Kaalbaisakhi Junkie!

This picture was taken one late afternoon last week, near the Lakhi Sayar, just before a violent Nor-wester hit Kamarpara and Dwaranda! The build-up to the storm was uncharacterestically quick and poor Suchandra, who was out for a leisurely stroll with Mowgli, was caught completely off-guard and had a harrowing time keeping her billowing wrap-around down!!!

Otherwise, ofcourse, both Suchandra and Anok are Kaalbaisakhi junkies! If black clouds appear in the North-West corner indicating an approaching storm mother and son simply go bonkers. They pick a vantage point, from where they can feel the full blast, and station themselves there much in advance. After the storm comes the rain and then comes the rain dance! My job is ofcourse to photograph the madness and also to make sure that a bucket full of hot water is ready in the toilet so that nobody catches cold! In the city Suchandra slaves it out while I relax. Here it's just the opposite.

The Botany Lesson

Here is Suchandra giving some botany lessons to little Anok! This picture was taken about a decade back. Way back then we still had plans of shifting base to Kamarpara, or atleast Shantiniketan, do some rural development work, start an organic farm, paint, build a crafts village, teach..in other words, add a little value to our otherwise miserable and meaningless life. But then man proposes and man disposes! I guess we did not have what it takes to be true adventurers. ( Ralph Waldo Emerson has said that it takes little more than a pair of shoes to be a true adventurer, but then I think he was talking about climbing hills and trudging along forest trails!)

In the end we panicked and stayed put where we were. Anok now goes to a posh school, Suchandra still teaches at CGHS, and I am still doing whatever I've always done for the last 25 years. People who visit our farm at Kamarpara often think of us as super achievers. That is not true at all. We are under-achievers par excellance. We have not fulfilled 10% of the promises we made to ourselves.

Anok's World

Anok is our son. I was going through some of our old Kamarpara albums today ( there are about a 100 of them) when I came across this photograph of Anok,( he is on the left) when he was about 4 years old, with some other kids. Anok has always had this thing about calves, and I am sure the conversation he seems to be having with his friends is directly related to the supine calf at his feet!

We have often offered to buy him a few calves, but he doesn't much care for the idea that calves grow into cows! Cows are trouble, especially when they run!