Sudipta's Life

For those of you who are unaware, we Bengalis celebrate a festival called the Durga Puja signifying the glorious victory of the goddess Durga over the demon Mahishashura and then her homecoming to her parents for the annual visit from her own family. To understand what this festival means to us, think of what Christmas means in the West, what the Ganesh Chaturthi or Diwali means in western India, what Pongal means in the South. Yes, it is THE festival, and yes we celebrate it with the highest expression of art, devotion and joy during the 10 days that it lasts. For all fellow Bengalis who wish it big time, maybe this video will alleviate some of the nostalgia: Why exactly is the Puja special for me? Well, I miss the company of my family, and all the activities we used to do together during the Pujas. Going out, walking and visiting all the pandals, the bhelpuri chat and phuchkas, haggling over the amount of material the vendor put into each morsel. And then of course the ritual of ice

I entered this story for a short story writing contest on the theme "Hope", organized by Asha foundation at Austin . It won the first prize :) So the proud owner of a medal, two certificates and a book called "Timeless Wonders" by Robert J. Moore presents to you, Anu's dilemma: -------------------------------------------------------------- Anu was confused, very confused. After all, how do you expect a six-year-old girl to figure out what to do with the gift of Shishu? "Use it wisely", the Tantrik [1] had told her, and tied the little amulet around her tiny arm, in exchange for the five-rupee note that she had found earlier in the morning. She was quite happy with the exchange --- that little piece of paper was not any fun: this amulet was a nice shiny cold thing to wear around her arm. The Tantrik , or the village god-man, was highly regarded by the women in the village. On many occasions she had seen her mother sneak out to visit him along

Brown men, the myth goes, aren't allowed to smile at others. If you read that link, you'll see that a desi in the US smiling/nodding at a desi female is very likely to be interpreted as a pervert giving a mating call to the said specimen of the fairer sex. And yours truly just added another dimension to the myth. So the other day I was hurrying back from Taco Bell towards my class when I noticed a desi female coming from the opposite direction. She wore one of those wide goggles that covers almost half the face. I admit, you folks do look really hot in those; since the actual eyes are left to imagination. You may be having the most skewed eyes on earth but behind those goggles you have the perfect pair ;) Yannyway, so I had a look and then quickly shifted my gaze to somewhere else (shouldn't look desperate, you know ;) ). Now, normally when you pass a stranger and you interact a bit --- maybe adjust your gait a tad bit to accomodate for the other person, you give a slight