so long

for the tango and buenos aires. that post was perhaps one of the last ones i wrote from my machine - a day before it was stolen from the conference. quite a drama. but now with a new laptop - an exact clone of the earlier one - i write again. long has the last reader walked out of this blog, but the lights are still turned on. and from the regular chronicler of the early 2000's, i have now turned into the occassional banal scribbler.
someday the party will resume. and there will be debates all night long again. till then, let's just keep the rhythm going.

buenos aires

the city breathes tango. a curious mix of the old european style imperialist architecture, mixed with near grotesque modernism. but the tango pervades the spirit of this place. on the graffiti, and in the cobbled streets, for tourists, as well as for the working local people. it's the mode of expression, it's the mode of life.
more comes tomorrow.
excited.

houston

sitting in the giant expanse of this airport, which was the port of my first ever conscious exposure to the magnitude of things in this country six year ago. three more hours to go before i board the plane to buenos aires, so here's thanking my stars for the free internet. i think it's about time internet was declared a basic necessity for humankind, in addition to water, food, and shelter.

looking forward to buenos aires. but first, let's prepare the talk.

rome again

am sitting in k's beautiful apartment next to the colosseo, and the warm, decisive rain continues to wash these ancient walls. earlier this evening, we went to see il's commune just outside roma. what an impressive setup; for some moments one is left feeling one has returned to the early seventies, with the manifesto, the hammer and the sickle, and idealists sitting around a table. only difference being, that there was also a lot to show for the work, for the translation of those ideas into reality. a garden of vegetables and herbs, a compost toilet (that il was particularly proud of!), and a restaurant, with fresh local organic food. a delight. plus a gym, and a cinema - it lifts the spirit to see so much constructive activity going on.

this is my final night in rome this time. it's never failed to capture me, and completely own me - everytime i am here. maybe i will put up a few photos in the coming days.

i have been so irregular with the blog, and the worrying aspect is that this irregularity gets shoved under a general guilt blanket of all things that i am falling behind on. but not giving up on this just yet.
it's khansahab's 62nd birthday today. k played a song of his, quite by chance. except that, perhaps it was not by chance..

cycling

Cycling in the light rain through the lush green fields of the university dotted with red brick buildings touches a particularly delicate memory. It touched me the day I first came here, to interview for my job, and it touches me now, every time I am hit by the strangely familiar smell of rain on grass, amidst all the red brick. St. Stephen's all over again. Sometimes it feels like so much has changed, and yet it is so automatic to go back to being eighteen, living a thousand miles away from home for the first time, discovering a footing in the world, discovering new friends who will be there for life.

কিহে, কেমন চলছে?
গতকাল আর আজ বেশ জমিয়ে রোদ উঠেছে, তাই মন মেজাজ ভালো. কাজ খুব আস্তে চলছে, তবে চলছে, বন্ধ হয়ে যায়নি, এই অনেক. পেটে দোসার খিদে, কিন্তু আর ঘন্টা দেড়েকের কাজ বাকি.
আবার পরে লিখছি, যেওনা কোথাও!
 

ম্যাক থেকেও বাংলা লেখা যায়! আর এটার ফন্ট টা আরও সুন্দর.
রবিবার দুপুর বেলা, কেমব্রিজে বসে সময় নষ্ট করার আর কী ভালো উপায় আছে? মন বড় খারাপ, বুঝলে ভাই অবনী. তাও তো তুমি কখনো বাড়ি-ই থাকনা. আমি না হয় কথা বলে যাই. 

a new machine

is like a new diary, or a new pen. over to an apple macbook pro, after almost a decade with windows and linux machines. here is to interesting times ahead.

stuck

waiting for the ash to settle over the blue spring skies.

stuck.

waiting for people to give a little space,

to let me pass.

stuck

for ideas that will sell. experiments that will tell me something.

stuck

on myself.

এ কী লাবণ্যে পূর্ণ প্রাণ প্রাণেশ হে

আনন্দ বসন্ত সমাগমে 

বিকশিত প্রীতি কুসুম হে 

আনন্দ বসন্ত সমাগমে 

পুলকিত চিত কাননে

জীবন লতা অবনতা তব চরণে

হর্ষ গীত উচ্ছসিত হে 

আনন্দ বসন্ত সমাগমে

কিরণ মগন গগনে 

এ কী লাবণ্যে পূর্ণ প্রাণ প্রাণেশ হে..

প্রায় এক বছর লাগলো. গত বছর ১৩-ই এপ্রিল-এ লিখেছিলাম হিন্দী তে, আশা করছিলাম কবে বাংলায় লিখতে পারব. এবার থেকে এখানে বাংলাতেই লিখব, কেমন?

নইলে  অভ্যেস টা আস্তে আস্তে চলে যাবে. শুধু কবিতা অনুবাদ করলে কী হয়? নাহয় ইটালিয়ান শেখা টা একটু পরে হবে. নাহয় এই ব্লগ-টা তে আবার কিছু হিজিবিজি লেখা হবে কয়েক মাস বা কয়েক বছর ধরে.  

হোক কলরব.

আস্থা হারানো এই মন নিয়ে আমি আজ 

তোমাদের কাছে এসে দু হাত পেতেছি

আমি দুচোখের গহ্বরে শুন্যতা দেখি শুধু

রাতঘুমে আমি কোনো স্বপ্ন দেখিনা