Sunday, June 13th, 2022রবিবার ৩০শে জ্যৈষ্ঠ ১৪২৯ বঙ্গাব্দ
Summer is here. Schools are off. Kids are home for a change on Summer vacation. This leads to my memory of my summer vacation as a kid. The particular year I am thinking about is simple and nothing special at all. I don’t really remember the age or school grade. However, it could be high school actually, could even be grade nine. This particular summer vacation, I was home and didn’t do much at all. I remember, my room downstairs had a window, with no view (just a view of a wall from the neighboring house). It barely got any sunlight back then, and I liked that. It was a dark room and the naturally coldest room in the house due to being downstairs and no sun scenario. I loved it. It also had a separate entrance to the rest of the house! This I liked even more. So basically I can just stay there or go wherever, whenever, without bothering anyone else in the house. This particular summer, I didn’t feel like going out much, and I remember from morning to night, I just used to read. We had substantial book collections in the house, both my dad and my older brother were voracious readers, plus I had access to several good libraries.
This particular summer, I was in heaven! At the time, I was reading contemporary Bengali literature, mostly Sunil Ganguly, Buddhadev Guha, Sanjib Chatterjee, Bimal Mitra. etc, mostly novels, and all in Bengali. I remember this is the summer I read both সাহেব বিবি গোলাম, and কড়ি দিয়ে কিনলাম back to back. If you are aware of these two books by Bimal Mitra, you may know it is quite a feat. The second one is a 1300-page monstrosity. It was my first introduction to reading a very long novel, and an experience that helped me immensely later on in my life. Both novels gave me a good idea about what the word ‘Bengali’ means and how it evolved through time. For those who haven’t read it and know how to read Bengali, I recommend that you give them a try. It is actually an easy read and will help you understand who you are and where you came from, something that is missing today, as mostly we like to forget our legacy, knowingly or by systematic brainwashing by the society. In Bengali, there is an excellent name for it…………
মগজধোলাই
Breathe in deep, look around you, take in the sights, and just observe for a while. Try to spend a bit of time in the present, try to be present at the moment. We are all so busy dwelling in past and worrying about the future, that we sometimes forget to spend some quality time in the present.
Time is running out I'm afraid, we don't have much time on our hands, and life is quite uncertain too. So it's better to not go on "guilt trips" every now and then, where we then bash ourselves down with harsh words and thoughts. I say we should invest that time into our present, and try to appreciate the things that actually went right, in the past. After that's all taken care of, then it's all about living life in the moment, as we work towards building a better and more secure future.
This week's featured post:
Be in the moment... by @silhouetted.grey
We are also delighted to announce two honorable mentions of the week.
| Authors | Highlights |
|---|---|
| @sebcam | Time is all we really have |
| - | - |
| @pietroconti | Sunset |
-by @surrealfia
Source
I did tell him I'd write about it, and I thought Turni might be a better fit.
After months of procrastinating, I finally managed to finish Love, Death + Robot Season 1 and currently watching Season 2. And as usual, I got knocked out of my track, but never mind that. As I haven't finished the other seasons yet, I won't be able to say anything about them. So all of my opinions are simply based on Season 1.
There are just way too many directors and cast, and if you really want to know about them, you're one click away from google. There had been a decade-old drama behind the production, which I am not interested at all in talking about. If I know any better, those Infos never spike your interest. What spikes your interest is the trailer. But the way the series is set, you're not going to get much info other than what is obvious - one, it's animation, and two, episodes are disconnected.
So, what is the series about? It's an animated adult anthology series - don't get your eyes popping out of your sockets. It's exactly what you're thinking - a whole lot of death, blood, monsters, aliens, demons along with (of course) robots. The first season has 18 episodes, and not one of them is connected to the other. Each of them is different from the other one - if one episode had jumped to a few hundred years ahead, then there's another that is looking into the past.
I cannot tell you anything about the technical stuff, cinematography, or animation department. I am but a harmless spectator, an audience, and an appreciator of good stories with great visual effects. As entertaining as every single episode was, Episode three was by far the most mind-blowing, followed by Episode fourteen. Although I must say, Episode one was a blast - a great start to a good show. There is one episode that is truly hilarious, but I'll let you find out by yourselves.
*Trailer from YouTube.
