!!
10. Canada in winter (I guess it will be fun to be in -15 degree temperatures)
11. Brazil (in 2014, during the time of FIFA world cup!)

And then comes a few cricketing countries like

12. Australia (the entire continent)
13. The Caribbeans (365 beaches, one each of each day of year!)
14. New Zealand (the grounds are absolutely beautiful there)
15. South Africa
16. Sri Lanka

These are the places which I can list down now, may be I will add more places in this in future!!

Any of my friends who is reading this wish to give me company in any of these trips?

2010-03-11T11:54:00.001+05:30

Dada...Please!!

Ei Tuku

2010-02-20T00:01:00.001+05:30

Ami kobe pabo tare
je achhe bose amar moner majhare...

The Ring

2010-02-08T13:37:00.006+05:30

I have lost my precious Diamond ring recently. First few days I did not realize that. I thought, I would find it back easily but now it seems there's no hope left.

Should I wait for that ring to be found back or should I stop getting rings?
People might advise me to get a new ring? But this ring was precious, with Rubi and Emerald on it. Will I ever get a ring as gorgeous as the last one?

What if I lose the new ring too?

Ami Je rokom bhabe Bneche Achhi!!!

2010-01-20T23:23:00.003+05:30

Saari Umar Hum
Mar Mar ke jee liye
Ek pal to ab humein
Jeene Do Jeene do

Give me some Sunshine
give me some rain
Give me another chance
wana grow up once again

... The only good thing in the movie, 3 Idiots other than Boman Irani is this song!! I love it and I feel it right now!!

What will hapen to me???

Shubha Bijoya!!

2009-10-01T11:48:00.001+05:30

The Latest IPL TAMASHA!!!

2009-04-22T10:20:00.005+05:30

Well... well... well... IPL in its first week and already we have a bagful of controversies/gossips around the greatest show of BCCI!!

The latest in the lot is the following blog

http://fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com/

Well this is one of the Citi moment of success by the blogger as this blog becomes hugely popular!!

Apparently this is written by some fringe player based on Kolkata in the KKR team (They have a team of 43 players!!!) and giving all the inside stories about team strategy, player politics, commentators looking for bedding around with South African chicks etc.

The alternate view is that this is another marketing strategy by the KKR team management and SRK himself to keep KKR in news all the time!!

The writer has very good hold in English (One of the key reason to believe that this is not coming out from a local player!)... The humor is good, although sometimes it crosses the thin line of vulgarity!! But still a time pass read!!

The nicknames of the players given by him are all DLF maximum sixers!! Like,

Kaan Moolo: Agarkar
Prince Charles of Patiyala: Yuvraj
Mr. Batliwala: Vijay Malya
Lord Almighty: Sourav

I don't think this is done by any player neither I think this is a marketing strategy by SRK!! I mean com'n SRK is crazy enough to call himself bi sexual in his own blog or abuse the coach whom he is supporting!!

For me this is a very clever journalist in SAF making fun of the players!!

What do u guys think is up to you. Please do read the blog and let me know what's your take on this!!

That's it till now!!

2009-03-28T05:53:00.002+05:30

B-R-E-A-K!!!

I wish I could delete this word from the dictionary!!

Shantiniketan Continues

2009-03-24T00:46:00.004+05:30

Another Shantiniketan Trip!!

Well...

Mind blowing Music!! Lots of Vodka!! Midnight Rain!! Countless Taux Pass!! 40ta Fuchka!! PDA!! One little angel!! 2 sets of Bhishon cute couples (It's actually more if you count Papai's Sotins!!)!! AlooBhaja!!2to Kata Mundu!! Pneper Dalna!! Shoib Akhtar!! Fridg-er modhye Dekchi!!GMD & Sutta!!Awesome Friends!! 1 hour in Prantik Station!!

Only a few great things which will remind me of this trip!!

Abar Jabo!!

P.S. ohh... This was the first time in my Drinking history when it was complete Black out for me for an hour!! I have no idea how did I reach the bathroom at 4 o' clock in the morning!!

Childhood

2009-03-12T00:21:00.000+05:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P68WBjaqSbI

When I was 3-4 years old, at that time Earth was a much more simple place!! No computer, no cable channel, No shopping malls, No US Crdit card... I used to live my small tiny life with my Nonte-Fonte, Bnatul and Hnada Bhnoda... Heman, Spiderman and Ramayan in TV and my set of toys (white plastic animals which my dad used to brought from Dharmatala)!!

This video used to come in TV at that time and I was a big fan of this one. From very young age I was fascinated by sportsperson and I remember how my dad pointed out kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and PK Banerjee in that video. Later this video was replaced by 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhara' and 'Baje Sargam'.

I was looking for this video since the day I knew old Duradarshan videos and ads can be found in Youtube (I love that site) and finally find it in the Orkut video list of one of the sweetest and most caring women I have met in my life, Kekadi!! Thanks Keksie!! I owe you a treat!!

P.S. I can identify Shreekanth, PK banerjee, Chuni Goswami, PT Usha, Ramesh Krishnan, Mansur Ali Khan pataudi, Kapil dev, Milkha Singh, Jarnal Singh, Sunny G, Prasanna, Venkatraghaban and Prakash Padukone... if anyone can identify someone else that would be appreceated!!

New Begining

2009-03-03T08:39:00.001+05:30

Well, it's already March and I am attempting my first post of the year in this blog!!
Last two months were very busy!! Lots of work came in the office in the new year. Hope it will stabilize now. Also had more work in home than usual as my parents were out. Was forced to sleep early (1-1:30 that is). Also most of the nights I was busy with that girl who is in Sydney now. Unfortunately, in most of those nights she was 2000+ Kms away from me!!
Then I had my Mumbai trip.
I am reading books and watching movies regularly now days!! Although I love that but that is taking out considerable time from my orkuting and blogging!!
Read a few good books in the mean time. Adarsha Hindu Hotel (Bibhutibhushan Classic), Adbhuture( Shirshendu at his best), the Zoya factor (Girlish but enjoyable), HP & the Order of the Phoenix (One of the all time bests)... currently reading Beyond The Blues by Akash Chopra and the third part of Tarapodo Roy Galposamagra!!
Movies, well watched a few, Dev D (path breaking film), he is not that into you ( Girlfriend in the next seat, good looking girls in the screen, who cares for anything else!), SDM (Nice one time watch, I would say it's an interesting movie), LuckByChance (Chalta hain) and Victory (New Zenith of poor acting by Harman Baweza, the best actor in the movie was Brett Lee!!!)
But now with this five and half hour of time differences I guess those 2 hours in the night after I return from office will be free and unless I get too addicted to FIFA 07 I will write regularly!!

Also IPL is coming too!!

P.S. New addiction, Facebook!! :P

2009

2009-01-01T00:10:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year to all my Friends!! Hope 2009 will bring you guys a lot of luck and success in every aspect of life!! Hope you guys get everything what you wish for!!

2008 was a mixed year for me. Happy with my life and work (touch wood) but unhappy with a few things too!! Got extremely angry seeing terrorists attacking our pride, got extremely shocked seeing the global financial crisis, got extremely sad seeing Sourav go.

Got new friends, visited new places, drunk new cocktails, watched new movies, enjoyed the IPL!!

