25 December 2017

This happened on Christmas Day a couple of years back. It is still very funny!!

Excerpt from 2015 Dec 25th blog entry:
—
Awww!! It broke her heart to learn that Santa Claus is not real 🙁

I am not talking about my daughters. I am not talking of any of my nieces either. This is my seventy year old mom in India. During our early morning ritual – a phone call – today, she started arguing with me about Santa Claus. Much as I tried to explain to her that he is an imaginary character that parents tell their kids to deflect who got all the gifts, she steadfastly stood her ground that I had no idea what I was talking about. She felt I was getting confused because I forgot his real name – Nicholas!

“Ami bortoman-e porechhi onar asol naam Nikolas”. Apparently, a local Bengali newspaper is a lot more reliable source of information than her son of fifty summers. Not to mention half the stuff those local newspapers publish clearly have been picked from books found in the local library section visibly marked “Fiction”.

What absolutely took the cake – I mean literally – is when I had to tell her that cakes are not that big a thing during Christmas here. As an aside, anybody who has grown up around the parts of the country I did in India, exchanging Christmas cards and eating cake were the big highlights of any Christmas day. I come from a state where 30% of the population are Muslims and most of the rest Hindus. I grew up in a Christian school till tenth grade. Unlike the deep division in thoughts that I get exposed to today along the religious lines, life then, was all about celebrating all the religious festivals – regardless of which religion. Visiting the festively lit up parts of the neighborhood where Christians lived, buying Christmas cards and sending them to everybody and eating a whole lot of Christmas cakes was what Christmas always meant to us. Sometimes we would visit the well decorated local churches too.

But eating cake was a must. Against that backdrop, you can imagine the jaw dropping revelation that my mom was trying to process when I told her that cake is not that big a deal here. That was sacrilege to her. She finally but slowly gave her verdict which was basically suggesting that Christmas is really a British thing. Americans have not learnt about authentic Christmas yet 🙂

But for the mute button on the phone, I could have been in big trouble today. 🙂

She did agree on one thing before we parted – “Oi debdarur moto gachhta – ki jeno?” (referring to an indigenous coniferous looking tree). “Christmas tree”, I replied.

“Yes, Yes, Christmas tree… Christmas tree… I forgot”, she mused.
Score one for her fifty year old son!!! Take that “Bortoman”

Category: Family in India, Humor | 4 Comments on This happened on Christmas Day a couple of years back. It is still very funny!!
23 December 2017

Mixing up drinks at a Holiday Party at a friend’s place

Since the whole year was spent on researching and tasting gins from different countries, I took a different tack and went with a Vodka theme. It was mostly Bengali people, the cocktails were tailored to the usual Bengali tastes. The first cocktail (BGJ) was mostly to cater to the tropical climate spicy tastes – had ginger, jalapenos and basil leaves with vodka. The second one was for the ones who like aniseed (very commonly chewed by Bengalis after dinner). Called a Samtini, this had vodka, Anisette liqueur and a dash of blue curacao. Then there was the Pineapple upside down cocktail – with vanilla vodka, pineapple juice and grenadine for the never failing sweet taste buds of the Bengali tongue. And finally to cater to the modern health conscious Bengali – who would like to have the whiff of sweet taste but not much sugar in it, I had the Harrington – which is vodka, orange curacao and a little of green chartreuse.

This was my last party mixing drinks for this year. Thanks are due to Joyjit and Baisakhi for letting me do it.

Category: Cocktails | 3 Comments on Mixing up drinks at a Holiday Party at a friend’s place
23 December 2017

8 slow miles

That was not very enjoyable. But, in all likelihood the last run of the year in USA. I have 3 more miles left to finish off 100 miles every month this year. As has been my practice of the last few years, I will save that milestone For a run with my brother in India when I see him next week.

The weather was gloomy and there was a slight drizzle. I love to run in that kind of weather. But the wooden trail was dangerously slippery. There was overgrown algae after all the damp and wet days of last week and the dead, wet leaves made the wooden trail very treacherous. Every time I tried to pick up speed, I started slipping. One gentleman came crashing down from his bike barely a couple of feet away from me while negotiating a corner. I was pretty sure he would have broken a bone or two. Fortunately, he picked himself up without any help and insisted he did not feel any stinging or intense pain. That was scary though!!!

Now for the last, largely ceremonial milestone run with my brother in India…

Category: Running | 4 Comments on 8 slow miles
22 December 2017

Professional test. Word check.

If you sit down and start rattling off the different names of professions you can think of, I bet you that you will surprise yourself. In these days of hyper specialization, there are more professions (along with their specializations) than you can shake a stick at. Just think of the generic profession of “doctor”. Now think of how many different kinds of doctors you can think of – surgeons, podiatrist, oculist, optometrist, dentist, psychiatrist, cardiologist, anesthesiologist, immunologist, dermatologist, gynecologist, oncologist, pediatrician, urologist, rheumatologist…. you get the idea right?

Let’s try some unique words for professions today. Admittedly, some of these are uncommon these days.

Avoid writing the answers in the Comments section to give others a chance. However, feel free to write down how many answers you knew (just the number) before you start Googling.

1. Let’s start with the good old days when bows and arrows were the chief mechanism for hunting and defense. What do you call somebody whose job is to make bows? Believe it or not, there is a word for somebody who specializes in making arrows too. Do you know that name?

2. You will probably recognize who a blacksmith is. (worker of iron). Or a goldsmith or silversmith. Now, who is a redsmith? And who is a whitesmith?

3. Who is a catchpole?

4. There are carpenters who specialize in making chests and boxes (as opposed to doors, for example). What do you call them?

5. Who is a wainwright?

6. Long back, before alarm clocks were around, in England, there were professional people who would go around knocking on people’s doors and windows to wake them up on time. What were they called? (Interestingly, there was a time that professionals would dart peas out of a blowpipe to hit the windows of higher floors to wake people up on time!!!)

7. Making wigs is a profession unto itself. What are such wigmakers called?

8. Who is a castermonger?

9. You know all those cadavers that are used – for example – medical purposes? There are professional grave diggers who dig up recently buried coffins to retrieve the cadaver to be used for various purposes. What are they called?

10. And finally, who is a lector?

Category: Word Play | 35 Comments on Professional test. Word check.
22 December 2017

Existential question

As difficult as it might be to believe that I went to a party and stayed till midnight, it pales in comparison to the following jaw dropping realization I had on my drive back… Not a single selfie was taken during the whole party!!!

The well-conversed in Bengali parties in Atlanta area surely will sympathize with my confusion around an essential existential question …

If, during a party, not a single selfie was taken and posted in Facebook, did the party really happen?

🙂

Category: Humor, Musings | 11 Comments on Existential question