Bengali - Sweetest of the sweet language

Those who have stayed in Bengal, AND, also learnt Bengali in its pure form, would completely agree with me when I say that Bengali is the sweetest language. It is not a disrespect to other languages. All languages have their own charm - else how would have we relished the writings of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Mirza Ghalib, Munshi Premchand, William Sakespeare and so many others who have created magic with their own languages. But read Rabindranath Tagore, listen to Hemant Kumar or Manna Dey, watch Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen, and you would know why I consider Bengali as the sweetest language. I am lucky, that despite belonging to a hard-core North Indian family, I grew up in a small town in Bengal, where I had the priviledge to witness Bengal and Bengali in their unadulterated form. I used to hang around with Bengali friends, enjoy watching Bengali movies, relish the writing of Tagore, Nazrul Islam, Michael Madhusudan, and above all, loved talking in Bengali. I was as Bengali at heart as the Benaglis. What distinguishes Bengali from other languages, is that it contains the grace and poetic effulgence of Urdu, yet it also has the earthiness of classical Hindi. It is flowery, but one can still connect to it as his own.

There is a beautiful bhajan in Bengali which I was looking for a long time. Luckily, found it today. The lyrics are very simple,  but written with a  graceful rustic flavour (which is famous as Baul sangeet). The song encapsulates how Lord Krishna was called by different names by different devotees - Balaram called him Krishna, the cow-herds called him Rakhal, Yashoda maa called him Yadulal, Vashista called him Manohar and so on. This way, the Lord, who is One for all, got 108 different names, depending on how the devotee treated Him - a friend, a son, a Beloved, or a Guru. The mellifluous voice in this bhajan is of Sandhya Mukhhopadhaya, and the combination of the words and the singer weaves magic. I had tears in my eyes when I heard it.I am sure you would love it too. I am also posting the lyrics for you to read and understand better.

Hare krishna naam dilo priyo bolaram
Rakhal raja naam rakhe bhokto Shri dhaam,
Joshoda jononi bole jadu bacha dhor..
Aosto taro shotto naam pelo narayon..||

Deb jadugor naame dake Judhistir
Dorpohari naam rakhe Arjun shubir
Brojo banshi bole tume brojer jibon
Aosto taro shotto naam pelo narayon..||

Nonder nondololon raakhilo shri Nondo
Brinda duti Dilo naam Brinda bono Chondro
Doyanidhi naam raakhe Aotur shujoon
Aosto taro shotto naam pelo narayon..||

Moni monohor naame Boshishto je daake
Shongshaarero Shaar naam Bishamitro raakhe
Nonichora naam rakhe Gopobalagar
Aosto taro shotto naam pelo narayon...||

Immortal Ghalib

Aashiqi sabr-e-talab, aur tamanna betaab,
Dil ka kya rang karun khoon-e-jigar hone tak...

Awesomely amazing bhajan

There are some bhajans, which you hear and forget..then there are those you like to hum along, sing along, clap along. And then there are those divine melodies, those nuggets, which the moment you hear, all you want to do is close your eyes and slip into a state of pure ecstacy and unbounded Gratitude. One such rare melody is this beautiful, Grace-filled bhajan by Chitra Roy - "Om Jyotirmaya, Karunamaya, Antarjyoti Guru". If you haven't heard it yet, dont worry, hear it now. Make sure there is not much noise around. And in case there is noise inside you, the song will take care of it :) Its from the album Geethanjali. Thanks to Rishi Vidhyadhar ji (Sr Faculty from the Art of Living) who introduced me to this bhajan. I will try to put up an official link to the song here soon The lyrics are below:

Om Jyotirmaya, Karunamaya,
SatGurave Namah Om


Om Gyanmaya, Om Premamaya,
Antarjyoti Guru, Mamayatmasangaat Guru

Om Pranamaya, Paramanandmaya,
Shantimaya, Sukhamaya,
Satgurave Namah Om, 


Om Tejomaya, Kripamaya, 
Parabramhamaya, Sachidanandmaya
Antarjyoti Guru
Om Trigunateet Guru...

Mera saaya...

Everytime I hear this song, which has been divinely sung by Lata Mangeshkar, my eyes almost moist over..I just feel that this song has been written for Guruji and He sings this song every moment for us..I think this song completely captures how Guruji takes care of everyone who is even remotely associated to Him...if there was ever a song which would describe my Master's love and care for us, I think this would be the one...just close your eyes and enjoy it...

Bacche aur Football..

Chaude sadak ke paas zameen ke chhote se tukde pe football khelte hue ye bacche,
Bebaak, befikr, bekhauf, duniya se bekhabar, yaha se waha bhaagte hue,
Sadak kafi badi hai, dono or se gadiyaan saain saain nikal rahi hain, horn baja rahi hain, 
Magar inhe iska hosh kahan, dar kahan? 
Inhe to bas ye dar hai ki gend unke goal post ke us paar na chali jae,
Aur Gend kahin khelte khelte sadak pe chali gayi to, to jisne mari use lani hogi...
Khel ke niyam bahut saral hain, magar in bacchon ki ankhon me gehri dilchaspi hai..
Inke liye ye mehaz khel nahi, inke jeevan ka ek atoot hissa hai, jiske bina inka din pura nahi ho sakta..
kuch der ke liye ye khel hi inka jeevan hai, aur wo zameen ka tukda inki duniya,

Kuch gadiyan signal pe aakar rukti hain, aur usme baithe log khidki se in bacchon ko dekhte hain,
Ye log apki aur meri tarah hain, 'modern', 'educated', 'sophisticated',
Inke paas waqt nahi, ye subah uthkar daftar jane ki taiyyari me jut jate hain, 
Aur phir sham ko ghar pahuchne ki jaldi me rehte hain,
Traffic aur signals se inhe sakht nafrat hai..

