Sabya's Niche

Ok forgot to tell u.. Am an atheist now.. Yes, you heard it right. Was presented 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins by Pratik, a very good friend, in 2014. Found a mirror in it. Practised hard to get detached from this tremendous dependence on a 'helping hand'. Oh come on guys, if there's a She or He, won't have the time to extend that hand to all. And it cannot be that a portion of Nature is governed by laws and the other isn't. If that be so, where is the scope of a superimposed God? Now, without hurting your feelings (and mine, for that matter), if Nature is governed by laws, those must have evolved via a natural process, bcoz if some Entity created it, who created It? and so on and so forth, unless it's turtles all the way down as the lady said. However, I'm not sure. I always find I'm saved in tricky situations, as if by some unknown power. And, most importantly, whatever or whoever is required in my path of evolution, I alway...

Hi folks (wishful thinking - know there's no reader for this BS blog!) -  returning after eons. The fabric of my life has changed after being 'elevated' .. a change in profession. Undergoing a metamorphosis. Don't know where I'll end up. But the journey is important.

My son Shreyaan has arrived. He's 5 months old now and has usurped all my pastimes without much ado. He's growing up fast, giving me a crash-course in evolution. In fact my son has given me a glimpse of the entire range of emotions that can be.   It's in fact difficult to define fatherhood. Like love, it's to be felt, not described in words. The little one with its antics is almost all I think about now. He has eclipsed my life so much that I sometimes feel afraid... although it's something I wouldn't like to ward off!   Here's Shreyaan alias 'Google' for you:  

Saw the movie 'Inception'. Liked it a lot. The protagonist (Leonardo Di Caprio) is an 'architect' of dreams who creates dreams and delves into those alongwith others at times, building entire cities and scenarios as well as different levels of reality. There are 'totems' to remind one of the 'real' reality, so that one can come back from dreams. The catch is, the real-time in dreams is much longer than our real-time. E.g. if one dreams for an hour in the real world, it translates into days in a dream. The movie is excellent, exploring constructs and sub-strata of the human mind with dexterity. It's fiction, but one that makes you think of the reality of reality. Inception is, in a sense, Matrix reversed. The former tells you that we do exist in reality, but at the risk of losing our bearing if faced with semi-real realities of the subconscious realm. However, Matrix is all about 'Maya' and the unreality of our reality. Overall, Inception is ...

Saw 'Dhobi Ghat' the other day. A splendid celebration of humanity, I'd say. I could relate without knowing a bit of cinematic grammar, I can assure you. The movie by Kiran Rao (Aamir Khan's wife) is excellent. Several characters move about the entire script in their own respective paces, sometimes crisscrossing and at others just content to run parallel to each other. Sensitivity was at its very best during my experience of seeing Dhobi Ghat; it was rather lyrical. Prateik, Smita-Raj Babbar's son, and the girl who depicted the persona in the hand-held video shots, were particularly outstanding. The others were equally good. A must-see for anybody with human content.

Hi guys! Good to be back again. I was down for about a week with a serious bout of Viral fever. Have just resumed some light work. Tomorrow I'll be meeting clients and resume regular activity. In the meantime I had the time to brush up my reading a bit. Our cyber-engagements have nowadays left almost no leisure to read good old books. Both has its pros and cons undoubtedly and I myself am quite a bit of a fighter for the cyber world... yet, sometimes I miss ordinary paper books with their smell and savour. One advantage of paper books over ebooks which I felt for the last few days is that the former irritate the nerves a bit less. Whatever little glare comes off the computer screens is actually worse than the plain light reflecting off a book, you know. This apart, you could assume umpteen physical postures while reading a book which you can't even try with a computer - even if it's a laptop or netbook or some other mini. By the way, saw a nice saying on the net; it's a...

So the long-awaited Durga Puja 2010 is over. Today is Bijoya Dashami and it's time for mother Durga to return to her heavenly abode. This year the police and various public service people did an excellent job. In spite of the occasional showers and tremendous crowd, public utilities like the police, metro rail, bus and various other services worked full blast, sacrificing their own festive pleasures for us. Hats off to them for that. We did a lot of 'Pandal'-hopping and saw quite a few - those at Mudiali, Shib Mandir and Sebak Sangha in the south, College Square in central Kolkata, Chaltabagan, and our neighbourhood Mitali, Sapnar Bagan and 'Baro Park', to name some. Most of the themes and decor were splendid and it is rather a pity that so much of art, in some places full-fledged architectural marvels in their own right, goes to waste after the occasion. Anyway, that's life and we go on as usual.

Hi people, how's life? I'm back after a long time. Inertia is the only excuse I can give, or laziness as you may put it, for not blogging for so long. Nothing's changed much in the meantime. The cardinal themes of life are still the same, only minor alterations and adjustments here and there. Found a great quote: Discipline is just choosing between what you want now and what you want most. —Unknown Author Liked it a lot and wanted to share with you folks. In my life, time-management and discipline are now two major factors and without the two I'd not be able to manage anything. Gymming 6 days a week for 2 hours daily and then Court + Chamber + a li'l bit of personal life.. this is the agenda on board. So you can very well understand the pressure on time. As such, the quote on Discipline appealed and so I share it with you all. Bye for now.. will come back later.

Court has reopened after the long Puja vacation, and will remain closed tomorrow for 'Jagaddhatri Puja', another one of the numerous festivals we have... so I've finished my work and am gazing into an Arizona sunset on my desktop, delving into a musical reverie via my headphones. Right now into semi-classical Sufi, my mind wonders into the nooks and corners of various constructs of itself, now finding a sparkling brook and again savouring the serenity of a Himalayan peak. All the time I'm seeping in the Spring-like freshness in the air which marks the very first signature of a Kolkata winter. It is wonderful - this life I have. I couldn't want more. That's all for the time being... coz I've "miles to go before I sleep".

