NIGHT.......................

THE SKY, THE MOON AND THE STARRY SHINE

THE KNOWN, THE UNKNOWN AND THE ENVELOPE OF BLACK

THE NIGHT, OH! NIGHT YOU ARE SO MYSTERIOUS

THAT AT TIMES I LOVE YOU BUT AT TIMES I AM PETRIFIED.

AT TIMES YOU ARE GRAVE AND SILENCE RULES

AT TIMES THE CACOPHONY OF URBANITY GETS INFUSED

YOU CAN BE NAUSEATING AND GENERATING JITTERS

OR FULL OF LIFE, FREEING OF ALL FETTERS.

TO ME YOU THE GORGOEUS BACKGROUND

THAT BESTOWS THAT IDENTITY TO LIGHTS

TO ME YOU ARE MY CREATIVE SPACE

WHEN NARRATIVES, POETIES IN MY MIND DOES RACE

OH NIGHT MY KNIGHT, YOU ARE A FIGHT TO FIND HOPE

HOPE FOR A BRIGHT MORNING WITH FLOWING SMILES

HOPE FOR BETTER, MORE CREATIVE TOMORROW

GETTING ME BACK MY MIND'S REVENANT FILES.

SO LET THESE LINES BE DEDICATED TO THE DARK

THE OWL, THE FIREFLIES OR THE DISTANT CRIES

AS I WATCH THE CITY GETTING ALIVE, AND THE NIGHT IS STILL YOUNG

GET ME MORE CREATIVITY AND KEEP ME MESMERISED........

ARITRA CHAKRABARTY SENGUPTA

visit my website : http://www.talestotell.co.in/

pic courtesy google images..

How wud u describe?

From today I start my " how wud u describe ?"series
So let's SriGanesh....n what better than this...

Let ur imagination flow.....

Love Aritra

visit my website: http://www.talestotell.co.in/

City Walk

Mumbai has many names, some call it “Maya Nagari” or the city of dreams; some call it the city of lights. Some say that it is the city that never sleeps. And in reality the city does justice to all the names offered. It is hard hitting as you land here, but gradually grows on you and converts your hatred for it to love. It's unequivocal aura casts a spell unknowingly and stealthily. This aura resides in the crowded streets, clamorous waves or the Parsi colony...it exists in the millionaire homes of South Mumbai or the clustered chawls and slums of Dharavi. The beating of drums during Ganapati or the aroma of biriyani in Mohd. Ali Road during Eid, there is just something about it. 

I am by nature a peace-loving person, my only aim in life is to be happy. Which is quite a difficult aim you might appreciate. And few things that make me so, are lights (read my post:My Radiance Obsession) and exploration. So this Saturday, me, my hubby and my friends Nilesh and Shalaka headed on a expedition, which fitted my second mentioned modus operandi to seek happiness. We explored South Mumbai during hours when most other cities would have gone to sleep. 

Sharing with you my moments with the city...

a. Bandra Reclamation: We drove to this amazing spot and for the first time stopped the car to take a look at the glorious view of Mumbai this spot offers. The lighted sky-scrappers across the sea and the black looming night sky, a treat to eyes as the sea breeze leave you feeling revolutionary. 

As I was not equipped enough to capture the view with justice,

I spotted one from Google images

BANDRA RECLAMATION

We at Bandra Reclamation

b. Marine Drive: Then we drove off to Marine Drive, which is an area of our frequent visit. But this Saturday was different, a kick-start to the long Independence Day Weekend, and hence the streets were more colorful than ever. The horse carriages decorated in plentiful and playful leds, Coffeewalas and Champiwalas more busy than usual. It was a cacophony representing life. We had our time gazing at the bay and the incessantly banging waves. A delectable dough of darkness, lights and effervescence.

Colourful Maine Drive

c. Bade Miya: For every person who wants to take a dig on super yummy non veg stuff and is OK with street foods, Bade Miya in Colaba is a must destination. Though it has fine diner outlets in two other locations in Mumbai, this one is undoubtedly the best. Its mind boggling to see the number of cars that convene to that street near Gate way even at hours as late as two in the night to indulge. With salute worthy swiftness and efficiency, they serve no less than mouth smacking stuff. We narrowed down to "Bhuna Chicken" and "Rumali Roti" and loved every bit of the taste, the ambience and the added pinch of ecstasy. 

Bade Miya

We at bade Miya

We at Bade Miya

Overall I admit, that the more I have tried to hate the city and curse the jammed roads, the more I have fallen for it's unsung glory.

