5 things I hate about my childhood..

Once in a while, many of my Facebook friends keep posting the line "missing my childhood days" as their status message- I guess the reason behind this could be various, ranging from pressure-in-the-office to dumping-by-partner to back stabbed by friends-colleagues etc., only then can they realize about the patheticness of our collective miserable lives.But i must say that this is an occasional phenomenon (updating this status message) other time they are too busy uploading feverishly the pictures of their recently bought mobile-camera-ipod-car-bike, Sunday brunch,grumpy parents,trip to Digha-Puri-Darjeeling-New York (the latter for the more fortunate mortals among us )PDA with bf-gf and what not.

It made me think over some not-so-memorable factors about my childhood days which i don't miss anymore...

1. Private Tuition : The name says it all.It was nothing less than an epidemic.I am not sure the situation now but in our time, the most important man in our lives was our private tutor (or should i say men? in our town the female teachers in school didn't give tuition for some unknown reason so it was practically a male-dominated field); not our father,brother or new-found boyfriend. Students and their parents used to have sleepless nights on which tutor should be approached or for that matter how many even for one subject.Many of my friends had two or three teachers per subject (but strictly one or none for Bengali and English). Those who were less cerebral , they used to go to the dada-and-didis of the para (who were more pocket friendly and less ego-maniac ).Till class 10 the situation was somehow under control.But after that, it was a mad circus almost.There were so many categories for private tutors (and i am mentioning this only for science stream, didn't know much about arts or commerce)- those who give tuition for JEE and those who not.Those who give tuition for WBJEE , didn't give that for IIT or other engg entrance exams.For medical, there were some for state level medical exam, there were others for national level.Apart from them, some used to teach only in Bengali, some in English, some in both and they were always on- their- toes to find fault with the teaching method of the others.They had unbelievable timings,hefty fees, undecipherable pronunciations,unnerving egos and indispensable presence.

2. Mathematics : The less is said about it,the better.It gave me sleepless nights, countless nausea, tearful morning, frantic evenings and many more.But in our time, if one said the he or she is poor in maths or something like that, that person would be damned,doomed,cursed, ostracized etc. etc. Parents and teachers gave such dirty looks as he/she is caught red-handed for having illegal sex. But as i am grown up right now (at least bodily), i feel it's cool and liberating to say that i hate maths (even Farhan Akhtar had admitted it too).

So YES I HATE MATHS BUT I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE ! :)

3. Arts -and-Science : This world is divided on so many factors; Black-and-white, good-and-bad,curves-and-size zero, we-and-they but during our childhood days, the biggest division was among those-who-love-arts and those-who-love-science.The former group got such labels; if a boy took up humanities then he was labelled as" boro hoye kerani hobe noy to school master ar ki" and if the hapless person was a girl then "meye manush r oto science pore ki hobe,oto mathay nite parbe na".Even the science public had their own category too.If he or she was planning to go for general stream in college i.e. bachelor degree in Science then they are the 2nd class citizen in the sacred universe of science.If the cerebral genius was eyeing for JEE then he or she was one-ruling-lord-to-be-worshiped-in-a-pedestal by us-the less fortunate mortals (who neither love science,nor hate arts but took up the former as "father said so and mother nagged so and bubbly didi or bubai dada of some distant relative's offspring did so")

4.Horror of the horrors : I am meaning those sad-soppy-heart-wrenching-gut-churning stories which filled the front pages of the newspaper every time of the year when the results of secondary and higher secondary published.It was bad enough for backbenchers to see those chubby-cheeked, bespectacled ,utterly- disinterested- to -the- world- looking rank holders' photographs with their proud parents-grand parents-neighbours-dogs-cats on the front page (the most popular pose was mother-stuffing-rosogolla-into-the-mouth-of-the-first boy/girl and he/she-is-looking-helplessly-to-the-camera as if rakhi sawant is caught in the camera without her undies) and horror of the horrors was the story which featured how a poor man's boy/girl fared **.*% even he or she didn't have books, private tutors etc. etc. Now i am not against these,They were truly deserving candidates to occupy front pages but what followed was a scornful look from my father as he declared vehemently to my mother "Dekhechho, rickshawalla-r chhele ki koreche r amaderta ke dekho" and i ducked my head in shame (again i am not the only one).

