In "D" Company

I think my parents are the only people I know who:

- Chastise their 29 and 31 year wards olds in public
- Travel by train as a rule
- Don’t use an air-conditioner (Eeeesh!!!)
- Don’t drop their kid (note the use of the word) to the airport
- Don’t pack three bags of goodies for their little boy when he leaves home
- Whose deep understanding of the English language excludes the expression “Generation Gap”

The consequence of the above is that when at that home I just sulk in silence.

Needless to say, I had been home to Delhi this Sunday. It was green, sunless and sweaty. My niece, all of 5 months (62cms and 4.95 kgs) had to be fed her first morsel of solid food. And as per regulations, the act had to be performed by yours truly. Delhi was hot beyond words, and I was made wear too many clothes (Maa: No shorts!!! Get out of that immediately. Me: Hey… I am 29- can’t drop my shorts in front of women. Maa: Yes, but you can still be spanked in public). In spite of whatever my parents think, I’ve executed my share of family duties for the fiscal year 2006-07.

The mere thought of having to act responsibly through all of Sunday was enough to make Friday and Saturday three pub nights. Unfortunately, everything seemed to shut early on Saturday, and so we hit upon my wonderfully stocked cellar. We sat up all night (I figured long back that at home, I am a bottomless pit when it comes to drinking). I spent most of the night waking up the neighbors, dancing, "singing and cursing– loudly and badly", lusting and then much, much later, marriage counseling! Once high, I am The Authority on almost anything. At some point of time, I even recall lecturing a certain lady on the virtues of paid sex vis-à-vis loveless sex. Wow!

Nu and Viper moved back to HK this weekend. M moves to US of A on the next. That is a disturbing sign. Everyone I know seems to be running away from this place. The Shack also seems all run down and out of sorts. I am really peeved.

But on the brighter side I now have “D” Company

What can I write about a person who dozes off every time I speak to her?

Most of our conversations are carried out late at night (post 11PM). The reason for that is not because she is the only one awake at that hour (ironically, I am told so is Ms. P, but not another word about her today), but because till recently our chats would be quite enjoyable, ending with the customary “Good Night”. Now they end with “zzzz.” Anyway!

D has been a real find. I had heard of her through a common friend couple of years back, and then met a her a few of months ago, over a lunch or something, to discover that all this while she had been tucked away in a cubicle, a floor below mine. Last few weeks or so, somehow (one never knows how) encounters became frequent, and I realized that I find her nice to great at most times. She has her moods, but then who doesn’t?

But it seems she doesn’t speak to single Bengali men when her Mom is around. Wonder why.

I am so tempted to write about the latest Mandal –related events. The scenes of students protesting at India Gate bring back memories (from my own “youth”, and not from Rang De Basanti). But I shall only say this:

Heard on TV some female Bong sociologist, wearing this condescending smile and a nine-yard sari and heavy lipstick, support the move citing that OBCs need reservation as most entrance exams are held in English. China and Russia (we are down to comparing ourselves with a defaulting nation) can manage in their mother tongue, why can’t we. Yes, sure Madam. Lets have CAT, JEE and the many PMTs in the 15 national languages and budget 1-year for the process. Next lets have the curriculum in those institutes in 15 languages, and since these people, by now, have no incentive to learn English anyway, why not have all companies where they are employed work in those multiple languages. Needless to say that there will be a backlash from those proficient in the dialects only, but they that later. One needs something to keep politicians busy. But before we do that, can you please name all the bones of the vertebral column in Bengali? If people cannot be taught English in 12 years of schooling, they can hardly grasp Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology in the first 18 months of MBBS. Like I have always maintained – reservation is a bad excuse for poor governance.