Deepanjan Nag's Magnum Opus

Happy Birthday, Baba!

I have lost the priceless music archive I had taken 3 years to build. I don't have the heart to rebuild it, the effort would be too strenuous and  overwhelming. Depressed. I had taken great pains to build it to my exact taste. So many years of diligence wasted. Can't stop feeling sorry for myself.

I'm drowning the silence with some Bill Evans trio. Dad still speaks to me through music. Asha left for Dubai last night where she'll stay for a couple of days before flying to New Delhi. She almost didn't make it to Heathrow on time. The huge traffic jam caused by an accident only added to our anxiety. But that's hardly an excuse for being late. I hate to see someone being chronically behind schedule. It's probably one of the most difficult habits to beat. The exertion at the airport scrambling for everything left me panting. The return to home via 105 was a much more tranquil affair. The gridlock had opened and I returned home just in time to afford me 5 hrs of sleep before leaving for work. I miss Ari and his mom.

Arihant slipped and fell from the bed today. What a scare it gave us. Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously hurt – thanks to the wooden and carpeted floor.

Waking up to the ringing sound of an alarm is probably one of the most annoying ways to begin the day. But it really elevates to a human rights violation when you are robbed of an easy means to stop it. This morning, this was how I got violated. I’m reminded of the nostalgic days of DOS, when the GUI was only an approaching fad and computers weren’t all that graphic. Textual pleasure was reserved for the ones who actually learned the esoteric commands to get something useful done by the PC. But even the most die-hard fans of the operating system couldn’t always dodge the dreaded question at the command prompt: Abort, Retry or Ignore? I’m sure Microsoft earned a bad name from this infamous and blunt question. And since DOS was ubiquitous, tech journals sought to humor their bored readers by carrying jokes on the question. I remember one particular joke where an imagined futuristic car is just about to have an accident due of a brake failure. The dashboard pops the magic question just ...

Everything looks bright and lively. But London is notorious for its weather-swings. I hope not much changes by the time I go out in a few hours for shopping.

This is a near-duplicate. I feel guilty for ruining my grandfather’s camera. I would actually sleep with it!

Asha fasted alongside me in memory of Dad yesterday.

Dad breathed his last 7 years ago today. Your memories live on, Dad. Thanks for everything.

This just blew me away. Thanks, Anonymous, for unearthing this asset!

3 mobile phones ganged up in sync this morning and alarmed me at 7.

India Ink: Hot Jazz and the Cold War in 1950s Mumbai My comment: Fascinating stuff! When talking about how the Americans tried to influence the world with Jazz, one cannot afford to miss the legendary Willis Conover. People in many parts of the world knew Jazz only because of him. Indeed he was the greatest Jazz arsenal America ever had. American hegemony owes a lot to this man. This article brings back fond memories of growing up listening to Jazz Hour on the Voice of America. The radio had a hold on us like nothing else. The experience has yet to be rivalled.

Time is nature’s way of keeping things from happening all at once.

This room feels like an oven. And this is London at 8pm in September.

I feel I’ve lost my voice since Dad’s demise. I remember calling him up every Sunday exactly at 5pm when I was in Ranchi studying for my Masters. Dad would be seated beside the landline, eagerly awaiting my call. No sooner had I dialed our number than Dad’s voice would greet me. Our lives were equally stagnant and uneventful without each other, and yet magically we had a lot to speak each time we could grab a conversation. Our last conversation over the phone was an out-of-turn one. I called him on 7-Dec-2004 to tell him about my appointment letter. Dad was delighted. I felt on top of the world conveying the news. Dad passed away within 3 days. I’ve never had to keep my 5pm appointment since then.

2 playful dogs making the most of the recent snowing in Montreal