The "Naivest" man

" Thats a cross between a lion and a Wolf !!!!! " .. he said. "Wow!!.. quite a thing!" we replied, looking at the Dachshund (Smooth)[here you must check out Google to get a glimpse of this beast.. trust me , U MUST !!]. So, that was the day when I realized: you don't have to be stupid , to be naive .. you just need an immense trust on people, a big heart and a saint-ish belief that all living beings are good !! Because the person am talking bout here had enough intelligence to teach a bunch of crazy lunatics a subject called maths! And among those lunatics, barring a few , rather 2 to be precise, rest all had the urge and the tenacity to learn about numbers! ...... But yet he sacrificed all his judgmental abilities to believe what his neighbor had said about their pet.. the Dachshund!

This is a tribute to the "naivest" and "simplest" human being I have ever known in the past 26.5 years of my existence on this planet... Konar Sir.

As most of my dear friends know that my brother and me had above average intelligence when it came to mathematics! Therefore to further hone our skills we joined the tuition classes of Mr. Konar. My friend Aveek also joined the same batch with us, and am sure will keep regretting that decision as long as he is sane. Because if not for us, he would have learned some more maths than what he did.

We first got the taste of Konar sir's naivety during an early morning class one day. It was circa 1999-2000, and TB6 was reigning the masses (for those who are unaware of TB6 pls use google). So naturally a large part of the pre-class adda was dedicated to discussions on TB6 ... and that day was no different.
(I am going to write this discussion in Beng-lish, rest everything will be in English)
"baba sourojit .. baba aveek .. TB6 ki re ?" .. suddenly sir asked ( we were unaware that he was standing behind us)
"sir, ota kichu na .. ota national geographic er ekta sister channel", prompt came the reply from ingenious Aveek
"ohh!! tai !!! baah baah .... ta ki ki dekhay ote?", Sir asked
"All natural stuff sir !!!! shob natural jinish patro!!... ei dhorun evolution theke shuru kore population obdhi shob!!", .. I said
"ohh tai bujhi !! aacha tahole ajkei ami amar cable-wala ke bolbo TB6 dite" !!!!!!!
(we never really tried to find out what happened next)

Arijit's Australia trip and the kangaroo Incident:

Since that event, we were sure that Sir was oblivious of everything on this earth except mathematics. So quite often we would discuss TB6, Debonair (magazine), Mermaid (magazine), kamona-bashona (novel) etc , and sir would enthusiastically take part in our discussion to quench his thirst for knowledge. Sometime he would even note down the names of these "educational movies and magazines' with an aim to look for them in Kolkata's College street during his next visit.
Things were going fine and smooth ... and we were now a little bored .. we wanted some new excitement ... Finally it happened:
It was a chilly morning in the January of 2000. Indian cricket team was touring Australia and the telecast would start early in the morning in India. It was also the time when my dadu (maternal grandfather) had an angioplasty in Vellore and so Arijit (my twin bro) went to vellore with my Dad. Konar sir used to take the classes very early in the morning, and on that fateful day, we all saw India being completely devastated by the Aussie pace attack, before we started for the class. So the general mood in the class was gloomy... very gloomy . (remember cricket was a religion for us back then!!!)
[ I will translate this discussion in English]
Sir: What happened to you all? Why are you guys looking so sad ?

Someone (I dnt remember who it was): Sir ..... Sir ... there is a bad news ... (!!!!!!!!)
We all could sense that something was coming ...

Sir: what happened !!!!?????????

That Someone: Sir ... Arijit .. Arijit is .....

Sir : WHAT ???????? TELL ME ??????
(we all were dumbstruck and quite....we didn't know what was happening)

That Someone: Sir... Arijit has been beaten by a Kangaroo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Now that was it !!!!!! ..... everyone was trying to turn their head 360 degs and laugh!!!)

Sir: What??????? I don't understand !!!!
(it was my turn now....)

