Spontaneity - yes, that's one of my traits (whether its positive or negative I have no idea though)! It can lead to good, and yeah, I'm talking about serious good, or it can lead you to trouble.
Its not only my thoughts that have the habit of wandering, I wander about a lot too. And of late, these ramblings have increased quite a bit. One such took me to Junput, a small fishing hamlet tucked on the coast of Bay of Bengal. At least this was what the websites advertised.
I should have known better - it is people like me who write for those sites, people who have never visited the destination but use up all possible adjectives to describe it, people who have no idea about the place at all. But we were silly enough to believe them. That was a serious mistake.
We went to Kanthi via bus (took about 3 hours) and took a van. Then it was another 40 minutes bus journey to our destination. When we finally reached the place... well I have no words to describe it... all my writing skills fail here! No I'm not searching for adjectives like mesmerizing or stunning or wonderful or any such.
It was horrid, yeah, that's the right word, horrid. It was a small village full of fishermen. We asked them about the 'beautiful' beach. They showed us an endless stretch of mud that led to something on the horizon. There was no way we could reach that far and come back too!
We rested under some trees for about half an hour and came back - yes, the whole 3 hours and 45 minutes trip back to Kolkata. A misadventure - and all credit goes to my community, that of content writers.
Misadventure - of sorts
Loss of a friend...
Part of childhood's gone... with the demise of Goopi Gyne (Tapen Chatterjee, in the real world), an episode comes to an end. Perhaps he is happier where he is now, far from this world which never gave him credit enough. And with his best friend Bagha. In an interview Goopi had remarked that a school student had asked him inside a tram "Apni tram'e keno? Apni to haat'e tali dilei pouche jaben?" (Why do you use the tram? You could go anywhere with a clap) And he had answered, "Se to thik'i, kintu Bagha'ke chara to haat'e tali diye labh nei" (That's so true, but without Bagha, the clap's of no use). This was after the death of Robi Ghosh.
Don't mind all you Satyajit Ray fans, I am one of the same brethren! But its true that Goopi and Bagha (on celluloid) deserve the same honor as their creator (Upendrakishore Roychoudhary as well as Satyajit Ray). It was Ray's genius that transformed the book into a feature film but how could he have accomplished the task without the perfect Goopi and Bagha.
Remember Goopi's expression when Bagha said that they could marry a princess with the help of the three boons? Or the way he reacted when he heard himself singing 'in tune' for the first time? These small details went to form a big part of my childhood, and I'm sure many others' childhoods' too.
I would pray for my dear friend Goopi today! He was one of my 'bestest' (plz do forgive my English) buddies assuring me throughout my childhood about how good always wins at the end, how happiness is not about riches but about what you love, what goodness means. And I would know what to ask 'Bhooter Raja', thanks to these friends of mine!
