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Pyaase panchhi neel gagan mein, geet milan ke gaaye sang Mukesh in Pyaase Panchhi exactly 60 years ago in 1961. As I watched my little sparrow hunt around for water, I couldn't help thinking - technology may advance by leaps and bounds, lifestyles and attitudes change but Nature stays the only constant.
Santosh Bakaya decides to catch some parakeets, not with a net but with her phone. Their songs, their squawks, their chitter-chatter and cackle-cackle makes music. Only you need to have the ears. :)
Jungle mein mor naacha, kisi ne na dekha - sang Mohd Rafi in Madhumati. But in Santosh Bakaya's world, the lovers of the peacock wait for the many splendoured bird to dance and spread his wealth.
Life is full of merry little stories strewn about. You just need to look around and find moments of laughter, love and inpirations. Santosh Bakaya captures those precious moments that make life beautiful.
Morning Meanderings returns on popular demand with a fresh new Season 2. Enjoy with your morning cuppa and don't forget to like, share and comment. Spread the cheer! ⛅️ ☕😊
AK Nanda dips into his rich reservoir of memories to pull out an experience that can serve as a useful tip for any writer. :D
KD Ghose, the father of Sri Aurobindo Ghose was a benevolent doctor who helped the needy at the cost of the future prospects of his own family and children. Therefore, he was often blamed by the rich and loved by the poor for his utmost benevolence. Abhishek Ghosh profiles this forgotten golden-hearted civil surgeon.
A dark poem as part of a poetic response to the prompt ‘Talking to My Soul’ given in The Significant League literary group for the #NationalPoetryMonth in April.
A wistful love poem as part of a poetic response to the prompt ‘A Place in My Body’ given in The Significant League literary group for the #NationalPoetryMonth in April.
Reena R's wistful ode to the night and its fiery beauty is translated in Malayalam by Jayshree Devdas.
Rewinding to the late 1950s and early and mid 1960s, AK Nanda recalls the era when building a career in writing had its own peculiar challenges and opportunities.
Ramendra Kumar dedicates a love poem to his beloved wife Madhavi Kumar to celebrate Valentine's Day.
Winter is different for each of us! The churning continues... sometimes frothy, sometimes dark, bubbling and boiling, slowly, quietly.
Dr Santosh Bakaya translates into Hindi one of her poems from the Amazon bestseller poetry chapbook Vodka by the Volga, which she co-authored with Dr Ampat Koshy.
Tales are sometimes spilled beyond the printed words. Piu wonders about the bedtime tales that started and travelled to come back again.
Ringggggg.....the bell...tiffin time. The real spirit of the school is felt during that quarter of an hour. The rest of the day is templated and the same!
Jeyanthi Manokaran dips into the world of the ‘fairly intrepid Guppy’ or Grown up Puppy, scooping up dollops of his thoughts, temptations, affections and of course, 'canine angst and bliss'. A review of The Canine Chronicles: Love and Laughter in the Times of Corona.
Ampat Koshy's poem White Nights translated into Marathi by Gorakhnath Gangane. The poem is from the Amazon Bestseller book Vodka by the Volga: A Duo of Duelling Dulcimers & Daggers written by Ampat Koshy and Santosh Bakaya.
"The rays of hope rising from the void of the dark" - Anagha Rajesh pens an ode to Nature and its limitless power to evoke in us hope, faith and joy in being alive.
Let's spare synopsis and for a change let's read it without any clue. The last thing that Dream or his twin sister, Nightmare give is a hint of who is going to come tonight.
A beautiful garden, a shelter to numerous plants, birds, animals, fishes and insects has only one friend - little Montu. Will he be able to save it from being demolished to make way for a new apartment block?
'Let the Flowers Bloom' is a translation of 'Phool Photao', a short story in Bangla, written by Rina Chakrabarti. Souryadeep has translated it into English.
Silhouette Editor Amitava Nag has translated Soumitra Chatterjee's selected Bengali poems into an English collection Walking through the Mist published this year. This is the first attempt at translating the legendary thespian's poems. LnC is privileged to publish 6 of them.
Like Boisali's tapestry, families are woven together. In the midst of their shared celebration and lonely wait, Diwali comes and leaves quietly.
Like the marbles, memory rolls back and forth, sometimes sideways only to drop in the tunnel of forgetting. Thankfully some letters are never posted and some memories remain hidden in cobwebs.