5. No country for curvy women : In recent time, curve is a craze.Men drool and fantasize over Vidya Balan's curves in Dirty Picture promos. Je Lo's butt got insured.Bipasha Basu piled up silicons on her "assets".But back then, curves were synonymous to fatty, big butts were labelled as "ki boro *****" and rest of the comments were censored.So girls like me who were in the wrong side of size "M" were subjected to bullying among peers, lectures from teachers on dieting and all, admonishing from kakimas-and-pishimas on "shorir komano" and heart-breaks from the boys-on-whom-we-had-crush coz they used to give rides to miss skinnies on their bikes.

And i believe this right now is a fantastic time to be yourself, to celebrate and being unapologetic about your body.

And i certainly don't miss these factors of my childhood diaries.

My Independent Moments

My Independent Moments

There are few incidents in my life which can be defined as my little, precious, independent moments. On the eve of 64^th Independence Day of our nation, I thought I should re-visit there of the most important times in my life when i felt senses-of-freedom :-

1. Because you’re worth it: - I used to watch the ads of L'Oreal Paris with kind of awe, when they first aired in TVs. With all those firang babes in their shimmering gown, milky complexion and silky hair- looked like goddesses in my juvenile eyes. It was hard to believe that something-as glossy and sassy as a branded shampoo ( it is claimed to be used by Hollywood stars) would leap into our middle class household’s way by any means possible- back that time. So when for the first time my sister gifted me a L’Oreal shampoo+ conditioner with her first salary, I felt kind of sense of elation(elation from my sister’s achievement-the feeling came out from the deep rooted bonding of universal sisterhood or women financial liberation or any such gigantic terms) and freedom ( freedom from middle-class shampoo brands!).

2. A kiss to remember: - In our childhood days, any interesting and important word which starts from “S”- was a taboo to utter in our houses. We discussed it in hush-hush tones behind our school-desks, left the TV screen at once in the presence of elders, when Amir Khan smooched Karisma Kapur as there-would-be-no-tomorrow manner in “Raja Hindusthani”, cringed in the movie hall seat when rose kissed jack in “Titanic” (not by the visual impacts it did on our minds and vision but by the whistles and taalis by fellow hoodlums of an audience) and savoured hungrily every words which other lucky girls in the school who had boyfriends told us about their daring love-acts. So till now it was a shameful thing and a forbidden fruit. But in standard 8, i read “Nau hannayate”- a famous semi-autobiographical novel by Maitreyi Devi in Bengali.It was a saga of a love-lorn couple-Maitreyi and her first love,an European hunk called Mircea, who met-separated-again met in a heart-breaking manner. The book is one of my favourites till date-and the way the first kiss between Maitreyi and Mircea is depicted in the book-all hushed-up and embarrassing feelings gone and kissing became a moment of treasure between two right kind of people at right times. And it was a tiny step towards my freedom of understanding the otherwise socially-tabooed topics with my own judgement.

3. Waistland :- It’s a story of my waist which from shameful early-mid 40 inches became mid-30s (it’s fluctuating always)after much trials and tribulations.To cut a long- story –short,i got rid of tailor-made salwars (‘cause “Plus” size was not such an in-thing during our school-college days for “Plus sized” ladies like me) and now i am a little bit of hopeful that after knocking off another few kilos, i would be able strut in Rio De Janeiro beach in polka dotted bikinis (if budget doesn't permit, then pattaya beach would do)-As Donald Trump said “If you dream anyway,dream big” or something like that.

I found this funny :)

The Music Man..

72 years ago , A man was born today. Through his music , he made life of an entire nation a li'l more tolerable, pain- a li'l more bearable and love- a li'l more lovable, if nothing else.

