Sudipta's Life

Before I came to the US, I had a little time on my hands one day as I was roaming around in Kolkata for the US Visa. The best way, of killing time for me is to go through some books in a book store. The Oxford book store (on Park Street, probably?) was the closest one at hand, and I hopped in wanting to kill an hour or so. After browsing through some random sections, I came across a corner where the there was a plethora of books written by Rabindranath Tagore. Due to the recent expiry of the copyright, many publishers had launched their own versions of either his complete works or selected novels, short stories, etc. I picked up the Gitanjali , and started reading through it. Some of the poems I had read earlier, but others I had never gone through before. And I stood there, reading through them. All those poems suddenly began to make sense to me that day. I remembered how I had hated reading through some Bengali poems earlier as a kid in school --- something that I had had to half-hea

Aamar mukti aloy aloy ei aakashe Aamar mukti dhulay dhulay ghase ghase Amar mukti sarbajaner maner majhe Dukkha-bipad tuchha kora kothin kaaje My deliverance is in the lighted firmament, in every dust particle and in every grass of the earth ... My salvation is in the universal mind and in my exertions defying all dangers and disappointments. Lyrics and translation copied from here: http://www.parabaas.com/rabindranath/articles/pNarasingha.html For those who don't know, it is a poem (a song, actually) by Rabindranath Tagore

Last evening when I came home, I wasn't in the best of mental levels. And this big deal everyone makes about getting drunk always intrigued me somehow. I had tasted alcohol before; all sorts, actually --- but had never been drunk. The closest I had come to this was actually a little bit of a head spinning thing, but never really knew what being drunk was. So when I noticed a bottle of Vodka in the closet, the temptation to actually try it out was really huge. I mean, here I had a willing subject, the correct instrument, and the chance to obtain first-hand experience. Without much further dilly-dally, therefore, I started gulping it down. I suppose it took me about 20 minutes to finish the stuff off. And then the gradual head-spinning thing began. Like, the mind and the eyes knew where the foot had to be placed, but the signal from the head somehow took longer than necessary to reach there. Hmm... it was building up, I thought. I took up to kicking a ball, but soon afterwards, the

"Hi, how are you?", I asked a senior girl as she stepped into the class the other day. She looked surprised, although the regular smile of greeting was flashing across her face. "I'm good, thanks...", she replied. She had settled in the seat beside me. "I saw you at the Indian restaurant the other day", I continued, looking to kill the 2 minutes before the professor came in and also to clarify something about Gaussian kernel distributions which I hadn't got in the last class. But she looked unsure now. She said, "Yeah I think I saw you too... but, umm.... have we met?" There I go again, I thought... darned! I said, "Yeah, you're ____, right? Working under Professor ___?? We met at the TGIF party last Fall, and then again in the free donut session around early next month?". Her expression of surprise had turned to one of apology by then. "I am really sorry", she said with a sheepish grin, "but I have forgot you

The Language of Love: From diaries to online chats, writing about your romantic relationship may help it last longer, researchers find. Bloggers write the most. Therefore, bloggers are the best lovers! Q.E.D.

I was talking to the wife (who happens to be an American) of a friend here, and generally discussing how the love and dating scenario was in America, etc. So we were discussing what she and her 'girlfriends' (as they say here) used to do when they were meeting boys. Yeah, yeah, right --- once you are done with your ears tossed high and eyes popping out, listen on. Girls and wolves hunt in packs; this everyone knows. What is less known is the fact that your fate depends not just on your impression on the gal but also on the rest of the crowd. In this case, one of them would usually meet the guy (even on blind dates) while her buddy would be on the lookout for her. The lookout buddy might also get setup on a double date... but that is a different matter altogether. Well, anyway, in case the guy turned out to be a creep, this buddy of her would come to rescue her immediately and whisk her away on some pretext (Does this sound familiar? :D). Otherwise... if the guy manages to pass

I had a bizzare dream last night. And this morning, I had the great idea of writing about it and converting it into a tag. So, first, let me make the rules (oh I love doing this anytime): the person has to write about 3 of his/her dreams which according to the person are bizzare. And then this tag must be passed onto 5 more people. I rarely have dreams, though... or never actually remember them. But the ones I do remember are mostly bizzare (you'll agree when you finish reading this post). So, it shouldn't be difficult to practice what I preach: Last night, I dreamt this one. I was a shrink (psychiatrist, for the uninitiated), and was in my office. I was having a thought about who all I had been talking to, and suddenly the next patient was announced. I looked up expectantly, and in walked ME!! It was funny noticing the face you see in the mirror everyday walk in like that. I forget what the conversation went like, but apparently I advised him to vent his frustration and anger,

I don't know about you, but I find it so easy to put a simple status message on Google Talk or Yahoo Messenger and let everyone know whats up in my life. Like, you type in "Busy with assignments" and nobody bothers you unless something is really important. Or you set a message that says, "I really want to be talkative today" and some volunteers come along for sure! :) But today, I was a little confused regarding what to put up there. My last status message was actually outdated, and that status message seemed delusional to my own self -- that wasn't me! Actually, I was feeling bad, feeling blue, and a bit depressed. Something like when I was homesick , but this time it was more than just that: I wasn't even sure what was getting me down. And, as I mentioned to someone today, it was actually about a year back. I seem to get these yearly attacks of depression --- and get out of it after some kicking of a football and then a good night's sleep. Well, an