Ku Klux... a(las) Californios

The guilds from the town of Cartagena, Spain. Marrajos (/Las Californios) - An orthodox catholic, non-violent type, who hold a ritual procession on Good Friday (just before Easter).

Now moving to the infamous (KK)Klan - could the traditional dress code of a guild be more exploited? it is saddening to see. Easily, the Marrajos may be mistaken for the KKK; apt instance of infamy conquering the noble.

The Famine of Bengal... Distant Thunder

The clever marauder is the crow. From his set of famine paintings, this picture shows Abedin painting a mother at her weakest.

1943 famine of Bengal is a widespread story amongst Bengalis and a few knowledgable people beyond that geographical hemisphere. Some felt callous about it, after all it was only the poor who mostly suffered! To give a brief account of the impact of 1943 Bengal famine, around 1.5-3 million people died.

There are several hypothesis as to what might have caused the famine. Some say rumours of war-time demands caused the famine; while it was also said, the famine could also have arisen due to natural calamities (i.e. flood) - leaving the peasants to feed on their limited cultivation.

In an article (sometime ago), the writer describes Bengal as, 'a poor man's Las Vegas.' ...minus the brightly-lit casinos!

Romeo and Juliet

"Hey it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack!!!"

(Dire Straits)

For those who believe in love, what is with whirlwind romance... and then the reality check?

The conditional love seems somewhat an anomaly; love unconditonal remains in its very true form. The latter teaches us to be better beings, to love what the world gives and in return, to nurture our surrounding.

Unfortunately, conditional love is a masque; deceiving the mortals that it is unconditional... leading to obsessive behaviour and often an irrational mind.

Sometimes, respect and care need to be carefully defined. Although sensible souls could use their heart and mind to identify what is the reasoning and ideology behind unconditional love.

Dedicated to Shaukeen.

Amte Baba - radical nourishment... ha ha!

In this week's issue of The Economist (Vol. 386 No. 8569), an obituary was published on Amte Baba, otherwise known as Murlidhar Devidas Amte - the criminal lawyer who could charge as much as 50 rupees (in mid-1940s) for talking 15 minutes. Inflation-adjusted, this figure is phenomenal... approximately 1000 rupees, perhaps even more, in modern-day India.

The monetary power - implied above - is applied to reflect propensity of the rich guy who scavanged... As a Brahmin Hindu, Amte Baba broke a fundamental doctrine - Brahmins DO NOT touch the untouchables. He did. He even educated the lepers in a societal style.

He was not alone. Baba Amte's wife left her sister's wedding to help the servants clean dishes.

Amte Baba's philosophical musings: "Where there was fear, there was no love; and when an action was not done in love, it had no value."

On that note, here is a distinguished piece from beloved Gurudev... Songs of Offering:

Where The Mind is Without Fear

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action-
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. "

- Rabindranath Tagore (Gurudev)

Agantuk

The Bison, represented in this cave art picture, triggers a question of ancient civilisation... over 20,000 years old, drawn using tools which were at best limited, so what can be said about modern civilisation? Clairvoyance! Suffice a picture - similar to this cave art - becomes the theme to a film called, 'The Stranger (Agantuk).'

Manmohan Mitra - the protagonist - is very much a Gobir Joler Maach (Literal: Deep Sea Fish/ stylistic expression in Bengali used to describe a person who is reserved).

Throughout the length of this feature film, it is difficult to identify Manmohan Mitra; how can he be best described - why does he return to native Kolkata after 35 years of travelling abroad, does he have a maatlab (objective) in good faith, or is he totally superficial?

Indeed, Manmohan Mitra can considered as the lucky few who spend time travelling in quest of finding answers and understanding the world. With attained knowledge from travelling around the world, the charming Mr Mitra does not display what he knows; he explores his vicinity and he asks those around him what they perceive to be civilisation.

"... NASA, and seated closeby is Nasha (Addiction) - where one (NASA) has progressive technology fuelling the unimaginable dream, where is technology in modern society to cure the other (Nasha)?" - Manmohan Mitra (The Stranger)