Autumn had already set in and the breeze felt cooler as me and Ayan (Ayan Basu my classmate at SVTS) walked towards the rickshaw stand. As we got up on our rickshaw, the rickshaw puller said, “Indira Gandhi has been assassinated”. Even before we could react, he continued, “The security personnel gunned her down”.
Yes, it was 31st October 1984.
I was just a 9 year old then who didn’t have an iota of knowledge about politics, forget about guns & bullets. Still, at that age knowing that our Prime Minister has been killed made me go numb.
As our rickshaw puller trudged on towards our respective homes, my mind flew back few years.
I was all of 5 years old when I first saw Mrs. Indira Gandhi at a public gathering in Asansol. Infact that’s only time I saw her in flesh-and-blood. Mrs. Gandhi had come to the loco parade grounds to address a public gathering before the 1980 general elections. My father took me to that gathering and though I didn’t understand what was being said but I do remember the sea of people gathered around the place and it was a nice winter outing for me. That’s how I got connected to the Iron Lady of India.
Later on, I heard a lot of stories from my maternal uncle about Mrs. Indira Gandhi, he being a senior correspondent and later resident editor of National Herald had close access to the then Prime Minister of the country.
By the time I came back to reality, our rickshaw reached our house and as usual, I saw my mother’s ever concerning face standing at the door steps.
Next Day, the newspapers were filled with Indira Gandhi stories. Her last speech which till now gives me goosebumps were splashed all over and Doordarshan kept playing the same speech in a loop.
“Nobody knows how many attempts have been made to shoot me; lathis have been used to beat me. They have attacked me in every possible manner. I do not care whether I live or die. I have lived a long life and I am proud that I spend the whole of my life in the service of my people. I am only proud of this and nothing else. I shall continue to serve until my last breath and when I die, I can say, that every drop of my blood will invigorate India and strengthen it.”
Our school declared holiday till the weekend because of the needless Sikh riots that followed the death of Mrs. Gandhi. The massacre that followed for the next few days spilled into our generally peaceful township of Asansol as well. I remember quite a few friends’ families suffered from this wrath. I am very sure our Iron Lady would have never approved such a cowardly act by some hooligans.
I remember watching the last journey of Mrs. Indira Gandhi including the funeral ceremony on TV. Schools were shut, offices were closed and the roads were deserted as everyone remained glued to their TV sets with loud sounds of “Jab tak Suraj Chand rahega, Indira tera naam rahega”.
As I grew up I realised why India will forever be indebted to the foresight of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Some of her major achievements included, Nationalisation of Private Sector Banks, industries like coal and services like insurance etc., underground testing of India’s indigenous nuclear capability in Pokhran, Rajasthan but the biggest achievement was the war with Pakistan in 1971 and successful Liberation of Bangladesh.
Yes, she did a miscalculation with Internal Emergency in 1975 which she realised later and the citizens of the country voted her out of power but later on she apologised in 1978 realising her mistake and the voters voted her back to power in 1980.
As, the nation pays tribute to the Iron Lady on her 34th death anniversary, I still remember vividly the lakhs of people on Rajpath trudging along with her on her final journey amid loud chants of, “Jab tak Suraj Chand rahega, Indira tera naam rahega”.
“No….No…..NO”, I screamed at the top of my voice.
Joy Da, who was sitting on the front passenger seat, raised his hand reassuringly, a signal for me to chill. At the same moment, I felt a pinch on my left leg. I realised Alok Da who was sitting left to me, pinched me to keep quiet.
It was 15th July, 2017 and we were returning from Garhpanchkot which is located in the eastern part of India at the foothills of Panchet Hill in the district of Purulia, West Bengal.
We had been to Asansol a couple of days back to attend the AGM of SVAAA (Alumni association of our school). Our gang of 4 from Kolkata (Joy Da, Alok Da, Anuj Da and myself) met at Anandalok Hospital located at Karunamoyee, SaltLake on the evening of 13th July from where Anuj Da picked us up in his Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. The car was driven by Anuj Da’s young and eccentric driver, Raju. It was close to 6.30 PM when we started. By the time we reached Belghoria Express Way, the clock was past 7.30 PM. With the usual evening traffic congestion it was not very unexpected. But if you have Anuj Da for company, time can pass like a breeze. Anyways, we reached our usual stop over on NH 2, Azad Hind Dhaba at around 8.30 PM. We knew, that it won’t be possible to reach Asansol before 11 PM, so decided to have early dinner. We reached Asansol a little before 11 PM, thanks to our driver Raju who loves speed. We generally stay at the Hotel Meera International whenever we are at Asansol and it was no different this time as well. Next day, we got up nice and early, finished our break fast and reached our school (St. Vincent’s High & Technical School) before the scheduled start of the AGM. After the AGM got over at 1 PM, we left for Garhpanchkot. We stopped for lunch at Kamal Family Restaurant at Neamatpur. My friend Sanjeev also joined us for lunch. We ordered pure Bengali food and the food served was pretty good. While we were ordering one of our juniors, Sachin reached the place and he too joined us for lunch. Sachin stays at Neamatpur and being a regular visitor of the restaurant, got us the best of the cuisine. He didn’t even allow us to pay for the lunch. After lunch, Sanjeev bid us good bye since he had some urgent business work to be accomplished. Sachin then took us to a nearby Paan shop to treat us to some special paan. Thereafter, we bid him goodbye as we restarted our journey towards Garhpanchkot.
This was our first visit to this place. Alok Da had pre-booked Panchet Residency. For proper directions to our destination, I opened Google Maps and followed the instructions. My past experiences with Google Maps have shown that if you follow blindly specially in odd locations, you can land in trouble. This time also it was no different. We should have reached our destination in half an hour but even after 45 minutes we didn’t reach the resort. We had a never ending narrow road in front of us and a thin forrest line on both sides. Finally we reached a crossing and asked a localite (Thank God that there were people around) about Panchet Residency and he told that we need to go back 10 KMs and need to take a detour. After a bit of difficulty we spotted the place from where we needed to take a left turn to reach the resort. The resort layout was very nice with a cottage set up and good open spaces. The greenery surrounding the resort was very pleasant to the eye. The resort is situated right at the foothills of the Panchet Hill and the hill looks majestic while sitting on the spawned lawns.
