Celebration of Mediocrity !

Demands of mediocrity are simple to fathom, it asks you to feel joyous about Abhinav Bindra's gold, it tells you to clap heartily for a Zakir Hussain's performance and expects you to write-off a Prosenjit-enacted Bengali movie potboiler. It does not tell you to add a new brick on the wall. It ensures that you be a good audience. It is a self-sustaining institution and primarily feeds on itself. There are Arundhati Roy-s and Amartya Sen-s and Saurav Ganguly-s and Moni Bhowmick-s who had been entrusted with the task of taking care for setting new precedents and new standards, which fall in the domain of excellence.
Funny thing about mediocrity is this, it wants to grow. Picture this "When I grow up, I want to be a Metro"- written on a Calcutta tram on a B.B.D Bag-Shyambazar route. It is saying, I know I am a mediocre but I want to end up being excellent because I can see what can be achieved by excellence, a 75 minute strainous tram journey can be reduced to a 15 minute Metro ride. It is this sheer sense of acknowledgment that mediocres indulge in, which has sustained them for years.
As Subhabrata Ganguli posed this wonderful query "What's driving?". I think a one-word answer will be excellence.
The queries are this, with our mediocrity can we define a new cult, a new standard for others to follow. Maybe we won't hog the covers of Newsweek, Guardain or Cosmopolitan, maybe we won't have Patents against our names, but can we create a platform, a podium where we can give ourselves that chance to be excellent and thereby define a norm that hasn't existed before in any form in any shape? Can we celebrate our mediocrity with a bottle of Champagne and luchi-alu-r dom, can we sing "Chorono dhorite diye go amari" and at the same time grab our Subway sandwhich while listening to it? Can we be seemingly sacrilegeous yet be sacrosanct and thereby do an Adam Smith by co-authoring a book named "Theory of Mediocre Bengali's Moral Sentiments?"

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Updated Official BSSM Website

Hi Everyone,
As the countdown has begun for this year's biggest event, BSSM has started to prepare for this. Here is the official site of BSSM, renovated and updated!!!!
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~bssm/ with a new look.

What's driving?!

I have the habit of analyzing myself ... often. And for the last several days, I am trying to figure out "what the hell drives me?".

I still don't know the answer ... but there's no harm in speculating. And sharing it with the outside world! The nice thing about writing is, I can always say to myself that the thought is now shelved, and I can now go to the next analysis problem. And the backup*/escape plan (I am a big believer of backup) is that I can always go and say "those were only my speculations, little venting-out ... that was only for showing-off in blogs, that's not the real me. Here's the real me". And the loop continues.

* backup plan: the backup plan is just to cover myself in the low-probability event of someone other than me knowing me better.

So, here's the output of ii = 1: % I live in MATLAB world, not C, C++, C#, C-flat

SEARCH FOR THE WHEN:

It's always Fall ... that's when I go into 5th gear. At times I think, that it should be Spring or Summer. Probably that's more expected in Minnesota. But re-analyzing, I think I just keep doing** nothing during Winter, anticipate doing something in Spring (still dont do), get frustated in Summer (by still not doing), and then in Fall I do too much.

What goes up must comes down (a terribly cliche). And so I go back to the do-nothing mode during the next 6 months of Minnesota winter.

** doing - Ok, I go to work, eat, sleep, etc. But is it really worth doing those without any sense of joy and contentment?

SEARCH FOR THE WHY:

I thought and thought ... it cannot be associated with anything but Durga Puja! The anticipation for excitement of 2 weeks of fun is so intoxicating, that it has become a habit in the last 30 years or so. So, if nothing is going on, I feel a great need to DO something during Fall, just so I can maintain my routine, and do it over and over again in years to come.

I think the WHY is also associated with few other factors. First, Fall in Minnesota always reminds me of my first visit to USA, Aug 1998 as a student of UofM. Man, ... eveything looked so excitingly and new, I still remember the feeling.

Another reason for the WHY - this is also the time of the year when I first met my better half! It was in Fall of 1998. (I will stop elaborating on this anymore; I strictly want to restrict myself to my analysis-mode.)

Yet another reason for the WHY - Diya (she's almost 3 now) is born also in Fall - Sept 2005. She's pretty much the center of my world!

I will end my first iteration (and my 1st-ever blog) with that.

So, what's driving you?

Meeting Minutes

.....Ticking away the moments, that make up a dull meeting....people fighting over
whether at all we should go for a Durga Pujo or not at the first place....for most,
the inital plans looks like boiling down to a "Shorot-er shingaaara party", too
sacriligeous, too informal....and there is this other set of self-proclaimed
radical thinkers who propose the new order, they propose, they dispose,
they live and die for it......and Barun comes into rescue, handing over
Kollol with a peg of Chivas Regal exposing the likes of Partha
to the viscissitudes of a collaboration, which has been named as
Bengali Students Society of Minnesota

College-friend (Abhishek Bhattacharya)

Dorja khullo Tapaser Bou Misti,oder biye hayeche 4-5 bachor hallo. Last year oder ekta futfutte chele hayeche thik Rajputturer maton.