I wish I could tell you more about the series without giving away much of the plot or anything else related. But each of the stories has its moments. While some of them will give you a taste of horror and gore, others will be cryptic and very hard to grasp the subtext that's underneath. All in all, it's a must-watch.
Now, I must carry on with season 2.
-by @fahmidamou
কোলকাতায় জোড়াসাঁকোর ঠাকুর বাড়িতে ঢোকার পর থেকেই আমি হন্যে হয়ে কাদম্বরীর ছায়া খুঁজে বেড়াচ্ছিলাম।
কাদম্বরীর প্রতি এমন দুর্নিবার আকর্ষণ শুনে মনে হতে পারে যে সে বুঝি আমার খুবই পছন্দের ব্যক্তি। তা একদম নয়।
এই নারীকে যে আমার খুব একটা ভালো লাগে তা নয়। তবে ভালো মন্দ লাগার উর্ধ্বে, সে আমার একটা নিখাঁদ কৌতুহলের জায়গা। আমি জানিনা কেনো ঠাকুরবাড়ির সবকিছু ছাপিয়ে এই বিতর্কিত রমণীকে নিয়েই আমার প্রবল আগ্রহ।
তাই আজ যখন অবশেষে জোড়াসাঁকো স্বচক্ষে দেখার সৌভাগ্য হলো, অন্দরমহলে প্রবেশের পর থেকে আমি সাহিত্য, শিল্প, সংরক্ষিত দস্তাবেজ সবকিছুতে খুঁটিয়ে কেবল কাদম্বরীকে খুঁজছিলাম।
হতাশ হয়ে দেখলাম পরিবার পরিজনের বিশাল ব্যপ্তিময় এই সম্ভারে "কাদম্বরী এসেছে শুধু জ্যোতি ঠাকুরের সাথে যখন তার বৌ হিসাবে না এলেই না, তখন!" শ'খানেক দলিল দস্তাবেজ আর নানাবিধ উপস্থাপনার মাঝে কাদম্বরীকে খুঁজে পেয়েছি মাত্র দু'জাগায়।
এক তাদের পারিবারিক ব্যপ্তির গাছে, জ্যোতি'র বৌ হিসাবে ছোট ছোট করে, আর দুই এক পারিবারিক ছবিতে সেও জ্যোতি'র শোভা বাড়াতেই বুঝি! অথচ মৃণালিনী দেবীর রান্না ঘরের চুলা পর্যন্ত সংরক্ষিত। এমনকি যশোরে কোন এক কণ্যা দেখতে গিয়েছিলো রবি তার বড়সড় ছবি, তার বাপের বাড়ির ছবিসহ বড়বড় হরফে তার তারিফ আর পরিচয় লেখা!
কিন্তু কে না জানে জগৎসংসারে ঠাকুর বাড়িতে রবি'র পর যদি দ্বিতীয় জনপ্রিয় কেউ থাকে, তো সে কাদম্বরী! অনেকেতো বলে রবি'র স্থপতি কাদম্বরী! অন্তত যদি ধরেও নেয়া হয় সব রটনা কিন্তু এতো অনস্বীকার্য রটনার পিছনে ঘটনাতো কিছু থাকেই!
মৃণালিনী দেবীর রান্না ঘর থেকে ঠাকুর বাড়ির আঁতুরঘর সবই যখন নিদর্শনে রাখা হয়েছে তখন নিশ্চয় কাদম্বরীর ঘর অন্তত পাওয়া যাবে। এই ভাবনা৷ থেকে ফিকশনে বানানো সিনেমা থেকে আন্দাজ করার চেষ্টা করলাম কাদম্বরী বাড়ির কোন ঘরটি থেকে বেরুতো, কাদম্বরীর ঘর কোনটি বিশাল বাড়ির ভেতরে। না পেয়ে ওখানে গার্ডকে জিজ্ঞেস করলাম। বুঝলাম, কাদম্বরী কে সে তাই চেনেনা!
বড্ড কষ্ট পেয়েছি ঠাকুর বাড়ির লোকের কাদম্বরীর প্রতি এই নিদারুণ অবহেলায়!
-by @rafa-noor
When looking for any residential place, we always think about the neighbourhood and community. Most of the time, people assume that when you live in a highly educated community, you will get the chance to live with sophisticated, cultured, and open-minded people. Similarly, I also had that high hope when I got the opportunity to move to a public university residential area.
