Pride of Bengal – Durga Puja

Link to the article : http://thesparktimes.com/pride-of-bengal-durga-puja/

 

Just imagine, festive mood starts in the city of joy – Kolkata from two months in advance – new clothes, shoes, accessories .Most all shops especially around Gariahat and New Market will be over-crowded – the restaurants will be full till the time it’s not closing down – bad traffic on the road due to amount of crowd, you will hear the hawkers on the road selling different goods shouting with the maximum volume in their vocal cord throughout the day. Once the Puja starts for five days – The full stretch of roads covered with lightings and once its evening when someone passes by , a feeling of second Diwali lighting celebration will definitely strike anyone’s mind – pandals located after every signal on both sides , few small ones and few big ones – I can hear the sound of drums and clash of cymbals from almost every pandals – numerous people on the road walking through the pavement with their new clothes – police very active on the road to control crowds and traffic together.

Looking back to the past, the origin of public celebrations of grand Durga Puja can be traced back to the 16th century. With the ascent of the Mughals, Durga Puja became more of a status symbol in those days. Annual festival of Durga Puja soon became the most celebrated festival and as a day for merriment with friends, relatives, neighbors and acquaintances. Since it’s a festival hosted for over a week and is considered as one of the most expensive festivals of India, earlier in my childhood days the celebrations were littler and was mostly performed by richer class of the society but after the economic boom gradually from the time of my mid-school days the scenario started changing – the evolution of clubs, association and societies has made the Durga Puja truly cosmopolitan in nature. The social and ritualistic significance of the Durga Puja has also been modified to a certain extent.

Throughout five days, multiple rituals are being performed as a custom for Puja but one ritual which really allures me from within is Vermilion play – probably a four hundred or more years old and perhaps the best ritual so far I like about the weeklong celebration – mythology says ondashami evening – goddess Durga returns to her husband’s home , hence all married women mostly in white or yellow saree with red border are seen this time , honoring the goddess and each other with red powder “Sindur” , a sign of Bengali married women. The entire scene during this time appeals to me with elegance – all women putting vermilion on each other’s and goddess Durga’s face , greeting each other with sweets accompanied by the sound of drums and cymbals . I recall, vermillion play portrayed wonderfully in Bollywood Blockbuster “KAHANI”s climax scene.

Though the Puja is hosted for just five days but it keeps zeal of excitement, hopes, and wishes alive for the coming year within the heart of millions.

 

 

Young Voice – Inevitable Future Of India !! ( Published in The Spark Times )

Link to the Article :  http://thesparktimes.com/young-voice-inevitable-future-of-india/

There is a famous saying that “There is so much to do in one life and time is so less”, in my views the same is applicable for India as a prosperous nation in future years ahead.

When I grew up in Calcutta, my hometown – apart from my parents, I have noticed others too discouraging their children from taking much interest in politics for certain reasons, most of which in my views today’s matured crowd can understand but before I go further, I would also like to mention that this discouragement is not limited to a politically vibrant city like Calcutta but it’s the same story nation-wise.

According to survey, India as a country is one of the youngest nations in the world with more than 65% of the population is under the age of 25 then if you now take a look at the political structure of India, except few, major chunk of crowd is 60 – 85 years of age who have the responsibility of running the governance of this country and this is where a question strikes my mind, why the major chunk cannot be between 30 -50 years of age??

It’s an inevitable fact that experience plays a major role when it come to such roles but in my views , today’s youth are incredibly responsible  , sensible , matured compared to our times and given the right training , they can surely take up the responsibility of playing a key role in development of political structure of India .

In current information age, the entire globe’s eye is on India because they know – this country is the future with a mix and match of intelligence and natural resources. In simple words, India is on hot seat!! and rather than fighting for power , senior members of all political party should come forward and train the youth’s , inspire them to take politics as their profession , not to forget it is a herculean task but not impossible .

Someone was asked once by a journalist – “Do you think in near future India can be super power?”

