Reflection: Two hundred forty-six.
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In the second verse of the 40th chapter of the Udyog Parva of the Mahabharata, Vidur says,
mahāntam apy artham adharma-yuktaṃ
yaḥ manty ajaty anapākṛṣṭa eva |
sukhaṃ su-duḥkhāny avamucya śete
jīrṇāṃ tvacaṃ sarpa ivāvamucya ||
Meaning: If someone voluntarily keeps at a distance any valuable object acquired through wrongdoing, or any highly attractive but sinful action or idea, then they can live peacefully, free from anxiety. Just as a snake sheds its worn skin to become unburdened, so too can such a person protect themselves from their potential enemies.
In the third verse, we see Vidur saying,
anṛte ca samutkarṣo rāja-gāmi ca paiśunam |
guroś cālīka-nirbandhaḥ samāni brahmahatyayā ||
Meaning: Deceiving teachers, gurus, respected persons, or those who are great in honor and knowledge, lying to them, concealing one’s true intentions to achieve victory—even if one succeeds, such victory is momentary and ultimately invites endless suffering. (My father often used to tell us: if it ever happens that a person of honor and wisdom is standing before you, and you remain seated without offering them your chair, then be certain that from that day begins your downfall. I have always tried to understand and follow my father’s words. Without knowing how to bow one’s head before elders, it is impossible to become great oneself! Without appreciating and cherishing the virtues of virtuous people, one cannot practice or cultivate those virtues. Reverence and submission to whatever is extraordinary teaches us to see life and the world. The greatness of great people must be honored—for the sake of becoming great ourselves. And whoever deceives the great is undoubtedly petty; and through such victory, they gradually become even more petty and mentally weak. This happens subconsciously—one cannot quite perceive what is happening. Thus, while they may feel happiness in momentary victory, they must spend their lives in infinite sorrow and unfulfillment—this is what they deserve. Always, the long breath of virtue is more powerful than the satisfaction of sin.)
In the fourth verse, Vidur tells Dhritarashtra,
asūyaika-padaṃ mṛtyur ativādaḥ śriyo vadhaḥ |
aśuśrūṣā tvarā ślāghā vidyāyāḥ śatravas trayaḥ ||
Meaning: Those who are capable do not burn in pointless envy. Excessive envy leads to spiritual death, and pride destroys prosperity. The three main obstacles on the path to knowledge are: lack of reverence for the guru, absence of patience in learning, and baseless self-satisfied arrogance.
In the fifth and sixth verses, Vidur speaks about very important matters for students,
ālasyaṃ mada-mohau ca cāpalaṃ goṣṭhir eva ca |
stabdhatā cābhimānitvaṃ tathā tyāgitvam eva ca ||
ete vai sapta doṣāḥ syuḥ sadā vidyārthinaṃ matāḥ |
sukhārthinaḥ kuto vidyā nāsti vidyārthinaḥ sukhaṃ |
One who desires pleasure should abandon learning, or one who seeks learning should abandon pleasure.
Meaning: How can knowledge be acquired if one does whatever one feels like doing to gain mere sensory pleasures? Learning does not progress in excessive comfort, spiritual practice cannot happen in too much ease, and no goal can be reached without enduring hardship. During the pursuit of knowledge, one must forget about comfort, and during times of comfort, one must forget about the pursuit of knowledge—these two can never go together. Seven deadly mistakes create obstacles on a student’s path to learning: laziness, inattentiveness, intellectual indecisiveness, restlessness, wasting time in idle chatter and wandering about, arrogance, and greed.
Reflection: Two hundred and forty-seven.
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Seeking forgiveness from the wrong person is never right. I have paid dearly for doing this in my life. When you seek forgiveness from the wrong person, the response only intensifies your own guilt; no path emerges from there to escape or correct yourself. Whatever penance is needed, one must do it alone. If you seek forgiveness from the wrong person, they will weaken your inner strength, the offense will seem far greater to you than it actually was, and this greatly delays the work of beginning your penance. Sometimes speaking with the wrong person can even create suicidal tendencies within oneself. Suicide is not just the act of killing oneself… believing in your mind “I want to commit suicide” is also a form of suicide… contact with the wrong person is therefore another name for suicide.
When we understand many things about life and the world, our loved ones around us think that no matter what storms may come, we can bear it all… we understand so much… we could never act like such a fool…
But reality tells a different story…
Those who can weather the most storms are the ones who fall prey to storms the most. God supposedly tests people by putting them in danger. But then why do they spend their entire lives taking tests?