After checking in and freshening up, we left for the Garhpanchkot fort which was about a 5 KM drive from our resort. Garhpanchkot fort was a part of the Singh Deo dynasty of Panchkot located at the southern foothills and a group of temples are still standing as mute spectators of the rise and fall of the dynasty. The ruins of the fort are a silent testimony to the Bargi attack during the 18th century. The temples are of different architectural styles, the principal one being a ‘Pancharatna’ temple accompanied by ‘Jor-Bangla’ type and more than one ‘Pirha’ type temples made of stone. The Pancharatna temple still carries some depleted but exquisite piece of pre-muslim period terracotta work on its arches and pillars.
We found some nice open spaces there, where the tea stall person arranged some chairs and table for us to sit. With a nice breeze blowing (and no rains thank fully) we enjoyed our outing with 2 rounds of tea and some hot pakoras.
As the Sun started moving further west, we made our move towards Panchet Dam which was about 10 KMs from there. We roamed around the dam area for more than half an hour enjoying the serene environment before driving back to the resort. Sanjeev joined us later in the evening and stayed with us till late in the night. He had dinner with us before returning back to Asansol. We still don’t know the secret reason of why he doesn’t stay back with us ever. That mystery needs to be resolved some day soon.
Anyways, we remained awake for a long time chit chatting among ourselves and slept quite late in the night. One can never get bored when Anuj Da is around because he has a lot of experiences which he shares in his own unique style. Next day, quite predictably we woke up late and after finishing our break fast, we checked out and started our journey back to Kolkata.
We decided to have our lunch at Azad Hind Dhaba. We reached around 1 PM. Our driver, Raju was in full flow and wanted to reach home early and infact persuaded us to not break for lunch. But we being we (Living for food) had the final say and we stopped at the Dhaba. While we ordered, Raju didn’t order anything. Looked like he had some real urgent work and it was his way of protesting!
After lunch as we started back for Kolkata, Raju for some inexplicable reason decided to cross the NH2 through short cut. Now, whoever have been through this stretch of NH2 will know that there is no barricade or divider between the UP and Down lanes and hence many people crossover to the other side without taking the pain of driving another 5 KMs for the designated U-Turn. Its even more risky during rainy season because the divider portion gets muddy and the land shrinks by more than 6 inches and passenger cars with low ground clearance can get stuck.
As I screamed, my worst fears came true. The car got stuck. As much as Raju tried to press the accelerator, the car remained stand still. A few localities who were passing by nodded their heads in either direction, implementing that the car is stuck for good. This prompted Anuj Da, who was sitting on my right to get down from the car. Instantaneously, Joy Da also got down from the front passenger seat. Both of them went in front of the car to check where has it got stuck. Sitting inside and watching their facial expression gave me the impression that all is not good. Joy Da came back to inform that the front bumper of the car is stuck in the mud and hence there is no chance of the car moving forward. Since the land has shrunk, for us to go to the other side of the road meant the car has to go up and with the bumper stuck there was no chance of moving up. Me and Alok Da then promptly got down. As we got down, we could see that the front portion of the car jack up. I went to the front of the car and was bewildered to see that the front wheels are hanging in the air and the car was basically standing on the rear wheels and that also mostly on the right rear wheel. In this position it was very difficult to reverse the car as well. We had a double whammy on our hands now. We not only had to get the front portion of the car down from the hanging position, we also needed a way to get it back on the road.
By now, Raju was sweating profusely and the impatient Anuj Da was making his life more difficult. An icy cool Alok Da was trying his best to calm down his friend. I saw a motley crowd of 6-7 people already gathering around our vehicle. To bring the car back from the hanging position, it was decided that we need to load the car. So Joy Da went back to his front passenger seat as me and Anuj Da sat in the second row leaning our body weights towards the left. This ensured the car to be brought back to the ground level. But there was no way that the car can move forward because the front bumper was getting stuck to the mud. So we needed the car to jack up a bit so that people can push the car from the front without harming the front bumper. Alok Da asked Joy Da to come down from the car as me and Anuj Da remained seated in our left leaning position. As Joy Da came out of the car, we could feel that the car jacked up a bit. The front left portion was still hanging in air but it was just off the ground. Now Alok Da along with a few localites (thank God there were some people around) pushed the car from the front to bring it up on the road. With me and Anuj Da sitting inside, I can assure you that it was no easy task plus it was a highway, so any speeding vehicle could have rammed us as well if the car was not manoeuvred correctly. Thank fully, 2 proactive guys from the crowd, kept displaying a red cloth so that any vehicle thats coming from the other side would notice and slow down. Fortunately for us, nothing untoward happened and after thanking our God sent fellow citizens, Joy Da and Alok Da got back into the car.
Anuj Da got his mojo back and gave a mouthful to Raju who was still reeling from this shock. We went back another 5 KMs and took the designated U-Turn from Gurap and continued our journey back home to Kolkata.
The notional thinking that by taking a short cut, one can reach his or her destination faster was demystified on this trip. Our future trips with Raju on the driving wheel proved that he has learnt the lesson well.
The cricket world cup is 7 months away and its time to have a relook at the Indian team. I did write on this topic a few months back so this is more of a follow up article.
Only 15 players are allowed to go to the World Cup. So who are those 15 who should be representing India in the quadrennial Cricket World Cup?
Lets first have a look at the playing XI who according to me should be taking the field on 5th June 2019 against South Africa at Southampton.
Rohit Sharma
Shikhar Dhawan
Virat Kohli
Ambati Rayudu
MS Dhoni
Hardik Pandya
Ravinder Jadeja
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Kuldeep Yadav
Jasprit Bumrah
Yuzvendra Chahal
The 4 reserves should be:
KL Rahul
Kedar Jhadav
Umesh Yadav
Khaleel Ahmed
India is blessed with a very talented top order. Rohit-Dhawan-Kohli is the best Top 3 in the world today. Needless to say that they have to score the bulk of the runs for India to even dream of winning the coveted trophy. Make no mistake, India does have a dicey middle order. Rayudu with all his talent has never been consistent in international cricket. Dhoni is a shadow of his old self. So one of the top 3 has to bat till the end so that the others can play around him. That’s the only way India will be able to score big runs.
