A peep into the Station Master's room at Central Metro Station

Yesterday on my way to office, my 40 ride metro ticket got rejected at the electronic gate though the last day of valid tenure was another week away. So, I approached a metro official posted at the gates for help. However, after a look at my ticket, the gentleman advised me to use the side gate to go ahead (lest I get late for my office) and visit the station master on my return journey. I was just too happy to oblige. So, in the evening, I went to see the station master, rehearsing the dialogs in my mind in case he was in a bad mood (I have this notion that a majority of government officials are always in a bad mood whenever they have to do something not in their itinerary and are often far placed from the word "etiquette"). But this time, I was quite happy to be proved wrong. The station master not only gave me a patient hearing but also offered me a seat. He examined my ticket first for the balance amount and then twice at a machine kept in the room before declaring that I can continue with the ticket and that no further problem would be there). Meanwhile, I also managed to have a look at the big screen (divided into four quadrants) which was showing areas of the station being monitored by the close circuit cameras. But this peep also gave me an insight about why suicides are still common at metro stations. In fact, limited vigilance at some particular points would never be enough to stop the deaths. So, unless the government goes ahead to install railings at the sides of the platform that would open up only after a train stops, people would continue with their suicide bids on the tracks of the metro railway.

Coming back to the story, thankfully, my ticket gave me no more problems and the ride back home was eventless.

Image courtesy: Website of Metro Railway, Kolkata

Fantastic Rupankar: a musical evening

Yesterday, I went to the University Hall at College Street to listen to a program of singer Rupankar (titled: Tumi Shunbey ki). Before this program, I had listened to just a few songs of this singer that were played on fm channels, especially, 91.9 FM (popularly known as Friend's FM). Though I liked the songs of Rupankar quite a lot, I never had any idea about the versatility of this singer. Rupankar gave a hint of his talent in yesterday's program. I'm really thankful to a friend of mine for arranging the tickets, without which I would never have been able to witness this event.

True to the hall's tradition of not being punctual, the program tested the patience of the audience a lot before finally beginning at 7 p.m (instead of the scheduled 6 p.m as printed on the tickets). However, Rupankar apologized somewhat at the very beginning and from there onwards, it was a smooth sailing. In the first half, the singer presented some of his not-so-common songs. He began with a song dedicated to his recently born daughter, Mohul. Two were medleys, marvellously blending the original English versions with the Bengali ones. Some songs had interesting phonetical sounds. Rupankar did full justice in singing these, moving with ease between fast numbers and not-so-fast ones. Little conversations in-between the songs gave an insight into the sensitive side of this versatile singer.

During the short tea-break, I came downstairs to have a cuppa but the huge crowd deterred me. Outside, it was raining heavily. The second half fittingly began with Rupankar's popular number Aaj Srabone (perhaps a tribute to the welcome showers outside). This half was dedicated to the audience and Rupankar belted one hit number after the other as requests from the crowd came pouring in, often in dozens. Finally, at 9.10 p.m, the program came to an end though many like me in the audience perhaps would have liked it to continue for sometime more (provided that vehicle back home was arranged or else, it would have been a problem to return). All-in-all, the whole event was simply brilliant. Hats off to you Rupankar. I hope that you would continue to enthrall your audience for years to come. I am already looking forward to your next stage show.

Chaitra Sale e life ta hell

As the month of Chaitra (the last month of the Bengali calendar) draws to a close, all the shops and shopping malls are offering discounts and special offers by the dozens to woo people. Poor souls like me are often caught in traffic jams, thanks to people who spill out on the roads from the already jam-packed shops, busy buying things with such a mad enthusiasm as if there's no tomorrow. So, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Chaitra Sale e life ta hell.

On a positive note, as the Bengali new year (Poila Baisakh is on 14th April) is about to begin, I hope that it would bring in new joy, hope and opportunity in everyone's life. So, here's wishing everyone Subho Nababarsho (in advance though).