PS: True stories can be as Crimson as the one imagined. Trees may not know how and when they may get uprooted. Even the roots deep down and dense know that all it needs is just the wind to blow a bit wrong.
The distance between the wickets doesn’t change. It is the pace of the runner that makes the two ends closer or impossible to reach on time, sometimes.
Kasturba Gandhi was constantly by Bapu's side in every political activity he undertook – his life partner in every battle from their earliest days. She became his co-worker – and spiritual complement when he chose the path of non-violence and renunciation. Yet, even on her 150th birthday, Ba’s struggles have been overlooked, says Ratnottama Sengupta.
I don't remember, ever flying!
What do you remember then?
Was always with you, part of a tree and green!
Doesn't everything have a thought, a feeling, an emotion, wonders Piu.
Not everything in life can be synopsised. Sometimes it is a blessing when we can’t! For the daughter, the father turns life into a theatre, full of music and colour, muses Piu.
Most of us have a water body in our memory, be it flowing or still like our life. It shows the time, the faces, even our own reflections. Piu Mahapatra had one which she crossed every year at this time of the year, during Durga Puja.
As we wrap our heads around the ongoing pandemic, it is only art which has the capacity to heal us.
Thirteen-year-old Nishtha peers into the future to visualize how life in a new university, in a new campus, among new friends will shape up in 2021. Will the post-pandemic world allow dreams to take wings?
We choose what to do on Wednesday! Naseeruddin Shah chose to ‘act’ like a ‘Common Man’ one fine ‘Wednesday’.
It was one of these Wednesdays almost half a century back China successfully first tested its Hydrogen bomb.
And there are many Wednesdays, we all choose to do something else! Piu Mahapatra rewinds to the hot April Wednesday when raining jamuns brought glee.
One eventful day, Aman ventures on a trek in a dense forest, overlooking the gloomy forecast of heavy downpour and thunderstorms. He gets stranded in the woods by evening because of heavy rain. But he was not prepared for the series of unpleasant events which the forest tosses on him one after another. As the night progresses, he finds himself in the middle of a complex mystery which seems impossible to solve. Without Sahil, he finds himself severely handicapped and helpless, a lame spectator to the crimes which are committed right under his nose. Will he able to catch the culprits alone? Read on to know more about his adventures in the fifth story of the Aman and Sahil series.
Illustrations drawn by Varun.
Sometimes, it isn't required to try hard to be a friend. You just wait! Piu Mahapatra rewinds to a childhood train journey and a 'chhoti si mulaqaat'.
Today’s Topic - Family!! Define and Draw!
Piu Mahapatra pays a loving tribute to her Mastermoshai, on Teacher's Day.
A wistful poem about introspections and dreams, of fears and apprehensions, of courage and challenges and a tango with your thoughts.
The festivals are seasonal just like the fruits. They have a way of getting into our life and each teaches a moral in their own sweet way.
Not all instructions are to be followed till the end and not all have to be what they thought they will be. Piu Mahapatra writes to herself.
The important moments of our lives are more or less same, irrespective of time. It was my mother and then me till my daughter is ready, the celebrations of life remain more or less unaltered.
Aman and Sahil are back on their adventure ride with a trip to Karnala Bird Sanctuary near Matheran. What started off as a leisurely morning trek turns out to be a very insightful trip about the different kinds of birds in the sanctuary. They befriend a forest officer who gives them a detailed account of the migratory birds which visit the sanctuary every year. But excitement and thrill never cease to follow Aman and Sahil wherever they go.
Read on to know more about their adventure as they trek to the Karnala fort along with their new friend.
With beautiful illustrations by little Varun!
The Lukhnawi cuisine prepared by Sakhawat Mian in his nondescript food joint in Lucknow is as fresh in memory of Bimal Chadha as the flavor of the kababs.
Hard truth: The little conveniences of life, earn their value when they are taken away from us without much of a notice.
On Rabindranath Tagore's 79th death anniversary, Shoma A Chatterji explores Tagore's outlook towards women in the context of his dance dramas Chitrangada and Chandalika as well as his own approach towards his daughters.
Manobina Roy carried her Rolliflex wherever she went "because wherever I went, I might find something, an incident, or people I might want to remember years later." Ratnottama Sengupta reflects on some outstanding shots of Manobina, the talented wife of legendary filmmaker Bimal Roy, woven in a heartfelt tribute to her 'Bina Jethima'.