Subho Nabo Barsho... Happy Bengali New Year to all my readers!

Hi all! I've grown old enough into bodybuilding (> 6 months now) to understand the worthlessness of a six-pack. Of course, it may be frustration because I failed to get a clearly defined one till date, but overall I think it is growing wise. A six-pack entails not merely hard labour and diet, but it also brings with it a sick rest-of-the-body and thus cannot be sustained over a long period - unless of course you are on steroids, which is a complete no-no in my case. The development of a complete body involves various alternative phases of 'bulking' or 'development' and 'cutting' or 'reduction'. The idea is that you first bulk up your muscles by carrying heavy weights in workouts and eating a lot and then reduce the excess fat which is necessarily associated with such bulking by strict dieting, while at the same time continuing your workouts at the maintenance level to sustain the muscles already built. These phases go on and on until you have a...

The Summer heat's simply s-w-e-l-t-e-r-i-n-g and it's Election time again. The General Elections of the Indian democracy are on the anvil and political propaganda is at its zenith. Apart from being the time when Indian adults get a false ego that it's actually they who're bringing a new government to power, this is also an hour of tension at what the terrorists might do to disrupt the franchise. It's floating in the air that in the forthcoming elections the electorate will have an option for casting a ballot in favour of 'I won't vote' instead of any of the candidates, if the voters feel that none of the latter are worthy of their vote. If introduced, it would go down in history as a major landmark. Not only would it reduce false votes of absentees, it would also give the people a right to spit on the circus of politicians which they often have to bear hands down. The polity is not so ignorant as the election candidates deem, and that is all the more...

Current position of back

The mellow, caressing stresses of spring wind have begun sweeping over our faces, reminding us of the short spring we have in tropical countries. Yes, it's spring again - resembling the fleeting images of youth. So much poetry has already been dedicated to the season, it would be rather redundant to dwell on that aspect. Rather, I'm thinking about the transitory nature of Spring. It's importance rather lies in the transition that it brings from the cold clutches of winter to the scorching heat of summer than in itself. Spring brings a respite before going from one extreme to another. Yet, on second thought, how about dwelling more on the transitory phase itself than the seasons it connects.... ? After all, the journey's the best part of any tour!

This is the latest position of my back. The second phase of dieting is on. Bodybuilding has become a passion in the last 5 months... and it's going to stay that way for quite some time!

It was a short trip From here to nowhere A journey that was on the anvil All along Undertaken well.. In the mind For it never could be. (A short poetry... that never could be!!)

[Topmost pic - current; Pic just above - November, 2008] Hi folks! Sorry for the long delay. Wish you all a belated Merry Christmas and an advance Happy 2009. Fully into bodybuilding now. I've reduced about 7.5 kilos in 3 months and have shifted to full-fledged weight training from chiefly cardio-vascular exercises. No six packs as yet, but have already been seeing the outlines of one. It's alternate-day jogging and 6-days a week weight training now. I'm actually on a split routine, i.e. alternate days of working separate body-parts to give those time to recover and grow. My mornings now begin at 4:50 am on jogging days and 5:45 am on the other ones. The workouts are rigorous - consisting of 2.5 hours on an average. I complete all studies the previous night, of course, till I begin dozing off embarassingly in my chamber! The experience of my new passion is thrilling - overcoming newer and greater weight resistances and reaching new heights ...

Lost 2.5 kgs in 1 month! Gym, what else? And of course, minimal sweetmeat consumption. Gradually I'm feeling the effects of an about 1 hour 45 min workout 6 days a week - cardio (cardio-vascular exercises) and weight training combined. I've even taken a challenge with a 'wise-guy' of the gym, who's been working out for 3 years and has a good physique, that I'll build a six-pack abs by February, 2009. He still doesn't have it and naturally is on a ridicule mode. Wait till he sees my abs next Feb! As usual, I haven't left any second option and since I've thrown the challenge I'll meet it. So it's a rigorous routine now; so much so that even on our vacation tour of 10 days I lost half a kilo instead of gaining any. I trained for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday and hope to do at least 2 hours daily (except Sundays and Gym closures). I'm also beseeching our gym trainer to give me a strict diet. Of course I'll have the half-dozen pack, but the...

Hi people! Welcome back again and Subho Bijoya, Happy Diwali, Eid Mubarak, etc. to you all. Our family went to Shillong in Meghalaya and Kaziranga in Assam via Guwahati this Puja vacation. It was a splendid trip. Shillong is a remarkably busy and extensive hill station, sprawling over quite a large area on the mountains in the Khasi-Garo-Jayantia region of north-east India. It had quite beautiful locations, including picturesque waterfalls like the 'Elephant' and 'Seven Sister' falls. Cherapunjee, the world's ex-wettest place was also on our itinerary, though we found it one of the hottest places we've ever visited due to the scorching sun! Yet, the land (-hill!)-scape was good. We next went to the forest at Kaziranga through Guwahati. Although the core area of the dense forest would open only in the first week of November, we were lucky enough to spot most of the wild species for which tourists visit Kaziranga from a watch-tower on the fringes of the forest...

Gym time! Instruments at home fell lacking in meeting my needs, courtesy John Little's schedule. So joining a gym near home, named 'Fitness Drive'. It's complete with instruments, trainer and all. Will start tomorrow. 6:30 am sharp! Feeling very excited. Another chapter's opening in my otherwise oh-so-boring daily existence.