The Black Diary (Short Story)

23 May

Today is my birthday. There was a big party at home. I got this diary as one of the birthday presents. It has a black cover. The cover is thick and soft. Like the sofa in our house. I turned 10 today so I made 10 wishes while blowing the candles. There was a big Harry Porter cake. Bijon kaku got it for me. He always gets the best presents for me. Everyone was very happy. We took a lot of pictures from Bijon kaku’s camera. Baba was late again. I am sleepy now. Bye……. Tintu

31 May

Today is a holiday. I don’t have to go to school. I had maggie for breakfast. We are planning to go to the zoo in the evening. Bijon kaku is taking us there. I wanted to go now itself but ma says she has to speak to kaku. They are talking now. My friend Ishaan has been to this zoo. He says I can feed the giraffes there. I am very excited. Ok I need to finish my bath. Bye……Tintu

1 June

The zoo was very nice. There were a lot of animals and birds. Some of them were stinking. The boundary wall was very high for some of the animals because they could jump over and bite. So Bijon kaku carried me on his shoulder so that I could get a good view. I think ma was a bit scared of the animals because Bijon kaku was holding her hand. I wished baba was around too but he is always so busy. We also went for a boat ride. I could see the fish swimming close to the boat. We ate ice- crème and popcorn. It was a lot of fun. Ok bye for now……Tintu

5 June

I got 98 in math. Baba said he will buy me the big bicycle. He promised he will come back early tomorrow and then we will go to get the bicycle in the evening. Bijon kaku got me my first ink pen. It has 'Parker' written on it. He showed me how to fill ink in it. I am writing with it now. It writes well but my fingers are full of ink. Bijon kaku also got a gift for ma. It was wrapped in a shiny silver colored paper. I hope baba comes early tomorrow. I have already told Ishaan and Rahul about the bicycle. I am very excited. Ok I have to go to sleep now. Bye……. Tintu

21st June

Dadun and didan are coming today. I have already cleaned my room. Didan is going to stay with me in my room. She is getting my favorite sweet and mango pickle with her. I like her very much because she never scolds me for anything. She also knows a lot of stories. Bijon kaku has bought a new mobile. He taught me how record a video from his phone. I recorded ma making luchis. Ma always makes something nice whenever Bijon kaku is home that’s why I like him so much. Ok I have to get ready now. We are going to the station to get dadun and didan. Bijon kaku is dropping us there. Bye…….Tintu

15 August

Today we went for a movie. But that was a secret. Ma said not to tell didan; Because she cannot come to watch the movie because the AC in the cinema hall is too cold for her. When didan was sleeping in the afternoon ma and I secretly left without making much noise. It was like an adventure. Bijon kaku was waiting downstairs in his car. He has a big car with a lot of speakers for music. I wanted to sit in the front seat like I do when we go in our car. But ma sat in the front. The movie was ok. I liked the caramel popcorn. I am sad didan couldn’t watch the movie. So I am going to tell her a story tonight. Goodnight……..Tintu

25 August

Ma has gone out with Chhobi Kakima. Didan is watching her serial on TV. I have nothing to do. Last night baba was very angry. He was shouting at ma. I asked didan about it. She said they are talking something important. Then I fell asleep. I hope ma comes early. Didan is going to leave tomorrow. I am going to miss her. She has packed her bag already. She has also given me some money to buy chocolates. It is my secret gift she said. I need not tell ma and baba about it. I love her a lot. I can hear ma’ s voice. I think she is back. She has got me two doughnuts and kissed me on the forehead. I think even she is sad because didan is leaving tomorrow Bye……..Tintu

27 August

Didan left yesterday. I am going to sleep all by myself from now on. Baba came back early today. But he did not speak much. I wanted to show him my new watch that Bijon kaku got yesterday. He came to our house after a long time. I wanted didan to meet kaku but he never came when didan was around. It was very quiet in the house after Bijon kaku left. Ma had made my favorite ‘maansho er jhol’ and ‘luchi’ for dinner. Then she came to my room and patted me to sleep. I think she is missing didan terribly too. I felt like crying when she was leaving but I didn’t. I am a big boy now. Ok goodnight…….Tintu

05 September

Today we had Teacher’s Day celebration in school. I participated in the choir. I was very happy to see Bijon kaku sitting next to ma in the audience. I wanted to wave at them. But they weren’t looking. Bijon kaku had left by the time I joined ma in the audience. I was given a certificate for participation. The pages are getting over in this diary. Next time Bijon kaku comes I will ask him if he could get me another one just like this one. But he has not come home for so many days. Baba came back early today. I wanted to show him the certificate but I was scared because I heard him scream again. I am sleepy…..Tintu

12 September

I showed my participation certificate to baba today. He was so happy that he hugged me. He held me for long. It was uncomfortable but I let him hold me. Baba said that he loves me a lot. I love him a lot too. But I would like it more if he came home early and spent more time with me like Bijon kaku. But for so many days even Bijon kaku has not come home. Baba was also very sad. He made me sit on his lap and started patting me. I wanted to sit longer but I felt sleepy so I came upstairs. Goodnight….Tintu.

