Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

Assam Diary: Memorial of Bhupen Hazarika

Recently I had been to Guahati University for three days and stayed in its Guest house, which is located very near to the entrance gate from Jalukbari side. Just outside the University gate, an Assamese architecture inspired memorial has been built for Dr. Bhupen Hazarika.

Photo: Mrinal Chatterjee

Bhupen Hazarika was and still remains one of the most respected and popular public figure in the north-east, particularly Assam.  Singer, lyricist, music composer, public figure (he was a Member of Legislature- MLA and contested in a general election) he wore many hats with equal élan. He was conferred with Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award of the country in 2012.

His major contribution was in the field of music. Known as ‘sudha-kantha’ (nectar-voice) his songs have been very popular in the country and abroad. His songs have been translated and rendered in many languages. 

The memorial at Jalukbari is tastefully done. His songs are played in this memorial, which is fairly well maintained. People, mostly young crowd come here, sit around, listen to his songs and take selfie with his statue at the background. 
I think a board with a short bioprofile of Dr. Hazarika should have been there. And a shop selling memorabelia including his music CDs in different languages.

Chance Meeting

The other day I met a frail looking aged lady at the dinner table at the Guahati University Guest house.  She ate so little that I felt embarrassed to eat my usual quota of two chapattis and a bowl of vegetables. She probably could sense that and encouraged me to eat more by saying “you are still young”. 
More embarrassed I asked her to change the topic: “You teach here?

She answered "I have come to conduct a dance workshop." 
- You teach Dance? There probably was that slight tinge of disbelief in my voice. 
- Yes, she answered and pushed morsels of chapatti in her mouth. 
When she finished her frugal supper, she fished a visiting card from her bag, gave me and left. I looked at the card.

She was Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan, Padmashree awardee of 2002 and Padma Bhushan awardee of 2013, a Bharatnatyam exponent, author and choreographer.

Cringe Pop

I learnt about this genre of pop music from a girl student at the Dept. of JMC, who is doing her M.Phil and planning to do research on this.  Cringe pop refers to the music and music videos which are described as being "so bad that you cannot stop watching them".

She told me, “please watch music videos of Mr. Rajkumar of Assam or Tahir Shah of Pakistan or of Dhinchak Puja. They are so bad that you somehow like them.

Encouraged I watched videos of Mr. Rajkumar., who I was told ‘is a sensation and has millions of followers across the globe”. The videos are actually so bad, music so pedestrian and the actors so grotesque, that you actually want to see more to know how bad these could be.

I am looking forward to meet Mr. Rajkumar (Thakuria) in person on my next visit to Guwahati.

Tale of a Mosquito

A gust of wind pushed a young female mosquito into the waiting aircraft in Guwahati airport. The doors closed just then. She was trapped inside. Scared, she shouted as loudly as a mosquito could. She prayed to the God as a mosquito could. But the door did not reopen. She was trapped inside.

After a while, disheartened that she could not escape she looked around and found many well-fed persons. She thought ‘let me make the best of the situation’. She started sucking blood from the first person she could dig her fangs in.  As there was no other mosquito around, there was no competition. So she sucked and sucked till she could drink no further. Content and happy she closed her eyes to thank God for taking her inside the aircraft.

Precisely at that moment a sharp and tight slap ended her life.

Idli Day

I did not know that 30 March was World Idli Day. I saw it on a social media post. Surfing the net for more information I learnt that, World Idli Day was the brainchild of Eniyavan, a popular idli-only caterer from Chennai. In 2015, he made a staggering 1,328 varieties of idlis to institute and commemorate this day. There was even a giant 44-kilogram idli that was cut by a top bureaucrat to seal the deal and declare March 30 as World Idli Day forevermore.

Sufficiently encouraged I tried to know more and learnt the history of idli.

Food historian KT Achayya claims that idli had its origins in Indonesia, where steamed food was quite popular. Others say that it was the Saurashtrian textile merchants who first introduced idli or Iddada to South India during 10th century AD. 

