The woods are lovely, dark, and deep!

I'm not a student, faculty or parent of a student studying at Whistling Woods International. I have been to this institute, because this is one among those few places which welcome film enthusiasts just for the love of Cinema. I remember the first time i visited. An educational institute dedicated to Film, Media and Fashion!

In a country where every second youth aspire to be a part of this industry, how many such institutes do we have? Not many, right! So here, I was in an institute that was catering education in the field, which is growing manifold every passing year. Training, grooming students in subjects that many would wish to study but cannot pursue because of a huge void in terms of educational facilities offered in this sector. Great, so this institute is providing educational support to all media aspirants and enthusiasts, alright. But, the next thing that caught my attention was, how many educational institute with an intent to cater formal education dare to have a motto "Do What You Love"? Needless to say, i was floored and that's the spirit, the vibe i thoroughly enjoyed while in this sprawling campus.

8 years old and their achievements as an educational institute surpass many other institutes' promise to deliver a lot more. The way they operate makes it clear that it's not financial or political support that makes an institute flourish. It's the students, their achievements, their love and support for their institute, a bevy of experts as faculty, hands-on experience on equipments students get, internship with acclaimed media houses, international collaboration for student-teacher exchange program and a lot more.

I have been following the news closely and being a regular on social media platforms, i can very surely say, that such relentless support from far and wide, students speaking for their institute, alumni sharing their experiences, cinema enthusiasts standing by, can only be because of what the institute has done over the years - they have touched lives in some way or the other, they have inspired and nurtured many a creative soul, they must have done a lot more, as it keeps reeling in my head.

My wishes and prayers for you because you have inspired me somewhere, in some way. Keep up the spirit, the flag will fly high in days to come. 

Where From and Where To !!

The 'Notion' of "Pujo-Merriment" ends for this year. The last four days were spent amidst certain issues that worried me, certain gathering where i laughed to welcome the dawn and certain incidents that got etched in those dark memory chambers. 'Pleasurable' it was in its own way. Amidst friends and laughter many were remembered and missed till the dream of a faraway bejeweled city trampled the silence of the night. 'She' leaving for abode wrenches my heart even today. Logical explanation strongly proclaims that the 'reason to leave' is to 'return soon'. The idols with which i shared my deepest secrets and to whom i murmured my prayers will again sink in the murkiness of the monotonous fight to Survive.

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I again read Love Story, Heidi and Jungle Book. This time while i held these books and moved my eyes through the soft words,  the greyness of aging or the speed of raging towards an uncertain future stared hard. The glaring truth of having strained relationship with 'Innocence' and leaving the sense of excitement of being able to relate with the protagonists far behind, posed question about why can't these pieces be enjoyed with the same enthusiasm as was possible ten or fifteen years back?! As an answer I will go back to keep these books in my school library, where i got acquainted with the most enjoyable music of life... 'the hushed humming of my classmates' and then will go and stand by the side of the lake where the setting sun imparts the most vibrant hue to welcome the bright moon and the twinkling stars. I will leave these books on the grass by that lake where open eyed dreams knew what a soul mate is.

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Twelve years: left Daltonganj. A small, uncivilized, barbaric town in Jharkhand. Yes, the adjectives perfectly define the place, but sadly not as per my belief. How can I?! The hot afternoon loo taught me that 'unbearable' is just a word, everything has a soothing presence about itself. Had it not been so hot, could i have ever known what fun it was to sit with cousins and play tell-a-tale under the staircase! The chilly winter breeze silenced me with its gift when questioned about its pinch on the bare skin. It whispered in my ear that had it been not the way it is,how would i have enjoyed the bliss of those morning dew. The swelled up river Koel never stood by me and always encouraged me to flow along with.

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Blurred Vision

..and you HAVE to say  this and you turn around with that ‘gossip’ urge just to realize, its a different office, different environment, different people and then you turn to the screen and log on to g-chat and see that green blob beside the name with whom you wanted to share it..but the excitement-of-the-moment-and-matter is gone.

...and you want to sip some coffee and chat and laugh it out loud and bitch and after you have dialled, the phone rings and you realize the geographical distance between, but then you continue to talk some irrelevant stuff while trying to fight the distance.

...and you have that ‘blank expression’ on your face after coming out of the theatre, and on gauging the ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ of the expression you miss words like ‘and this awesomeness calls for a celebration’.. or ‘ we really need to treat ourselves for going through such a pain’... and in either cases you head to one of your favourite places on earth or its just Someplace Else.

Shower and Smile.. :)

A few things first:

I love noticing the numbers ascending beside the word 'comment'..but i get equally disheartened when i land in there all-exited just to realize that i don't know the language... :(.. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart hoping that you have appreciated my writing.. :)..but if you care to discontinue you will be even more appreciated for not leading me to a 'hope-n-miss' case.

I changed the template and the font and that motivated me to write today.

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Me in Bombay...for good...having a good time in the new office, loving the work which is similar to what i did long time back and i am enjoying this to the core.

Meeting old friends, chatting, catching up from where we left some ten, seven and two years back, making new friends.