Apni tanhaai kaa auro se na
Shikvaa karna
Tum akele hi nahin ho
Sabhi akele hai
Ye akelaa safar nahin guzaraa
Those LP records, those Puja releases, those soulful songs of Kishore Kumar sung to Gulzar's melancholic lyrics - Piu Mahapatra looks back at the long playing memories, fondly.
We might not have Durga Puja this year at my village! But the celebration is not always about people gathering, the feast laid or the sound of the drums beating. Remembering with love and pride is also a celebration, isn't it?
Having seen Bangalore from a ring side seat for over 65 years, Rajan NS often feels wistful and nostalgic about his city. Take a trip down memory lane with him.
We remember in bits and pieces and the rest we weave in our minds like an eight legged garden spider and that might be the very reason our memories are such beautiful webs, fragile and vague and yet never let go what it catches.
We had this essay by Robert Lynd on 'Forgetting' in our school days which tried to shade a humorous light on human's mind and his weird ways of choosing to forget. Absent mindedness can truly be a virtue but unlike what Lynd quoted, all men possessing this blessing might not make the best of their life.
As the summer vacation draws to a close and children get ready to start school, albeit from home this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, enjoy this throwback to summer vacations in the 80s and 90s childhood.
A 'wish' is not as strong as 'desire'. Neither 'covet' can be her synonym. When did the dictionary do justice! 'Wish' has the fancy wings of Mohak, fragile and yet can travel thousands of miles to lay theirs eggs on milkweeds.
Investigating a murder near the River Tigris, which was once a part of the ancient Mesopotamian Civilization, the author stumbles upon a sinister plan of stealing diamonds.
Enjoy this thrilling and suspense laden detective story by 11 year old Akash Nag.
If you are away from your loved ones, write a letter. Write a letter as long as you have someone to deliver it to. Write a letter if you have an address to reach.
If you haven't lived with them, then you are definitely younger than me!! Piu Mahapatra looks back at her friendly pets, er... pests. :)
Not all postcards reached home. The messages, insignificant, timid sometimes urgent strayed and got lost. It always reached somewhere to someone though. But we are all bounded by relevance!!
Sultana Raza pens a heartfelt tribute to Irrfan Khan, one of the finest actors of Indian cinema, whose untimely death on 29 April, 2020 left behind a void.
Heroism lies not in strength alone but in the intention to do good and save lives. Enjoy Akash Nag's action packed story of unsung superheroes!
Knowing people through their eyes, remembering them, loving them.... because, the eyes tell you all.
As Amphan wreaked havoc through Kolkata, it left behind a stream of changed priorities and perspectives and new realizations. Amitava Nag jots down his stream of consciousness, surviving 6 days without electricity supply.
A wistful love poem, recalling and reliving those first moments of love that stay on to become memories forever.
My tribute to the protagonists Ashoke Ganguly and his wife Asheema Ganguly of Jhumpa Lahiri’s brilliant novel ‘The Namesake’, which was adapted into a film by Meera Nair in 2007, starring Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Kal Penn.
Written during the first day of PANDORATHON: an online writing festival happening in The Significant League, a literary group in Facebook in the month of May. This is in response to a prompt initiated by Dr. Santosh Bakaya, author, poet, academician.
'মাথার ঘন চুল যখন, মরূভূমি ছুঁয়ে যায়....’
We might be aware or not, but if we make a video of our childhood, along with the black and white to color images, the jingles will float in. A line or two, promising and alluring, becoming a part of you and your time. So if you belong to 'Maggie Maggie Maggie'🎵 🎵 🎵 time...spare 5 minutes!
The story behind Rabindranath Tagore's historic recording of two recitation titles with a translation of '1400 Saal'.
'Calcutta', the bygone Kolkata had many Fatimas and Kunjo 'dida's. Like the photo albums, with ivory black thick pages holding little family portraits in four, small triangle jackets, we have also stored fondly in our memory, many such portraits along with their little stories. My mom has still kept that album in her almira and I, in my 'Letters to Myself' during these days of Corona.
Bimal Chadha looks back at a 45 year old friendship to recount a hilarious 'escapade' of Kaku high in the tough terrain of the Pir Panjal Mountains.
You see a round glass paperweight with colorful raindrops trapped deep inside and zoom, it can remind you of Monida, the lil shop owner and his rainbow candies filling the thick lid glass jar.