No place for Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant has done no harm to his reputation in his brief stay in international cricket but he can’t be drafted into a team where Dhoni is playing. He can only be drafted in if Dhoni is not playing and I don’t see this happening till the world cup gets over. Another reason of not having him is because none of the top 4 bowls. So India needs an all rounder at the No. 6 position. Can’t have an one dimensional player at No. 6. 2 of these 3 (Jhadav, Pandya, Jadeja) has to be part of the playing XI in all the matches.
My choice of the first XI gives India 6 bowling options (3 pacers and 3 spinners). One of the reasons why India has succeeded in ODIs post Champions Trophy of 2017 has been because of the performance of our Wrist Spinners (Kuldeep & Chahal). Both are wicket takers and genuine tweekers of the cricket ball. Taking wickets in the middle overs, dry up the runs of the opposition and India should persist with this method. On the rear occasion where the conditions are too good for the seam bowlers, one can think of changing the combination.
If the conditions are damp and cloudy with rain in the air then my combination of the playing XI will be:
Rohit Sharma
Shikhar Dhawan
Virat Kohli
Ambati Rayudu
MS Dhoni
Kedar Jhadav
Hardik Pandya
Bhuvneswar Kumar
Kuldeep Yadav
Umesh Yadav
Jasprit Bumrah
So in seam friendly bowling conditions, I am opting for Jhadav in place of Jadeja (Better batsman – to cushion the batting, who can also bowl a few overs) and Umesh in place of Chahal. Once again we have 6 bowling options (4 pacers and 2 spinners) and a batting line up upto number 7.
Reserve Bench
My first choice reserves have a thought process behind it which is given below:
KL Rahul
Though he has been inconsistent but he is one of the most talented batsmen that India has today. One of the very few who have scored centuries in all formats of the game (Tests, ODIs & T20s). He is a terrific fielder, a back up opener and a back up wicket keeper. He pips Rishabh Pant to the post because of the above.
Kedar Jhadav
Street smart cricketer who has always performed whenever given the opportunity. He is a good finisher. Bowls off spin and is a partnership breaker. He has a third dimension in his game which many are not aware off and that is he keeps wickets as well.
Umesh Yadav
India has problems in pace bowling department. We have good bowlers for Tests but in ODIs you need bowlers who will not leak runs. Problem with Indian pace bowling is that all leaks runs, can’t bowl yorkers consistently. I chose Umesh ahead of Shami, Shardul and Siddharth Kaul because they are far worse. Umesh has the pace going for him and he is a brilliant fielder in the outfield.
Khaleel Ahmed
A fit Shardul Thakur can still pip him when the team is announced but I prefer Khaleel because he brings in the variety (left arm pace). What ever little we have seen him in the last few months show that he is still a work in progress but he seems to be a quick learner. He is very young and I think he should go as the 4th pacer. Barring sudden injuries, I don’t see him getting a game though.
So as of today this is how I see the Indian 15 for the World Cup to be:
Rohit Sharma (VC)
Shikhar Dhawan
Virat Kohli (C)
Ambati Rayudu
MS Dhoni
Hardik Pandya
Ravinder Jadeja
Bhuvneswar Kumar
Kuldeep Yadav
Yuzvendra Chahal
Jasprit Bumrah
KL Rahul
Kedar Jhadav
Umesh Yadav
Khaleel Ahmed
We still have 15 more matches before the world cup so a couple of changes can still happen. I will come back with another post on this same subject after the Australia Series.
Till then keep commenting on what you think would be the best 15 for India.
I have been picking up random incidents that happened around me and posting them here. So how can Asansol and St. Vincent’s High & Technical School be far behind?
The characters:
The common thread that connects all the people here is that all are ex-students of St. Vincent’s High & Technical School, Asansol.
Dr. Jayabrata Sen Sharma (Joy Da) – 1977 Batch
Mr. Alok Saha (Alok Da) – 1984 Batch
Mr. Rajesh Jaiswal (Rajesh Bhaiya) – 1990 Batch
Mr. Sanjay Lakra (Sanjay Bhaiya) – 1984 Batch
Mr. Satyabrata Singh (Satya Da) – 1984 Batch
Mr. Shaikh Fazal Mahmood (Mahmood Da) – 1984 Batch
and of course yours truly.
11th December 2011
We were about to finish our lunch when Alok Da’s phone rang. ‘Satya’, he said after picking the call.
I along with Joy Da, Alok Da and Rajesh Bhaiya were at the Azad Hind Dhaba located at Gopalpur, around 60 KMs away from Kolkata. It was past 1 PM and we were on our way back to Kolkata after attending our first ex-students reunion organised by SVAAA (St. Vincent’s Asansol Alumni Association) at the SVTS (St. Vincent’s High & Technical School) campus in Asansol, yesterday.
“Where? Are you all OK?”, a concerned sounding Alok Da said standing up from his chair.
“What happened?”, Joy Da asked looking up to Alok Da, who by now left the table and started walking towards the car parking zone.
The Azad Hind Dhaba at Gopalpur has 2 sitting arrangements. One inside with AC and one outside without AC. Since it was winter time, we preferred to sit outside. The place where we sat was just about 200 metres away from where Alok Da’s car was parked.
Since Alok Da had already gone away from our earshot, we couldn’t follow the conversation further. Our tea arrived by this time and we started sipping the same. I must add that the tea at Azad Hind Dhaba is just awesome and anyone travelling through NH2 should have it once.
After a while we saw Alok Da coming back.
“What happened?” Joy Da repeated.
“Satya’s car met with an accident”, Alok Da responded looking perturbed.
“How?” Me and Rajesh Da asked in unison.
Alok Da gave a brief of the discussion that he had with Satya Da few minutes back. Satya Da along with Sanjay Bhaiya and Mahmood Da were in their hired Tata Indica. They slowed down at the Toll Tax gate at Palsit. Suddenly, a loaded truck came and hit their stationary car from the back. It was a case of misjudged breaking from the truck driver. None of them got injured but the car got heavily damaged both in front as well as the rear. When the truck hit the car from the back, the car being in neutral gear jerked forward and hit another truck which was in front of it.