Journalist got reply – “If you are talking about near future, then no – we cannot be super power and super poor together “

66 years after independence, poverty is still the major problem in our nation; there are millions of kid who does not get sufficient meal each day, government have to aggressively address this issue first more than anything else – remember, if you make the pillars weak and built a high rise, it might look good but after sometime, the building is ought to collapse; same logic is applicable here – these kids are future of the country , once politicians of respected constituency reaches out to address this issue as a major priority , our major problem of poverty can be possibly reduced to a large extent , kids will get a better and healthy life which might result in restoring confidence on political structure of India by these kids and their parents .

Let’s not forget one thing; kid’s initial surrounding is built by his/her parents and once the mentality of parent’s changes probably be it Urban or Rural India, a kid in growing won’t be discouraged from political interest.

Be it a small or a big crime, in my views, it happens due to lack of social awareness as a major but India is changing – the mass protest of Nirbhaya’s Rape case across the country is the biggest example and people should be united in similar fashion to face any odds in future.

The program “I lead India” organized by Times group is a tremendous attempt to motivate today’s youth to participate in nations development and more such program should be organized by others

If we can almost eradicate polio from this nation with active and aggressive campaigns to create awareness then the same can be done for poverty, illiteracy , restore faith, motivate youth and bring in energetic minds of this 21^st-century to take this nation ahead to the place where it deserves to be.

We have the ball in our court,

Young population

Natural resources

Intelligence with man power 

If these three ingredients are mixed properly, result can be magical. If we are waiting for this magic to happen then this is the right time – “India seeks Youth actively in Political System “

“The Storm in my Mind – Ami Kolkata & Confessions” in Deccan Chronicle

Got featured in ” Deccan Chronicle , Bangalore ” ,  with discussion in detail about my recently released Novel – ” The Storm in my Mind – Ami Kolkata & Confessions ” , read along  !!

Link to E-Paper : http://www.dc-epaper.com/Gallery.aspx?id=17_09_2013_103_003_010&type=P&artUrl=Riding-a-STORM-17092013103003&eid=1049

Rabbit & Tortoise race of Nehru’s India

 

 

15^th –August 1947, India was declared as an independent nation along with its partition into two different newly formed countries – Pakistan and Bangladesh. In my views, this was perhaps the biggest compromise our nationalist leaders made to regain independence from British.

On 15^th-August , standing in front of the Red Fort , the first prime minister of Independent India , Jawaharlal Nehru addressed our nation – “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment, we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity”

 

From the speech, I will stress much on the last line which Nehru said – “we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity”

In the 200 years of rule, British have established massive infrastructure in terms of constructions and not to forget introduction of Railways but on the other hand they have taken enough of India’s rich resources and wealth to their country moreover the partition of India into two more countries leaving millions homeless and dead due to communal riot was add-on to the massive loss. Nehru was aware of the situation and the tough task ahead but he was hopeful with a vision that nation could be rebuilt again and that’s only possible with good leadership, governance and support from the people of India.

Fast forwarding to today from the time of Independence to now in 2013, does the vision of Nehru or the speech which he gave been fulfilled? Partly yes as when the world took a slowdown in recession, India was growing at a GDP rate of more than 8 % with massive progress in development across the country, foreign investors showed interest and invested billions which resulted in making us, one of the first growing countries of 21^st century but sitting now in 2013, I ask myself, where did we lose the track??

Where 4G connections have already made way to many states across the nation, government is still struggling to solve the scam of 2G accused ministers and businessman which involves some big names so that guilty can be punished ,

Some major scam shattered the entire nation when sports was also not spared and some big names came out in Commonwealth games scam , here too government is struggling to punish the guilty ,

The latest one was IPL spot fixing where the names of accused were a big shocker for cricket fans of India, the mining scam where even prime minister’s name got involved, the drama of Lokpal Bill, the Indian accounts in Swiss Bank, Biggest Tax invasion by Hasan Ali, the power grid failure which left entire north and east India without electricity for more than half a day – I can go on further and write a book if I have to sit and go by years and number of scams revealed.