The scenario from Ahmed Sofa's "gabhi brittanto" is still quite related to this present environment. You can see power relations, quorum culture, and bullying in teachers, their missus, kids, and even their helping hands. They love to maintain different quorums among themselves, and if you decide to stay out of all these politics by being neutral, you will make the worst decision in your life. Telling from the experience because my father did something like that. While he joined as a teacher, his motto was to teach, publish books and journals, and avoid political party supporters. But to survive in Bangladesh, you have to support the leading parties. As he was detached from politics, the powerholder teachers outcast him from different opportunities like getting PSC’s (Public Service Commission) exam papers, publishing books from Bangla Academy and so on.
This kind of power politics was spread among their family members too. In the school community, some teachers’ kids think of themselves as superior to the rest of the children. Like my father, I didn’t care about the quorums and tried to be friends with everyone, and from there, I made my life miserable. I was not welcomed to any of the groups for tuition, and a kid (whose father, by the way, is the present VC of the university) once told me, “You have to bring your chair from home if you want to attend our coaching”. After 6/7 years, when they were admitted to the university, I thought maybe they were able to come out from their narrow mentality but seeing me at one of their community weddings, one of them said, “Oh, you got the invitation too?”
And don’t get me started on the aunty parties (the missus group of the community). They have the strongest frequency than BBC to catch the gossip, and if they come to know about any of your secrets, it will spread before you can even imagine. And for this reason, we try to keep away from them as much as possible.
In truth, I see them as “কুয়োর ব্যাঙ” who only have access to show their power within the community. They never got to observe other people outside and mix with them. Without any experience, they become teachers just by passing from this university. And whenever they go to any new working environment, they try to find people from their own quorum to feel like they belong. For this kind of tendency, these people will never get the chance to widen their perspectives.
But this is not the whole scenario. Besides these narrow-minded idiots, there are still many people here who are kindhearted and know how to treat others. I recently left my toxic friend circle behind and tried to create a group with these people with whom I can express my feelings without judgement.
Ultimately, it is basically up to us whom we choose to live with. But it’s because I met these kind people that I got the chance to make myself mentally strong which will help me survive the harsh environment I live in.
-by @toushik
If you're studying at university now, you've probably reached one of the most stressful times of your life, which usually involves several hours of correction in the library, a tight schedule, and a lot of caffeine. My semester finals are going on. Even though it is in full swing, I can't see the light of its ending. What this does is cause me stress. In all honesty, the last lab tests are the worst. Computer Peripheral is at the top of my dislike list. It’s a subject I despise to my core. Countless times I tried to understand what it was even about, but every time my brain just failed me. So it was safe to say that my preparation was not good. As a result, I was trying to sit next to one of the students in my batch who was good at it.
But true to my luck, the invigilator just had to transfer me to another seat just before the bell rang.
At that moment, I knew I would fail in the subject. But the universe seemed to finally have a little bit of mercy on me, as when the question paper reached my hand, I was pleasantly surprised to find the same project I had read before I left home. At least I will be able to pass this.
-by @mahirabdullah
Money. Probably the most powerful thing on God's green earth. Over the years, it has been a medium of exchange, just as it has evolved. From stones and tree leaves to the modern-day cryptocurrency: human race has really come a long way with this. It has always been treated as just a means of exchange. And it was said that money will never be more important than the rest of the things in life.
But those words of wisdom are all in the past now. In today's world, you're judged by the number of zeros on your bank account. And quite rightfully so. You see, a thousand years ago, businesses and economics weren't as immersive as they are today. Also, the competition for resources wasn't as stiff either. So people never really cared about money that much. And thus came the famous line, "Money isn't everything".*
Well, times change, constantly. And it has changed in this regard too. Now, the competition is ever so stiff. The dirty battle royale of rising to the top and the lust for power has suffocated mankind. And what's the easiest way to achieve these? Buy your way up. There was this line from a movie I don't remember the name of where they said; "If they could, they would sell the sky."
It stuck with me. Humans have materialized almost everything. Everything now is buyable and sellable. Everything that wasn't necessary to be marketed, is now marketed. So, you either pay up or get lost. And about the money not being everything part, people are more future-oriented than ever now. No one wants their future self to be struggling with the one thing that solves almost all of the problems in the world. So if you don't have enough money, you are not considered seriously. And if you have it, you're suddenly the most valuable man in the room.
