Life over coffee

The other day when I walked into McDonalds, it was more crowded than usual. I placed my order and then with my coupon and locator I was searching hard for a place to sit. Finally, a lady with a toddler called me and offered me their seat. They were done and leaving. I was happy. Finally, I have a place to sit - relax - and destress myself.  Well, over the past couple of days, I had had enough of the cold shoulder of people. And if they somehow happen to live with you - under the same roof, in the same room, it suffocates you. I wanted an escape and my time with myself in some fast food corners was one of them, where I would be away from all routine tasks; anything that would remind me of them. As I was about to sit, an old man about the age of my grandpa came over and asked me if he could take the seat across my table. Well, in a new city when strangers approach you and unfortunately your own life in your country hadn't been quite a safe haven, you feel awkward. But th

Driving at over 100kmph through the race called Life. Congratulations before your crash. Peter wanted to hug Raina. Walk along Parc la Prairie while enjoying bird music in the tranquil silence. Enjoy the gurgling waterfalls. Hold hands. Kiss the life and time they had together in Ifrane - a town called the Switzerland of Morocco. As time passed by all Peter wanted was to build a time machine and stop the time then and there.  Peter and Raina are a couple - married officially, although when I met them they were yet be married at heart. Peter is a professor of Artificial Intelligence while Raina works as an investment analyst. Raina was in Morocco on some business trip. And Peter - had come down all the way from Los-Angeles to meet her as they hadn't met over a year. Simple put - Raina couldn't find time beyond her professional commitments to be with her husband and two-year old son. She was always on the chase to achieve - something - which she couldn't hersel

Welcome to Kolkata – a land of culture, heritage, overcrowded public transport and withered arms & life. Today is Sunday – the most awaited day in a week. It’s probably the only holiday for many office-goers. After a week long participation in road-race Olympics to get a place in the metro or catch the bus, one will finally get an interval in between. This street Olympics is probably an integral part of the life of a Kolkatan. And finally, one can rest and rejuvenate. However, having been a part of this race sometime back, I can bet that you are engaged in a Battle of hearts – the Outer Bangali vs. Inner Bangalli. While the outer Bangali of yours will be gorging over the supremely delicious Sunday brunch of Kosha-mangsho and Luchi with Sorshe batar ilish and fried rice accompanied with chatney and payesh; the inner Bangali of yours curses your gastronomical indulgences and reminds you of the dreaded Monday. The inner Bangali reminds you of your dreaded boss and the w

India’s Surprisingly high growth rates projected by media does not fuel growth in employment. If economic growth doesn’t increase employment, then what does? With schemes like – ‘Make in India’, ‘Pradhan Mantri Mudra loan yojna’, etc. and viral success stories of an actively entrepreneured India, you may be thinking - If there are so many enterprises everywhere, how do they run without people. And if they engage people, why is our unemployment rate soaring instead of declining. Another fantastic comedy of errors is the report regarding real unemployment rate of the country. It seems that ministries have made ‘Data’ as their favourite buzzword. If a good report comes up – opposition accuses it to be ‘proctored Data’. If a bad report comes up, govt. blames irresponsible ministers for ‘leaking Data’. And this ‘Unemployment Data’ surveyed over the same set of sample space, interestingly, yields broadly contradictory result every time. This leads a logical

The Spectacle Story One day my spectacle began speaking, and here is what it had to say – One fine afternoon, while I stretched myself after a hectic schedule at the office, I heard an unusual hello. I looked around. Most of my colleagues sitting around my desk had meetings that day. So, in my space, I was the only person. A few others in different corners were too busy preparing for their respective presentations. Then, who greeted me! I wondered. Again, the voice spoke – “Hey, don’t you recognise me – you have been in relationship with me for the past 6 years and you don’t even know what my voice sounds like. Although I have felt your skin, your nose – your ears – smelt your hair, I bet you would say that you don’t even recognise my touch. And, very soon, you might even think of replacing me with another – more efficient being whom you would consider to be more efficient than me in making you look dazzling and smart in front of the world, just like you had dumped

Hello and welcome back friends. A lot of events ranging from interesting to grave happened since my last post. Well, sometimes, even your friend Prabhasini gets entwined in her life's issues which seems to grip her like arms and legs of an Octopus. But, anyways. Life is back on track and so is my pen-paper-and-blogger. Recently, a news has been making a lot of rounds and based on that several terms began to surface in local jargon which were not heard of previously. Guessed right! I'm taking about extra-marital affairs being decriminalized and words like polyandry, polygyny, polygamous etc. are doing rounds in chai-pe-charcha both online and off-line. Some argue - that a thing like this should have existed much before in a progressive country like India. While others claim this move would bring down, if not stop, the levels of crime and violence against women in our country. Debating against this move, on the contrary, others claim it to be a derogatory move brought in to