Here 'n' there!

Well, I’ve been meaning to write for sometime but just haven't found the time... And energy... And inclination... And idea...

Well still at a loss on what to write about, (it happens when your mind is filled with Maths formulae, Tax provisions and concepts of Accounting in a bid to finish the exam syllabus ASAP!) here's just a quick recap of things that caught my eye but weren't enough for individual posts!

• The trailer of Love, Lies and Seeta in which the girl says “love is a lie every teenage girl tells herself.” Loved the line!

• Now that my CA final tuitions have begun (at 6.30 in the morning!) I realize that Calcutta does wake up early!

• And the feeling which overwhelms me every time my short stories are appreciated was something I experienced multiple times during the past week! My friends at office deserve special mention and attention in this case! Thank you people!

• But the one news which made me prance about in the air was that the TV show Castle will now feature on Indian television not one but five days a week!

Wrapping up with nothing more to say yet lots left!

See you again in a week!

Till then keep sharing your ‘here n there!’

Giving you more reasons to smile!

Sometimes even a simple memory can make you smile and at times it takes more than two to do the tango!

By the time you finish reading this, I want your face to be lit with a dazzling smile!

Here goes!

A tale that never ends!

The Calcutta sun does take its toll on you! While travelling, my mind was wandering and idling away, when another idea hit me!

What if, just what if, parts of the HP (read: Harry Potter, for all those who still don't know what that meant!) world could actually come true?!

Experiencing shock waves in a bus!

The other day, while on my way back from office, I found an empty seat near an elderly man in the bus.
Few minutes later, a petite young woman came and stood beside me. Within a minute she asked the gentleman to get up!
Surprised, I looked up at her and she pointed towards the plank which read "Reserved for ladies".

The gentleman might have been hard of hearing because he didn't respond. At first, she started muttering to herself and then she actually asked me, "Can't he hear or what?". As if that wasn't enough, some moments later she tapped the man on the shoulder and told him, "This seat is reserved for ladies. Please get up."
"I am a handicapped person.", he said softly.
Undeterred she repeated again, "Go and find yourself a seat. This is only for women."
After a minute or two, whether embarrassed or frustrated, I don't know, he got up from there. When I offered him my own seat, he politely refused. On seeing he wasn't even being able to stand in the moving bus, a young man seated near got up for him.


I don't know whether this is a regular affair in buses, but I was shocked! Have our manners and values really gone this down the drain?!

Words you must read!

After a really long while, I found the time to read some books. And the ones I took up turned out to be such fabulous reads, I just couldn't resist wielding my pen about them!

From me, with love!

As I sit here writing this, it's raining cats and dogs in Calcutta!
The weather just makes me feel lazy and I can't help recalling scenes from the film 2012 (it's that bad!), whenever a loud clap of thunder follows the lightning in the clouded grey sky!
Looking out my 6th floor window, I see a small green leaf being toyed around by the winds, fluttering right and left, dancing around in swirls. I wanted to move around in the rain just like that! It felt magical and just so surreal, standing there staring at the leaf, all else a blur (quite literally) and no care in the world!

The view from my window at 6.30 am.

The same scene at an hour later!

And my mind wandered back to the magical moments my family and friends gifted me yesterday! I couldn't have asked for a better day to turn 20!



Abounding love, surprises, joy and kindness was strewn all over my day. Little unexpected twists and turns, scurried attempts to hide the surprises planned for me, friends coming over and wishes from people I had thought were long lost and forgotten!










To all those who made my birthday so special, I want to thank you from the core of my heart!









It's true : What goes around, indeed does come around.
And it will continue to remain so!

Don't let time fly!

Kabhi kabhi toh milte hai (we meet very rarely), my cousin said yesterday evening. That is exactly what has been going on in my mind since then! How rarely we manage to get time out for the ones dear to us!

We're all so busy with our lives, our work, that the time left has to be spent very carefully to satisfy all. A year ago, when I was preparing for a major exam, I’d only spent time with my books for around a month or so. And at that point of time, I’d promised myself, I’d give time to all that I’d neglected during the preparation. And I had later. But today a year later, when I’m going to office on a regular basis with no long vacation in the near future it is so difficult to please everyone in one Sunday!

Today we live in such a competitive world, racing against time, immersed in our work, involved in our own lives that we fail to regard the other important aspects of our life. Our relations, our friends, our passions, our pleasures ― they all take a backseat. And we fail to understand when that backseat turns into neglect.

And years later all we will be left with will be regrets, unfulfilled wishes, laments...

You don’t want to live that way. No one does. So before you get lost in the whirlpool of distractions, stop for a while, take a deep breath, think about all those people you’ve been meaning to talk to for a long time and give one of them a call. Any one.

You’ll hear the smile in their voice! Trust me. Cuz I just did!

Once in a while, give yourself a break. You deserve it. Every one of us does. Just laze around. Relax. The world won’t come to a halt if you ease up a bit.

As the world proceeds ahead, tougher do the times get! But, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

Move over CID! Castle's here to stay!

Two weeks ago, Crime at 10, kicked off on Star World. Season 4 of Castle began in India. I am a huge fan of the Castle series and more so because the only action thriller series we have here in India is the long standing and seemingly never-ending CID.