A precursor of the modern idli is mentioned in several ancient Indian works. Vaddaradhane,  a 920 CE Kannada language work by Shivakotiacharya mentions ‘iddalige’ prepared only from a black gram (urad dal).

Tailpiece: Toothpaste

This has been taken from a young mother’s facebook post.

Four-day school holiday. First question of son (all of five years) on waking up the first morning: Why is it called toothpaste and not teethpaste?

This is going to be a long weekend. 

Reply by son (all of four and half years) of another young mother: "it's toothpaste because we need to take care of each tooth, no one should be neglected"

This is going to be a real long weekend.

***

The author is a journalist turned media academician. He lives in Central Odisha town Dhenkanal. He also writes fiction.  English translation of his Odia novel Yamraj Number 5003 has just been published. mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

This column is published every Sunday in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Times and posted in www.odishadiary.com

Job Opportunities in Media

Job opportunities

#Hiring for the following positions - all positions full time & based in #Delhi.

1) News Editor - 5 year+ experience. Ability to write original content, ability to track trending stories of the day and ability to lead a team of writers.

2) Content writers in #Tamil, #Hindi, #Malayalm, and #Telugu with 3 years+ experience. Ability to edit, translate from English important.

3) Content writers in #Tamil, #Hindi, #Malayalm, and #Telugu with 1-2yrs experience. Ability to edit, translate from English important.

Interested folks can send in their CVs to soubhik.mukherjee@buzztribe.net

(Posted as found)

31.3.18

Column | Point by Point

Pratibimba 18-24 March 2018

Column | Jagate Thiba Jetedina

Samaja Saptahia 31 March-6 April, 2018

Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

Jam-e-Jamshed turns 187

Jam-e-Jamshed Asia’s second oldest newspaper turns 187 this month. Ten years after the first newspaper in Asia Bombay Samachar was launched in Mumbai (which interestingly still comes out from the same place where it was started), an influential Parsi family–Marzban — started a Gujarati newspaper titled Jam-e-Jamshed mainly for Parsi community.  It was first published as a weekly on 12th March 1832 from its own iconic red brick building at Ballard Pier near Mumbai Docks. In 1853 it was converted into a daily.

In Persian language, Jam-e-Jamshed means the Jam - goblet of Shah Jamshid. This has two implications. One is: the Jam of spiritual intoxication- Ishq-e-Hakiki, the Love for the Divine; and the other is: the Jam of the World-Time, in which all the past, present and future can be seen.

Early 19^th century was an interesting time for people living in Bombay trying to do business. This was the time when Gujaratis, Parsis and Bohras—the three key trading communities—were slowly establishing themselves in and around Mumbai port. And with the trade bourse coming up, the emergence of a newspaper was bound to be there. And the first newspapers coming out from Bombay carried reports primarily revolving around businesses in Europe as well as events that affected the Indian sub-continent then.

Jam-e-Jamshed’s primary focus was Parsi community. It still remains that though it has moved with time- literally and symbolically. It has moved out of its iconic red brick building near Mumbai docks. It has now become a global Parsi community newspaper, in fact the voice of Parsis worldwide. There is a practical side to it. More and more Parsis are settling abroad. But they want to remain connected. The answer is a magazine like Jam-e-Jamshed with global outlook and a strong presence on cyberspace.

It is now published as a weekly in Gujarati and English (more English than Gujarati. In fact earlier it was 12 pages Gujarati and four pages English. The present editor Shernaaz Engineer reversed it) with its presence in web and social media.

Kedarnath Singh

Kedarnath Singh, one of the most sensitive of contemporary poets, who brought a delicate and distinctive sensibility to modern Hindi poetry, breathed his last two days before the World Poetry day. In Kedarnath Singh’s poems, you can see the shape of longing, touch the burden of memory and soak in the stench of lies. The Jnanpith award recipient was a poet of both presence and absence, of love and loss, of anxieties and questions. 

