A Hazy Canvas ...

Did I mention the spectacular view balcony at office offers ? The view of vast expanses of marshlands on the eastern fringe of calcutta..with coconut trees gently swaying their heads near the horizon as if daring you to reach for them.

It used to be my favorite haven for last six months or so (...ofcourse I used to spend some time on my desk..evryone deserves moments respite :) .. each day the balcony offered a new look...i saw the waterbody still as a mirror...i saw fiery storm raise its head from the back of that tall building at distance and weave their own alpana on water...i saw the restlessness on the surface as the tropical rain came down pitter-patter...slowlyy and playfully...i saw powerful lightning lashing the horizon...and of course I saw nothing at all when heavy downpour blurred all that was there to view and painted the entire canvas in a dull monochrome.

Just as I was leaving this balcony forever today, I watched this bird ...the tiny one... as she kept fluttering her wings in desperation against the strong wind. She was making frantic attempts to tide past the obstacles...quite a strong one for her at that...what impressed me was she never flew with the wind which would have been so easier an option but kept fighting against the odds.

She sure knew her direction home...

weeping meadows

My short and sweet tenure at Kharagpur after almost two years of UK and another two in US has been that of an eye-opener - coming down to ground reality - for those [including myself] who had always thought ankle-deep waterlogged city is next to God's curse, come see entire south bengal today - submerged beneath what is still not declared a 'flood' :)

My journey today started at 7.30 from Kolkata and soon after we left Santragachhi it was all the same story till Kgp. What bothered me more is people seemed acquainted with living on the edge and have taken it for granted. They know that each monsoon is probably going to bring home a tide, and they will flow with it. They probably even don't know that there is a 'flood' in someone's dictionary. In their own way I saw many of them netting fish that came home with this tide. With this positive attittude [probably stemmed from a mix of ignorance and helplessness] and a smiling face they kept on fishing for years. And would probably dwell another century in their silence.