On 'Bhalo mamu'

Me and my didi call him 'Bhalo mamu', roughly translated means ' Pleasant uncle'. He is my elder maternal uncle. Bhalo mamu has always been one of my favourite relatives whose visit and whose company I have thoroughly enjoyed over the years and continue to do so. He was the first to introduce me to the world of encyclopedias ( i still have the first one he bought me from the Kolkata book fair years ago), western music and everything that is new and futuristic. An engineer by profession he has retained his immense thirst for knowledge and anything that is new in the world. Yet he has not done this at the cost of traditions and values. He enjoys the company of old friends and relatives and large family get togethers with large family group photos :).
Whenever he meets, he will invariably quiz me on latest movies and music and books.. 'Have you seen this movie?' or 'have you bought any new cd?' or 'have you read this book?' these are obviously things which are close to both our hearts..movies, music, books, politics...
My earliest recollection about Bhalo mamu is of his Yezdi bike and his Hara jeans. I remember him advising ma to never say no to us, or never stop us from doing anything we wanted, or exploring new things... Now that I am a father myself I have made it a point to never say no, or hold back my son from anything he is exploring, lessons I remember from my childhood.
Oh yes, one cannot talk of Bhalo mamu and not talk of cricket. Himself a prolific cricketer in his days he has retained his love for the game till date. Never missed a single India match in his life and not to mention a die- hard fan of Ganguly.
Today he might have grown old, but his thirst for knowledge remains, his positive attitude towards the future remains... he will remain young at heart for ever i believe. Looking forward to meeting him soon...

Chromosome 21

I have no idea why I am penning down this particular article if it is not from a sense of acute pain and helplessness. I have always loved children ( who doesnt ?) and the joy of being a father and too see your own child grow up in front of your eyes, a little everyday, is perhaps the greatest feeling of satisfaction that there is. And it is from this sense of satisfaction perhaps stems my deep anguish. Since I now know what it feels like to be a father to a normal healthy kid, my heart goes out to parents who are not as fortunate. Particularly with kids who have Down's Syndrome. How must they be feeling when they see other kids playing in the field, making friends, fighting, laughing, crying.... I cannot begin to imagine!!

Two instances that i would like to put down least I forget the intense, gut wrenching, soul stirring pain I felt..

The first involved a train journey from Dehradun to Delhi. Right in front of my seat were seated a couple with their beautiful angel like daughter. I still remember, she was wearing a pink dress, made her look like a cute bunny rabbit. I saw other kids running up and down the alley in between the seats in the train, but little bunny rabbit just looked on... from her father's cozy lap. I am sure her father wanted her to join the other kids and play... later she started crying and her mother took out some biscuits and handed it to her. Little angel couldnt grasp the biscuit and it rolled on to the floor... Her name as I later found out was Rashmi.

The second involves a speed boat tour in a foreign land. A family who were our fellow tourists had a kid, a little boy with the syndrome. The family had other kids his age who were enjoying thoroughly, but he sat next to his grandma and just looked on. While the other kids got onto the sea beach and built sand castles he just stayed away from the water and shadowed his grandma.... I dont even know what his name was...

Cactus unplugged

The naysayers had almost written them off. They said they had run their course and that they were not as hard or heavy as that other Kolkata based Bangla Rock band. The youth of Kolkata apparently wanted darker stuff. Unfortunately the detractors missed out on something fundamental to performance art, relevance and relatability. Cactus' new album Blah Blah Blah has both in ample measures. No this article is not about the album, which has anyways been given a thumbs up by critics and fans alike. This article is about the new unplugged sounds that the band has been experimenting with. 
It had been a long cherished desire to see Cactus develop some unplugged versions of their cult classics and of course the new songs. Last evening I caught them performing unplugged on TV and it was right up there with any good unplugged show I have ever seen. More than anything the performance reiterated how good each of the members of the band were in their respective trade. It didn't matter that my favourite Baji played with just one hand, it didn't matter that the studio sound could have been better balanced particularly on the song Blah Blah Blah where on the television set one could not hear any instrument over Sidhu's vocals. The rearranged Bodhu re was simply spectacular as was Dibs measured vocals. Rat and Buti were tight like blood brothers, all brought together by BMC and his ice cool demeanor and bass line. I thought it was testimony to Rat's guitar skills as his fingers ran up and down the fret board and juggled the six strings and showed that he is equally proficient with extracting juice out of his processor as he is with his stripped down acoustic guitar. Buti as always was the life of the band with the keys obeying all his command. Though i would have preferred an acoustic piano instead of the synth for such a show :)
The show brought out the craftsmanship in each of the members and Cactus as a whole. What was most satisfying and defining about the whole set was the fact that they did not reduce an unplugged show to just mindlessly replacing the electric guitar with an acoustic guitar like amateurs do, but rediscovered, rearranged and re-sang the songs in a new avatar. The commitment was clearly evident.
All in all a fantastic way to spend a chilling cold evening here in Gurgaon and reminise Kolkata and its sound. Long live Cactus and the spirit of good music. 

