dip, dip , soo...deeeeep!!: Photo Essay: Durga Puja

Getting Started

First tinge of Saffron.. the 'bengal school of art' diety.

Spare her the rains.... the godesses' umbrella!

Finally... Ma Durga comes home.

Kash phule, akashe batashe! (Kash trees, an advent of autum, clear skies and Durga puja)

Getting ready.... aalpona .. especially the young ones!

Durga Pandal.... the Goddess and her family!

Sandhya aarti at Ashtumipuja.

Kumar Puja at Belur Math.. mortal incarnatioin of the Goddess

Kumai devi .... and the Godddess

Daki... Puja will never be complete without them...

The vermillion boxes... before Sindur Khela

Sindur Khela starts (Playing vermillion with Goddess Durga, the ultimate sati)

Sindur Khela

I has to end finally ... Bisharjan

Jai Ma Durga, Durgesh Nandini...

Aasche bochor aabar hobe (It will happen again next year)

Dhunuchi nach... celebrate. Devei durga is gone, long live devi Durga

EtCetTra .. Favourite movies, TV, books, animation etc

TV SERIES: YES MINISTER ... An all time winner from teh BBC stable. My personal favourite. For the witty dialogues , for the sudden turns in plot and the understated Brit humour and stiff upper lip. The comic timing between the ever bungling minister Jim Hacker MP, his permanent secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby and private secretary Bernard Wooley. Just too good! Brit Humour Sit com never ever got better! Viva BBC...
TV SERIES: X FILES .. It hooked me. Or rather, 'ET' hooked me. The different ET therories, the adventure and pace, Chris Carter's atut screenplay, the chemistry b'wn Mulder and Scully. Every Thursday night, I was bang in front of the TV. Did not miss one single episode in 5 years!!. Two things of special mention. The nattily dressed Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). Best suits I ever saw. And off course agent Diane Scully (Gillian Anderson). Oh so pretty. Especially those dark blue eyes. Woud get lost in them! My only major celeb crush.
TV SERIES: MASH ... It tried to be funny. It had a cocky sense of humour (ALAN ALDA at his best). But the message, always there, yet not 'on your face'. It naratted tough stories of tougher men and women at the height of Korean War! Always matter of fact and humorous, yet never derogatory. Funny yet involved. Helped me take life seriously but not myself seriously. Helped me 'grow up'.
TV SERIES: HOUSE OF CARDS ... Ian Richardson as the machivelllian Prime Minister Francis Urquhart at his best. Gave a bird's eye view of politics with all all shady hues! A must see for the acting, the trilogy an all time great in the BBC series.
TV SERIES : MacGuyver .... Because he was cool in crisis. The only one who used his head and not raw power. because Dean Anderson made it all look so good and easy. Because of hos evergreen lines.. "The right way to use the gun is not from the nozzle but from the butt"
MUSIC: MOTZART... Thanks. For everything. When I am happy. Sad. Angry. Let down. Mischevous ... You have something or the other to offer me. Thanks for bringing some solace to my world.
MUSIC: MOHINER GHORAGULI ... For bringing some fresh air and fresh perspective to Bangla Rock. To pull Bengali music from the softie Rabindro Sangeet's of the world, turn it upside down and give it new meaning. To understanding me and my problems in my student days. What more, to sing out those words of rebellion ... Ghoraguli jano na thame! (May the horses never stop running!)
MOVIE: WHEN HARRY MET SALLY ... Harry (to Sally): How about this way? I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. Sally (to Harry) You see? That is just like you, Harry. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you, and I hate you, Harry. I really hate you. I hate you. (they kiss).... Need I say more? Which other movie has captured man woman friendship / relationship with all its subtle nuances in a better way?
MOVIE: UNISHE APRIL ... 'Silence might be golden… but when it quietly sneaks into any relationship, it has the capacity to turn it cold.' This is what happened between Aditi and her mother Sarojini after the death of her father on 19th April. “Unishe April” is a journey of a day (specifically a death anniversary) in the life of Sarojini and Aditi, who are connected for the sake of an institution we call “family”.
MOVIE: TITLI ... Right from the opening moments, when the lilting song ’Megh peon’ fills the air, the viewer is likely to be enthralled, one can be prepared to get sucked into the vortex of relationships - a mother and a daughter, the mother and her ex-lover - their past and the present , and, last but not the least, the daughter and her matinee idol - who is none else but her mother’s ex-lover. The complexities are languidly portrayed amidst a brilliant setting, and the advent of monsoon is as dramatic as the celebrity actor’s arrival disturbing the seemingly unstable matrix.
MOVIE: THE SOUND OF MUSIC .. Have always been a softie! Specially for musicals. And what better than this? Pre war Austrian countryside, 7 kids, a young nun, a bachelor, awesooooom songs, great story and acting. I think there are two kind of film freaks - those who have watched The Sound of Music and those who are going to watch it!
MOVIE: SHONAR KELLA ... Prodosh Chandra Mitter aka Feluda. In the Rajasthan desert. With Topshe and Jatayu. Chasing two dreaded criminals who have kidnapped a boy. Soumitra in the role was 'oh so apt'. The detective that all Bong kids grew up to idolize. Especially the last scene with the peacock. Ray's own cfictional protagonist brought alive by the master himself.
