Acknowledging Eve Teasers

This heading must have raised your eyebrows. Yes, we all hate eve teasers. We feel like slapping them, if we felt safe enough to do so that is. We feel like putting them behind the bars, if there were policemen in the area where we were being teased. But these actions can hardly be taken. We feel disgusted when we are teased and even when we witness someone getting teased.

Getting mad and helpless at the same time doesn't do any good to us. Negative emotions, as we all know today, secret some harmful hormones in our body leading to the creation of negative energy. Therefore, I decided to see the positive points in the act of eve teasing and about the eve teasers. You know what? To my surprise, I actually found some positive points that made me feel good. Read on and find out:

• While being teased with words like "moti" (fatso), I know that it's time I lose some weight.
• While being teased by a song…I know that I am reminding him of a song… if it's a good song, like say, "desi girl….." it's great. This means, I look like an Indian girl today. If it is a song denoting some of the negative aspects in my , I can work on it.
• Eve teasers are the most honest commentator of your appearance. Ask your boy friend/hubby/friend, nobody will tell you how fat/ugly/bad you look. Eve teasers make you understand the real picture of you.
• Above all, I can completely ignore them and make them feel like nobody, even though they work their minds so sincerely to scrutinize my appearance.

Now, tell me, isn't it great to have eve teasers around. They work hard to comment on us and in return they don't get anything. All we need to do is, USE THEM to our advantage. Feels great!

Experienced Unprofessionalism

These days I am having to work at a client's office reviewing their work on site. Just want to give you all, one vital information: it SUCKS. The work culture is horrible here. Calling me at 10 am, they all come to office at 11 am. Moreover, half of their working hours, they talk about movie stars, mobile phones and movies. The work takes a complete back seat. Then suddenly they realise it is lunch time. Then it's an hour long lunch time. After working on the review for an hour, the application I am reviewing crashes, and there is another 1 and half hours of waiting, before they fix the problem. Oh God! How unprofessional they can be! Lucky them (actually, what a pity), they are having secured government jobs and working in the most laid back metro in India, Kolkata. But for me, if I am offered a job in this kind of an office with higher salary, I will not take it. Reason being, I am not a cheater and I want to work in my workplace. It is not an acceptable behaviour for me if someone is just wasting their time doing nothing productive in the
workplace.
Seeing this government office's work culture, I know now, why India is not called a developed country yet. I feel sorry.

FYI, I am writing this from my mobile, while waiting for them to fix the problem. :-)

Loving it

Kolkata is a place that fascinated me since my childhood. No, I would not be able to pin point any one particular reason for this now. Being the closest metro to Assam, I have heard people coming to Kolkata in pursuit of their cultural aspirations, academic goals, career enhancements and so on. I used to feel jealous when my favourite legendary singer Bhupen Hazarika used to stay here during his younger days. I envied Kolkata for keeping Bhupen mama here, of whom the whole of Assam is fan. However, despite this attitude towards Kolkata, (secretly) I wanted to live here too, at least for a few years. I wanted to know, what it is about Kolkata that is so magnetic.
Now I am here. In Kolkata. And you know what? It feels like home. Yes I know, you must be thinking, “whatta girl!”
Well, its not that I had never visited Kolkata before. I did pass through the city and even visited and stayed alone. During those visits, I never felt unsafe and people were good to me. I had a nice time even in the hotels I stayed in. Now that I am here, it feels like I am not away from home. It feels as if I am in the middle of an extended family of my own. I love the way they talk and accommodate outsiders in the city. I have talked about many aspects of Kolkata before. Today, let’s talk about food.

My Office Lunch Spread

Food is like the centre of life here. Bengalis (the people of West Bengal are called Bengalis) love food. They walk food, talk food, think food and most of all, they are very proud of their culinary skills. Bengalis are known for their fondness of fish. Being a vegetarian, I wouldn’t be able to talk much about the variety of fish curries here, but I can definitely talk about the sweet spreads Kolkata has to offer. I enjoyed some of the delicious sweets immediately after moving here (needless to explain the few extra pounds that I am carrying. Yes, yes, I AM working on it now). The rosogolla, malpua, mishti doi, jol bhora, pati chapta, nalen guder shondesh and the list is endless. I will try and update the list as soon as I remember some of the other names of sweets that I had here.

