Sobaike BijoyDoshomi -r Priti o Subecha

There are some days in the year when you realize that a counter is being re-set.

Take the day when salary is being credited in your account :-)
It is an amazing day. Your account has the highest figure for the month. & then... sigh...

Birthdays... I know some of us are very sad when it is over. Are you one of them who count the next 365 days? If you are then you must be really young. Surprisingly i realized that as i grow older 'Birthday' is losing it sheen. Now i am waiting... no i am actually looking forward to my cousin's 25th b'day... so that i can say "welcome to the old brigade". He had pushed a pin on mine saying i had joined the 'old brigade'.[[I have become that vindictive :-p or that touchy with age :-o]]

Some friends of mine in US look forward for the 'Black Friday Shopping'
A bigger section in US must be counting days to Christmas.
A large section of this world would have re-set their counter for Id al-Fitr

I belong to a group of people who call them-selves Bangali. Bengal celebrates Durga Pujo as there is no tomorrow
There are lot of people whose livelihood centers this festival. For them counting days takes a different proportion. Irrespective of them, ask any Bengali & they will agree without any thought that this is their most awaited days of the year.
Yes Durga Pujo for a Bengali is just not a religious occasion.
Dosomi or the 10th day of the auspicious lunar month 'Devi Pokho' is the day when the festivities come to an end. & it ends on the note 'Ashche Bochor Abar Hobe'. Hard to translate the essence of the phrase, but remotely it translates to 'next year once more...'
Actually we start counting the days to the next Durga Pujo

Couple of years ago a Bengali blogging friend of mine started his blog as "I am a Bengali and am proud to be one."...
He went on to describe a Bong. Is a Bong, a mutated or evolved or uber(watever i think it means) Bengali? Found almost everywhere?
After the British it has been the Bongs who have colonised the world. Check your city. If there is no Durga Puja within easily reachable (read motorable / flyable) of your vicinity then wait... Another decade &... :-)

Jokes apart I would like to wish all Greetings

Let me try & take you through a stereotypical Bong's life
Born in a Bengali family, every year he(nothing in particular but could have been a she as well) has been celebrating Durga Pujo.
Now he has been out of his "desh" Bengal for some time. & every year he is not being able to celebrate at his home ie the place he was born his Bong natures increases a slight notch higher

Myth has it that Devi Durga went back to her Fathers house with her kids for a visit during this time & this homecoming is celebrated. Meteorologically the weather in Bengal is best. Right at the end of Monsoons. I firmly believe that Monsoons is the best time to be anywhere in India. But i think Bengal is at its best during Durga Puja.

Myth also has it that Lord Ram prayed to Devi Durga before killing Ravan. She for her own reasons gifted Ram some weapons on the 6th day of the lunar month.
In Bengal the holiday starts from this day onwards. Well for every Bengali even if he or she is working, celebrations of the homecoming has started with the Protima (figurine) at the Pandal
For a Bong this was the day of start of fun. Full holidays start whatever the situation.
Seventh day passes as Lord Ram fights Ravan.
The saga comes to an end on the end of the 8th day when Lord Ram finally vanquishes Ravan.
A Bengali prays at the closest Pandal.
Hence on the auspicious 8th day a Bong must pray at some place. He hunts for a Pandal. In a city like Bangalore significantly away from Bengal, he would end up finding one easily. If not available & there are 10 more around then the very next year there is going to be one Durga Pujo there

The ninth day is the day of celebration. After all the story is always tilted towards the victorious
As the peak of the holiday the 9th day is the most endearing. I cant show statistics lot of incident happens on this day. Every Bengali must meet the near & dear ones. All people come home. Big family dinner.
A Bong on this day must collide at least with N number of Bongs. The number N varies on the variables:
1. Proximity to Bengal
2. Population of Bengali resident in that geographic location
3. Length of time away from Bengal
4. Activity in social life
5. Affinity to social media sites
6. Age of the Bong
7. Number of close friends in that region
8. Number of friends in that region
9. Family size
10. Family income
11. Number of adda sessions in the previous month
12. Work Pressure
13. Association type to any person in the organising committee
14. Regularity of meetings of organising committee
15. Availability of options to organising committee
16. Amount of in-fighting
17. Availability of fish
18. Availability of Bong resturants
19. Error component :-)

Myth has it Ravan was a great king. A brilliant person. Had he been victorious then the myth would have surely been different & may be history too. The last rites for him were performed on the 10th day.
Myth also has it that this is the day when Devi Durga left along with her kids
For a Bengali this is the last day of the festivities. Bijoy Dosomi. With a tear in the eye The Protima is sent off. Priti (Love) & Subecha (Greetings) are shared with all.

I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone Bijoy Dosomi r Priti o Subecha

Genesis of a word

Global Language Monitor, a Web site that uses a math formula to estimate how often words are created, claims more than 14 words are added to English every day, at the current rate.

Change is a sign of life & for any language to survive, it needs to evolve over generations if not @ what Global Language Monitor says.

Many English words have taken a permanent place in our vocabulary.
Take "time". I don't remember when i have heard "waqt" or "somay" or in any other language.

I have heard an interesting story of 1 English word whose genesis can be traced back to India among many others.
The British settled in India around the then Koli-kata(Kolkata/Calcutta), Sutinati & Gobindopur.
Imagine yourself as an 1800 East India Company official or family staying in or around the place around the British settlement
You wake up one late in the night with people (or natives as they were referred to), screaming "Bollo - Hori - Hori - Boll"
Next day you get to know that when there is death in a Hindu family the dead-body is cremated. And while carrying the dead-body to the river bank for cremation the natives would be screaming that.
For you who have stood in deaths wearing black at the crematorium, the whole concept would be .... Horri-ble


Now that i have completed a lot of random introduction, let me put in some updates as well. I recently came back from a marriage at Hospet.
Congratulations Vijayndra & Samyuktha.

It was one of the best trips i had in recent times.
Thank you Sangeetha for organizing the trip to the finest detail. I believe that everyone enjoyed so much because you ensured that the trip went as per the finest detail.
Any trips i plan or act to organize are messy. I am confident that those are messy because of me.

The best part for me was as always the nights, especially the last night in the train. The following is inspired from it

Hospet railway. A train is at the platform. 1 compartment is nearly filled with the relatives of the groom. Among them travelling is brides’ room-mate of college. Geet.
Shahid the closest cousin of the groom had visited the college & hence knew Geet.
Somewhere near mid night the train stops at a railway station. Shahid gets off the train to buy some water. Geet follows him in search for some tea.
Shahid passes on the water bottles & joins Geet. They are standing at the door of the train & enjoying the steaming hot tea when
Geet : Main aaj tak koi train miss nahi kari
Shahid: Wow
The train blows a whistle
Geet: This is the first time main train main ja rahi hu
The train blows another whistle
Shahid: get in the train
Geet: Mujhe chalti hui train main charna hain
The train blows another whistle & begins to move
The tensed relatives find Geet walking into the coupe with a tea cup & giggling. Concerned they ask where Shahid is.
Geet: Uske upar chay gir gayi
Shahid enters all furious & starts explaining: Geet gave the cup to me to hold & got on the train. Then she took the cup & door "mooch" di
What?!!
Before & after all possible interpretations of "mooch" it dawns upon them that "mooch" is the kannad for close.

Readers please join me in trying to list all places where we can use "mooch". Like... This project needs to be mooched or Post mooch