Looking forward to 2009!!! hope Earth will become a much better place to live. And I pray to God so that all of our dreams will come true this year!! have a rocking 2009!!!

Legends

2008-12-16T11:35:00.000+05:30

Story One:

County game was going on in England. Time was mid 80's. One of the teams playing were Somerset. And at the pitch were their most charismatic batsman Viv Richards. The bowler was Greg Thomas. He bowled a superb out swinger and Viv was beaten comprehensively. Instead of thanking his good luck Thomas said," It's red, round and weighs about 5 1/2 ounces." A costly mistake!

The next ball went flying outside the ground as one of the biggest sixes of Viv's bat. Viv just walked couple of steps, stood in front of Thomas and said," Greg, you know what it looks like. Go ahead and find it!"

Story Two:

Another county game. Another day, just this is in 21st century. Match was going on between Surrey and Leicestershire. Suddenly the Surrey bowler Azhar Mahmood started reversing the ball. Batsmen had no clue how to play it. They were playing and missing continuously and living on their luck. Then one of them said," There's no way we can play when he is bowling with this ball. We have to somehow change this ball! I have a plan!" The next over he hit the ball so hard that it went outside the ground and get lost. Umpires had no other option than change the ball. The bowlers lost all their advantage and batting become easy. Although for that batsman batting is generally the easiest job in the world. He is Virendra Sehwag!!

Well done Sir!! I have stopped feeling sad for not watching Viv!! I have seen Viru!!

2008-12-13T22:43:00.001+05:30

The greatest 10 days of my Life!!

Why So Serious ?

2008-07-23T10:29:00.000+05:30

Yesterday morning I woke up early, had an early lunch and rush towards a local multiplex. the reason, The Dark Knight or TDK was going to play at a 10:30 show, and during the movie I was feeling like a transition happening within me and once I finished watching the movie at 1 o' clock in the afternoon I was not in this world, I was in some other world where there is only a man with white painted face, black circles round his eyes and red scars in two sides of his lip to give him a permanent smile.

But it's not the appearance only. His continuous lip licking, his intense look, his hissing voice, his pencil disappearing trick, when he tells about his father asking him,"Why So Serious?" all these moments!!! And I have no words to describe them. His sudden mock clapping in the jail, His holding a old man by his neck and,"you are just like my father" then a pause and in a more hissing voice "I hate my father!" Ohh my god!!

the entire yesterday I was thinking about him and I am thinking it now and I don't know how long it will continue. Anything which can go even little bit closer to this experience is when I saw Sourav scoring a century in Eden with me being in the crowd, but that was a moment of pride and joy but this is a moment where I am feeling like I am being mesmerized by a magician and I do not want to get out of this spell cast by the Joker!

Kopai-e Kelenkari O Anyanyo

2008-07-09T01:12:00.002+05:30

Bangalir name hobe na kono abel tobel
amar pantul holde holeo Rabindranath nobel.

... Chandrabindu

Oly Pub ati chomotkar jaega! Sostae pustikor maal paoa jae, bondhuder songe bose Beaf-steak snatano jae, khaoar por bill nie bawal kora jae... sob milie jompes byapar!! Ta eheno Olypub-e ekdin ekdol public adda marchhilo. Random public noe boss!! Heavvy Kete-r lokjon sob!! Borobabu chhilen with would be Boro ginni, Rik-ta chhilo r majhhe majhhe arbit Rutgers bhangchurer dabi janachchhilo, Bichi Bagchi ekta bikot gnoph bagie Borobabu-ke frastu dichchhilo, Abhinanda-ta knayi knayi kore jachchhilo du haat tule, Bimba-ta 2 to glass pase rekhe kichhu ekta korchhilo, Rijula-ta kane cigrate gnuje pose marchhilo, Jhhinka-ta heavy utsahe ektar por ekta cigrate kheye jachchhilo, Aubir-ta ektu pore ese Riktar songe heavy goppo jurlechhilo, R Tapo-ta shala mon die vodka khachchhilo. Hotat sobai mile heavy baar kheye Shantiniketan jaoar plan banie fello. Okhane Suddha-r kaka-r (E kaka se kaka noe babu) barite gie otha hobe, Kopai-er dhare ghora hobe, mahuya kheye pore thakbe sobbai. Planta lokjoner heavy pochhondo hoe gelo. Thik hoe gelo ekta shukkurbar dekhe jabo, Shonibar masti kore sunday back. Eisob public kono byapar nie beshi ghyan ghyan korte agrohi noe. Plan-ta cool tairi hoe gelo. du soptaho porei jaoa hobe. Suddha or kaka-r songe thaka-r jaega thik kore fello. Borobabu r Boro ginni ebong Aubir jete na parleo dole bhire gelo D.S. mane amader laughing Buddha Debu. Ticket-ficket sob kete fello Suddha-ta. Ekhane Kakima mane Suddha-r Ma-r kotha bhule gele cholbe na!! Abhinanda r Bimba-r barite phone kore Kaima tader Ma-der heavy potie felechhilen. Sutorang thik holo Oi bokachoda American-der Swadhinota Diboser din ekhan theke Malda Intercity-te chore bosa hobe 8 jon! era holo Bimba, Abhinanda, Rijula, Jhhinka, Suddha, Debu, Rik r ami.Tarpor Shantiniketan pnouchhe Shudhu Masti, Bawal r Hullor.

Cycle-r duti chaka modhye fnaka
Chorte hobe Thyang tule
Ore tora aae re
chorbi Manob Cycle-e

.... Lalon Fakir

Sutorang 4 tarikh dupur 1tar somoy dnat kelate kelate jadavpur-e gie dekhi Abhinanda heavy serious mukh kore Baba-Ma-ke pashe nie dnarie achhe. Tarpor Jhhinka nijer anaka juto pore nachte nachte ese hajir holo. Bimba elo ektu deri-te kakima-ke nie. Kheyal kore dekhlum, Bimba-r knadh theke je maalta jhhulchhe seta-te Bimba-kei pure fela jae!! Tobe Bimbar ei eto jinis ghare kore nie jaoa sarthok hoeyechhilo, keno seta pore bola jabe. Sobbai to elo kintu Rijular dekha nei. Se naki JU-te bose adda marchhe!! Shala!!! Guchchho phone jete laglo.Rijula chhotto kore upolobdhi kore fello call-center-e kaj korte kemon lage! Derta nagad ese heavy ketie bollo," Ki hoeyechhe ta ki? Anek somoy achhe."
Amra r kotha na barie ekta taxi dhore der jora Baba-Ma-der haat narte narte egie porlam niruddes-e pothe... ye mane Howrah-r pothe. Taxi-te as usual heavy knyachor machor hochchhilo, ager din orkut-e cal comm-e mahabharat-er casting hoeyechhilo sei nie gnajachhilo public. Hotat dekhi shala Howrah station ese hajir. Er modhye thik hoeyechhilo station-e gie kichhu khaoa hobe karon Bimbar Rijula lunch kore aseni. Food courte gie Bimba jhhotpot ekta chat order kore fello, Jhhinka khelo Dahi-bada, ami r Bichir meye ekta chat bhag kore kheye fellum. R Rijula... khnyak!! Rijula ekta chicken thali order korechhilo. Seta jokhon elo tokhon dekha gelo tate achhe,

