Monthly Archives: October 2010

The month of Durga Pujo

Posted on October 30, 2010 | 1 comment

One more month has come to an end. This was the month of joy, celebration and madness! This was the month of pujo! Durga pujo is not a just days or a week, but a month-full of celebration, especially for us Bengalis. It starts days before Mahalaya and lasts till Diwali. These festivals make us defy logic and let go off our sanity. First, Bengalis ‘impatiently’ wait for pujo for months, then the same people ‘patiently’, often ridiculously, stand in serpentine queues for hours, only to catch a glimpse of the superbly crafted pandals and Maa Durga’s pratima! That is sheer madness and fun! Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture, Personal

Democracy and rationalism

Posted on October 28, 2010 | 1 comment

In a democracy like India, much of the government’s decisions are guided by populist stances, and not rational thinking. Political parties cannot afford to loose majority support which is crucial for holding the office in a democracy. Whenever there is an issue, and if the majority is the creator and not the victim of the issue, our political parties tend to support the majority blindly. Continue reading →

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Posted in Politics

Solving the Rubik’s cube

Posted on October 26, 2010 | 7 comments

This is my 250th article. On this auspicious occasion, I’ll tell you the legendary story of how I learnt to solve the Rubik’s cube!

Birthdays are special for everyone. Wedding days are special for few. I am happy today because this is my 250th article. When I completed 100 articles in this site, I proved it to the world how great a facebook user I was. In my 150th article, I demonstrated my kung-fu skills to the world. In my 200th article, I proved my mettle as the greatest strike bowler in the world. For my 250th article, I decided to solve the Rubik’s cube. Continue reading →

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Posted in Personal

Danny Boyle’s weird fascination

Posted on October 23, 2010 | 2 comments

“I chose not to choose life and the reasons? Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?”

I recently watched Trainspotting! Needless to mention, I loved it! Danny Boyle received an Oscar for Slumdog, but he truly deserved one for Trainspotting. While Slumdog Millionaire was a film with excellent screenplay and cinematography, it didn’t have the heart in right place. It tried to merge fantasy with reality in the non-Frank-Capra way, and failed terribly. Continue reading →

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Posted in Film

Women power in CWG

Posted on October 22, 2010 | 1 comment

I am not a great fan of Commonwealth games, since it is a living legacy of organizing games in glory of the queen of England. Can’t believe we still continue it. Anyways, we organized the games pretty well in India. The only thing that worked our way in organizing the event successfully was that we Indians did what we are the best at- ‘jugaad’. We arranged for things in the last minute and still ensured that things go well. Continue reading →

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Posted in Sports

Karachiwala

Posted on October 20, 2010 | 1 comment

Karachiwala is beautiful book written by Rumana Husain. It offers a window-view of Karachi and presents us with its social and physical diversity. It vividly elaborates upon the lifestyle, language, values and interests of people of different communities living in beautiful nawabi city. The book reveals how these different communities together create the cosmopolitan character of the city, and give it its vitality and resilience amidst its social disparities and tensions. I recently read its review in Frontline. The reviewer, A.G. Noorani writes “The volume deserves wide readership in India, if only to bring home to us the barbarity of the curbs which the governments of India and Pakistan have imposed to keep apart two peoples, who have a lot to learn from each other.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture

The magic of film posters

Posted on October 14, 2010 | 1 comment

Poster art is one of the best forms of art. Posters can speak more than photographs, as they can capture the painter’s vivid imagination and his master strokes. Unfortunately, the art of making good posters is slowly diminishing. We hardly see good posters these days. The poster artists, who played a significant part in making those wonderful posters of Sholay, Umrao Jaan, Mughal-e-Aazam, Deewar, are either unemployed or are involved in making posters for cheap B-grade films. Isn’t that a matter of shame for all of us? Continue reading →

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Posted in Film