I always thought that I was the biggest show off and a narcissist on FB. But of late I have witnessed an increasing number of such narcissists on FB. I feel I am nothing when compared with them. I only write what I feel at that very moment. My thoughts are spontaneous and honest. They aren’t conceited.
I update my status only when I am fully convinced of what I am writing and I upload my photographs just because I like to hold on to beautiful memories. All my albums are dear to me because all the photographs in them have been clicked during special occasions – occasions and moments which will never come back – and these pictures are the only recollection of those bygone beautiful moments.
In the past, I have also been blamed for being a big mouth but do I really care? Of course not…like I said, I write what I feel. I am on FB to be in touch with people – my relatives, my schoolmates, ex-colleagues and people I have come across and liked both professionally and personally. That’s all. I don’t like to chat unnecessarily and lately I have ceased to comment on people’s statuses also. FB is an inherent part of my life because it helps me to be in touch with everyone whom I am unlikely to meet in the near future. I get to know what they are thinking and doing in their everyday life. Isn’t that cool? Well, I feel that way!!!
So let people think what they want to about me. If they want to think of me as a big show off and narcissist, let them feel that way. Let them be happy feeling that way about me. I will continue doing what makes me happy….and also feel good about it…
Thursday, February 24, 2011
My Tom & Jerry are away!
My Tom & Jerry (Jemimah & Jewel) are away. They have gone to stay at my brother’s place as their final exams got over very early this year. So they are enjoying themselves with their cousin.
I will be going to my brother’s place tomorrow to get them back. In the meantime, I am buying a lot of surprise gifts for them. It’s not that I don’t buy presents for them but buying things for them now when they are away is something that I am enjoying a lot. Every day I buy something and go on keeping these items on their bed. I am not going to tell anything to them about these gifts. I want to see the expression on their face when they see all these things for them.
Like I wrote on FB yesterday, absence is making my heart fonder for them. The house is so quiet and spic and span without them. I feel lonely without them in the night. They both have the habit of sleeping on my arm – Goldie on the right and Googaa on the left – my arms ache when they sleep for too long. But now they feel so light. As Golu too is working late hours nowadays, I feel all the more lonely. I try to keep myself engrossed by reading but after a while I get bored of reading also. That’s human tendency. Too much of anything isn’t good enough. Life should be proportionate. Tonight will be the fourth night without them both but it seems such a long, long time. Tomorrow night I will be with them. Saturday they will be back home…yippee!!!
I will be going to my brother’s place tomorrow to get them back. In the meantime, I am buying a lot of surprise gifts for them. It’s not that I don’t buy presents for them but buying things for them now when they are away is something that I am enjoying a lot. Every day I buy something and go on keeping these items on their bed. I am not going to tell anything to them about these gifts. I want to see the expression on their face when they see all these things for them.
Like I wrote on FB yesterday, absence is making my heart fonder for them. The house is so quiet and spic and span without them. I feel lonely without them in the night. They both have the habit of sleeping on my arm – Goldie on the right and Googaa on the left – my arms ache when they sleep for too long. But now they feel so light. As Golu too is working late hours nowadays, I feel all the more lonely. I try to keep myself engrossed by reading but after a while I get bored of reading also. That’s human tendency. Too much of anything isn’t good enough. Life should be proportionate. Tonight will be the fourth night without them both but it seems such a long, long time. Tomorrow night I will be with them. Saturday they will be back home…yippee!!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
A trip to Alibaug
On Friday, 11th February, 2011, I went on a picnic to Alibaug with my colleagues at Centerac. It was an overnight picnic and I came back next day evening. I hadn’t gone on a picnic since a very long time so I really enjoyed and spent some “me” time at the picnic spot.
We started from the Gateway of India on Friday afternoon in a catamaran and reached Alibaug in the evening around 5 o’clock. Soon after reaching there, we went to the sea beach and I clicked a lot of photographs – of myself, the beach, coconut trees, shells, rocks, sunset – few of these are already uploaded on Facebook. I also rode on the horse-cart along with other girls. Then all of us played kho-kho at the beach and came back to our hotel to have our dinner. In the meantime, there was a huge bonfire and hookah and we all sang around it the way we wanted to.