Sanjay Bhaiya is from Mumbai and he had a flight to catch at 5.00 PM. So it was imperative for him to reach the Kolkata airport by 4 PM. With a damaged car it would be very difficult for him to reach the airport within the stipulated time. Hence Satya Da called up Alok Da to find out if he was nearby to help them out.
Azad Hind Dhaba is located between the Palsit and Dankuni Toll Plaza. Since the damaged car was in movable condition, Alok Da asked the driver to come down towards our location. As Joy Da settled the bill of our lunch, I was wondering how will 7 adults fit into a Verna (that’s the car Alok Da drove in 2011). As we settled back into the car so that we can cross the road and wait for them to arrive, I asked the same question to Alok Da. He didn’t answer but his face suggested he had a solution. I being the junior most in the group didn’t prod further.
We waited for about 15 minutes on the other side of the road before we saw a silver coloured Tata Indica coming slowly towards us. From a distance, we could see that the bonnet was smashed. When the car halted we saw the car to be quite heavily damaged both in front and rear. It would be definitely very difficult to drive upto Kolkata in that car with a smashed bonnet and a broken bumper hanging and touching the road. As the car halted to a standstill, my 3 seniors came out gingerly from the car. Satya Da though seeing us gave us a broad smile and started giving us a vivid description of the accident. He seemed to be quiet excited about what happened other than the concern about how to get Sanjay Bhaiya on time to the airport. Satya Da is one of the most jovial guys you will find with a very positive attitude towards life hence it was no surprise that his sense of humour was intact even after the accident. Thinking about it, the result of that accident could have been far worse.
As Satya Da continued explaining the situation to Joy Da, me and Alok Da went about getting the additional luggage on to the boot space. Thankfully none of us had any heavy luggage so getting 7 bags into the Varna Boot Space was hardly a challenge. In all this Satya Da suggested if one of us should get into the boot space since 7 well sized adults inside Verna mustn’t be something even the car manufacturer could have imagined.
It was almost 2 PM by now and it was important that we started immediately. Alok Da now divulged his plan to all of us. It required some real adjustments but there was no choice. So this is how it was planned. Alok Da will be on the wheel as before. Joy Da to sit on the Front Passenger Seat. Rajesh Bhaiya being smallest in size among the rest of us needed to sit with Joy Da on the Front Passenger Seat. The rest 4 of us thats me, Satya Da, Sanjay Bhaiya and Mahmood Da occupied the rear seat. The back seat actually holds 3 passengers but we somehow adjusted and 4 of us fitted in. The problem was with the front passenger seat. Its highly difficult for 2 people to share one seat in front so Rajesh Bhaiya was literally seating on Joy Da’s lap with head bent down. Thats how 7 of us fitted into a Verna. I am very sure if Hyundai would have seen this, they would have taken a video and used it for their advertisements that their cars are no less than Ambassadors where 7 people could travel together. And remember this was no short distance travelling. We were more than 60 KMs away from the airport. We didn’t have extra time on hand so we started right away as soon as all of us adjusted to our new sitting positions in the car.
The road was relatively empty so we had a smooth drive towards Kolkata. As we slowed at the Dankuni Toll Plaza, the neighbouring cars gave us queering looks specially with the way Joy Da & Rajesh Bhaiya were sitting at the front. In the meanwhile Satya Da was busy making us laugh with his stories, making fun about the accident and giving expert reviews about Verna and telling all of us that these are the reasons why Alok Da was the captain of 1984 batch.
As we entered the Belghoria Express Way, I saw my watch and it was 3.15 PM. So we were well within our scheduled time. It was a Sunday so vehicular traffic was less. Without much hassle we reached the airport before 4 PM. It was a great relief for all of us more so for Rajesh Bhaiya because sitting in that position for close to one and a half hours had taken its toll on his neck and waist. All of us came out of the car and did some stretching before we bid adieu to Sanjay Bhaiya. Satya Da stayed back with him to see him off at the airport as the rest of us hired individual taxis to return back home.
“Macha, I am keeping a tab on my watch”, said Arun.
“Aaram”, responded Sunil in his typical manner.
It was the start of winter in late 2003 and Sunil was in no mood to leave the sun soaked cafeteria area which was located on the terrace of our office at Koramangala (The IT corridor of India’s silicon valley, Bangalore). Few of us had taken a short cigarette break in between our daily moronic work of emailing (read spamming).
Arun gave a concerned look at all the 5 of us. Sunil, Sadath, Terrence & Debajyoti along with me and Arun were standing at one corner of the terrace which didn’t have a shed above it. Sunil, Debajyoti and yours truly were the only smokers whereas the other 3 had just come along for some tea. To understand why Arun was concerned has a back story.
A week ago
I and Sunil were about to settle down on our work space after coming back from one of our afternoon breaks as our TL called out. We walked up to her place, thinking she was about to discuss some work related matter. What followed? Read on to find out…
“Where were you two gone for so long?”, the TL asked, looking up towards us.
“Gone for a fag!”, Sunil answered immediately.
“Fagging for more than 15 minutes?” the TL retorted back.
“I don’t wear a watch”, Sunil replied sounding irritated.
With a smeared look, the TL asked Sunil, “Which cigarette do you smoke?”
Now, this question increased my predicament since Sunil smoked a different brand to me, so I was thinking should I jump in and answer the question! Sunil disturbed my thoughts by answering, “Gold Flake Kings”!
Since the conversation was primarily going on between Sunil and the TL, I was wondering the reason of my presence but rather than excusing myself, it was my duty to stand with my friend in this spat between a co-worker and a TL and so kept standing at Sunil’s side and watched the proceedings silently.
Once again my thoughts were broken by the shrill voice of our TL, “That shouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes!”
Hearing that, I was laughing inside but couldn’t take the risk of showing any emotion outside. Sunil already had a wry smile on his face as he quickly chirped, “How do you know?”
Without answering his question directly, the TL said, “You guys can go now, but remember whenever you take a break, I need you back at your desk within 5-7 minutes. That’s more than enough time to finish a cigarette. I will keep a tab on your logsheets”.
But Sunil was in no mood to leave as he immediately answered back, “Both of us are already done with our daily target and most of the days we exceed the management expectation then why are you counting the minutes?”
Expectedly the TL just looked up but didn’t utter a word.
With silence taking over the place, I started stepping back to my work desk. Sunil followed.
