Finally, both my stories got published today. You can see them here (the one on the top) and here.
I was happy since it has been quite a few months since my last story and that was before I joined my present job.
This morning, I went to watch a play with a friend. She'd heard it was good and since I'd not seen a play in years, I tagged along even though it wasn't a comedy. The play was good with some excellent acting by Debshankar Halder and the other guy (whose name, sadly, I've forgotten). But I particularly remember this scene in the play where this chick is trying to seduce the dude (whose name I've forgotten). She wore a tank top and slacks and damn she looked fat and odd! The director should've figured there are other ways to dress someone sexy.
In the middle of the play, I received several text messages from people who've read my stories. One of them went: "Muchas gracias por la columna en el periodico de hoy gracias a su disposition un abrazo muy feurta Raj."
I know just two Spanish words. They are si (yes) and gracias (thank you). Since I saw two "gracias" in there, I figured Raj, the owner of the cafe, which was the topic of one of my stories today, was thanking me. I replied: "I'll visit your cafe today to have this translated."
I was meeting another friend for lunch after the play. So I told her: "Let me take you to this really cool cafe" and we went.
Raj gave me a warm smile and proceeded to explain the sms. There were quite a few copies of today's newspaper lying around but the Sunday Metro supplements (where the story was published), were nowhere to be found. Everyone wanted to take a copy, especially those whose photographs had been published. Raj introduced me to one of them as the writer. Boy it was cool!
Then we proceeded to the food. It was good as always. My friend was rather impressed with both the food and the ambiance and promised to return with her friends.
Finally, when it was time for us to leave and I asked for the check, Raj gave me a smile and a hug and said: "Not today. Next time."
I protested, but he resolutely refused.
As I walked out, I couldn't help smiling to myself. What just happened was not one of the perks of being a reporter. It's his grace that touched me.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
A patch up and more
On December 4, 2010, I talked to Mrs Daisy Pradhan after some five years. It was my friend from lower nursery, Babar, and Payel's fifth wedding anniversary and she came there along with Mrs Das, Mrs Mondal and Mrs Majumdar.
The couple had eloped and there was a big hungama so the wedding wasn't that big. The anniversary was, therefore, very big. I parked my car outside my school and Norton was just leaving. He seemed like looking at the press sticker on my car with some interest. It was nice talking to messanger Swapan kaku and gatekeeper Gupta ji.
We used to have all our major school events at Shanti Manch bang opposite our school and it was great to be back. Made me remember Class 6 when I had my first crush in this place. With that setting and memories jostling for space in my head, when me and Avijit saw the teachers, we so wanted to go and say hello.
But when I saw Pradhan, my mind said: "You're not going to talk to her!" But after a while, I couldn't remind myself the reasons why I hated her and I realized I didn't really want to think hard and remember them. So, me and Avijit went and said hello to them all. Felt good.
A few days back I'd realized I've just been sleeping and working and doing nothing else. It bothered me a lot and I decided not to sleep through the day and do something. So, I began trying to write for the paper. I've already filed two stories. Let's see when they get published. And I also began leaving my place early and catching movies, hanging out with people, etc.
On December 8, I attended my first Couchsurfing meeting. I'd been wanting to go for a long time but all meets took place in the evenings and I worked on evenings. So didn't work out. But this was a Wednesday and I went. And it was so cool!
There were some local people including Swarnab (who initiated the meeting), Arindam, Karan, Prithvi and Hardika (When I asked her what she did, she said something which I didn't quite understand. So, she made it clear: "My job is to keep ships afloat." That made sense!) Tanveer, a Delhiite, who's visiting Kolkata, dropped in. Then there was Andrea from Italy, Roman from Russia (For some crazy reason, Roman liked to tell everyone he was from Italy in an Italian accent!), Eric from Germany, Christian and this other guy whose name started with a B (can't remember the unusual name), from Croatia.
Oly pub was a cool place to hang out and we had a great time. And some associated incidents made the visit more interesting. Some guy sent Hardika a note on a napkin through a waiter and there was this girl on an adjoining table who kept looking at me and when I gave her a smile, she smiled back. Sadly, that's all that happened! (Why am I so damn slow at making simple moves like asking her name?! I gotta work on this!)
The couple had eloped and there was a big hungama so the wedding wasn't that big. The anniversary was, therefore, very big. I parked my car outside my school and Norton was just leaving. He seemed like looking at the press sticker on my car with some interest. It was nice talking to messanger Swapan kaku and gatekeeper Gupta ji.
We used to have all our major school events at Shanti Manch bang opposite our school and it was great to be back. Made me remember Class 6 when I had my first crush in this place. With that setting and memories jostling for space in my head, when me and Avijit saw the teachers, we so wanted to go and say hello.
But when I saw Pradhan, my mind said: "You're not going to talk to her!" But after a while, I couldn't remind myself the reasons why I hated her and I realized I didn't really want to think hard and remember them. So, me and Avijit went and said hello to them all. Felt good.
A few days back I'd realized I've just been sleeping and working and doing nothing else. It bothered me a lot and I decided not to sleep through the day and do something. So, I began trying to write for the paper. I've already filed two stories. Let's see when they get published. And I also began leaving my place early and catching movies, hanging out with people, etc.
On December 8, I attended my first Couchsurfing meeting. I'd been wanting to go for a long time but all meets took place in the evenings and I worked on evenings. So didn't work out. But this was a Wednesday and I went. And it was so cool!
There were some local people including Swarnab (who initiated the meeting), Arindam, Karan, Prithvi and Hardika (When I asked her what she did, she said something which I didn't quite understand. So, she made it clear: "My job is to keep ships afloat." That made sense!) Tanveer, a Delhiite, who's visiting Kolkata, dropped in. Then there was Andrea from Italy, Roman from Russia (For some crazy reason, Roman liked to tell everyone he was from Italy in an Italian accent!), Eric from Germany, Christian and this other guy whose name started with a B (can't remember the unusual name), from Croatia.
Oly pub was a cool place to hang out and we had a great time. And some associated incidents made the visit more interesting. Some guy sent Hardika a note on a napkin through a waiter and there was this girl on an adjoining table who kept looking at me and when I gave her a smile, she smiled back. Sadly, that's all that happened! (Why am I so damn slow at making simple moves like asking her name?! I gotta work on this!)
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