How lucky my friend that our ways crossed! We could have continued to be strangers for the rest of our lives, had it not been for this fortuitous event. You arrived at this inn that I check into every so often. It’s a cosy little joint let me assure you. The hosts are friendly and the guests I have come across appear to be charming people to say the least.
So, as they say, Welcome Aboard!
What do I do here? Ah! Nice question indeed. You know what? I write haiku and I write other forms of poetry as well. I write stories too, most of which are my memoirs. I translate stuff into English, mostly from Bengali. Sometimes I move in the reverse direction too. Bengali happens to be my mother tongue.
I travel a lot too. Cyberly speaking, if you know what I mean.
By the time you are as old as I am, you tend to repeat yourself. Don’t be surprised therefore if you find me trying to engage you in similar conversations, sometimes at least, at different halting stations. Read “Who’s Me?” below if you want to find out how I sublimated to this state of existence.
I used to write for the printed media once in a while, but it doesn’t attract me anymore. Some of those essays though will find a place in this site. But I am a slow builder, so I am not sure where I am finally headed. I am surrounded by hares and, contrary to the tortoise-hare tale, I always lose.
My site is divided up into two major categories. The first is my first love at the moment. Haiku. The second consists of everything else. But here is a parting message. Like Shelley’s cloud, I often “arise and unbuild” the things I pieced together with loving care. I need to rend them asunder every now and then, or else how will the ” orbèd maiden” that “mortals call the Moon” walk in through the yawning chasms and make us hear the “beat of her silent feet”?
To: Blog Page
To: WHO’S ME?
43 responses to “Welcome Aboard”
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Dear Oj-dada,
That was a clever post on I’s and You’s! It surely led me to you here.
I wish you a lot of happiness with this new site and will check in from time to time to see what your ‘I’ is saying!Sujata
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Dear Sujata:
Thanks for peeping in. I need a lot of luck without doubt. WordPress is a powerful machine and there is great scope for learning new technology.
But I need to write too, or else it will turn into an expensive harmonium I have bought to decorate my living room to impress my guests. Don’t know how far I will be able to go. Wish I came across these opportunities as a younger person. At my age the end can arrive any moment.
Love and best regards.
oj-dada
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Mr. Dipankar Dasgupta Sir, by any chance or luck, may i get your email id. I need your educated opinion on a thing or two. I am glad and grateful. Thanks.
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Dear Yash, Have we met before by any chance? Dipankar Dasgupta
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Sorry it took so long, but I finally got around to taking a stroll in your garden.
Looks cool, and I take my hat off to you for doing things from scratch, as it were.
I’m not so clever, and my site’s built out of pre-set templates.
Will be keeping a watchful eye on you.
Phil
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Thanks a lot Phil. I suppose I get trapped between my conflicting desires to pick up softwares and writing stories. For a while now I think I will concentrate more on the latter, now that I have at least a platform ready.
Anyway, it’s fun playing with the computer. Looking forward to reading the mystery tale from you.
Best wishes.
Dipankar
Dear Dipankar
First of all congratulations on getting yourself a smart new webpage. Its wonderful to have a site of one’s own and collect all one’s thoughts and works there.
I liked the translation of Tagore’s ‘sudden encounter’. Its so typically Tagore, I’d say. The lines
‘All the stars that fill up the night
Lie deeply hidden in the glow of the day.’
left a deep impression in me.
The Dog episode was very touching. I really felt a twinge in my heart as i read the closing line.
I recollect reading The Born Loser before. Was it in Ibibo ? Or perhaps you’d sent me a link from your other website ?
The Magicwalla tale is classic ! I remember people like him from my childhood too. As usual, you have packed a punch in the concluding paragraph.
I will read the other entries as and when I find time and keep you posted. (The toothy tale looks so inviting !!!)
I am really glad you remember me and thought of sharing the link.
Bye.
With much regards
Sarada
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Dear Sarada:
I enjoy writing, but there are few readers available to read what I write. So, I force my stuff on unsuspecting people. Unfortunately, you happen to be one of my chosen victims. I still remember the polish in your writing from the ibibo days.
I was a little worried that the translations I used to send you didn’t meet with your approval.
At the same time, I did want my own site, built the way I wanted to build it. Finally, I took the decision to rent a web domain and go ahead. I think you may have read earlier versions of many of the pieces I shall be putting up here. But I have revised them, not in a big way, but as far as choice of words and expressions went. At my age, one is likely to turn far too demanding on oneself. There are times I feel physically exhausted after composing a literary piece.
