Strange Dream Part 2

Had a dream today

I am sitting with Pintu along with a few others at a tea stall overlooking a field. We are having some hot tea in earthen cups when I see a funny looking creature sliding on its belly and coming towards me in a playful mood. I can’t quite place what kind of animal it is. It looked like a walrus, but not quite one. It cracked me up when I realized that it resembled a bald guy who was sitting at the tea stall with us. This animal was grey in colour with a mass of fat, had tiny black eyes, no ears, a small mouth without any whiskers. At first I got a bit amused as it somehow resembled this bald guy, but as it approached towards me, I moved out of the way.

I look towards the other side and find that there is another creature, this one is much bigger in size, most probably the mother of this small guy. It is getting cuddled up by some bystanders at the tea shop adjacent to us. The creatures behaved rather like dogs or dolphins, playful and at ease…but not so cute to look at.

I notice that Pintu has some live crabs and prawns with him under his seat. Maybe he had brought them to feed those creatures. He takes out one of the prawns and throws it at the small guy who approached us before. He grabs the prawn and gobbles it up happily and then looks back at us for more food.

There are a couple of turtles lazing on the ground near us, someone must have got them there. I see Pintu putting a crab near one of the turtles, and the big crab instantly charges the turtle for a fight. The turtle instantly goes in its shell for protection but the crab gets hold of it and breaks open the shell little by little and eventually cracks open the skull. I see a warm vapour come out of the turtles mouth, it was probably the last moist breath it exhaled into the chilly weather. The warm blood is now flowing out of the dead turtles head and the crab is feasting on it.

On the side I notice some kind of an egg. I am not too sure what egg it is, but it was hatching. It took some time for the shell to crack open giving way to some bluish yolk like thing. I can see hordes of baby spiders crawling out of the egg. I am convinced that that’s how spiders are born. One egg but hundreds of spiders coming out of it.

The scene slowly dissolves and the act is over.

Old Memory of Darjeeling

I must have been around 6 years old when my family planned for a short trip to Darjeeling. I don’t have vivid memories of the trip but some very interesting anecdotes are etched deep in my mind.

It was the month of October, and our Durga Puja vacation was just around the corner when I got to know that we were going to some trip in the mountains, and that it will be very cold and beautiful. I didn’t know what to make of the information but nevertheless my elder brother and I got pretty excited.

We boarded the train from Sealdah Jn. and Sushil Kaku (dad’s colleague) helped us to board and came to the station to see us off. It was pretty hot and humid in the sleeper coach and my brother and I took the top berths and kept climbing up and down and throwing and tossing things at each other. We always did things like that- creating mayhem and trouble for everyone.

Dad cleaned the berths with an old piece of newspaper we were carrying and Mom spread fresh bed sheets while I filled up the air pillows. We all had separate air-pillows and I would never let anyone else inflate my air-pillow. We had dinner by 8:30 and decided to call it a day soon and turned out the lights.

Mom and Dad woke us up at 6am and got us ready to de-board. The day had just broken and we could already feel the nip in the air. We went straight to the taxi stand from the NJP (New Jalpaiguri) station and I saw Dad bargained with the cab drivers. After 15 minutes we got our ride. Mom took out our woolens from our luggage before we started, and I had no idea why she was doing that.

Only 1 hour into the journey we realized the weather felt a lot chilly than NJP. Mom told that it was autumn season and the cold will start settling in another couple of weeks. I looked out of the car window and found the architecture of the houses to be a lot different from that of Kolkata. Many small hut like houses with sloping roofs stood together on slopes and formed a beautiful view. The landscape was dotted with pine trees all over and we could see the clouds almost touching the roads. I learnt from Mother that the huts had sloping roofs due to the heavy rains and occasional snowfall in the region, and the wooden construction helped the people keep off the cold.