There is nothing left to say about his music, his sheer genius. Here i picked up 5 of my most favourite R.D Burman songs..not necessarily in that order :

Yeh Sham Mastani : This is the song from Asha Parekh-KaKa ( oops..Rajesh Khanna) starrer "Kati Patang". This film has a complicated story track (which i forgot almost) with mistaken identity, oppressed widow, sizzling cabaret dancer, lecherous Prem Chopra, sulking Asha Parekh,drinking Rajesh Khanna blah blah blah. But what made the film immensely popular was it's music with numbers like " Yeh jo mohabbat hain" ( which is the anthem of all cheated-in-love-and-drinking-like-fish lovers in pubs!) and "Mera naam hain shabnam" with ravishing,sizzling, swaying Bindu but for me, the real gem is "Yeh sham mastani". Picturised on a too-eager-to-please Rajesh Khanna ( in yellow trousers..!!!!) and a reticent Asha Parekh, with lush,green valley under their feet and a Chrystal,clear sky above them- Kishore Kumar's voice was so beautiful and heart wrenching in this song that it hurts !

Dum maro dum : Ahead of it's time, the Dev Anand directed cult "Hare Krishna Hare Rama" was trend-setter in early 70s in many ways, like fashion, boldness, music, the introduction flower children for the first time in hindi cinema, hippie culture etc etc. and most importantly the original sex goddess of Indian Cinema Zeenat Aman with her super slim waist and super arrogant cleavage! In this song, Asha Bhosle made a whole nation dance with her voice.Iskon demanded banning of the song for the so-called offensive lyrics.Zeenat Aman created a fashion icon out of herself with bell-bottoms, colored glass, namabali kurti , and marigold garland. And this song defined the revolution of a generation.

Is mod se jaate hain : He penned lyrics like dream.He composed music like solid gold. Together both of them- Gulzar and R.D created this musical poetry in motion (literally) from the controversial political drama " Aandhi". Both Lata and Kishore did something which touches one's heart and fills one's eyes.

Do lafzon ki hain dil ki kahani : I think, after this song only Venice (with it's romantic gondolas)became 3rd hottest destination for honeymooners ( 1st two are Paris and Switzerland subsequently!!!) in India. From the late 70s potboiler " The Great Gambler" - this melancholic tune became the song of so-close-yet-so-far-away loving hearts! When Asha Bhosle crooned "yeh zindagi ke din kitne kam hain..kitni hain khusiyan aur kitne gam hain" life seemed not-so-bad suddenly.

Hoga tum se pyara kaun : This is the song of my dream from the film "Zamane ko dikhana hain". Whenever i see it , i imagine myself in the place of Padmini Kolhapure and Rishi Kapur would be singing and proposing to me over-the-roof of a running train. It's beautiful. It's fresh. It's young. And well, "cute" would be the best word to describe it.

P.S.1.- I would like to thank all the F.M channels in Kolkata for playing R.D numbers throughout the day.

P.S.2- My PG mate (a regular bathroom singer) and I ( an occasional one) sang RD songs in whenever we went to bathroom all the day! :)

The Shitty Affair..

You are what you read

A noble person quoted the above line long ago ( such a beautiful thought but i forgot his/her name :( )..but may be that's the reason why i felt so shitty after finishing a literary horror called " Oh yes i am single and so is my girlfriend.." penned jointly by Durjoy Datta and Neeti Rustagi ( so the whacking should have been divided between the two for wasting my one rainy evening and Rs. 20 of the reading charge). The story revolves around a nerd(since nursery!) who went to become an engineer ( What Else!) and subsequently a management graduate ( the salvation). Meantime he got the time to wander ( actually philander) into opposite sex. The focal point of the story is how he realized,after having numerous romps, the true love of his life- that was his nymphomaniac girl friend of once!