Beloved, I am deeply sorry for all the feelings I hold within me for you. If you could understand even a little how purely, how carefully I cherish you in my feelings, you wouldn’t be able to say whatever comes to mind! Across my entire existence, you have said only one thing to me… don’t be a bother! This one piece of writing is all you’ve written just for me… ah, what an excellent reward for love!
Accepting that love is false—this is terribly painful for me. Better that I become false instead… that’s preferable.
You’re reading this and laughing, thinking, how can someone who was never there leave?
I understand. Please forgive me.
In any relationship, sudden rises and sudden falls deeply annoy me. I have seen many people who, just moments ago, were ready to cross mighty oceans in emotion for someone, and then when the emotion ends, wouldn’t give even a drop of water from their mouth to save that same person’s life! Such behavior without any particular logical reason… I despise such love.
My experience tells me that all happy people are ordinary. Extraordinary people are never happy. I have never seen any extraordinary person lead a happy personal life or make anyone else happy. However, extraordinary people can enchant others. So if you want to be enchanted, go to extraordinary people. And if you want to see happiness or be happy, go to ordinary people. With ordinary people, you understand the value of love; with extraordinary ones, you have to pay a price. The amusing thing is, being in the company of most extraordinary people isn’t particularly pleasant either. They look better from a distance.
You won’t understand most of the work or thought patterns of extraordinary people. You’ll try to match them with your own experiences in your own way, and end up feeling unhappy inside. Remember, your experiences and beliefs will never align with those of an extraordinary person. This is natural.
On the other hand, most of the work or thought patterns of ordinary people align with your own. Consequently, some elements of happiness that you lack but they possess can be easily absorbed by you, making you happy quite effortlessly. Ordinary people feel as close as they appear, while extraordinary people feel as distant as they seem. This is natural. Almost all ordinary people can become happy following roughly the same principles. Extraordinary people, however, have their own unique ways of finding happiness.
But yes, if you yourself are extraordinary, that’s a different matter. No matter how much people tell you, “You’re an extraordinary person!” actually becoming truly extraordinary isn’t easy. It’s an impossibly difficult task. Such a state can only be achieved through much sacrifice, patience, and labor.
The same amount of time is allotted to everyone in the world—twenty-four hours. If this weren’t a proven truth, I would never believe by any means that everyone has the same amount of time. All the great people of the world, who have accomplished so many impossible feats, truly had only twenty-four hours in their day too! Impossible…! I can’t even imagine…how on earth!? Just thinking about their accomplishments would take me more than forty-eight hours in a day! When I can’t even keep pace with time in this unproductive life of mine, I feel like turning time into a human being, tying this “time-person’s” hair to a post in Hammerfest, Norway, the northernmost point, binding their feet with rope, and setting off with the rope in hand toward Puerto Williams, Chile, the southernmost point! Maybe in the tug-of-war between the two ends of the earth, time might stretch a little longer!
I don’t feel like having tea at all, but the tea turned out so good that I’ve finished it all……
I really want to have tea, but the tea tastes completely bland. Still, since I want it so much, I’ve finished it all……
Isn’t it like this sometimes? This situation matches so many things in life! If we use time like tea in this manner, even if a day had 240 hours instead of 24, nothing would get done! The ability to eliminate from life what doesn’t need to be done, and to do what needs to be done in the best possible way—life endures with dignity through the strength of these two capacities.
“Ufff……from morning till now, how much I’ve learned from being with you!”
“What do you mean, learned something!?
From morning till now, we’ve hardly even spoken!”
“You don’t need to say anything at all — so much learning happens just like that! Everyone should spend at least a month with you, even if you don’t utter a single word,
still…….”
Ha ha ha ha ha……what bizarre thoughts play in the mind!
When someone loves another,
what extraordinary notions they harbor about that person! I know this well…….so I didn’t elaborate further,
just smiled in silence. In selfless love, let a person paint themselves around their beloved existence with the boundless colors of their heart, however they wish,
as much as they desire,
what’s the harm!
If not in reality, then at least let them remain well in imagination,
let them live in joy. Perhaps they know nothing of this
world,
dragging along a completely worthless existence as they stumble forward,
maybe they’ll never be needed for any work in this
world, yet………yet they know how to love selflessly,
that much happiness is their due!