As I logged back, I could see our TL leaving the floor. We had a very big marketing team and all the 70 of us used to sit together on the same floor. Generally we were a noisy team but now it was very quiet. 5 minutes would have passed and the whole floor burst out laughing, knowing very well that the TL is not ear bound.
Present day at the terrace
“Aaram Macha, the TL won’t call us over again!”, Sunil said with a twinkle in his eyes and added, “You know what, it does take 5 minutes to finish a Gold Flake King”.
“You seriously checked?” I asked bewildered.
Our handsome hunk, Sadath was already laughing out loud.
“Yes, man, yesterday after finishing my dinner, I went out wearing my watch and it did take me 5 minutes to complete my cigarette”, completed Sunil.
Hearing this the serious looking Arun also couldn’t control his laughter but he added quickly, “Macha, the others don’t smoke so if we are questioned about our absence will we get an analysis on how long it takes to finish a cup of tea?”
As all of us burst out laughing, Sadath, one of our GLs (Group Leads) quipped, “Enough guys, lets go!”
And there our evening sojourn ended for the day as we made our way to the lift to get back to work.
I still prefer to call the city of Bangalore as Bangalore not Bengaluru (the new name that the garden city got a few years back). Few of my best years in life has been spent in Bangalore. Stayed in the city for 12 years (1994-2006) and so Bangalore will always remain very close to my heart. Penning down my experiences at Bangalore is not possible in one single blog so I plan to write occasionally about my days in Bangalore in multiple blog posts. Here goes my first part.
The year was 1995 and we had just became seniors at our college. Which basically means we finished one year at our college. This is significant because those were the days when ragging was part of every college and finishing the first year meant that we could no longer be ragged, the seniors who ragged us will now become buddies and we will be at the forefront to rag the immediate juniors.
It was late October and many of our friends were yet to come back from their Diwali break. Only me and my room mate, Suranjan were in the hostel. Our closest group of seniors stayed in a rented flat at Hulimavu which was about 1.5 KMs from our college hostel. Fridays used to be half day at our college and after college got over, me and Suranjan decided to pay a visit to our beloved seniors flat and spend the evening there. After we reached our destination, we found a deserted looking flat. 6 of our seniors used to stay together in that flat. When we went, we found only one of them, Amitava Da sitting alone in the flat. He informed us that the rest of the flatmates have gone on a bike trip to Ooty & Kodaikanal. With only 3 of us around, playing cards was no longer an option so what best to do other than go for a movie? Shah Rukh Khan’s new movie, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ) released a few days back and hence we decided to go to Swagath Theatre at Jayanagar to watch the movie. Those days there were no online booking so one needed to stand on a long queue to get movie tickets (more so for superstar’s movies). Also one needed to go quite early to get a ticket because all halls were going housefull for that particular movie. So there we were, 3 of us took a bus to go to Jayanagar 4th block and then walked down to the theatre. We reached there at around 4.30 PM because the ticket counter used to open at 5 PM for the evening show (6 PM). A huge queue greeted us as we entered the theatre complex. Standing in a queue to purchase movie tickets and that also for a SRK movie was part of the excitement which today’s generation won’t know with the advent of online booking. Nevertheless, the counter opened at 5 PM and by my rough count we were behind at least 100-120 people. Thankfully the tickets didn’t get over by the time we reached the counter. We purchased our tickets and immediately moved into the theatre because it was almost 6 PM. The next 3 hours passed like a breeze as the SRK-Kajol starrer made us glued to the screen. I have watched the movie multiple times thereafter but it still remains fresh. As DDLJ completes 23 years today, its befitting for a SRK fan to pen down how much I liked that movie which catapulted him to the next big thing in Bollywood.
After the movie got over, we went to Taj Durbar which is situated bang opposite the Swagath Theatre complex (which is now known as Garuda Swagath Mall). We had our usual dinner comprising of Ghee Rice & Kebab (still a favourite dish of mine). Amitava Da suggested that, me and Suranjan to stay back at his flat for the night which we duly agreed. After coming back, I remember we chatted (favourite past time of all Bongs) for quite some time. By the time we slept it was past midnight.
The bike gang was supposed to come back the next day afternoon. We were looking forward to their return so that we can hear their adventure story of riding through the hills and their experience of riding through the dreaded Bandipur forest. But we had to deal with a shocker first which we didn’t know when we slept for the night.
Next day morning I was woken up by known voices talking loudly across the room. I opened my eyes to see Debasish Da (another senior of ours) explaining something animatedly to Amitava Da. I saw Asif Da (One of my immediate seniors and currently my business partner) sitting gingerly at one corner of the bed with his right hand in a sling. My sleep vanished into thin air because I could very well understand that my adventurous seniors have had an accident. What I understood was that Asif Da was riding on a stretch of road near Erode which was pitch dark and in a moment of misjudgement, the bike (Yamaha RX 100 – what a bike it was) skid and as he fell, his right hand got stuck under the bike. It was a major misadventure for him because it was a multiple fracture and it was with a lot of difficulty that Debasish Da got him home (There was no direct bus from Erode so they had to change bus at Salem). They got his hand bandaged at a local clinic at Erode andthen took a bus back to Bangalore. Subsequently his hand was operated in a nursing home at Malleswaram few days later and he was fit and fine within a month.
BTW, did I tell you that he was back to the Swagath theatre to watch DDLJ on Saturday for the night show (the day they returned from the trip) with his broken hand in tow? And that was his second round of DDLJ within 1 week. That was the spirit we had during our Bangalore days. A time, an era well etched in all our memories for ever!
Marketing & Sales are independent departments in any organisation but it is always interlinked. There always existed a thin line between both these departments. Sales Teams in general have an aura around them because they are fronting the company and also because they are in direct access to the clients as well as the management. But can a sales professional drive in consistent sales and hit the sales target on a consistent basis without a good marketing team. Marketing team helps in generating interest for a company’s products or services which in turn generate leads for the sales team who then goes ahead and close the deal. This is how Sales & Marketing teams function generally across the spectrum.
