Chomling in the land of Chamling-1

This is the first of a series of posts on the family's visit to Sikkim, Darjeeling and Calcutta.

The idea of a trip to Darjeeling and Sikkim originated in the last week of march 2009, and all because of a movie CD that dad picked up. 'China Town', a fifties movie starring Shammi Kapoor, has him playing a club singer who moves from Darjeeling to Calcutta for a living. While we watched, we discussed how it would be nice to have a holiday there, and soon the movie was forgotten (we still haven't gotten round to finish viewing it), and planning started in full swing. the 1st week of may was considered ideal as with 5 days of leave, we would get 10 days off.

Lots of research on the Internet and advise from Mohan mama resulted in crystallization of the plan. Tickets were booked in advance, and the services of Yak and Yeti, a Gangtok based travel operator who were highly recommended on the net were secured.

DDay (1st May) arrived bright and clear, and we were off on a Indigo flight to CCU. landing in CU at 2.30 PM, our first sight in the airport was of the passengers who had lined up to board the return flight to BLR, something that we would be doing on the 10th. That was however, a holiday away, and off we went into CCU.

The CCU airport in in dire need of a makeover, and resembles a crowded railway station more than an airport. Taking a prepaid taxi, a weather beaten ambassador that was probably there when dad had visited Calcutta 45 years back, we made our way to Sealdah station.

The Sealdah station was where we had to catch our train to NJP , the Kanchan kanya express. As the train was at 7.30 PM, we had some time to kill, and so we checked in our luggage in the cloak room and went to the local Comesum restaurant for our lunch.

The heat was getting to us , and we put paid to our plans of doing some sightseeing and went straight to the waiting room (the a/c was thankfully working). later in the evening, Bimba and I ventured out of the station and onto Bowbazar (BB ganguly street) that leads from the station. After some area that was covered in immense dirt and squalor, we discovered that Bow bazar was full of jewellers and gold shops. Naturally, this being 1st may, not a shop was open, and the street was quite pleasant to walk on.

Finally, we boarded Kanchankanya and at 7.30 PM we were off towards NJP.

P.S. For those wondering why this post is named so, well, one of the many names that we call our daughter is 'Chomling' , and the CM of Sikkim is Pawan Kumar Chamling, hence the name.
why we call her Chomling is a topic for another post.

When does the rat race begin?

Over four years since my last post, and I have chanced upon my blog once again. And again, another promise to myself to periodically update.  

The four years have seen me getting married and become the father of a lovely little girl, which brings me now to what prompted me to begin this post. 

My daughter Indira , 5 and a 1/2 months old now, is just like any other active infant of her age. She howls when she' s hungry, or sleepy, or needs to be cleaned, or if she's just plain bored. She laughs if someone makes eye contact and smiles at her, is fascinated with the wall hangings and pictures, is intrigued with the workings of the ceiling fan, and loves greenery.  She flails her arms and legs, and is constantly rotating when we place her on a matress .  And yet, till the day before, she was subject to much scrutiny and questions from every one, from the massage lady to my grandmother. Reason, she still had'nt turned over. 

'The baby boy at the other place I visit turned over yesterday, he's only 3 months old!' says the massage lady. 'Babies typically turn over by their 4th month' , says my granny. 

Comparisons, milestones, landmarks, all these have begun for my little one. Her race to survive and succeed in this world, from turning over, to crawling, walking , talking, standing first in class, topping her board exams..does this where it all begins? 

Indira succeeded in turning over day before yesterday. She did that twice in quick succession, just to prove a point, and has now returned to her old ways. Congratulations, my daughter, the rat race has begun.

Troubled Times

Finally remembered that I have a blog and that I have promised myself to write...Methinks this writers block that I seem to be having is bigger than DNAs, (though it might be a litle presumptuous comparing myself to the Great Man, a la Mushy Baby comparing himeslf to De Gaulle on the Uniform Issue.) Be that as it may, what really prompted me to get back were two things,

1. The humdrum and monotony of the afternoon knowing that the weekend that was is now far gone behind and the weekend to come is a long way from being around the corner
2. The invite for freshman recruits issues by moi employer

The monotony cannot be cured, partly because the weekend past was a memorable one (mudumlai in all its splendour and elephants et al) ; but the long lines outside the gates of fresh engineers begging employees for references so that they could apply could melt even a heart of stone. Bungs one right back into the times of recession and the pain, angst and anguish that go along the torturous search for the first all important break to get a chance to contributing to the nations GDP. Presents one with the classic conundrum: companies do not recruit freshmen, for they need the experienced ones to bill clients accordingly, though if everyone felt the same, there would be no experience to bill. Inspite of the multiple selection criteria clearly spelt out (including some bond issues and select branches), there still is a sizable turnout , and office gossip has it that over 10, 000 resumes will eventually land up. All this, for possibly not more than 50-100 positions. Simple mathematics tell us that the ratio of resumes to jobs is 1:100, i.e comparable to the ratios for entry into the best B Schools. Logically the next question that springs up is 'where do the rest go??'. One can gloss over this by jsut thinking aloud 'Oh, somewhere, some job is waiting for everyone'. The point remains, is there? Who is to blame? The government, for allowing so many engineering colleges to spring up without considering possible employment opportunities? The media, for making IT seem like the only cushy career option available to youngsters today? The students and their parents, for choosing this profession and ruling out every other vocation as useless?
A coffeetime chat with a colleague gave further insights into this unfolding tragedy. A former employee of NIIT, he recruited graduate engneers as trainers for NIIT branches in the so called 'upcountry ' areas of Karnataka. Folks were ready to drop everything and join at a princely salary of Rs. 1,500/- with a Rs. 5000/- guarantee to boot. He recruited over 100 people over the span of a fortnight. Disturbing , to say the least.

Back to school

Truly, the idiot box has lived up to its name of making idiots of us all. Possibly the most intense socio political activities happen in connection with it, not only onscreen but in any and all aspects concerned with it. Joining the long list of Saas bahu action/emotion/formula 44 dramas is my cable operators fight to the death with Sony. Some disgareements over payments have lead to the chopping off of all Sony channels from television...thus cutting us all off from the daily dealings of the ever popular Jassi, much to the chagrin of dad , who follows the whole show with a religiousness rarely seen otherwise.
The vaccum created has sought to be filled with 3 movie channels... which I feel are a much better VFM than their predecessors. Which brings us to the whole point of this post...the N+1th rerun of 'Rockford' that I saw in bits and pieces yesterday.
This viewing was especially pleasurable, not only because it is an immensly well made movie, but also because it brought back memories of the high point of an extremely pleasurable Yercaud trip. The movie has been shot in Montford High School at Yercaud, one of the picturesque but not-so-well-known hill locales of Tamland. Our (i.e. nagulesan+Urs truly) visit to the school was on a Sunday, which meant a near complete absence of schoolboys doing whatever their daily routine tells them to do, but which also meant hearing out the school band practising the 'Topgun Theme Song' in three different tempos under the school chapel.
This post seems to rapidly digress from its topic, now that I am tempted to put in a mucvh delayed travelog of the Yercaud trip. However. One shall take a break at this point.

The Blog... Finally

...and I seem to have overcome my inherent lethargy to create this space. Here's the blog, I tell myself, and I mean to post regularly enough, though how long the promise is going to hold out, is anybody's guess.

I guess these introductory lines seem enough for a first post , but just before wrapping up would like to mention the number of attempts I had to go through before I could hit upon a URL for the Blog. the current one is just that .. a welcome relief.