Then at midnight we went for a walk at the beach and next day in the morning played cricket. I enjoyed and laughed a lot. In the afternoon we went to beach again and I collected a lot of shells for Jemimah and Jewel. We had prawns curry, rice and ‘surmai’ fry for lunch. It was great fun….!!!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
EMMS School, Sector 5, Bhilai
I am so very happy today. And also so very nostalgic!!! Few minutes back I joined EMMS Sector 5 School in Bhilai on Facebook. It is the second school that I attended. In my entire school life, I have attended four schools as my father kept relocating from one city to another. Never mind! Actually I was searching for something else in Bhilai when I happened to come across the school. I was so very happy to see the old black and white class photographs – of other students – none from my class…but still I felt so very happy just looking at them. I saw photographs of the school compound, cycle stand and the stage where in my fifth standard I had danced during the Annual Day on the song “We welcome you to EMMS 5….” I used to participate in each and every activity in the school. Just like Jemimah and Jewel. My eyes were getting filled with tears when I saw the old pictures. The entrance gate and the classroom….oh, they all look just the same. I saw the pictures of my PT teacher and headmistress Mrs. Ahuja. I wish to find some of my old classmates like Renuka, Pinky, Moumita, Paromita, Pratibha, etc, etc, etc, here online. Some teachers like Mrs. Ghera, Mrs. Ghatak (my fifth standard class teacher), Mrs. Iyer (used to teach Maths), Mrs. Narang and my most favourite Archana Miss. And also our Sanskrit sir whose name I have forgotten. I hope I am able to do that soon.
I also have found EMMS Sector 6 school but unable to join the group as my computer is giving some technical error. This is the first school of my life. I was in I ‘B’ and my class teacher’s name was Mrs. Sharma and the name of my class teacher in the second standard was Mrs. Pali. I remember only one girl from this school – Shweta Dey – whose fingers were bitten by a monkey during her childhood (that’s what she used to say). I am still feeling nostalgic today and want to know where everybody is from my school.
I used to be Jubilee Mukherjee at that time.... :)
I also have found EMMS Sector 6 school but unable to join the group as my computer is giving some technical error. This is the first school of my life. I was in I ‘B’ and my class teacher’s name was Mrs. Sharma and the name of my class teacher in the second standard was Mrs. Pali. I remember only one girl from this school – Shweta Dey – whose fingers were bitten by a monkey during her childhood (that’s what she used to say). I am still feeling nostalgic today and want to know where everybody is from my school.
I used to be Jubilee Mukherjee at that time.... :)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Protagonist or some other character
Two things happened to me on Friday, 4th February, 2011, while going home. Both the incidents happened in the train. In the afternoon, RJ Komal of 104.8 FM called up to take my song request. I have not been listening to radio nowadays because I feel that the reason for my nagging headache is the long hours I spend on my mobile listening to music. So I have been avoiding radio on my mobile to find out whether actually it’s true or not. But on Friday when Komal called up, I gave my request to her and remained tuned in to hear my voice and song – “kya jaanu sajan hoti hai kya gum ki sham” - on air! I love retro music and will have to be tuned in to listen to all my favourite numbers all over again. It’s such an inherent part of my life.
The second thing which happened to me was quite embarrassing. I started crying while reading “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy. I cried when I read that one of its characters, Ammu, died a lonely death in some unknown hotel where she had gone to give a job interview. I guess this is the only book which has made me cry. Other books have made me sad for a little while but none have made me cry so much. In fact, there was so much of tears in my eyes that my vision became blurred and I actually had to stop reading to get back to my normal self.
This is the problem with me. I get involved with either the protagonist or some other character in a book and start identifying myself with it. In “The God of Small Things” I have been identifying myself with Ammu - the mother of twins Rahel and Estha – because she has two children and she doesn’t distinguish between her children. The kids too fight and then make up with each other just like Jemimah and Jewel. So I had tears in my eyes when Ammu died in the middle of the story. And the way Arundhati Roy has described the death and then the cremation is really so very touching. I felt bad at the narration. I have read this book before also but it was in 1999 and I had forgotten the story. But now I was deeply interested right from the first line and started identifying myself with Ammu may be because I am also a momma now. Anyway, I like this book and it has become a favourite and has a special place in my heart.
