An Open Letter to Mr. Suvaprasanna

Dear Mr. Suvaprasanna,

Many congratulations to you and your associates on being appointed the chairman of the Passenger Convenience Committee of Indian Railways. Sir, I am not aware how often the nominated members travel in train, but I do quite often. In fact, I am among those hapless passengers who had no option but to travel almost daily in passenger trains to make my both ends meet. I also do not know whether the purview of your work would stretch beyond the mail and express trains. However, as a frequent passenger, I have a few requests to make to your committee.

Firstly, I'd request you to try boarding any of the trains of Sealdah section in any weekday, preferably during office time. Even if you are able to board, I am pretty sure, the daily passengers won't let you seat, even if there are empty seats available, as they are reserved for their feel-good buddies who will get on from the subsequent stations. Neither would you be allowed to stand comfortably, as this would disturb their daily chores of playing cards. Let some time pass and you would find some of them taking out cigarettes and bidis from their pockets and utilising them apathetically as if they are travelling in their private jets! The news of ban on smoking in public places has not yet reached them!

I know that your team have been instructed to look after some of the other major aspects of a passenger's life (such as toilets, sitting arrangement in stations, passenger safety etc.), so there is no point in harping on these issues. Try mixing with people and you'd understand there's lot to be done.

I earnestly hope you and your team would be able to bring 'change' in passenger amenities this time as well.

Regards,
An over-optimistic passenger

Saga of the Shiulis

Over the last couple of weeks my morning starts with patches of white with occasional orange dapples within in front of my rented house. The colour combination of Shiuli ((Night-flowering Jasmine) is synonymous with Durga Puja and marks the onset of Sarat—a non-present entity in English calendar. The fragrance also brings back so many sweet memories of childhood.

Our erstwhile house, situated at a suburban township, had a huge Shiuli tree in its courtyard. The tree was so high that some portions of it reached the rooftop of our three-storeyed house. The bloom time was accompanied by an early rise. I had to collect as many flowers as I could before other boys and girls from the locality could jump into action. However, no one was allowed to go to the rooftop. It was only me who had the exclusive privilege of collecting flowers from there. Had I missed the morning bell by any chance, my only solace laid over there. But that somewhat was dull. Collecting flowers, with so many people ready to give you competition, used to provide me a tremendous sense of achievement.

There is no dearth of youngsters in my neighbourhood. But, none has the time to pluck flowers!

Spectacular

Let me introduce you to a small change to my otherwise mundane appearance.

Yesterday onward I have been aided by an optical instrument consisting of a frame that holds a pair of lenses for correcting defective vision (also called spectacles) in my daily chores.

Don...Again

Thanks to Mr. Mayukh Das for the creation.

Mayukh is a freelance graphic artist based in Kolkata, India and can be reached at mayukh786@gmail.com for any consultancy purposes.

On Losing Side---Yet Again

The morning started in a disappointing note.

Last night I retired from my television set at around 12 o'clock leaving India well placed at 40-plus runs with 9 wickets in hand and with run-a-ball chasing equation. Defending a paltry run on board, I was quite sure that this was not the night of the Proteas and Dhoni's men will at last get a chance to leave the ground on a winning note at the Super 8 stage. It takes only special talents to loose a match from here and the the MSD brigade had just done that.

With many experts owing India's defeat to fatigue and over-exposure to cricket, I beleive it's the sheer callousness of the Indian cricketers that catalysed India's exit from the World T20 championship. Even in yesterday's match, while the South Africans were more interested in converting their ones into twos, most of the Indians fell in the process of hitting over the rope when it was an extravagant option. The skipper himself fell pray to an imaginative run that was never on the card.

Let's hope the team will bounce back in West Indies.

Check Your Social Networking Literacy

If you are a netizen, especially somewhat taken up by the concept of social networking, this is a must read for you.

Week-end Watch: Kshudhito Pashan

I was waiting for this movie to re-release ever since I heard that a copy of Kshudhito Pashan (Hungry Stones) has been found after a long period. Even couple of years ago, watching the Tapan Sinha classic inspired by a Rabindranath Tagore short story seemed like a forlorn hope as it was assumed that like Balika Badhu and Manjari Opera, copies of this masterpiece have also been lost for ever.

The DVD was released on last Friday, I picked it up from Planet M and that started my weekend. The story revolves around ayoung government officer posted in a remore area under Nijam's rule. He decides to stay in an ill-famous archaic palace even after repeated warnings from the people around. Nights after nights, he discovers the cruel chronicles of the palace and ultimately realises that he is also going to face the same fate as that of Meher Ali, a once-inhabitant now-mad resident of the palace with his enigmatic 'Sab jhut hai, tafat jao' blares.

To be frank enough, from the cinematic point of view, Kshudhita Pashan disappointed me. The sript was unlike a Tapan Sinha movie and the narrative seemed too predictable and shoddy. Soumitra was more than outstanding as Mayurbahan in Jhinder Bandi, but here his acting appeared a little subdued to me. However, Radhamohan Bhattacharjee's impeccable Urdu and quotes from Ghalib were simply outstanding. Chhobi Biswas also justified his standard in the small role of a postmaster (his character was not there in the actual story). Arundhati Devi also had very little to do.

The most astounding factor was Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's music. The master musician was at his best in amalgamating Indian classical music with Rabindrasangeet.

Thanks to all the people who made this movie available once again.