Folktales

(For all of you who either know me or had listened to my CC2 speech which was on the problems of gender discrimination, you’d know that I’m not the least of an advocate of the regular Disney fairytale in which there will be a typical damsel in distress princess who’ll be in danger, and there will be a prince charming on horseback who’ll save and protect, and then there will be a happily ever after. No, my dear friend, I’m sure you’d agree that girls are meant to be much stronger than that, and much wiser! Today, I am going to, however, tell you a Disney fairytale.)

"The Honest Season: by Kota Neelima

A political drama, to be honest, was never my forte, and so I had been a little apprehensive while I was unwrapping the courier package this weekend. But there’s always a first time, I tried to boost up my morale, and thus I started. And then, I simple could not keep it down until 4 a.m. in the morning, which is when I finally turned its last page.

We make it to The Cannes!!

Life Mantras!! (Book Review)

As I sit myself down to write about this book as a part of a commissioned review exercise, it is not easy to remark on the overall, on what it could be and what it is not. On one hand, the title and the back cover had promised what could have been an inspiring set of life values that one may learn from a journey that, though tainted, has seemingly been quite a journey of someone who tried. However on the other, as much as you delve into its pages, what it seemed to reek off is what you hear the god-men or the astrologers often say to you in lieu of some dough, any time, any day.

Mindfulness

Let’s do something different today, shall we? Well, today, I am going to start with taking your class attendance! Yes, you heard me right! Today, I am going to start with taking some class attendance. So, let me start.

(Name?

Present.

Name?

Present.)

Present! Present… of course. Present… are you sure?

নারীবাদ vs নারী বাদ

Guest-post, by Anirban. On International Women's Day!

“পুত্র রাজনীতি বড় কূট। এবয়সে তা বুঝবেনা। বোঝবার চেষ্টা কোরোনা।” আজকের মহম্মদ হয়ে বড় জানতে ইচ্ছা করে, রাজনীতি কি শুধু সংসদ, বিধানসভা ও নানান জনপ্রতিনিধি সভাতেই সীমাবদ্ধ? স্কুল, অফিস, কাছারির থেকেও যে রাজনীতি প্রাচীন ও চিরকালীন – সেহল "রান্নাঘরের রাজনীতি"। রান্নার ব্যবস্থা, রন্ধনপ্রণালী, রান্না করা খাবারের ভাগ সবকিছুর মধ্যেই যে তীব্র রাজনীতির আকর সেই রাজনীতিই এ সমাজের পুরুষতন্ত্রের আকর। 

নিজেদের প্রাধান্য টিকিয়ে রাখার এহেন পন্থা অসামান্য। “খিড়কি থেকে সিংহদুয়ার” এ বেধে দাও।তারপর নিজেরাই “সাস ভি কভি বহু থি” হয়ে আমরা যা পাইনি তা তোমরা পাবে না নীতিতে চলে যাবে। “ঘরের লক্ষ্মী”, “মাতৃরূপিনী” এসব ছেড়ে কি নারীকে রক্তমাংসের একজন মানুষ হিসেবে ভাবতে খুব অসুবিধা? সে দেবী নয়, সে বেশ্যা নয় – আমার মত একজন মানুষ। এত insecurity কিসের? জন্মানোর আগেই ভ্রূণ অবস্থাতেই মেরে ফেলো! ছোটবেলা থেকেই তাদের মাথায় ঢুকিয়ে দাও তারা নিকৃষ্ট! জীবনের অন্যতম মোক্ষ বিয়ে আর স্বামীর ঘর।

The Ten... Commandments?

For those friends and readers who have been seeing my posts every other day with certain letters and codes that you’re probably not making much out of, let me stop at this and tell you what it is all about. Well, they're about "Toastmasters"!! Toastmasters is a club, decentralized with branches everywhere in nooks and corners across the globe, in which people get together and hone their public speaking skills. They have the Communications and the Leadership tracks that people follow as they either deliver speeches or play others roles in the meetings and behind the scenes.  

But then, that’s just on the surface. From my journey over the past a little less than six months with the club, it’d be rather ungrateful if I do not say how it opens a new door to your way of life. Every other week I’d be thinking of what to speak on next, how and why. The sheer opportunity to be talking to a room full of people, twenty odd to thirty plus of certain fortunate days, to be able to appeal and influence to their sensibilities over what I choose to talk upon, well, got me!

Back to Basics

I recently made a power-point presentation with the topic as "Back to Basics" in which I argued, with humour and with help of the pictures below, how we are making a fool of ourselves in the process and how, therefore, we must seriously consider going "back to basics". It was a speech marathon and this one got me a best speaker :D :D !! So, here you go... back to basics!!