Conversations with a Koyel

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 6/15/2013 3:18:00 PM

'This afternoon, I sat on my balcony with a book. there are some large trees where I stay. A clump of bamboo in the garden particularly attracts a lot of birds, mostly very small constantly flittering away as if all the fun was in the wagging of a coloured tail. But there is one bird which unfailingly makes its presence felt by its melodious and persistent call. I've tried to trace the Koel, sometimes in the backyard and sometimes in the front and finally found it to be hidden within(...)'

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Football and the worship of Kali

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 6/7/2013 7:40:00 AM

'I was watching 'Egaro- The Immortal Eleven', a Bengali film released in 2011 yesterday. A refreshing film, it celebrates the centenary of the historical football match between Mohun Bagan and East Yorkshire Regiment for the IFA Shield. The match saw Mohun Bagan winning the shield on 29 July 1911, a time when the British still ruled over India. Though on a simplistic level, the film is about one particular match, yet on different levels it also showcases the patriotic passion that dr(...)'

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-The Morning after-

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 6/1/2013 1:19:00 PM

'Sleep induced eyes, look at the morning after.A drunk rises from his stuporinto the normalcy of vegetable vendors,sleepy children trudge off to school-A beggar takes his place,in streets teeming with hopeillicit lovers raise their eyesfrom a night of flirtation,to the normalcy of regained composure-In faltering steps,life assumes proportions normal.© 2013  Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury( Painting by Manish Khatri)'

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A strange island & songs for the birds

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 5/27/2013 6:05:00 AM

'During my College days, our hostel gave each of the girls the choice of deciding the menu for one day in the entire month. For this we would often visit the Kachari Bazar, a small market run by the locals, situated on the banks of the Bramhaputra. Often this would lead to good natured haggling and lots of laughter with the shopkeepers almost every day. Most of these shopkeepers would bring fresh vegetables from the other side of the river every morning and sell them on this side, pr(...)'

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Geisha's on my neighbor's curtains

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 5/23/2013 7:15:00 AM

'It was a beautiful night, still in its freshness from the rains. I sat in the dark for long, staring into different sounds take shape before me. From far off a lonely train whistled, the cricket just got louder, the Jasmine seemingly distant in its headiness..I listened to everything but myself...I seem to be well hidden somehow. The neighbor's house has strange Geisha designs all over the curtains, golden under dull lamps full of secrecy. I wonder if they hear their own lonelines(...)'

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To a poet and Ice creams

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 5/15/2013 6:59:00 AM

'I met a poet today, who does not have Ice creams. I threatened to sue her under section $%^&*!@ of the Poetic Penal Code, but wonder of wonders that adamant creature still wouldn't have a sniff or even a poetic bite! I decided to soften my stance and offered 'Sensoform' for the obvious bad teeth..she took offence for no apparent reason and threatened to shoot me with bad poetry darts..I immediately retreated in great fear even as I tried to explain the sublime tragedy, the world(...)'

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Collecting thoughts

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 5/4/2013 9:25:00 AM

'Over the past week, I have been walking..I always walk..in different directions..never in the same direction. There is of course nothing new to my walks..except that this time I have been collecting..hoarding even..thought process..In coffee shops, in side walks, people seem to want to talk at the slightest hint of a listening ear..there are voices that are afraid, confused, concerned, bored..but most of all voices that are tired.When I am back home, I am tired too..not from my walk(...)'

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5 PM Love

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 4/18/2013 11:48:00 AM

'Nostalgia is strange and memories stranger..It is a bit past 5 in the evening..till the clock turns 7..there shall be a sense of slow eternity that crowds into an impending sleep. A sense of waiting, as if watching the little things closing in for the night. There is still light streaming in from some of the delicate curtains in the living room and all of a sudden a song hovering in the mind. For someone from the East, it still surprises me at the amount of light late into the eveni(...)'

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Love in the times of Malls

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 4/14/2013 5:17:00 PM

'Was dragged by cousins and family to a pre-Bengali New Year lunch and some mall hopping today..In many ways malls feel like Facebook, everyone wants to be seen here( & I'm not excluding myself here) and look at others..people aimlessly wandering around, many a times adjusting their dresses and Ray Ban's wondering if they were being looked at..Women in the toilets pee less, adjust their make up more :)My take away was this couple I chanced upon on the stairs, completely oblivious(...)'

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A poem for Mahadevyakka- A.K Ramanujan

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 4/11/2013 5:06:00 AM

'\Around the 12 th century, the Bhakti poetry movement spread rapidly in the Southern parts of India. Many of these poets especially those in the Kannada region were worshipers of Shiva. Amongst them was a well known woman poet named, Mahadevyakka. An ardent Shiva worshiper, she is said to have roamed around naked. When people asked her, about her immodesty she replied that, since the Lord had already seen her, she did not care about who else saw her.A.K Ramanujan translated four suc(...)'

