Kobita

Kache ache tobu ache bohudure ,

jaane more tobu jaane na ;

dekha hoy koto, kotha hoy koto ,

kano mon tobu maane na ;

raat-bhore, koto mishti dupure

dekhechi taare je shopne ;

shopno sesob jaayni haariye -

rekhechi saajiye jotne ;

aaji ei kone, aponari mone

akasher neel rong -

khela kore jano, asheni kokhono

emono modhuro khon ;

aajibon dhore jaano tar tore

royechi shudhui daariye ;

aasha niye mone, hoyto shopone

debe se du-haath baariye.

Purono Chora

chottobalai prothom lekha ankora ak chora ;

porikhhar ager raate golper boi pora ;

school er sheshe gorer mathe shudhui cricket khela ;

adda mere katiye deowa sara bikel bela ;

ektu boro hobar pore JU campus ;

college kete cinema, r GL6 bus ;

koto notun bondhu paowa, koto loker bhir ;

se chilo ak jibon bote, duronto osthir ;

aro onek cholar baki, bolar baki mor ;

dekhar baki andhar raati, surjodoyer bhor ;

sukher bhitor dukher basha, dukher bhitor sukh ;

amar ki jai ashe tate, jamon chole choluk.

Chotobalar Kobita

akash theke brishti naami

ghuchiye dilo moner glani ;

jibon pother shokto mati

shokto holeo noyto khnati ;

sei matike bhijiye diye

namlo bari jhorjhoriye ;

pran-sagorer duronto dheu

ghirlo more, roilo na keu ;

poran amar akash-paane

roilo cheye jader taane ,

taderi baani ashlo bheshe

somukhe mor choddobeshe ;

dekhar majhe odekhare

dekhte je mon parlo na re ;

parlo na to mukhti pete

nitto-diner badhon theke ;

sei badhonei porlo badha ;

hridoye fer laglo kada.

Treadmill

After spending the whole day reading papers, thinking hard, and staring blankly at the walls, I decided to hit the gym. When you are mentally exhausted, the best way to recharge your batteries is to exhaust yourself physically as well. At least you will have a good night sleep, making it easier to refrain from obsessing over that problem you are trying to crack since the past couple of months.

While running on a treadmill, a piece of thought occurred to me. Let me begin with a gentle warning: I am a self confessed nerd, and by implication, a slew of weird thoughts capture my imagination all the time. To be honest, I had read about it somewhere long time back, and do not claim the perspective to be an original one. Nevertheless, I would like to articulate the viewpoint.

A person should have a clear idea of what she wants to achieve in her life. I intend to use the word achievement in the broadest sense possible. Indeed, one may aspire to become a respected professional, a loving daughter and wife, a trusted friend, and all these are considered to be achievements. A way of verifying that you are on track, an easy way, is to ask yourself whether or not you are trying hard enough. However, this can often be misleading. Suppose you are running on a treadmill. Close your eyes, and it will feel as if you are working very hard, perspiring a lot, and making great strides towards your goal; whereas in reality, you are stuck at the same place, wasting valuable energy for no good reason. A similar situation might arise in life. So the next time you approach nervous breakdown due to late nights in office, or get emotionally drained out in a relationship, open your eyes and honestly ask yourself: Is it worth it? If the answer is no, better change course late than never.

India After Gandhi

I have started reading "India After Gandhi" by Ramchandra Guha, and am slowly getting addicted to it. The book documents the political history of India from 1947 to the present day. Though it will take more than a month to finish a 900 page volume, I hope to stick around till the end. Here are some excerpts.

...throughout the sixty years since India became independent, there has been speculation about how long it would stay united, or maintain the institutions and processes of democracy. With every death of a prime minister has been predicted the replacement of democracy by military rule; in every failure of the monsoon has been anticipated countrywide famine; in every new secessionist movement has been seen the disappearance of India as a single entity......The heart hoped that India would survive, but the head worried it wouldn't. The place was.....far too diverse to persist as a nation, and much too poor to endure as a democracy.....

....On my way to work, I had to pass through Rajpath, the road whose name and location signal the exercise of state power. For about a mile, Rajpath runs along flat land; on either side are specious grounds meant to accommodate the thousands of spectators who come for the annual republic day parade.......By the time I had moved to New Delhi the British had long departed. India was now a free and sovereign republic - but not, it seemed, an altogether happy one. Signs of discord were everywhere. Notably, on Rajpath, the grounds meant to be empty except on ceremonial days has become a village of tents, each with colorful placards hung outside it. One tent might be inhabited by peasants from the Uttarakhand Himalaya, seeking a separate province; a second by farmers from Maharashtra, fighting for a higher price for their produce; a third by the residents of the southern Konkan coast, urging that their language be given official recognition by inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the constitution of India. The people within these tents and the causes they upheld were ever changing. The hill peasants might be replaced by industrial workers protesting retrenchment; the Maharashtra farmers by Tibetan refugees asking for Indian citizenship; the Konkani-speakers by Hindu monks demanding a ban on cow slaughter.....I wished I had the time to walk on Rajpath every day from January 1 to December 31, chronicling the appearance and disappearance of the tents and their residents. That would be the story of India as told from a single street, and in a single year.....However, this too, is a story, above all, of social conflicts; of how these arise, how they are expressed, and how they are sought to be resolved.......

The forces that divide India are many. This book pays due attention to them. But there are also forces that have kept India together, that have helped transcend or contain the cleavages of class and culture, that - so far at least - have nullified the many predictions that India would not stay united and not stay democratic. These moderating influences are far less visible; it is one aim of this book to make them more so....Suffice it to say that they have included individuals as well as institutions.

Feminist Rant

March 8th was women's day. The upper house of Indian Parliament passed the historic women's reservation bill on March 9th. Though I have serious misgivings regarding many aspects of the bill, it is heartening to see the issue of female empowerment receiving a degree of political attention that was long-overdue.

I grew up in an urban middle class society and have never been to a village. Thus it is not appropriate for me to comment on the grave socio-economic discriminations the females suffer in rural India. I will rather highlight some practices, quite demeaning to women, that are still prevalent amongst the so called educated sections of the populace.

1) A girl has to get married before a certain age, even if she is not financially independent by that time.

2) The husband should be professionally more established (in terms of job profile) than the wife.

3) The husband should be older (and taller) than the wife.

4) Even if both the husband and the wife are working, it is the wife's duty to manage the household chores.

5) If the parents of two kids (a boy and a girl) are constrained financially and have to make a choice, the boy will be encouraged to go for higher studies (PhD / MBA) while the girl will be married off as quickly as possible.

6) The girl's family will pay for the bulk of the cost of organizing the marriage.

7) It is the wife's duty to give up or change her job (or seek a transfer) and relocate to the place where the groom is working. She should not expect her future husband to relocate to her place.

8) A woman cannot preside over a religious ceremony. How many female purohits have you seen?

I can only hope the next generation will be more liberal and open-minded than us, and things will change for the better.

Belated HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY!!!

Khamkheyali Chora

amar gaane tomar sur-

bajlo moner ontopur;

ontopure kanna hashi-

kotok notun, kotok bashi;

kotok asha, kotok bhoy,

diner sheshe shondha hoy;

shondhakashe shopon bhela,

prothom prem r cricket khela;

khelar majhe jhogra-jhati,

akla pothe akla haati;

egiye choli, hochot khai -

aro onek haat-te chai.