Education is indeed important. But it's not essential anymore. What good will you do with your knowledge if it doesn't help you make money? Will they pay your bills? Or will society take you seriously? You know the answer. So what I want to say is that in this world of filthy competition among the cruellest of minds, you must educate yourself financially as much as morally. Because you need to pay the bills too. Only then can you preach morals and become the best of yourself.
-by @tahminasyed
“If you see this, I am dead.” Adiz could not breathe. He fell to the ground.
12 hours ago…
The escaping mind hardly knows the truth, far-fetched thoughts of evoking premises that cover the rusted shells of old souls, promising to be sent to Earth for a purpose; little do we know in this race who will meet another and how will their relationship be like.
Free from all the worldly collisions, life seemed lively, and each day was glorified, nothing seemed timely, and little did we know how to deal with limited hours. In a world so big, what is yours and what is mine is not scripted, so would it be fun or a meaningless timeline of horror?
“Mr. Adiz, do you think my mind is complex?”
“Darling, why do you think so? All our minds are complicated, and there is nothing to fear.” He softly creases her cheeks while lying on her lap and asks, “Is there something bothering you, my love?”
“I feel I am going to make a mess of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can hear voices… do you hear them too?”
“What voices do you hear, dear?” Adiz starts to break free and sits next to Alisha’s shoulder length.
“They whisper to me that happiness is only temporary. What do they mean by this? I do not get it; can you guess who can they be?” Adiz looked away as the confused Alisha is left alone with more confusion.
“Adiz, what happened? Are you crying?” Adiz left the house right then, leaving Alisha alone.
The confused Alisha laid down on her bed, looking lost at the ceiling walls; while the morning rays fall on her face, she feels the warmth and asks into thin air, “if happiness is only temporary, then why is not agony?”
Meanwhile, Adiz rushed outside, unable to control his feelings; he heard the voices too. He knows what they mean but does not want Alisha to know. Alisha will be heartbroken; how can he break the news to her?
Sometimes life is unfair, and the only reason life is unfair is because this life is temporary.
Thoughts escalated in Adiz mind, and he was at a loss of breath. He did leave her alone; can he ever leave her alone? What if something happens to Alisha? He needs to return to her asap.
While thinking so, he rushed from the place without realizing that he left a witness behind.
The shadow of Adiz was aware of the fact that Adiz left behind Alisha alone while only thinking about himself and his fear of acceptance of the facts. It was noon, not a time he could afford to be wandering in the streets of Azmehal, a place of wonders and agony. The streets of Azmehel play with the intellectual minds, transform a person's destination, and constantly create confusion. Adiz, who was already going through a lot, could not take any more grief than what is to meet him. Little did he know that shadows can hold promises and be witnesses of crimes unspoken.
Adiz entered his house but only to find it empty. He looked at the clock, it said 12 o’clock. He does not remember when he left the house, and Alisha is nowhere to be found. He searched the house entirely, not leaving any inch behind; he checked the terrace, the balcony, and every washroom, but nowhere could he find Alisha. The last face of her that he remembers is the gloomy face that searched for answers in his eyes. Happiness is only temporary, the voices are again speaking to him, when did he leave his house, he cannot recall.
Alisha fell asleep while waiting for Adiz; she only woke up to find the room empty. It was almost past 3, and Adiz did not return yet. Her pessimistic mind was in chaos, but little she tried to keep it at ease, and she left to prepare food, late lunch, for herself and her dear husband.
The sound of the cutting vegetables could be heard by Adiz, he was startled and jumped from the bed. He looked at the clock. It was past 3, he could hear the sound of the knife hitting the board, and he ran to the kitchen only to see no one standing there. The sound was loud and clear, he could hear it still, but he could see no one.
Happiness is only temporary whispered the voices to Alisha; now her mind was running wild. She knew something was wrong, she stopped cutting the vegetables, she looked around, she could feel something, but she could not understand anything.
“Aaaaah”, Alisha winched in pain, holding her tummy; she could not stand anymore, her mind was running wild, and her body was not listening to her anymore. She grabbed the phone and dialled.
Adiz could not hear the sound anymore, he left the kitchen, but he was becoming restless. He knew this hour was not good for him, he supposedly left the house at the wrong hour, which is why he is lost in time. Azmehel is not the safest place on Earth, but it was safe for Adiz and Alisha to run away from their family. Adiz knew the riddles of Azmehel as he used to play around here as a child, but Alisha was new to this world, and Adiz was afraid that Alisha would freak out and would never agree to come and settle here, so he stayed silent.