Here are few lines from his poem:

When I took her hand in my hands,

I thought the world should be like this palm

Warm and beautiful.

Checking at the entry point of Railway Stations

Recently I had been to Sambalpur. At the Sambalpur railway station, there was checking at the entrance to preempt ticketless people from entering the railway platform. This, I think is a good move. Regular checking at the entry point will preempt people from unnecessarily entering platform and add to the crowd and put more pressure on the scarce facilities. Airports are cleaner not only because they are maintained better, also because there is a check on the entry of people.

Railway Platforms should also be free from beggars, vagabonds and loafers. Also from stray dogs, cows and occasional pigs. If this could be done, there will be less pressure on cleaning and maintenance. With stepped up cleaning drive, railway platforms can actually be swatch- clean.

Tailpiece: Evening

These days, day ends with night. Earlier there used to be a beautiful evening in between.

Tailpiece 2: For a Man to be happy…

A wise man once said that for a man to be happy, he must:

1. Find a woman who cooks well and knows how to keep the house neat and tidy

2. Be able to exchange conversation with a woman that is at the same level as he is, intellectually speaking

3. Be satisfied with his partner in bed

4. Find someone who shares his dreams, visions triumphs and even failures in life

5. Make sure that these four women don’t know each other.

(Courtesy: Social Media)

***

The author is a journalist turned media academician. He lives in Central Odisha town Dhenkanal. He also writes fiction.  English translation of his Odia novel Yamraj Number 5003 has just been published. mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

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

Column | Jagate Thiba Jetedina

Samaja 23-30 March 2018

Column | Pathe Prantare

Samaya Taranga 18.3.18

Review | Yamraj Number 5003 (Hindi)

संवेग और दायित्व के जद्दोजहद की कहानी है 'यमराज नम्बर 5003'

पुस्तक समीक्षा | इतिश्री सिंह राठौर

लेखक-मृणाल चटर्जी
अनुवाद- थिरुमय बनर्जी
प्रकाशक- रूपा प्रकाशन

इंसान तो भावुक होता ही है लेकिन क्या कभी आपने सुना है कि यमराज भावावेश में आकर किसीको जीवनदान दे दें । यमराज का नाम सुनने ही शरीर कांपने लगता है लेकिन एक एेसा भी यमराज है जो इंसानों की तरह सोचता है और इंसानों की तरह प्यार भी करना जानता है । यह कहानी है मृणाल चटर्जी की उपन्यास 'यमराम नम्बर 5003' की । आप सोच रहे होंगे कि यमराम तो यमराज है तो फिर यह 5003 क्या होगा । यह तो आपको किताब पढ़कर ही पता चलेगा ।

