Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

Rally

The other day BJP President Amit Shah visited Bhubaneswar. He was welcomed with a massive rally with umpteen numbers of cars and motor bikes with followers (none of the bike-borne persons was wearing helmet) following and preceding his vehicle.

Photo: Ashok Panda

This is a familiar scene. Massive car/bike-rallies like this be are organised whenever any political leader arrive. All political parties, irrespective of colour and proffered ideology do this. 

It is a sheer waste of man-power and material resources like petrol. Add to that the problem of traffic-jam and pollution. I wonder who funds these expensive rallies and what, exactly is achieved by this?

If rallies have to be organized- to show the popularity of the leader or the strength of the party and commitment of the party workers, why can't cycle-rallies be organised?
Photo: Ashok Panda

Shyam Sundar Achary

A painting of Mahatma Gandhi disembarking a train and people greeting him at the gate will adorn the cover of a booklet highlighting the achievement of the Railways on the occasion of 150^th year of Gandhi’s birth anniversary. The painting was done by thirty-five years old Shyam Sundar Achary, who works as a peon with the East Coast Railway headquarters in Bhubaneswar.

He was spotted when he topped the National-Level All-India Railway painting Competition organized by Railway Board at Nagpur on March 2018.

A native of Paralakhemundi (Ganjam), he is working in East Coast Railway since year 2008. Shri Achary has previously won a large number of awards from various organizations and from Govt. of Odisha also.

A self-taught artist Achary has excelled in sketching portraits, other figurative works and blends a rare mixture of realistic and surrealistic (dream) creative work which is being greatly appreciated in contemporary art circles.

Achary’s feat reminds me of a dialogue in the film Secret Superstar. In a scene Amir Khan holds a glass of soda with the bubbles going up- and says- talented people are like these bubbles. Nothing can stop them from coming up. Persons like Achary will be role models for may aspiring youngsters.

Dog Tale

Nobel Prize winner author Orhan Pamuk (whose book My Name Is Red created a sensation) had said:  “Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”

I cannot call myself a dog-lover. In fact I am not very fond of dogs, especially street dogs. The campus I live in has more than half a dozen of resident dogs. I see them every day going about their daily chores. They wag their tales when they see me- as we humans say good morning to others living nearby even if we do not know their names and family details. I usually avoid them, occasionally shoo them away.

Then one day an idea of writing a novel on street dogs entered my mind. More I thought about the idea, more enticing it became. I researched for over a month to get facts about dogs. I could know facts like: Dogs are omnivores -- they eat meat, grains and vegetables, just like human fingerprints, no two dogs' nose prints are alike; stroking dogs and gazing into their eyes releases the "feel good" hormone oxytocin for both people and dogs. I read no less than a dozen books on dogs and But Pamuk was right: you need to listen to the dogs to know their story, their happiness and frustration. I tried to do that.

As I finish writing the novel- the dogs seem friendlier to me. Recent research has revealed that dogs are more intelligent than we have thought so far. Have they sensed I have written on them? Probably they have.

Joke Day

Internet is a store house of trivia. The other day as I was lazily browsing the net, I learnt that July 1 is observed as International Joke Day. There is no authentic information about the origin of the day. But now it is observed in many countries with standup comedy and sharing of jokes among friends.

Jokes have likely been told since man first looked at himself in a pool of water and passed judgment on his own complexion.  The first joke is often attributed to the Greeks, specifically Palamedes, who is also credited with the invention of many other things. Greece also boasts of having the first comedy club of the world.
George Orwell (of 1984 and Animal Firm fame) had famously said, “Every joke is a tiny revolution.” Jokes provide us the tools to laugh at others and often at ourselves. It at times offends, even bites. But always entertains. That is one quality which makes it unique.

Enough about the academic side of jokes.

Here is an ancient Greek joke: “A barber, a bald man and an absent-minded professor take a journey together. They have to camp overnight, and so decide to take turns watching the luggage. When it’s the barber’s turn, he gets bored, so amuses himself by shaving the head of the professor. When the professor is woken up for his shift, he feels his head, and says “How stupid is that barber? He’s woken up the bald man instead of me.”

Tailpiece 1: Lekin

God - Welcome to Heaven! Hope you had a good life!

Me: Woh sab toh theek hai... lekin yeh "marriages are made in heaven"....... team kaun handle karta hai... ussey baat karni hai

(Courtesy: Social Media)

Tailpiece 2: From Russia with love

Russians were really surprised by the fact that the Russian national team made it into the World Cup playoff round for the first time in recent history, and then defeated Spain.

Said a Russian lad “Well, if our team was able to come this far, then I will definitely pass the physics exam.”

(Courtesy: Social Media)

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Mrinal Chatterjee, a journalist –turned media academician lives in Central Odisha town of Dhenkanal. He also writes fiction. English translation of his Odia novel Shakti and compilation of his columns Window Seat have just been published.

mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

This column is published every Sunday in Sikkim Times and www.orissadiary.com