Magar inhi 'modern', 'educated', 'sophisticated' logon me se kuch,
jab majbooran signal pe aake rukte hain, aur itni zindadili se football khelte hue bacchon ki janib dekhte hain,
unki ankhen inpe tiki ki tiki reh jati hai....
waqt, kuch der ke liye, ruk jata hai....

ye bebaakpan, ye befikri, ye bekhabri, ye masoomiyat, unhe ek gumshuda shaks ki yaad dila deti hai, 
wo shaks, jo bahut arse pehle, unke andar, kho gaya hai....

Signal khul jata hai, aur tamaam gadiyan aage badh jati hain,
Peeche reh jate hain ye bacche, aur kuch gumshuda logon ki yaadein...

Gadget Review IV

Best smartphone in the range Rs 25-30K

This was by far the most difficult category..there are quite a few amazing gadgets in this range, and when u have  an Iphone in the class, all that the other students can do is simply gape in awe. This would have been true, but for the following phones:

1. HTC Desire HD - Massive 4.3 inch display..runs on Android 2.2, and is loaded with advanced HTC Sense UI which has won many a heart.

HTC Desire HD..big Daddy

2. HTC Desire - The younger brother of Desire HD..by far the most popular member of the HTC family..with a 3.7 inch AMOLED display, HTC Sense UI, 5MP camera with a flash, Android 2.2, amazingly customizable and user-friendly widgets, HD recording, and many other high-tech features, this phone has given HTC top place in the Android market. The battery life though remains a concern, just like in any other smart-phone

HTC Desire..the most popular Android device from HTC

3. Samsung Galaxy S - Well, this is clearly the greatest Iphone competitor, and the statistics corroborate the same. it has sold 9.3 mn units in 6 months till date whereas the Iphone has sold some 14mn. With a whopping 4 inch Super AMOLED display, the resolution of which is matched only by the Iphone 4, this phone has made its way to the top in a very short time. With a very decent 5MP camera (without a flash sadly), HD recording, decent battery life, great display, Touchwiz 3 interface (not as good as HTC sense though, but still very upmarket), the phone packs all the right features to give Apple a run for the top position. It has infact been voted the best Android phone of 2010 by a lot of websites.

Samsung Galaxy S

You must be wondering why the Apple Iphone 4 is not there on the list...well it does not require to be there...it is an Apple and does not require any review or recommendation. Also, its price is much above Rs 30K, so it is better we talk abt d other fones which are doing good and are also affordable (compared to the iphone).

So go for it buddy...no matter which one u pick, u wont be a loser...they are all winners in their own rights..

Other noteworthy names - Sony Xperia X10

But my heart is slightly biased toward the Desire :)

Gadget Review III

continued from Gadget Review II

Range Rs 20-25K

ok..so in this range, there are quite a few offerings from the likes of Nokias and Blackberrys..but the following 2 really cut it for me:

1. HTC Legend

This is the elder brother of HTC Wildfire, and rightly so...the phone has the looks to wow you and comes packed in an aluminium body which makes it macho and hardy. It runs on Android 2.2 now and on top it there is the advanced HTC Sense UI.

The camera is 5MP with LED flash. The phone offers 7 home-screens and the HTC Sense UI enables u to take a helicopter view of all the screens..i.e. if u pinch one homescreen, u can see all the 7 screens around each other. The phone has an amazingly capacitive and responsive 3.2 inch with a great Android interface. The widgets on the Legend are also extremely useful and overall using this phone would be an absolute delight. It is available at a price of Rs 23-24K.

2. Motorola Flipout

Well..this phone has been officially voted by NDTV as the smartphone of the year 2010, and  not without reason So all those who got scared away by the first name of the phone better take notice. This phone changed the failing fortunes of Motorola with its heavy baggage of applications and great features at a very competetive price. It has a huge 3.7 inch capacitive screen with pinch to zoom, and it also packs a physical qwerty keyboard below, so it can woo even those who are hesitant about swiping their fingers on the screen. Also, even with the physical keyboard, phone is pretty..it is infact the slimmest slider phone today. Just like the other phones it also comes with a 5MP camera with dual LED Flash..it is currently working on Android 2.1, and would get upgraded to Android 2.2 next year. All at a price of Rs 20-21K

Motorola Milestone

Other noteworthy mentions - Nokia N8 (but sadly, it is Symbian), Nokia N900 (not Symbian, but not Android either..it runs on Maemo 5, but this phone has been one of the most well received smartphones in 2010)

To be continued..Range 25-30K..(the real tough one)