30 September

This is the last page of this diary. I have not been able to get another one because Bijon kaku has not come home. I am a bit sad today because it was my last day at school. Tomorrow we will be leaving this city. I wish I could say bye to Bijon kaku.

Baba was angry again last night. But he was very nice in the morning. He made breakfast and got me ready for school instead of ma. Baba said we will be going to be new place to stay in. When I asked about ma, baba said that ma has already left. I was angry that she did not tell me. But baba said it was supposed to be a surprise.

I am going to miss writing in my diary. Bye till I find a new diary.

Tintu.

Moving On.... – My First Attempt at Story Telling

The alarm went off sharp at 6.30 in the morning. Monica stretched out her hand to grab the mobile from her bed to snooze it off for the third time.

She went back to sleep for another 15 minutes resolving that she would be at her feet at the next ring. She had been trying hard to get up early in the morning to devote some time for exercise. She was very serious about shedding all that extra weight that she had gained in the last nine years of her wedding. Marital bliss, her friends had called it initially and had laughed away. But it was no longer a laughing matter for her.

She got up at the next ring. But it was the doorbell this time – sharp at 7.00.

Munni, the domestic help, was holding out the morning newspaper and the milk packets as Monica opened the door. Her eyes had turned red from rubbing while she was trying to adjust her sight to the bright morning light. She sat down on the sofa with the newspaper and turned to the glossy supplementary page which had an article on ‘How to lose weight without having to diet’.

Munni moved about in the house with the kind of familiarity that comes with time. It was her fifth year at Monica’s house.

Munni remembers having been introduced to Monica exactly five years back by one of her friends who was the earlier domestic help at Monica’s place. She remembers having looked around in awe when she first set foot into the house. Everything prim and proper and new and glittering. From the cutlery to the furniture to the curtains to the walls. She had never worked in a more affluent household than Monica’s before. It was like she was promoted several levels up at once. She had not been able to hide her happiness when she had found out that she is going to get paid rupees 2500 for the house hold chores. She had been devoted to her job since then.

***************************

As the date was nearing Monica was getting more and more tensed. It was the same feeling she had experienced just before her wedding. The excitement and the nervousness of moving on to a new life and to a new place was getting too much to handle along with the thousand other things that she needed to close before they boarded the flight to New York for good.

The decision to move was not easy. She and Monish had thought it over and over again. It was a green field opportunity. The offer was good but it was a trade between what they had already built in India versus what they needed to build there from the scratch.

While Monica understood and supported Monish in every possible way to deal with the several things they needed to sort out– she had her own worries to get a grip on.

One such worry was about ‘fitting in’ to a new place all over again – quite literary in her case. For she was going bonkers over how she would manage with wearing only western clothes now on which did not quite flatter her plump profile.

She had been aware of the side talks that her Kitty party friends indulged in. She had sensed the sarcastic vibes thrown at her. She had smelt the jealousy coated with sarcasm in their interactions with her. She had taken all the humiliation with dignity but somewhere deep down she also feared the worst.

All of them were not bad- there were some who had advised her on things that really mattered, one such thing was not to disclose about their relocation to the servants until their last day, until all the precious things have been moved away; for this could be their last chance to secretly polish off things.

***************************

It was a cloudy day. The doorbell rang sharp at 7.00 in the morning. Munni was standing at the door however she did not have any newspaper or milk packets to hand out. The moment she stepped in she gave out a loud cry in horror when she looked around. The hall looked so much bigger with all the furniture gone. Monica’s voice echoed as she spoke to her.

She handed out a thousand rupee note to her along with a packet which had one of Monica’s many saris that she couldn’t think of wearing in New York. The money given to her was more that she was entitled to for the month’s work. She told Munni that there was no need for her to come to work from the next day as they were moving to a different place.

