SG OwnBlog

Republic of India has been independent for over 70 years now. Ever since 1947, and particularly since 1950 many Governments have come and gone. The Constitution of India has been amended. By over 370 times and counting. The name of the nation has also changed. From the simple 'Republic of India' it was changed to the 'Secular Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic of India' for reasons best known to the then ruling elites. Few policies have remained unchanged or unchallenged regardless of the different Governments, political parties, emergencies and so on. That is the systematic institutional and legal discrimination of Hindus. Sounds surprising? And yes, BJP fanboys - you are just as guilty if not more. Let me explain why. There are plenty of laws, rules and regulations that this marvellous Republic of ours has given us. Learning about the laws that govern our lives require us to take a Law degree. Literally. The Constitution that we are bound to live by is s...

Amar choto bou chole bake bake... If you are looking for some meaning in the words written above - please stop. It is of no use. This is a short dedicated to my wife whom I did not get to marry. Being typically Bengali, she is puchu to me. If you are reading this, please keep in my mind that I am not one bit drunk. And I don't particularly feel like writing either. This you see here is not prose. Just an open faucet. Or a gaping wound sp... okay. Scratch that. Open faucet it is. She has got a small round face. Her eyes are symmetrical. A bit like almonds. They look lively and restless when open and calm or serene when closed. The nose is neither pointed not large. It sits right in the middle of the face with even elevations on both sides. It is not too small to notice nor is it too large to get in the way. Her lips are small, but not thin. There is an amount of volume to them that you would not usually expect. Her face looks normal something from a distance. It looks s...

I have a beautiful small house in the hills. It is about 3 km from Manali, in Himachal Pradesh. It is not much. Probably calling it a cottage is stretching it too far. I have got a couple of bedrooms, a small drawing room cum kitchen where we dine as well. There is storage and a small garage that is mostly empty. I have got another small room with just a single bed and a study built on the first floor. It is just about ten feet by ten feet but it has got a retractable ceiling and a wall made of glass with the rest of the roof being something of a balcony. This is the place where I like to spend most of my time. x In the front, there is a garden with some flowers in the front and trees lining the boundary wall. My mother has planted a few vegetables in the back that we regularly use in the kitchen. We mostly require only rice and eggs from the market. A typical day starts with me waking up and going for a morning stroll. I often spend my nights in the room on the ro...

This is a guest post by my mother, Lily Ray Gangopadhyay. Once again in Mirik after 17 years, I felt very nostalgic because when we used to visit this place, my sons were little kids. Mirik is one of my favorite places. In 17 years it has obviously changed a lot, but still it remains sparsely populated,little crowded and a clean place.   Dad striking a pose (caption by Sarthak) Since this hill station is not at very high altitude one can enjoy a very comfortable stay here and the roads are very inviting.The lake is the main attraction of this place, the Buddha monastery,view point are very nice. I was lucky that the weather was so clear that Mt. Kanchenjunga was clearly seen all the time. Just for a restful walking around the lake, sitting on the grass and gazing at the bushes of pine and fur trees and the peaks of the Himalayas, this is my most preferred destination. How to go>> one can take a taxi , share taxi or bus from NJP statio...

This is a story that goes way back to 2001 or 2002. I was in the sixth standard. Yes, I do remember it quite vividly. It was funny, painful and a bit out of the ordinary – basically it had all the ingredients that allows a memory to stick a great while longer than others. In the process of my recollection, I may miss out a few pieces here and there, but it will be pretty accurate. Of course, the intention of this exercise is in no way to humiliate anyone else or point out the flaws about others’ actions. I now find it hilarious and I think so would you. I studied in the Vivekananda Mission School, a private English medium school in Joka, on the outskirts of Kolkata. If you know the location of the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, you know the location of my school. I studied there till the twelfth standard. We had many students in our class (sixth). We were divided into several sections, ranging from A to F (not sure if it was F or G). But anyway, I was in section B, the ...

So yeah, this year pretty much flew away. I barely noticed the time the past twelve months. It was really engaging. Even though I can remember that I did not make the best use of the time I had available to me. I need to do some good time management. Anyway, there are a few plans that I have been thinking about. YouTube sounds promising and rather interesting. My voice sounds pretty good online for some reason. And this is not just me speaking but a number of my viewers as well. Apparently it has got a certain bass to it that sounds good on speakers and headphones. That's good I guess. I started a new channel - The Light Indian Gamer where I play these casual games - nothing fancy, just the regular stuff that anybody can play on pretty much any computer. I don't have a dedicated graphics solution. So that makes me limited to a few choices - but that is perfectly okay in this category. Graphics intensive games are in any case out of my league. They are not 'casual' e...