The plot could have been fleshed out as a cute, romantic novel but in reality it turned out to become such a bad read that after finishing it over, i felt cheated. It's amazing how the publisher ever let the book publish! Throughout the novel , the dude searched for love (actually lust) and after one point of time , it became so repetitive and annoying. ( No, not one point of time but right from the beginning! ). His path had crossed with that of hot chicks time and again and he got confused kis se pyar karein! And once he met Miss Right and they instantly hit it off followed by the inevitable you-know-what . then he cheated on her.Then he found another girl.The cheated girl got another bakra and this go on and on as if they don't eat,shit,work or sleep ( i mean they sleep but not ours type of sleep ..they only sleep with each other all the time). And the most irritating parts were the sexual implications-they were amateurish and yackish.

So,if i want to conclude just in one line what i felt after going through the pain of reading, i should infer from what seemed to me, the author's most fav term in the book-

It totally fucked up my mind

10 things I like about DCH..

In 2001 something magical happened in Indian silver screen..and after that life was not the same ..

It is a story of 3 dudes - one street smart, one confused and one vague. They came, did some crazy things, mouthed some cool dialogues about life and love, changed- and well with them, changed the life style of a whole urban generation literally. It has been 10 years since Farhan Akhtar's cult film hit the screen and still the charm and the craze about DCH is intact in many ways. Here I have listed 10 things which i like about Dil Chahta Hain :-

1. Amir Khan with his never-seen-before avatar ( cool spike and cute goatee) depicting a street smart and intense persona- SEXY!

2. Amir Khan with a oh-so-cutely-confused Shefali Khan-turned-Saif Ali Khan - SEXIER!!

3. Amir Khan and Saif Ali with a dreamy-poetic-romantic-headstrong (all in one) Akshay khanna - SEXIEST!!!

4. After seeing DCH- "A roadtrip to Goa with friends" is a must-to-do thing in every DCH-addicted dudes' and babes' bucket list.

5. I am extremely suspicious with this younger-guys-falling-for-older-than-them-girls trend is a strictly post DCH in-thing( OK OK..i know love can happen anywhere,anytime and anyway- but still....). P.S- Sachin Tendulkar is an exception.

6. The process of Aging can be so sexy, graceful and charming- Who realized it before seeing a superbly elegant Dimple Capadia in simple kurti and jeans on-screen?

7. If you eternally confused about -among your potential list of boyfriends and girlfriends , with whom to get hitched-Do one thing: just close your eyes and whose face instantly pops-up into your mind - IT'S HE OR SHE !! ( though i m still doubtful with the effectivity of this formula). It's the most tried -and-tested funda for lacs of lovelorn youth. Amir Khan showed the way!

8. After Sholay, friendship had never been so cherished, so respected and so valued- like it happend in Dil Chahta Hain.

9. The frivolous- yet so meaningful dialogues like one in that iconic climax scene where Akash is sweeping Shalini off her feet with lines like " main sirf tumhare liye bana hu n bla bla bla.." !! to hear something like this from that special someone- i can fall in love again n again.. ( not necessarily with the same guy though).

10. And finally the man-behind-the-scene : If a combination of an Adonis and a Rockstar looking director-named Farhan khan - would have made a documentary on a subject like which-fertilizer-should -be-used-in-monsoon-to-increase-the-production-of-potatoes , i could have glued to screen even then..

NoukaDubi...The Novel Wreck

Scene 1 :- Jishu Sengupta ( aka Ramesh ) ditched his ladylove Raima Sen ( aka Hemnalini) 's b'day (without informing her ) to visit his father who in turn forcibly put his son in marriage pedestal. Ramesh almost vanished from the city due his accidental marriage followed by a boat wreck. Not affected by his mysterious absence Hemnalini keeps singing Rabindra Sangeet happily in her theatrical home- looking like a Christmas tree.

Scene 2 :- Hem came to know about Ramesh's marriage and his wife Kamala ( meanwhile Ramesh proposed her to marry him! ofcourse hush-hushing his already existed wifey factor). A devastated Hemnalini keeps singing Rabindra Sangeet- without looking like a Christmas tree.