Munni took the packet from her hand without saying anything. She stood there until they said their goodbyes to all their neighbors and friends. She stood there quietly trying to understand her own emotions. She waited until the car disappeared from her sight. Finally, she left without caring that she would get drenched, for it had started raining heavily.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – Movie Review

Cast: Asa Butterfield (as Bruno); Jack Scanlon (as Shmuel); Vera Farmiga (as Elsa, Bruno’s Mother); David Thewlis (as Ralf, Bruno’s Father)

On receiving the news of his father’s posting, Bruno, an eight year old boy, reluctantly agrees to move to the countryside with his family (Father, mother and elder sister).

Unlike Berlin, Bruno fails to make any friends at the new place because there is no one around to make friends with.  Out of boredom and with complete unawareness of the political situation in Germany and the plight of Jews in the Concentration Camps, he secretly makes friends with a Jewish boy his age, named Shmuel. Their friendship goes unnoticed as he makes sure to slip out of the house only when he is not being watched. These boys share their worlds with each other. Bruno looks forward to Shmuel’s company and Shmuel looks forward to the food that Bruno would get for him sometimes.

Surprised by the grimly tales told by Shmuel caused by the soldiers, Bruno tries to investigate to reassure himself that his father is the exceptional brave soldier that he believes he is.

When his eight year old mind tries to analyze his sister and his private tutor’s opinion about the Jews as against the documentary that he secretly watches, showcasing the fun life of Jews in the concentration camp - his mind is mystified with contradictory views. But the documentary on Jews is able to re-establish his confidence on his father’s credentials as a responsible and a brave soldier.

It is a story of innocence and of guilt ; of friendship and of animosity; of life of adults and of life of children; of humanity and of inhumanity; of love and of hatred;  of self – pride and of self –pity ; of trust and of betrayal; of helplessness and of power; of patriotism and of conspiracy;  of respect and of disrespect - all of these co-existing seamlessly in the same world, until one day when Shmuel shares the news of his father found missing with Bruno and Bruno steps on the other side of the line which leads him into the concentration camp with Shmuel to find his father.

This movie is based on the book written by “John Boyne” with the same title.

There is a popular saying that goes ‘never judge a book by its movie’; however I shall have to make an exception for this one.  I haven’t read the book as yet but I shall now – for if the movie is so beautiful I cannot imagine how fine the book would be. So Crossword – here I come.

My final take – A must-watch film!

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – A Book Review

I was traveling by train when my eye caught a co-passenger engrossed in a novel. I fixed my gaze on her until I got the name of the book and the author and noted it down. Next thing I remember was checking reviews on Google about Kim Edwards’ work and that’s when I came across ‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’. I couldn’t help but head to the nearest Crossword store and get a copy.

‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’ is a story of a doctor (David) who gives away one of his twin babies (Phoebe -the daughter) right after her birth (without the knowledge of his wife, Norah) when he realizes the daughter has Down’s syndrome. David asks his nurse (Caroline, the only other witness to the unexpected birth of his second child that night) to take away his daughter to a place meant for people like Phoebe; to an institution that helps people suffering from Down’s syndrome survive for however long they can take the beatings of life. However Caroline, a single woman with no children of her own, decides to keep the baby in the hope that David would soon realize his mistake and would ask Phoebe back.

But the author had some other plans to take the story to the next level. So while presenting the other twin (their son) to his wife, David lies to her about their daughter being born dead. It is later revealed in the story how David was haunted by the memories of his own kid sister who had Down’s syndrome and died at the age of twelve leaving a void in his and his parents’ life forever. He didn’t want his wife to go through the pain of loss.

The story progresses with the twins growing up at two different places without the awareness of the existence of the other but yet connected in some strange way. The secret of Phoebe’s existence stays strictly guarded between Caroline and David. Edwards has beautifully captured the emotions of Caroline (the nurse) - the feeling that she experiences of being connected with the man she clandestinely romances, through this one secret which no other person is privy to keeps her going fighting all odds.

In this poignant tale of two families, each one raising one of the twins, the novel captures the impact of the choice made by David on everyone involved. The story touches the heart in a manner that you can feel the incongruous emptiness felt my Norah, the remorse mixed with vulnerability experienced by David and the hopefulness and fear with which Caroline raises Phoebe.

When I was reading the book I remember thinking that this story could be made into a movie for Kim Edwards has painted every frame so vividly that one can’t help but imagine the story reel by reel. It was only later I realized (Thanks to Google again!) that there is, in fact, a movie made on this book in the year 2008 with the same title as the book.

