Reflections

It is the long weekend here in Malaysia. The Chinese New Year is a big festival here. I remember watching dragon dances in Kolkata in my younger days when there was a large and vibrant Chinese population in Kolkata. Even today, I am told the New Year is celebrated with great fervour in Tangra, but ever since the heart of Chinatown moved out from central Kolkata, I have really lost track of it. Mummy’s Kitchen is now a memory; the many evenings we spent eating out there for practically nothing now part of a Kolkata that is now like a fading photograph. The last time I was there, the Chinese temple still existed, and the school also seemed to be functioning, I wonder if it still does. Those of us who spent the seventies and the eighties as students, interns, housemen and postgraduates in the Medical College of Bengal will know what I am talking about. When I returned to my alma mater as part of the staff in the nineties I realized that the Chinatown had shifted its focus from Central ...

There is an age for reading love stories. The love stories that one reads in teenage life, particularly one that is read just after a heartbreak, leave an impression that stays for ages. At least this is true for me and for many of my friends with whom I have discussed this. The wonder and the romanticism remain even up to a comfortable middle age. In my teenage days two love stories made an impression on me that still persists, I cannot re read the books even today, long after my (and for that matter my daughter’s) teenage is history without feeling a pang of romance, a whiff of the spring breeze and without hearing the sound of Rabindrasangeet playing very softly from far away. These novels still cause a shiver to pass down my aging spine and I can remember enchanted gardens and the music played by angels all of which never ever existed except in my imagination. Whenever I think of a love story I think of two books in particular, One of them has enchanted romantics since the thirt...

I am now in Kuala Lumpur. It is a hot destination for many outbound tourists nowadays, KL, Singapore and Bangkok are the most favoured foreign destinations for Indian tourists nowadays. I had never visited it earlier; my foreign travel has been very restricted. The gateway to this city is the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. I have not yet seen the Changi Airport, which , they say , is one of the best in the world. but this airport was absolutely fabulous. The terminal is all that an international airport could wish for, including, incredibly a train to take you from the Arrival terminal to the Immigration and baggage area. The Immigration could have been more efficient, but connectivity to the city ( the airport is some 60 odd kilometers from the city proper), is excellent. There is a choice of a train service which takes you through these 60 kilometers in an incredible 28 minutes. Alternatively you can take taxis, coaches and a slower train that will stop at many stations in betw...

It has been some time since I last wrote my blog. The reason has been some changes that have taken place in my life. I have moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to take up a job in clinical research. I will be working with a stem cell company, coordinating research in what is a new and very exciting field. Why did I move? I am not so sure myself. While I was making large amounts of money from practice, it had totally ceased to be challenging. I could see myself doing the same operations for years on end and earning larger and larger sums of money. Fortunately our needs seem to be a lot less than most of our friends and we are fairly satisfied with our lot, so that it was possible for me to take up a new challenge, which hopefully would be more intellectually satisfying. I leave behind many dreams which I could not realize. I had hoped to be able to set up a cardiac centre in Siliguri which really needs one such centre. I spent a lot of my time running from pillar to post at the level of t...

For the developed world the car was the ultimate symbol of the last century. For the developing world it has been the ultimate aspiration which, many thought would come to fruition in this one. However just as Indians were thinking of the Nano as the model T Ford for India, albeit one century late, comes the economic downturn and many of these dreams seem to be turning to dust. The pioneers of the automobile industry in Detroit are in dire straits. The mighty three automobile makers of the USA, all based in Detroit, are on the verge of closure To many , Detroit is the home of the automobile, and home to three of Americas biggest car makers: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. In the heady post World War II days they made as many as 80% of all the world’s cars. The Chief Executive of General Motors Charlie Wilson famously said “What is good for General Motors is good for America”. These automakers spent the last two decades fighting all regulatory measures that were proposed by...

What is it about the water and air of Hindusthan that makes even incorrigible critics like me and many of my ilk feel an aching emptiness as soon as we are removed from its soil? For the past two weeks I am abroad, living in a much advanced society. The creature comforts are far removed from the bustle and untidiness of Siliguri. The roads are like Hema Malini’s cheeks and the electricity is always on. There is no noise on the streets and you don’t trip over garbage over every corner. Driving is a breeze, everybody follows rules and there is no pollution. And yet!! It is not India. There is something about the land of my birth that is inside my skin. It itches and aches and leaves a something that can never be satisfied in a foreign land. I sometimes try to analyse what it is. What is it that made Pritish Nandy say “ if you exile me, please put out my eyes before I go” ( I quote from memory, so that I may be wrong in the actual words though not in the sentiment) I was reading Sunil Ga...

The Teesta is now the focus of builders of dams. Sikkim and the hills of North Bengal are the proposed sites of a large number of dams which will, if all goes well generate a large amount of electricity. Several of these dams are already in the process of being built and the hillsides are already being torn apart to accommodate these leviatans. This had already proved to be controversial as the Llepchas in Sikkim are vigorously opposing the project and have been on hunger strike to prevent the project from drowning their ancestral lands and desecrating their sacred forests. These issues are very important. It has been estimated that since independence, at least 5 million people have been displaced by the large dam projects. Most of them were tribals who have traditionally been voiceless in the power dispensation. It is not a coincidence that these areas where the tribals have been deprived of their land and even more important, their identity that are racked with Naxalite violence toda...