Misti praye chitkar korre tapas ke daklo"Ai dekho ke eseche…SamareshDa tomar e ki abastha,Bull fighting kore asle naki!!!".

Mistir kathi kara take Samaresh gaye makhlona bollo amake kichu khete dao pete chuchoo dakchee…



Ermadhye tapas ese geche.Tapas Samareshder batcher one of the bright Students, Samaresh o Arekjan bright student chiloo. Abasya Tapas ke dekhte Samareshere theke besi bayesher lagge..Misti Ranna Gharre cholle gello Sam er Jalkhabarer byabastha korte.

O bolla hayni na Samaresh ke sabai Sam dake.



Tapas ke Samaresh sab khule bollo,Tapas kinchit hmmm haa ar dirghya niswas chara besh mon diye sunloo..Tapaser college porar samayer nostalgia ferot aste thaklo. Tapas er mastuto dada ar tapas mille besh kichu rumal churri tiffin churrir rahasya samadhan korechilo.



Pradyot Da i clue gullo ke miliye samsya samadhan korto kintu Tapaso o khub karitkarma bhave clues ber korto. Se praye 10-12 bachor agge bhavli kemon ga sir sir kore othe. Ajj abar Pradyot Dar katha mone porche. Tapas praye bhulei gechilo je Sam bosee ache.Abasya iti madhye Misti ekta uchu kasar thala te ek1 dista fulko luchi aar pathar ghughni sange lord cham cham ,rassagolla ar Burdhmaner mihidana ar Sitabhog. Sam sange sange khabar upor akaraman kore dillo ebong go grshe khete laglo. Tapas uthe giye ekta trunk call book korlo Pradyot Da ke call korte habe. Pradyot Da ekhon Full time Satya Anwesi hayeche… Se aajj ai sankate Sam ke help korte paarbe ar tapas nijeo rahasyer gandho peye bhetore bhetore romanchitoo bodh korlo.



Tapas Misti ke bollo ektu amar First Aid Box ta ano to ektu Naux Bhum mere di and Tincture iodine lagiye di Sam ke.

Er madhye fone beje uthlo trunk call lege geche Pradyota liner anno dikee…

Tobuo nistaar nei (Sayeed Abbas)

oboseshe sahos obolombon kore samaresh ghure takanor chesta korlo, kintu pichone ghorar aagei matha'r pichone ekta baari te se agyan hoye porlo. koto khon ei bhabe behoosh hoye porechilo samaresh'er kono khyal nei. jokhon gyan firlo, se dekhlo je ekta highway'r paashe se pore aache ekta jhoper pichone. raat kete din hoyeche. mathar pichone haath dite jomaat bandha rakto haathe elo. porone ekhono sei jama kapor i aache. kichu khon samaresh hotobhombo hoye pore roilo. eki hocche tar saathe? kichu ghonta aage se chinta korchilo ki kore serial dekhbe aar ekhon ei ki tar obostha! muhurte jeno somosto life paalte gelo. dui baar nijeke chimti katlo. sopno noito. hotath se nijeke aar samlate parlo naa. fupiye kende uthlo se. kaar khoti koreche se, je keo tar upor ei bhaabe badla nebe? sucharita di'r saathe tar kono somporko chilo na jar jonno ei ghotona ghotbe.

oboseshe kanna thamiye, nijer bhabna chinta ke soro goro korar chesta korlo somoresh. prothom oke jaante hobe se kothai aache ekhon. ditiyito ei niye kono sandeh nei je keo taake fasiyeche. eto khon sei chithi police peyeche, ebong samaresh ke flat e naa peye, somosto kolkata'r police taake khujjche. aayin er kaache ekhon se criminal. police'er kaache giye ki korbe somoresh? ki bolbe taader? ki kore taar upor aasha arop porishkar korbe? naah, ekhon aar kono raasta nei. oo aar kolkata firte parbe na. ekhon haathe somoi chai, todonto korte hobe ke taar ei sorbonaash korte chai.

er ektai upai. samaresh'er sahajjo chai. aar ekmatro tapas chara, samaresh ekhon kaoke biswas korte paarbe na. tapas samaresh'er chotobelakar school'er bondhu. ekhon thaake durgapur e. dvc te chakri kore as assistant engineer. ja korei hok samaresh ke durgapur pouchote hobe.

pocket e haath dhukiye dekhe je maatro kuri taaka aache. gotokaal ei taaka ta peyechilo as change ekta misti'r dokaan theke. tokhon theke pocket e roye geche. highway'er ek dhar dhore haatte thaklo samaresh. beshi khon bujhte laglo na kothai aache se. kaachei dekha jacche bandel'er power station. oke train dhorte hobe. ekta auto bhara kore station elo samaresh. adh ghonta pore local train dhore soja bordhoman. bhaggis kono TT othe ni train e. bordhoman e ese baaki poisa te bus'er ticket kete sondhyete durgapur chole elo se. kaal raat theke kichu khai ni. somosto sorir kahil hoye poreche. ei obostha te tapas'er ghore elo. calling bell dui baar baajate dorja khullo......