The Master, The Mistress and The Bachelor of Arts.

Disclaimer : I did record all of their voices, but when I came back and replayed the recording it was all gibberish. So this entire post is from memory. 

Location :  A very well known silver shop in Hoggs Market(popularly known as New Market).

It is a Saturday afternoon. This tiny shop is very busy as usual and brimming with customers. I was here a week back and had wanted this particular piece of earring which they were  nice enough to bring. Me, KB and SB as usual are also checking out 75 other different things. This shop has an array of breathtaking pieces of jewellery and every time I come here I keep on wishing if only I could afford to buy every piece they have. I am pretty sure I will not even mind the duplicates. But this Saturday I had another agenda. I wanted to feature them in my blog.

NAME : Vashi
AGE : 60
ETHNICITY : Sindhi

From the first day itself I like this vital middle-aged man. He always has a friendly smile and is quick but genuine with his compliments. He reminiscences about his grandfather who came and settled in Kolkata from Sindh Punjab post India partition. The shop he tells me was established in  1962. This shop was also his father's baby. He used to be an accountant in a reputed Engineering office and did not initially have much interest in the shop. Now he is nurturing his father's dreams by taking forth the tradition. He also mentions that his son (who is his constant companion) is very interested and he is happy to transfer the responsibility to his capable hands.
He talks about the Kolkata of the 60's and the people then and the people now and how the customer's profile have changed throughout all these years.
He asks me jokingly about the Prince Charming in my life with a twinkle in his eye.
He is one of those very few people who know how to live their life to the fullest and be happy and makes others smile around him.

NAME : Rupa
AGE : 56
ETHNICITY : Sindhi

Rupa just like her brother has an easy smile and a friendly attitude. But at the same time it is easy to figure our her deep perceptive inner core.Talking with her reveals more and I wanted to talk with her more. It felt like she believes in the same philosopy of life as me. Also she is one of the very few people who guessed my age correctly. She is a professor and she is single. She lives by herself. I asked her if she has any pets and she told me she does not. She said she is happiest with herself. She talked about how losing her elder brother suddenly made her seek solace in meditation and spirituality. She has this aura of calm reassurance and she imparts it to everyone around her.

NAME :  Vinayak
AGE : 23
ETHNICITY : Sindhi

The cutest looking boy with a shy yet charming demeanor enticing with his lovely pretty fares. He feels like the life of the shop. He is passionate about this shop and it shows. He even designs some of the jewellery himself. His father calls onto him for every minute details and he seems to know all those minute details. He is calm and collected and seems to be everywhere at the same time. The only time I noticed he looked a little uncomfortable was when he had to bargain with two older ladies. But he was polite and firm with them at the same time. It was highly admirable. He is also the solver of all problems silver. All you need to do is present him with the problem and he will definitely resolve it. He also likes dancing and was sweet enough to invite three of us to his concert.

For me personally it feels great just being in the shop and talking with them and looking at all the pretty things. They never force you to buy. They never stop you from trying. The never tire from showing you whatever you want to see. And they do it with a warm and friendly smile.


Actual Address: Asian Arts , F61 New Market. Kolkata - 700067.

SANDIP

• NAME : Sandip
• AGE : 25
• LOCATION : Rabindra Sarabor(Lily pool aka NO LOVER's POINT)
• PROFESSION : Art Student.
• ETHNICITY : Bangali

Me and KB took a long cut through the lakes one afternoon while on our way to lunch to Mandarin. We ambled along and we were accompanied by BP and MKRR and were just ambling around beside the lake. They were visiting our city from Blore and KB decided to take them to "No Lover's Point" i.e. the Lily Pool. As we enter we saw two boys sitting there with their canvas and their art supply and lost in their painting. They were painting the trees and did not even look at us goofing around. I went up to one of them and asked him his name. He replied without even looking up "Sandip". At this point I inquired if I can go ahead and bother him a little. He looked up a little startled and then said "You are not disturbing me".

Me : Do you come here often?

S : Yes

Me : Why here?

S : Because of the trees

Me : But why trees?

S : Because a tree has rhythm, it grows, it has life and it is its ownself ! That is why.

Me : Is it not difficult to depict a tree in your painting ?

S : I am not sure I get you.

Me : A tree is not stagnant. It constantly moves. The leaves move. How do you capture that in your painting?

S : Well that is the secret. Until I can capture that I will never be a true artist. There are some paintings where you can feel that the tree is moving that the river is flowing. That is a true painting.

Me : Do you have any favourite painter ? Are you inspired by someone?

S : As a student Everyone is my favourite. I must learn from all of them.

KB : Where did you study before joining Art College?

S (smiling to himeself): Before Art College I studied Mechanical Engineering Diploma for 3 years because of my parents and that is what they wanted. 

Me: Dear LORD ! I understand what you mean.

S: But I hated it. I was unhappy. I hated  everything. I hated working and so I quit and joined Art College.

