Madhosh Kiye Jaa

Meeting Ananya and Sayantani

It was a great afternoon-met two friends who are in Kolkata, one an alum of IMT N, and another a Ph.D. scholar who I met at a doctoral consortium. Sayantani is from the 2012 batch of Nagpur, and with ICICI Lombard ever since. Ananya Ghosh is doing her Ph.D. at St. Xavier's university.

We had fun driving to Axis Mall, and having lunch at German Cafe at the entrance. We discovered the food was more Italian than German, and feasted on Pizza and Pasta. It was Eid, Ramzan, and most restaurants were crowded. We couldn't get parking inside Ecopark, which was our first choice.

Talked about Merchant Navy, Doctors doing an MBA, and life in Kolkata, NOIDA and Pune (where I will be soon), and retirement time pass.

Pics from the fun outing- we had a cake too, that they'd brought along!

Sayantani (left) and Ananya

The cake came as a surprise! Had mine and ate it too!

Classifying Heroes

Most entertaining - Rajnikanth, for sure.

Handsome? Tie between Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra

Great dialogue delivery- Raaj Kumar

Intensity - Amitabh Bacchhan

Natural- Sanjeev Kumar

Funny- Randhir Kapoor

Youth Icon- Rishi Kapoor (in my youth)

Evergreen Romantic- Dev Anand

Intangible- Kishore Kumar

Others, I was not so fond of

Wars at Will

It's becoming a pandemic, with world leaders the most susceptible.

Starting wars, I mean. Look around in the last few years. More than any other problem, Coronavirus excluded, it's the manmade ones that are endemic.

The Russian and the American (and a couple of others) heads of state seem to think it's their playground. They can get up one fine morning and declare a war. Or Abduct Heads of State.

The U.N. watches helplessly.

If China were to take over Taiwan, the same jokers would preach differently. Or if North Korea were to attack South Korea.

A democracy should probably have a referendum, like that for Brexit, when an offensive is to be launched. The laws must hold a Head of State guilty for a war that nobody in the country wants.

Uprisings in Bangla Desh and Nepal have underscored that unpopular governments or leaders can be unseated by popular will. Some day, it might happen in the bigger nations.

Aunt Turns 90 in April

I have many maternal aunts, two of whom are surviving. The elder one, Manik Gokhale, will soon turn 90. She has been global in her outlook, like many of her sisters, and lived in Malta and Libya for some years. Has two daughters settled in Australia and Germany. Her son, my cousin, is in Pune, so we meet more often.

She is in the centre in this pic, while we were celebrating the 75th of my cousin, right, back to the camera. Other cousins (mine) are in the pic, and one cousin's husband.

Her 90th will be celebrated soon, in Pune where she lives.