Deepanjan Nag's Magnum Opus

It’s indeed very sad. I never paid much attention to Hubbard as a solo artist. Indeed, most of my recollection of his playing is owed to his role as an accompanist in the Blue Note compilations I managed to buy from Kolkata. I hope to make up for sidelining him. Anyway, the trumpet is so dominated by Davis and Armstrong, a distraction is urgently needed.

It was such a dreadful experience, I don’t even have the heart to write about it. Yet, it provides me with all the substance my blog has been conspicuously lacking of late. It’s undeniably true that I’m lazy. The price I paid this time around is all too much for me to forget. I wish I had invested a little effort in chalking out the details. I didn’t bother to get my luggage ready on Sunday . I hurried through the chore only on Monday morning, losing precious time in the process. I hadn’t even withdrawn enough cash from the ATM the night before. So after the packing, I dashed for the ICICI ATM, but it wouldn’t accept my HDFC Bank card. Great! Just what I needed. The lessons were flowing in already. I hurried to Canara Bank and its ATM, luckily, didn’t disappoint. I returned home, picked my luggage and hurried my way out, took an auto to the KSRTC stand at Majestic and enquired – only to be told (it was 11AM by then) that the next available bus to Chennai was at 1PM. The trip wou...

A sight in Kolkata

The sight was stunning - almost made the city look like a hill station.

Bangalore is poorly connected via rail and air to the metropolitan cities. While it’s easy to get a Delhi-Howrah rail ticket, Bangalore-Howrah tickets are scarce. The same goes for air tickets as well. Consequently, instead of buying a Bangalore-Howrah air ticket for tomorrow, I settled for Chennai as the source city, thereby saving Rs.2k. The only headache now is to travel from Bangalore to Chennai. I might take the bus…just for some adventure.

It’s time to listen to this man. I have fond memories of his ghazals.

I really don’t know how long I can drag on like this. I guess it’s time to resign to fate and wish adieu to the good life once and for all. Wish I could pour my heart out. When I do it one day, the flood will stun the world.

Even an over-ebullient optimist won’t mistake the title for a compliment to the waning year. What a horrible year 2008 was! I think the economy is to blame for the gloom that set in the world over. The domino effect affected all walks of life and news has seldom been as bad. People have committed suicides, murders, robberies, kidnappings, extortions, evictions, embezzlements and countless other misdeeds – all to tide over the miseries brought forth by diminishing funds. Things are so sombre, not much is expected from the next year either. In most cases, people are simply bracing themselves for the worst. I just hope we’ll see an upswing, even the tiniest hint will do.

A long abeyance had been unusual to my blog…until now. Part of the cause is voluntary (a lot of self-swearing to slow-down was evident) and part necessary. A jaunt to New Delhi was what made it the latter. I visited the national capital last week (& returned today) for the 2nd time in 6 years. Though I would have preferred putting up at the famous Kali Bari straight away, I got slightly adventurous and decided to try my luck at a cheap hotel in Pahargunj . It was a decision I would deeply regret. Pahargunj is the dingiest, craziest, dirtiest, filthiest, noisiest and gloomiest market I’ve ever seen. The hotel where I put up for 24 hrs had a highly vociferous manager who apparently could do without any sleep at night when his voice was equally loud and redundant. Pahargunj is frequented by many foreigners – probably competing against each other as the ultimate test of resilience. What struck me most on the morning I made the fateful decision to be lodged in hell was the sight of a ...

The Moon, as sighted via my humble Nokia N72 through the window of the rat infested Kongu Express.

Each day, I pray that I’m wrong… that there’s indeed a God that there’s indeed a Heaven that there’s indeed Dad somewhere out there that I’ll get to meet him when my time comes that I’ll embrace him then, never to let go of him But I know I’m right.