Another book which has a special place in my heart and will remain so for a long, long time to come is “The Count of Monte Cristo”. This book is close to my heart because it brought me out of the most difficult phase of my life and the character Edmond Dantes as the Count made me fall in love with him. I also like his sweetheart Mercedes. But of course I like Edmond Dantes the most and he is the most favourite and memorable character I have ever come across in a book. I will cherish his memories for the rest of my living days and years for the transformation he brought into my life and helped to come out of the tricky situation. I will forever remain indebted to him.
The second thing which happened to me was quite embarrassing. I started crying while reading “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy. I cried when I read that one of its characters, Ammu, died a lonely death in some unknown hotel where she had gone to give a job interview. I guess this is the only book which has made me cry. Other books have made me sad for a little while but none have made me cry so much. In fact, there was so much of tears in my eyes that my vision became blurred and I actually had to stop reading to get back to my normal self.
This is the problem with me. I get involved with either the protagonist or some other character in a book and start identifying myself with it. In “The God of Small Things” I have been identifying myself with Ammu - the mother of twins Rahel and Estha – because she has two children and she doesn’t distinguish between her children. The kids too fight and then make up with each other just like Jemimah and Jewel. So I had tears in my eyes when Ammu died in the middle of the story. And the way Arundhati Roy has described the death and then the cremation is really so very touching. I felt bad at the narration. I have read this book before also but it was in 1999 and I had forgotten the story. But now I was deeply interested right from the first line and started identifying myself with Ammu may be because I am also a momma now. Anyway, I like this book and it has become a favourite and has a special place in my heart.
Another book which has a special place in my heart and will remain so for a long, long time to come is “The Count of Monte Cristo”. This book is close to my heart because it brought me out of the most difficult phase of my life and the character Edmond Dantes as the Count made me fall in love with him. I also like his sweetheart Mercedes. But of course I like Edmond Dantes the most and he is the most favourite and memorable character I have ever come across in a book. I will cherish his memories for the rest of my living days and years for the transformation he brought into my life and helped to come out of the tricky situation. I will forever remain indebted to him.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Classic Literature reader…
Sadly, I cannot recall the exact day and the exact time when I became an avid reader of Classic Literature. Reading had always been a passion for me right from my childhood and I had started off by getting home Nancy Drew books from St. Michael School’s library at Durgapur. I am sure that laid the foundation for me as a reader. I remember graduating to books like James Hadley Chase while still in school or may be in college. Here again, I can’t recall the exact year. After devouring most of these JHCs, I got hooked onto Sidney Sheldon novels and other similar stuff which I could buy from the old paper marts at dirt cheap price. But I am sure I always yearned to read the ‘right’ stuff … though I didn’t know what it was and where to get it from.
Despite this kind of reading, one thing that always attracted me was history as a subject and I wanted to read more about the characters in the pages of all history books. I didn’t know where I would get all these from. I was attracted especially to Greek History and mythological characters and they held the most special corners in the sockets of my heart. Some great historical names like Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Julius Ceaser, Homer and even Sophocles kept me thinking and wondering in amazement. I always thought and wondered where I could read more about these Greek philosophers.
Till that time I satiated my thirst for reading with ‘cheap’ stuff (that’s what I feel now). Then, I guess, around 2006 I went to Inorbit Mall at Goregaon and ‘dared’ to enter the Crosswords bookstore there. Till then I was simply in awe of such places. I mustered up the courage to buy two most inexpensive books from there – ‘Tragedies of Shakespeare’ and ‘Little Women’ – out of the entire lot of fascinating books around me. I was feeling so ‘rich’ – both literally and figuratively – I had managed to buy books about which I had always dreamed of. I can swear on anything that it was the turning point for me as a reader and I became choosy of what I read. Earlier was I a random reader. Like they say for love, similarly, I fell hook, line and sinker for Classic Literature. From then on I only bought Classics.
While I was working in Reed Infomedia, the Shivaji Park Crosswords was close to my office and I started buying Classics from there regularly for myself, Jemimah and Jewel. I also discovered two things – my passion for Classic Literature and the fact that these books weren’t that very expensive. I could afford them. There was no looking back from there on. It must be around 2007-08. I had given the tag of a Classics reader for myself and I was mighty pleased about it.