Maganlal was a story/memoir I had been planning for a number of months. It took me a while to come up with a final version. Or, at least, the first postable version. Let’s see where it takes me from here.
It was very kind of you to read and comment.
Thanks a lot good friend.
Dipankar
Lovely. A place of one’s own.
All the very best as always OJ Da.
Shail
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Thanks for the visit Shail. Visitors always liven up one’s home.
oj-da
hope you well,
love your blog.
cool post.
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Oh, thanks a ton!!
I invite you to attend Thursday Poets Rally week 31
let me know when you are ready.
Thanks a lot.
two awards for this week’s participation.
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I am not much of poet though. Just an occasional writer, that too of prose!! 🙂
Thanks!
Great blog post, I have been after that!!!
Thank You,
Seymour
landlord insurance
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Welcome aboard Seymour. 🙂
Best wishes
Aziz Kingrani
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Thank you Mr. Kingrani.
Great Sir…Great writings…
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Thank you Joydeep.
I remember having read about the rabid comments of Ashby and your rejoinder and found a line which was very frustrating to say the least that you are deleting everything from your Tagoreblog! I searched through the web and located you knowing that since there was a connection between you and Tagore, I knew that
I will ultimately find you I am really happy to find you here. Very refreshing and inspiring and hope to keep hearing from you!
Himadri Banerji
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Dear Mr. Banerji,
I do recall a comment or two from Ashby, but I was not really put off. It is true that I have not written much recently either for boloji or for my own site here. I thank you for searching me out, perhaps I should try and write more. Incidentally, Tagoreblog is Mr. Kumud Ranjan Biswas, not me. However, I did try to translate a few Tagore pieces too. Thank you once again.
Dipankar Dasgupta
Dipankar, it is clear that you are enjoying yourself post-retirement.
I urgently need your email and address though. Mine is ashoksanjayguha@gmail.com
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What a pleasant surprise Ashok-da! I will email my address to you immediately. But do check the spam folder, since addresses from unknown sources often land there.
All the best.
Dipankar
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems
as though you relied on the video to mske your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just
posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something informative to read?
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Thank you visitor. I am not sure that I recognize Employee Corporation. From what you have say, it appears to me that you are interested in social issues. If so, I invite you to visit the Society section of my blog. Cheers.
I believe everything said was actually very logical. However, think onn this, suppose you added a lttle information? I ain’t suggesting your information isn’t good., but what if you added a headline that makes
peolple want more? I mean A Kaleidoscope World | Just another WordPress.com
sitte is kinda vanilla. You might glance at Yahoo’s
front page and note how they create article titles to get
people to click. You might addd a video or a related pic or
two to get readers excited about everything’ve written. In my opinion, it could make your
posts a little bit more interesting.
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This was a helpful suggestion. Let me see if I can make progress along the lines you’ve suggested. Best regards.
I always emaild this web site post page to all my associates, for the reason that if like to
read it next myy ontacts ill too.
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Thank you for this kind remark friend. Best wishes.
I have been browsing online more than 2 hours today, yet
I never found any interesting article like yours.
It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers madee good clntent as youu did, the
web will be a lot mode useful than ever before.
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Thank you friend. I hope you mean what you say. Can’t read your name.
At this time it sounds like WordPress is the top blogging platform available
right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
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Yes, this is the storehouse for my creative writings. Thanks for the visit.
তোমার বাগানে অজান্তেই এসে পড়েছি।
ভালো লাগলো। মনে হোলো এই রকম এক চিলতে স্বকীয় পরিবেশ আমারও থাকলে বেশ হয়!