Scene 3 :- Hem proposed a dumbfounded Nalinaksha ( Prosenjit) out of the blue and at the end of the movie, she broke off with him bizarrely and still keeps singing Rabindra Sangeet.

Rabindranath is like one of the main characters in Rituporno Ghosh directed visual treat- NoukaDubi. Mainly Two songs kept repeating in the film and one can astonish why there is unrequired over indulgence of rabindra sangeet in the movie. Apart from that, Nouka Dubi - whose tag line suggests Boat Wreck is actually a Novel Wreck for me. It's hard to portray Tagore's mammoth saga of love, betrayal, Natural calamity, separation,mistaken identity,hands of destiny in silver screen. It needs a lot of trimming in the script. But here, the script has been so trimmed that many incidents seem inconsistent. There was a sexual undercurrent between Ramesh and Kamala in the novel- specially in the scene when Rames kept waiting outside Kamala's cabin on the steamer in the night. But here Ramesh and Kamala's love is sexless - even there was no hint of subtle attraction from Ramesh to Kamala -even after spending and sleeping so many days and nights together under one roof( the later though admitted that she likes him ).

Hemnalini's character is confused. In the novel Hem was kinda damsel in distress. To show her strong, in the film - she has been portrayed as a go-getter girl who takes her own decision but in the process of it - lacks emotion and credibility ( she keeps jumping b/w Ramesh and Nalinaksha and failed to show any kinda mental attachment to any of them- specially what she did to poor Nalinaksha- by refusing him for marriage without any solid ground ,when she was the one who took the initiative to propose him quite boldly! ). And Raima- though looks like a poetry in motion in celluloid - her make up is overdone.

Riya Sen tried her best to refrain from her usual nyakamo while acting and she looks cute indeed.

Prosenjit looked old and tired in the frames.

For me, Jishu Sengupta is the real show stealer.

Dhritiman Chatterji is as usual self-composed and restrained on the screen ( i wish - if only all of the ladki ka baaps in bengal could be as cool n as supportive as him for their respective daughters' man hunting and love escapades :( :( :( )

Visually, the film is a treat to watch- specially the scene where Ramesh first discovers an unconscious Kamala - laying beside an half emerging idol of Durga ( supreme class ! ).

The costumes and sets are good but most of the times OTT.

Overall, NoukaDubi is a well crafted period piece which had it's soul in the wrong place.

Shor in the City...

When one lives in a dingy lane at a nerve wracking city for nearly 6 years continuously, it's normal that there is very little surprising element left in life. However a person like me who is least scrupulous in eavesdropping juicy conversations at a public place or due to my lack of concentration power on a single object for more than 5 minutes (and so i move my head and two precious eyes in this side and that side and back and forth too often) , it's kinda fun for me to observe little incidents on streets which keep my humorous juice flowing steadily. So, in "Shor in the City", i will keep posting about bits and pieces of the kaleidoscope of my city Kolkata.

Scene 1 -

Lady In Dark

I saw it on Park Street on a busy afternoon. I was standing near Asiatic Society to cross the road. The signal has just turned red and i was about to step out on the zebra crossing- suddenly a little, red Maruti- almost out of nowhere- sped away in front of my nose ,breaking the signal and leaving me shrunk.(As usual there was no traffic police vicinity) Inside the car, an elderly lady was sitting behind the steering and (surprise surprise! for me) clad in a burkha..the veil was lifted (obviously). Now, i have never seen a burkha clad lady driver. Certainly , ladies in Iran or UAE may drive cars in burkha ( that's my guess) but on that day it seemed to me so amazingly comical. No doubt it's truly inspiring to see women from conservative background driving car n liberating themselves n all those blah blah blah kinda stuff but what struck me most is that while in her attire she followed the law of her religion loyally but in her action - she was not at all bothered to ignore the law of her country. Hilarious with a capital "H"..

the love song..

