The Pursuit of Happiness

We are spending the second-best time of our lives (nothing can match the adolescent years, the coming of जवानी).
We are reasonably healthy.
Have enough money to pursue our dreams.
Very few obligations; parents are dead, mortgage has been paid.
We have made peace with our wives, our families and with ourselves. We fight less.
Our job position is senior enough that we shouldn't be stressed out.
We are at the peak of our knowledge; we can better understand the world around us.
We are old enough to be tolerant about our own follies and those around us.
We are wise, we are patient, we now know "This too shall pass".
We know what we like, not “what we should like”.
We have nothing to prove.

This is the only point in life where we have all four basic ingredients for the pursuit of happiness: health, money, wisdom and freedom.

So enjoy the moment, have a toast. Have fun.

A Week in Paris

ছবির দেশে, কবিতার দেশে এক সপ্তাহ।

I have to see what a proud nation of 70 million thinkers, poets, writers, scientists, historians, leaders, generals, artists, architects, and bibliophiles has built over 2500 years in one week.
These are the people who pretty much invented whatever is good and beautiful and lovely in the modern world.
The University of Paris has been producing thinkers for almost a thousand years!
I can spend a lifetime just seeing Hugo or Monet.
All of these without knowing French and without a guide. The only guide I have are these three books.
Imagine the responsibility. Pardon me, Paris. I feel so weak and humble. But I will give my best.
Here is my plan. I will also cover the Pantheon, Montmartre, the Opera, the Arc De Tiomphe, Champs-Elysees.
The rest of the time, I will wander around the streets of Paris.

• 12 July Sunday 11 am Louvre
• 12 July Sunday 5 PM Sainte-Chapelle
• 13 July Monday 4.15 PM Notre Dame
• 14 July Tuesday 10 AM Bastille Day
• 14 July Tuesday 1.30 PM Musee D’orsay
• 15 July Wednesday 1 PM Versailles
• 16 July Thursday 12 PM MUSÉE DE L'ORANGERIE
• 16 July Thursday 2.30 PM Eiffel Tower

বাংলা সাহিত্য

বাঙালি এক সময় উন্নতি করেছিল। কেন করেছিল? রাজনীতি করে নয়, দলাদলি করে নয়, ধর্মান্ধতা দিয়ে নয়। বাঙালি সাহিত্যের আদর করতে শিখেছিল, লেখককে শ্রদ্ধা করেছিল। আমি আমার ছেলেবেলায় এই সব বই পড়ে বড় হয়েছি। আমি ইংরেজি জানতাম না, এখনও ভালো করে জানি না। আমি এই সব কালজয়ী লেখকদের চিনেছিলাম বাংলা অনুবাদের মাধ্যমে। পৃথিবীর খুব কম ভাষায় এত বড় সাহিত্যের সম্ভার আছে।

ব্যাঙ্কিম লিখেছেন।
“আজ বঙ্গভূমির উন্নতি সম্বন্ধে আর আমরা সংশয় করি না— এই ভূখণ্ডে বাঙালী জাতির গৌরব হইবে। কেন না বঙ্গদেশ রোদন করিতে শিখিয়াছে—অকপটে বাঙালী, বাঙালী কবির জন্য রোদন করিতেছে। যে দেশে একজন সুকবি জন্মে, সে দেশের সৌভাগ্য। যে দেশে সুকবি যশঃপ্রাপ্ত হয়, সে দেশের আরও সৌভাগ্য।.... যে দেশের শ্রেষ্ঠ কবি যশস্বী হইয়া জীবন সমাপন করেন, সে দেশ প্রকৃত উন্নতির পথে দাঁড়াইয়াছে। মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত যে যশস্বী হইয়া মরিয়াছেন, ইহাতে বোঝা যায় যে, বাঙালা দেশ উন্নতির পথে দাঁড়াইয়াছে।.... যদি কোন আধুনিক এশ্বর্য্য-গর্বিত ইউরোপীয় আমাদিগের জিজ্ঞাসা করেন, তোমাদের আবার ভরসা কি?—বাঙালীর মধ্যে মনুষ্য জন্মিয়াছে কে? আমরা বলিব, ধর্মোপদেশকের মধ্যে শ্রীচৈতন্যদেব, দার্শনিকের মধ্যে রঘুনাথ, কবির মধ্যে শ্রীজয়দেব ও শ্রীমধুসূদন।.... ভিন্ন ভিন্ন দেশে জাতীয় উন্নতির ভিন্ন ভিন্ন সোপান। বিদ্যালোচনার কারণেই প্রাচীন ভারত উন্নত হইয়াছিল, সেই পথে আবার চল, আবার উন্নত হইবে। কাল প্রসন্ন—ইউরোপ সহায়—সুপবন বহিতেছে দেখিয়া, জাতীয় পতাকা উড়াইয়া দাও—তাহাতে নাম লেখ ‘শ্রীমধুসূদন’।”

আমি যখন ছোট ছিলাম, বোকা ছিলাম, তখন ভাবতাম সাহিত্য নিয়ে কী হবে। বিজ্ঞান পড়লেই সব শেখা যায়। আজ বুড়ো বয়সে বুঝেছি সাহিত্য ছাড়া জীবন অসম্পূর্ণ। যদি শিক্ষিত হতে চাও তবে সাহিত্য পড়ো, কালজয়ী সাহিত্য পড়ো। একখানা ভালো বই সমাজ পাল্টে দিতে পারে, একখানা ভালো কবিতা বিপ্লব আনতে পারে। মানুষের জীবনের সব উন্নতির পেছনে আছে কালজয়ী সাহিত্য। আজ বুঝেছি নিউটন-গ্যালিলিওর মতো রুশো-হুগোও আমাদের জীবনে অনিবার্য।

আজ বাঙালি পড়তে ভুলেছে, লেখা ছেড়েছে, ফেসবুক-ইনস্টাগ্রাম আর রাজনীতিতে মেতেছে। বাঙালির অধঃপতন কে আটকাবে?