सारांश
दुनिया की आबादी 600करोड़ से भी ज्यादा है । तो एक यमराज के लिए संभव नहीं कि वह सभी मृत इंसानों की आत्मा यमलोक ला सके । इसीलिए ब्रह्माजी ने यमराज का क्लोन बनाया । उसमें से 'यमराम 5003' सबसे थोड़ा अलग था । ब्रह्मा जब इस यमराज को बुला रहे थे तो देवी सरस्वती ने उन्हें बुलाया और वह चले गए । नारद ने मानव का ब्रेन सेल 'यमराज नम्बर 5003' में लगा दिया जोकि एक कवि था । श्रृंगार रस का कवि । उसकी मौत दिल का दौरा पड़ने से हुई । उसी 'यमराज नम्बर 5003' को सुमति सामंत नामक लड़की की आत्मा लाने को कहा गया। वह ट्रेन के सामने आकर आत्महत्या करने वाली थी लेकिन उसके प्रेमी सुब्रत ने यमराज से सुमति का जीवनदान मांगा । लेकिन यमराज जीवनदान नहीं देते वह तो जीवन लेते । यह उनके सिद्धांतों के खिलाफ है । तो क्या 'यमराज नम्बर 5003' सुमति को जीवनदान देता है ? उसके बाद इंसानी दिमागवाले इस यमराज का क्या होता है ? इन सभी सवालों का जवाब जानने के लिए आपको किताब पढ़नी पडे़गी ।
चिरत्र चित्रण
लेखक ने बड़ी ही बखूबी से किरदारों की रचना की है । भले ही यह कहानी 'यमराज नम्बर 5003' के इर्द-गिर्द घूमती हो लेकिन सुब्रत, सुमति, चित्रगुप्त, ब्रह्मा, विष्णु, महेश्वर, नारद, यमदूत जैसे रोचक किरदार भी हैं । लेखक ने संतुलन बनाते हुए स्थिति के अनुसार सभी किरदारों को तवज्जों दिया है । इन चरित्रों के बारे में पढ़ते ही मन में उनकी एक छवि बन जाती है जो कि लेखकीय सफलता है ।
मेरे विचार
कहानी की रोचकता को देखते हुए लेखक आखिर तक पाठकों को बांध कर रखने में कामियाब होते हैं । कहानी नई है । इसे पढ़ते हुए आपको फिल्म 'लोक-परलोक' की याद आएगी । लेकिन जब आप इसकी कहानी से रूबरू होंगे तब आपको पता चलेगा कि यह कहानी उस फिल्म की कहानी से पूरी तरह अलग है ।

Published in http://www.hindikunj.com/2018/03/yamraj-number.html
Retrieved on 22.3.18

Media Award

Last Date for sending entry: 31 May, 2018.

Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

Hyper

In simple English ‘hyper’ means - unusually energetic. In common usage it means frantic response to any event or issue. Our media, especially the visual media, television is always hyper. BJP wins in Tripura and the visual media go on overdrive telling the nation how saffron is sweeping the country and probably will win all the states. Weeks later BJP loses Loksabha by poll in UP and Bihar and the same media goes into overdrive in telling the nation how cracks have developed and the party’s prospects in the next general elections look extremely bleak.

This tendency probably agrees with majority of us for as people we Indians are hyper by nature.  Our emotions take a wild swing instantly. We win a cricket match and think we have won the world. We lose one and think we have lost our national pride. We offer bouquet and throw brickbats to the same person at a very short interval. We vote not with reason but with emotion. We have a serious problem with rationality. We have more faith on myth than recorded history. We deify our political, social and religious leaders in no time. We also denigrate them in no time. Nothing else explains the spate of statue defiling and breaking incidents across the country.

Garbage on Television

I do not watch much television beyond sundry news channels. As I was in Kolkata and was idling in my hotel room in the evening I was watching Bengali television channels.

To my surprise, at least seven local channels were airing programmes which were grossly unscientific and based on magic remedies. Black magic, astrology, numerology, use of gems and stones were being promoted. Assorted Babas, Matas, Grahacharyas and Fakirs, attired as per their faith and custom were blatantly trotting their wares and services. So much so that there were some Babas who were offering ‘100% guarantee or complete refund of money’ on their services. Almost all of them were insisting that prospective customers contact their office and book an appointment with them.

This was happening in West Bengal, supposed to be a highly literate and progressive state. I was amazed and pained. This is the state which produced scientists like J.C. Bose and Satyen Bose.

City of Joy

I have told you about the absence of footpaths in Kolkata. In most part of the city, footpaths have been occupied by small shops and shanties with active connivance of the goons of ruling political party and police.  People wriggle between the shops selling hot pakodas on the footpath and speeding vehicles on the bus discussing the state of world affairs.

At the first sight one will love to hate this city. But it is not for nothing that Kolkata is called the city of joy. The city has an amazing sense of wresting joy from within pain, finding aesthetics from within squalor. Amidst the defaced and poster splattered walls, suddenly you find Street Art Festival and some amazing  paintings, which are fit to be preserved in the best of the museums of the world.

