Earthquake

For the first time in my life I experienced an earthquake at around 1:30 a.m. in the morning. It is not that in the past twenty six years there hasn't been a single occurrence of earthquake in Kolkata, a city I have been staying in for almost that time. But this is the first time I realized that the earth has shaken.
It is strange that earthquakes mostly hit in the middle of the night. Like ghosts. What are they afraid of? Lack of impact? Less loss of lives? And less media coverage? This nightmarish attitude of earthquake is the reason I never felt its presence before. Every time (twice or thrice I suppose, not counting the Tsunami) next morning I would be informed that it did happen. And I would miss the opportunity to watch things toppling or water in a bucket becoming turbulent. Remember those were the days I used to go to a school and was just another kid in the block, following a daily routine prescribed by parents. Those were the days of no late nights. Things have changed much in the past few years. My sleeping habit has undergone a sea change. 1:30 a.m. isn't exactly the time I would fall asleep. I was sitting on my bed working with my laptop only to notice that my head is spinning. I thought I must have fallen ill. Then I found the doors that were open fluttering like a flag on the pole hinting that earthquake has arrived the town. It happened for at least 30 seconds! The simultaneous cawing of crows and shrill shouts of the inmates of Irene Curie Hall confirmed it was 'that queer shake' with epicentre near the Andamans.
It brought with it the haunted memories of Latur (1993) and Gujarat (2001), the cries and whispers they brought to us. And the resilience of the Japanese, their way to live with it...

One more realization

One interesting thing I noticed, 'random' is probably the most common word that is used in blog titles. Its just an eye reading though.

Introspection

I just realized one thing for the first time. Though I named my blog as "Archiving Randomness...", quite an ambitious name for a blog, it is not highly random. Most of my posts have revolved around rain. I call it a quit till I can come up with something more meaningful or more divergent topics.

Dear monsoon...... you too for ever .....

The weather has changed late this summer. It is back to square one. One again the crushing humidity is back reducing the energy level of the otherwise bustling city. Even politics and art are failing to keep the spirits up. The aftermath of AILA, a cyclone that wrecked a havoc on the state is far reaching. It has not just resulted in floods in the Sunderbans or loss of crops in the Deltaic plains or landslides in the hills in the north claiming lives and properties, and its not just exposing corruptions at every level of the state machinery halting the rescue and rehabilitation operations, AILA has also drifted away the monsoon. After a long and tedious wait, yesterday it rained in Kolkata, a short lived but torrential one. The clouds were sent from Sahyadris to rain over the Ganges, the almost dried up river it seems. A poorly placed metaphor I know, and a very personal one, so don't bother yourself to ponder over it. I was waiting to get drenched, after facing the torments of the scorching heat for a long time. And I am waifing for more clouds to come with the south west monsoon wind as I was last year exactly at this time of the year...

Nor'wester

This is the worst summer in Kolkata. Till last year Kolkata was used to very humid summers, temparature barely crossing 38degree. This time the humidity was low and temperature crossed 40 in he beginning of April. The May sky was as clear as the November sky, not a speck of cloud to be seen anywhere. In Kolkata people died of heat stroke, which is not a very common occurrence here.

Relief came last night, in the form of a belated nor'wester. The ambience cooled down (I didn't need a fan last night). My friends from the campus collected tons of mangoes from the trees inside. That reminded me of a scene from the film Pather Panchali, a scene that Bibhuti Bhushan made immortal in his novel by the same name (the film is an adaptation of the novel). Now, that in turn reminds me that just a day before was Ray's birthday. He is affectionately remembered as Orient Longman, a title given by his friends for his tall stature. As is the usual, the TV channels started showing the films that show on every 2nd May since time immemorial. But the movies I would love to watch are never shown. My wishlist includes

1. Shatranj ki Khiladi
2. Devi (I have seen this one)
3. PatherPanchali (This one I have seen for some 10-12 times)
4. Aparajito (I loved the novel more, though)
5. Sukumar Ray (Documentary)

P.S. The change in temperature was not costless. It claimed at least 12 lives.

My attempt at translation

This is an independent translation of a song 'Meghpeon' from the film 'Titli' by Rituparno Ghosh

The cloud carries melancholy in his postman’s bag

Melancholy brings mist …

And restlessness takes you to the Teesta

Cloud carries the news of melancholy to the land of mounts and woods

All minds read it, delighted

Trudging on the winding road with a map in his hand

Cloud finds The House, gardened.

On the bed a drop of sun rests where the cloud empties his bag.

A small shadow of the sun beam on a large white wall…..

Gazing at it, restive,

Awaiting….

Sun knives the shadow,

Bleeding inside where blue mists drip.

And the news of melancholy covers the sky with darkened cloud

Abode of Sun in the land of cloud framed by mounts

If you can find the direction to the shadow in the cloud’s bag,

Please let the drop of sun have it……

Its awaiting when cloud will bring the news to The House, gardened……..