Result today – Our nations GDP is down from 7-8% to 5-5.5 % resulting in valuation of dollars to 60 INR and major rise in inflation. Big guns don’t get affected but Middle Class, Lower Middle Class and population below poverty line does .To add on more investor’s are losing confidence over the growth prospect which is not a good sign for the future days ahead.

Politicians fight among themselves for power and common man are the greatest prey of those fights. Funny part talking about scams – 8 out of 10 accused is on bail from Supreme Court of India are living a normal life and all these possibly happened because of “Rise in power of corruption at every level in this country “over past one decade or more.

But blaming only bad governance will be unfair because it’s only we the common man who elected them to take our country ahead of other nations through development and have been betrayed on repeated basis.

I don’t think neither of us including government are living up to the vision of Nehru or what he dreamt of new independent India , I don’t think my forefather’s who gave their life for their countries freedom would be happy with the current state of the nation.

The nation somehow has slowed down in these rat race era but I am hopeful as a common man that end of the day the tortoise wins, not the rabbit – 2013 involved drama and Rajtantra but with common man which involves majorly youth now becoming more responsible and sensible , I am hoping for a better 2014 for shining Incredible India.

Cover Page of my Debut Novel – “The Storm in my Mind – Ami Kolkata and Confessions”

SEPTEMBER RELEASE

Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/AmiKolkataConfessions

Video Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2HP19_JM5c

Website : http://www.talk2ayaanbasu.com

Publisher : Srishti Publishers & Distributors

Farewell of Illusions …

Though once upon a time
Yet,
You were my source of inspiration
Though I turn’ t into an atheist now
Yet,
You were my prayer once upon a time
The zeal to love you was an actuality
Yet,
Today it’s nothing less than an illusion

We climbed mountain of confusions
Ocean of sorrows

And suddenly when I look beside
You are not there anymore

It took sometime for me to figure out
You surrendered to situations

But no looking back for me
I have to climb those mountains
I have to swim that ocean

I Love my life
and
Certainly won’t allow anyone
to play with it …

My inner soul believes
Probably with a different storyline of  life
We two will meet again very soon in near future

You & me , I & us !!!

 

 

Walking through the empty hollow path
with your good memories and bad trauma
we went through

Life taught us a lot of things
How to fall
How to rise
How to fall and rise in it …

I Know you are going to be history
History of Love , desire, passion,hatred , doubts
History of Red roses valentine

But

Everyone has a story of its own
You had yours
I had mine
We had ours

Let’s cherish the good times
I am sure , in-spite of being your history
I will surely pass by your dreamy roads
In your sleepy dreams once in a while

Good-wishes and Good-bye to you !!

Hope ..

Once upon a time there lived a very special being ,who has the ability to write wrongs ,transform lives and change world ….

And when one was ready to experience her presence , she magically appeared-then like an impossible she would illuminate the path to contentment and life would be forever changed –

They called her “HOPE”

Telegram to Smartphones – A legacy between 1883 -2013 is in history books ….

Telegram paper with advertisement added in it

Presently India is one the largest countries in all the continent to provide highest number of telephone connections as per survey in the year 2011 and think about few decades back – during the time of Independence in 1947 there were just 84000 telephone connections against a population of 350 million , Indeed a lot changed in since Independence.

During 18^th century, the concept of mobile phones was a thought among great thinkers and Smartphone’s were unknown reality. Though there was existence of physical phones but let’s say for example when someone tried calling from Calcutta to Delhi , one had to be patient as the call might reach in few minutes or may be hours  and if a call reaches , probability of a wrong number was in common those times .

In the year 1851, the telegraph service become live from then British Capital of India, Calcutta till Diamond Harbor (A place where the Ganges and Bay of Bengal joins together and then the British East India companies Trading Post ) covering a distance of 21 kilometers approximately

In the year 1883, East India Company combined Telegraph services to Telegram services to improve their connectivity’s – runners in telegraph offices at those times , carried post to remote post offices linking every British rulers to all part of the country . After Independence, the first prime minister of Independent India decided to keep the invention of British running state wise.

I recall during my childhood days in Calcutta, telephone was a luxury and status symbol instead of necessity; one had to pay heaven just to make a single call with an uncertainty of call reaching to the right place.