A nice article on Hugo

My first and only book review

Fursat Ke Raat Din

I went to the USA in July 1996 as a contract employee on an H1B visa. I lost two jobs back-to-back in the first 3 months! I had $250 with me. I had no job, no friends. I could not speak English, and I could not drive a car. I could not stay in the USA on an H1B without a job.

I was royally fucked.

It was October 1996. I was in Cleveland. I was trying for a job in Philadelphia at a Kolkata-based Company (DCL) via some acquaintances.

I had to travel between Cleveland and Philadelphia a few times. Since I had no money, I was travelling by Greyhound bus. It was an 11-hour journey via the Appalachian Mountains. It was October, and the fall colour was in full bloom. The trees were so red that it gave the feeling that the whole mountain was on fire, particularly in the evening.

I bought myself a cheap Walkman for $14 (I was really cash-strapped), and I had this cassette by Gulzar. I listened to Fursat-ki-raat-din all the way. I was sad and stressed. But I was also young and confident. So my worries could not stop me from enjoying those few beautiful journeys via the most beautiful places in the world.

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqKY02NoTgcRW_b5e1nuc4xO3odkvOeZx&si=sDhmXO_RCuPQn7cP

Even now, when I listen to this album, I remember those bittersweet days.

These are the memories that do not allow me to quit drinking. It is so much fun that I do not have the heart to give it up.

I was thinking of abstaining till Thursday. But YouTube started this music in my car this morning, and all my restraints are off.

Tonight = Amrut + Fursat

After 30 years of constant struggle, don’t we all deserve a little Fursat!

Cheers!

Of Human Bondage

No one felt this simple truth in his guts than I. These learnings are seared into my existence. No one values money than I do. No one hates poverty than me. I don't want to be rich. But money gives me dignity. Dignity is more precious than life.

I knew days when half a loaf of dry bread was luxury. Having two meals a day was security. Today I can afford cheese from Belgium, bread from France. I can afford to dine at the Sangri La daily. Do I want them? Hell, no. I enjoy my dal and vat better than any food in the world. But I CAN. That matters.

My Friends

I am not an agreeable person. People cannot tolerate me for more than ten minutes. Women run from me as if I were a ghost. Men leave me after a few interactions.

That’s why I have no friends. Diya and Ranjita are left only because they don’t want to desert a lonely person. But they feel better when I am away. Probably that’s why we have so few family photos.

It was not always like this. I started my life with a huge reservoir of goodwill and many friends. I had friends at home, at school, at work.

But slowly, with my obnoxious behaviour, I started drawing that pool of goodwill, and when the tipping point came, friends started leaving me one after the other. It began with Kingshuk in 2008. One day, he just walked away and never spoke to me again. Then left Paromita, Kumar, Amitabha (CMC), my Jadavpur friends… In twenty years, the process was complete, and I was left with no friends.

Diya sometimes asks, “Dad, why don’t you mix up with people and make new friends?” I don’t have the heart to tell her, “ Beta, people hate me. I cannot make new friends.”

At work, everybody hates me. So whenever I leave a company, people are so relieved. No one has ever asked me back again.

I did not care. I thought that I had my computer, which is enough. But now even computers are getting smart. So when I ask Amazon Alexa in the morning, “Alexa, set an alarm for five minutes.” Comes the grumpy answer, “I set an alarm at 8:43 AM”. But when Ranjita asks the same Alexa (Ranjita has a sweet voice), “Alexa, please set an alarm in five minutes.” Comes the cheery answer in a pleasant tone, “Good morning, Ranjita. I set an alarm at 8:43 AM!”

This is frightening. Even computers are leaving me.

But I still have my books. They are always there at the head of my bed. I can pick up any one of them anytime. They will never mind 🙂

Teri Mitti...

In the last few years, every 15th August at 8 AM, I wake up to this song playing loudly from a mic in our apartment building. Our society people find this song patriotic 😂

I have not seen the movie. But I read that this is based on the Battle of Saragarhi. That makes it the most inappropriate song to play on Independence Day!

The Imperial, colonial British Raj sent a mercenary army of Sikh soldiers to occupy independent, sovereign Afghanistan. Naturally, the fiercely independent-minded Afgan people butchered them. And rightly so.

Why is this event patriotic for India? It is patriotic for the Afghans.

And this song, “Teri Mitti…” It's not your mitti, Ishar. Neither is it British mitti. It is AFGAN mitti. You are a paid mercenary.

If you cared for your “Teri Mitti”, you should have stopped serving the British and shot that General Dyer in the head. Thank you so much.

India is a funny place, with a funny sense of history, particularly now, in this topsy-turvy new Hindutva India.