South City Mall

Last Sunday, I went to the South City Mall with a friend. Situated on Prince Anwar Shah Road, this shopping mall is believed to be the largest in India, spread on a sprawling area of 6,00,000 square feet. What I liked the most about the place was its well-planned layout. The wide corridors of South City Mall has seats, some wooden and some cushioned sofas, where people can rest their tired feet before getting up again to explore the area. This mall has something or the other for almost everyone. So, grocery store (Spencer's), several clothing stores, bookstores, a full floor serving delicious dishes (different counters are there to serve delicacies belonging to different regions) and a cinema hall (Fame), all can be found under the same roof. We even managed to sneak into the parking lot from the top storey to get a nice view of the surroundings and the spiralling parking zone. The only bane appeared to be the absence of an elevator that could directly take you to the topmost floor. So, we had to take the escalator, hop down at each floor and then get on the other one going to the next higher level. This small problem notwithstanding, I simply loved the place and think it's worth a dekkho.

Lastly, a caution to all those willing to visit the mall in the evening. Plan your road-map cleverly as the place in front of South City Mall suffers tremendously from traffic jams in the evening. I myself faced a big problem while returning from there and had to break my journey into three shorter versions, not before walking a distance equivalent to three bus-stops as I couldn't get any vehicle (no buses, autos or taxis).

Image: Inside the South City Mall (Courtesy: Avrajyoti Mitra)

Charlton Heston:One of my favorite heroes

For the last two days, I couldn't get time to watch the news and so missed the fact that one of my best-loved heroes had died on April 5. Though I watch Hollywood movies much more than the Bollywood ones, my list of favorite actors is a small one, the top two names being Tom Hanks and Charlton Heston.

I still remember how I was in love with Judah Ben-hur the first time I saw Ben-hur on HBO. I later came to know that for this role, Charlton Heston won the Academy Award (Best Actor). Almost everything about the film Ben-hur still remains etched in my mind....the time when Ben-hur comes to see Messala and they drink together, crossing their hands in a peculiar manner (symbolic of their friendship), the tender kiss between Judah and Esther, how Messala condemns Judah falsely to the galleys (because Judah's political views were different from him), his hardships as a slave, how his fortunes return when Arrius adopts him as a son and he is a free man again, his longing to return to his home, the famous chariot race.......the list is endless. I have lost count how many times I have watched this film after the first viewing. Each time I loved Judah Ben-hur more than before and salulated his undying spirit to fight back, his enormous zeal to be alive. Though Charlton Heston had played many roles and won acclaim (especially for playing Moses in The Ten Commandments), my favorite has always been Ben-hur.

Though I know that death is inevitable, the news that Charlton Heston is no more made me sad. May his soul rest in peace and his family be given strength to go through this phase.

Welcome showers in Kolkata

As the summer season arrived, I was dreading to get fried in the scorching heat but all thanks to the showers (what a great timing!!!), the mercury hasn't risen to unbearable limits till date. Every now and then when it threatened to, the rain came and made matters all thanda-thanda cool cool. The only sad part are the muddy roads, not to speak of the water-clogged lanes and by-lanes. But it's the price to be paid for giving the heat a miss, I guess.

Story of the past life

A few days back, I read a story (The Accountant in the book of short story collection titled The Japanese Wife by Kunal Basu) about a man who could clearly remember his past life when he was Chota Mimar. It made a fascinating read when he had glimpses of the details related to the construction of the Taj Mahal. I simply loved the story.

It wouldn't be out of context to mention a small hillarious thing here. It so happened that during my school days, we had a chapter on food fads. Some common misconceptions and beliefs were listed there like eating ladies finger makes you brainy etc. The thing which I remember till date is how embarrassed I felt when I read that liking brinjals meant that you were a donkey in the past life. I was very ashamed to even admit loving brinjals from that day onwards in public (I still can't figure out why I believed that eating brinjals would strengthen the fact that I was indeed a donkey in my previous birth!!!) and it took quite some time to get back to my normal food habits.