Right now, as i am staying tuned to Radio Mirchi, it's playing some lovely songs from 60s and 70s and my mind is trailing back to that bygone era of hindi cinema. If there was any time machine invented, i would have loved to visit Bombay during late 60s -upto mid 70s. Such an interesting time that was with all it's musical brilliance, cinematic grandeur, and polka dots and bell-botoms. There are some movies during this time,, which i love to watch again n again in like "Yadoon ki barat", "Zamane ko dikhana hain", "Anand", "Kati Patang" etc. I love the simplicity of these stories dealing with simple ups n downs in human lives, their hopes and sorrows n joy - broadley divided in eith black or white. Telling about movies of that time, i also have some favourite heroes during that period. I have a huge dislike for Rajesh Khanna for his mannerisms and that smug look on his face all the time..but this man simply won my heart in Anand and Kati Patang. And who will forget Sashi Kapur in Sharmili- i have never thought before seeing him that dimples can look that good on a man. Sashi Kapur had the perfect combination of royalty and earthiness in him. Apart from them, i also had a liking for that bespectacled hero of Yadoon ki Barat and Hum Kisi se Kam Nahi- whose name i don't know but who lipped that unforgettable song " Chand mera dil" in the latter film. But above all my chart is topped my Rishi Kapur in 70s with his child-of-the-sun like smile, impeccable style sense and boyish charm- which can make any lady go weak on her knees ( that's my belief! ). There are two Rishi Kapur songs which i can listen to again and again- One is "Kahi na Ja" from the movie "Bade dilwale". The sequence was set in a party and when Rishi Kapur placed his hand on Tina munim's shoulder and crooned "Baho mein aa ja" , it was the loveliest line a man can sing to a woman. Another song, which i am simply crazy about is "Hoga tumse pyara kaun" from "Zamane ko dikhana hain". The entire song was shot on the roof-top of a train with Rishi trying to break the ice between a lamenting Padmini Kolhapure and him. and when he finished the line with " Aakhir hain humara kaun..humko to tumse hain.e kanchan...pyar", it was an earnest wish of a gawky girl, in her early teens, watching the song in small screen- that if she were in the place of the heroin and her hero would love her enough to jump and sing on the top of a running train to please her- what more can anyone ask for in life? For me, he is the most romantic hero till date in hindi cinema. Now, when i see an pot-bellied, puffy eyed ( the obvious consequence of the famous liquor addiction of Kapur Scions ) Rishi Kapur on -screen , playing baap kinda roles - there is only one line comes to my mind- how time flies? But there is only one part of him which had not been changed with the ages- and that is his smile. with all it's freshness and charm And he smiles again..and again,i become that teenage girl- sitting on the top of the-train, sun set behind and he is whistling again"humko to tumse hain..pyar"..

" what's in an age"

In a time and at a nation, which is becoming more and more age sensitive - being at a right side of 25-nowadays, i almost beginning to feel as a senior citizen myself (where are the people gone in the facebook who could have written early 80s as their birth year). when i was in school, may be in class 6 0r 7 , i used to look upon the people who are in their late 20s as a bunch of senior citizens.I kept thinking in those days that " when a person is 25 or 26-there won't be much time in their hands to enjoy their life" Very little did i realize, that someday this thought will backfire on me ! Now i am 26+ ( i feel secured with this "+" sign added with my last birthday's age) and still i don't know a helluva of things which i supposed to know by this time . One of my freinds who recently got married- advised me once with a i-have-wisdom-of-the-world -as-i-am-married-now attitude that " see, this is the high time you should also get married- otherwise it would be problemtic to raise children at a later period of life". RAISING KIDS?? it sent a cold chill up and down my spine. It is also amazing to see how girls transform after marriage. Once she gets married, she takes up the noble responsibility of marrying off all her other girlfriends by constantly reminding them of their age and how little time they have in their hands to raise kids ( little monsters actually !) . I wish to know , whether married men give similar piece of advise to their bachelor friends too.