According to lore, Azmehel is a place made of souls, where souls interact with souls and help to live. While science asks for explanations, Azmehel is beyond what science can decipher. Azmehel is an island that only the decedents of the Azmehel family can find, and only those who are directed by the Azmehels can come to such destinations. Adiz hides his real name from Alisha, his full name is Adiz Azmehel, the decedent of Ashfahal Azmehel, his grandfather from his maternal side.
During his childhood, Ashfahal Azmehel often brought Adiz here and played with him, teaching him the way in and out of this place. All the myths and locks that made Azmehel, Azmehel. As Adiz grew up, he lost his connection with his grandfather, and soon, Adiz's grandfather passed away, but his soul was secured here in Azmehel. The whispers were his words. It was his way of guiding them from the unknown, but Adiz was too silly to let it all pass and left home at an hour of time-loop, and now he was stuck here for half a day.
“Ma’am, where is your husband? Did he not come here with you?” asked the nurse gently.
Alisha attempted to adjust to her surroundings, “what happened to me? Is everything ok?”
“Ma’am, the baby is fine. Everything is ok. Can you please call your husband? We need him to sign in a few papers?”
“I am unable to reach him, he left home, but he did not return yet”.
“O-ok ma’am”, the nurse left hurriedly.
Why did she leave in a rush? Why did she look worried? Does she know where he went to? Why would she know? I do not know what to do and where to find him, I feel so heavy. Was this the right time to pause like this? Baby, are you going to come out now? Oh my, I hate your father! He never has a sense of proper timing.
Adiz panicked in his room, running wild from here to there, unable to gather the patience to sit still. There was no way to communicate with the souls here; he could only feel their presence and not communicate with them. He knew that Alisha was in a critical stage. He just prayed and prayed for her delivery date to postpone. This was the warning message, but he was too silly and scared to notice. While thoughts occupied his mind, he fell into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, Alisha was sharing their story with her unborn baby.
“Papa is a very intelligent man; baby wants to be like papa? Papa is a very strong man and takes care of mama. Baby wants to be like papa?” While talking to the baby, Alisha's mind was in chaos, she could not speak anymore, and tears started to drip. He had never left her for so long. He wouldn’t ever leave her alone, would he? She heard the whispers again, happiness is only temporary and she lost her consciousness.
It was half an hour to midnight, and with the thud of a sound, Adiz woke up. He checked the clock to realize that he hadn’t gotten much time on his hand he needed to go back to the same place he had lost his way from. But before he stepped out, he noticed something unusual, it was a letter. No human could be here. There is not a single human here, then where did this letter come from? Is he supposed to get spooked? There was nothing to become spooked for. This is his land after all. He took the letter and ran to reach his destination. After reaching so, he started to read the letter.
“If you see this, I am dead.” Adiz could not breathe. He fell to the ground.
“If you see this, I am dead. I could not get much time to tell you anything, it was supposed to be a new life that we would step in together, but someone had to sacrifice. Someone had to sacrifice to give another life a chance, I could not wait to embrace you, but it was destined for us not to meet. The moments we shared were beautiful, and I will always embrace them, I will never forget them. I will never forget how you caressed me and made me feel at home when everything was new to me, it was you who made things all happen, and it was you for whom I will give sacrifice anything and everything. I will always remember you and return to you in another version. Love..”
The paper vanished away before Adiz could read further. It was a sign he was back in the world, but to whom will he go to, where will he go to, whom does he have here? Alisha is dead, and it was all his fault for leaving her here alone, why did she have to die?
“WHY?” Adiz screamed.
“Tring-Tring-Tring”
“Is this Mr. Adiz? I have been trying to call you. Can you immediately come to the hospital, your wife needs you here.”
Adiz runs off.
“Why did you make the sacrifice Zaysha Azmehel?”
“Dear Great Grandpa, I love staying with you, I do not want a body!”
“But one day, you will have to leave me, right? Your other siblings will have to wait until you go.”
“Now is not the time. I can’t see mama in pain. I want to meet them both, not one. The sacrifice was to be made, and one person had to die, it better be me.”
Life here is more precise than the mist in front of your eyes. We see life, we feel life, we can help life, and we can guide life. The life of each Azmehel is rough.
{Photo Credit: Pixabay}