CID has been going on, on Sony TV, for what seems like forever (15 years, to be precise!). The core team of ACP Pradyuman, Daya, Abhijeet and Freddie has probably remained the same and sometimes even actors portraying the criminals have been repeated! Every case has the same action sequences with Daya breaking doors, Abhijeet jumping around, ACP giving away orders for even the smallest of jobs like making a phone call (all the while practicising Fleming's left-hand rule! You know what I mean? For details search CID PJs on Google!) and the entire team taking potshots at Freddie! Even the so-called banter between the Forensic lab doc and the Head of the CID department has now lost its flavour. 
And have you noticed how all the CID officers stand in a semi-circle around the criminal in the last scene of the episode facing the camera instead of facing the criminal?! Every Indian, whether as a critique or fan, has at some point or the other definitely seen CID. I, for one, am a critique.


One night, while flipping channels, I stopped at Star World. That was my first glimpse of Richard Castle. He was, as usual nagging Katherine Beckett with his out-of-the-world theories. One episode was enough to make me fall in love with them both! That was the first series of Castle being shown on Indian television. Voila! My search for a good detective series on TV was over! I wouldn't have to satiate my thirst by watching CID now!


Castle is funny, has mystery dipped in a fair amount of the stomach-churning butterfly moments of romance between Kate and Richard and a huge platter of human drama and emotions. All without losing the main plot of a being a thriller. Maybe it's not the best of its genre but I love what I see and all else doesn't really matter. Not just Castle and Beckett, but the rest of the team also add to the fun! The banter between Espesito and Ryan, the bonding with the old Captain and the fear of the new one, the small scenes of Castle with his family — they all add to the essence of the series.
The portrayal of both the lead characters has been done beautifully. While on one hand, Kate is the always-confident and ready-to-give-it-all for the department, she has her own share of pains and insecurities. Castle, however funny and child-like he might seem with his weird theories and just-too-active mind, is mature enough when it comes to his daughter, Alexis. He is his family's support system even when on the move with Beckett. Their characters have flaws and thus seem more human and closer to real life than reel life!

Even today, when my dad and sister sit and watch CID, I sit with them just to pass time by finding loopholes in the plot, pass comments on the acting or just to see how funny these guys look every time they enter empty houses with guns, all ready to be fired, held at shoulder level! My dad tries doing the same with me while watching Castle but within five minutes he gets so engrossed in the show, he forgets all about irritating me!


It's time CID ended and the Indian masses were given a more decent, modern and watchable crime thriller to watch on Friday and Saturday nights!
Till then, at least I have Castle!

Murdering the Messiahs?

Until recently the headlines would read about the killings of common men, thugs, state MLAs, terrorists...

Last week, they bore the news of the gruesome murder of an IPS officer, Narendra Kumar. An officer of the 2009 batch, he was young, honest and very promising! And whats more he was doing his job rightly! In relation to the sand mining case going on in Madhya Pradesh, he was trying to stop a tractor to check its contents. He even lunged on to the tractor to stop it. But the driver, simply drove on and crushed Narendra under the wheels! How inhuman can they get just to earn a little more money! His wife an IAS officer, is on maternity leave, as the couple was expecting their first child! Yet I saw her talking to journalists the other day recounting the lukewarm response of the politicians towards the shocker. One of them even dared to call the incident an accident! What kind of a country are we living in? Where the law does not withhold anyone, where wrong deeds have no repercussions, where the makers of law themselves break them?! The driver definitely has strong political and financial backing, or else how could a mere driver have dared to kill an IPS officer. What hurts more is the stir it has failed to create in the junta of India. Had it not been for the constant reporting by the media and the questions being raised by them, all sand mining activities wouldn't have stopped in Madhya Pradesh for the time being.

Another such incident came in the light two days ago. On the day of Holi, a constable in Calcutta, Ashim Kumar Dam, was beaten up and stabbed, at his own house by youths of his own locality, for trying to stop them from forcefully smearing colours on his niece. He died of cerebral haemorrhage three days later. What is worse is that the police officers at the nearest police station refused to lodge a complaint against the eight youths who had murdered a fellow of their own ranks!
The complaint was accepted the next morning. As it happens always, the men are absconding and our police hasn't been able to find them yet. As for our Chief Minister, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, who calls all rape and assault cases to be shajano (planned), there has been no comment from her in this case, yet. And the other politicians? The CPM says the youths are Trinamul supporters and The Trinamul calls them CPM activists!

Such is the curious case of India...

They change the game!

Advertisements have always fascinated me. And good ones can keep me hooked! They say so much in just 60 seconds! Two of the new ads which caught my mind recently --- because they are quirky, very now, and fun to watch!

Pepsi — Change the Game! In a country where people (at least me!) are now getting fed of our cricketer demi-Gods, this ad hits you right on the spot with a tagline which has never been so apt!

What better way of showing how efficient, customer friendly and any time availability your call centres have!

To their creators I'd like to say only one thing - you guys make commercial breaks a better part of television now! ;)

Others will soon follow!