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Mind for Mythical Tales

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Bengal is treasure trove of timeless tales. Since the language took its shape from the Buddhist mystical poems Charyapada, the storytellers of Bengal made a magic on people. Known as Kathaks or traveling bards, they moved from place to place to tell their stories associated with mainly religion, moral values and society. This acted as a bridge between the ancient scripture and society. People could easily connect with those stories as they often reflected their grief-stricken lives though there was always a heavenly connection too. Some of those storytellers, who had poetic skills, penned down the well-known stories in their own narration. As literary creators they applied their emotion, imagination and interpretation while bringing the well-known characters to life. This creative pursuit made those characters somewhat different from the original. Shri Krittibas Ojha, a 14th century poet, rewrote the entire Sanskrit Valmiki Ramayan in Bengali. Shri Kashiram Das, another Bengali poet bo
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New Dress for Durga Puja

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Shakib is sitting sad in his room. He refuses his daily glass of milk. He doesn’t want to do anything. Durga Puja vacation has just started. The school, before its closing, had a small cultural programme yesterday. Shakib and his best friend Malati got a wonderful opportunity this time. They acted in a play directed by their geography teacher Jharna Didi. The story of the play was extracted from the Ramayana – Hanuman in Lanka. Shakib was given the role of Lord Hanuman, and Malati became Sita. Hanuman jumped across the massive ocean to reach Lanka where Sita was taken forcefully by the demon king Ravana. He made a thorough search for Sita. But Ravana kept her in such a place where no one could find her easily. After moving from house to house, palace to palace, Hanuman came to a garden and rested on a treetop. Suddenly, his glance fell on a beautiful lady weeping under the tree. Hanuman was intelligent. He guessed she could have been the princess he was looking for. He came down to her
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Two Pieces of Moon (A B'day tale!)

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The king of moon has an unfulfilled wish. He wants to visit the blue planet Earth. When it is a long night in the moon, he keeps staring at the planet that looks like a big blue ball in the dark sky. It occupies his dream in deep sleep. He asks himself, "What is there in that distant big ball? Who lives there? Do they know who I am?" He orders his expert engineers to design a vehicle that can fly in the space. The engineers of the moon-land respect their king’s wish. They spend their long days and nights to prepare a rocket that can travel to the blue planet. The show it to the king and say, "Dear Sir, it's all yours now." The king gets into the rocket and sits comfortably beside his pilot. He is happy with the whole design of the earthcraft. "Let's fly to the blue planet now," He instructs his pilot. It is an exciting journey in the space! That's new world. The king can see the stars, sun and other twinkling bodies all around him. The earthcra
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Bengali narrative: What are we known for?

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Bengalis are scattered in India like unkempt lawns. They were perhaps the first among Indians to migrate to other cities for a better living and expected comfort. Many of those early migrants, who were English educated, proved themselves and became an influential segment of the society in course of time. But the situation is different now as the level of migration from Bengal has reached the bottom layer of the society. Lacs of migrant workers leave Bengal every year with menial jobs in hand. Most of them live in other states between the dilemma over their identity:  are they half-Indians or only Bengalis? There's a mystique surrounding their very existence. They place themselves in a position which is half-truth and at the same time half-lie. However, the idea of being a Bengali makes us, the so-called educated class of Bengalis, clearly distinct from the mainstream Indians. It may not be wrong to state here that Bengalis, as a language group, make themselves significantly separat
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A few social rules which may help us!

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Who do you admire? What are the special traits that attract you when you are with others? These two questions can draw vague answers. One can say it depends on individuals. Well, that’s true. But we should identify the kind of behaviours that make us happy. I often feel helpless when I come across certain demeanours that make me low. One should be aware of certain social etiquettes when we belong to a group called a civilised society. Hence, I started penning down some points that I thought are important to be followed. These are not rules, but certain gestures which, if applied appropriately, may help both sides.   The society is an ever-evolving system; it keeps on changing at a slow but steady pace. The social practices that are considered good today may not be appreciated seriously 50 years after. Again, some other practices which were once marked harmful to hold the society may have been included in the modern way of living decades later. Hence, it’s difficult to say which ones a
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