“Kafan mein khud ko chhupa liya hai
Ke tujh ko parde ki ho na zehmat
Naqaab apne liye banakar
Hijaab tera utha raha hoon”
Sung by Nusrat. Incredible words from the pen of Allama Muhammad Iqbal.
Roughly translated…
“I have hidden myself in my shroud
So you don’t have to take the trouble of putting on your veil
By making a veil for my own self,
I am lifting your veil”
Three years back Sharmila and I looked at the option of moving to the NorthWest. Portland and Seattle areas are what we evaluated. We concluded that it was too cloudy, foggy and rainy for us.
Boy, did we dodge a bullet!
If we had moved, we would have missed these three years of cloudier, foggier and rainier weather in Atlanta!
(BTW, as a matter of fact, Atlanta gets nearly twice the amount of rain as Seattle)
Last morning, I swung by my friend Jacob’s desk when I was visiting their offices in San Francisco for some work. Less than half my age, he has twice my wisdom. Little wonder, I enjoy being around him and learning new stuff from him. (He is a trivia wizard too).
He was standing near his desk – talking to his neighbor – when I approached him. Who he introduced to me as “Raj Das”.
Jacob: “Believe it or not, Raj and I are born on the exact same day. And we went to the same college together. Now we work together.”
Me: “That is a coincidence!”
Jacob: “Do you remember Seena?”.
I immediately recollected Seena from about six months back. Jacob, Seena and I had worked on a project for some time then.
Me: “Of course!”
Jacob: “Here is the crazy part! All three of us share the same birthday!! And all three of us went to the same college”
Now, that was SOME coincidence!!
Me: “And what is that birthday?”
Raj: “March 5th”
Me (after gaining some composure): “Yeah! Here is something you will not believe either. That is my birthday too!”
I don’t think Jacob still believes me!!
We all believe I was not good enough to go to U. Va. though 🙂
That was one heck of a coincidence!!
Picked this recipe up from The Inspired Home. This has Mezcal, Aperol, Sweet Vermouth and Prosecco. Rather interesting experience. After the bitter sweet hit to the palate, I was not prepared for the strong smoky finish. Obviously, logically that is what you would expect with the ingredients but I do not believe I remember having this kind of a combination before.
Scorpion mezcals are from Oaxaca and like many other mezcals is made from espadin agave and double distilled in copper stills. This being a Reposado, it is aged. In this particular case in French Oaks.
Here is an interesting fact. You know how certain mezcals will have a worm inside it? (BTW, tequilas NEVER have a worm – that belief is a myth). Well, this company’s slogan is “worm is for the wimps”.
They actually have a scorpion at the bottom of the drink. Every single bottle!!! (this is somewhat for marketing – it has no other value).
I was reading this book last night – Wisdom 2.0 – and came across a data that caught me by surprise. It is the amount Americans spend on fighting sleeplessness. To follow up, did some snooping around this morning to get some more data. Turns out we are spending somewhere around $50B on drugs and medicine every year to stave off insomnia. Consumer Reports has some informative articles on this.
To get a perspective on that number – that is $150 per year per man, woman and child in this country! Enough to make me lose sleep right now!!
On the other hand, maybe that is where we should take $5B from and give it to Trump to build the wall. Maybe we should stay sleepless. We are the ones who elected him, right? 🙂
It was December. The exact year escapes me. But it was mid seventies. Dad had taken the whole family to visit my mom’s elder sister. I remember getting off the train in a nondescript station called Mankundu and then taking a rickshaw to my aunt’s place in Chandannagar. That evening, uncle showed off his newly acquired gramaphone player (those LP players with vinyl discs). I remember being absolutely fascinated by the player.
This is the first song I ever heard in a gramophone player.
“Dagor dagor chokhey keno kajol diley
Amon dagor dagor chokhey keno kajol diley
Kalo oi chokhta thekeo kajol kalo ki
Bolo kalo oi chokhta thekeo kajol kalo ki?
Dekhatam o mukh haatey aayna peley
Jekhaney polash koli saara bochhor phhotey
laabh ki rong laagie omon raanga thhotey
palash-er- koli-r cheye-o o rong raanga ki?
Bolo palash-er- koli-r cheye-o o rong raanga ki?
Dekhatam o mukh haatey aayna peley”
To understand the lyrics, we need to know that “polash” is a very bright red flower found in the area where I come from in India (Bengal) and “kajol” is collyrium – also called “kohl” that is usually applied under the eyes by girls where I come from as a beauty thing.
Roughly translated…
Why did you put “kohl” on those wide eyes
Oh! Why did you put “kohl” on those wide eyes
Is kohl really any deeper than your dark eyes
Tell me, is kohl really any deeper than your dark eyes?
I would have shown you myself, had I had a mirror with me.
Where “polash” blooms all year around
What is the point in putting red color in those lips
Is the red of an young “polash” bud any deeper than that of your lips
Tell me, is the red of an young “polash” bud any deeper than that of your lips?
I would have shown you myself, had I had a mirror with me.