The City of Joy

Looking through a Typical Calcutta or Kolkata Cab

In some ways, Kolkata is a nice place to live. Some say, it is a Metropolitan city with a low cost of living. It is true in some ways, especially when, you are one of the public. There are places where you get cheap ‘everything’. So, if you go there by a public bus, walk the required distance from the bus stand to the market, bargain, buy and come back by bus; yes, it will cost you less than any other way of doing the same. Well, but for me, this has not been the case. Reason being, I do not know most of the places, the bus routes and things like that. Hence I take a cab (actually, I am having to) and travel, which is not so economical. Moreover, the heat and humidity keeps me away from the public buses all the time. Being a coastal city, Kolkata is generally warm, hot and humid during most of the year.

The Only City in India with Trams

The time when we came to Kolkata, it was monsoon. I have never seen monsoon in this fashion. I discovered that the rain just pours down without even a hint of its coming. It made me run to the balcony several times during those days, to collect the dried clothes. However, I enjoyed monsoon in Kolkata. Actually I just loved it.
Then it was time for winter to set in. But, to my surprise, it felt as if winter is never going to happen in here. When Christmas came by, I thanked God as the city cooled down considerably. I have joined work by this time and was shuttling everyday to Salt Lake, one of the most confusingly organized areas of the city, at least for me, till now. Well, I just know the area of my office and the famous City Centre mall. Other than that, if you leave me in any other part of Salt Lake, I would prefer to get myself airlifted rather than finding my way out all by myself.
I know this is too early for me to sum up and make assumptions about this place. I am still in the process of knowing the city. So, I am positive that very soon my discomforts will vanish and I would sail smoothly in the city just like any other Kolkatans here. Then, I will be back here to talk about all my wonderful experiences in this city of joy.

Celebrating Prosperity - Bhugali Bihu

Magh Bihu Delicacies

Winter is almost over in India. However, to bid a formal goodbye to the winter season, India celebrates a day that usually falls on the 13th day of January. This day is celebrated with different names in different parts of the country. Regardless of the names, all the celebrations have a connection with the agricultural activities of the farmers. India being an agricultural economy, this is quite obvious. This festival denotes the harvest time of the agricultural calendar. Being an Assamese (someone who belongs to the northeastern state of India, Assam) I am here to talk the way it's celebrated in Assam.
Out of the three Bihus (Rongali Bihu, Bhogali Bihu and Kangali Bihu), this is perhaps , the second most welcomed Bihu in Assam. The reason , one gets to feast with near and dear ones and the granary is usually filled with rich harvest. Hence, Bhogali Bihu also denotes celebration of prosperity.

Sunga Pitha-Another Variety of Pitha

The first day of the two-day long festival is dedicated to community feasting. Plentiful variety of pitha, laadu and jolpaan are made in traditional Assamese styles which are served to whoever visits the family. On the first day, the farmers along with their respective family celebrate around their Bhoral or granary feasting and enjoying the good harvest. Close families and neighbours get together for a feast at night by the side of a huge bon fire.

A bonfire

The children and young adults make houses or tomb like structures known as Bhela Ghor and Meji Ghor respectively. These are usually built with the left over haystack from the field. The second day of Bhogali Bihu is marked by burning of the Bhela Ghor or Meji Ghor early in the morning. People pay their obeisance to the God of fire Agni by offering Bihu delicacies especially til (sesame seed) laadu into the fire. The farmers along their family pray in their paddy fields for prosperity and offer puja with traditional rituals. The day is also marked by visits to near and dear ones and by taking blessings from the elders of the family. In rural areas people gather in playgrounds to witness festivities like cock fights, buffalo fights, bulbuli (small bird) fights etc.

In the Eastern Coastal region, where I am residing now, this festival is known as Makar Sankranti. Though, this festival does not have equal importance as in Assam, the festivity related to it is almost similar. In the Indo Gangetic plains, this auspicious day of Makar Sankranti begin with a dip in the sacred Hindu river Ganges. This is followed by a puja of offering water to the Sun God. The holy dip is believed to purify the self and bestow punya. Special puja is performed as a thanksgiving ritual for the good harvest of the year.

