Sudipta's Life

A lot of things seem strange, when you think about it at a point of time 10 years later. The trouble with this way of chewing the cud is that you didn't learn how to tell apart the straw from the gold then. One of the bigger things that come to mind as I think about the days at the hostel there was the food. A good way of looking at it is that given the kind of food I used to have there, the food at any other place after that has seemed heavenly. People lost 5-10 kilos as soon as they joined our engineering college in the first year. I, on the other hand, gained a kilo or two. The reason was I had seen so much bad food while I was in my first boarding school that the food at the college tasted heavenly. I'll explain why. All curries in the school tasted the same -- you had to ask what was cooked when: you wouldn't know until you were told. We used to wonder how someone could cut fish into such small pieces, how 2 tiny pieces of chicken once a week was supposed to be enough,...

I have been meaning to start this series of posts on what I believe has been wrong with various educational institutions which I've studied in. I might stir up a hornet's nest by posting these, and therefore I need to ask you to go and read the disclaimer before you start suing anybody else. Also, the reason this dirty linen needs to be washed in public is that it will get enough attention. In systems where accountability is almost zero, external pressure can sometimes work wonders. Let me clarify at the very outset as well, that each of these places have been very valuable in my life: I've learned a lot in each of these. But sometimes you need to call a spade a spade, and the time is ripe that I should give up pretensions and get public what the scene behind the goody-goody curtain was. Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith, Purulia. Set in a very remote place almost without good city comforts and very poor road/rail access (as opposed to a major city), it was an ideal setting for...

About a year and a half back, I participated in a clinical research trial that paid me $350 for taking out my wisdom tooth: which was paining pretty badly at that time. I figured that instead of paying a dentist $200, I'd rather get this done for free and get some money with that as well. They were developing a pain medication and wanted to test the drug on patients. It went fine... I was pretty impressed with the drug since my pain dropped from 8/10 just after the surgery to 2/10 in an hour or two. I forgot all about it until they sent me a letter this Saturday thanking me for participating. The next paragraph in that letter told me that I was given a placebo: no actual painkillers. Meaning, I practically got my wisdom tooth extracted without any anesthetic. You only have to convince me that the job is possible: the rest is always mind over matter. Like I said, the name's Bond. :) P.S. - For those of you who thought the Hum Tum style "Bond, James Bond" way of introd...

From Swami Vivekananda's letter to Shashi (Swami Ramakrishnanda), 19th March, 1884: [...] I now see it all. Brother, यत्र नार्यस्तु पूज्यन्ते रमन्ते तत्र देवता :- "The gods are pleased where the women are held in esteem" -- says the old Manu. We are horrible sinners, and our degradation is due to our calling women "despicable worms", "gateways to hell", and so forth. Goodness gracious! There is all the difference between heaven and hell! यथातथ्यत्योर्थान व्यद्घात -- "He adjudges gifts according to the merits of the case." Is the Lord to be hoodwinked by idle talk? The Lord has said, त्व स्त्री त्व पुमानसी त्वं कुमार उत वा कुमारी -- "Thou art the woman, Thou art the man, Thou art the boy and the girl as well." (Shwetashwatara Upa.) And we on our part are crying, दुराम्परापसर रे चंडाल -- "Be off, thou outcaste!" केनैषा नीर्मिता नारी मोहिनी etc. -- "By whom was made the bewitching woman?" My brother, what experience...

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, and I am from Pluto. From the book : How it usually goes: For example, Mary comes home from an exhausting day. She wants and needs to share her feelings about the day. She says, “There is so much to do; I don’t have any time for myself.” Tom says, “You should quit that job. You don’t have to work so hard. Find something you like to do.” Mary says, “But I like my job. They just expect me to change everything at a moment’s notice.” Tom says, “Don’t listen to them. Just do what you can do.” Mary says, “I am! I can’t believe I completely forgot to call my aunt today.” Tom says, “Don’t worry about it, she’ll understand.” Mary says, “Do you know what she is going through? She needs me.” Tom says, “You worry too much, that’s why you’re so unhappy.” Mary angrily says, “I am not always unhappy. Can’t you just listen to me?” Tom says, “I am listening.” Mary says, “Why do I even bother?” How it is supposed to go: Mary says, “There is so much to do. I have ...