Being a sales professional with close to 20 years of industry experience I can very well say that things are changing. With the advent of Digital Marketing & Social Media, the thin line between Sales & Marketing is quickly vanishing. A sales professional can no longer say that my duty is only to get sales and I can do it in the old fashioned way. Today one needs to do proper research on LinkedIn regarding a prospect before pitching. If any sales person is not doing it then I am very sure his sales performance must be heading southwards. You can be in B2B or B2C space but you need to connect with your potential customer to make the sale. This could be a good time to read back what I wrote about relationship building, few years back.
Today buyer preferences and decision making process has changed. With so much content available on the internet, a potential buyer does enough research before even showing his or her first interest on a company to enquire about a product or service. So its vital for a company to generate interesting articles/content/blogs to the targeted potential customers. Generating content is one thing but making it reach far and wide is another thing. Marketing team is responsible to generate and distribute the content but I think the distribution part should be a shared responsibility among all stake holders of the company more so by the sales team. Thats because a sales professional will always look to make a sale quickly. After all who won’t be happy to cross their designated targets before half the month is over? Now take for example, that a blog has been posted and one of your target potentials read it and shows interest in your company’s product or service by filling in the company’s contact form. From my experience, I can tell you that closing this deal will be far more easier than other leads which might come through PPC or other sources. That’s because, today buyers do research and show interest only on those companies which passes his or her conceived preferences. Hence, its important that the sales team take active participation in content distribution.
Content is the king and hence Sales Professionals should take active interest in content marketing, atleast in helping the marketing team to distribute content. Being active in Social Media is a way of life today. All of us these days, at an average spend 1-2 hours on social media platforms be it WhatsAPP, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. So sharing the content on these platforms can be done on the go and there is this additional benefit that you might end up making a good sale with this deed, for the company.
When a strategy is set by the marketing team its important to have a goal. Its important to monitor traffic and its equally important to check out the traction thats being received against each generated content. The sales team should always proactively give feedback to the marketing team about what they feel about potential customers. Based on the type of questions potential customers are coming up with, can be a good feeder for future content. This will help the marketing team to generate content which will ultimately in the long run help the company to get targeted customers whom they want to serve. This goal can only be achieved when sales and marketing teams work in sync. If they keep working independently then at today’s age of social selling & content marketing, will ultimately lead a company towards disaster.
As the saying goes, Change is the only constant so embrace the change and excel in your job role.
From 2013 onwards, every year, the 3 musketeers – as some of my friends call us (Asif, Mukesh & myself) have always gone on one road trip at the bare minimum. 2017 was a unique year when we had 3 trips. It was I guess a signal of things to come because quite strangely we didn’t go on any road trip in 2018. Other than unwinding ourselves, one of the major reasons why we take these trips is to reflect on our business with an uncluttered mind and come up with ideas for the future. With just a couple of months left to sign off the calendar year, we decided to at least go on a short trip the last weekend.
The trip was planned suddenly so the best place to go for 2 nights was Mandarmani. Mandarmani is a beach destination in West Bengal which lies about 180 KMs from Kolkata. In fact, its the same place where we went in 2013. We did like the resort where we stayed in 2013 (Anutri Beach Resort) and hence booked the same place this time as well. So it was decided to leave on 13th October 2018 and return on 15th October 2018.
Generally, when we go on long-distance trips, we leave very early in the morning. But here the distance was only 180 KMs, so we decided to leave a bit late. My 14-year-old son’s midterm exam results were supposed to be published on 13th October. The results are handed over to parents and the timing was 9 AM to 11 AM. I left early around 7.30 AM in the morning so that I can reach before time and collect the results before the rush in the school starts.
Unfortunately, Andul Road (the place where I stay) had traffic congestion because of CESC work on some portions of the road. After crossing Andul Road as I reached the Toll Tax of Vidyasagar Setu, I met with further traffic congestion. The entire bridge was filled with trucks and the traffic police were having a harrowing time to control the commotion. With the Durga Puja festival just around the corner, 13th October was the last date of the free-flowing of heavy vehicles in Kolkata. Because of excessive entry of trucks, the entire Vidyasagar Setu got jammed. The traffic was literally crawling and a distance of 13 Kms which generally takes 30 Mins on normal days took me 1 Hour 15 minutes to cover. Because of my decision to leave early, I was still able to reach the school before time and as per my prediction, I was the first parent to enter the class and collect the results. Another advantage of going early was that the class teachers were more than willing to give proper feedback of my son which wouldn’t have been possible in the rush.
Anyways after picking the results my next destination was Phears Lane, where Asif resides. I reached Phears Lane by 9.20 AM. Parked the car and informed Asif about my arrival. Thereafter I proceeded to the nearby Gupta Hotel to have my breakfast. I generally take my breakfast by 8.30 AM every morning and now I was famished. After finishing my breakfast which was rounded off with tea, we had the next decision to make.
Our next destination was to pick up Mukesh who stays in College Road, Howrah. The traffic congestion that I faced while coming from Howrah made me feel that it’s better to go via Howrah Bridge rather than taking the Vidyasagar Setu. Google Maps was showing that the bridge is now free of congestion so we decided to take the Vidyasagar Setu though we were not fully convinced. As we entered Vidyasagar Setu we could see that traffic on our part of the road was moving freely but as we went towards the toll tax we could see complete chaos with no movement of vehicles.
We wasted more than 1 hour in this traffic congestion. What we had planned was to hit Kona Expressway by 10.15 AM but by the time we finally hit the road we were well past 11 AM. Nevertheless, journeys are supposed to create memories and this starting trouble added to our many memories of the past.
Asif was in the wheel as we started our journey. Our planned break was at Kolaghat. You cannot take a journey through NH 6 without halting at the famous Sher-E-Punjab Dhaba situated on NH 6 at Kolaghat.
We are no different. We reached Kolaghat around 12.30 PM and ordered for our favourite Alu Paratha and Tea. This was a bit of an early lunch but when you are on the road, time early matters. After finishing our lunch we started from Kolaghat at around 1.30 PM. We had another 120 KMs to travel. We took only one more break on the way to Mandarmani to take diesel. Otherwise, it was a smooth journey with Mukesh on the wheels. As expected the roads narrowed in the last 50 KMs which reduced our speed but otherwise it was all as per plan. 5 years back when we went to Mandarmani, the approach road to the resort was in terrible condition, intact there was no road leading up to the resort but this time I found the roads have been built and though its a narrow entrance but it was a proper laid down road.
