Ami tomar preme hobo sobar kolonko bhagi
Ami shokol daage hobo daagi, kolonko bhagi.

Tomar pother kanta korbo choyon, Jetha tomar dhular shoyon
Shetha aanchal paatbo aamar, tomar raage anuraagi

Aami shuchi-aashon tene tene, beraabo na, bidhan mene
je ponke oyi choron pore, tahari chhaap bokkhe maagi


Theme (because I realised that a literal translation is very difficult):
For your love, I am willing to be a sinner in everyone's eyes, I am willing to be maligned in all kinds of stains

I will embrace the path you walk upon,
I will spread my veil (aanchal) where you lie,
I will immerse myself in your melody

I will not abide by customs and rules,
Wherever your feet touches the ground, I will envelope your footprints and hold it close to my bosom

That was difficult!

...so that I can see if she is prettier than me" ...my favourite from Of Wooing Woes and Wanderings by Amitabha Chatterjee. Here it is :




Hello friends :)

This is my bro's first novel and is out in a bunch of stores in Delhi.
1. Midland in South Ex
2. Midland in Aurobindo Place
3. Fact & Fiction in Basant Lok, Vasant Vihar
4. Bahrisons in Khan Market, Rajouri Garden and DLF Place, Saket.
5. Variety Book Depot, Connaught Place M-3, Middle Circle.
6. Online places to buy: a1books.com (for delivery all over India) and bookmeabook.com (for Delhi friends)


Please keep an eye out and let me know where else you have seen it & if it is displayed well.
Do request it in bookstores that you havent so they may get it.

Cheers!
Sumthn2say

PS: Can you all take a minute to become a fan of the facebook homepage of the novel? (link on top once you login) ....Google search for "Of Wooing Woes and Wanderings" Click on facebook link - says homepage Login on top right. Click 'become a fan" on top.

Also suggest to your friends (link on left of the home page)

17th Jan, before I slept:

After arriving home, I lighted some candles in my room and meditated for a while. Lavender does really good to our senses. Tiger was crying outside and I think she wanted to feel loved. But I continued with what I was doing and attended to her only later. She had some milk and bread with her siblings, so she wasnt hungry, but still made a continuous purr sound. I stroked her back. It was very furry and warm despite the fog and chilly winds. Peora wanted a biscuit, so she was given one, and I made sure that it wasnt too sweet. Linda, on the other hand is very dignified. Never complains and sits majestically. This reminds me..Mogambo ate some food from my kittens' bowl. When I tried to shoo her away, she wagged her tail.

I think I will catch some sleep now. Hot milk with soft jaggery is very soothing. Gotta get up early and have my Darjeeling first flush cuppa :)
Goodnight.

Today I received an order which I had placed earlier with a cosmetic company. Everything inside the package was intact but the promised free gift did not arrive. And i began to bubble with anger. I decided to call the help line and address my problem. I called, waited for good 5 minutes on the line and then hung up. I called again, hoping to be able to talk this time. Thanks to my mobile, signal was weak and the moment the lady said hello, my line got disconnected. I called for the third time and in no time (surprisingly) I was registering m complaint. Now, this lady somehow could not see eye to eye with me and kept telling me that when you place a cancelled order again online (I had earlier placed an order and it got cancelled for some reason), you dont receive the free gift anymore. So, here I was, already agitated by the number of times I had to call to hear her golden voice; angry and impatient. I was stern. I accused her, and also told her that she has no idea of rules of the company and that she should know stuff before addressing ppl's problems. I went on and on. Ultimately, decided to stop complaining and being nasty. And when she said...have a good day, I pouncd on her again saying..how can I have a good day, yuo tell me?

All for a free gift? Or becasue I had spent money on other things just to avail that free gift?

Later, when I was calmer, I realised that it wasnt something worth fighting. If I could become calm later, then why not earlier, why not at the time when I was talking to her? Why not when it ws needed. I feel bad on hurting the poor girl, and I wish I could get back to her with a sorry. Even if she was inefficient, or maybe the rules are such that she could genuinely not help me; I had no right to misbehave.
I am really sorry. I want to be super calm. It makes me a better human.