Me : But tell me something, even Mechanical Engineering has Art and Drawing and sketches.

S (looks at me as if I am the stupidest person on earth) : But they are not trees. They don't have Life.


P.S : Picture courtesy BP(Black Peeper).

Fairer Sex

• NAME : Not known

• AGE : Between 25 to 35

• LOCATION : V9 Bus

• GENDER : Male (XY chromosome)

• ETHNICITY : Probably North Indian

CONTEXT : I got a call from work while I was hanging on to an almost unreachable handhold in the middle of the bus. My TL who is also a species of the XX Chromosome wanted to discuss about the progress of my SSL implementation in WPS 8.5 server. It was supposed to be a fresh installation. [For all the non-techie people I apologize profusely]. Hearing me talk over the phone a not so bad looking guy appreciatively looks at me and the following conversation happens. 

XY : You're the first person of the fairer sex that I've heard talking about LDAP and SSL.

Me : That seems unlikely. There are lots of women in the profession.

XY :  You are probably aware of it because you are somehow related to technology or aware of it. Let alone women, I doubt if most men care about websites with SSL and make payment with credit cards . It is surprising to find a woman who knows and talk about it with so much confidence.

Me (I got one of my crazy thoughts which I just said out loud) : "Fairer Sex". I wonder why this term was coined ? Is it for the colour of the skin of the general XX chromosomes. (Seems unlikely and frankly biased). Perhaps it is because of the judgement capability of majority of the XX chromosomes species. 

XY : I really don't know or care why the term 'fairer sex' was coined. I just find it that sounds better than calling someone 'female' - that's just rude.

Me (I felt that he was trying to be nice but that answer "slightly" rubbed me the wrong way) : Why is it assumed that more men will know about SSL and women wont ? Why is calling someone 'female' rude? Is calling someone 'male' rude ? Why is 'BE LIKE A MAN' a positive advice ? And simultaneously 'YOU ARE BEING SUCH A WOMAN' is always perceived in the derogatory sense? 

XY : I don't know and frankly I don't care to comment on why certain things are generally acceptable in society and others aren't. Maybe you should take it up for your next doctoral thesis. 

Me : Tell me what do you do care about ? Leaving your seat for a woman or the elderly is also generally acceptable in society and infact considered commendable.Never seen you caring about that either.  


After this conversation it was obviously not prudent to ask him if I could take a picture.

But every step of the way I am amazed as to how derogatory comments about women are ingrained in our society. 

Also this apparently is the reason why I will be single for the rest of eternity. Because even when a guy is trying to make conversation with me I find things such as this(read Kolkata is full of sexist "male") and turn off like 1990 Kolkata electricity supply. 

IF ONLY

The short film, in French and directed by Éléonore Pourriat, shows a father taking his kid to kindergarten and going through the rest of his day facing catcalls, sexist remarks, sexual assault, and contempt.

Devarchan and Sayanton or The Kool Kul Story.

At the beginning of this post I would like to profusely apologize because I will not be able to post a picture. I had taken a very kool picture of both of them eating kul . But I lost my phone and along with my phone their pictures and their details. I remembered the name of Devarchan (probably because I asked him to repeat his name some 17 times) and the rest as they say is Google .

• Name : Devarchan and Sayanton
• Age : 20 and 20
• Profession : Engineering Students
• Ethnicity : Bangali
• Location : Mini Bus from rubi

Let us go back to the beginning of the story. It was a winter Wednesday evening. On my way back to(TO and not from) work I decided to take a detour through Gariahat. So I got on a bus from Rubi and promptly sat down on the first available seat. Two boys got up and looked around. There was only one seat left and both of them in the spirit of brotherhood decided to stand.

The first boy (whose name I later found out was Devarchan) offered the second boy( a million point for whoever guesses his name) Kul.

For those who are thinking what is this thing called Kul (jake banglay bole khay na mathay makhe?), it is a kind of fruit and here is a picture.

But I digress as usual. So here is the conversation that forced me to feature these two in here.

D (offering a Kul to S) : Here have a Kul.
S : Nooooo. Thank You.
D. But why? They are awesome !
S : Nooooo. Thank  You.
D. But why ?
S : I don't like them. They are so sour.
D : But these are not those type of Kul. These are Narkeli Kul, They are delicious.
S : Actually I am scared of them.
D (pushes a Kul into S's hand) : Everyday you should do something that scares you (shitless!)
S (all eager to face his fears gives a tentative bite) : I actually like it. I don't know why I was scared of it.

At this point C(that is me) tentatively poked S and politely asked both of them if she could feature them in her blog. They both agreed. Posed for a picture too. D was nice enough to offer a Kul to C just before she was ready to get off.

P.S - So after C googled Devarchan and hunted his gmail id, C actually mailed him asking for a picture of him and his friend and also his friend's name. By popular opinion , does this qualify C as a weirdo ?

P.P.S - Thank you Devarchan for reverting back to my email and mailing me your friend's name.