Needs of the Aged

The other morning I got a telephone call from an aged person who introduced himself as ‘one of your readers’. It turned out that he is a septuagenarian former bus owner in search of people with whom he can just talk to. His sons and daughters are well settled in life and live in different countries. He lives mostly alone. As he loves to converse, everyday morning he takes down phone numbers of the writers published on that day’s papers and talk to them.

I find many such persons like him – desperately in need of talking to somebody else.. 
Dr. Pradeep Mahapatra, a writer and former Head of Journalism Department of Berhampur University is writing a news letter in Odia on aged persons and their special needs.
As even nuclear families are disintegrating into atomic and even subatomic family connected only by phone and net - we need to have a close look at them. Many of them have needs beyong food, cloth and shelter. Many of them actually need people to communicate with them. I guess as society is advancing, this need to get connected is becoming more. Without this, man will no longer remain a social animal. He'll turn either unsocial or supra social.

Tailpiece: Foreign

Groom’s Father: My son is in foreign country

Bride’s Father: Achha, which bank’s loan he defaulted?

English Class

Teacher: What’s the difference between ‘He cleans the plate’ and ‘the plate is cleaned by him’

Student: In the first sentence he is not married. But in the second sentence he is married.

(Courtesy: Social Media)

***

The author is a journalist turned media academician. He lives in Central Odisha town Dhenkanal. He also writes fiction.  English translation of his Odia novel Yamraj Number 5003 has just been published by Rupa). mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

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

Column | Jagate Thiba Jetedina

Samja Saptahika 17-23 March 2018

Column | Pathe Prantare

Samaya Taranga 11.3.18

Lecture | Future of Small Newspapers

March 2018

Media Jobs in Bhubaneswar

Urgently required for a news website in Bhubaneswar

1. Content Writers/Developers (English) - 2
2. Content Writers/Developers (Odia) - 2
3. Web Designer - 1

For the first two positions, excellent command over language with news sense. 1/2 years of experience will be prefereable.

For the third position, experience in similar field with technical expertise in handling the back-end of a website is required

Send  CVs to srimoy@gmail.com

Column | Bindu Bisarga

Pratibimba 4-10 March 2018

Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

What Post Offices can do?

Over the 150 years of his existence, India Post has built the largest postal network in the world with over 1.55 lakh post offices of which 90% are in the rural areas. The traditional role of Post office as message- delivery organization is gradually becoming redundant in the age of instant connectivity thanks to high speed Internet and competitively priced private courier service. However, apart from postal services, Post Office has been a major outlet for small savings, postal life insurance, money transfers, sale of mutual funds, foreign exchange and even payment of pension and wages under the MGNREGA scheme. Along with delivering post, goods and money and small banking it is slowly but steadily moving towards establishing itself as the provider of other financial and utility services.  In fact, India Post is already one of the largest providers of financial services with a deposit base of over Rs 5.53 lakh crore of around 2 crore investors.

 It is a prudent step. Consider this. As per 2009-10 figures, India Post earns 45 per cent of its income from commission and interest of savings bank and 30 per cent from speedpost, parcels and logistics. Only 15 per cent of its income comes from ordinary post and postage stamps.

However, India Post should never abrogate its original responsibility as the connect-point between people, wherever they are in the country.

Breast Feeding

I am amazed, perturbed and a little enraged to know that a criminal case under the Indecent Representation of Women Act has been filed against Malayalam magazine  ‘Grihalakshmi’ for publishing the picture of a breastfeeding woman in the cover page of its latest edition. 

I fail to understand how feeding a baby could be lascivious or prurient ?
In fact governments all over the world from Asia to Africa to Europe are trying to promote breast feeding. In fact in India a postage stamp promoting breast feeding has been issued as early as in 1980.

A recent report in Times of India indicates that India has to still go a long way in ensuring that all the babies are breast fed. Presently only 40 per cent babies are exclusively breast fed for six months.

Moreover the magazine in this particular issue was trying to deshame breast feeding- a very welcome step.