We reached Anutri Beach Resort around 4 PM. The service quality at Anutri Beach Resort is of top quality. The rooms are pretty OK and the food is also nice. These are the reasons why we booked the resort for the second time and needless to say we were not disappointed. After checking in and having a round of tea, we made our way to the beach. With the evening setting in it was a pleasant walk around the beach. We roamed around the beach for more than an hour.
It being the final pre-puja weekend, the crowd was sparse. As the sun went down, we made our way back to the resort. Asif & Mukesh went for a dip at the swimming pool later in the evening. We ordered dinner and had our food by 10 PM. After walking around the resort for a while post-dinner we went back to our room. Thereafter our chitchatting started with topics ranging from the current craze of #MeToo campaign in India, Politics and of course business. By the time we hit the bed the clock was past 2 AM.
A night of sound sleep was broken by the constant buzz of the calling bell. I looked at my watch and it was 7.30 AM. The butler came in with our bed tea. We finished our tea, freshened up, and then left towards the dining room to have our breakfast. After a sumptuous breakfast which included bread/Jam/Omelette/Alu Paratha/Medu Vada & Tea, we once again moved to the beach. The resort being right on the beach is a massive advantage for holidayers. After a casual walk around we moved into the shade where a local masseur provided full body massage to both my friends. We also had tea alongside. This local masseur service was significantly cheaper than the spa which was situated inside the resort. After coming back to the resort, Asif & Mukesh went for the next round of swimming which was followed by Lunch.
After lunch, we spent the next few hours at the resort lawn which oversees the beach discussing business plans. Our #ChintanSivir mainly hovered on points of Employee engagement plans, Customer Satisfaction, Marketing Plans for the next 2 quarters, New Product planning etc. Time passed in a jiffy and as the sunset we retired back to our room to continue the discussion over tea and beer. Indian cricket team crushed West Indies in the second test match so watched the highlights of the match and thereafter watched an old movie, Gupt. Had an early dinner and retired to bed early since we had to leave for Kolkata in the morning.
On Monday morning, got up early, finished our breakfast, and checked out of the resort by 9 AM. We planned to go non stop to Kolkata because had to join the office. The roads were a bit crowded specially the first 50 KMs otherwise it was a smooth journey back. We reached Kolkata by 1 PM and reached office by 1.30 PM.
So our first trip of 2018 ended with all 3 of us rejuvenated to take our company to the next level. As we take a break of 5 days for Durga Puja, let me wish you all happy holidays!
Fake news is a phenomenon which has taken the world by storm in the last couple of years. In the days of WhatsAPP forwards, circulating news in a jiffy is the order of the day. Today’s generation gets the thrill to forward a news article as quickly as possible before anyone else. No one verifies if the news is true or not and soon this news gets picked up by mainstream media. In many cases, the mainstream media falls for fake news as well and soon the whole country starts believing a false story. Claims that your phone will explode if you accept calls from certain numbers, fake breaking news that GPS chips have been installed in new currency notes and stories charting how Nostradamus predicted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to power. Recently an E-Commerce company, Infibeam felt the ire of fake news, when a fake news related to their accounting practices went viral and the company lost 70% of its market value within a day. These are some examples of fake news which spread far and wide without any validation. With no proper legislation on Data Privacy and Fake News, rumour mongers have a field day.
To make people understand what is fake news and how we are falling into the trap of this phenomenon, the West Bengal unit of All India Professionals’ Congress hosted a symposium on Fake News – Nemesis to Freedom of Expression, jointly organised by the AIPC chapters of Kolkata, Howrah & Barasat on 29th September at Tangerine Royale Banquets, Sector V, Salt Lake.
To execute any event of any size, needs a lot of planning and a lot of background activities. This event was also no different. The event title was finalised as Fake news – Nemesis to Freedom of expression and once we finalised the tentative date as 29th September, our next most important task was to get our panelists on board. We wanted some of the well known and feisty spokespersons of Indian National Congress to be part of our panel and hence approached, Mr. Pawan Khera and Ms. Priyanka Chaturvedi. Ms. Szarita Laitphlang, our Regional Co-ordinator of AIPC – East Zone helped us in getting the confirmations from Mr. Khera & Ms. Chaturvedi. She also got young & dynamic media panelist of Indian National Congress, Mr. Jaiveer Shergill on board for the event. We as a team wanted a neutral face among our panelists as well, so that the audience get a diverse view about the topic. One of our AIPC – Kolkata fellow, Mr.Rajdeep Banerjee was very proactive in contacting a few authors and journalists for the programme. Fortunately for us, Mr. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (Journalist & Author) responded positively and agreed to be part of the event as a panelist in the Symposium. After getting the approval from our Regional Co-ordinator on all the panelists, we quickly got together to plan on how best we can organise the program.
First and foremost we got all the itinerary of our esteemed guests chalked out. But the biggest hurdle came in searching for a suitable venue for the programme. Few of our fellow members spent hours in the Kolkata traffic for a few days to visit multiple halls only to come back and inform that its either not available on that date or they won’t give for any political party event. Science City seminar hall was all set only to back out at the last moment citing that they can’t rent out the hall for any political programme. AIPC is a department of Indian National Congress but its actually a platform for professionals and discussing about fake news is not a political event as such but still they were not convinced. With the programme just 10 days away, we decided to hold it at a private banquet at Sector V, Salt Lake.
The Regional Co-ordinator, Ms. Szarita Laitphlang along with the ROO of East Zone, Mr. Arnab Dey flew in to Kolkata 1 day in advance to oversee everything related to the event. She also shared her ideas on making the venue look better and how we can promote the event live. It was no doubt a tiring one week but when I saw the picture of the venue on the 29th Morning it made me happy because it looked awesome. There was disappointment in store for us though. Mr. Pawan Khera had to cancel his plans of coming to Kolkata due to some urgent engagements that cropped up on the same day.
Nevertheless, we had rest of our panelists flying in on time and they were at the venue on the dot. The OBs and fellows of Kolkata, Howrah and Barasat chapters worked hand in hand to execute the event perfectly. The symposium was moderated by Ms. Saira Shah Halim, Human & Civil Rights Activist. AIPC Kolkata fellow member, Ms. Mita Chakraborty being a close friend of Saira, we could get such a good moderator for the programme without any hassle.
