Sudipta's Life

Ever since I was a little boy, I have seen the following thought thrown around in various flavours all across dinner table discussions: if the inept and incompetent politicians could be replaced by some people who actually know something (are educated, etc.) - our country might have some future. Otherwise, we are all doomed for sure. A good rebuttal to this armchair rhetoric was a story which my grandfather used say on these occasions. A king was roaming through his kingdom one night in disguise and came across a group of men sitting around a fire having an animated excited discussion.One of them was most vociferous: - "Oh the prime minister is a lazy bum. I don't know what he does all day, but he is always there as a sidekick when the king wants to address the kingdom" - "And seriously, why can't he take care of these money lenders who are sucking our blood? Why do the main highways get fixed first and nobody ever cares about our side roads?" - "I...

Warning: this post contains "adult" diagrams and innuendos which may not be suitable for minors. If you believe you can be offended by such, please stop reading now! Hah - I know now that you are DEFINITELY going to read this, aren't you? :D In the comments of all the previous guides which I have released, including the Desi Juliet Guide and the Desi Tourists' Guide to Desi Tourists (DTGDT), there have been requests for photographs to accompany the descriptions. While I wish I could pander to your voyeuristic guilty pleasures, taking photographs in a men's restroom with the explicit purpose of posting them online is not in the best interests of my health. Instead, I have volunteered the artwork featured in this post myself. As the final note of disclaimer, in spite of the point of exit of the fluid from the human body being clearly visible in the diagrams, the length of the exhaust mechanism (or the absence of one, for that matter) does not necessarily imply a...

This was during our graduation ceremony from UT Austin, for our College of Natural Sciences. Inside the grand ceremony with the tassels hanging from the right side of the hat, we were having our traditional walk through the podium. You would stand in a queue with your classmates, your name would be called, you would walk across the stage where the Dean of the school would honour you with a hood or band across your shoulders or chest, and then you get your picture taken with the Dean and you move on. To maintain civility and also to make sure that everyone's name is heard during the announcements, people were generally asked to hold on to their applause until after the ceremony was over. This indeed was the case - it was very calm and quiet all through the presentation with smiling faces and the voice of the announcer booming through the speakers. Except, this one time... There was this one guy, on a wheelchair. It looked like he had to go through a large part of his adult life on...

'Tis that time of the year again when you want to send out pretty snaps of the happy family that you are - two and a half of you, that is. But things have been different since that cute thing that just wails and poops was born - tough to get one decent shot to send! That less-than-a-foot long human being with the attention span of an itching eyelid is one tough nut to deal with when taking a picture. Do not panic - this blog post shall enlighten your path to a picture perfect new year. Let us first reminisce about the old days and feel like grandpas... In the golden days of yore, when it was just the two of you it was easy to get the perfect snap. She would lean over or shove her jaw forward at a particular angle, and you would tuck in your tummy and hold your breath. Then, she would smile to expose just the first and second molar of her teeth (the rest of her teeth make her look fat). Following which, you will realize that your tummy is not tucked in (the horror!). But you shall...

This is the second part of the post by the same name. You can read part 1 here . A common phrase we refer to in Hindi is, वो करे तो रासलीला, और हम करें तो करक्टर ढीला! The rough translation of this into English is, "When he (Lord Krishna) does it, you call it divine bliss; when I do it, you call me an immoral man". If you haven't already guessed from the tone of the idiom, it is generally presented as a defense by streetside romeos and others who make lecherous advances towards women. Why and how? Well, because Krishna stole the clothes of the naked Gopis bathing in the river and it is considered one of his great teachings. He had the right to do this - you and I don't. I am not going to go into that debate right now (some other time, perhaps - including some qualms I have about Rama and some other deities). But in a lot of other contexts, I find this inherent "He is divine therefore whatever he does is right" mentality confusing at best and hypocritical ...

 Each one of us needs a hero. An idol, a point of reference, a larger brand identity about which we feel proud to call ourselves fanatics. You get to choose some of these for yourself. Like your favourite song, or your favourite author. For some things, however, the idol or larger identity is thrust upon us. Your religion, your nation, your sect, your football team - you don't really have a choice in these: you inherit them. And, unless you are fiercely independent in thought and had the conviction of your beliefs even during your adolescence, you have also picked up cultural icons simply because your peers believed in them. In a sum total therefore, we all have some larger identities who we simply "belong" to, or our lots are thrust in with them no matter what.  Any such idea or identity whose inception happened within us is usually a stronghold. We do not seek reassurances from outside that indeed our choice is good. Consider your favourite trip you have had so far in...

One way of looking at marriage is to think that you are moving in with a room-mate of the opposite sex. The way we speak, the content, the choice of words, the topics - all of them are novel and unique and are fascinating to understand and observe. "Understand" may be an overstatement here, though. We mortals merely seek to understand the quirks of the opposite sexes' mind. In corporate lingo, "strategic alignment of priorities and cohesive engagement in synergy of visions" needs to happen. To paraphrase, the two must see things in the same light. Take, for example, the concept of a dress. Or rather, what to wear. In spite of all the evidence you may cite, as a general rule, guys don't care about what they wear as much as women do. Yes there are carefully careless girls out there and so are smart and well-groomed men, but we are talking averages here. More importantly, guys do not notice what other guys are wearing. Actually it is more like something not e...