So it is that time of the year again, when every alternate email or scrapbook entry in Orkut I get asks me about my Pujo plans. And if that is not bad enough, once I reply that Pujo does not really mean anything here, they start making funny noises like how a Bengali can live without a Pujo holiday.
Now I am not exactly right about Pujo here. The Benagli Associations in most big cities do organize Pujo's, albeit often just for a day on a convenient weekend. Our Gainesville is just a small college town, but we do get to go to the Pujo's in Orlando or Tampa and those are just a couple of hours drive. I must appreciate the tremendous effort put in my the organizers at all these places, after all it is no trivial thing to put together the events. However, its just not possible under the given constraints to make it feel like the Pujo's back home and none even pretends that they are.
These are more like a social get together to most people here, where they meet up, discuss about their kid's achievement and show off their latest acquired saree or jewellery, while letting their kids recite Bengali poems with a hugely American Bengali accent. Nothing wrong with that per se, except that I don't really enjoy it as a Pujo. Rather it is kind of like a day out for me with semi-authentic Bengali food and long drives with saree clad Bengali girls! (Too bad, rarely any of them to "look at" in the Pujo venue, that robs half the charm of Pujo!)
Anyway here is some moments of the Pujo at Tampa yesterday.
http://picasaweb.google.com/deepak.kar/DurgaPujo2006TampaFL
However, all said and done, I do miss Pujo back home. But I do take issues with people suggesting that I should leave everything I am doing and rush back to Kolkata during Pujo to reinforce my Bengali credentials. Apart from Kolkata, nowhere in the world Pujo is a holiday and for those of us outside Kolkata, there is realistically a very little chance of landing up there during these days. And when when you are actually away from Pujo-land, you do not miss Pujo unless you are reminded everyday!
Showing posts with label Calcutta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calcutta. Show all posts
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Monday, October 31, 2005
A "Physi-Cal" Adda!
Someone totally unconnected with Physics gave me this amazing link - where Prof. A.K. Raychaudhuri is interviewed by Parthasarathi Majumdar, Soumitra Sengupta and Jayanta K. Bhattacharjee.
Although I never had an opportunity to know Prof.Roychaudhuri personally - he inspired over a generation of Physicists from Kolkata - to say the least. There are many people who do good work - but beyond his research - he was an outstanding teacher in the sense of the term , according his students - which includes my father and uncle too - in my family. And this video was taken on July 2005 - just months before he passed away - makes it more special.
But to me - its more touching - because of the interviewers. Soumitra Sengupta , formerly of JU , now in IACS , is perhaps the reason why I came to Physics at the first place. Looking back at the summer of 1997 , still undecided about the career path - his inspiring lectures at JBNSTS summer school - which more often than not went beyond the scheduled hours - were one huge reason for me finally going in Physics. Then in spite of his busy schedule - we always had "SSG" as our mentor in JU days. Jayanta K. Bhattacharjee of IACS , much better known as "J.K.B" seemed to have an unofficial responsibilty of getting JU students started with some research in their undergrad years - and I was no exception. I must admit that due to other commitments - many times my effort did not live up to his expectations - but he was always so patient and encouraging - it was a real learning experience to work with him. Partha Majumder - of SINP , formerly of IMSc , had been a family friend - and he is an integral part of the Kolkata Physics circuit - but personally I did not have too many chances of interacting with him.
They called it an "interview" - but its more like an "adda" session. Adda is an integral part of Kolkata culture - and physicists are no exception. It was a nostalgic feeling for me to hear all those familiar voices discuss anything and everything - and somehow rekindles the focus for Physics again.
And before I forget - here is the link -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7361442212004324371
Although I never had an opportunity to know Prof.Roychaudhuri personally - he inspired over a generation of Physicists from Kolkata - to say the least. There are many people who do good work - but beyond his research - he was an outstanding teacher in the sense of the term , according his students - which includes my father and uncle too - in my family. And this video was taken on July 2005 - just months before he passed away - makes it more special.
But to me - its more touching - because of the interviewers. Soumitra Sengupta , formerly of JU , now in IACS , is perhaps the reason why I came to Physics at the first place. Looking back at the summer of 1997 , still undecided about the career path - his inspiring lectures at JBNSTS summer school - which more often than not went beyond the scheduled hours - were one huge reason for me finally going in Physics. Then in spite of his busy schedule - we always had "SSG" as our mentor in JU days. Jayanta K. Bhattacharjee of IACS , much better known as "J.K.B" seemed to have an unofficial responsibilty of getting JU students started with some research in their undergrad years - and I was no exception. I must admit that due to other commitments - many times my effort did not live up to his expectations - but he was always so patient and encouraging - it was a real learning experience to work with him. Partha Majumder - of SINP , formerly of IMSc , had been a family friend - and he is an integral part of the Kolkata Physics circuit - but personally I did not have too many chances of interacting with him.
They called it an "interview" - but its more like an "adda" session. Adda is an integral part of Kolkata culture - and physicists are no exception. It was a nostalgic feeling for me to hear all those familiar voices discuss anything and everything - and somehow rekindles the focus for Physics again.
And before I forget - here is the link -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7361442212004324371
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Why I dont miss Pujo
This is that time of the year. Whenever I have a conversation with anyone from back in Kolkata - they would inevitably ask whether I miss pujo and then without paying any attention to what I say - mumble some sympathetic words.
