Thursday, August 28, 2014

Are 'We' better than 'Them'

This post was selected by BlogAdda for Saturday Pick. This was originally posted in Another blog of mine. I am moving it here to consolidate all my blog posts on this blog only from henceforth..

We live such a bright,colorful and dynamic life with varieties spread across horizons that we even feel suffocated to think how they lived their boring, monotonous, black and white life.
We have color TV, 24*7 new channels, umpteen nos of other entertainment medium. They had a b/w TV, news once/twice a day, two movies per week one on Saturday and another one on Sunday. Still we feel not being sufficiently entertained that filler has come in the avatar of reality shows.
We have mobile phone, email, fax, Internet and social network sites. They only had hand written letters which might take weeks to reach the destination and some times would not reach at all, and for some privileged one, a land line phone. Still they were more 'connected' than we seem to be.

We not only change jobs across companies but across domains, too and by the time we retire, most of us will not remember how many jobs we have changed. They, in most cases started their career and retired from the same place. Still I guess they were more satisfied, because the term 'job satisfaction' was not used and heard that frequently then.

We get lost selecting what brand of clothing to wear, where to have tonight's dinner, which car conveys our social status (read bank balance) the best and even for some, picking which BF/GF is the most profitable for us. They were mostly content with the limited options available to them.

We have freedom almost in everything, studying what we want, marrying the person we like, leading a lifestyle we choose, wearing the clothes we find stylish and also the freedom to even ask our parents to shut up, when we found they are not in 'sync' with us. They studied what their father wanted, married the person family chose for them, at times they argued with their parents but with due respect and not crossing the limit of decency.

So to put it simple, we have so many choices and they hardly had any. We consider ourselves living a much better life than they had. We also take stride acknowledging we are far more knowledgeable than them. We are certainly smarter, more matured than they were and we grow at a much faster pace, so much so that we sometimes feel our parents are failing to catch up. I was shocked but not surprised, when I saw one fellow blogger shouting in one of the recent post I visited that why can't the parents grow up (I could not put it within quote as I forgot exactly what he/she said), whatever be the topic it was. Anyway, personal choices apart. But the question of the hour is "Are we happier than them"?

'A happy and peaceful life', I guess that is what most of us aspire for. If everything is better now than before, then my confused mind fails to answer why the suicide rates are much higher today? Why are we so much frustrated in our work life in spite of drawing a salary that they could never think of? In spite of being intelligent, why are we so much confused today? Why marriages are so fragile today than it was ever before? We have everything, but still why do we feel 'something' is missing!!

Are we then a bit quicker than required concluding everything they had is bad, irrational and obsolete. Majority of us believe that most of the values and practices of yesteryear's don't have much relevance today, but is that the ultimate truth, are everything we preach and practice today 'the perfect'? They had already lived their life, most of them are standing at the faded end of their journey waiting for the final call from Him. Where as, we are just living our life, we are yet to reach the destination to be in a position to look back and judge whether the life we had lived is indeed a better one or not. Till then, we need to be little considerate in our thoughts, flexible in our actions, give due respect to those age old 'obsolete' values (we do not agree does not mean we should disrespect it) and also remember nothing is permanent, so what we think righteous today will become irrelevant tomorrow and the way we are treating 'them' who brought us here, we will be treated the same by 'them' whom we will bring here.


I love that movie "Kal Aaj Aur Kal", everyone must watch it, if not already...


Please note:
#1. If you find the post disoriented,conflicting or confusing with the message being conveyed, please ask for clarification. I just poured my thoughts onto paper without thinking anything else much...
#2. The 'We' and 'Them' is what I generally perceive and I am very well aware of the exceptions. So, those who do not fall in either of the category, must not feel offended. In case you feel, my sincere apology.