It really irritates me sometimes to see the condradictions of the society. On one hand, they compose song like " Age ain't nothing but a number" , with fashion magazines flooded with the pictures of " Substatial women at their 30s and 40s" with their high-flying careers and elegant looks, their inspiring stories n all. On the other hand, the pressure of getting married and having kids is all the more same as it was 20 years ago. They say "life begins at 30" or " 40 is the new 30" etc etc but in reality i feel there is push on all of us in getting "settled down" at the right age ( where for me the emphasis should be put upon the right kind of partner, instead of the age). And this business of settling down is still very unsettling to me. In a fast-paced world, when technology and education- which is significant today can be useless in tommorrow, when it is said that if you want to survive in this big bad jungle, you have to change yourself and learn constantly, when people walk out of their established jobs and plunge into a new career path or women call off their marital vows and juggle between their career and raising their kids as single mothers- does such a thing called "settling down" exist? I have read a piece of an article by Shobha De where she expressed her horror when at a party, she met up with a bunch of beautiful girls in their early 20s who were discussing among themselves - the usefulness of anti-aging cream to mend their "already" wrinkled facial skin. Even in west, there are a bunch of teenage stars who do everything to hog the limelight , apart from behaving like their age and rest of us- the mortals do everything - from doing up fake birth certificates to ask others about their age directly and basking in secret glory if that person happens to be even a year older than us or feel humiliated if the other person happens to grace the earth - after us. Then i look up at Elizabeth Hurley and what she did at 45..n i feel all hopes are not lost yet- the life is full of possibilities..* wink*..

The Fakir

I have read "Moner Manush" few years ago in "Sharodiya Desh". Being an avid reader of bengali literature, i like the narrative-style of Sunil Gangopadhyay very much. "Moner Manush" was no exception. Before that, i have heard and read about Lalan Fakir many times but that was mostly about his mystic religion and his legendary songs which talk great deal about mysticism, surrealism,religious harmony and subtle sexuality in mankind. I have read that he was a born-hindu , who later saved and nurtured by a muslim couple, became thrown-out from his caste. Only after reading, "Moner Manush", i came to learn about his origin, his initial days as an adolescent in his village, how he left his home- his mother and wife for the sake of a pilgrimage, suffering from pox and his associates afloated his body in river padma, assumed that the boy won't survive beacause of his illness- later Lalan was saved by a muslim woman who took care of him with motherly affection and thus started the story of becoming a mystic legend of undivided bengal. In his novel, the author had admitted that there are no documented facts could be found about Lalan's origin.All of them are hearsay, so he added a good dose of fictions with the facts to pen down the time and aura of this magnificent human being out of his imagination. The movie is based on this Novel. After seeing the movie, the first thought that came into my mind is that it's like a beautiful painting - on the canvas of the nature with ever chaging colour of the sky- from clear blue to golden-red, the transparent blue river of Padma and a vast shades of green. I have seen vey few movies which are such visual treat as "Moner Manush". Apart from Nature, i loved the songs immensely. The folks who sung them have such tonal quality which is not polish , rather than quite rough- which blended fantabulously with the earthy lyrics of Lalan Fakir. It's seemed so surprising to me , that such a personality once used to exist in rural bengal- who didn't have the the conventional education or upbringing, can be so bold and humanitarian in his outlook. A fakir who, apart from searching for the meaning of existence and flowing down his thoughts in a most lyrical way - tried to build up a village which can be an ideal example of todays' co-operative society, who put emphasis on agriculture and land reform, body-building and extinction of caste system. In a time , when even the word "sex" was a taboo itself, he expressed freely his idea of sexual freedom- both among men and women- in his compositions. Once some one told me that Lalan's songs are like Psychedelic Rocks. Back then, i didn't know what a psychedelic rock means nor do i understand it now. Only one thing that comes to my mind that- here was a man - who was born-hindu, nourished by a muslim mother who gave him his second life- became sufi ultimately -who denied any kind of religious connection all throughout his life , composed music ranging from inner quest to physicality - represents a life which can be larger than itself. May it's for the songs and ideals of Lalan which still flow in the veins of bangladesh - save this country from becoming another Pakistan.