1. Bhat, Rijular bhashae Beral dingano
2. Dal
3. Aloobhaja
4. Dhokar Dalna
5. Murgir Jhhol
6. Chatni
7. Doi
8 Gulabjamun
Dekhe Rijula-ta heavy chap kheye gelo. eto khabar dekhe amrao haat lagalum. Kintu Rijula-ta khaoar por thekei hnas-fnas korchhilo, er modhye shunlam DS, Rik ar Suddha ese porechhe. Amrao hnata lagalum Boro ghorir dike.Sekhane pnouchhe Rijula hotat dabi janalo bomi korar ebong coolly bathromm-e gie ja kheyechhilo purota bomi kore fello. Lokjon bhat boka arombho kore dieyechhilo. DS-ta muchki muchki hnaschhilo. Suddha-ta hurum-gurum korchhilo.Atohpor train-e uthe bosa holo. Seatgulo bathroom-er ekdom samne bole darun subas chharchhilo. Bimba hotat ekta Body spray ber kore chardike spray kore fello. Abhinanda, Rijula ar Jhhinka-ta 3te janlar dhar bagie fello.Bakira ekhane okhane lyadh khete laglo. Abhinanada-r ghumonor somy Vodafone-r lokjon hotat oke tader plangulo janate agrohi hoe porlo. Abhinanda-ta anekta CPM-er moto "e sob amar Ma-er chokranto!!" bole abar ghumie porlo!!Chardike nana rokom public dnat kelachchhilo. Amrao bhat boka chalie gelum. Majhhkhane ek Bhodrolok mike nie ese, 'Se amar chhotobon' geye sobaike nostalgic kore fellen, Aha, Rik-er sei bikhyato parody!! Rijulata Bordhoman gie Shon Papri r Dimseddho kheye fello. Dim seddhota khaaor por bollo, "Nehat bomi korechhi tai mote ekta khelam!!" bakirao jhalmuri kheye fello hushas kore. Kichhu maal amader seat-e bosbar dhanda korchhilo, tader-o katano holo.
Tarpor Bolpurer kachhe ek Bauldada uthlen. Dibbi gan gaichhilen dada, Hotat Rik uttejito hoe porlo. Uttejonar karon-ta jana gelo jokhon se byata baulda-ke lalonda-r ekta bikhyato gan gaite bollo. Bauldada-o hotas koren ni.Trainer chakar awazer modhye bhese aste lalgo, Cycle-r duti chaka modhye fnaka/ Chorte hobe Thyang tule!!
Sei gaan shunte shuntei dekhi Bolpur station ese gechhe, train-e othar thik 3 ghonta pore.
Train theke nemei barite phone-tone kore felar por amra gelum Amritakumbher sondhane. Rother bajare chardike gumbat bhir!! Du-ekta riksawalla ese amader prastab dilo je tader amader maal-er dokane nie jabe somoy lagbe 20 minute. DS ekgal hese bollo,"20 minute!! Na hnetei jai, tratari hobe!! Boddo jam to!!"
Bhir-r modhye die besh kichhuta hnete r gnutie amra maal-er dokane pnouchhe chotpot jar jar 2 diner maal guchhie fellam. Songe chips, nonta, cold drinks ar fruit juice-o neoya holo. Er modhye ekdol shantiniketanbasi dhumapayi Abhinanda-r prem-e porlen.tarpor 8 joner janyo 4te riksa nie tader songe prachur doradori kore, amra royona hoe gelam Suddhar kakar bari-r dike. Rastae bishesh kichhu hoeni. Tobe load shedding hoe jayae ghutghute andhokarer modhye Gachher dal-e jonaki-r jhhikmik dekhata ebarer trip-er one of the best moments.R last-e gie amae r Jhhinka-ke nie amader riksa-ta Suddhar kakar barir thik samne ek khana gorte gie porechhilo.

Le... Masti mar!!

... DS

Kakar bari pnouchhe Caretaker Dadur songe dekha holo. dadu amader janyo Outhouse r Meyeder janyo ektolar ekta ghor guchhie rekhechhilen. Current aschhe na dekhe ami r Suddha andhokarer modhyei berie porlam Ratanpalli-r janyo. Sekhane gie gada gada chinki publicder modhye ami r Suddha ekta bangali Luchi-ghughnir dokan peye gelam. Dokandar kaka-ke gie order korlum," 60 khana luchi chai!" Kaka coolkal paser dokane gie 1 Kg moyda kine mekhe fello, tarpor Kakimar help nie bhejeo fello 60ta luchi 15 minuter modhye. Ferar somoy mombati kinte gie Madhur sei bikhyato ukti amar r Suddhar mone pore gelo!!! "Bari fire Mombati nie ghurchhi, kothae lagabo bujhhte parchhi na!!" Mombati kinte kintei abashyo current chole esechhilo. Bari fire dekhi public-ra eke eke snan korte jachchhe. Er majhhkhane DS hotat snan kore berie ese towel-ta Rik-ke chhnure die bollo," Le... Masti mar!!"
Ami abashyo snan korte gie ektu chhoriye felechhilum. Bichchhiribhabe Pa-ta katlam, tarpor thanks to Bimba-r first aid box,Buimba r Abhi prachur tulo r neospirin gnuro die rokto bondho kore fellum. Khaoa-Daoar por Rik dabi janieyechhilo je 12ta na bajle maal khaoa shuru korbe na, kintu ghori dhore maal khete karor-i agroho chhilo na, lokjon just katie dilo byaparta. Atohpor sob kota mal nijeder Oi dotolar outhouse-e load kore fello. Chomotkar 4 khana khatwalla ghor. Ektu porei dekha gelo ekta khate DS r Rik Gnaja banachchhe, anyo 2to khate Suddha r Bimba Rijula r Abhi-ke 29 shekhachchhilo. Ami r Jhhinka pore pore lyadh khete laglum, majhhkhane 1 daan ludo-o khelechhilum.
Jaihok 12ta bajte na dieyei amra modyopan shuru korlum. Briddho Sonnyasi, Safed Dushtumi r Romanov-er sannidhye lokjon heavy masti marchhilo!! Bhulbhal bhat cholchhilo. Aja mane chhagol shune Rikta arbit bollo," Ar Ajay mane je chhagol-ke joy korechhe!!"Jhhinkata Rum khaoar janyo baena dhorleo 2 peg Romanov-er por-i oke ghum parie deoya holo. Bachcha to!!! Debutao Mod r Gnajar probhabe jekhane bose chhilo sekhanei ghumie porlo. Rik-ta hotat bose thakte thakte bore hoe bomi kore fello, Rijula nachte gie ekta Romanov-er bottol bhanglo, jeta shune DS porer din sokale bolechhilo," Amae dakle parti, Mati-te pore thaka Romanov-ta chete kheye feltum!!"
Sondhye thekei megh dakchhilo, 2:30te nagad Brishti namlo. Tokhon amar hotat mone holo ei poribesh-e Tejur songe sukh-dukhkher goppo korata heavy joruri, kintu phone korte gie shunlam je, amar phone theke naki ISD kora jabe na!! Bokchod Vodafone-r Baap-bapanto korte korte ami ek glass White Mischief anyo kichhu na mishie shudhu-i kheye fellum r kheye heavy matal hoe gelum. Tarpor-er anek ghotonai bhalo mone nei. Hna, ekta Thanks-giving speech dieyechhilum bote!! R mone thakleo, Rik keno mati-te shulo, Majhhrate amar balish ke churi korlo, Sheshrate ke hotat paparazzi hoe gelo, Rijula keno Nogno Purush r Matal purush-er majhhkhane shulo... egulo oi 8joner bairer lokeder na janai mongol.