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কী অদ্ভুত কাণ্ড। একটু আগেই তোমার এই মন্তব্যটা পড়ে কোনও মানেই বুঝতে পারিনি। সবটা অর্থহীন ইংরেজিতে লেখা ছিল। কিন্তু তারপর smartphone-এ দেখি পড়া যাচ্ছে। আমার বাগানে বেড়াতে আসার জন্য অনেক ধন্যবাদ। এখানে আমি অনেকটা সময় কাটাই। ভালই লাগে। নিজের খুশিতে নিজের ঘরে বসে লেখার মজা। সুবিধা হোল, পত্রিকার সম্পাদকের উপর নির্ভর করতে হয় না। অধিকাংশ লেখাই কেউ পড়ে না। আবার হঠাৎ কেউ এসে উপস্থিত হয়ে দু-চার মিনিট কাটিয়ে যায়। বেশ লাগে ব্যাপারটা।
ভাল থেক।
দীপংকর।
I feel lucky to have fallen into your world! Why is there no greater knowledge or publicity of this absolutely amazing composition/story treasure trove? Regardless, I kind of like this cozy club of ours – already presuming you will take me in…. 16 Mandeville Gardens: Sahitya Samsad Publishers
dipankardasgupta dipankardasgupta
2 years ago
16mg
This is the third edition of a book I wrote about my recollections of South Point School when the school itself was a baby. I passed out of the school in 1959, which was a long time ago. However, memories of the school linger still and vividly so in my mind. It was a fairy tale experience for us. Mr Satikanta Guha, the founder of the school, was a most unusual educationist for the times when he started the school. Most of the students couldn’t quite distinguish the school from a toy they had been gifted to merrily play with. We had very unusual teachers. The most remembered among them was Utpal Dutt, the famous stage and later screen actor. He taught us grammar simultaneously with Shakespeare’s plays. He made us act too and, on the playground, he was a wicket keeper for whatever cricket team we had those days. Quite apart from him, we were taught by N. Viswanathan, Uma Sehanobis (who later founded the Patha Bhavan School) and many other precious teachers who have defied to some extent the rules of mortality. We didn’t know exactly when we were studying and when we were playing and this was a perfect example of the proverb “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, except that we had Jills for classmates too. In spite of all the play we were involved in, Mr. Satikanta Guha ensured that a student secured the sixth position in the Madhyamik Examination (then called the School Final Examination) in 1959. Rank holding never ceased since then and, as many are aware, the school found a place in the Guiness Book of Records (1984-92). More recently, Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, an alumnus of the school, was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. South Point School has risen very high, but it had cute beginnings and this book tries to revive that fascinating past, from 1954 to 1959. I wish to thank the present school authorities, especially Mr. Krishna Damani and Ms. Dalbir Kaur Chadda, for giving me access to the photographs of the old school from their library archives. These photographs as well as stories missed out by earlier editions have been included in the present version of the book.
The book should soon be available on line. Currently, it can be ordered at Ideal Book Stall in Gariahat. Phone Number: 033 2464 2961. It should be easily available in the College Street area as well.
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To Ppyali Sengupta:
I am not sure why there haven’t been more footfalls on my site. But I enjoy writing anyway. Thanks for you kind remarks.
Dear Dipankar Dasgupta:
My name is Paul Preston, and I am from St. Paul, Minnesota. More accurately I am from Woodbury, Minnesota, but it is not well-known. It is the first suburb east of St. Paul.
I am fascinated by your life and your creative and welcoming entry on this landing pad of a wonderful blog page, if we can describe it as such. I do not think it is a normal blog page, your concept of a landing page is very appropriate. I am a 63-year-old retired optometrist. I wrote poetry and short stories for 15 years earlier in my life, but adult life intervened in the form of commuting two hours per day to a demanding job and the duties of a father of two daughters and a husband to my charming wife of 35 years, Kristi Jensen.
I look forward to getting to know how and having exchanges of ideas and poems.
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Dear Paul (if I may),
I have been trying to build up my site for years now, though I don’t have regular visitors. I will certainly try and land in your nest and find out what you are up to. I had connections with the USA as a graduate student years ago. Like Minnesota, that was a cold region too. Rochester, New York. Then I moved on to even colder Toronto and finally the coldest of all places perhaps, Hokkaido, Japan. However, I have spent most of my life in India, in Kolkata and Delhi. Since retirement from teaching, I have been living in Kolkata with my wife (Sankari, who, like yours is charming too). I have a son who lives in New York and has recently become a US citizen (along with his wife). But my connection with USA continues on account of my recent involvement with English language haiku. I joined the Haiku Society of America and allpoetry.com. Though I used to be a “prosaic” sort of person, haiku has opened up new avenues for me and my teachers in America are kind and helpful. It is a challenging task at my age (17 years older than you!!!), but I am managing.
I too look forward to getting to know you more. This is the first time that my site has been honoured by a comment such as yours.
Best wishes.
Dipankar (pronounced deep anchor)
A KALEIDOSCOPE WORLD 
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