As for the writing style, Ms. Edwards has generously demonstrated her talent of capturing human emotions. She has penned down rare as well as day to day common emotions brilliantly. She has also provided the reader with a sneak peek into the world back in 1960s referring to the attitude of people towards Down syndrome, and the hardships that families had to go through to protect their children from the cruel things the world was capable of throwing at them.

Towards the end, I felt, the story drags a little when every experience and every emotion relates back to that one secret of giving Phoebe away. But I guess, that’s the author’s take on showcasing how life has a way of teaching things. And all of it gets justified in the end as you read along.

The book is high on emotional melodrama and the nuances of it and is a powerful tale of how people do things in life which need not always be right or wrong. The author has presented a 360 degree view of the prime characters as the narration keeps changing from David’s point of view to Norah’s point of view to Caroline’s point of view.

After having read the book, when I put it away – I couldn’t say whether I was happy or sad or indifferent but yeah it took me a little while to get the characters out of my mind.

There is a Kim Edwards interview at the end of the book where she talks about her experience while writing this book. Overall a good read :)

My mother’s son-in-law’s day out!!

Among the 365 days in a year (366 for leap years) which include 52 Mondays to Sundays, a Valentine’s day, a Friendship’s day, a Father’s day, a Mother’s day, a Labor day, a Woman’s Day, an Independence Day, a Children’s day, a Republic Day and so many other significant days; there is one day kept aside exclusively for the Sons–In-Law in the Bengali Calendar known as “Jamai Shosti” day.

“Jamai” refers to the ‘Son-in-Law’ and “Shosti” marks the sixth day of lunar eclipse in the month of June. This day is set aside especially for the Son –in- Law to feel the warmth of the love and affection showered on him by his in laws. Well, while I believe there are plenty of ways to show your love and affection, however, bongs know only three ways and these are Good Food, Good Food and Good Food!!
So, it shouldn’t really surprise you that the main attraction for this day is marked by the sumptuous meal prepared by the mother-in-law. The association of good food and Bengalis dates back to the time bongs landed this planet. So it can be anyone’s guess that the number of dishes that line up the traditional Bengali thali on this day is ample.

 (Courtesy - Google Images)

Some of the must-haves in the menu are: two or three varieties of fish preparations (Hilsa and Prawns are amongst the hot favorites), mutton or chicken curry (sometimes both), steaming hot ‘fulko’ luchis (puris), steaming hot rice with ghee poured over it generously, a couple of top notch vegetable curries and dal, paapod bhajja (fried papad) , begun bhajja (eggplant fry) and some other varieties of vegetable fries and finally if you are done with the main course then desserts are marked with the popular mishti doi (sweetened curd), an assortment of sweets (Sondesh and Rossogolla are the popular ones) and finally “chaal er payesh” (Kheer made of rice).

In earlier days one would picture a nicely groomed, clean shaven, “dhooti” (dhoti) clad son–in-law sitting down on the floor with folded legs to eat with his hand. And a new yellow thread (smeared in turmeric) tied to his wrist; While the mother-in-law fondly watching the son-in-law gorging over the goodies as she sits in front of him refilling his plate and fanning him with a “haath paakha” (hand fan) while he eats .

It may be worth noticing though, that all this love and affection showered over the son-in-law is often reciprocated with a bad tummy the next day. Therefore it may not harm to keep some “Pudin Haras” or “Gelucils” handy. And if you ask your mother-in-law, I am sure you will get several varieties made available to you to choose from!! It is Jamai Shosti after all.

Well apart from the meal, which is the primary focus, there are gifts exchanged between the son-in-law and the mother-in-law and blessings sought (by the son-in-law) and granted (by the mother-in-law). Now if we shift our focus to the father-daughter duo, who, if you have noticed have not been mentioned so far,they need not do anything except for enjoying the food prepared in the honor of the son-in-law.

Yeah the father might get reminded of his historic royal days at HIS in-laws’ place during Jamai shosti. And the daughter gets a chance to get away from her daily chores and witnesses herself and her husband getting pampered !

My parents had invited Vikram and I for this function this year but unfortunately we couldn’t make it this time. However, we have resolved to visit them next year for sure! As for this year, we have decided to celebrate Jamai Shosti here in town in whatever way possible.

For starters, we are going to enjoy a especially arranged lunch buffet for Jamai Shosti at one of the bengali restaurants. Although we cannot really make up for “ma er hather ranna” and the love and affection with which she would have served, but Vikram will at least get to taste some of the goodies that mark the essence of this day! (Not to mention I shall keep the Gelusils/Pudin Haras ready  - just in case:P)

And finally, like they say for all other significant days in the year, Happy Jamai Shosti to all!!