BLOGAM

[This is purely an act of fiction. Names, characters, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. C ontent designed may provide helpful information on the subjects discussed along with presentations/illustrations for highlighting the plight of an aggrieved. The author assume no liabilities of any kind with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents. Any resemblance to persons living or dead may be purely coincidental] With vivid inputs from Zuam – Amit Chaudhuri Times were difficult those days in securing a job and more so, when the family income was starved of a decent living. That was suffocating for the members of Joy’s family that saw loss of jobs with dwindling family income in a very short time. The frame of mind was inexplicable. Dearth of jobs was a nationwide syndrome with opportunities getting scarce. Sustenance was getting difficult by the day with spiraling prices and hope of getting a job r...

We celebrate 15 th of August 2018 as our independence day every year. But, are we really independent? This has made the mind restless for many. Of the factors many that intrigue us, confront us, harass us in many of our transactions of daily life, is the cost of commodities that we pay for that rules over all. After all, its our hard earned money that we toil for day in and day out. Almost as many ecommerce or brand-shops in the country carry huge and explicit advertisements either in print or eAds right under the nose and watchful eyes of the regulators in place, who prefer to look the other way, offering majestic discounts and cashbacks to lure the gullible us. Mailed ads, newspaper inserts, online banners, emails, in-store displays and price tags scream for our attention every moment of our lives. How can it be true that merchandise can be sold at 80% - 90% discounts? Insanity rules!! The coexistence of discounts with purchases has become an integral part of attaining customer go...

[With avid inputs from Sanjay Choudhury, my friend and batchmate from REC (now NIT) Silchar] The place of posting was more than 150 kilometers from home. But roads were good and the car strong, that would barely take three hours to reach on weekends to the comforts of sweet home. That was a regular practice since my posting here as my family couldn’t join due to educational obligations of my only child. I never gave a second thought due to easy accessibility and, otherwise disciplined traffic. They would also join me whenever they felt like. Another week was about to end for me to show up at home. But then, it was difficult to gauge from the moods of madamme and my child on arrival, whether they were happy or the other. The travel bag, a duffel, was small but had enough space to hold a few essentials. It was quite usual to keep a couple of sets back home so that, everytime I’d visit, there wasn’t any dearth of garments that would enbrace my body on the three nights that I stay put forg...

Delivery of public services calls for servants of the government to do service to the various citizen centric programmes formulated for social emancipation. It should be understood that for active delivery of public services, they need the blessings of political and administrative pillars in any country. These deliveries require public servants, who assume humongous powers by tweaking the mechanism of delivering the goods to the public, realising less that somewhere in the chain, their own are affected too. It's a well coined term in English “running from pillar to post” to get a job accomplished in any sector. Kudos to the makers of Kagaz starring the quintessential Pankaj Tripathi. Many wild cases as such, depicted in the film released on OTT platform, exist till this day. Movies and shows over such platforms have become bolder, encouraged their general acceptance by the grieving citizens who till this day in a digital India, have to face a burnout due to existing red tapeism f...

Most charming were the girls of our class. Everyone has had the supernatural inherent qualities to outdo each other. This was a marvelous combination of traits. But what exactly am I referring to? Girls, who have now crossed the half century mark now, have evolved into beautiful ladies. But the urge to take on each other, though obscure, is very much prevalent. It's still catfights! Catfights are most enjoyed when someone sprinkles water on the fighting cats! The pun continues unhindered with the boys still hit at their antics that they were accustomed to in their school heydays, without compromising that almost four decades having sailed by. There's an unapparelled ubiquitous love and hate relationship that still shroud Raampyari and Raamdulari.On field, the battle was fierce. None could take them on, leave aside the umpire or referee who would scratch his bald head over the tiff. Raampyari and Raamdulari were the cynosure of all. They were excellent in studies and extra co...

It was a marriage of two states, without much essence in it. The groom and bride, though from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, had a common residential domicile. In that binding cord, they bond. Both were conversant and easy on every matter that concerned them. This nurtured their love for each other that nourished their longingness. They met in college while pursuing professional studies in the late eighties and early nineties. Used to come home and go back together during college breaks; not to speak about attending common classes and the daily strolls by the famous lovers' lane in college. This lane had street lights that never used to light up. The best caption I heard about was that the picture of love developed best in dark! Don't know if that holds good today as the present generation wouldn't know how a good photograph used to develop from a polymer negative plate encased in a dark chamber. The luxury of having a camera and a print in colour is etch...

[With avid inputs from Ahuja Sir and Rajada ] While the Northern hemisphere looked forward to the blooms of spring, a tiny microorganism was and is wreaking havoc all around the globe. Somewhere in the winter of 2019 this nano virus hop-stepped and jumped over from possibly the Pangolin or the Himalayan Civet Cat or Bats onto the first human carrier, a 57 year old meat seller in Wuhan – China and spread like wildfire, engulfing many who came its way. Misery struck the world in the form of a pandemic that leaped in exponential progressions to suck up the energies and potentials of earth. People got hyperactive on various platforms of social media to project how well acquainted they were about the spread of the virus code named Covid 19 well, the Chinese virus to many, that arrived with a bouquet of unabated deaths. The message may have been absolutely clear about the spread of the disease with malafide intentions of the mighty that, many in the electronic media professed bu...