Thought: Two hundred and forty-eight.
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One.
Nandini, the adopted daughter of son Rathindranath and daughter-in-law Pratima,
whom the poet called Pupe, would babble something or other in early childhood, as all children speak in half-words,
when one day Rabindranath, enchanted by the beauty of that innocent speech, gazed at his infant granddaughter in wonder and wrote……’Much you speak yet nothing say. I have abandoned hope of understanding your language.’
(Ah, how many ways we put this song to use, in our own manner. The momentary creations of the great become gifts of a hundred years to ordinary people.)
The song is found in Anadikumar Dastidar’s notebook. The poet was 64 when he composed it.
What would I have done in Rabindranath Tagore’s place? Looking at my granddaughter, I would have said in an irritated tone: Hey, you monkey!
Quiet! Absolutely quiet!
Don’t you dare make a sound! If you do, I’ll pick you up and give you a thrashing!
However far one can run, they consider themselves wise to that extent. Some have no limit to their running. They continue to find joy in the journey until death.
Here lies the difference between a Rabindranath Tagore and an ordinary person. That one song of Rabindranath’s is more valuable than the entire lifetimes of a hundred people like us. What the momentary lifespan of the great can give to this world, our hundred-year lifespans cannot offer even a fraction of it. Most of us,
most people indeed,
can give nothing to this
world during our lifetime except some unnecessary increase in carbon dioxide.
Two.
What you want to say
doesn’t matter at all. What matters is whether you’re saying what I want to hear. You may have many important things to say,
but those are important only to you—to me they’re not worth a penny. You may have accomplished great feats in life,
and by telling me those stories over and over you keep boring me,
you simply can’t understand
that all those grand exploits of yours aren’t worth even a mosquito to me. You might be a Harvard-returned scholar, but when you flaunt your erudition before others, if it fails to attract anyone,
that vast learning won’t stop the audience from yawning. We listen to boring people out of courtesy or sheer compulsion. It’s natural that your feelings or knowledge will have no value to someone else. So if you want to make someone listen to you, if you want to extract time from them,
you must do it in such a way
that they feel inclined to give you their time. Knowing how to extract time is a tremendous art. Most people fail to grasp this simple matter and end up presenting themselves as tedious to others.
Three.
Two thoughts are on my mind:
Marriage and love—both are simultaneously worthless and wonderful things. Good to have them, even better not to.
All the beautiful women in the world are becoming boring with their endless BCS-BCS chatter. When beauties turn intellectual or tedious, it’s quite insufferable.
(Going to Chittagong for vacation. By Sitrak bus. If the heart’s yearning over the vast Meghna ends up as a Facebook status, what then?)
Chowdhury Saheb!
Listen, one day I too will become a Chowdhury Saheb like you. That day I’ll marry my daughter to whoever she wants to marry. Hehehehe……
Some girls suddenly marry someone of relatively better standing, abandoning their old lovers for no reason whatsoever.
Some boys suddenly marry someone of relatively better standing, abandoning their old girlfriends for no reason whatsoever.
At the last moment they say,
“Forgive me,
I couldn’t bring myself to accept you……”
What they deliberately don’t say………is: because I understand business far better than I understand love!
Damn these future-dealers!
You understand status,
but not the heart! I feel like grabbing them
and slapping the teeth out of all of them!
I got nothing at least, let the dentist get something……
Four.
Sunlight sliced into strips seemed to drench this morning!
The heart burns in rain, drowns in sunshine. Even today!
Never keep track of her birthday,
Gift money will be saved year-round!
Ah! If nothing else happens in this world, you still need someone’s birthday to give gifts!
One doesn’t need an invitation to attend a beloved’s wedding. And if invited, one must certainly arrive before everyone else. This makes it easier to spot her from afar and flee beforehand, should there be any risk of taking a beating from the beloved’s husband later on.
All this nonsense!
I had loved.
Hence such hatred!
Both utterly genuine!!
Not every love leads to marriage. Alas!
Not every marriage leads to love. Alas, alas!!
Five.
The person Sushanta.
The status-writer Sushanta.
The employee Sushanta.
The lover Sushanta.
The career-discussion Sushanta.
The reader Sushanta.
The BCS-topper Sushanta.
…………. and so on and so forth.
