The last week has been hectic for a staid and increasingly easygoing person like me. First I made a sudden two-day trip to Kolkata to watch a play in which a dear old boy was playing the role of Satyajit Ray's Feluda (first stage production ever), and he asked me up on stage during the curtain call to felicitate me as his childhood Feluda and current Sidhu Jyatha (look up Shoumo Banerjee on Instagram): it was as heartwarming as it was embarrassing. Then a rushed visit to the local police station with all sorts of documents for passport-renewal related verification - but a very nice experience for a change, swift, helpful and polite. Then a three-day admission routine for the incoming batches, followed by my mother's IOL implantation surgery yesterday, which seems to have gone smoothly, God be thanked. I hasten to add that my usual classes have been continuing side by side. So I am currently fagged out and can't get enough of sleep. Mercifully, Pupu and Swarnava have been here since Saturday to give me support and company. The admissions have been to my satisfaction on the whole, but I must say that the majority of parents are growing simultaneously sillier and more distracted and more entitled with every passing year (the current generation is the one I taught in the early and mid-1990s). Some day I am going to write at length about all the many different kinds of cartoons I have seen, but I am getting more and more exasperated, and will have to stop pretty soon, or put the entire admission procedure online.
March has been gentle on the whole, weatherwise - let's see what kind of summer is awaiting us this time round. I can't say as much for geopolitics, given the insane 'war' (quotes put in deliberately) going on in the Middle East, and its terribly upsetting effects on everything, from cooking gas availability to the massive and continuing slide in the stock market, probably to be followed by a huge car fuel-price hike. I am nowhere close to going hungry to bed, but I certainly can't say I am feeling safely and comfortably off. And the most traumatic elections in ages are scheduled for April: traumatic if, like me, you feel like an utterly beleagured Bengali, that is. The time to write at length on why I am feeling that way has not yet come, but it will. This much, though, I shall say now: I am remembering Harshavardhan ranged against King Sasanka, Gandhi against Subhas, and even Nehru against Bidhan Roy - it is all about the Hindi heartland trying to obliterate Bengali culture and asmita for good, so it is a very great pity that so many Bengalis can't see that any more, blinded as they are by a combination of historical ignorance, self-loathing, pure opportunistic greed, religious hatred and anti-incumbency. So, though I am eagerly looking forward to some very good things happening on the family front soon, I have no idea how this year is going to end for Indians as a whole and Bengalis in particular among them. I wish everyone well except those who are motivated by stupidity, greed, fear and malice. Nothing good ever came from that awful combination...
Meanwhile, this blog, continuously updated, will be twenty years old this July. Those (perhaps few) who have been attentive readers for years together, I beg to tell me in comments why they have stuck to it for so long.
My YouTube story podcasts on the channel Goppoguchchho (also accessible if you simply type in 'Suvro Sir') has come to an end - for now. I shall be doing other things next, on Spotify. Look out for the links given here in coming weeks.
One last observation: after going gung ho for social media and digital classrooms, many advanced countries, beginning with Australia, Finland and Denmark are now applying reverse gear and putting stern restrictions on those efforts, while India, in the name of 'catching up with the world', is going precisely down the disastrous path those countries took ten to fifteen years ago and suffered heavily in consequence. Shall we never learn that whatever the white man does is not necessarily right, good and urgent?
7 comments:
Sir,
This felt like one of your characteristically layered posts—quietly observant, gently ironic, and yet edged with deep weariness. The image of you being called up on stage as both Feluda and Sidhu Jyatha was especially touching; one can imagine both the pride and the embarrassment in equal measure.
I’m so glad to hear that your mother’s IOL surgery went smoothly—really hoping her recovery continues steadily and comfortably. Do let us know how she is doing over the next few days. And do convey my best regards to her.
Your reflections on parents, pedagogy, and the larger drift of society carry that familiar clarity which keeps many of us returning here over the years. And the wider unease you express—about conflict, elections, and the erosion of cultural and civic balance—resonates deeply. It does feel, increasingly, like we are living through a time when noise and haste are crowding out reflection and good sense.
If I may answer your question: one stays because this blog remains a rare space for honesty without theatrics, intellect without posturing, and feeling without sentimentality. That combination is hard to find, and harder to sustain over twenty years.
Wishing you some well-earned rest, and calmer days ahead—for you, your family, and all of us who share these anxieties.
Warm regards,
Rajdeep
Dear Sir,
I am very glad to know that your mother’s surgery went smoothly; that, surely, must bring a certain sense of relief amidst everything else.
Your reflections on the admission process were particularly striking. They seem to point towards something larger than a passing inconvenience—a gradual shift in attitudes and expectations over time. To witness that change across generations, and to continue engaging with it despite the growing exasperation, must take a great deal of patience.
The wider concerns you touch upon—about the present uncertainties in the world and closer home—lend the piece a deeper, more thoughtful weight. Even where one may not fully grasp every dimension, the sense of unease is clearly felt.