Courts must proactively dissuade people from filing such frivolous  cases.

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a worldwide event that celebrates women’s achievements – from the political to the social – while calling for gender equality.
It has been observed since the early 1900s and is now recognised each year on March 8.

On this day the social media was deluded with Happy Women’s Day messages and photos. I found one message particularly interesting. It reads: To the guys who have women’s fake id and fake photo on social media- Happy Women’s Day.

Photo: Ashok Panda

Tailpiece: Statue

The way statues are being broken across the country, somebody remarked: Keep walking. If you stand still at some place, somebody might mistake you to be a statue and try to break your head.

 (Courtesy: Social Media)

***

The author is a journalist turned media academician. He lives in Central Odisha town Dhenkanal. He also writes fiction.  English translation of his Odia novel Yamraj Number 5003 is being published shortly. mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

This column is published every week in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Times and posted in www.orissadiary.com

Column | Satrangi Batein

 सतंरगी बातें

भविष्य में...

मृणाल चटर्जी

अनुवाद- इतिश्री सिंह राठौर

वर्तमान पर्यावरण में जिस तरह से बदलाव हो रहा है, उसमें और 20-30 सालों बाद हमारी दुनिया का क्या हाल होगा, इस बात ने कईं वैज्ञानिकों को चिंतित किया है । गर्मी बढ़ती जा रही है । जिस वजह से कहीं बाढ़ से पूरा गांव तबाह हो रहा है तो कहीं सूखा पड़ने से फसल उजड़ रहे हैं । और कुछ सालों बाद शायद बांग्लादेश और मारिशस समंदर में लीन हो जाएं । और सुंदरवन और भीतरकनिका भी समंदर में तल्लीन हो जाएं । इधर रेगिस्तान बढ़ रहा है और उधर पर्यावरण की एेसी हालत के बाद भी विज्ञान की क्रमागत उन्नति हो रही है । यह बहुत आश्चर्य की बात है । अगर यह गति इसी तरह चलती रही तो हमारी आंखों के सामने बहुत कुछ बदल जाएगा । 

    गलत कहा । कुछ बदलेगा, कुछ नहीं बदलेगा-बल्कि तबाह हो जाएगा । इंसान भी एक अजीब प्राणी है । बदलना चाहता है मगर बदलना नहीं चाहता । कभी चाहता है कभी नहीं चाहता । कुछ क्षेत्रों में चाहता है कुछ क्षेत्रों में नहीं चाहता । इन सभी बातों पर अगर ध्यान दिया जाए तो भविष्य का नजारा कैसा होगा?

कुछ नजारें दिखा रहा हूं । अगर 2030 तक जिंदा रहे तो देख लीजिएगा कि मेरी कईं बातें सच हुई-

1- लोग इतने अकर्मण्य हो जाएंगे कि खुद दांतों में ब्रश  नहीं कर पाएँगे । ब्रश करने के लिए मशीन होगा । आप खाली मशीन के सामने दांत दिखाकर खड़े हो जाइए । मशीन ब्रश करा देगा । आपके चाहने पर दाढ़ी, मूछं और तो और बाल भी काट देगा ।

2- आप जानते हैं कि आलसी लोग कईं बीमारियों से पीड़ित होते हैं । हार्ट में ट्रबल, मधुमेह आदि । डाक्टर उन्हें व्यायाम करने की सलाह देते हैं । आलस्य के कारण वह व्यायाम नहीं कर पाते । एेसे लोगों के लिए व्यायाम मशीन होगा । रोबर्ट के जैसा मशीन । सोते समय वह मशीन आपको उठाकर व्यायाम करवा देगा । आपको पता भी नहीं चलेगा और व्यायाम हो जाएगा । 