Apart from the above mentioned festivals, this time of the year is celebrated in different forms in different parts of the country. In Punjab, this festival is known as Lohri, in Tamilnadu it is called Pongal or Makara Pongal, in Bundelkhand and Madhya Pradesh, this festival is known as Sukarat or Sakarat and is celebrated with merriment and lots of sweets. On the first day of the two-day festival, people throng to the holy rivers in large numbers for a sacred dip. The famous Kumbh Mela is also held on this auspicious time of the year at the four auspicious places of Hindu religion.

In West Bengal, this time of the year is also marked by a festival cum fair called the Ganga Sagar Mela. People from all over India come to visit and take a dip at the Ganga Saagar beach. The practice is being followed for years with the belief that a dip in the holy bank will release one from all his previous sins.

In Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, people savour a special rice meal to mark the day of Uttarayan. In Rajasthan, Nagaur Fair marks this festival. People from all over Rajasthan gather at Nagaur to attend the cattle fair and the four days festivities related to it. Besides the usual buying and selling of camel, ox, cows and bullocks, other festivities like cock fights and bull fights also attract the attention of visitors.

It's About the Money, Honey!

Money is a good servant and a bad master. But still nobody can deny the importance of money. However, people who made it big have always been real people like you and me. Let us find out what it takes to make it big. Regardless of geographical boundaries, it has been observed that some of the girls or women next door have made it, surprising many of us. These ordinary women are very normal and general people, leading very simple lives but they made it big with their personal expertise, perseverance and experiences. The thing I found interesting, which they have quoted in the show as well is- most of the women millionaires were teachers at one point of their lives. The author of “The Millionaire Woman Next Door” said that a teacher is more disciplined and calculative when it comes to money matters. Therefore, they have what it takes to be a millionaire or a crorepati. Oprah also quoted that it’s not about how much you spend, it’s about how much you keep! So true! If you cannot keep the money with you, you can never become a millionaire. Most of the millionaire people, especially millionaire women shop where there is discount. They do their shopping only after thinking what to buy and how much to buy.

Shopping lists always help, provided you made it at home and promise yourself to stick to it. Keeping a notepad and pen in the kitchen always help. Jotting down the things to be bought as and when they are finished help tremendously as 90% of the household shoppers tend to forget a few necessary things to buy and end up buying stuff that they can do without. Monthly shopping is a good idea for small families. This way they can keep tab on the monthly expenses and requirements. Moreover, it helps the fretting when guests come in as you have enough food as well as time to entertain them.

However, a bimonthly grocery shopping routine helps multiple or joint families. That way you can get rid of the pain of hoarding things in the kitchen closet. If you are serious about saving money you can follow these points and see how helpful it is.

In the kitchen:

• If time permits, cook everything keeping the gas in sim,
• Pressure cook as much as you can. This not only saves time but preserves the nutrition also.
• Use the kitchen exhaust fan only when necessary,
• Cut, peel, dice, grind the vegetables and meat and fish as required and keep them ready near the cooking area before you start cooking.
• Keep cooking water ready near the cooking area.
• Keep the casseroles ready to keep your cooked items.
• Switch off the gas cylinder first before switching off the burner knob,
• Recycle water as much as possible,
• Try to cook the exact amount required if not less.

@ home

• Keep all the electric switches off when not in use,
• Keep all the water taps tightly closed when not in use,
• Use daylight instead of electric lights whenever and wherever possible,
• While using electronic mosquito repellents, keep the doors and windows closed for maximum effect.
• Use a TV light while watching TV and switch off the lights in the rooms that are not being used.
• Use reading lamps while reading
• Wash clothes on alternate days and/or when there are enough dirty clothes to justify the capacity of the washing machine.
• If possible buy soaps, detergent and disinfectants in a sale or at a discount rate.
• Keep aside some money for buying perishable items like milk, vegetables, bread etc and stick to your budget.
• Pay your bills on time

@ work

• Go Dutch whenever it is possible. While communicating to and from the office offer/request colleagues to share the cab
• Avoid eating outside. Carry your lunch from home, its cheap, healthy and satisfying too
• Use 'office stationary' for office work
• Be organised when it comes to your personal, financial matters

A school principal, mother of three says, "saving money is an art. You need to learn and practice the art, to master it."

Saving money has become more convenient today with profitable and interesting savings schemes offered by different financial institutions. All you need is a little time to find out which scheme suits you the best. Wish us all, the best of luck!