Me: Sir .. actually we forgot to tell u that Arijit won the Brittania contest and went to Australia to watch India play. Now there I told him to be careful ... but you know how he is ... he went to a safari ... and saw some kangaroo kids playing .. so he wanted to take one of the kids back home with him and also wanted to have a joy ride in the pouch of the big kangaroo!!!! ... he ran towards them .. and the father kangaroo .... sensing danger .. bit him !!!!!!!!!!! ( I still dunno where this story came from!!!)

[Pin drop silence]

Sir: Oh My God (OMG) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What are you saying !!! OMG !! How is he?? How bad is the cut ?? is he in a lot of pain? Where did it bite him ??

[ Now that was the point when we almost collapsed trying to control our laughter!!!! he actually had believed a complete bullshit story!!! .. we actually had devised a new source of fun!!!!!]

Me: Sir !! Sir!!! please calm down !!! control yourself !! he is fine now!! .. I talked with him today morning , he said it bit him in ... bit him in his .. in his .. ASS!!!!... and he also said that it was not painful at all!! rather he felt a little ticklish when the kangaroo bit him .. he realized later that it was actually a bite and not a lick!!!

[ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!! god it was all happening] ...

So, for the next few day all of us would stretch our imaginations to the fullest and tell stories from Australia (apparently heard from Arijit). I don't remember how long this went , but it ended when one fine morning Arijit re-joined the classes.."limping" (!!!!!!!!)

Konar Sir could never even think that someone can lie to him! His world, his perceptions and his ideas were as pure as his love and respect for his profession. For, how on earth could he believe the fact that a class XII student actually showed a "complaint letter" written to his parents and got it signed by them !!! Or how could he NOT believe that it was not the concerned students' dad ... but the student himself, talking with him over the phone !!!

After leaving school, I have tried to visit him whenever I went to Durgapur. But the last time I saw him was almost 5-6 years back. But still today whenever I do even a little of maths (the kind needed for my work).. I still remember that 5.5 ft tall figure... in crisp white "Dhuti-Panjabi" .. and with the most harmless and heart warming smile ..

Watching the Maharaja ...

Some days back .. Dec 7th to be precise , my brother and some of his friends , during a Safari at the Ranthambore Forest, Rajasthan India , met with the king of the jungle . The Tiger was a mere 8 feets from them !! And this happened after they had spotted Tiger Cubs sometime back .
Watching Tigers in their natural surroundings and outside a cage .... is in itself a thrilling experience. But u need sheer luck .. to spot a tiger during these safaris.

Anyways .. so one of the members in that safari (a very good friend of mine) wrote me this paragraph .. on the experience. I was thrilled ... hope u guys feel the same ...

" ultimate mindblowing experience!!! jokhon dekhlam,odbhut ekta anando hochhilo...feeling-ta undescribable...watching a tiger in its natural surroundings,free from any shackles...odbhut ekta feeling...Valmik Thapar-er moto conservationists-der jonyo respect bhishon bede gechhe...the animal is so beautiful,so majestic je bhabai jaay na keno loke maarte chay...the tiger skin is no doubt beautiful but ota eka jyanto tiger-er opori bhalo laage...
but tiger chharao the national park is very beautiful...aamra duto safari korlaam route 3 and 4 -e,dutor-i terrain ekebaare different...3 -te bodo bodo water bodies,khola khola grassland char dike,ekta silent rough beauty...4-e aabar majorly dense forests,kichhu ta grasslands...ekebaare alada duto...Ranthambore-er puro system bhishon organized laglo...
aar ekta byapar.,tiger dekhar aage tiger chase-ta oshadharon chhilo...we went to some 3-4 places initially after getting the news je ekta tigress and duto cubs dekha gechhe...tarpor ekta forest clearing we stopped for some time with bated breath trying to hear a call (to give ur brother credit,he recognized a pugmark at the beginning of the search and also heard the first call)...as soon as we heard one,the guide said hold tight,jeep ebaar dourobe...she ekta thrilling experience...tarpor we reached another place,okhan theke aabar race korte korte aarekta jaygay gelaam where we waited in silence for some 15 minutes (which felt like 1hour) and finally got to see the two cubs...cubs maane sub-adults,14-15 months old,almost adult...oder chhobi-tobi tolar por khushi hoye jokhon berolaam,1-1 and a half kms egiye giye dekhi ki ekta full grown male rastar dhaare grassland-er opor boshe aachhe!!! unbelievable luck chhilo shedin...tiger usually never come out in the open so i dont know why it was sitting there,maybe it was just waiting for some time before going to hunt as it was already nearing sunset,the time when tigers start to hunt...