Yesterday I felt sad and threw tantrums about not having a real friend near me to share my thoughts. I was desperate, lonely and confused. Nevertheless, I continued with my book, learnt a few lessons from it, and finally slept over it. My mind was calm, I think.

Early morning I woke up to some noises in the other room and again went to sleep. I think I slept for another hr. or so. In that little time, I had a dream. I dreamt of a friend, talking and chatting with me in some distant place. She promised to help me with some material I needed. I told her that I wanted to learn a language. We exchanged some more words and I bid her goodbye for the day. I woke up overwhelmed.

This friend stays far away and we havent talked for months. There are numerous ways to communicate but I never pursued the issue. I think all this while, I have missed her a lot. But it never occured to me that she is the one I wanted to talk to and spend time with.

I think that dreams have an inner meaning. There is a deeper connection here. I did not dream of her just like that. It has some message, it indicates something to me.

With the thesis coming to a close (well almost), I have a feeling that I will have no work left to do. Wonder how my days and years are going to be spent henceforth, and what my priorities in life are going to be. I wonder. One thing, which I can visualise is that research work and career will always be on top of my list and other things will take a backseat. If it is not this way, than I will be a very unhappy person. But if things happen the way I visualise, then again, how happy and contented will I be? I dont have a clue. Can we really change the course of our life ourselves? Maybe not.

I would wait for them to come and play in the park. It had become a part of my life to watch them have fun, fight, and patch up again. Sometimes I was the umpire for all the games that they played and I would gain some prominence by being the eldest amongst them. I enjoyed when they sought my advice. Two years is a long time to get heavily used to something, and now, with the new construction work in the locality, the park has actually been neglected, and primarily used as a dumping ground. It is sad that I do not see the young ones in that area and the bench where I used to sit, has also been uprooted. Sometimes I wonder what right do people have to interfere in our life and change it completely like never before. Isn’t it my life? Aren’t there sentiments attached to what I do everyday or how I spend my time.

The other day I received a letter in my name. It was from my old school. There was an alumni meet and I thought it was a great idea to socialize with old friends and pep up my dull life. I wore my best clothes and my cap and hailed a cab to my alma mater. There was a huge crowd at the gate and with much physical effort, I managed to reach inside. I looked around for old friends, acquaintances, and known faces, trying hard to recognize people amidst the crowd, but I had no success. Suddenly a gang of boys pushed me aside and went past me, and I was brushing myself up to gain a firmer foot on the ground. Today’s generation is always in a hurry, so much so as to push whatever comes in their way. Maybe I was a fool to have built up such high hopes from my visit to my school. It no more seemed mine that day.

It was a sunny day and while I was watering my plants, I heard a shrill horn at my door. It was my son, calling out to me from inside his car. He stayed with me until he got married and shifted to a new bungalow. I told him that I certainly do not mind it because the new place was closer to his office and my nephew’s school. Besides I had two servants to look after my needs. It did make a lot of sense to me when he said he wanted to shift elsewhere. Besides, when my grandson came rushing and gave me a big hug, I felt really wanted and got a new meaning to my life.

A friend of mine called me the other day. He wanted me to pay him a visit. He stays in an old home because his daughter-in-law made it very clear before her marriage that she believed in nuclear families, and her invalid mother should obviously get a preference over the son’s father to stay with them. Looking at my friend, I realized that perhaps I am doing much better in life. I do not have to depend upon anybody and my insurance schemes and pension would help me sustain myself on my own for as long as I breathe.

Loneliness at my age is very strange. Had I been young, I would have thought of many a ways to avert it. But when Meera, my wife, was keeping unwell last year, I knew that solitude was approaching my life gradually but steadily. There was nothing that I could do about it. Soon, the feeling of having nobody as a constant companion was felt after I began to live my life all alone.

The morning alarm rang. It was 5 30. I wanted to sleep more but I couldn’t. So, I woke up and made myself some tea. The milkman came and delivered a litre of milk.

The day had just begun.