Bhor holo Dor kholo
Khukumoni Otho re.

... Rabidadu

Ami thik sei jatyio lok noi jader maal khele heavy ghum hoe. Amar borong maal khele taratari ghum bhenge jae. Porer din-o amar 7ta nagad ghum bhenge gelo. kichhukhkhon shue thakar por uthe porte holo, dekhlam chardike prachur public ghumie cholechhe shantite shudhu jhhinka-ta nei. Rate-e ghumonor age Rik-ke khater opore dekhechhilum, tokhon oke khnuje pelum matite. Pore jana gelo rattirbela Rik jokhon bathroom gechhilo tokhon Abhi-ta or khatta bagie nieyechhilo. Niche gie dekhi Jhhinkata gate topkanor cheshta korchhe!!! Ar-o kichhukhkhon bhatano ar lyadh khaoar por Lokjon uthe berolo Cha-er sondhane. Rastar more chayer dokane gie sobai mile moner sukhe Cha, Nankhatai r Omlate kheye fellum. Thik tokhkhuni amader dole bhire gelo Biriyani... thuri Diviani... Rijular Sundari bandhobi je oi somoy-i Shantiniketan-e Mamar Bari esechhilo. Cha-ta kheye lokjoner matha-ta chharlo. Ami ei fnake ekta dariwalla Ramchhagoler chhobi tule fellam. Chhotobelae logic-er ekta common funda mone porlo, Chhagoler dari achhe ebong Rabindranath-ero dari achhe, sutorang Rabindranath chhagol. Bari fire sobai eker por ek ready hote laglo. Care taker dadu ekta laal ronger sumo byabostha kore felechhilen.Sare-egarota nagad hotat dekha gelo, sobuj ful-ful print salowar pora Rijula, Laal-kalo panjabi pora debu, Pink panther-er chhobi deoya T-shirt pora jhhinka, Hawaian Shart r Mandar Bose tupi pora ami o r-o public-era eke eke garite chore boschhe. Amader prothom gontobyo Oshudher dokan, tarpor jabo Konkalitola.

Jodi tor Dak shune
keu na ase
tobe ekla cholo re.

... Dadu again

Konkalitola Shantiniketan theke prae 8 kilometer... atyanto jagroto ekanno pither ek pith. Jaoar rasta-ta asadharon, dudike sobuj dhan khet ar modhye die pitcher rasta, ager rattirer brishtir por akash tokhono meghla. minute 20-25 laglo Konkalitola pnouchhote r sekhane nemei ami, DS r Suddha shikare lege porlum.Shikar bolte chhobi shikar!! Chomotkar chhobi tulte laglum sobbai, DS ar Suddha concentrate korlo mandir r sekhankar sonyasi-der opor. Ami chole gelum Shmoshaner dike. Chhobi uthte laglo eker por ek. Ek baul prothome bnashite r tarpor r-ekta jontre amader Robi dadur gaan shonalen, tar purotai uthe gelo DS-r camerae.Jhhinka-ta ekbar porte porte bneche gelo, ami ek khana Taalgachher chhobi tule heavy khushi hoe gelum. Suddha r DS-tao ekhane okhane ghur ghur kore subject khnuje jachchhilo. Mandir-e gumbat bhir hoyae debi dorshon korte parini, next time kortei hobe. Er modhye hotat dekhi meyegulo doradori kore duto panu boi kine felechhe.Thik holo rate segulor sodbyabohar kora hobe. Konkalitolae aadh ghonta katie sekhankar ekgada dokane ki rate-e business kore jachchhe kichhu lok eisob bhabte bhabte abar garite chore boslam. Next stop Kopai.

Akashe chhorano
Megher kachhkachhi

... Mahiner Ghoraguli

Kopai...ohh Kopai... Gota trip-er highlight!! Asadharon, Abishashyo, Abhutapurba... ei jinis age dekhini. Kopaier opor ekta bridge-er opor ese amader driver-dada thamie dilen gari. Tar age rastae Rijula geye felechhe," Mahuya-e jomechhe aaj mou go!!" Aha!!tarpor sei Kopai-er dhare prochondobhabe meghe dhaka akasher pase dnarie mugdho hoe gelam. Just prem-e pore gelam Kopai-er. Akas-ta garo nil...hotat nicher dikta poriskar sada, tar niche dure sobuj gachhpala r tar-o niche Kopai. Chokh jurie gelo, r ki hawa!!Ei abasthae ki shudhu bridge-e bose nodi dekha jae, jole namtei hobe!! Nemeo porlum. Sobar age Jhhinka, tarpor Ami, Abhi, Rijula... hotat Rijula prostab dilo bridger bnadike se tahkbe na, jete hobe dandike. Dandike jokhon pnouchhe gelam totokhkhone fnota fnota brishti shuru hoe gechhe.Rijula jole nemei coolkal snatar kete puro bhije gelo... seta dekhe bakidrer-o heat chore gelo. aste aste sobai jole neme porlam, shudhu Rik chhara, oke amra dwayitwo dilam amader sobar purse, ghori r camerar, r baki 8 jon including Biriyani neme porlam jole. ami abar tupi pore!!Ebong tarporse ek asadhaaron experience. joler modhye lokjon lafachchhilo, snatar katchhilo, pore jachchhilo, srote bhese jachchhilo, DS suddha-ke Headbutt marlo chaper jaegae. Ami srote bhese jaao Rijula-ke tene nie elum ebong oi Prochondo brishtir modhye 15-20ta public bridg-er opordnarie porlo amader dekhte!! Prochondo jore brishti hoe cholechhe r tar modhye Kopai... ei jinis tulona hobe na. Tokhon amra jani, jodi moreo jai setao asadharon ekta mrityu hobe amader janyo. Erokom ghonta khanek (jodio mone hochchhilo 5 minute) katanor por Rik-ta garir modhye theke heavy chnechamechi jure dieyechhilo. besh kichhukhkhon haat-faat dekhanor por ultimately uthtei holo... chardike oisob lokeder modhyedie oi meyegulo, jara Raaj Kapur-er bibhinno cinema-r kotha mone korie dichchhilo, tader nie konorokom-e ekta chhobi tule niei amra kete porlam Kopai-er theke. Kintu abar jabo Kopai-e... bar bar jabo! Tora jabi to re??

Laal Pahare-r Deshe ja
Rangamati-r Deshe ja...