2013 the year that was

1.      Health :

a.      Heart attack J

b.      Angioplasty

c.      Lost 9 kg

2.      Travels :

a.      Goa

b.      Neemrana

c.      Mcleodgunj

d.      Krabi

3.      Lyric :

a.      Joined play-school

b.      Started talking

c.      First international trip

4.      Other interests :

a.      Wrote atleast one article every month

b.      Picked up the ukulele

c.      Drew two and gave away both – Ayushman & Boss

d.      Did some reading yes J

e.      Saw some movies – most memorable Meghe Dhaka Tara

f.       Political view unchanged

g.      Faith remains unrestored

5.      Profession :

a.      Got promoted

All in all a mixed bag… nothing to remember this year by except perhaps health wise.

Winter

What to you, me and our privileged son is Christmas, New Year’s eve,

barbeque parties, wine, warm blanket, snuggles, branded jackets,

coffee, waking up late, delayed flights ….

To them it’s the curse of a mother

whose little Ayesha’s hands will grow cold all night

and will not wake up the following morning …

600 litres of water they say
should be enough to wash this curse away...

I believe

I Believe,
Some where in between the barrel of a gun and Wordsworth's daffodils lies my guitar.
Somewhere in between sunny days and sleepless nights lies my guitar.
Somewhere in between two breaths and a skipping heart beat lies my guitar.
Above pettiness, below arrogance, beside the colours red and black lies my guitar.
Between acceptance and resistance, between Che and Mandela lies my guitar.
Between slogans and undecipherable poetry lies my guitar.
Somewhere in between Kolkata and Prague, Gautam and Hendrix lies my guitar.
Somewhere in between neon lights and a Strawberry field lies my guitar.
Somewhere in between your body and my hand lies my guitar.

Imagine

Are human beings born with a sense of fear? Fear for example of dark places? Or does it grow from the seeds sowed into our brain from childhood through bedtime stories of monsters, dark world, dragons, evil witch etc. Fear which then grips us firm as we grow older.. fear of getting lost, fear of punishment, fear of retribution,fear of failure, fear of dark places, ghosts... perhaps even God. I always felt that man is born fearless and our socio-politico-eco environment then hard punches fear into our consciousness. To prove this I have perhaps undertaken the greatest risk of all and have conducted an experiment now for over 2years.  The result is startling.

Lyric, my son was born 2 years back and marked the beginning of my silent experiment. The only one harmless instruction given to whoever spent time with him was never to talk of monsters in the dark or scare him or talk of punishment. The 'control' for the experiment were any kid of his age.

Lyric today has no fear of the dark, does not fear entering dark rooms, does not actually feel scared of anything. The flip side however is that he does not know what punishment is :) I do not want to take this experiment any further and I am sure the school where he will finally end up studying will end up doing the needful, in terms of instilling some fear in him, unfortunately. HUMANS ARE NOT BORN FEARFUL!!!

Now imagine a world where a young child has nothing to fear, imagine an entire generation growing up without knowing what fear is... This can perhaps happen only if the causes of fear are removed. No scaresity, no failure, no war, no violence... There will be nothing left to fear.

"You may say I am a dreamer, but i'm not the only one.
I hope some day you will join us... "