MOVIE: SHOLAY ... How do you start writing a synopsis of a movie that burts a thousand images in your memory? A simple good acting, great screenplay, awesome cast, wow music, mindbogling action sequences, incisive dialogues, great humour, nice storyline and super debut direction is still an understatement! It just doesn't say enuf! So why bother?? See the movie to experience it all over again.
MOVIE: NAYOK ... Nayak explores the Bengali film industry primarily through a successful but self-doubting movie star idol. Through his mid-life crisis and self-examination we also glimpse the challenges that face filmdom itself: its lightweight escapist fare, commercial emphasis, and corrupt business practices.Ray deftly guides the pair (Uttam Kumar & Sharmila Tagore) through a sensitive restrained relationship that is quite poignant, making this relatively obscure film a worthy screening
MOVIE: MASOOM ... There are times in life when you feel, you have everything you wanted, and nothing could possibly go wrong. When all of a sudden, fate strikes an unexpected blow and you awake to find your cozy dream world shattered. You find yourself having to face something which you had never even expected at all. Masoom is one such story. It works on many levels. A)The wife and husband relationship which is affected by Rahul’s arrival. B)The wife’s hatred for what she sees as a symbol of her husband’s mistake . C)Rahul who has to bear the cross for a mistake committed by some one else. Shekhar Kapoor in his debut movie handles the complex theme with a wonderful sensibility and sensitivity not often witnessed in Bollywood.
MOVIE: LOVE ACTUALLY ... Love actually is everywhere. So claims the film before setting out to prove its point by shining a flashlight into the lives of a large group of quirky and loosely connected characters facing life changing decisions about love. In the end, love triumphs, love fails, love begins, love reaches its end, love is born anew. Love breaks bonds and forges new ones. Love destroys lives and brings hope. It's all there, wrapped in a perfect Christmassy bow.Especially the script and editing is just fantastic
MOVIE: CHARIOTS OF FIRE ... Sporting events today have become rancorous, angry affairs where the motto, more frequently than not, is "win at all costs." Exhibitions of good sportsmanship are about as rare as selflessness. So it's refreshing to look back at an era when victory didn't demand isolation, bitterness, and hatred of one's rivals. Chariots of Fire, the Oscar-winning 1981 film, transports us to the 1924 Olympics, and, in the process, highlights such commendable qualities as commitment, perseverance, and fraternity. Especially the theme of GOD and humanity over nation state.Not to forget, the awesome score by Vangelis.
MOVIE: A FISH CALLED WANDA .... If it is indeed possible for a film to be both stylish and tasteless, then A Fish Called Wanda certainly fills the bill. In A FISH CALLED WANDA, veteran director Charles Crichton and scriptwriter-star John Cleese create a dazzling quilt from various strands of English and American comedy. He times everything in this brilliant comedy with the precision of a Swiss watch.And yes, Curtis's never ending legs! If not the movie, just those are worth the fare!
CARTOONS... Tintin (Snowy, Haddock & Co), Asterix (Obelix &Co.) for making growing up so easy! For those summer holiday afternoons when they were my world! No wonder time flew like crazy in their company! Indrajal comics (Betal, Mandrake, Flash Gordon etc etc) in Bengali. Action was their middle name! I even had a dress like Betal (Phantom). Calcin & Hobbes when I was a lil more matured yet enough to understand the trivialities (and frustrations) of growing up faced by Calcin. Oh the wicked world of adults. Thank God Hobbes was there for support (and sometimes the odd prank!). Sarcasm on life, yet so subtle. Finally, Batman, the animated series, by Warner Bros. The ideal (or some say the only) American post modern superhero. The man with no superpowers, yet in the vigilante business to avenge his parent's death. The only superhero with shades of darkness himself, traversing the fine line b'wn good and evil. Not squeaky clean like Superman, Batman not only fought evil but also his inner angst! The unpredictable and human 'Dark Knight'.
BOOKS: PORTERHOUSE BLUES ... Thank you Tom Sharpe. Fron continuing Woodehouse's tradition, albeit with more vitriol! Sarcasm and humour never got better. Laughed crazy reading it...
BOOKS: LORD OF THE RINGS .. I will not dare to write a synpsis of a tome called LOTR. Its humongous, vivid, rich in imagination. Am sure scores have tried before me and failed. I first read it as part of my Secondary syllabus. It was the first book that I finished before all other subjects. There are two kinds of people who read English literature - those who have read LOTR and those who are going to read it!
BOOKS: IT: Kids in a small town called Derry are killed by "It". George, Bills brother, is one of these victims. Bill wants revenge. He and his other freinds try to kill it by going into the sewers. They think they killed it. They were wrong. Thirty years later they all find themselves back in Derry to fight It again.... The best by Stephen King.
BOOKS: CHOWRUNGHEE ... My first exposure to the glam Cal of the 60s. The posh calcutta underbelly, its sfting sands of scrupolous people, the poingnant depictions of a going on in a hotel, the vibrant anglo Indian community all richly descibe by Shankar in his second Bengali novel. Especially the interplay of relationships between the protagonists and the eventual tragedy harping on the main theme.. 'Change is the only constant thing in life'.

dip, dip , soo...deeeeep!!

A life full of P-O-S-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-I-E-S!!

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