Aritra Chakrabarty Sengupta

visit my website: http://www.talestotell.co.in/

The Woking Mama-restaurant review

Main land China has been my all-time favourite Chinese eatery. I just adore to see and feel the Hunan and Szechuan sauces embrace the prawns, chicken…yummy! And also because of its nearness to the place I live, whenever there is a craving for Chinese, I, I mean, we land there. But last Saturday we were in a shopping mall which is unfortunately not the home for this favourite diner of ours and then there was this urgent craving for Chinese….oops!! So we landed laden with uncertainty, indecision, and dubiety on this place called “The Woking Mama” to satiate our craving.

But as soon as we entered, the décor struck me. It was pretty homely, non-flashy, earthy and creative. The painted lamps, wooden furniture…it’s not bad…aha! The waiters were cordial, to friendly, to jovial…it’s kind of good…aha! And then the food, well that’s most important and I am not going to spare even a single star if that is not good enough!!

The above two images are taken from Google

And this is me, a badly captured one though

but just for the drink and the chopstick thing

To start with we ordered, Chef’s special chilli chicken and a mocktail whose name I completely forgot. Ok fine! I admit chilli chicken is a cliché choice, but it’s ok once in a while…yes the fancy names sucks at times. Well, jokes apart, it is worth mentioning that the mocktail was ordered on the recommendation of a staff boy, who was really sweet and friendly. And we actually loved the drink, it was pure, chilled grape juice with small pieces of apple in it and probably sweetened externally to combat the occasional sour of grapes. Loved it and also the starter. For main course we ordered Woking Mama yang zhou fried rice and Prawns with bell pepper, chilli and basil. The rice was a bit spicier than we had expected, but the prawn making was a thorough delicacy.

Overall Woking Mama was a great experience and now has joined my favourite “Pan Asian eatery” list. I recommend it to people who love to explore new joints and make eating a little more than just that.

Aritra Chakrabarty Sengupta

visit my website: http://www.talestotell.co.in/

Address: 

The Woking Mama

Korum Mall

Khopat 

Thane west

(They have a branch in Guwahati, in case you are interested)

Hero Worship and fanaticism

We say that India is a country of laudable cultural heritage and a melting pot of diverse cultures. But that is just one side of the coin. And the other side isn't that praise-worthy to say the least. You might say that "this is true for any Nation and our motherland is no exception". I agree, I agree that corruption, religious anomalies, racism are bugs that digs at every societal structure. But certain aspects do raise a concern in my mind. And this post just discusses one.

Social befriending is a rage these days and we all have become a part of this virtual world. So far so good! But as soon as this tool becomes a pistol in the hands of a raving teenager or a weapon in the hands of a user who is hardly aware of the devastation it can cause, it is a serious concern guys! And I think India is such a teenager when it comes to handling social presence. While media and movie makers are en-cashing on this crazy crowd, we are losing on our integrity and lot more. I get astonished to see the number of fan clubs stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Rajnikanth have on social networks like twitter, Facebook etc. Yet it doesn't bother me, after-all they are public figures. But when I see people passing nasty, derogatory comments to each other in support of the heroes they worship, I feel bothered. 

The recent cyber bullying of singer Sona Mohapatra when she tweeted “Women thrashed people run over, wild life massacred and yet #hero of the nation. ‘Unfair’. India full of such supporters,” as an answer to Salman’s infamous rape comment, should raise concern amongst all. The kind of comments thrown at the singer to combat her attack on a man our nation follows like a brainless creature, made me cringe and think that are we living in a civilised society at all? These same people had stood against Tanmay Bhatt’s comic take on Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar. This hypocrisy proves my concern on dim-witted, thick-headed hero worship.

Frankly I disliked the video by Tanmay Bhatt too, because somewhere I thought it crossed the border of fun and entered into derogation and insult. But my opinion should not be based on the people the comments are aimed at, it should be content driven. But sadly this is far from the reality of the twitterati and social butterflies flying around.

Ø  When a movie like “Kabali” which is solely dependent on swag instead of content does ~200 crore business from pre-booking and earns a holiday for employees in many organisations, when the liability of Virat Kohli’s bad performance in a cricket match is thrusted on the presence of her girl-friend around, when Salman Khan can get away with anything and everything he says or does, don’t you think we are in an era when the media is earning  bread by controlling our minds the way they want, illiteracy has found a new vent and logical thinking has evaporated into thin air.  

Earlier we were blindfolded by religion, region, economic standards, now a new genre is added to this list which is “social media hype and hashtags”. Time to introspect!!! Time to understand the blurring line between following an icon and becoming a fanatic about him/her......

Aritra Chakrabarty Sengupta
Visit my website : http://www.talestotell.co.in/