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A bit of Jasmine

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 4/5/2013 5:11:00 PM

'It would rain tonight,the winds had whispered-The Jasmine by my windowshook in agreement.A white canopy covered the brown earth,as I greedily picked.The rains they fell..I sat a little apartand slowly,became their smell.© 2013  Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury '

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Trying to find oneself through Dance, Masks and Theyyam- Stranger in my own country

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 3/11/2013 7:29:00 AM

'Among st all the states in the Southern India, Kerala as always fascinated me..in different ways and in different directions. I was in Kerala in the early 90 s..did most of the touristy things..went back again in early 2000 and then again about 2 years back. On one of these trips I witnessed the 'Theyyam'..perhaps one of the most well preserved dances in these regions. The energy at such a dance recital is to be seen to be believed. The dancer is a strange combination of masks,(...)'

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The diary of a common woman

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 3/8/2013 8:19:00 AM

'I am a common woman, a point of view, a stumbling belief and some bitter faith in humanity are things that seem to linger on in me..kill me for that if you will and I shall still remain an ordinary, opinionated woman. Just like some of you guys, with inner demons, I deal with my history, chemistry if you like, with angels in the head screaming at the demons to keep peace & I emerge with some kind of de-coctioned form of God brewed in my own incoherent beliefs. I am pally with my(...)'

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Sperms in every city

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 3/1/2013 5:24:00 AM

'A few short cuts,In what seems to be a very long run, at times.A woman here,A woman there.Sperms in every state,Was the journey worth the conclusion?She shall ask,when you burn-In different faces, in different forms..A fragile heart, the only commonality.The shadows applaud with some macabre..They dance, in pyres of glee.Ides of March, they come.© 2013 Maitreyee B Chowdhury '

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To the story that every forest carries...

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 2/27/2013 2:48:00 AM

'There is a certain charm to growing up amidst trees, amidst the call of birds and exploring things unknown and the ever present curiosity it brings out in you, to see what is on the other side of a reluctant hush sometimes..I have always felt that like the sea, the jungles have a language of their own. It is in discovering that language that the most fascinating stories are told. But wandering into the forest alone is not enough, one must be ready for them, ready to be surprise(...)'

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'There is no devotional feeling in bed..'- Devdasis, Art and Dancing

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 2/22/2013 7:45:00 AM

'A very famous scene in the Bengali film 'Abohoman' shows Ananya Chatterjee, the actor who plays the role of Binodini( A Tagorean character)wink at the camera during what is supposed to be a sophisticated and artistic rendition. The sheer brilliance of her spontaneity leaves both film maker and his wife impacted in different ways. Much later, as the film maker's wife Mamata Shankar reveals to her son that all her sophistication has robbed her of her spontaneity and much as she is a f(...)'

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Conversations between two stories

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 2/21/2013 7:55:00 AM

'I have been a writer for some time now, published a book, saw some success and yet the biggest high is always in writing that one delightful line, nothing else. Obsession with becoming a writer for me belittles my art and my capacity to create as opposed to entertain, because creativity is beyond mere entertaining what another wants to hear or see in the written word. As such sometimes I have very interesting comments and queries in my in box. One such day a young man(...)'

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Stories from a railway platform

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 2/19/2013 3:29:00 AM

'I was sitting on the railway platform in Benaras. Contrary to my family's advice that I should take a flight from Benaras to Calcutta, via Bangalore, here I was sitting on a platform full of tourists of different shapes and sizes. While some looked tired, others were rejuvenated and talked excitedly. I sat down on my suitcase, took out a book and put on a floppy hat, a picture complete in warding off any gesture at communication perhaps. Being someone incapacitated in the art of mak(...)'

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When love is like the scream of the deaf

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 2/14/2013 7:54:00 AM

'Sometimes love is not measured in numerous days of sweet nothings..but that one touch of warmth, or even that one night when you belonged completely-"The Loire, a completely un-navigable river..its always empty..due to its irregular course and sandbars..In France it is considered a very beautiful river. Due mostly to its light..so very soft. If only you knew..""When you're in the cellar, am I dead?""You're dead..I loved blood since I had tasted yours..The world passes by above my he(...)'

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A man and his umbrella

Author : Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury      Blog : pensive thoughts      Date : 2/11/2013 7:33:00 AM

'If there is one aspect of living in a small town that I miss, it is the habit of people doing things for each other naturally, without someone thinking that there would be a motive behind it.We were posted in a township called Tinsukia, in Assam, when I was still in high school. Those were turbulent times in Assam, with most people scared with militant activity which affected many of our daily lives, no matter how much our parents tried to keep us away from it.My father was one of t(...)'

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