Each of these is an entirely separate entity. If you attempt, even in the slightest, to enter another realm while I occupy one—without my permission—you will be utterly disappointed. The responsibility for this disappointment rests entirely with you. It would be best if you stayed exactly where you are, with my gratitude. Understanding your limits and my limitations will benefit everyone—you, me, and all concerned. You have neither the right nor permission to judge me; come to my wall knowing this. Otherwise, please stay away. My wall, my rules. Just as you live by your individual autonomy, so do I. You will answer to your God for your deeds, not to me. I will answer to my God for mine, not to you. Neither of us is the other’s God. Just as your worst thought is more precious to you than my best thought, the same holds true for me. I don’t impose unwanted authority, nor do I tolerate unwanted authority. Your life, your rules. My life, my rules.—It’s the only rule I follow.
If you can take me as I’m, come
close.
If you can’t take me as I’m, don’t
come close.
Some people seem good from distance.
Approached near, they don’t seem good anymore. I’m one of them. Trust me, I’m
not lying. (Binoy’s words come to mind………yet why even today,
O laughter,
O deodar,/
when humans draw near, the true crane flies away!)
I’m what I’m. I can’t be as you
expect me to be. I’m not sorry for being just what I feel like being. Accept me
as I’m, or stay away. No explanations, no queries, no interrogations.
I can’t change myself for you. You
like me? Well, continue liking me from distance. If you come close, you’ll be
disappointed. Better, stay away. I’ll tell you directly what I like, what I
don’t like, how I’m, how I’m not. Whatever I tell shows the original me, even
if it’s a despicable me, I don’t care. I’m happy with being despicable if you
really think I’m like that. I’m never responsible for what you assume about me.
I’m responsible only for what I show about myself. Don’t assume, just do ask me
directly. I’m not responsible for your bloody assumption. I love and respect
brave people. Be brave, be original. I can hardly afford time to maintain two,
let alone more faces. What you see without thinking twice is my original face.
If you don’t like the face you see at first sight, never even think of
expecting another face from me. A mask looks good only in festivals, not in life.
I hate masks in life. If you expect my mask, stay away as I don’t have any. If
you expect my face, come close as I’ve that one. Strong people have face, weak
people have mask. It’s your choice whom to give space in your life.
Thought: Two Hundred and Fifty-Nine.
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One.
(I’m bundling together some scattered thoughts)
Ah! Without this chocolate, I would have died of loneliness! Chocolate is one of the dearest friends of solitary souls. I eat Snickers, I read Invisible Cities. Chocolate is a good boy!!
Better to be defeated when we
deserve to be defeated than to win when we don’t deserve to win. Better to lose fighting like a tiger than to win by theft.
5 minutes of silence for those who
judge people by their academic background……Do the graduates from Harvard
University have bigger dicks or even heads? Disgusting!!
Boys, while acting out love, don’t even know when they truly fall in love. Girls, while truly loving, don’t know when they begin to act.
~Samaresh Majumdar
Master, hats off!
How did you come to know this, boss!
How did the outsider learn the inside story? Oh my!
Writers know everything!
Reading their words feels like
seeing myself naked in a mirror!
How uncomfortable it is to see oneself naked before oneself!
Two.
An imaginary message from
Zuckerberg:
Dear Users,
আপনার সীমিত সময় নষ্ট করার আগে ফেসবুকে যারা আপনাকে ব্যক্তিগতভাবে আক্রমণ করে তাদের নিয়ে ভাবতে আর অতিরিক্ত ভাবতে, আপনি দয়া করে আমার দল শুধুমাত্র আপনার জন্য তৈরি করা দুটি বৈশিষ্ট্য ব্যবহার করে দেখতে পারেন: বন্ধুত্ব বাতিল করা এবং ব্লক করা। ব্লক করতে কখনো দেরি করবেন না! অনাকাঙ্ক্ষিত মানুষদের থেকে মুক্তি পাওয়া বেশ মজার। চেষ্টা করে দেখুন! আপনি তাদের আপনার থেকে সম্পূর্ণভাবে মুক্ত করে তাদের একটি বড় উপকারও করবেন। যদি আপনার সত্যিই অপেক্ষা করার প্রয়োজন না থাকে তাহলে শত্রুভাবাপন্ন মানুষদের বন্ধুত্বপূর্ণ হতে দেখার জন্য আর অপেক্ষা করবেন না। বন্ধুত্বের মহান শিল্প শেখানোর জন্য আপনি কে? প্রত্যেকে তাদের নিজস্ব ধরনে যথেষ্ট বুদ্ধিমান। জানুন কারা গুরুত্বপূর্ণ, কারা নয়। আপনার জন্য ভুল মানুষকে কীভাবে চিহ্নিত করবেন? ঠিক আছে, আপনার জন্য একটি সহজ পরামর্শ। যার সাহচর্য আপনাকে হীন বোধ করায় সে কখনোই আপনার সাথে থাকার মতো সঠিক ব্যক্তি নয়। যারা আপনার যত্ন নেয় তারাই সেই মানুষ যাদের আপনার সত্যিকারের যত্ন নেওয়া প্রয়োজন। এমনকি একজন হার্ভার্ড স্নাতককেও পাত্তা দেবেন না, যদি তারা আপনাকে পাত্তা না দেয়। আপনার জীবন, আপনার পছন্দ, আপনার ফেরত। যেহেতু আপনি যীশুখ্রিষ্ট হতে পারেন না, তাই আপনি যা-ই হন না কেন সেটাই হন। শুধু খাঁটি হয়ে থাকুন!