The exams are pretty much over. Except one (Water), rest were pretty much okay. As the storm is over, the strong sense of foreboding is taking over. The feeling of dread of something that I know not. This is familiar feeling. Known territory. This land is mine. And I am going home. In the winter. For a month. For the first time in close to four years. To the mela that happens in our neighborhood. To the rides, and the fuchkas. All the familiar feelings that I had stored in my memory. The boxes that I had kept locked. The keys that I had thrown away. The sports rifle shooting shop where you were crying to take a few hits at the balloons along with your friends. The longing for some time even there, just for a few minutes remains. I pretended to not see you, as you did not 'see me'. Egos got the better of both, yours and mine. I walked past, off to home. I wish I had a time machine. I could go back, turn the clock back, snatched a few minutes, just a few hundred second...

To love is easy. Being in love is a different ball game altogether. To fall in love all you need to do is nothing. You just see a girl do regular stuff and the regular stuff feels like the most extraordinary and beautiful thing to you. Then you think about her, fantasize about her, wonder about her, imagine talking, dancing, walking, etc with her and you realize that you are in love with her. Or at least severely infatuated with her. But what is truly difficult is staying in that state of altered reality. Imagine me in such situations. I would find the stony gaze of her as she passed without noticing me, not once but all the time. Oh that's lovely. How graciously she refuses every request of mine for a cup of coffee at a local coffee store brings me immense happiness. How I plunge into a sea of joy when she refuses to sit beside me in a bus that is crowded but for a lone seat by me. How sweet her voice does not sound when she does not pick up my numerous calls. And so on... Th...

This happened some time back. It was a pretty cloudy day. I was wearing my school uniform. I used to go in a Maruti Omni van to school along with 5 or 6 other of my friends. In any case, after school, we used to get in a line and holding each others' bags slung on our backs(nothing silly, naughty mind) we used to go to the parking slot, led by the driver who acted as the guide cum head of security and excort. So that day was special for some reason. It rained when we were coming to school in the morning, only lightly as far as I can remember. By the time we entered school, the rains went for a break. While returning to the van, it held its breath. While our van started off, it started raining very heavily. The windows were ordered to be closed. We did not have automatic window controls then, so breaking the rule now and then was easy. The driver was a good young guy, but his primary job was to drive us safely - so after a while he stopped scolding. We would open the windows open...

It's been a long time I talked to you. It's true I miss you, more at some times than others. I always wished we could be together, somewhere, for sometime, just being us. You being you, me me and all that. But I am aware of the reality, the harsh reality that imposes its will on all of us. Sometimes we are okay with it, sometimes we drink it down with a gulp of ethyl alcohol or sleeping pills. But the fact remains that when shit hits the ceiling, the person who I want to be with, other than my family is you. Shubhoratri...

Indians are not really very well known for philanthropy. This perception is changing, true. But still we are yet to reach a position where we can say that we donate money for causes we believe in. Most of the social or other work is either funded by the Government or by NGOs which almost entirely gets funds from other countries! There are plenty of crowdsourcing websites that I checked over the week and this is the one that I would like you to focus on - if you wish to do something to make a change. Rangde - This website helps you finance rural and other micro-projects that help people get started. The investment required is very little in fact - you can even donate as little as Rs. 100! If you wish to make some change and help someone directly and quickly you can do that here. Check the projects that are ongoing and you can help. You can even start with something close to where you live - maybe you can see your contribution help someone. Another part is that - the money y...

Dear , I hate to admit it. But I kind of miss you. It's a friendly 'miss you'. I know the difference. Also for the first time I wished like worshiping you. By worshiping I mean all of you. Like me wishing to thank God for making every bit of you. All of you. I will be honest. I looked at you before, at the countless pictures and in person but never felt strongly about it. This was the time when I first saw you. For the first time. When I drew you. In the meantime please check out this beautiful song that I heard. Happy weekend and happy drawing, singing or whatever you wish to do to liven up your life.Will call you Sunday evening ;) Sarthak

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.” This quote is from the movie 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' .  If I were to sum you up in a few lines this would be the perfect description. You are this way – not good, not bad, nothing … but you.

Cher Jolie Fille, This is perhaps one medium you can read without anyone else snooping on you or catching you off guard. So here it goes. First thing's first - this story is completely and entirely real, so this might be a little long. Please take your time to read. It took me longer to write. When I was in college, I got pretty much thrown out of hostel in a week for a number of reasons. But that is not important. I stayed for the rest of the 4 years (almost) in a hired room near our college. I was very fortunate  to have a great guy to be my room-mate. He did become one of my best friends one of the few guy friends, I can safely say - Love him, without being gay. :D Just as you expect, I was pretty much like this then as well. I had flings - which I used to call nothing. I used to say - "Oh, this girl I am having something with? It's nothing". I appreciated beauty then as I do now. Of course I did not pursue all the pretty girls I saw. The girls I liked but n...