Let me get this clear for once and all.Ladies and Gentlemen - I do not miss pujo.Yes - I repeat - I do not. And now having made it amply clear - let me explain why.
I am an atheist. Now I know pujo is more of a social occasion than religious - so me not believing in the powers of the Goddess is not the issue here. You miss something only when you actually realize other people are enjoying it while you cant. Being 10,000 miles away from Kolkata - immersed in work - chasing deadlines - you never realize its pujo. Pujo is not only four days of pandel hopping - its the expectation from months back, the shopping, the preparation. The overall ambiance makes pujo what it is. That whole ambiance is absent here - nothing around me tells me its pujo - so pujo days pass like oh so normal days for me.
Ignorance is indeed a bliss sometime.
Let me get this clear for once and all.Ladies and Gentlemen - I do not miss pujo.Yes - I repeat - I do not. And now having made it amply clear - let me explain why.
I am an atheist. Now I know pujo is more of a social occasion than religious - so me not believing in the powers of the Goddess is not the issue here. You miss something only when you actually realize other people are enjoying it while you cant. Being 10,000 miles away from Kolkata - immersed in work - chasing deadlines - you never realize its pujo. Pujo is not only four days of pandel hopping - its the expectation from months back, the shopping, the preparation. The overall ambiance makes pujo what it is. That whole ambiance is absent here - nothing around me tells me its pujo - so pujo days pass like oh so normal days for me.
Ignorance is indeed a bliss sometime.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Ah Those Locals!
Somewhere I came across this comment by an angry Mumbai resident -
So a fare paying Mumbai commuter is equated with the ticket less traveller in Kolkata because at the slightest provocation the Kolkatans burn trams and buses, so they have to be listened to.
I know my fellow Kolkatans wont take this too kindly. They would start with how Kolkata is the most livable city (As long as you just live conforming to every social norm), how the people are most helpful (Sure, there is never any dearth of people to enforce a strike or road block) here, and how it has been neglected by the central governments (How many of the last central governments have been supported by left again?). Rather than going into such serious issues let me talk about my Kolkata local train experience, which in a way mirrors the overall state of the city!
I used to stay in this place called Sonarpur in the southern fringes of the city. The only reasonable way to go anywhere else from there was by these local trains. Now to say that they were crowded would be an understatement - you have to push, shovel and fight just to grab something to hold onto - exposing yourself to all kinds of verbal and physical abuse, pickpockets and people caring weird stuff, like live goats and rotten fish. In a few minutes you would be completely drenched in sweat - barely balancing yourself in the mad rush of people getting up and going down. And as our Mumbai friend rightly says - most of these people never bought tickets. I remember one conversation I overheard - there used to be these special ticket checking drives once in a while - and a few people apparently jumped off the running train to run away from that and ended up badly injured- so this guy sounds very agitated and says something - which would loosely translated mean - why bother the persons traveling without ticket? Check tickets of those guys who have bought it. That's the attitude of Kolkata local train passenger for you!
And the same group of passengers once beat up the stationmaster because one day trains ran on time. Wondering why? Pretty simple actually - the trains always ran late - and people were used to that so much that when it actually came on time - they missed it.And the easiest way to protest against anything and be noticed is to sit on those track- even if it is totally unrelated -like the American interference in Cuba or Genocide in Sudan.How many cities can boast of such responsible citizens?
So a fare paying Mumbai commuter is equated with the ticket less traveller in Kolkata because at the slightest provocation the Kolkatans burn trams and buses, so they have to be listened to.
I know my fellow Kolkatans wont take this too kindly. They would start with how Kolkata is the most livable city (As long as you just live conforming to every social norm), how the people are most helpful (Sure, there is never any dearth of people to enforce a strike or road block) here, and how it has been neglected by the central governments (How many of the last central governments have been supported by left again?). Rather than going into such serious issues let me talk about my Kolkata local train experience, which in a way mirrors the overall state of the city!
I used to stay in this place called Sonarpur in the southern fringes of the city. The only reasonable way to go anywhere else from there was by these local trains. Now to say that they were crowded would be an understatement - you have to push, shovel and fight just to grab something to hold onto - exposing yourself to all kinds of verbal and physical abuse, pickpockets and people caring weird stuff, like live goats and rotten fish. In a few minutes you would be completely drenched in sweat - barely balancing yourself in the mad rush of people getting up and going down. And as our Mumbai friend rightly says - most of these people never bought tickets. I remember one conversation I overheard - there used to be these special ticket checking drives once in a while - and a few people apparently jumped off the running train to run away from that and ended up badly injured- so this guy sounds very agitated and says something - which would loosely translated mean - why bother the persons traveling without ticket? Check tickets of those guys who have bought it. That's the attitude of Kolkata local train passenger for you!
And the same group of passengers once beat up the stationmaster because one day trains ran on time. Wondering why? Pretty simple actually - the trains always ran late - and people were used to that so much that when it actually came on time - they missed it.And the easiest way to protest against anything and be noticed is to sit on those track- even if it is totally unrelated -like the American interference in Cuba or Genocide in Sudan.How many cities can boast of such responsible citizens?
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