আমাদের শৈশবে আমরা শিখেছিলাম কীভাবে ফুটবল লাথি মারতে হয়। যখন আমরা বড় হই, আমাদের অবশ্যই শিখতে হয় কীভাবে অপ্রয়োজনীয় মানুষদের লাথি মেরে বার করে দিতে হয়। এই অত্যাবশ্যক জীবন দক্ষতা ছেলেদের পুরুষ থেকে, মেয়েদের নারী থেকে—শিশুদের প্রাপ্তবয়স্ক থেকে আলাদা করে।
আপনার জীবনে আশেপাশের সব মানুষের কখনো প্রয়োজন নেই। কম মানুষ, কম গোলমাল, বেশি শান্তি। যারা সত্যিকারের প্রাপ্য নয় তাদের আপনার মূল্যবান সময় দেবেন না। যত কম মানুষের সাথে আপনার সময় ভাগ করে নিতে পারবেন, তত বেশি নিজের সাথে সময় ভাগ করে নিতে পারবেন। আপনাকে খুঁজে বের করতে হবে যারা শুধু ক্ষতিকর ঈর্ষায় আপনাকে ঈর্ষা করে। যারা সবসময় আপনার পাশে থাকে শুধুমাত্র যখন আপনার সম্পর্কে খারাপ কিছু বলার থাকে, তারাই সেই মানুষ যাদের নিজের কাছাকাছি না রাখার সিদ্ধান্ত নেওয়াই ভালো। সবসময় আপনি নিজের সম্পর্কে শুধু খারাপ মন্তব্য শোনার মতো যথেষ্ট খারাপ নন। যারা কখনো প্রশংসা করতে পারে না তাদের একজন স্কুলছাত্রের শেখা জিনিস আপনাকে শেখানোর কোনো অধিকার নেই। কিছু মানুষ কখনো প্রশংসা করতে পারে না। তাদের কাছাকাছি থেকে আপনার মধ্য দিয়ে ভালো কিছু যাওয়ার আশা কখনো করবেন না। তাদের বলুন, “এখন যথেষ্ট! বিদায়, বন্ধু। আপনার পরবর্তী বার আমার সম্পর্কে আরেকটি খারাপ মন্তব্য করার আরেকটি সুযোগ খোঁজার জন্য ক্লান্ত হওয়া পর্যন্ত আমি আপনাকে অপেক্ষায় রাখতে চাই না।” যারা আপনার সম্পর্কে কখনো ভালো কথা বলে না তাদের আপনার সম্পর্কে খারাপ কথা বলতে দেবেন না। পৃথিবীতে কেউ চিরকাল ভালো থাকতে পারে না। পৃথিবীতে কেউ চিরকাল খারাপও থাকতে পারে না। যে শুধু অবমূল্যায়ন করে, কখনো মূল্যায়ন করে না, সে কখনোই আপনার হিতৈষী হতে পারে না।
নিজের সম্পর্কে ভালো বোধ করা শুরু করতে কখনো দেরি নেই। আপনার নিজের সুখের দায়িত্ব নিন।
সুখী ফেসবুকিং!!
শুভ কামনা
মার্ক জাকারবার্গ
Disclaimer. Zuckerberg has never
such fucking time to waste for writing such a fucking BIG message for the
fucking people like us.
Three.