... Arun Kumar Sarkar
Ekhon byaparta dnaralo erokom je, Rik-er swopna-er ekdol Sikto r forsa meye-ke nie to r kothao jaoa jae na. Amra back korlum Suddha-r kakar barite. Pothe Shampoo kenano holo Rik-ke diye. tarpor sobai mile barite gie nijeder bhije jamakapor ki bhabe change kore fresh hoe uthlo tar biboron die pathok-ke r uttejito korbo na.Tobe hna, meyeder ghorta je ekta asadharon prodorshoni ghor hoe gechhilo seta na bole parchhi na. jai hok, modda kothata holo, 4te nagad berie pora holo sobai mile, chole gelam Ghare-Baire namok ekti khaoar jaegae, sekhane prochondo dami kintu porimane samanyo chinese kheye fellam sobai. Rijula abar Bhat-machh kheleo ebar r bomi koreni. Okhaneo prachur chhobi tola holo. Tarpor amader gontobyosthan holo Khoaier dhare saptahik Haat. Kichhuta jaoar por-i amader Sumo pitch-r rasta chhere neme elo laal matir pothe.Du pashe jongol ar modhyekhane laal matir poth chole gechhe, se jinis je na dekhechhe take bojhhano jabe na.Haat-e gie Rik ar DS gaan shunte ar video banate byasto hoe porlo. bakira egie gelum dokan-pater dike, bunofoler mala, pathorer dul, kather murti, matir Ganesh, Jeans-er Shantiniketani jhhola, beter jhhuri, shantiniketani nakshar blouse piece, kenakatar guchchho jinis chhilo. Ekjon bechchhilo nanarokomer Kutum-katam. Ami-Bimba r Abhi prachur kenakata kore fellum bote kintu tar janyo gaan shona-ta miss hoe gelo. Jhhinka-ke hotat abishkar korlum ekta boro gachher tolae matite bose nijer monei haat-pa nere nijer songe goppo korchhe. Chapta hoe gelo jokhon aachomka brishti neme porlo! Amra sokolei ek-i dine dubar brishti-te na bhejar pokhkhe rae die sekhan theke kete porlum chotpot.

koto raat porospor-ke jorie dhore shue thekechhi...

... Kono ek arbit mohilar bandhobi-ke lekha chithi, jeta amra Prempatra Sonkolone porechhilum.

Saradin ghorar por lokjon bhaloi tired hoe porechhilo, tai beshi kyardani na mere sobai gie outhouse-tae load korlum nijeder. Er modhye anek supto chokher jole Diviani-ke bidae janieyechhi amra. Bhalo byapar chhilo, raater khaoa nie No chinta, No tention. dadu Ruti mangso order die rekhechhilo. Er modhye Abhinanda-ta hotat utsahito hoe ekgada kapor keche fello. Sondhyebela ektu load shedding holeo kono chap hoeni lokjoner dibbi mombatir aloe 29 khela cholchhilo, majhhkhane sokaler kena boigulo theke Galpo-pather asor-o bosano holo. Abhi-ta heavy abeg die porchhilo. modhyikhane current elo ebong gelo. Mangso-ruti-o ese gelo 8tar modhye. Khaoa-daoar por-o bhatbaji-taas khela, bawali Ghumanta-r metro-te jadavpur-er ticket chaoa eisob goppo cholchhilo. Bhulbhal comment korchhilo lokjon. Sob boss mone nei. Tobe jhhinka-ta maal khaoar agei ghumie porlo. Ami-Rik-Abhi r Bimba jetuku vodka porechhilo seta mere dilum. Suddha r DS porlo Old Monk nie. Anek raat-er dike gnaja banie-o khaoa hoechhilo. Kintu maal etotai kom chhilo je karo bhalo kore neshai hoeni. Ultimately ghumote jaoa holo prae 5tar somoy.
Grrrr...fisss... usss... ooossss... bhussss
gussss... ghussss... musssss

... Jadukor Barfi

Jhhinka totokhkhone ek ghum die uthe porechhe, kintu sobaike ghumote dekhe o-o follow on kore ghumer second innings shuru kore dilo. Debuta majhhemodhye ki sob bolchhilo, segulo shunte shuntei ghumie porechhilum. 8ta nagad alarm shune ghum bhanglo, dekhi baki sob public ghumochchhe, Bimba-r kachh theke jana gelo DS er majhhkhane ekbar uthe OldMonk jetuku chhilo seta gola die namie dieyechhe, bichita majhhkhane ekbar uthe bosechhilo kintu chardiker publik-der kar-o othar ichchhe nei dekhe abar lyadh kheye gelo. Bimba-ta prati aadh ghonta antar ekbar kore aarmora bhenge bole jachchhilo, r bole jachchhilo ektu pore uthbo. Abhinanda, Rijula r Rik pore pore ghumochchhilo. Er modhye Bichi, DS r ami mileDoloboddho bhabe Rik-ke dakte laglum. Suddha bollo," Lom..." amra bollum,"Osssshhh". Eirokom 'Lom-osssssssshh' anek khon dhore cholte thakae Rikta khepe gie hotat bathroom-e chole gelo r berie ese bollo,"Choshhhhh!!!"Lokjon dabi janachchhilo je, 1ta train-ta na dhore anyo kono train-e jabe, kintu bikeler diker traingulo-e gumbat bhir hoyar chance thakae lokjon 1ta train-e jaoai thik kore fello.10ta nagad ekdon lok gelo Cha khete, ei fnake ami r Suddha or kaka-r barir baganer guchchho chhobi tule nilum. tarpor motamuti besh taratari-i lokjon snan-tan kore, jamakaporer pradarshani bondho korebag guchhie berie porlo 11:45 e. dadu-ke bole asa holo je, amar abar asbo!! Erpor ar bishesh kichhu hoeni. Amar rail-er canteen-e Bhat-machh-chicken-dimbhaja die lunch kore chepe boslum Shantiniketan Express-e. Ar train chollo, Kolkatar dike.

Howrah gele gele gele
ganga par hotei hobe

... Chandrabindu

Eta jemon sattyi, er ulto-tao sattyi. Amara Howrah theke Kolkata asar janyo Ganga par hochchhilum bikel 5ta nagad. bari jachchhilum na kintu. Robbar Bikel 5tae keu bari jae!!! Oisob maalpatro ghare kore amra chole gelum Prinsep Ghat. Amader Ghorar shesh bindu. Sekhane bose gnaja khaoa holo, Surjasto dekha holo, Adorer Nouka-r chhobi tola holo darun darun. DS r-o chhobi de bhai!!Amader priyo panu boiguloke gangae bisarjan deoya holo. Abashesh-e 6ta nagad amra uthe porlum. Sobai mile ice-cream kheye Suddha-ke Rik-er, Rik-ke Suddha-r r dujonkei ek Taxiwalla-r dwayitwe rekhe amra baki 6 jon chore boslum anyo ekta taxi-te.Fire esechhi aaj 4 din hoe gelo kintu bar bar ichchhe korchhe Shantiniketan fire jaoar, toder sobai-ke nie. Boro bhalo trip chhilo eta.

Ami gai ghore ferar gaan
utola keno e pran...

... Mahiner Ghoragulo.

The Knight

2008-05-26T00:07:00.000+05:30

A good Win!!

He again Proved everyone wrong!! This time even me!!

for last one week, I was sad. I thought we have seen the end, but what an innings... a Captain's knock!!

