Tuesday 14 December 2021

এজন বাঁহীবাদকৰ দুখ



এজন বাঁহীবাদকৰ সুৰবোৰ
শিমলুৰ তুলাৰ দৰে
বতাহৰ সতে উৰি যায়,
আনৰ বুকু জুৰায়।
তেওঁৰ আঙুলিৰ বোলত গজি উঠা
ভিন্নৰঙী সপ্তকৰ সুৰবোৰ
এখন মায়াজালত পৰিণত হয়।
বোকাবৰণীয়া দুখবোৰে সেই সুৰক 
সাৰ-পানী যোগায়।
নিতাল মাৰি শুই থকা সেউজীয়া পখিলাবোৰ
সাৰ পায় উঠে।
ওখ পাহাৰটোৰ পৰা হালি পৰা 
পাইনগছৰ সুহুৰিবোৰ
আকাশলৈ ঢাপলি মেলে।
বাঁহীৰ কান্দোনত টোপাল টোপালকৈ 
সৰি পৰা সুখবোৰে
পথাৰখনক গাভৰু কৰি তুলে।

Tuesday 24 June 2014

When the sky talks

When we were children, our parents used to point at the sky and said, " Look at that bright little star. It's your grandmother. She passed away long ago and became a star. Now she's smiling at you from the sky." Our tiny minds became overwhelmed with strange emotions. Sometimes they told us that the scars in the moon are nothing but a deer strolling down a big Holy basil or Tulsi plant. In Assamese-  " তুলসীৰ তলে তলে মৃগ পহু চৰে !" The big and glorious sky was always standing beside us during our childhood, bewildering us every now and then.

When I was a teenager, I made friendship with the sky. I don't recall exactly now how many nights passed by counting the bright little stars and talking my heart out to a strange friend who always listened quietly, with whom I could share everything. It really felt awesome to spend the night beneath the open sky, laying in the green grass, inhaling the raw smell of the land.

Gradually, I discovered that the sky also has emotion. The vermillion coloured sky of an autumn evening smiles like a dream girl spreading its beauty everywhere. The blue sky looks so peaceful that whenever I feel down, I look upwards. "Peace is just above your heads!", the sky whispers. Have you ever noticed the rainbow across the rain drops splashing at your window glasses? Don't you feel like singing or dancing to the tune of the rain drops? I simply stare at the sky whenever lightning flashes across it. It just says, "Look how beautiful I am! Don't you think so?" The sky looks like an old man just before darkness prevails. But it springs up the very next day with new colours and new emotions.

Life is a bit hectic now. I don't get much time to see my old friend as I did in the yesteryears. But I believe that it has sprinkled lots of flavours into my life and it will continue to do so...as a good old friend!!

Sunday 22 June 2014

The Society to which I belong and the God

Human beings are social animals. That makes them different from other animals. But there are some unique characteristics and behaviours that are common to both human beings and other animals. One of those traits is to fight for survival. Animals either fight themselves or depend on others to survive. Human beings also fight. But there lies a conspicuous difference between these two types of survival methods.

For other animals, survival means food which they acquire from nature. It is as simple as that. Human beings basically need three things to survive- food, shelter and clothes. If we go down the history of human evolution, everyone will agree to the fact that there was no vast difference in the survival strategies between human beings and other animals in the past. Human beings too depended directly on nature for their survival. But the wheel of advancement pull human beings apart from other animals slowly and steadily. In todays world, there is one powerful driving force on which human beings depend for their survival. Some consider it as the God. You can acquire whatever inanimate or animate things you want if you have the God with you. It is called Money !!

If you have money you are the boss. At least that is the general doctrine in todays society. People will fall at your feet and flatter you like anything until they pull something out of you and get their motives accomplished. Humanity, kindness everything crumble in front of this God. This is the society I live in and I despise it from the bottom of my heart.

The greed for money is ruining our society from the core. I work in a place where I often see teenagers leaving studies even before finishing high schools. Their parents are too busy thinking about money. The psyche of their children also get forged in that manner. They also start to hanker after money at an early age. We lose so many things at this juncture. We lose morality, good ideology, humanity, probably some potential leaders of the society and lots of things. That is how downgrade of the society begins.

There were time when human beings survived without money, just like other animals. Why money was invented then? The answer is quite obvious. It is to make our lives easy. Wikipedia says that Money is any object or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a particular country or socio-economic context. Let me make it simpler. I need something for my survival which another person is having. Similarly that person needs something which I have. So what do we do? We exchange it. There comes the idea of money. Many things were used as medium of exchange or so called money in the past, such as, livestock and sacks of cereal grains that were themselves useful directly. Later cowry shells, beads, and then coins made from precious metals were used to exchange for more useful commodities. Money thus played a big role in our survival and making our life easy.

Money was the invention of the typical human mind. From the above discussion it can be conceived that money itself is not so devastating as it appears to be. As a matter of fact, it makes our lives quite easier than it was at the time of Adam and Eve. But it is our too much greed for money that  is taking its toll on us. Even mother Nature has not survived from the consequences of the rampage that is going on among human beings regarding money, the God! As we all know, everything has a good and a bad effect. It entirely depends on us which way we choose to go. Unfortunately, the human society is heading the wrong way. It will ultimately lead to complete destruction and extinction of the human society if we do not think for the precise measure at this very moment. The cure for this disease is nothing but to control the power bestowed upon us by the God. Let our future generations see a peaceful society where money is no more a Devil or God, but only a good friend.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Winter Night



While the cold breeze cuddles me gently
And the dripping dew drops sing a lullaby,
The deep silence of night wakes up-
Listening to a distant guitar,
Humming "Do-Re-Mi"
And 'tis the night I dream about
To enjoy moments of solitude
And being only me.













