Madhosh Kiye Jaa

Tour of Kolkata Schools

JIS is a sponsor of Saraswati Pooja Awards given to schools. I represented the university and went to 5 schools starting with APJ in Salt Lake, to Taki Multipurpose school for Boys, Sanskrit Collegiate School, Jadavpur Vidyapeeth and Little Memorial School in Garia. A highlight was that we were accompanied by two celebrities- Soham Chakrabarty, actor, and Jose Baretto, former Mohun Bagan football star from Brazil who lives here.

Barreto presents an autographed football to the principal of Taki Boys' School, Raja Bazaar

Jadavpur School, a well-run govt. school.

Below-Little fella having fun, Little Memorial School, Garia

Young ladies who look after the little ones.

A selfie with my partners in crime.

At APJ school, I told them about Mandrake and Phantom, my childhood heroes

Confucius- A Favourite

I find the pithy sayings attributed to him- rightly or wrongly- quite interesting.

One of them we used to cite among our friends-

"When hungry, eat. When sleepy, sleep."

Some more I picked up from a blog-

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?

Bangalore Visit 2026 Jan

One of two achievements- met my grandkid from an adopted daughter- Shatakshi Tripathi. She opened her eyes to make eye contact too! One of the cutest kids ever! Bonus, I met my fb friend and Shatakshi's mother- for the first time. And her dad. Varun, Shatakshi and Katyayani, the new kid on the block, below.

Achievement 2. Stayed with Rimjhim and Dheeraj at their place in doddabommasandra near BEL, Vidyaranyapura area. Also looked at the surrounding areas including a lake, GKVK in the Agricultural University premises, and a couple of eateries. Tripti Thindi was one, I think.

Milind Chalisgaonkar and wife Anjali came over one of the days. They are in L and T Raintree, not far away. (in pic below)

On a walk by the lake..selfie training helped!

Also went to the Bengaluru Habba and watched Kaushiki Chakraborty perform along with Shatanu Moitra. The venue was a former jail, and this is what the Watch Tower looks like (behind me and Rimjhim)

Kaushiki on stage (above)

Achievement 3. Met Manoharan and Pandu Naik, former colleagues at IFIM/PESIT.

Manoharan also did his Ph.D. with my guidance at VTU. (pic below- Church Street)

Bhagwan Dada- A Most Unlikely Hero

Not sure I know his full name. He was simply known as Bhagwan Dada. The only film of his that I remember is Albela. More so, the music in this film, by C. Ramchandra. There is a string of great songs, with Shola jo bhadke, dil mera dhadke being an example.

But this is more about him. In an era where heroes were fair, tall, and well built, he was none of these. Portly would describe him as well as a few other adjectives. But he carried himself with such confidence, that you forgot about your expectations of what a 'her' ought to look like. His dance steps were iconic, and copied later by big actors. His chemistry with Geeta Bali, his heroine in Albela, added another dimension to the enjoyment.