Sunday, August 17, 2014

রঙের গরমিল

পুরুষ দের রঙের বৈচিত্র নিয়ে সমস্যা কিঞ্চিৎ। লাল, নীল আর হলুদ - তিনটে প্রাথমিক রঙ আর তার সাথে মিলিয়ে মিশিয়ে আরো গোটা সাত-আষ্টেক না হয়। মেয়েদের ক্ষেত্রে ব্যাপারটা একটু জটিল। একটা রঙ যতই হোক বিদঘুটে, তার কম্পজিসান হোলই বা ততই জট-পাকানো, মেয়েদের কাছে প্রত্যেকটা রঙের একটা আলাদা আলাদা গুরুত্ব আছে। সে যাই থাকুক না কেন, পুরুষের দৈনন্দিন জীবনে তা নিয়ে তেমন মাথাব্যাথা নেই। মাথাব্যাথা তখনি হয় যখন মা, বোন, বউ, পিসি বা মাসি এর কারণে আমাদের জীবনে বিন-বুলায়ে-মেহেমান এর মত কোন সমস্যার সমাগম হয়। সে আজ থেকে প্রায় বিশ বছর আগের কথা। স্কুলের শারীর শিক্ষার পরীক্ষা। আমাদের নেক্সট জেনারেশান এর ছেলে পিলেদের এই বস্তুটির সম্মুখীন হতে হয়নি, কিন্তু আমাদের কাছে এটা সাক্ষাৎ যমের থেকে কিছু কম ছিল না। যোগব্যায়াম আর শরীরচর্চা এর পরে অশীতিপর বৃদ্ধ মাস্টারমশায় এর প্রশ্নবাণের সম্মুখীন - 'ধমনি কেটে গেলে যে রক্ত বেরোয় তার রঙ কি ?' উত্তর টা এক বিশেষ ধরনের লাল, সেটা মনেই ছিল, কিন্তু হটাৎ কি মনে হোল বললাম, ~ 'রানি কালার'। মাস্টারমশায় আমার দিকে চশমার ভিতর থেকে বৃদ্ধ ক্লান্ত ঘোলাটে চোখ দুটো বড় বড় করে তাকিয়ে আছেন আর পিছন থেকে বন্ধুদের মুচকি মুচকি হাসি কানে আসছে। - 'রানি কালার!! সেটা কেমন রঙ??' আমার পরের উত্তরটা টিপিকাল মৌখিক পরীক্ষার উত্তরের মত - ভিন্ন ভাষায় একই স্টেটমেন্ট এর পুনরাবৃত্তি। ~ 'ওই রানি কালার এর মতই লাল'। - 'এই রানি কালার টা তোমায় কে শিখিয়েছে? আমি তো বাপের জন্মে এমন কোন রঙের নাম শুনেছি বলে মনে পড়ছে না'। ~ 'স্যার, মায়ের মুখে শাড়ি আর লিপস্টিক নিয়ে আলোচনা করার সময় এই রঙ টার নাম শুনেছি'। পরীক্ষার সময় মায়েদের স্কুল এ গিয়ে বসে থাকার একটা চল ছিল আমাদের মায়েদের মধ্যে। অতঃপর গার্জেন কল হোল, একটু আলাদা এই বারে, মানে গার্জেন এর জন্য গার্জেন কল! স্যার মায়ের সাথে কিছু আলোচনা করলেন, আমি দূরে নিষ্পাপ মুখে দাঁড়িয়ে থাকার চেষ্টা করলাম যাতে এর এফেক্ট আমার রেজাল্ট এ না আসে। রেজাল্ট এ প্রভাব পড়েছিল বইকি, উপরি পাওনা ছিল বন্ধুদের সামনে বেইজ্জত হওয়া আর বাড়ি এসে আবার মা এর বকুনি শোনা। কিন্তু পাঠকগন তিন সত্যি করে বলুনতো আমার কোন দোষ ছিল কি? নোটঃ কিছুদিন আগে ফেসবুক এ একটা পোস্ট দেখেছিলাম যে একটা মাল্টিকালার স্পেস এ ছেলেরা যেখানে ৪-৫ টির বেশি কালার দেখতে পায়না, মেয়েরা সেখানে ২৫-৩০ টা কালার আইডেন্টিফাই করতে পারে। সেটা দেখতে দেখতেই এই ঘটনাটা মনে পরে গেল।

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Food Review: Pabrai's Fresh & Naturelle Ice Cream (Hyderabad)

I had recently read many positive reviews about this place in Foodie's group, so made a visit on a Saturday evening with family. We reached there around 7pm, not very crowded, yet the few tables they had were all occupied, so had to adjust with the sitting tools. Small disappointment to start with. Ordered 1 scoop of Nolen Gur (Date Palm Jaggery) & 1 scoop of Pan(Betel Leaves). As soon as we took the first bite, everyone was awestruck. The feeling inside the mouth was exactly the same that I was expecting. Could not believe that someone could recreate the exact flavours for these not-so-common ice-cream flavours.

The option of making 1/2 scoop of two different flavors into one single scoop came handy when we were planning to order next. We tried  1 scoop(1/2 Pan + 1/2 Nolen Gur), 2 scoops of Kesaria Rabri Malai, 1 scoop of Mango Alphonso for kid. The mango was a total let down. Parents liked the Rabri Malai, even more than the Pan, they did not like the strong flavour of Pan that much. Thereafter, went on to try some other flavors like Lemon Grass(found it blunt, could be the because of lingering effect of strong Pan still in my mouth), tender Coconut, South Indian Coffee. The coconut was one more surprising flavor, taste wise it was no less than the Pan/Nolen Gur.

When we were almost done, there came a pleasant surprise. As we did not get a table to sit initially, they offered a complimentary scoop of Chandan(Sandalwood) Sugar Free. The fragrance of Chandan was very much prominent. Overall a bill amount of 640/= for is very good value for money. Will definitely go there again. I recommend this place a must-visit for the Ice-Cream lovers


Food: 4.5/5
Ambiance: 3/5
VFM: 4/5
Self Service

My Zomato review can be found here https://www.zomato.com/review/qzqwbQ

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