Golden Glory

Soaking in the last golden rays of the sun,
The tranquility all around,
The boat gently rocking and swaying.

Beauty that never gets old , no matter how many times one has seen the sunset.

Living In The 90's Meant

Cartoon Network was at its peak with Captain Planet,Swat Kats,Dexters Lab,Ninja Robots,Scooby Doo,The Jetsons,The Flinstones,The Little Lulu Show,Centurions.









We actually looked up places on the atlas and not on Google Map,especially for geography map homework. And everyone had a globe at home.

We knew books like Famous Five, The Five Findouters, Secret Seven, Amelia Jane, The Naughty Girl, St Clares, Malory Towers and when we became teens we read Nancy Drew (for girls) and Hardy Boys (for boys) instead of reading about creatures of the dark with glittering body,fangs and bloodlust and their pale human girlfriend.



We were crazy about Harry Potter (at least i was) or star wars et all and we had cuttings about our favourite movie/actor/franchise and had a diary where we glued all those cuttings. We didnt browse the net,we read newspapers.








We wrote on lokenath khata. the most popular brand of khatas in Calcutta,slowly being replaced by Classmate now.

There was no hard drive or pendrive. We copied and stored our songs and movies on CDs (even DVDs came in much later).most of us still have the huge collection of CDs.One movie generally needed 2 CDs each.and we used floppy drives for documents,excel worksheets etc. No pendrives to exchange data in.







And the first cell phone in India was so big that I am pretty sure you can use it as a club and will result in immediate death of the person if it ever comes in contact with his head. It had no vibration,no calendar,no reminder but it had what even the fanciest cell phones still have now -  Snakes.

How To Be Popular ( For Boys )

Warning - This is not for those who cannot understand sarcasm.

1. Wear extreme low waist jeans that look like they will fall off any moment.a word of caution : do not try running in them,the jeans might just fall off.you wont be so popular then.

2. Make sure your branded underwear is playing peekaboo.

3. Please do not straighten your hair,unless you are a woman trapped in a man's body.

4. Have a girlfriend.who must be good looking and slim. does not matter if she is a bimbo.

5. If you are unsuccessful in procuring a girlfriend make sure you are surrounded by girls.click photos with them for proof.

6. In continuation with the above point in those photos make sure you are the only guy and there are at least 4 girls.

7. Wear shades.even when it is not sunny,especially in the dark.

8. Have photos of you partying, drinking on facebook. Again,preferably and only with girls.

9. Make sure your dp (display picture) is liked by at least 50 people ( mostly girls ),otherwise it means you have alot of work to do to up those likes.

The Lanes of Calcutta : Marble Palace

Despite what people say I love my city - Calcutta. Not Kolkata but Calcutta. The word is just enough for me to fall in love with my city again and again. while some parts of the city has moved on with the times (Sector V),there are other parts that are happily laid back in time.it is that part of the city that pulls me and makes the city come alive.

A few days back i went to the old part of Calcutta and visited The Marble Palace.

It is a nineteenth century mansion built by Raja Rajendra Mullick in 1835.the mansion has marble floor and ceilings in intricate designs,mimicking Oriental rugs.it is said that there are 90 different kinds of marble all imported from all over the world.since i do not know much about architecture (except that the marble palace is exquisitely beautiful with very detailed work on all floors,ceilings,wall-panels,table tops,doors,window panes,pillars and every other possible area) i will just paste the description from a reliable site :

"The house is basically Neoclassical in style, while the plan with its open courtyards is largely traditional Bengali. The three-storey building has tall fluted Corinthian pillars and ornamented verandas with fretwork and sloping roofs, built in the style of a Chinese pavilion."

What first strikes you when you enter the grounds the path which was once used for horse drawn carriages,the lush overgrown lawn and the  innumerable sculptures of lions in various positions of sleeping,sitting,awake,prowling,statues of Buddha, Jesus,The Virgin Mary and Hindu Gods and an elegant, and intricately carved marble water fountain at one end of the garden.

The house has a huge collection of sculptures,paintings by both Indian and European artists,furniture,objects like ornate chandeliers,clocks.there were floor to ceiling Belgian mirrors,10 feet wide and almost 25 feet high with detailed hand carved gold leaved frames,vases,urns from the far East.there was one sculpture of Queen Victoria carved from a single bark of wood that leaves one awestruck.and the clocks can still tell time.there is one clock that chimes every fifteen minutes.Not to miss the statues of Sophocles,Thalia,Melpomene,Apollo,Mercury.

The reception hall has 4 statues depicting the 4 seasons,busts of various kings and Queens,2 statues of napoleon at 2 ends of the room and an ivory tusk.

The courtyard has four statues depicting the four continents – Europe, Africa, America (pre-Columbian) and Asia,a number of garden chairs.The family still celebrates Kali Pujo there.

The paintings are housed on the first floor.even the stairs leading to the first floor has a number of masterpieces hanging.Upstairs there are two paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds - The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpent and Venus and Cupid- and two paintings by Rubens - The Marriage of St. Catherine and The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian.There are paintings by other artists like the great Italian painter Titian and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo,John Opie, Rembrandt, Jan Josephszoon Van Goyen,Winterhaulter and our very own Raja Ravi Varma and Bijoy Chandra.

The palace is still privately owned so photography is prohibited. Entry is free but one has to obtain a permit from the West Bengal Tourism Information Bureau 24 hours beforehand however bribes rule so no need for pre-obtained permit.The Marble Palace is open from 10 am to 4pm everyday except Mondays and Thursdays.

for animal lovers,there is a small zoo housing a number of rare birds including our national bird,a variety of hornbills,toucans,storks,cranes and barking deer,spotted deer. It is supposedly the first zoo in India.

One can see the sheer opulence and the grandeur that once existed but the palace is not well maintained.the paint is coming apart.its dusty.and half the things are scattered about as if they couldnt find a proper place to display them.and a number of Victorian furniture are covered with dusty cloth.the guides dont know much and dont let you enjoy the beauty at your own pace.they keep telling you to hurry up.but despite the obvious drawbacks your jaw will drop open as you feast your eyes on the various artefacts and the sheer richness and beauty of works of art.it is a tribute to the beauty mankind can achieve.

Once you leave through the gates the beauty,the elegance,the splendor of an age long gone,the decadance of the palace slowly starts to sink in.its almost perfect.