3- त्वचा के रंग को लेकर लोगों में  बहुत चिंता होती है । कईं लोग अपने त्वचा के रंग से खुश नहीं । काले लोग गोरा बनना चाहते हैं और गोरे लोग भूरा । अब लोग गोरा बनने के लिए फेयरनेस क्रीम का इस्तेमाल करते हैं । उसके इस्तेमाल से  त्वचा का रंग गोरा हो या नहीं लेकिन  त्वचा संबंधित बीमारियां जरूर हो रही हैं । पश्चिमी देश के गोरे लोग खुद को भूरा बनाने के लिए समंदर के किनारे धूप में बैठ रहे हैं । इससे उनकी त्वचा खराब होने की बात डाक्टर कह रहे हैं । लेकिन भविष्य में यह समस्याएं नहीं रहेगी । क्योंकि  कुछ सालों में चिकित्सा विज्ञान का कुछ इस तरह से उद्विकास होगा कि लोग जिस रंग की त्वचा चाहें अपने शरीर में लगा पाएंगे । अब जैसे आप बाजार से स्वेटर खरीद रहे हैं, भविष्य में वैसे त्वचा के लिए चमड़ा  खरीदेंगे । सिर्फ पांच मिनट में त्वचा का रंग बदल जाएगा ।

4- अक्सर कहीं बाहर जाने पर आप मोबाइल फोन लेकर जाते हैं। भविष्य में आपको मोबाइल फोन पकड़ने की जरूरत नहीं होगी । मोबाइल फोन को आप अंगूठी अथवा कान की बालियों की तरह पहन पाएंगे । बिलकुल उतारने की जरूरत नहीं । मोबाइल फोन से केवल आप बात नहीं कर पाएंगे बल्कि टिवी देंखेगे, गाने सुनेंगे और इंटनेट में सर्फ भी कर पाएंगे ।

5- भविष्य में पेट्रोल और डीजल से चलने वाली गाड़ियां नहीं रहेंगी । सौर ऊर्जा और वायु ऊर्जा से गाड़ियां चलेंगी । अब जैसे आप कहते हैं कि मेरी गाड़ी में पेट्रोल नहीं उस वक्त कहेंगे मेरी गाड़ी में वायु नहीं । 

6- अब आप बड़े-बड़े शहरों में जमीन और घर खरीद रहे हैं, तब चांद और मंगल पर जमीन खरीदेंगे । अखबार में विज्ञापन निकलेगा-मंगलग्रह में थ्री-बेड़रूम फ्लैट सस्ती  कीमत पर । चांद पर प्लाटेड स्कीम । आपकी पत्नी कहेगी, देखिए ! शर्माजी ने मंगल पर एक घर खरीदा है । क्या हम नहीं खरीदेंगे? आप जवाब देंगे- 'तनीक ठहर जाओ, बुधग्रह में बेहतर स्कीम निकलेगा, वहीं खरीद लेंगे' ।

7- अब आप प्रिंटेड किताबें पढ़ रहे हैं । भविष्य में आप इलेक्ट्रोनिक किताबें पढ़ेंगे । कागज भी इलेक्ट्रॉनिक होगा । आप चाहें तो किताब में जो लिखा होगा उसे सुन सकेंगे । मैं आपको यह लेख पढ़कर सुनाऊंगा, जब आप चाहें ।

(मृणाल चटर्जी ओडिशा के जानेमाने लेखक और प्रसिद्ध व्यंग्यकार हैं । मृणाल ने अपने स्तम्भ 'जगते थिबा जेते दिन' ( संसार में रहने तक) से ओड़िया व्यंग्य लेखन क्षेत्र को एक मोड़ दिया ।   इनका उपन्यास 'यमराज नम्बर 5003' का अंग्रेजी अनुवाद हाल ही में प्रकाशित हुआ है । इसका प्रकाशन पहले ओडिया फिर असमिया में हुआ । उपन्यास की लोकप्रियता को देखते हुए अंग्रेजी में इसका अनुवाद हुआ है  । )

5.3.18

Posted in  http://www.hindikunj.com/2018/03/bhawishya-me.html