Day 80!

The moon is under the radar today.

Think of man's first step on the moon and the so many that followed. Maybe, each time the astronauts were on the moon they were waving back at the Earth and there must have been someone like me staring up speechlessly at the night adornment of the sky, completely unaware of someone trying to catch our attention!

Too much silliness?

Well, at least it made you smile.

Calcutta - the City of Joy?

As the day went on, and Calcutta sat through another bandh (after very long, though), I fell back into my thoughts. I have been brought up in Calcutta. I have always considered Calcutta to be my hometown. I love this city and would have happily spent all my life here. Until recently!

Calcutta for me is a city with boundless love for all those who come to her. It has heritage, it’s rustic, has an earthy feeling. It’s laid back, far away from the world’s rat race and yet you don’t feel like you’ve been left behind! Sometimes when you walk down it’s streets in the afternoons of summer, you’ll feel like you’ve landed in one of those R.K.Narayan stories centered on villages. The dusty streets, the scorching sun, only a handful of people around… One thing I’ve always felt is — No one gets lost in this city! They just can’t! Because someone’s always ready to help!

Yet somehow over the past few months, I’ve been feeling detached from the city. People are getting frustrated, mindless quarrels are waiting to happen at every corner, the youth is going away, the industries don’t even think of coming here. Calcutta’s been in the news for all the wrong reasons, of late! And our new CM seems to be making matters worse. Today, she declared another rape case as an attempt to malign the Government. Excuse me? Malign the Government? How exactly? More importantly, why exactly?

All those crib deaths happening in Bengal for the past year have been labeled as the Opposition’s conspiracy! The lady’s comments defy all logic! Basically, the Left didn’t do anything in their 34-year rule and now they are the ones who are doing everything wrong!

Every morning the papers bring news of another murder, theft, sexual assault or suicide!

It’s depressing to see that a city I once found to be so safe is now turning into a dangerous den of criminals!

I can only wish that Job Charnock’s City of Joy regains it’s allure and charisma before it’s too late...

Marketing "magic"!

On the way to office yesterday, a street vendor got on to the bus I was traveling by (which happens pretty often here) to sell little booklets of general knowledge. The way he appealed to the passengers saying these books have information about all things and for all ages was amusing. Citing that his price was cheaper than the Rs. 3 the shopkeepers charged (he was selling it for Rs.2) and that questions from his booklet appear in all sorts of exams caused many passengers to reach for their money bags. He sold it to as many as 6 customers right in front of my eyes, before I started forming this post! He further went on to say that a cup of tea costs more than his bundle of knowledge and that prospective customers can go through the booklet before buying.

Keeping in mind the literacy level of India and the fact that he was a male one can assume he has been to school at some point in his life. But I'm sure he has not had any lessons in marketing unlike most of the educated lot. Still he's good at it, in fact very good.

These wonderful and unusual things keep happening all around us. We need to notice them more often.

Let's keep trying! :)