Oh! Our memories and the weirdest trick they play with us!! A green moths transforms to...come on...let's see if you can figure it out. 😊
An extract from famed author and screenplay and script writer Nabendu Ghosh's autobiography Eka Naukar Jatri, translated by Ratnottama Sengupta as a special LnC feature on World Dance Day.
It was a different Kolkata, when the not-do-urban middle class families were still flexible to accept one or two single woman in all white-linen sari, as a part of their own. That was a different time. If you belong to that time, come and join the author. If not, that shouldn't stop you either!
Two souls travel, on two avenues, meet by chance for a little while and what happens then?
Adaptation of an excerpt from Amrita Pritam's Yeh Kahani Nahin
The much awaited droplets of rain offers a moment of rejuvenation to students struggling with numerical dilemmas in a four-walled classroom.
A poetic tribute to Nandini, the heroine of Tagore's drama Rakta Karabi (Red Oleander) for the occasion of the National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), April 2020.
Has it ever happened to you, that it was someone else's album, a different time altogether and even the person captured is faintly familiar and yet the surroundings, the shadows trigger memories? If it had never happened earlier, then you are no doubt in a hurry and need to sit down and share your memories with your friends and families.
Storyboard - Corona is a new mode of living. Even though the situation is grim, but we never run out of our wit to laugh out together. So here is a short story...all about Corona...and Cherry Tomatoes 😉
An image of a regular visit to the only Indian store in town and how it becomes a synaesthesia of memories from home.
Some people forever stay in memory but with time you look at them with a new perspective. Bimal Chadha fondly remembers his neighbour Roma Aunty.
A wistful poem about an introspective journey to look within, when the body is in suffering.
Colours have different meaning as we grow up. They mean freedom at times and also bindings, bondage.
In this memoir, Piu Mahapatra looks back at a time of her life when crimson was more than just a presence in the colour palette.
Don't do this, don't go there, don't chase the butterflies...! Santosh Bakaya spots a bunch of confused dogs with their equally confused masters where everything that the dogs attempt to do was something which is not to be done.
To celebrate the World Poetry Day, two of my poetic offerings with diverse and dynamic themes, the first one inspired by a painting of a woman and the second one, a poetic summation of my sense of spirituality.
Saving the head here and mending the arm there, Santosh Bakaya encounters a bunch of adventures on her morning meanderings.
Ai mohabbat tere anjaam pe rona aayaa - a Shakeel ghazal is one of the best on the point of failed love, rendered timeless by Begum Akhtar's gaayaki. Vijay Kumar translates it into English.
Valentine's Day, the day of love has come and gone. But hope stays alive of a utopian world where love rules and hatred gets a drubbing every day.
Every relationship is a potpourri of similarities and differences. Ramendra Kumar muses about why his marriage is considered a runaway success.
A brawl peppered with resounding bawls and supported by a background chorus of barks greets Santosh Bakaya as she steps gingerly out in the foggy morning. But soon it turns into a happy song. :)
On a cold, foggy morning, when the masters walk their dogs in the mist, Santosh Bakaya goes for a reluctant walk only to find a friendly tug at her heartstrings.
A wistful poem celebrating the all-encompassing beauty of friendship and togetherness amid the peaceful and tranquil beauty of nature.
While the inviting warmth of the quilt makes you snuggle in deeper to beat the cold, the world outside is waking up to a brave new beginnings. Santosh Bakaya crawls out to find that spring is round the corner!
A spate of thefts in school disturb everyone's life, puzzling everyone. Do you know who could be stealing from the students?
Two children, Charu and Raghu, dodge a dozing dad to skip out of the house on bright sunny afternoon and explore the world of animals all by themselves.
The girls featured in all the stories are like Kintsukuroi Dolls; they're all broken, but are slowly putting themselves together.
Stories of Resilience written by Ramendra Kumar showcases how adolescent girls battle the toughest of odds with the help of Protsahan India Foundation, an NGO fighting against Child Abuse, and emerge triumphant. It retells stories of dogged determination and unmatched resilience.
Ishika Kiran reviews Stories of Resilience.
Aamir learns the art of public speaking from an expert Richa Tripathy. Ramendra Kumar's "Friends Forever" journeys on with Aamir and Sagar.
Innocence has the unfathomable power to make any inhibitions or fear crumble. Our little people give us big lessons of life, from their innocent hearts.
Cricketers go for the great HUDDLE to strategize how to beat the opponent. The great CUDDLE is to strategize about how to beat the cold.
