See and feel it through my eyes....

It was an evening full of cheers and surprises, 

Colourful Calcutta...

Nu year Blast at park street Calcutta.

Being human.

I have been gathering unused cloths from kith and kin from the past few weeks, so that we can donate them to the poor and needy of the City. We choose 12th Dec 2010 for donating these cloths, Sunday is usually a day for celebrating, merriment and get together however this Sunday we choose to steal some time for these people. Calcutta is a place for the rich and poor, this city is like a fortress and we all seek protection here, we all should have a feeling of oneness. I don’t want to talk abut the government or the charity institutes, I’d or rather we’d love to see what we can do for our beloved city.

I got up 5 in the morn, packed all these clothes in separate bags; for kids, for men & for women. Imran & umair came to our place at 6 in the morning, we set off on the bikes, scanning the footpaths, in Calcutta the homeless usually sleep on these footpaths. I always remember Mahatma Gandhi ji’s talisman when ever I am sad or depressed. I quote…

 "I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?
Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

-         One of the last notes left behind by Gandhi in 1948, expressing his deepest social thought.

-         

               This boy lives on the footpath with his mother, he has no house to stay.

                                             This old man has spent all his life on the footpath.

Hang outs !

Bestow a holiday....

As a child I always had a lot of question on my mind, Why the grass is green? why not blue? why the water is wet why not dry? I had a million question to ask god I wished to turn the earth into a sheet of paper & all the oceans into ink and write a letter to god, now I laugh at this very thought of mine. As I grew up, the mysteries of nature have been unfolded partly. I always craved to be close to nature because we lived in the city. My Father was keen on taking us for a holiday every year during our summer vacation. We usually visited the country side, it was rich with greenery, fresh air, cuckoos, hills, the river and the paddy fields, it still lingers in my mind. My father always said Vacations force us to exercise because we walk greater distances, swim, chase the kids around and play sports. Regular movement during the day also boosts our circulation and gets our blood pumping which ups our heart rate and immune system. 

. You can go off the path, and make mistakes; but you'll pay o Have you ever slept on the green grass and watched the sky for hours? have you ever walked by the sea on a moonlight night? Have you ever rolled yourself on the sand by the sea? If you have done all this then I don’t have to tell you how it feels. I would say we all have the right to bestow a vacation to ourselves. You need to wipe out some space from your busy, stressful life, a holiday is not a luxury it is a vital necessity for a healthy body and peaceful mind, paying the hotel bills is much better than paying the hospital bills. We all need a break from the stress of work we are glued to. According to me every country should give maximum mandatory holidays for its citizens for a healthy nation. The government spends huge amounts of money on the health organizations unnecessarily. Its time for you to dig out and dust your old suitcase. Forget everything behind and zoom for a trek or camping in the forest.

The more I explore Calcutta the deeper it dwells in my heart.

I hail hail from the Southern part of India however i spent most of my life in West Bengal, for the past ten years I am staying in the City of Joy: Calcutta which is renamed as Kolkata. I prefer to call it Calcutta like most of my friends do. After going through the history of this City, my love for this city grows deeper and deeper. This City is crowded, loud and
Kolkata is a place which can be best understood by walking and exploring each one of its corners, a place whose joys and agonies cannot be fathomed by a phony visit. It is the only metropolitan today with trams and man- powered rickshaws still running on its roads. Kolkata has so many hidden 'gems' of architecural and historic value. One has to look beyond the grimy shop fronts in the crowded narrow lanes in order to suddenly spot a beautiful archway, or graceful latticed marble balcony. The city was known as 'The City of Palaces' because of its palatial homes.