Sayonara 2010..

Christmas is officially here, Christmas tree decorations are almost done ...Santa & his elves would be visiting us with their goodies..and in less than a fortnight it would be 2011. I am already in a holiday mood. Diwali can be working - but this time of the year is holiday season. It's a feeling that has been implanted in me from my school days - the Hindu radicals can blame it on my convent education.

It's been months since I have visited my own blog and that kind of explains how 2010 has been. Busy & preoccupying. For last some years, I have been in the US at this time of the year, many a times it has been an ideal white Christmas with snowflakes falling and Christmas carols being played in the radio as the story books often describe. Last year, at this time of the year - I was in the Sin City, a vacation that I did not enjoy at all - it reaffirmed that nature is the best place to rejuvenate than man made entertainment modes - though i liked the dancing waters at Bellagio.

The Santa @ Vegas heard me - 2010 professionally marked the end of a chaotic & poorly managed project of my career (that's just a mere 10 years to make a comment, not sure what the future holds for me). It's true I term it chaotic but I worked 2 & 1/2 yrs and cherished every moment of it. I met some wonderful people - more importantly the city and its people showed me a very different America - an America where people care for each other - where family does matter - an America where people stop for a minute & give you a smile. Utah may be one of the backward states of USA - but I will miss the scenic Salt Lake City, it's amazing people and my friends.

This year on a personal note too has been a decisive year - emotional battles were well fought and we as a family decided to say goodbye to my hometown - Allahabad - a difficult long pending decision but my mother made it easy. Now begins the bigger battle - the identity crisis. Given that I have been brought up in eight different places - it has always been tough to answer, people's inevitable introductory question - 'Where do you belong to?' If I actually give an honest answer - it would end up to be a long long answer and that would leave people with an impression - I talk too much. I am talkative - better not give that impression first go :). And as honesty is NOT always the best policy - my single word answer was 'Allahabad'. Many a times I have experimented saying - I belong to a cosmopolitan India, which is always on the move - trust me the looks that I have got back have not been a pleasant one. A look that tells me clearly - this woman has no home, no identity - for sure a very confused woman...Sadly cosmopolitan is not a well digested word among Indians who live in their own well. So 2011 will be a year, where I will try to find a home for me in an effort to avoid all those dirty looks.

Politically, 2010 has been a season of scam outbreaks in India, just like an epidemic outbreak after the heavy rains & flash floods - endless tax money that you & I pay through our nose - goes into the bank accounts of our politicians whom we elect every 5 years. The only new thing about has been that we know the lack of ethics and moral values among our politicians and businessmen but 2010 has been a year of the corrupt media (though I still have faith in Barkha Dutt). I recently read somewhere that "scams are intrinsic part of the Indian socioeconomic-political landscape...Every few years, we have an outbreak of them, almost as regularly as malaria mosquitoes resurface every monsoon" - we as public - we feel bad, are outraged - but then what?? Forget it as life has to go on - there is some serious soul searching that is required but do I care?

2010 saw the rise & rise of another man - Julian Assange - every politician from Hillary Clinton to Rahul Gandhi wants to hunt him down - but i must say what an impact. I love Wikileaks, simply because it annoys so many holier-than-thou politicians & diplomats all over the world. The G5 nations inability to capture the likes of Bin Laden & Assange proves how helpless the super-powers of the world have become. Let's see what this man and his team has to offer us in the coming year.

Well time to wrap up - 2010 will be remembered as the year of scams, a year when judiciary decided where God lived, a year where world recession continued to haunt us - 2011 will be just another year of some memorable events where we will continue to get angry & perturbed but still continue to live - as life has to go on but still I am looking forward to it with the hope that something may be different..Sayonara 2010! MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone.

Happy New Year !

It's Poila Baishakh, being in the US, away from home - it's just another ordinary day with tons to do at work. But for a pseud Bengali like me, Poila Baisakh means a second take on new year. If I am behind on resolutions, this may be just another day to get a fresh start with resolutions that will be remembered again around 1st Jan 2011. So in essence it is New Year part deux. This day also means calls and wishes to and from all extended family and friends - people who touched my small world as a child, many with whom I would probably speak to or interact just twice a year (the other being in October during Bijoya time). If I would have been in India - I would have dropped the western attire to wear a new traditional Indian dress and ofcourse to keep my mom happy - made a made short trip to the temple. To sum up this day is not as eventful as it should be in eyes of a traditional "Bong".

But there is one new year celebration that I remember very distinctly - way back 15th April 1986, Dhaka - I was a part of the public new year celebrations at the Ramna Maidan, which starts from first rays of the new rising sun and continues till noon. There is a subtle difference between the way Bangladesh and West Bengal ring in New Year - Poila Baisakh is very much a part of the Hindu calendar, but this day is a national festival for the Islamic State of Bangladesh. But there is a much greater exuberance that marks the festivities in this part of Bengal on the 15th of April every year. The festival-goers were decked up predominantly in red and white, greetings of "Shubho Nobo Borsho" (Happy New Year) rang in the air. The ceremony starts with Tagore's musical invocation - Esho, he Boishakh, Esho Esho. It seemed like a day which marked the cultural unity without a distinction between class or religious affiliations. Today after so many years I can conclude that If you are in Ramna Maidan, on this day - you feel proud to be a Bengali - you forget whether you are a Hindu or a Muslim - you are a Benagli - it is an experience! I can still after so many years - the sweet fragrance of tuberose - the echo of Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrul geeti...

Like aroma of a hidden Rajanigandha wafting in the dreams of night -

You filled my heart with your melody,

You did not know, you did not know, you did not know that.

(Tagore)

To all my friends a Subho Naboborsho...may the year be full of joy and prosperity....