The event kicked off with a few video bytes that the panelists gave in the green room where Rajdeep played the anchor role. It was actually great of Mr.Paranjoy Guha Thakurta to give his byte in Bengali. The house was full by the time the panelists took the stage. The event was co-anchored by, Ms. Mita Chakraborty from AIPC Kolkata, Ms. Deepshikha Bhowmick, VP & Treasurer of AIPC Howrah, Mr. Pallab Bhattacharya from AIPC Kolkata, Mr. Rajdeep Banerjee from AIPC Kolkata & Mr. Arijit Mukherjee, Secretary of AIPC Kolkata. Welcome team at the venue were managed by senior fellow members, Mr. Ehasan Sheikh & Mr. Subrata Sarkar. The felicitation of the guests were done by the Chapter OBs who were present on the day of the programme along with some Chapter fellows, Mr. Parwez Alam along with senior fellows, Ms. Parvin Banu & Mr. Bimal Bagri. The press management was done by INC West Bengal, Social Media Co-Ordinator, Mr. Anupam Ghosh and the Social Media promotion was handled by, Mr. Mainak Chakravarty, President, AIPC Kolkata and Monirul Islam from AIPC Barasat. Welcome desk was handled by Mr. Ashutosh Satpathy, from Barasat Chapter. Treasurer for the event was Dr.Tapas Francis Biswas, VP & Treasurer of AIPC West Bengal. It was great to see the team working together to make the event a grand success.
The panel for the symposium on Fake News – Nemesis to Freedom of Expression, consisted of Ms. Szarita Laitphlang,Regional Co-Ordinator, AIPC – East Zone, Ms. Priyanka Chaturvedi, Convenor AICC Communications & National Spokesperson, Indian National Congress, Mr. Jaiveer Shergill, National Media Panelist, Indian National Congress, Mr. Ritzu Ghosal, President, AIPC West Bengal & Mr. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Journalist & Author. The Symposium was moderated by Ms. Saira Shah Halim, Human & Civil Rights activist.
We created a research team 1 week before the program to set the agenda and flow of the symposium. This team’s work was to do research on old fake news and hand it to the moderator along with the flow so that it can be then taken forward and established into a white paper. The brainchild behind this innovative thought was Rajdeep’s and our research team consisted of Mr. Kamruzzaman Chowdhury, Research Department Co-Ordinator of INC West Bengal, Mr. Monirul Islam of AIPC Barasat, Mr. Rajesh Mishra, AIPC fellow from Kharagpur and Mr. Rajesh De, AIPC fellow from Hooghly. This team met with Ms. Saira Halim, the moderator, two days before the event to handover the flow, explain to her our expectations and the research materials.
So what did the panelists discuss and what were their individual view points about Fake News? I have assembled some quotes that were gathered during their discussion and the same is given below:
Mr. Jaiveer Shergill: 3 Fs (Fear, Friction & Flooding) define fake news. To save our democracy, spreading misinformation to create fear, peddling lies to create friction in the society and flooding platforms to escalate propaganda, needs to be shut. Need of the hour is “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” on Social Media.
Mr. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta: Fake News spread fast. If you have truth by your side then hold your head high. Media must shoulder a huge responsibility in saving our democracy. Media can be watchdogs & Journalists can be lapdogs. There is trust deficit in the main stream media. We need to raise awareness to tackle this mess.
Ms. Priyanka Chaturvedi: Fake news has become the biggest bane in today’s politics & society. People using fake news as a tool to spread mis-information and fear needs to be challenged. History will judge us unkindly for our role if we allow fake narrative to become the norm. We must raise our voice against fake propaganda. Juicy fake news spread faster then truth. We need to curb it.
Ms. Szarita Laitphlang: Fake News is like chinese whisper. To save democracy, we need to stop spreading fake news.
Mr. Ritzu Ghosal: Fake propaganda kills freedom of expression. To counter fake news we need to know our country & history.
Once the panel discussion was over, there was a question & answer session with the audience. In any programme this section gives you an inkling how much your audience have liked or disliked your programme. The number of hands raised as soon as the session started, could make us all feel that the audience was totally engrossed with the proceedings and wanted to know more. Due to the paucity of time only 6-7 questions could be taken. Ms. Priyanka Chaturvedi held a short press conference post the programme. The programme finished with the National Anthem. The audience dispersed after having high tea and our event on Fake News came to an end.
Ofcourse our work will only end after we successfully stop the menace called Fake News. We now look forward to the release of the white paper on Fake News – Nemesis to Freedom of Expression.
Till then take care and good bye!
I was only about 10 years old when I first watched the football world cup. The year was 1986 which will forever be known as Maradona’s world cup. We did not have TV at our home then, so whatever little I saw was at my neighbour’s place. I distinctly remember the matches that I saw in 1986 world cup.
Maradona became a house hold name thereafter and like many in our generation became Argentina fans just because of this great footballer. We have had 7 world cups after 1986 but unfortunately Argentina could not replicate the success of 1986. They did reach the finals in 1990 (Under Maradona) and in 2014 but couldn’t clinch the final glory. After Maradona retired in 1994, Argentina kept looking for inspiration. Talents kept coming but another Maradona didn’t happen.
Finally, when Lionel Messi started making waves at Barcelona, the Argentine fans hoped that World Cup will come back to Argentina again. Messi wears the Number 10 jersey and the great Maradona had called him his successor. But to be a successor of Maradona, you need to life the world cup and for Messi that is yet to happen. He came mighty close in 2014 when he lead Argentina to the finals but Germany came out triumphant. 2 successive Copa America failures got him frustrated and he retired from International football in disgust. Football is a team game, how great a player you may be but to win, you need the whole team to perform. Messi was persuaded out of retirement and he played a stellar role in getting Argentina through the World Cup qualifiers unscathed.
With the 2018 world cup just a few days away, can Messi replicate Maradona? Will the 2018 edition be remembered as Messi’s World Cup? Or will Argentina blow up at the world stage once again? They have a pretty easy group to start off but Messi needs to be at the top of his game. He is very determined to win it this time but will his team mates be equally determined? All these questions will be answered once the World Cup kicks off in Russia on 14th June 2018. Can’t Wait!