Pujo

What is it with bongs and pujo! To the uninitiated, a bong=bengali pronounced ban'ali and pujo=durga puja. So then what is it between these two inseparable insane entities?

Every single day (from the 6th to the10th day of navaratri) bongs will deck up in their best (believe me more than they would when going to a marriage) and go to this place they call the 'pujo pandal' and then they will all collectively do nothing in particular but still believe they had great fun until when they are eventually forced to go back home bcos the 'mother' government wouldn't let her children stay up late. 11 pm and late? Poor bongs in their rich panjabis (kurtas) almost choked on their 'motton chops' when they heard that. But when the man in the khakhi uniform says it, you abide or else you could have all that costly saree and gold and powder and make-up ensemble cooling their heels in a 10x10 room with the wrong kind of 'bars'.

So what do bongs do in pujo? They give 'adda'. Here the word 'give' is almost as important as 'adda'. What is adda and how u give it requires a set of bongs available in front of you to demonstrate. It is that which can be named, can even be seen and felt but cannot be described in mere words (i mean how do you describe a thousand words a minute for hours on end in words again?)

And bongs, they also eat. I think they first eat and then they do anything else. Kobji doobiye na khele, khawa kono din sarthak hoye na! again for the uninitiated : kobji=wrist, doobiye=immersed, na=no, khele=eat, khawa=meal, kono=any, din=day(each day in pujo can also mean the english din although), sarthak=worthwhile, hoye na=will not be) Piece all those words together in the right order and you'll have the main motto in the life of a bong, irresepective of pujo or not.

So do i love pujo! Absolutely! Completely! Would never give it up! Would traverse as much distance as needed just to go somewhere and do nothing and 'give' adda and gorge on food - khichuri included- and think of it as one of the most stellar events on my calendar. WHY? I have asked myself that a hundred times and never found the answer. If anyone does find it, please dont tell me! I love pujo and I love the senselessness of most of the things we do there. Please dont make it sane. Let it be 'mindless' always!

PS: The movie review I had promised some ppl might not happen. I figure film critique isn't my stuff.

A mindful re-beginning

Recently a couple of my friends asked me about this blog of mine. It didn’t sound like a genuine inquiry into its current state of disuse but more like an obituary and so, true to my always procrastinating form I rise again from the ashes of self pity and excuses to write. Write, I hope well! So I may again have the handful of readers who still remember the blog although its creator had all but forgotten about it. Now, that last sentence done and my ego buffeted by my own sunshine being blown up my own end, lets get down to writing.

As I wonder about what I may write and muse to myself sitting in my hospital cabin the irony of it strikes me. The choice of the name mindless musings (most people who know me would vouch about the mindlessness of most of my words) seemed natural to me when I started off, but now as I sit here in the hospital as a psychiatrist the loose usage of the word hits me in the face much the same as a Brett Lee bouncer would some of our esteemed batsmen.

What is the mind and when is it mindless? Where does the boundary of reality end and where does the unreal begin? Does being so close to the divide all day long make the question even more poignant or does it dull it so much that the rust on the exhaust pipe of my bike seem more interesting? These are musings that I will leave for later. As for now I have to go attend to the reality of hunger and the surreality of the food my canteen will offer and leave the unreal virtuality of all that I write so very really.

PS: the name will continue to be ‘mindless’