The Shortest Love Story:
The one I loved unrequitedly day after day, whose profile I haunted all day long,
whose most trivial post I would dissect multiple times to extract hidden meanings, about whom I wrote page after page,
thinking of constantly;
yet never had the courage to say any of this, fearing rejection—one day she suddenly knocked and
said “I love you” and then never
maintained contact again,
or allowed it.
Who among you has such a mysterious love story in your life?
Raise your hands.
Thought: Two hundred fifty.
……………………………………..
The Wife Speaks:
One. “Men are just like that!
Eat and run!”
(One day hilsa fish was being fried at home. If I couldn’t devour a piece or two right after the fish was fried in the pan,
what was the point of living? So,
I went and suggested gently that I’d like some fried fish. “Not now, later when we have rice.” Her clear verdict. After that I slyly consumed a large piece of fried hilsa and, rather than waste words with her further, went back to reading Chinmoy Guha’s
‘Ghumer Dorja Thele.’ As I left, I had to hear that immortal pronouncement.)
Two. “Enough,
enough, stop, no need to explain further. I also know that going abroad on scholarship doesn’t mean taking a second wife.”
(My talent for riling up women is legendary level. Ahem, ahem!
In casual conversation, to tease her I was saying, I’ll go off to Europe. Can’t stand it here anymore. You stay here, I’ll roam around there for a few years. Of course,
I’d mainly go abroad for higher studies on scholarship…….The moment I said this much, she snatched the words from my mouth and erupted like that!)
Three………This
can’t be said. Censored!
Taken from Life:
1. Women have infinite talent for picking fights completely without reason,
or by discovering reasons out of thin air, interpreting words as they please. Just as
“on the playing field there’s no distinction between Brahmin and Shudra,”
similarly on the battlefield of quarrels, virtually all women are more or less skilled. In fighting, women are tireless and sincere.
2. Womankind and wifekind are two entirely different human species.
3. (If I say this, mother won’t let me in the house. Therefore,
omitted.)
4. No matter how much you admit your mistakes and beg forgiveness, if any woman decides she’s going to make trouble with you over something,
she’ll keep making trouble over it,
keep making trouble. For feminine troublemaking, logic isn’t necessary—
willpower alone suffices.
5. Women are capable of remembering almost all your minor mistakes. All men make mistakes, and all women remember them. Rest assured, these will later be deployed as formidable weapons.
6. In the art of misunderstanding, women are not one but several steps ahead. Misunderstanding is like a habit. Regular practice makes it grow stronger.
7. Almost all forms of a wife’s anger can be substantially resolved through excellent anger-resolution techniques.
Let this be enough for today! I was in the middle of another piece—returning to it now.
P.S. You won’t go telling my wife everything, will you? Hah! Don’t try to intimidate me, Mr. Chowdhury!! Rabindranath Tagore said, “I’ve tossed my lungi to the wind—what fear have I of a fan?” I too believe the same.
How am I doing? Ah, why do you persist with this unnecessary courtesy, tell me? However I might be, surely it makes no difference to you whatsoever. People ask no question more than this one, apparently just for the sake of asking. Yet how effortlessly we lie, following the rules of propriety! There’s no escape from one lie in life…”I’m fine!” This lie has greater acceptability than any truth. If one can somehow get another person to say it, everyone seems to be saved! This world belongs to Nachiketa’s “Yes, I’m quite well”—terribly artificial, yet this is what goes on!
Shourjo: You know, I really like Srijita.
Me: Why, dear boy?
Shourjo: She looks at me and smiles sweetly, that’s why.
Shourjo is my nephew, recently started school. Srijita is in his class. I feel quite uncomfortable thinking about it—here I am, until the age of 28, never able to speak naturally with any girl. I would talk with my head down in such a way, as if she were my sister-in-law! Even when greeting my female students outside coaching classes, I would blush with embarrassment. And this little one can so easily express his preference without feeling awkward or smart about it. What a foolishly irritating life I’ve lived!
Off topic: Curious mind wants to know… well, does Captain’s World only grant entry to girls of elephantine proportions? Trust me, I’m not kidding, I’m seriously asking!
Thought: Two hundred fifty-one.
……………………………………..
Thought 1.