ekta jinish realize korlaam,jongole aamra holam at the mercy of the tiger,tiger is not at our mercy...

tui ele aamra aabar jaabo Ranthambore!!! "

NOTE : THE PICTURE ABOVE IS JUST A TRAILER ... MORE PICTURES AVAILABLE IN MY FACEBOOK AND IN MY BROTHER'S ORKUT / FACEBOOK :)

Failures are the stepping stones to success !!! is that true !!!

Recently , something happened to me .. which was an almost exact repeat of a similar incident that occurred about an year back. So instead of typing this fresh incident ... i thought of putting the older one here.
While u read it .. just remember.. the date was different and the "food" was different this time, although my "hunger" for "experimental food" remains the same ...




It all began with a desire... the most inherent desire of mankind. A desire for which we work in the office, for which we educate our selves and for which we create occasions in others lives!! … The desire to eat well!!!

I don’t remember the date (and don’t want to remember either) when the story began. It was one of my regular trips to the local Food Store, when I came across this stuff. Now, before I tell you what followed next, let me explain the psychology that drove me into this….

Recently back from an invigorating trip to Nashville and the Smokey Mountains, I was still loaded with the memories. Beside the natural beauty of the place, another thing that kept coming back, were the delicious preparations which my Scientist Friend Ayan and My Scientist big-sis Sudarshana di (I use “scientist” to mean that they are not Chefs in any Indian restaurant) had prepared at different time points, during the trip. While Ayan had a Keema preparation, Sudarshana di made Mutton Liver.

So, I had a hidden desire in me, to try and prepare these above items so as to satisfy my taste buds, which were still searching for those delicacies. Neways lets come back to the story now. So here I was in a Food Mart, with a burning desire to “eat Better”… and a hidden fantasy for Keema and Mutton Liver!!! Thats when I saw this thing, a cute white box in the “meat” section. I just couldn’t resist myself. It had those words written on it “G R O U N D” (which is basically keema). Little did I realize that it was neither Chicken Keema nor Mutton Liver, rather it was “Ground Chicken Liver”, and that’s not all!!! It had stuffs like Curd and Egg, mixed!!!!!! My confused mind, hidden passions and Scientist mentality (which never works in the lab), forced me to put it in my cart though :(

Back Home with a contended feeling for spotting the stuff that I wanted, I started with great enthusiasm!! Sudarshana Di had said, and ayan had made, the preparations very rich! Therefore with tears dripping, I finished chopping a mountain of onions,chillis etc etc! The cooking began with its usual good smell, when you fry onions with some Masalas (here I must say, I had a heavy dose of masalas put in , in an attempt to make it extra spicy).And finally It was time to open the pack and put the coveted “G R O U N D” stuff into the pan !!!! Like a child opening a box of Ferro Roche, I opened my prized catch!!! BUT… the first look of the stuff inside, made me sad.. it looked bad .. real bad!! I told myself “looks are deceptive”, and went ahead to put it , in my already fried onion and maasala mix !!!

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The Gap signifies the shock, I got when I put it in the pan!!! .. It was like a Biological “smell” Weapon!! I was thrown back with the overwhelming (read nauseating) smell!! I had nothing to do!!! I gathered all my strength, and told myself “cooking make things better”.. little did I realize that I was a dumb fool to believe that !!! Even after sweating it out for 2 hours… there was no change in the atmosphere!! The smell was persistent and self generating!!!

That was it …. 2 hrs of my time, 20 litres of sweat, and almost $20 of Spices, resulted in an “alien” delicacy, which may b extra terrestrials would have liked.

So friends what did I do with my marvelous creation??? ..He he !! .. I am intelligent enough to keep it in -20.. who knows may b the smell will “freeze to death” !!!... someday ... :(

Moral of the Story : Next time when you have good food, get it packed …