As for your question at the end, perhaps we are often too eager to imitate before we fully understand. What appears progressive or necessary elsewhere is shaped by its own context, and when adopted uncritically, it can do more harm than good. The impulse to ‘catch up’ sometimes overtakes the need to reflect on whether the path itself is worth taking. Sir i have always believed that learning from others is valuable, but only when it is accompanied by a certain confidence in one’s own conditions and judgement—something we seem to be still negotiating.
Twenty years of this blog is remarkable—not merely as a measure of time, but as a testament to a voice that has remained thoughtful, candid, and distinctly its own. I imagine that is precisely why readers continue to return to it over the years.
I also found myself wondering—after weeks like this, does writing offer you a kind of quiet refuge, or does it sometimes feel like yet another demand on your already stretched time?
I am currently occupied with my examinations here at AIIMS Rishikesh; I look forward to meeting you once they are over.
Warm regards,
Rudra B Singh.
(St Xavier’s 19-20)
Thank you for your comment, Rajdeep, especially because you are the first one who wrote in to explain at some length, why some people have stayed with this blog for years. Also thanks for the good wishes.
Dear Sir,
I am happy to know that the procedure was successful. I hope your mother recovers soon and there's no future complications. Please convey my pranam and best wishes to her.
Also happy to note that you've been recognised as a modern day Sidhu Jyetha, a slightly younger one at that, in front of a good crowd of people. I somehow missed the fact that your ex-student is an actor in your previous post. I should've guessed it considering the fact that he was looking smart and sharp. I am sure all of your current and former students, and admirers like me, agree with the connection with Sidhu Jeytha to various extents.
Good theatre and plays are something I miss. There are good ones happening each week here but I just haven't had the opportunity to attend one like I did during my time in Amritsar. I guess you'd be happy to know that in places like Mumbai/Delhi, plays are making a comeback with ticket prices breaching the 4 figure mark and still getting sold out.
Finally, while I'm not following the political events in connection to Bengal elections, I remain worried about the post-poll violence. The aftermath of the 2021 election results has left a bad impression on me and I avoid the election cycles of two states by all means-West Bengal and Kerala.
I agree with the social media thing. Along with a ban for anyone under 16 years of age, parents need to be apprised of the ill effects too. But in households where parents themselves have become reel addicts, who'll guide the kids?
As the latin saying goes, 'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?'
Or for this case, 'Who'll parent the parents?'
Best Regards,
Aditya Mishra
At one time our finest thinkers and social reformers believed in combining the best of east and west for the progress of this country, Rudra. We have backtracked a very great deal since then, essentially we as a nation from PM to rickshawallah cannot engage with nuanced, complex, multidimensional thinking any more: everything is either wholly good or wholly bad, to be swallowed lock, stock and barrel or wholly rejected.
Thanks for the question. It is a bit of both, actually; sometimes a kind of relaxation and recharging of the batteries, sometimes because I want to keep the brain cells alive for as long as I can. Otherwise, as has been well said, a teacher degenerates into an ass.
I am sure you are going to become a very good doctor (not just a rich and snooty one). All my blessings.
Yes, I hear that stage plays are making a strong comeback in some places, and that is heartening. The amount of passion and dedication that goes into them is staggering, considering how ill the actors are paid in comparison to their movie counterparts.
As for the impending elections, I am much more worried about what is going to happen to Bengal and Bengalis in the long run than any post-poll violence, which never lasts more than a few weeks.
Absolutely right about the kids. One girl in class complained that she mustn't be blamed for being addicted to social media, because her mother is always glued to the phone and hardly gives her a chance.
Apt quote, though the Latin is more commonly translated as 'Who will guard the guardians?' But of course, parents are indeed the first guardians for almost everybody.
Dear Sir -
I find myself coming back here at least once a month, almost instinctively. In the middle of everything that "grown-up life” throws at us—deadlines, responsibilities, constant noise—this space feels like a quiet pause. A reminder of a simpler time, when thoughts were unhurried and life, in many ways, felt lighter.
Reading your posts always brings a certain kind of nostalgia that’s hard to describe but easy to feel. It’s comforting, familiar, and grounding all at once.
I realise I’ve rarely commented over the years—perhaps because I’ve mostly been a quiet reader, or because it never felt necessary to say anything and risk breaking the flow of what I was simply happy to absorb. But the connection has always been there.
Thank you for continuing to write, to share, and to keep this corner of the internet alive. It means more than you probably realise to those of us who keep returning.
It’s been years since I’ve been to Durgapur, but when I do make it there again, I’d really like to call and drop by in person - apart from obvious reasons, I genuinely want my 5 year old who's just started school to see what it was like for me to learn from you.
Until then, I’ll keep coming back here—quietly, gratefully.
warm regards
Nishant
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