Exploring areas, getting lost, missing the obvious turns to reach certain places, staring hard at the bus route no. and destination written, standing for hours at some stoppage or stations simply to observe the motion, it feels good.

Running to the terrace at midnight, awake from a sleep, to enjoy the silence in an otherwise not-so-silent city, it feels great.

Decorating the room with all stuff which never appeared so dear before...a beautiful room but not yet as warm as the one at 95, southern avenue...one thing that never went out of my mind for a nano second since i have left the city.

Shuffling the radio stations to know the programs by time and station. i miss the 'familiar' voices.

The frequent drizzle, present-continuous rains, flickering sun, steady moon and the absent stars make my day.

Thus were my last 30 days...hope to have more of such experiences. :)

P.S: Not getting over 95, Southern Avenue, Lake Road Barista, Sector V, Park Street, Boulevard Swimming Pool, Deshapriya Park, South City is not that i am sad about or i crib... but with these memories i walk to get a glimpse of the city which i am sure will be as much familiar in the coming years..

I Remember the Day ..

..started with appreciating the western ghats, streams, tunnels, winding roads and rails, greenery and the dried patches, the serpentine rails and then a sudden realization with an awe.... "Gosh, as soon as this scenic stretch ends, i will find myself in a new place, with new faces all around, away from everything known to the core".

i remember making an unreal, impractical wish: The train should move on with its whistle blowing and tearing apart the fear of the unknown, let this be a journey with no destination.

Reality: The train stopped...yes it did and i was standing amidst everything new with a new found enthusiasm, a new hope to live it up to the fullest..with a new realization.I was embraced by the so called unknown and i realized that i was living a dream tucked faraway.

Thought: Will i be there again and this time will I get a chance to embrace what embraced me an year and a half ago.. !!!!...I Wish..

Smile :-)

Hey...Whats up??!!!How is Life???!!! I ask this question to myself many a times...More when i am not doing fine...not physically...but more when something from within tickles and say.."There's something not in place, dude!!"...and just to console myself and to move on i say "Yes", but right then i actually get to sense how superficial the answer was.

Today was a pretty bright day...infact not actually as is expected in the second week of November...woke up in the morning...it was quite hot..treated myself with cookies and a cuppa "Infusion"...the famous Coffee House of Kolkata has this written on their menu card for "Black Coffee"... :)..How a few things just come up, na...well, for people living outside Kolkata, whenever you visit The City of Joy, make it a point to go to The Coffee House.

Then, my flatmate wished me "Happy Children's Day"...wished her back with a huge smile :)

People whoever are on my Facebook friend list, might have noted my status message. For the rest, i was suppose to go to the Kolkata Film Festival, thought of watching "Tum Mile", needed to go to the cobbler and parlour et al....and, knowing myself, i also gave this note at the end: ..."Hope the 'Lethargy Bug' keeps off", but to no rescue..it did hit me right on time...

It was almost 12 by then, so went for a bath, had lunch, watched a movie on Television, took a short nap, woke up, "Infusion", TV, online..and it was again 8pm.

But know what...after a long long time...this has happened. I am rarely at home...infact, weekdays or weekends, i stay at home till i am doing something. On weekends..washing, dusting et al and moment its over..i walk out..literally.. :)..either watching a movie all by myself, shopping, chatting with friends, at Barista and around the city and finally at home when the moon is almost about to pass my balcony, and right on time, i go running to the balcony and wish it a good-bye till the next day(well, before that ultra-dark night..i also give it a flying kiss and a bunny hug, as it wont be present the next day and will be difficult to locate for the next few days)....

But today, right before i started writing this, i asked myself, casually, just for the sake of it..."Hey Wazzup, how's life??!!!" and prompt came the answer with a smile catched unaware...."Absolutely Fine, Dudette"...and this answer made me feel more content, more happy..and this answer for sure was not superficial..it came from the same chamber as the question and the smile stood as stamp of assurance.

And then i realized, we often in our hurry to catch up with things around, to do the mundane, to smile at people, to answer the questions...we forget to keep a note about what is the person inside doing???!!!...Its not about being selfish..or self centered...its just a time when you take an off from your surroundings to pay a visit to the self that makes you what YOUare to the world and offcourse to yourself...

Well, i am not the kind of person who crib and complain..yea..offcourse there are times when i actually do so, but overall i am a very happy kind of a person. I cannot pressurize myself or keep myself tensed for long. I can actually be the happiest person in any given situation, but that comes with a big IF, i.e, I am Happy only if I want to be... and thats what i think is important. One cannot let anyone take him/her for granted, nor should one always intervene in what others are doing.

A few statement stands true,very true, and more often than not i try to follow those lines:
Live and Let Live
Smile and the world smiles with you

At the end...i know only one thing:
Its my life...its a blessing and i got to live it up...i got to live it to the hilt...i got to be Happy and should always enjoy the blessing...

On that note and on this "Children's Day" let us all be as pure and true and lets smile that "Lovely Innocent Smile"...Kudos to Life and Lets be Happy and make the world a happier place to be... :-)