Yes, I ordered this Freeduino kit from ebay and it's with me now. In one word it's just - Great. This weekend (actually yesterday) I connected it to my system and started the Blink program and other basic tests with it. The installation is so simple and hassle free that it can just simply blow your mind. Ok that might be an exaggeration. But anyway, if you are interested into electronics skulduggery you may want to give this a try as well. Yes, along with that I got a kit - like a mini breadboard, jumper cables, resistors capacitors, one LCD display, a couple of motors, some battery mounts, a few sensors and so on. So I have enough to get started with some of the cool stuff I have always wanted to do. I will need to get a few more things just to be safe and get on with it. On the other hand, my best friend is at her worst. That's actually not true because she is not any worse than she was a month back. But anyway, I feel helpless because I know I can do nothing about...

Life is a little strange now. At office the load is much lesser than it usually was just about a month back. It's true I miss both my daughters (they are not real, but that you can guess), but other friends and avocation keep me busy. Today was the birthday of one of Lali's friends. She's pretty, nothing gorgeous and glamorous, but eye catching. The kinda person I am, well, never mind. So I had every intention of going and 'wishing her'. Yes, I had to put that in quotes, because I just don't go to only wish a girl on my own. Things go from one thing to the next, and sometimes too quickly for me to keep track of. Perhaps Lali understood this and simply said that if I go and talk to her, she won't talk to me! She's sweet and the last thing I want was her to throw tantrums when my days are going quite okay. This picture has absolutely no relevance to this post, in case you are wondering. :D The other birthday was special not really to me, but I d...

Saturday was rough. Truth be told, Friday was kinda rough on me. Got no sleep, got to hit the bed at around 6 in the morning. Woke up around 8:15 when Lali called me up. I was so tired I could not even curse! But I had to keep my word. I was supposed to get her to her exam day, and I did. Just after I went to sleep again and woke up around 10, just before we were supposed to meet at my place. From there we got to the exam center. Halted in between for some much needed breakfast - the ones that reminded me of the little food I had last night. Still was not sure why I had such little appetite. A couple of lassis and two parathas proved too much for both of us, and I started feeling dizzy. The feeling stayed for a couple of hours. The college was okay, I guess, conveniently located in the middle of a jungle, away from human habitation except for the students with little expectations. Dropping my friend of, I took a couple buses back home. On the way back I went around a shoppin...

Warm Bodies was a movie I looked forward to watching. Last weekend I did and I loved it. The entire essence of human to human connection was something I searched and found in the entire film. To some extent hilarious, it had a serious undertone - the kind of comedy films that I love the most. Perhaps the only 'zombie' movie that I would recommend others to watch. With love anything can change. Well, almost. Ahhh warmth, eh? On the other hand I have been watching the Hannibal series. Watching is not the correct word. I am swallowing it. Episode by episode. I watched almost four or five episodes in one single day in one sitting. Now that is what I can call an achievement. I am sure you know what this series is about so I am not going to spoil this by spoilers. I suggest you go through the episodes. One episode will suffice to keep you hooked though. Mad 's acting has been exemplary. The others are good too but the suave gentleman got most of the attention. And rightl...

I am romantic. Okay I am an emotional fool and highly romantic. When I was a kid(not that I ain't now) I did all kinds of extreme things. Like proposing to a girl when I was in the third standard. I of course never did drugs but how about quarrelling with your 'girl'friend's mother? That too in the ninth standard! Well, there are many but many of my teachers even believed (rightly) that I was(and am) incorrigible. I don't know much about Fate. Or destiny for that matter. Of course I know what they mean in the dictionary, but that is just all about it. If you ask me about it and may be speak on them for a couple of hours I would probably fill them with ummm, aahhhs and your yawns. But what do you do when what happened to you long back come back to you the exact same way? How do you react to such a situation? The similar feelings, mixed with the grown maturity and all the complexities of growing up start playing against each other. Its almost like becoming a footba...

There was a guy who lived in Brussels. The girl lived in Madrid. The guy(lets name him Gaay, no not gay!) came to Madrid to work. The girl(lets name her Oldy) joined in the same company. In office they fell in love and things went happily ... no wait this is not a movie, so it was a bumpy ride :) After 3.5 months Gaay got transferred to Lisbon(not Lesbian) and both Gaay and Oldy were heartbroken at the news. But Gaay promised Oldy that he would return to Madrid to see her. Every month. After 3 weeks, Gaay got a ticket to Madrid and reached early in the morning. To surprise Oldy, he went direct to office. After about 1 hour of waiting, he saw her, in a beautiful white dress, walking slowly with all the elegance and poise that suits a princess. He went behind her and started walking beside her gently. After a few seconds she took notice, looked at him, wondering if it was a dream! She asked him, "Pinch me, is this real?". Gaay pinched her softly. She was silent, dead silen...