Puzzled?? Not if you are Bong. It took me years to get my tongue around those words. Even now I trip over them if I am not careful. Today marks a brand 'New Year' for several communities in India, and Spring is definitely in the air. But it is only the Bongs who send long, poetic text messages to greet friends on this special day. Like the one I received at dawn from my khaas bondhu in Kolkata, the darling Jayabrato Chatterjee - a real bhadralok if I've ever met one, and a loving friend. He wrote , " It takes the same amount of time of time to pluck a flower for worship as it does to explode a bomb to destroy." This was but a small part of his greeting!! I thought to myself, only sensitive Bongs can combine such thoughts with an occasion that heralds new beginnings. I love Jayabrato and his family. We go back years and years, and always have the best time when we meet, whether in Mumbai or Kolkata.
I am off to Ahemedabad on friday. Not sure how exactly I am supposed to shape those young minds, but I shall do my best. The lecture is at the IIM -A, and the divine Amjad Ali Khan will be addressing the students right before I do. That's a tough act to follow! I'm hoping to catch Mallika Sarabhai during my short stay in her city. I was appalled to hear Manmohan Singh advising voters to shun independent candidates since they'll eat into the votes of the other, party -affiliated persons. Mumbai seems to have jerked itself out of its customary stupor to some extent this time - people actually show up at the 'Meet the Candidate' gatherings in various snob localities. This is an excellent new development and gives me hope that there will be a good turnout on 30th April. Meanwhile, Amma ( Jayalalithaa) has said calmly and cleverly, " A good politician rules out nothing." Looks like Behenji (Mayawati) will need to hire a new speech writer now!