All in a (Sun)day's work

Several cups of tea.
A short haircut.
A long-due tiring workout.
Moving stuff at home, that was long due too.
Clothes shopping with my brother-in-law.
Going to a movie with friends. Visit a friend, who couldn't join us for the movie, for post movie tea.
Taking a long walk by the lake.
Planning for next Sunday!

Ten days, nine nights

This is one of those posts, where I come back to my blog and see that the last post was written quite a few days ago, and see that I had so much to write but still didn't write, and didn't realise it was that long since I last wrote anything. If that confused you, never mind, I am not known for my lyrical prose anyway! Let me just go on...

Almost exactly two years after I took a break from the corporate world, I joined a company this week. Although I was enjoying work with my friends over the last couple of years, at some point in time, I guess this was bound to happen. As you can imagine, the first few days in this new place were really crazy (a positive crazy, like busy-crazy). Wish me luck people for this new journey.

Leaving you with an image from Chandipur, a place in Orissa which I visited just before joining. As all tours with childhood friends and like-minded friends go, this one was a blast. Even the post trip party last night was a total blast. Some people realized how drunk they were after the videos were shown! Some realized how liberal they become with their singing when they think no ones listening. Those who didn't make it to this trip realized how much fun they missed out on.

हिंदी पुस्तक के खोज में

I can read Hindi - slowly, write Hindi - with very bad spelling and handwriting, and speak Hindi - with mistakes, especially gender related and pronunciations. But I am not ashamed of those. After all, it is only the third language I know. To improve my hindi, I try to speak as often as I can. It is my effort to read Hindi, that I am not particularly happy about. I have tried to ask a few friends who are native speakers of the language, and I still don't have a list of writers who represent modern Hindi literature.

I am also worried, because none of my friends are reading Hindi, when I know some of them do read a lot. Forget about reading, they are not even aware about the Hindi literary scene from what I understand. I don't remember a recent Hindi movie which is based on original literary work. I don't remember anyone talking about a Hindi books, whereas a lot of noise is heard about works in English. Does that mean that there is a lack of interest in Hindi literature among people today? That would be sad, since I firmly believe a language evolves and enriches through written work.

BTW, I am currently reading two Bangla books, both fiction, but fact based. And even if I am not a big fan of modern Bangla fiction, I can tell you the names of at least five contemporary authors. I might also be able to suggest you books in Bangla based on your interest / genre. I know people discuss literature here. Why is it not the same with my Hindi speaking friends?

Please prove that my feeling is wrong. Tell me Hindi lit scene is thriving. Help me find some good Hindi literature.

Bagful of tag

Tagged by Swati. BTW, I already have another tag pending from Aseem, which I shall do shortly too. So, anyway, here are the rules for this one:

Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real- nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.

And now the Q&A:

1. What is your name: Subhadip
2. A four Letter Word: Sure!
3. A boy's Name: Subhash (means one who speaks well. Example: Subhash Ch. Bose)
4. A girl's Name: Saina (Nehwal... go Saina)
5. An occupation: Storm chasing
6. A colour: Silver
7. Something you wear: Shirt (that was easy :P)
8. A food: Seekh Kabab
9. Something found in the bathroom: Shaving kit
10. A place: Sikkim
11. A reason for being late: Slow traffic :P
12. Something you shout: Shut up!
13. A movie title: Sholay (now can I change the previous answer to "Suaar ke bachchoo"?)
14. Something you drink: Shake
15. A musical group: Scorpions
16. An animal: Sperm Whale
17. A street name: Southern Avenue (the greenest street in Kolkata)
18. A type of car: Sportscar
19. Something scary: Seppuku (Japanese suicide ritual)
20. Ice cream flavour: Strawberry

I tag
Aseem: Since he is new to this blog & tag business. And I do intend to do the existing tag on your blog.
Kanu: Because she doesn't write frequently at all and I miss her sarcasm.
Adisha: Same reason as above minus the sarcasm.
Rohit: Since his reaction is bound to be "What the F%$&... this is so old stuff man... do I have to do it?"
Richa: Because she is most likely to do it.
Butterfly: Because her frequency of posting has drastically reduced, and her answers are likely to be the most innocent.

Others please feel free to get yourself tagged.

Kachukhali revisited

This time it was to accompany a team, who went there to see how the rebuilding process is going on. They were gracious enough to ask me to join them, so that I could see for myself how the money my friends contributed (responding to this post) is being utilised.
Overall, the situation is still very grim, but the people there are not down in spirits like the last time I thought they were. This time, I saw them joke about the situation frequently, even when the topic is as grim as imminent food crisis, or cattle death. Some people are still living in make shift shacks like the one in this picture, built on the road, right next to the embankment.

We even got someone to go on a "mission", to collect all the duck eggs that she could get in the neighborhood and sell them to one of us, and she collected 39 eggs! While we were returning, we were informed she just missed two more eggs, which were delivered by the ducks after she had collected the eggs. BTW, shrimps are one of the few things surviving well in the salty waters, and ducks are doing well there, because they are getting a lot of shrimps to eat on.

One of the first steps of the rebuilding process is to clear out the ponds of salty water, and let the monsoon rain fill the ponds with sweet water. This ensures water for everyday use and also the survival of small fish, which are a main food source here.
The farms are still filled with salty water though. Trust me, the stagnant water on these fields do not smell good. I wonder if there can be farming on those fields for months to come.
Inspiration of the day came from this man. He was planting a few saplings, apparently conditioned for salt water. In the background you can see the saplings that he planted last time, now dead. On asked if these will survive in the salty water, he said, "I am not sure, but let me try. What options do I have? I am a farmer, this is what I am supposed to do".

My friends, those who contributed towards this, I assure you, your money was well spent. The love that I received from the people of Kachukhali, it was meant for sharing with you. The food that they stuffed me with, was certainly meant for all of us, and not just one person! I wish I could take you with me to get to know this place.

Apart from all the serious stuff, this time, I learnt a few other things as well. I learnt about bee farming. I also learnt how simple traps (for fish and shrimps) work. Then, I also got an intensive and practical course on how to walk on slippery grounds!

You can see more pictures here

Why I couldn't write a post last night

For various reasons mostly good, I was thinking about my friends for the last three days. Since yesterday was "Friendship day", I even started writing about it when I came back home at about 8:30 pm. I wanted to write about how wonderful my friends are ... that they think of me once in a while ... they call me / meet me... they have supported me during my dark hours... they cheer me up when I feel low... etc, etc.

But just when I started writing that, my friends called me and asked me to get out of my house, as they were coming to "abduct" me for tea. This was at about 9:30 in the night, just about my dinner time, and we went for tea a few kms away from our place, then a long walk in search of paan, and ended up having kulfi, with loads of laughter and a few pranks.

Happy Friendship Day :)