Wednesday 31 August 2011

Humanity and The Pianist

I had an opportunity to watch a movie a few days back. It is directed by Mr. Roman Polanski which was rewarded with the prestigious Academy award, the BAFTA award and many more. The movie was about German invasion of Poland during the World War II. I was really moved to see the inhuman and barbaric treatment by the German soldiers to the Jewish people living in Poland. There were prohibitions on going to pubs and parks, walking on the pavements and even sitting on the public benches by the side of the road. The basic human rights were also being eroded when the Jewish population were imposed upon the restriction of keeping only a limited amount of money with them which was not even enough to purchase food and other daily necessities for themselves.

Mr. Wladyslaw Szpilman (enacted by Adrien Brody), a Jewish pianist woking at the Warsaw Radio in Warsaw, Poland, sells his piano to get rid of the impending hunger his family was going to face. All the Jewish people were forced to desert their home and move to the infamous Warsaw Ghetto where they faced the extremes of psychological and physical adversities. It was heart-rending to see a mother begging for a drop of water for her little son dying in her arms. An old lady fights in vain with a severely hungry ragged guy for a little amount of meal. The meal got spilled on the road from the container the lady was carrying, but that guy was so desperate to have it that he did not even bother to lick it on the road. One night, the Szpilman family witnessed a brutal murder when a group of Einsatzgruppen (paramilitary death squad responsible for mass killings of Jews) entered an apartment just opposite to the one where the Szpilman family was taking shelter and threw an old sick person from the balcony of the top floor along with his wheel-chair. His only offense was that he was unable to move from his chair  when the SS (Schutzffel- paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler responsible for crimes against humanity duirng World War II) squad ordered all of his family members to stand up. Those cruel monsters did not stop with that. They took the other family members into the street and shoot them while they were running for their lives. Then they drove over the bodies.

Szpilman, the pianist, was a character to be observed in the movie. He got separated from his family in an unfortunate moment and tried to survive alone. Those moments of survival were such heart-touching that I could not help but praying for his life. He used to change his hide-outs very frequently to save himself from the cruel Nazi army. Mr. Wilm Hosenfeld (enacted by Thomas Kretschmann), a German officer, noticed Szpilman  in the remnants of an old building. Hosenfeld was touched by  the pianist's talent and spared his life.He was a man of large heart as he also was the supplier of bread and clothes to Szpilman during the last days of Szpilman's hide-out.

I observed the violation of human rights on one hand, and different emotions of human being on the other hand. I was pleased to see that there is at least a few people on the earth who think for others, who are always helpful and kind.I learnt about life and love. I understood the definition of passion. Mr. Szpilman had a deep passion for his piano. He allowed his fingers to dance on the imaginary keys of a piano in the air when he had not been able to touch one in reality during the days of Nazi invasion. Adrien Brody really deserves a great applause for making the character of Szpilman lively and very human. My heart will always cry for those innocent people who lost their lives during those days of Nazi barbarism.



Sunday 10 July 2011

The Pride of being human

          It was a calm and refreshing evening in Jorhat town. I was enjoying a cup of tea sitting at a tea stall and inspecting the activities going around. There was a small grocery store across the road. The owner was an old-timer pale looking lady. She was chewing paan and spitting here and there. A rough looking middle aged man was trying to peel a pine-apple with a small blunt knife sitting on the porch of the tea stall. A cow  was filling its belly with the last batch of green and fresh smelling grasses for the day in the grazing field beside the grocery. I was looking ideally at the vapors developing from my cup and slowly getting vanished in the air. Everything seemed to be so usual. I ceased my eyes from the cup and tried to widen my view as far as possible. Then I noticed a tiny bird with a broken leg lying helpless beside the road. It was spreading its wings and hoping with one leg, trying desperately to fly away. Its eyes were fixed on the pale-reddish sky. I started pondering whether this little creature would see the next sunrise. I soon got the answer.  A bunch of crooks appeared all of a sudden on the scene and started pelting the bird with stones. Before I could respond to the situation, that poor little creature breathed its last. A wild cheer from those lunatics went across my ears and left me stunned.
           I always felt proud of being human-the best creature ever in the world. But a strange awkwardness surrounded me as I thought about it at that moment. I left that place with a heavy heart and a mind full of questions.

Friday 3 June 2011

Shillong days- 1

This image was taken on 27th of July, 2006 while Yannick, Nandaraj, Uttam and me were rehearsing for the last night function of the Stephenian Olympics, 2006, our hostel get-together. We were in B.Sc. 2nd year. All four of us were very much excited and enthusiastic about our show. We were gearing up like a professional band ( I wish it were a reality) !!! Uttam had never played drums before. But he had a good sense of how it works and how to catch up with the rythm. Yannick was my mentor as a guitarist. He had flair for lead and rythm guitars. Well, Nanda did his rythm guitar part very handsomly. I was very jubilant to perform with these guys.

Like this, there were lots of memories that I treasure in my heart. I remember the auditorium with royal touch.  I never felt nervous while climbing up the big stage. Instead of it, I felt very proud as an Anthonian. My friends were just like the delicious spices in a good dish. The dish of life and friendship. I treasured a number of friends who will be there with me in my weal and woe-anytime, anywhere.

There are lots of things to tell about the days I spent in Shillong, the Scotland of the East. I need space and time for it. I will be very much contented to jot down those moments in my blog. But, for today I have some other business.