My father then was located in North Bengal in a place called Ramam, some 1700 feet above Darjeeling for a Hydel Power Project and he used to visit us in Calcutta once in every two months for couple of days. We were not in a financial condition to effort a telephone at that time so mom use to write letters to him and if something was urgent she used to send a telegram which used to reach in any nearest post office near Ramam. Dad on the other hand being a state government officer got leverage to sometime use the telephone free of cost to call at home. Those were indeed some unforgettable nostalgic days

Fast forwarding to 2013: “ Welcome to the world of Laptops, Tablets, Smartphone’s, to the innovative world of cloud computing, to the voice and video calling world of Skype and Telepresence , good bye to hand written letters and welcome to the world of emails and Whatsapp messages”

It’s official now, once the fastest mode of sending happy, bad or shocking news – TELEGRAM will soon be history now from 15th-July onward (A legacy between 1883-2013 is going to end) as BSNL decided to discontinue the service

I am proud to belong to this generation and be a part of evolution from Telegram to Smartphone !!!

** Telegram : Telegram is a text message sent by wire using Morse code to tap out dits and daaahs. The code would then be transcribed into language, printed out and delivered by boys on bicycles. It was the fastest means of communication in the mid 19th century.

Journey Of Hippies from Istanbul to Southern India

Reader’s Comment:

a.)    Awesome one….!!! We are direction-ally challenged. We must start travelling from Southern India to Istanbul now!! Hippie way…..!

b.)    Stupendous is this one!

c.)      Superb… very well presented..!

https://www.facebook.com/notes/ayaan-basu/journey-of-hippies-from-istanbul-to-southern-india/3845205128024

Some two thousand years ago, the southern part of India got influenced with multiple foreign cultures especially along the Malabar Coast line – the long stretch of tropical coastline starting from Goa till Kanyakumari .Starting from the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews fleeing to India, arriving of Vaso d agama along with the Portuguese culture brought by him through the shoreline of Goa,a group of Merchants bringing Islam through Kochin

During the late seventeenth century , another group of people arrived from the west , who were called Hippies. The journey of these Hippies was a pretty interesting story and honestly grabbed my attention before they came to India –

These groups of people first originated from Istanbul to Turkey, though some headed south for Lebanon which for many centuries was the major provider of Hash in the whole of the Middle East.

From Turkey they travelled across Iran to Afganistan , where a large population themselves uses Hash till now. After Afganistan , few moved to Pakistan towards Chitral but the major crowd entered India where Kashmir and Manali in Northern India became a popular destination for these Hippies and yet another popular center of Marijuana cultivation.

Due to immense cold during winters in Kashmir and Manali, they started heading down through the map of south for the beaches of Goa where Hash were readily available. Although at that time the roads to Gokarna were very much underdeveloped from Goa but many managed to migrate to this place via Malabar Coast and slept on the beach as there was neither electricity nor any hotels or shacks to stay – these hippies to fill up their stomach , picked up bananas and rice from the local farmers and collated drinking water from the spring of Lord Rama Temple .They enjoyed the feeling of Into the Wild along with complete Nirvana in this place and after they all went back to their country and talking about this place , more and more of their kind starting visiting Gokarna.

Anyone Interested in getting a feel of what I wrote above, please click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRH-n-ov0m4

Hallucination of a Lover – “Absence is required to feel a person’s presence more intensely”

( Published : writespace4iw E-magazine  )

Reader’s Comments :

a.)      I read somewhere “A doddering fool dwells on the verge of reality and dream” I suppose we all are be-fooled by one illusion or the other… Write on!

b.)     I always felt when you hit rock bottom..be it financially,emotionally,physically any which way… your truest feelings the rawest emotions well up … and that’s how your note makes me feel …. its almost scary how your flurry almost frenzy of emotions rush in while you are away from concious reality…  its heart wrenching ..honest and bittersweet .. The solace of being hallucinated cannot be better described .. thanks for writing this one…kudos!

c.)  Realistic and pulling. These words reflect our lives. Good job sir !!