We reached our holiday home after a good 4-5 hours of uphill journey, and I was a bit disappointed to find out that the hotel was not at all what I had fancied. It was a two story building with a grey and damp aura about it. It had rooms on the terrace as well and we occupied one of those rooms. The hotel was called Bhootbangla, and I found it strange why someone will name their hotel as a haunted house! But this name intrigued my brother and me, and we thought there will be some adventure in store for us.

There was another family occupying the other room on the terrace. An elderly couple with their daughter and a man who was a family friend. The girl looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. I was only 6 but I definitely fancied her and found her very attractive. She was wearing a printed salwar suit with a red button up sweater. The elderly couple seemed nice and my parents created a good rapport with them. We already made some plans along with them for the next morning to see the sun rise from a place called ‘Tiger Hill’. I wondered if we were going to see the sun rise or hunt for tigers!

We went to the Mall Road to spend the evening. It seemed like a nice place lined up with wooden benches where the tourists sat and enjoyed themselves. I also spotted some ponies. Ponies are always a hit with the children where they always want to get a ride on them. We were no different and got our pony rides arranged soon. There were some lovely souvenir shops along the Mall road, and Mom and Dad stopped and browsed through the items in those shops. There was also a Tibetan market nearby and they sold many imported stuff- right from soaps to shoes to binoculars to chessboards. We haggled with them for some items that we bought. I remember we got a lot of soap (Camay- not yet introduced in Kolkata at that time), a magnetic chess board, a foldable binocular, a Chinese fan, a pencil sharpener with a 3D sticker on it, etc.

We came back tired to our hotel and on the way I remember stopping at a marketplace from where we had some snack and tea, and Dad bought us Milkbikies Biscuits. I remember because, with each pack, a small comic book came for free. My brother and I had to collect the entire volume so we kept demanding the biscuits throughout the trip.

Next day started rather before daybreak. We went to the taxi stand at around 4:00 am and went to Tiger hill to see the sunrise; the other family we made friends with didn't come that day with us. The weather was clear and we got a good view of the sunrise. we got an amazing glimpse of the Kanchanjunga. the rising sun cast an orangish-pink shade on the snow clad mountains and it was truely a sight to behold!

We had some tea and then we took a car to visit the tea gardens. On the way there was an emergency stop, as I got an urgent call of nature and had to take a dump. Since there were no toilets around, Dad helped me to get on with my business in a corner on the road. I was too small to have cared or be embarrassed!

At the tea gardens, Mom got into the costume of a traditional tea-picker, as we roamed around in the garden. That was the first time I saw tea plants in my life. Later we went to a nearby stall and ate some hot momos along with hot cup of tea. Also the first taste of momo in my life, but I don't remember much. The morning was pretty bright and the heat of the sun felt very good on the skin.

I don’t remember the sequence of the events but we stopped by a place where there was a makeshift rope climbing set. I was too small to climb up, but I sure posed for the camera holding the bottom end of the rope! it was from here that Dad got us the ever so essential Bengali monkey cap. A Monkey cap is like a cap cum ear warmers cum muffler. I had got a deep green one and my brother got one in sky blue colour.

We later went to the botanical gardens. It was a nice a quiet place with very less tourists. It was here that I saw a greenhouse for the first time. Mom told me names of different kinds of plants and flowers. The place was well maintained and looked really beautiful.

I remember we had to walk a lot as our hotel was situated quite some distance away from the main square and mall. It was an uphill climb every time we had to get out to the city. It was pretty cold and I don’t think I took a bath for 4 days.

I loved the sight and smell of Darjeeling and I was very sad when we had to finally leave for home. We took a bus from Darjeeling to NJP to board our train. I remember I was feeling sick in the bus and I threw up from the bus window. The cold gradually decreased and we soon took off our sweaters when we reached NJP.

Next morning we were back home. I don’t have much memories of the return journey. But Darjeeling was special and this trip had been a beautiful one for all of us!

Almost Dead!

Last night I saw a crazy dream. While I walked out of the office gates I saw a line of cars waiting for the signal to turn green, when suddenly one car swerved left dramatically and hit the curb. All eyes were on the car when it transformed into a huge crocodile! I rubbed my eyes in disbelief when I heard a screaming crowd scampering from behind with terror in their eyes, chasing them was a huge rhino. I understood it wasn’t a real life rhino, it was really huge.

