Of New Delhi

I was in Delhi for a couple of nights to...well basically to live it up with a bunch of old timers who had come from 3 different cities to the nation's capital to re-live the days of the good old boy's hostel one more time. The only problem being that there were too many boys, just like in the times of the said boy's hostel.

Anyway, this short whirlwind trip to Delhi was fun to say the least. Friday saw me cross 4 state borders as I flew out of Kolkata, landed at the Delhi airport from where I was whisked away to Gurgaon to have lunch with an old school friend. Thereafter I availed the services of the Delhi Metro to get to Qutub Minar Station wherefrom an autoride took me to Barakhamba Road where I had an unscheduled meeting with an ugly sibling. Thereafter I got picked up by another friend, a proud Advocate of the Delhi High Court now, and rode away into the evening to Noida Stadium to play a football match which we arrived too late to participate in {classic kels... for the uninitiated kels is the affectionate insinuation of life giving one the proverbial kela (banana)}. In any case our team lost 8-2 to a bunch of kids from a local school who obviously weighed a good 20 kilos less than each of us and had a clean pair of lungs to go with that no doubt. Also the fact that we played the entire first half with 4 players against 7 didn't help our cause.

Saturday, turned out to be the longest day I'd lived since I left college. It commenced at 7 in the morning with a practice football match at Pandara Road, wherein I realised the exact extent of my match-unfitness, and ended at 5 next morning with a well rolled joint, rolled by yours truly. In the middle I managed to fit in going swimming, breakfast at CP, a couple of hours sleep, meeting a bunch of old timers edging to break loose of their newfound corporate sanity, a few choicest cocktails accompanied by a bottle of Black Label and a 5ltr keg of chilled Heineken, and some of the usual drunken drama that is not so usual in my life anymore. Like I said, FUN!

Just one of the many reasons I should shift to New Delhi.

Nalsar Batch 2004-09 babies!!

And a couple of my batchmates have become fathers!! Ola babies! They are our hotties for this month.

Ms. Tandin Wangmo (Good job Nima Dorji)

And more recently Ms. Kuenga Wangmo (Excellent work Ugyen Wangdi)

May the force be with them and the Gods always smile upon them. With all my loving to these beautiful ladies.

I have to watch

Enthiran - The Robot (poster)

Anyone with sub-titled copies?

Please to make noise.

Poster from here.

To bullfight, or not to bullfight

An estimated 13,500 bulls are said to perish each year in bullfights all across Spain. Bullfights are an inherent part of Spanish culture and is considered to be in danger from modernisation of urban thought and the acts of various International Animal Rights organisations which have been trying unsuccessfully to bring about the demise of this cultural bloodsport.

Recently the local parliament of Catalonia (which boasts supplying half the football team and the complete style of gameplay that won the World Cup '10) has voted in favour of banning bullfighting within its territories from 2012 becoming the only county in Spain to have done so. This was officially in furtherance of an international petition signed by 140,000 people calling for a ban on the 'sport'. However, many local political analysts believe that the same petition was ratified as a reaction to a Spanish constitutional court turning down Catalonia's 2006 autonomy charter earlier this month declaring that Catalonia was not a sovereign nation. A detailed report is available here.

While most of Spain regards such aforesaid ban as an attack on Spanish culture, animal welfare activists from around the world have lauded Catalonia for the same.

In what is good news for Spanish bulls, it is also to be understood that there have been generations of Spanish families and bullfighters who have studied, trained and practised bullfighting for centuries and have innovated and mastered techniques vide such long and continuous practice. Further if being a non-vegetarian is not considered cruel (and it isn't, the goddamn food chain exists for a reason...besides we were meant to eat meat...just ask any dentist) then how can bullfights be construed so. Especially when it gives the bull a fighting chance, no matter what the odds. Besides humans are an inherently violent species, where the law is designed to minimise the occurrence of violence with respect to other humans. It must also be kept in mind that the law does not equate any other species to humanity. Even the most endangered ones maybe destroyed to preserve human life. In such aforesaid context of global intellectual hypocrisy, can a tradition where violence is directed at non-human living creatures (which are not in danger of extinction) and one that has existed and evolved over centuries, so much so that it forms an integral part of local identity, truly be considered worth banning or doing away with entirely?

