Too Crow-ded

Ah. Gone is the terrible chill that creeps around the time of the Ganga Sagar mela and settles in to our top floor north west facing flat and seriously gets me depressed. I really don't relish holidays or weekends "chilling" at home, in winters! So, last Sunday (or perhaps the one before that), armed with a madur, a bag full of books, my cell, a cushion and a thick shawl, I crept up to the terrace. Took a few minutes to settle down properly and then ah! How I soaked up the warmth. I should do this more often, I thought. I guess I haven't done this at all last winter and this winter, this was my first. And how good of all the other residents to keep away, leaving the terrace to me! And strangely, even the crows weren't around. Great! Thanks to Ma's daily ritual of feeding them and their progeny for nearly 10 years, perhaps longer, anyone's entrance to the chhad has pavlov's dog effect on them - hundreds of crows, cawing and congregating like in the Hitchcock night mare.

But, this bliss was shortlived. Soon, one by one, the crows started arriving. Cawing and flying around, as if calling their brethren. Argh. It was so irritating. I looked around to see if I could find something I could throw at the one nearest to me, and found my cell phone. Which ofcourse I couldn't / wouldn't hurl at them. So, I decided to take a photo. (Why? dont ask...one of those spur of the moment things). However, that worked. As soon as I would point the cell at any crow, it would swoop away. Amazing. It would return but after a while. And so there I was, half sitting, half lying on the madur, like a mad lady pointing at the crows in turn, shouting take that you foul fiend, you! And I chuckled madly as I did so.

And what do you know, the elderly gentleman who too had crept up to the adjacent terrace for a bit of the sun, crept downstairs as quietly as he had come!

Anyhow, I have had my one whole day of sun-on-the-terrace for this winter. Now with Saraswati Pujo, weather is decidedly warmer and the winter is gone!

PS: - If you wish to read about Saraswati pujo's past and more fun activities on our terrace, here are two past-posts for you:

Saraswati Pujo Post - Belatedly

A roof with a view

A little bit of magic!

It's not always hard work, only. Sometimes, I get lucky. Like last December when I was in Bhubaneswar for the first ever Inter State Meeting of parents of children with Deafness (from our project area in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam), there was this lovely Odisha Handicrafts mela bang in between the venue and my guest house. So, post programme, I got to see the mela....the fairy lights did SO beckon!

The typical Odisha cloth lanterns strung on trees

turning the busy road in to fairy land!

And I did so want that yellow bird for myself....don't quite know why I didn't buy it. In hindsight, this was not the time to curb "impulsive buying"!

PS - Orissa is now officially Odisha from 4th November, 2011.

"Hariye Jaowa Din", Reminiscences of Bina Dey

A hand-painted greetings card by Bina Dey, October 4, 1933

Photo courtesy: Mukul Dey Archives

It's that time of the year again: The International Kolkata Book Fair which begins on the 25th and ends on the 5th of february. And for me and art lovers, here is a treat to look forward to:

"HARIYE JAOWA DIN", REMINISCENCES OF BINA DEY

At the fag end of her days Bina Dey[1906 - 1999], Mukul Dey's wife, recounted the story of her life and experiences to Ms. Anjali Bandopadhyay of Kolkata. Since 1996-97 Anjali took a number of audio interviews of Bina, extended over a period of about two years. "Hariye Jaowa Din" will be a compilation of Bina's interviews by Anjali, which is scheduled to be published in early 2012 by Papyrus, Kolkata.

Bina's reminiscence recounts in great detail her first marital home at the village of Moluti at the Birbhum - Jharkhand border, when she was the bride of Sharadindu Chattopadhyay, a well known Congress worker of Birbhum.

Bina's book will have rich illustrations by Mukul Dey and others, along with an interesting collection of rare photographs.

My earliers posts on Book Fairs past:

Miles to go before we sleep

Kolkata Book Fair 2009

Elephantine Task

Two stories made it to the headlines today. One is an elephantine saga that has pretty much played out in public space, consuming public money, not to mention time. Shame that it does. The other has been going on for as long as one can remember. A long time. However, it does not take up much of public / media time and space. Only once in a while when a report is published. Shame that it doesn't. Yet, neither has any effect on anyone whatsoever.

208 elephant statues, 2 statues of Mayawati, several elephant door handles, elephant fountains, Mayawati pillars and chakras have to be covered before the UP polls. So they are being draped with pink polythene (neutral colour) since elephant happens to be BSP's symbol. 1.6km of pink polythene. And at a cost of Rs. 1 crore. And this elephantine task has to be completed by 5pm of January 11, 2012 to meet the Election Commission's deadline.

Well that was the first story. The other one is that 42% of India's children are malnourished and stunted. That is around 61 million. That is one in three malnourished child on the planet is an Indian according to the HUNGaMa (Hunger and Malnutrition) report. But here, alas, there is no deadline at all.

Full text of the Prime Minister's Speech on the HUNGaMa Report.

The HUNGaMa Report itself.