Now I am an out and out Classics reader and whenever I read anything ‘light’, I feel disgusted - with the story line, with the filthy language and various other things. I feel I am doing injustice to my passion for reading by wasting my time on these silly books. I have evolved as a reader and I want to remain an ardent Classic literature fan. Come what may, no lighter stuff for me even though sometimes I find it difficult to understand what is being written. I don’t mind rereading my Classics to understand them fully but I want to read only these books. I want to fill my shelf and myself with Classics and feel great as a reader. So it’s only Charles Dickens, Alexander Dumas, Rabindranath Tagore, O Henry, Oscar Wilde and Jane Eyre for me now.
Despite this kind of reading, one thing that always attracted me was history as a subject and I wanted to read more about the characters in the pages of all history books. I didn’t know where I would get all these from. I was attracted especially to Greek History and mythological characters and they held the most special corners in the sockets of my heart. Some great historical names like Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Julius Ceaser, Homer and even Sophocles kept me thinking and wondering in amazement. I always thought and wondered where I could read more about these Greek philosophers.
Till that time I satiated my thirst for reading with ‘cheap’ stuff (that’s what I feel now). Then, I guess, around 2006 I went to Inorbit Mall at Goregaon and ‘dared’ to enter the Crosswords bookstore there. Till then I was simply in awe of such places. I mustered up the courage to buy two most inexpensive books from there – ‘Tragedies of Shakespeare’ and ‘Little Women’ – out of the entire lot of fascinating books around me. I was feeling so ‘rich’ – both literally and figuratively – I had managed to buy books about which I had always dreamed of. I can swear on anything that it was the turning point for me as a reader and I became choosy of what I read. Earlier was I a random reader. Like they say for love, similarly, I fell hook, line and sinker for Classic Literature. From then on I only bought Classics.
While I was working in Reed Infomedia, the Shivaji Park Crosswords was close to my office and I started buying Classics from there regularly for myself, Jemimah and Jewel. I also discovered two things – my passion for Classic Literature and the fact that these books weren’t that very expensive. I could afford them. There was no looking back from there on. It must be around 2007-08. I had given the tag of a Classics reader for myself and I was mighty pleased about it.
Now I am an out and out Classics reader and whenever I read anything ‘light’, I feel disgusted - with the story line, with the filthy language and various other things. I feel I am doing injustice to my passion for reading by wasting my time on these silly books. I have evolved as a reader and I want to remain an ardent Classic literature fan. Come what may, no lighter stuff for me even though sometimes I find it difficult to understand what is being written. I don’t mind rereading my Classics to understand them fully but I want to read only these books. I want to fill my shelf and myself with Classics and feel great as a reader. So it’s only Charles Dickens, Alexander Dumas, Rabindranath Tagore, O Henry, Oscar Wilde and Jane Eyre for me now.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Fifteen years!!!
Fifteen years ago, today's the day, I started working as a trainee journalist. I was immensely passionate about journalism and utterly crazy for cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar. It was the biggest aim of my life to be a journalist and meet him. I guess this is the only reason I chose this career in journalism.
Burning with this passion, I joined a company called EXIM as a trainee journalist and used to work part-time over there. In the mornings I would go to work and in the afternoons I would go to my college. Life was extremely cool or so I felt at that time.
But honestly, it has been an extremely roller-coaster career for me. I have never aimed high and always given priority to my family. For me, it has always been home first and then work. That's the way it has been since I got married and especially after my two babies. But once in a while, I have had to compromise a bit on the family front but then I make sure that everything runs smoothly all over again.
Burning with this passion, I joined a company called EXIM as a trainee journalist and used to work part-time over there. In the mornings I would go to work and in the afternoons I would go to my college. Life was extremely cool or so I felt at that time.
But honestly, it has been an extremely roller-coaster career for me. I have never aimed high and always given priority to my family. For me, it has always been home first and then work. That's the way it has been since I got married and especially after my two babies. But once in a while, I have had to compromise a bit on the family front but then I make sure that everything runs smoothly all over again.
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