No gifts, please. Despite such words being written on the invitation, I’ve been to many weddings where a separate arrangement for receiving gifts was made on one side of the ceremony. What was the point of writing that on the card, really? Demonstration of aristocracy? What was the point of setting up the gift-receiving table then? Demonstration of hypocrisy? Those who, for good reason, come without gifts feel unnecessarily embarrassed. Or perhaps, by writing those words, they’re actually reminding people to bring gifts along?
“I won’t eat anything at night,
I had my lunch in the evening,
and even that was far too much.”
Despite saying this, at my mother’s
‘request’ to have just one piece of fried hilsa at the dinner table, I ended up eating nearly one and a half times more than my ravenously hungry younger brother.
This happens quite often. I feel the delicious consequence gathering around my belly.
When gifts or food appear before our eyes, or when there’s even the possibility they might appear,
most people find it difficult to restrain themselves. But even when we say we won’t partake, the very act of arranging to partake makes us appear foolish in others’ eyes. With food, at least it passes through the stomach, but with gifts, it strikes directly at one’s dignity.
Thought 2.
Being the son of a rich man or the wife of a rich man is more comfortable than becoming rich oneself. Because they have more airs,
fewer worries. Displaying wealth or enjoying it is easy enough. There’s no merit in it,
at best there’s luck. Of course,
most rich men’s sons or wives, lacking proper education and humility, spend their lives believing luck to be merit. The better one can grasp the difference between luck and merit, the more one can live with honor.
Thought 3.
A humble request:
Why aren’t you getting married,
brother?
Now we want to see our sister-in-law. How much longer?
How much more will you trouble Mother? Do something now.
Are you never going to marry?
You’re getting older, you won’t find a girl later.
Why are you still single?
Why don’t you have a girlfriend?
What’s the point of taking selfies alone?
How are you still alone at this age?
Now stop serving society and serve yourself.
Stop being so choosy and just get married.
Will Facebook be your whole life? Do something now!
Let a wife come home; then we’ll see
how you manage with all these books, movies, and music!
………………………………………..
Blah blah blah…………!!!!
That’s enough!
Stop now!
Have I ever bothered you about my affairs?
Whether I marry or not, what’s it to you? You know very well I can’t get married. You can spout all this nonsense, but can’t you help a little in this matter? If you ask where I’ll find a girl, then I’ll say:
Let me be as I am. You be as you are. Where is it written,
in which law,
that everyone in the world must have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
Yes, brother,
no one wants to marry me,
or those who do want to,
I don’t want to marry them. I’m fine,
they’re fine too. Do you have a problem?
If you can’t help, why do you come to speak nonsense? Why should I tolerate kicks from a cow that doesn’t give milk?
Dear brothers and
sisters, listening to such drivel is extremely annoying. It’s not that my friends and I of my age are avoiding marriage out of some whim. If we could find suitable girls, you wouldn’t get any chance to show off your wisdom. If you can help a little,
do so; if not, please don’t come dispensing advice. Oil your own machinery. There are many acquaintances around you. Can’t you give information about some of them!
Honestly,
it would be very helpful. If you can’t, stay away. Don’t come making snide remarks!
Such people can’t help,
but they’re masters at spoiling moods. What sense does it make to come preaching to someone you can’t help?
Useless shameless troublesome public!
Seeing this post, many will say I’m advertising for marriage. Yes, brother,
it’s a marriage advertisement indeed! I’m putting my marriage ad on my wall. What’s it to you?
On this night………
He who has no one to keep him awake has sleep. He who has no sleep has Facebook. And he who has Facebook
really has no one.
Who loves to dig through inboxes at midnight and play master!
Good grief, what a mess!
(One night I wrote the above rambling and posted it on Facebook. Reading those soliloquies after many days, I found them amusing. Felt like sharing with friends, so I kept them on the thought-wall.)
A bargain……if you give just a little love,
then I promise,
in joy, I’ll give away all my teeth.
(Those who don’t understand the meaning of this gesture,
please proceed gently to the dentist’s chamber with all your dental equipment.)
Thought: Two hundred fifty-two.
……………………………………..
(Diary of Brief Words)
1. Keep the body not holy,
but clean. There is no sin in the body; the body mainly contains dirt. Medical science says
just that. Sin and impurity are reckoned in the mind,
not in the body. What’s needed is not Ganges water on the body, but clean clothes.
In public interest: Detboy (Dettol+Lifebuoy)
2. Most tall, statuesque girls have rather short voices. The smaller the belly isn’t, the smaller the throat!
3. How much it hurts to swallow tears—does the one
who makes you cry
know that?
