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Health, Beauty and Cosmetics Estée Lauder always said there were three ways to communicate: telephone, telegraph and tell a woman.

Caught a...

It is in deed difficult time in Kolkata. There might be a lot of 'catching up' if you were not already aware.

There was this recent riot over Taslima Nasreen. During our discussion at office,her (in)famous Lajja caught our attention. Then there was venemous condemning of all the violence. It was terrible, the children coming home from school were caught in a difficult situation.

Things got this bad, that 'catch' no more reminded one of the good days of Indian Cricket. And well, to make the matters worse, the cold has descended in Kolkata. Being from Kathmandu, (which everyone here believes is cold through out the year) I was selected as the responsible one to 'catch' the cold. Lo! I caught it.

However, I cannot take the achiever's trophy alone. For I can hear the continous, 'surrrrr surrrrr' from behind my back. There is G, who has stepped up, shown his bravery and claims his share of fame having caught a cold himself! I wonder if all the cops in Kolkata will soon follow our footsteps!

Hmm, so the incessant 'dhrrrrr' from the office ac is now punctuated with timely 'srrr srrr'. This is not some funny sound to be laughed at. Its not rare but a prerogative of this part of the world. During my short stay in Europe, I was faced with people forcing their head out of their noses. Covering their nose with a wide 'kerchief they would go 'shoo...choo...khooo.....' (depending on their origin, French , German or Italina... and more on my translation of their nasal phonetics). They are so bereft of the rhythmic, 'srr srr', I would muse, while punctuating the silence in many public places in Swiss with my rhythmic you know what!

But this sound of music was not to last long.Not having an ac to add to the beats of the music, Linus interrupted. 'Can't you just blow in one shot rather than pulling it up again throught your nasal track while it stubbornly wants to get the hell out.And you like someone scared of losing a precious possession are there guarding strictly at the exit, and a vehement .... SURRRR each time it tries to sneak out. 'Let it go V', let it go, or rather blow it out. It is not like a past love affair that you are clinging to!

Hmm, after the rare lecture from soft spoken Linus, I changed my strategy and went anti SURRRR... though I did doubt that someday I will blow my head out through my nose!

G goes SURRR once again, reminding me of the good old days and I promptly head to the looo to blow out in one .........................!

Deepawali - a garland of lamps!

A picture speaks for itself! Shot taken a day before Diwali, on the balcony of Netscribes, Kolkata.

Happy Deepawali

A festival of lights!

I have seen children so eager at the mention of Deepawali (better known as Diwali). We too as children were like that. Looking forward to was so easy back then- new frocks, people visiting us, we visiting people and of course NO SCHOOL. These days it is 'Dhoni Dhamakas' (cracker named after the current Indian cricket captain), designer lamps and more.

Things changed over time as things change over time! The girls grow up from their frocks to their longer skirts, boys from their shorts to full lenght trousers but the looking forward to doesn't change much. From a festival of lights, Diwali however did become a 'cleaning spree for me'. Diwali time became synonimous with a 'clutter free' exercise, as we started to help Mom get rid of things we did not need. There were things like the house being painted, washing the curtains,etc. etc. that busied the adults of the house. We on our part removed the trophies placed on the pelmet tops and clean the surface and the accolades. Sadly those cups have been long packed up in the attic, no more in the prized display!

I do not know why but I somehow ended up enjoying the 'sorting out clutter'. I still enjoy going through things that have just been- buried under several layers in my drawers.The fun begins once you take out each thing and then before deciding which heap they should go to- The 'throw now' or 'throw later, next year perhaps ;)" or the 'can't be thrown'- you go back to the times when you had accumulated those stuff. Then comes those dilemmas one might dread. Of keeping the postcards given by friends when we were in standard V. Or those birthday cards collected over the years, or the newspaper cuttings like- Jug Surraiya's Monsoon Wedding, Dosa and Goethe (the middle piece in TOI long back, cherished till today!)... These were treasures I never went back to until Diwali. And come Diwali, they would come out popping from various drawers. I would spend the rest of my 'cleaning day' re reading articles, letters, cards. Now with the e-age. Things are so much simpler. My friends send me mails, and e-greetings! And Gosh, my inbox is cluttered! But I have no heart to give it a Diwali Spruce up.

I did end up sorting out and removing what I had not used for the past two years, and then have moved on to removing stuff I have not used in the past one year. I believe one could develop a therapy, if it did not already exist. A therapy of sorting clutter. This exercise soothes you, brings a sense of 'organized' to the unorganized mind! But I think this will be a cult therapy. As there dont seem to be many takers. My mom would oppose it outright, she has never been too happy when I take days cleaning a small room of mine! Moreover, she is a more compiling than a throwing person!

Too much of clutter, let me talk of lights now. How I love lighting 'diyas' , the small earthen lamps. And how lovely they look, jhil mil compensating for the sky bereft of the shining moon! Happy Diwali all of you!!

Bean there, Done that!

Something on Coffee:

Well here is some bean for thought for coffee cravers!

Green coffee is coffee that has not been roasted.

The drink "Americano" was named after American soldiers in WW II who found the European way of drinking caffe as espresso too strong. Baristas would cut the espresso with hot water for them. (from wiki)

Which leading brand in American coffee has the tagline: 'Good to the last drop'?

You might not really hear of Nescafe in US!

(more later...)