 

It’s difficult in today’s world to imagine something good with your eyes open or in proper senses; life is actually better when it’s a hallucination … sensibly one can think, some freak is talking bullshit but experiencing such feeling of being in un-imaginable nirvana is like standing in front of some dream world; it forced me to suspend my bag of frustrations and be lost in painless ecstasy.

I have a burning desire in my heart; each cell in my blood is aroused; it’s a truth that you are gone from real world but in the world of imaginations you are still alive with me and around me; it’s true when I close my eyes and concentrate, not only do I get the eternal peace but can also feel your warmth all around my body.

Embracing me warmly you asked  “Are you happy?”

I took a deep breath and felt the fragrance of your body, replied “I find myself in utter solitude when you in-toxic ate me with the essence of your love ; my emotions are too weak in front of the mighty realty so please keep me hallucinated as long as you can”

You laugh at my answer; kissing my forehead you asked again “Do you want to come with me in my world”

You placed me in a difficult and complicated situation; my body dissects into two – mind says don’t go, if you go, you will actually be called a coward, running away from life, running away from your set of responsibilities God has assigned but my heart says, do what makes you feel healed from all bruises of life; I wish I can keep my body in the real world and can take my soul to the dreamworld where you reside!!!

I stressed myself but why are you getting hazy in front of my imaginations ; opening my eye is not an option , because that will bring me to the real world which you are not a part off , I tried to hold your two much beloved hands but all I felt was air … you’ re gone from my imaginations ….

Suddenly I hear a lady yelling “Sabji get up, it’s seven already!!!”

I got up with and checked my watch; shit its nine seriously; my maid has been trying to wake me up for quite some time and finally my eyes opened in the real world.

Sitting on the bed, asked my maid “Since when are you calling me?”

Keeping the bed tea beside the reading lamp table she replied “Almost five minutes, see your tea is almost cold now “

Taking a sip of tea which was still on the verge of getting cold, I smiled at myself; the city is awake again to start the survival war of millions of people like me, that’s the real world; looked at my smiling wife’s photograph on the wall ; maid has changed the garlands on her photograph ……. It’s actually true “Absence is required to feel a person’s presence more intensely” …. Well she can’t come to my world anymore but in my hallucinations I can always seek my desire in her world.

Office time, time to get ready; emotions between 9am-5pm is non-existent!!!

Dream-chaser and my Queen !!!

“I wait for you at the cliff of my dreams
It’s a full moon night , sky is filled with glowing stars
To my self obsessed fantasy , you came like a meteor
Through the crowd of bright stars in my life

I am your passionate lover but to add on more to it
I am the DREAM CHASER of my self obsessed fantasy
where you are my queen !! “

Happy and Effective Blogging with Windows Live Writer !!!

Hello Bloggers, I was using this application so thought of sharing the same with all of you if you are not aware of it –It’s called Windows Live Writer from Microsoft Corporation, so question is what is Windows Live Writer Function???

Live Writer is a word based application where you can type your blog post, edit it for any correction (Spell check especially), change fronts, publish it directly from the page to your blog or schedule a publishing time. To add on more, before even you edit and post, you can preview the post.

Two things you need for Installing Windows Live Writer:

1.)    A valid blog address like BlogSpot , Word press etc

2.)    A Windows Live Account ( outlook.com,live.com,hotmail.com )

When you install it for the first time, just follow the setup which is as simple as composing an email,

Setup Windows Live Writer 2011:

1.)    Click here to download Live Writer : http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=8621

2.)    Go to All Programs > Windows Live > Windows Live Writer

3.)    When you start Windows Live Writer for the first time, you’ll be prompted to configure the program to connect to your blog.

Type in your Blog Address, for “Add a blog account”, enter your WordPress.com blog address, user name, and password, and then click next.

4.)    Once you have selected the blog type ( BlogSpot , Word press ) , you will get a prompt to download your blog theme

Happy Blogging!!!

Got featured in “The Hindu” news daily Indi-blogger meet : Ring the Bell for domestic violence against women in India

“CORRUPTION that’s what we breathe ” published in Tiger Hill Express Newspaper