Dadagiri Rocks!!!

You made me proud... once again!!

The Trinity

2008-05-24T13:23:00.000+05:30

Today I will tell you a story of 3 people. Is it? Or is it a story of only one guy? Hmmmm… Let me think!
Okay! Let’s call this guy Mr. T. Now if there is a Mr. T then there bound to be a Ms. T too. The third guy is the closest friend of Mr. T and what could be more close to ‘T’ than ‘S’? So this guy will be called Mr. S by us.
I am again confused… looks like it’s a story of two people only. Actually I have nothing to write about Mr. T. I’ll write about only Ms. T, who is the Life Support system of Mr. T. And Mr. S, he is the closest friend Mr. T has in last 5 years time.

Now, the next question is where to start. I am very much sure about the location, it’s an industrial city in Northern India famous for its Educational Institute.
But I am again confused to decide the time. When to start the story?
This could start in the middle of a hot day in July, 2005. The previous day, Mr. T has left his home for the first time in his life. He is going for higher study to this new city, where he doesn’t know anyone and only positive thing is that 6 of his classmates are also going to the same place, 3 of them in the same Kalka Mail. But when he reached that city he could find none of his fellow class mates. He reached the institute, booked a room for his parents, still no trace of his lost class mates and then he was going to have some food in the shop-C restaurant. Suddenly he found an auto stopped in front of the quarter, where his parents were going to stay and here comes Mr. S with his parents. Mr. T knew about Mr. S and then,
Mr. T: Hi S. This is T from Kolkata in the same course as of you.
Mr. S: Wow great!! Thank God!! I have found at least one known guy here. What you guys are planning to do?
Mr. T: We are just going for lunch.
Mr. S: Please wait for us. I and my parents will also join you.
NO. That was not the conversation they had.
Instead Mr. T said,” Hi S. I am T from Kolkata and I know you.”
Mr. S, tired of the train journey and the bumpy tempo journey which followed the train journey, just nodded and nothing much talk there. So our story is not going to start here.
Now, let’s fast forward 7 days. First day of the course was completed. All the Profs came up with their list of books students should follow for this Semester and here we found Mr. T with his roommate searching for some books in the library. He could not find one book mentioned by the Prof instead he found Ms. T standing in the library and asked,” Hi, did you get that book?”
Ms. T said, “No.” and that’s it. Not much talking between them either.
Well… this was the conversation they actually had that day. So our story is not going to start here too.

I just have realized that I have covered one page of MS Office and my story hasn’t started yet!!
Is anyone still there?? Or is it only I am continuing talking?? Anyways,

Our story actually started after another Six months. It’s early February, the weather was extremely cold. Lot’s of things has happened in between. Mr. T, Ms. T and Mr. S has finished their first semester, both Mr. T and Mr. S are now very addictive to Orkut, they chat with people, make new friends, make fun of people and even fight in Orkut. Ms. T has become a friend of Mr. T too, thanks to Orkut and their friends are busy teasing them as lovebirds. And here comes that week. Ms. T was not feeling well for last few days, she was having regular fever and headache. Her friends were worried as well as Mr. T. He brought medicines for her and even bought a thermometer as the girls did not have one. Mr. T was disturbed, not sure about his feelings about Ms. T, but at the same time feeling sad because of her illness.
It was a Sunday. All the guys planned to go to the city to have Biriyani from a very famous place. Ms. T couldn’t go because of her illness but Mr. T decided to go. He did think of staying back for Ms. T but then realized that would increase the teasing from the friends. He did go and then Mr. T and Mr. S had a fight. A bad fight about a petty issue. There was that regular joke Mr. S used to make but Mr. T was disturbed and he reacted, very strongly and then they were angry at each other the rest of the day. The fight continued in the night in the regular volleyball match and Mr. T went to sleep very very sad, angry on the situation, angry on himself, angry on everything.
Next morning Mr. T woke up, only to get the news from his friends that Ms. T is in the Health Center as her condition became worse. He ran to the Health Center and saw Ms. T lying on the bed in HC (Health Center). And spent most of the day with Ms. T in the HC, holding her hand despite the nurse asking him to stay away as Ms. T had missals.
Our story has started! Finally!!

In the boy’s hostel, Mr. T was the source of news about the condition of Ms. T. All the classmates were worried about her including Mr. S. Mr. T and Mr. S became FRIENDS, forgetting all the fights, may be for the first time.

And then, Mr. T’s life has changed.

All the timeless Addas with Mr. S in the canteen, in the mess, in the hostel, in the ground… all the discussions about Books, Movies, Music, Football, Orkut, Fake, Real… all the FIFA 07 sessions, all the movie watching together, starting from Deewar to Pamela Anderson Honeymoon clips. All the football matches, all the cricket matches, all the lunch and dinners (and sometime even Breakfasts!!). Everything was great.
The chats at 2:15, where Mr. T and Mr. S used to decide about going to the 2 o’ clock lectures, those Booze parties, where Mr. T was just a spectator, the cycle ride, the Chicken kaali Mirch in China Town, the job interview, which they cleared together … all these were fun!!
And these sessions continued in Kolkata too… Adda in Oly, Adda in different orkut friends’ homes, Adda in City Center, Adda in College St., Adda in JCH, Adda in Maidan… Adda everywhere. What a great time they had!!

And then there is also Ms. T. After the illness, when she was back from home fully recovered, she and Mr. T became very close to each other, they also watched movies after the class, they used to go for all the night walks after the dinner, they used to discuss a lots of stuff… family, thoughts, likings… even studies. And after almost two months, Mr. T called up Mr. S and some other friends in gtalk at 4 in the morning to tell them that Ms. T and he are seeing each other.
And then they had a kind of dream life… they stayed back in the institute during the vacation, officially to do a summer project but actually to spend more time together… they used to spend 16-17 hours a day. Had lunch and dinner together… watched 3 movies a day and overall had a great time. In the next one year, they became closer and closer to each other… they started having the faith on each other and end up being dependent on each other, completely.

And now we are in May, 2007. The course is over. Ms. T is going back to Mumbai. Mr. T and Mr. S are going back to Kolkata. Mr. T has a job there… Mr. S is going to leave the country in another one month for United States of America for highest studies.
And then suddenly Mr. T realized, he is going to miss… he is going to miss Mr. S and Ms. T badly. No one here is as close as these two… he felt like missing a part of himself. He felt like no one to talk. No one to share the happiness and the grief… No one to have the movie session together. No one to go for a walk with at 2 in the night. He had the cell phone and he had the internet… countless hours of calling Ms. T and Chatting with Mr. S were going on, but these are not as good as the walking with Ms. T at the midnight in the library corridor or Adda with Mr. S in front of the Hall VII canteen at 4 in the morning.
And in February, 2008 Ms. T left for Australia for her higher studies. And Mr. T became lonely a little bit more. His best friend has left him.
Now, Mr. T, Mr. S and Ms. T live in three different continents with huge time differences… the chats are regular… almost every day… but Mr. T wishes if it could have been possible to be more regular… every hour may be… But everybody is busy… Mr. T is busy with his job, his forecasting, test designing and report making. Mr. S is busy with probability and inference. Ms. T is busy with finance lectures and project works and they all are very far from each other.