India's Soccer City

The list of football stars that have visited Kolkata in the past is long and illustrious compared to any other Indian city. Some of the names I can recall are the likes of Lothar Matthaus, Karl Heinz Rumminege, Diego Maradona, Branco, Romario, Oliver Kahn, and Gerd Mueller. Tomorrow another great footballing talent will land in the city. While all the aforesaid greats visited us only after they'd hung up their boots, this gentleman will need to go home and iron his jersey after his stint here is done. And he's just come off playing the tournament of his life.

Europa Champion 2010, World Cup Golden Ball Awardee 2010, Diego Forlan.

And he's not coming alone. She's gonna be there too!!

Zaira Nara, Forlan's erstwhile girlfriend

Ergo, be there at Yuva Bharti Krirangan, (Salt Lake Stadium) August 1, 2010 at 1700 hrs if you can. See you there!

Pictures from here and here respectively.

Back to the cradle

Got my hands on some old Mohiner songs. I had always been fond of Mohin's material. Especially because the youngest of Mohin's horses (the band being named Mohiner Ghoraguli literally translating to mean Mohin's Horses) Mr. Abraham Mazumdar was my music teacher at school and a close friend of the family. Further the band, despite performing in obscurity right through its career in the 1970s, was arguably singlehandedly responsible for the splurge of Bangla Rock bands and artists that came to fore during the late eighties and early nineties and is an important part of the history of modern Bengali popular music.

Last night I heard the song Tomay Dilam after an eternity. I had almost forgotten it even existed. Unlike most Mohin fans, I prefer this vocal harmony and keyboard driven number over their more renowned hits such as Bhalobashi, Prithibi and Ruksana. This seems to me to be a melancholic love song to the Calcuttan in general. Its a beautiful song and I wish I could put up the song itself, but being the technological retard that I am I haven't figured out how to do that yet. In any case it isn't mine to put up.

So instead I got down to translating it. My case is hindered by my poor grasp on the English language and an even poorer understanding of my own mother tongue (I'm glad blogs don't require mandatory pictures of its administrators for I'd rather no one saw my face). Albeit the same, I hope I am able to atleast give the reader a hint of the beauty and the mellow despair in this song and do justice to its eloquent wordplay in the Bengali language. It is a sad and beautiful song that left me awake till late last night.

Tomay Dilam (I give to you)

In the city’s warmest day

of tar fueled sunlight,

a breath of rain

I give to you today.

What else could I give?

Them old rallies,

the rows of them old trams,

the balloon store on the sidewalk

whose thread knotted reds & whites

are my discordant city’s Rhododendron

I give to you today.

What else is there in the late night neon lights,

that illuminate these restaurants.

The highest roof of the tallest building

I give to you today.

I cannot give

the smell of grass, flowers and rice fields,

two palmfuls of softness.

Instead the silent reassurance of the

slightly leaking burnt diesel,

I give to you today.

All the images of the city’s verse

I give to you today.

[I give to you today] x 3

Original Lyrics by the Late Gautam Chattopadhyay

Indian v. Red Devils

Delhi boy Sunil Chhetri will soon be seen taking the field against Manchester United on July 25 as part of the latter's tour of USA. Chhetri will be playing for his new club Kansas City Wizards when they take on the former world club champions in a friendly encounter. Although Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra are said to have stayed out of the tour on holidays, big names like Ryan Giggs, Berbatov and Edwin Van der Sar will be available for the English giants. A detailed report of the same is available here.

Sunil Chhetri appearing for his erstwhile club Kansas City Wizards

Here's hoping that the India No. 11 gets playing time against one of the greatest football clubs in the world and does us all proud. Gooo Chhetrii!