4. The most entertaining wedding invitation in the world is an invitation to your ex-lover’s wedding. Therefore, whether you receive an invitation or not, show up at your ex’s wedding on your own initiative and enjoy some diabolical pleasure by devouring food buffet-style. You know perfectly well that the fool probably just forgot to invite you, but you have sense, don’t you? Your ex is so eager to get married—won’t you take a look at that ape just once with your own eyes? How about this idea, brother: take a picture of that chimpanzee, enlarge it, print it, and glue it onto the punching bag for your boxing practice?
5. Let me give you some free advice………..
When beautiful women start bothering and annoying you by calling you “brother, brother” or “big brother, big brother,” you can start replying by calling them “sister, sister” or “big sister, big sister” just as much. Calling them “auntie” types also works. It works!
6. Give your opponent even half an inch and they’ll surely take a full foot of advantage. (85-90)% of relationships end in breakups—it’s common. Among these, 60% happen not from lack of emotion, but from lack of maturity. Emotion alone isn’t enough; it needs some intelligence alongside it. This is called emotional intelligence (or quotient). In present times, people’s decision-making skills are measured not by IQ but by EQ. The better someone’s EQ, the further they advance. You can search Google to learn about this; if I find time, I’ll write about EQ in simple terms. Just take today’s match. We had the IQ, we were playing well, everything was fine. Still we lost. Why? From emotion? No, not that either. There will always be emotion in games. We made some errors in instant decisions. This is entirely due to lack of emotional intelligence. Of all the sure-win matches we’ve lost so far, 60% are like that breakup situation. We had skill, effort, honesty, sincerity, experience—everything was there, only maturity or EQ was missing.
The coming days will be ours—we live in this dream.
Tigers! Still, I love you.
Footnote. Emotional Intelligence / Emotional Quotient = EI / EQ
Emotion works only when maturity accompanies.
7. You thought of it as a game—there are more to come, when one ends another begins.
I thought of it as life—there’s only one, when it ends everything ends.
Because of this distance in our thinking, today you’re playing again, while I remain dead. Not everyone can start over again and again.
8. “Beautiful Radha has become estranged”……… completely, it takes you into a kind of trance—from there, you don’t want to come back out.
It’s not raining—I know.
But what about this song that has been showering rain in my mind for who knows how long?
A magnificent song written in Brajabuli! If possible, listen to it once in Soumyajit’s voice. You’ll truly be enchanted. I listened to it 9 times straight, the 10th time is playing now. It’s not on YouTube; you can listen to Jayati’s version on YouTube.
This song appears in Bhanusimha Thakur’s Padabali. Rabindranath Tagore wrote this song in imitation of the following poem by the Vaishnava poet Gobindadas:
She of the curling tresses, incomparably adorned,
Intoxicated with passion, graceful one!
Her lips crimson-hued, her limbs rippling waves,
Companion of ever-new delights!
Beautiful Radha comes to the grove,
Crown jewel among the women of Braja!
She moves like an elephant, pearl-adorned lightning,
Lightning-flash that captivates the gaze!
Jewel-bedecked, newly seeking union,
She who sports in the dark one’s heart!
Fresh in love, beloved of all,
Enchanting melody in the fifth mode!
Reveling in the rasa dance, blooming with laughter,
She who adorns Gobindadas’s mind!
9. Fall in love with someone who falls for you just by seeing your Facebook profile picture.
Because, it’s a 100% lust lust lust
lust lust………
Marry the one who’s willing to marry you even after seeing your national ID card photo.
Because, it’s a 100% love love love
love love………… (Dancing on stage to that tune!)
(Dear serious people, trust me, I’m
not kidding. So, armed with all your wisdom and logic, dive into the battle to tear me apart and attack me. Victory shall surely be yours.)
10. The despair of success is far more intense than the despair of failure.
I have never seen anyone truly successful be genuinely happy. Success gradually renders people helpless. The successful—their teeth smile, their lips smile, but their eyes do not. No one will ever know how much suffering lies beneath that media smile. Yet what is true remains true. Falling into that suffocating orthodoxy called success, a certain kind of anguish ultimately becomes one’s destiny to endure. This is a great tragedy.
11. Rich people and rich people’s dogs—both species
bark nonstop—often for no reason at all.
When I used to tutor the children of the wealthy at their homes and earned better pay,
that experience… suddenly came to mind.