The only good news at the end of the story is… Mr. S is coming back to home next week!! Yeppiiii!!!

Tagged Tagged

2008-05-20T20:20:00.000+05:30

I was tagged by the great Bichi... the cutest Dude I know... I can't ignore him... no way...so here you go.

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER?
Race... an average movie with some nice twists.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
The One With The All Ten Seasons... A very good book about my favourite TV show... with lots of photos too.

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Ludo... haven't played for a long time. ;)

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
No choice.

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?
The smell of New Book... nothing can match that.

6. FAVORITE SOUND?
Sound of me talking to myself.

7.WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
The very next moment when I realize that I have made some mistake

8.FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP?
I pray to my God for a fine day.

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?
HOT Kati Roll... not many special choices... had a favourite canteen in Kanpur though.

10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?
I Need Phone a Friend... my friend lives in Sydney. ;)

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT.
"If I had a lot of money I would...buy myself a beach house and spend the rest of my life relaxing on a hammock with books( some of my own) and movies and my family.

12.DO YOU DRIVE FAST?
I don't drive.

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
Why should I????

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY?
Very very cool... I have just experienced one at the Eden Gardens.

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
A three-wheeled Toy-cycle.

16. FAVORITE DRINK?
Vodka with Chocolate.

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT,
"IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD... read more books and may even try to write one.

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
No... Never tried.

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
Not interested... Winnie does not like gays. :P

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.
Calcutta, Kanpur.

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Cricket.. more than watching the game I like to analyze and research.

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU:
He is the biggest prankstar I know in my life!!

23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?
Nothing except the floor.

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?
Absolutely.

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?
Depends... I can be both.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
Sunny side up.

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?
My bed.

28. FAVORITE PIE?
Never have one. :(

29.FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Chocolate.

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
Don't know... hope both of them will respond quickly.

. I tag the Genii and the Kitty... let's see how does they respond.

The IPL Overview

2008-05-10T20:13:00.000+05:30

Oct 13, 2018: Awesome cricket, great atmosphere, lots of controversies, world-wide fan following, A few players brawl here and there…just a few things to describe the first half of this years IPL. The Diwalli break for IPL is here and the league will be resumed in another 2 week's time. Now it’s the perfect time to revisit this year's IPL super league.

The most romantic story of this year’s IPL is the growing up of the Kanpur kings as a team. A mostly unknown team, owned by one of the Milk barons of Kanpur, Ramu Bhaia, was playing in the IPL 3rd divisions just a couple of years back… and here is this team playing the IPL super league and after half of the season has passed they are now in the 2nd spot. Their captain, 38 year old Md. Kaif, in his last season, is leading from the front with the able support of the coach, Michael Vaughan.
Sourav Ganguly, The legendary Captain and coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, summed up Kanpur kings’ or K2’s effort, “ Kanpur is a big team from a small city. Ramu bhaia has invested his money and faith on the players and now he gets his reward. The team is determined, agile in the ground and gelled together well despite having players from 6 different countries including Norway. Lastly they have a great coach and captain who proves that he is still good enough to play T-20.”
Kaif was controversially dropped from Indian T-20 team for the world cup and tagged as only F-50 player.

Hyderabad Blues, the renamed version of Deccan Chargers this season, is currently on the top with 10 wins from 11 games. The young guns like S. Rajesh, Md. Iqbal, Sutirtha Sen are playing very well under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, the Indian T-20 captain. 19 year old Sutirtha is the Batsman of the tournament so far, scoring 634 runs with a strike rate of 289.76!! Which is 17 runs higher than last years best batsman Virat Kohli.

The best match of the tournament till now was when Kolkata Kite Flyers host Kolkata Knight Riders in their home ground in Salt Lake. Because of fierce rivalry of these two teams and team owners in last few years, this match is now being called the Kolkata Derby. This year’s match also maintains the reputation of being the closest match of the season when Arjun Tendulkar, the charismatic fast bowler of Knight Riders completes an unbelievable hat-trick in the last 3 balls of the innings. Amitabha Bachchan, the 75 year old team owner of the KKF had a small heart attack in the ground and Shahrukh Khan, KKR’s owner tried to pull his 20 years old son on his shoulder and has dislocated his shoulder in that process. Both of them are fine now.

Sutirtha and Arjun are respectively the best batsman and best bowler in IPL till now. Another player in the race for MVP is the teen-ager American off spinning all rounder Micheal Adamson. Micheal was in the news early in the season when he became the first American player to sign for an IPL team. Rajasthan Royals signed him for 150 crorer rupees, which is 15,000,000,000 USD (with the current exchange rate of 1 rupee= 10 USD). Micheal, who has an American father and a Sri lankan mother is tipped to become the first great American cricket player and expected to lead USA cricket team in future and helped them achieving great fits like qualifying for the T-20 world cup, which they missed by a whisker last time, when they were beaten by Brazil in the American zone play-offs.

The most controversial moment came when Tim Southy, Lucknow Nawbab’s overseas player was kicked on the shin by Shahid Afridi, the 28 year old (Officially) Pakistani recruit of Jalandhar Joshila. Afridi was suspended by BCCI for 8 matches. Jalandhar’s coach Harbhajan Singh came into his players support, saying,” It’s a one-off incident. Afridi is a very good guy. Very good at heart. When Lucknow will visit to play the return league I’ll ask Tim to visit Afridi's flat and those two can have dinner together.” Incidentally, in the very first version of IPL in 2008 Harbhajan was suspended for backslapping Sreeshanth, former Indian player and current Telegu superstar.
Another controversy came up when after the draw of WCL, World Champions league, Rahul Dravid, the Chief Cricketing Officer of Bangalore Royale Challengers came up with theory of conspiracy against ICC as both the top ranked teams of Australia and South Africa were in his groups alongside Kent, a relatively weaker opposition. “For two consecutive years, we got a very tough draw in WCL and I think some foul play is going on in ICC, but still our boys will fight hard and come up with good results.” This was Dravid’s reaction after the draw and well, he better bring good results as the team owner Vijay Mallya has the dubious record of sacking 7 CEO’s in the first 10 seasons of IPL. Although till now he hasn’t sacked a Chief Cricketing Officer as this term is coined this year only. Before that there were long search of CEO for the team by Mr. Mallya, who in the process offered the post to 8 different individuals, most notably Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mandira Bedi, but all of them rejected the offer.

Well, till now the 11th season of IPL is a greater success than the previous editions and we are looking forward to have a great second half and possibly a greater finish.

The pilgrimage

2008-02-18T00:52:00.001+05:30

Last evening Mrinmoy, one of my very close friends from the school days,and I went to Forum. Currently, Mrinmoy works in Bangalore and he had come to visit here for 10 days. We were supposed to meet another guy from our school, Sheal( the Fox), well his real name is Abhijit in our school days most of us were very creative in giving the most peculiar nicknames to everyone at school, without showing any favor towards the students or the teachers.
We met him yesterday after almost three-four years, so that was quite a great adda session. We discussed a lot of things, had pizza and stared at the beauties roaming around Forum like the old school days. And once Sheal left at around eight, Mrinmoy and I decided to go to Crosswords, the bookshop just beside Forum. We were forced to leave Crosswords too at 8:30 as it was time for them to close. That’s when we started walking…
We walked like old school days, when we used to walk from our school to Gariahat, Golpark or sometimes till Dhakuria, discussing lots of stuff, from movies to clothes to books, without actually sinking into any.

