365 Photo Challange : Day 36-45

I am severely running behind schedule for this series of posts I have excuses running from pure laziness to getting my reading mojo back and thus reading books all the time.But the accumulated snaps are threatning me with dire consequences , so I am back with few days of my life

Day 36: Getting Ready For Durga Puja: Ordered these from a facebook store, they are lovely but I ended up paying double price, So if you are buying from those so-called artists make sure you double-check the product with other buyers. She quoted three times the price of a necklace I got from roadside stalls. You got the drift right?

Day 37: Attending a cousin's marriage full bengali style. P.S I got married wearing this saree.

Day 38: The Day Kolkata got flooded and only shop open in my locality was a MacD.

Day 39: When Durgapuja becomes marketing gimmick

Day 40: Itokri is the best online shopping portal out there. They are friendly, prompt and each order comes with a handwritten note. Amazing droolworthy and unique collection as well. Can not recommend it enough.

Day 41: This book is a game changer, I wish I have read this earlier.

Day 42: My least favourite book from the author but a surprising nice movie.

Day 43 : Rereading of old pujabarshiki( durga puja special editions) is real fun.

Day 44: This is how we eat grapefruit, with salt, sugar and green chillies and it is yum.

I shall come back with a new post tomorrow. Till then keep calm and read a lot.

Books I Have Read This Week & Why I Love Bengali Tintin More

I am having a very productive week book-reading wise. And I have very mixed feelings about the books. Let us get a look about the first two books I have read this week, shall we?

#1. Cigars of thr Pharaoh:

This book does not need my cerificare of course, it is legendary. And this is the first book in the series which had the whole tintin-vibe. I did not like the first two (Tintin in the land of Soviets & Tintin in Congo). Tintin in america was better but from this book only the series soared to a new height.

In Bengali, Tintin books were translated by a very famous and equally talented poet Nirendranath Chakraborty. It may be my personal bias because every book-fair, every long train journey of my life saw me buying one of bengali Tintin books , nut I strongly feel that the bengali version is better, more witty and better written. If you can read bengali see for yourself....

#2 Udasi Rajkumar:



A rare genre of books from the famed Sunil Gangopadhyay, a fairy tale. Like a traditional tale it starts with a king and a queen but there is a twist, the king is powerful, brave warrior but not the brightest one. On the contrary the queen is intelligent, brave and a great combatnt as well. All is well until some one backstabs, some one plots a hellish conspiracy and everything is wrecked. This is a story of lost brotherhood, revenge, redemption and of peace.

What Worked :

• The writing flows like  river, once started I could not put it down.


• Fairytale without any magic (yup sometimes it is good that way).


• Strong female charecter.


• Unexpected twists.

What Did not Worked : Nothing , loved it.

If you want to remind yourself of your childhood, of the glorious children/young adult literature era of Bengali literature give this book a try.

Rating : 4/5

365 Photo Challange Day 29-35

A relative getting married, kolkata getting flooded and me down with severe viral (again) saw me totally MIA in the blogosphere. But I am back with a bunch of days of my life.

Day 29 Blue Thursday: The day was horrible and I made it more so by eating (or trying to at least) choco-walnut brownie by barista, hard stale and total yuk.

Day 30 Count Your Blessing: The book was amazing and so was the movie, made me stop and think about how lucky I am not to be born in a "socialist" hell.

Day 31 Paperboar Day: Went for a grocery run and came back with these. Love them to the bits.

Day 32 Owl Galore : Own may had a moment in the fashion world but we Bengalis always had them in our culture as a bearer of good fortune, These pendants of mine is not the mainstream but our folk art inspired .

Day 33 Junk Jewelry Junkie: This is not a shop, Sunday was spent trying to arrange my jewelry box.

Day 34 A Day Well Spent: Tuesday and PMS had me feeling funky and it was my workstation for a day.