My friend Anirban slipped and lost his balance in this frenzy and came face to face with the charging rhino. I saw him stand up, but the rhino hit his head and flattened him out. I thought he was dead. I sprinted towards him once the beast passed him and saw he was bleeding profusely from his head. He was not knocked out, but he needed a doctor to survive.

I was feeling that I was in a movie set and the things around me weren’t real. I picked Anirban up and I took cover behind a building. It was a very awkward place to take cover, and if the beasts found us, we had nowhere to run, we definitely were cornered.

I could see the crocodile and the rhino toying with the crowd and I could see the blood and bodies scattering away all over the street. I suspected there was some motive behind this, could it be neo-terrorism? Why would such crazy beasts attack us?

Anirban desperately needed attention as he was losing a lot of blood. I pressed my handkerchief against his wound hoping the blood to stop. He was about to pass out, and I doubted if I could carry him around. At that moment I heard a security guard calling out. He saw us taking cover behind the building and came to help. We took some water from him but didn’t speak, we were terrified!

It started to drizzle, and I could see the blood on the street mixing with the rain and flowing in small red streams towards the curb.

We had to get out of there alive! I promised Anirban that I would be back with some help, and I went out on the road, leaving him with the guard.

I couldn’t believe my eyes! There was one more animal now which joined the herd! A huge muscular bull with red eyes and a thick brass ring on its nose was leaping mercilessly onto the crowd with sharp pointy horns.

What is this place! What is happening? Are these fucking aliens? I had so many questions in my head. I was feeling awfully cold. I thought it was because of the rain and the terror, I opened my eyes slightly. I was curled up in my bed with no shirt on me, the AC was in full blast- I was really cold. I took a blanket and tried to complete the dream…but that doesn’t happen! Sigh! 

#SuperHeros #Paris #EiffelTower, #Bangkok #TukTuk #NikonD7000 #BokehEffect, #50mm1.8DLens #Photography

The only key ingredient to having it easy at office is- Building TRUST

How to build trust:

1. When you are given the responsibility of doing a task or assignment make sure you do your best. All the minute things should be taken care of. The work has to be perfect and there should be minimal scope of any careless mistakes or incompleteness.
2. If there is even one single mistake then the credibility of the entire assignment is gone in a whiff
3. If you can achieve this feat 3-5 times then the person who is assigning the work to you is happy and knows that you are incredible at your work and trustworthy
4. Then you can take things slowly
5. The key is the first few times

 What happens when you build trust?

1. You have a bargaining power
2. You can make decisions by yourself and most likely they will be considered
3. You go up the career ladder faster than your competitors
4. You don’t get micro managed. That is you have your own free will of coming and going to office, no supervision when you are not doing anything fruitful
5. You can get your holidays approved
6. Bottomline is- your manager knows you are a high valued resource and will never want to let you go

Weekend Getaway

चलो दोस्तों कहीं निकल पड़ते है इस लम्बी छुट्टी पे

रास्ता भूला के कहीं फिर से खो जाते हैं

तारों की रोशनी में ठंडी ज़मीन पे सो जायें ज़रा

झरने की आवाज़ में और महकती हवाओं में उलझ जाएँ ज़रा

फिर से पहचान लेते हैं अपनी अपनी आवाज़ को 

चलो दोस्तों कहीं निकल पड़ते है इस लम्बी छुट्टी पे

सोमवार से दफ़्तर मे फिरस्त मुलाक़ात हो जाएगी तुमसे

वही पुराने भागमभाग और बेमतलब की लड़ाई में फँस जाएँगे

बोस्स की परेशानी और शिकायतें सब सह लेते हैं आसानी से

पैसों की भूख में मजबूर- मज़दूर बनचुके हैं 

चलो दोस्तों कहीं निकल पड़ते है इस लम्बी छुट्टी पे