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A Croatian Summer Escape – Memories In Colour And A Lot More

On May 14, 2020 By Sudeshna Maitra In Travel

Reading Time: 7 minutes While trying to make the most of the lockdown this summer, re-organising our schedules, taking care of our health – physical and mental and cook/bake/cleaning on a repeat mode, I sometimes find myself reminiscing. Today, while sipping my ginger tea and peeping through the bedroom window, I travel in time to last year, same-ish time. My summer of 2019, which was spent amidst different colours….and also…in alleyways. The memories of our week-long trip to Croatia are still warm. It is really interesting to know when we look back in time, what is it that makes us feel cosy and gets us in …

More Than Two-Thirds of COVID19 Deaths in India From 10 Most Populated Cities – Analysis

On May 10, 2020 By Arijit Ganguly In Data

Reading Time: 6 minutes The population share of the ten most populated cities in India is only 5% of the total population but two-thirds of Covid19 deaths in India are being reported from these 10 cities. This skew was expected, however, I wanted to do this analysis and see if any patterns can be found. For those of you who are short on time, I have highlighted the key points so you can just scroll through quickly. You are more than welcome to read further on how I came up with these and some more data and graphs to back these up. Please note …

Bengalis and Eggs – An Untold Love Affair That’s Not “Egg-xaggerated” Enough!

On May 8, 2020 By Alakananda Bhattacharya In Food and Beverage

Reading Time: 8 minutes How many times have you asked a Bengali colleague to bring an authentic fish curry on an office potluck? Or requested a Bengali friend to bring Sandesh from their trip to Kolkata? The moment we see a “Mukherjee” or a “Ghosh” we almost impulsively start a conversation on fish! Or Roshogolla! The reason is obvious. The world equates Bengalis instantly to Fish! And for good reason too. The relationship between a Bengali and Fish is a well-established, legitimate and widely acknowledged one. There is hardly any doubt or debate on this. It’s a culinary fact. Bengalis love fish. Period. What …

Top 7 Tips For a Business Travel to China (And a Bonus Tip For Vegetarians!)

On May 6, 2020 By Arindam Sarkar In Travel

Reading Time: 8 minutes Some ground level tips to navigate through the language & technology barriers of China for a Business Travel to China. Useful for a backpacker or a business traveler. “There are no foreign lands.It is the traveler only who is foreign” Robert Louis Stevenson Taxis zooming past, jazzy public transport, high-speed trains, swanky buses & rapid transit corridors, web of subway. But nothing seems accessible. China has grown rapidly in technology & infrastructure over the past years. Alongside it has created its parallel universe of home-grown apps, to replace Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Maps, Amazon, Uber etc. None of these are …

Irrfan And I – The Four Stages Of Our Clandestine Relationship!

On May 4, 2020 By Alakananda Bhattacharya In Films, Movies and TV Shows

Reading Time: 7 minutes Irrfan and I go way back. Being an 80’s kid, I’ve always been an ardent movie and television enthusiast. During the 90’s we kind of grew up together, Irrfan and I. Well, I grew up, he just grew! Of course, we have never met. Never even have had any conversation either. Neither physically nor virtually (only in dreams though, if that counts). But we share something special that’s beyond any meet-cute! It started when I first saw him on Banegi Apni Baat in 1997. And with each passing year of my life (and his), we both ventured, explored, and discovered …

Snake plant: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Mother-In-Law’s Tongue

On May 3, 2020 By Devraj Roy In Fiction, Lifestyle

Reading Time: 6 minutes ‘Would you care to wake up today’? The clarion call from behind the trembling curtains was enough to jolt me out of my morning siesta – the last leg of your goodnight sleep. The extra five minutes of sweet nothings that you whisper in the ears of your comfy pillow. The time when you leisurely bid farewell to your slumber. You love to roll over, stretch, and squeeze. In the end, you find solace only through unconditional surrender. ‘Hello… Mr. Shameless Sleeper!’ The shout was more alarming than my timid clock. Reluctantly, I scraped myself out of the bed. It …

Four masterpieces that exemplify the brilliance of one “Abhas Kumar Ganguly”

On May 3, 2020 By Ayan Majumdar In Films

Reading Time: 5 minutes …say who again! This man who was probably half the reason for the style that everyone admired in Bollywood’s “Gregory देव Peck”, the reason why woman swooned over the beloved “Rajesh काका”, and the bat-shit craze that followed the “Angry Young लम्बू Man”. And as I listen to his songs repeatedly day after day, and discover new ones even now, I cannot but admire the exceptional talent this man was. This man………….the legend………….KISHORE KUMAR………….was born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly. Everyone has a list for this genius, and so do I. After all, I am but one of you. But I …

A Habit Called Sleep

On May 2, 2020 By Seun In Lifestyle

Reading Time: 8 minutes “Burn the midnight Oil” “I will sleep when I am dead” “There will be sleeping enough in the grave…” There are more where this came from. Gluttony and laziness (usually defined by sleeping) must be the most reviled of vices. While I didn’t really hate sleeping, I didn’t condone it either. For all my adult life (and that’s quite a few years if you were asking) I have needed 7 to 8 hours of sleep to remain sane the next day. If I could count the number of times my friends lost their tempers at me for falling asleep or …

A Dream…or not!

On April 30, 2020 By Seun In Fiction

Reading Time: 4 minutes It was a dark and stormy night. I wonder why though. It’s almost some kind of a cosmic script is it, that events have to happen on a dark and stormy night? Actually, it wasn’t a dark and stormy night. It was a normal sliver moon kind of night. Som was sitting on his table next to the window watching the trees sway in the mild breeze, enjoying it on his hair. He could almost taste the salt in the air. This close to the sea, the air was full of the smells, and occasionally, the taste of the sea. …

4 Ways To Make the Most of the COVID-19 Lockdown

On April 29, 2020 By Arijit Ganguly In Lifestyle

Reading Time: 6 minutes If your lifestyle and work schedule is like mine, this Covid-19 lockdown must be giving you at least 2 hours of extra time every day (less travel!). If your job has been impacted due to the pandemic, then that extra time will be higher. Some people are making the best use of this time – learning, resting, retrospecting, creating. Watching the number of infected people 5 times a day on 3 news and 4 social media channels won’t add any value. This is the time to get healthy, up your game with new skills and declutter your life. Here is …