Day 35: before the Storm : The coming storm from my balcony. It may look stunning but it caused havoc on our lives.

I leave you with these. May love and peace be with you .

#2 kolkata Kaleidoscope : Raj's Spanish Cafe , An Indie Delight

I love indigenous cafes, small towns, corner bookshops and sometimes feel suffocated in the hustle and bustle of the cacophony called Kolkata. On a day like that I want to be in a place like Raj's spanish cafe, tucked away in a bylane of a bylane near Sudder Street , where time does not run but glides slowly.

Many moons back when the whole Kolkata was ushering new year in the claustrophobic lanes of Park Street me and few friends found our way to this cafe. You really need to ask people if you are going for the first time, but have faith and walk on. It is small place like any university canteen, with non-descriptive seating arrangement. The floor seating place is usually occupied but fret not, it has an outdoor seating against a gorgeous wall. We braved the morning chill and occupied the place.

[caption id="attachment_322" align="aligncenter" width="297"] The Mural and Super Sleepy Me[/caption]

Things we ordered:

• Coffee and Iced Coffee : loved both, dark and bitter irrespective of the ice cream scoop on iced coffee.

• Ensalada Pollo : Fresh chicken salad, and when I say fresh I mean it. The veggies were fresh like dew drops.

• Chicken Meat Balls in spanish sauce - again fabulous

• Ensalada Templada: Sea food salad. My system revolted by the smell, if you are hard-core sea food fan you can try it.

• Fried Ice Cream: Took ages to serve it but I liked the way they prepared it.

The best part of the place is the bohemian vibe, extremely friendly people and real real pocket friendly food. Hoping to go back there very soon.

 

#1 kolkata Kaleidoscope: First National Handloom Day ; Few Lesser Known Gems

7th August was anounced as a Noational Handloom day to mark the 1905 swadeshi movement. The movement which saw the revival of hand spun, hand woven textile as a protest against colonial exploitation by the British Raj. 110 years after that we are again seeing a revival of dying handloom in India. A big shoutout should go to Fabindia to make cotton fab and chic. A destination of well read and intellectual lot. There is always Khadi with their amazing handspun silk and now with the amazing handmade cosmetics as well.

In kolkata dakhshinapon houses state emporiums and some government shops like Khadi, but beside there there are some amazing indigenous boutiques I want to talk about. I am crazy  handloom fan and those shops are dreamland for me.

#1 Rai: Situated near the main entrance , just a few shops away from the famous dolly's tea house this little boutique has amazing collection. Kalamkari is their strong point, from palazzo to saree to readymade bloses they are a Kalamkari lover's paradise. You get unique clothe jewelry, wraparound and tops as well. The cotton kurtas are also unusual.



These are some of my collection from Rai, as you can see I am little obsessed with Kalamkari myself, a suit piece , a palazzo , a  saree and some cloth jewelry.

#2  Mohor : Stuck in a quiet corner in the firstfloor is a small boutique with amazing collection of saree. Each saree accompanies a very aesthetically designed blouse piece. You should try their Matka silk sarees. I obtained running fabric of matka silk for kurta from them. They are not pricy but give you earthy syle statement. You can check their collection from their facebook-page.



#3 Aranya : A new discovered shop of all things handmade. Notebook, home decor to silver jewelry, hanwoven saree, dress tops , they have something for everyone. Recyling is their mantra. The gamcha woven fabric (indian towel ) is something I have not seen anywhere other than their shop. Their facebook-page is also very well maintained.

These are  some clothes from their shop I got, but this snap does no do justice at all to the stunning beauty they are. Do visit them.

#4 Random Shops: Dokkhinapon itself is a maze of small nameless shops , which have eccentric collection of cotton kurta, tops, skirts, beautifully embroidered kurta, waist coats and palazzos. With little luck you can get a block printed ones for less than 500 bucks.

So all cotton and handloom lovers, whenever you are visiting the city of joy, give this place a chance.