Even yesterday we walked for almost 20 minutes from Crosswords and suddenly realized that we are standing in front of a road which would take us to 38/2, Naresh Mitra Sarani, Kolkata-700 020. The address we had to memorize from very early age, as we had to write it every time we were asked to write the address of our SCHOOL, Ballygunge Govt. High School.

Of course then we had to go there too. So we went there. The gatekeeper was a new guy, called Shishir. We introduced ourselves to him. I was a little doubtful about him letting us enter the school at 9 in the evening, but to my surprise he agreed after only a single request, and so I entered my school. After more than three years. It was a great experience, so many memories attached to that place. It felt great. I found that the school had become more beautiful than our times. The place was also decorated as we had Saraswati Pujo only last week. As soon as I stepped onto the corridor, memories come rushing to me. Ali the times I had walked, run, jumped, bounced in those corridors. All the memories of playing cricket in the off periods, all the games, all the fights, all the bitter-sweet moments were going through my mind like a slide show. It was awesome. We saw the invitation cards of Saraswati Pujo from different schools hanging from a board, just like our school days.
My Camera, and to be more precise, its batteries betrayed me. After taking just one snap the battery was out of charge and I had not carried the spare batteries, it was really really unfortunate.

We left from our BGHS after 10 minutes, had a small chat with Shishirda, the gatekeeper, and moved, moved towards our home, but the happiness and the joy I felt was incomparable. That was a fitting end to an evening completely devoted to my school days.

Adventure in one’s own backyard

2008-01-18T21:15:00.006+05:30

[Disclaimer: The following piece is a memoir of my experience and observation of the book Gorosthane Sabdhaan! by Satyajit Ray. Please note that, it includes some of the detailed plot discussions and spoilers regarding the mystery of the novel.]

A green second-hand Ambassador, a 125 years old diary, the world’s second oldest photo shop, the misprinted visiting cards and midnight…Midnight in the Graveyard…

Gorosthane Sabdhaan! was first published as a book in May, 1978. A Pheluda adventure in Satyajit Ray’s matchless writing style. I first read it somewhere in my early teens and from that day onwards I’ve been compelled to read it again and again. An enthralling book, written in the backdrop of Ray’s own city. Calcutta in the 70s had featured in Ray’s movies time and time again. Be it Mahanagar, be it Pratidwandi or be it Jana Aranya. But, amongst his novels Calcutta has a lone appearance in this book.
The story starts with Jatayu (the famous Bengali thriller writer Lal Mohan Ganguly) entering Rajani Sen Road in his new second-hand ambassador with a peculiar horn and colour, which reminds Pheluda of Tamil movies! They want to have a ride in the new car and what would be the more appropriate place than St John’s Church to see Job Charnock’s tomb, especially since the latest hobby of Pheluda is old Calcutta. And the journey begins for the reader as well. A roller coster ride of 80 odd pages, filled with mystery, unexpected turn of events and thrill.
I have always felt Ray was a big fan of history,especially that of the Nawbabs of Lucknow. That’s why they have been repeatedly referenced in his writing and films. How can one forget Badshahi Angti, Which announces the arrival of Bengali’s most favorite detective (My dear reader, I know what you are thinking but Byomkesh was Satyanweshi, not a detective), Shankutalar Kanthaha, Pheluda’s second visit to Awodh, Satranj ki Khilari, based on the life of Nawbab Wazir Ali Shah. Even Pheluda’s favorite Gajhal , 'Jab Chhod Chale Lakhnou Nagari’ is composed by a Lucknow Nawbab.
Although Gorosthane Sabdhaan! is completely based in Calcutta, the story of the Nawbabs forms a backdrop. In the early nineteenth century Sadat Ali was the Nawbab of Lucknow and Thomas Godwin was a young fellow from Great Britain and they met. Tom was the best chef in Sadat’s kitchen. Sadat was really impressed on Tom and rewarded him with one precious gift after another. But for Tom the most precious of them all was his first reward, which Charlotte Godwin, Thomas’s daughter had described in her dairy as “Father’s precious Perigal repeater “.
Now, if you are thinking what the hell this Perigal repeater is then for your information repeater can mean a watch or a gun, even Sidhujyatha is not sure!
This book is not only describes history of Nawabs, it is also a story of Calcutta, a story of Park St. a story of Blue Fox, a story of Oxford Book shop and last but not least the Park St. Graveyard, the Gorosthan. Park St. cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Calcutta, is described in such a lucid but detailed manner by Topshe that you always feel like you are with them. Whether it’s the description of the tombs in the daytime or the description of the graveyard in the night, Topshe is always in his narrative best. There is only one small flaw in this book. The French revolution started in 1789 and not 1791 as mentioned by Topshe. But I am sure; Topshe was trying to act smart and didn’t consult with Pheluda there.
And then come the characters. A very silky polished watch collector, who can go to any limit to add a new watch in his collection, a historian who keeps the cuttings of 150 years old newspaper in his purse, an aged Anglo Indian man, living in the small dark flats in Repon lane. Different Characters, different shades and different mysteries hidden in them. It’s an absorbing experience for the reader.
I will not tell you the story, but when all these history, all these places and all these characters come together they creates Gorosthane Sabdhaan! My favorite Pheluda adventure, full of suspense, uncertainty, surprises and the twist in the tale.
And Ray’s stories are never single dimensional, along with the history it has some subtle funny moments thanks to Jatayu .“U-up down gulie fellen naki?” is one of my most favorite Jatayu one liners.
One of the most interesting features of Ray’s writing is his ability to add trivia in between all the happenings of his story and you never feel bored or you never think that somebody is teaching you in the school. Here also he comes up with the discussion of how the words from other language have mixed with the Bengali language and that was pretty interesting.
Seems that, Ray was not very happy of rechristening of the roads and monuments of Calcutta, and so Feluda mentions the old names Suren Banerjee Road and Topshe starts writing Octur …before changing it to Shahid Meenar.
All in all a great adventure and an awesome book. A must read for all Pheluda fanatics. It’s very difficult to compare among different Pheluda books but I had the distinct feeling that this one was the best one of the lot. I guess that’s because of the most important character of this book, CALCUTTA, the city of life, the city of joy.
And I will still be reading this one again and again and again…

The Journey begins

2008-01-16T01:05:00.001+05:30

I am Happy. I am very Happy now. I am delighted! Now I have a blog of my own. FINALLY!!

Now I will create.I will write.

I will write about the earth and the sea, I will write about the winter and the autumn, I will write about the mountain and the desert, I will write about Tiger Prawn and Pao bhajji, I will write about the casino of Las Vegas and slums of Kolkata, I will write about Harry Potter's wand and Sherlock Holmes' pipe, I will write about Marlon Brando and Rajanikanth, I will write about friendship and love, I will write about the Tajmahal and the Pyramids, I will write about George Bush and Steve Bucknor. I will write about life and death.

Let the fun starts...picture abhi khatam nahi hui mere dost...