cocktail march 2013

7/29/2019 Cocktail March 2013

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From the editors desk

Your enormous supports and belief has made the entire team of cocktail more

confident and enthusiastic about our initiative. This month we've summed all

shades of emotions to sketch a colourful palate of abstract called HOLI.

Holi, the festival of color, revitalizes the liveliness and spirit of life. Its an aid

to keep all the evil forces at bay, brings home fortune and good luck. With this

spirits we wish all of you a very COLOURFUL HOLI this year. We hope as you

take a ride youd undid all your worries, relish all recipes and splatter the colour

of ultimate bliss!!!!

Cocktail Team

Pritam Sen & Mousumi Pal


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Contents

The colour and shades of Holi...................................Pritam Sen

The Buzz of Silence................................................Mousumi Pal

I am more of a Vagabond........................................Bikram Sarkar

Once upon a time..................................................Debobroto Dutta

Book ReviewThe Oath of theVayuputras.............Pritam Sen

Movie reviewHawa Badal..................................Pritam Sen

The gray hairs......................................................Mousumi Pal

Colourful QuizThrough our eyes, the visual acoustics (Photographs)


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The colours and shades of Holi

Holi, the festival of colours, is celebrated everywhere in our country. Its like agrand feast that portray different shades, different emotions all at once. As we

grow up we derive what colours mean to one, what significance it carries.

I remember Holi had always been a nightmare for me. The blend of colourful

liquids had always made me repugnant, vulnerable. I used to be seen hiding

behind doors, anticipating someone would finally discover me, drag me out of my

hiding cave and splash me with colours. They would chock me with their

relentless efforts and bully me all through albeit itd never happened so. The

madness, the hue & cry, the restlessness had been so frightening that I used to

lock myself up inside my room. I could come back to my normal self only once

the day was over.

The significance of colour began to

change as I entered college. Friendship,

love, betrayal I could connect each of

these with different shades. I could

easily remember the first time I could

break my psychological inhibition and

played with my friends. They assured

me they wouldnt force me to be wild as they become. And so they did. I undid

myself, dived in the milieu and lived many lives in just a moment. I was splashed

coloured all over me and I never felt bad, not one bit. I realized Holi is just a

mean to celebrate the journey of life, an expedition that enumerates different

shades at different time.


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And then I fell in love. I remember how different my life had become those

days. Hoil has turned to a festival from tribulation. This transformation was

completely unforeseen, incredulous. It used to be a carnival of freedom, a

magnificent celebration of happiness. The colour shed put in on me might well

have colured my soul. And I began to love colours.

Colour thus plays such a varied role in life. It takes us to connect to emotions,

ideology, people, and our nation and above all the one whos residing in our mind

heart and soul. It symbolizes passion, sorrow, happiness and many other

countless emotions. It integrates the human race together irrespective of caste

and creed. So we dont wonder when some Ibrahim splash colour over some Arjun

or a Sebastain embraces an Abdul. The festival let us feel united, it preaches

togetherness; its a wonderful representation of humanity.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sureabout the universe.

Albert Einstein


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The Buzz of Silence

It is situated in the heart of the city Kolkata. It is situated in what we calltoday as the most happening place in Kolkata, that is, Park Street. A calm,

peaceful, serene place, in the midst of the busy traffics, in the midst of the

offices and schools or rather in the midst of the shor in the city. The

entrance still has the marble plaque which reads: Opened 1767, Closed 1790.

Although it was very much in use till the early years of 19th century and now

it is open for the general public and considered as a heritage site which is

maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

It is the South Park Street Cemetery; a home to more than 1000 souls of

those Britons who lived almost 200 years before us in Kolkata, sorry it was

Calcutta that time. The Cemetery was one of the earliest non-church cemeteries

in the world, and most likely the largest Christian cemetery outside Europe and

America in the 18th and 19th century.

Upon entrance, one can easily get

absorbed in the lush greenery, the rich

vegetation, the green grass and

obviously the graves. The silence is

pierced only by the chirping of the

birds, the hum of the insects and the

sound of the crumble of the dead

leaves under our shoe sole. Each grave,

shaped like tombs, obelisks, sarcophagi, cenotaphs, epitaphs etc, has a different

story to tell.


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The grave tablets and the inscriptions on them act as our mirror to the past.

Many of those buried in the graves died at a very young age. Life expectancy of

Europeans during the colonial period was unnaturally low and in addition, infant

and child mortality was also very high. The cemetery has the graves of the newborns, children, young wives, soldiers and many other prominent figures like:

Sir William Jones (17461794), Indologist, founder of the Asiatic Society

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (18091831), teacher and poet. His teachings and

activities are believed to have inspired the Young Bengal Movement of the 19th

century.

Major-General Charles Hindoo Stuart (17581828), army officer and Indophile.

He took great interest in the Hindu culture and customs. His tomb resembles

that of a Hindu temple.

...and many more.

The cemetery attracts the attention of only a handful of visitors on anyparticular day. So the silence is intact. You may accompany your solitude and

may sit on the green grass for hours and feel the souls of the past, hear the

buzz of the silence and just get carried away.

The facts and figures has been collected from the Christian Burial Board website

(www.christianburialboardkolkata.com) and also Wikipedia.

Be the change that you wish to see in the world.Mahatma Gandhi


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I am more of a Vagabond

Always the shyness, always the smile; simple in her demeanor yet mysterious her

aisle

You could be mistaken, you could be wrong; yet delve in her eyes before you

repent it all along

In the comforting hug of acceptance I do not find solace; I'm more of a vagabond

- carefree and lawless

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other inthe year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness,and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

Carl Jung


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Once upon a time

Once upon a time, past in the history, the colours of the world started to

quarrel. All the colours claimed that they were the best. Every colour claimedthat it was the most important, most useful, most beautiful, and the favorite.

There was an increasing friction among the colours. Every colour took up

individual stand for themselves. Even some colours started claiming that they are

the king and all others are their subjects.

Now all the colours were asked to put their claimsbefore the judge and prove themselves right.

Green said: I am the most important. I am sign of

life. I was chosen for grass, plants, trees and leaves.

Without me everything would seem barren. In other

words, my attribute is source of life. Go to any

country side, you will find me in majority.

Blue said: dear Mr. Green, you only think about the earth, but my friend, did

you ever consider sky and sea. It is the water that sustain life and sea which is

again a shelter for many lives. On the other hand sky symbolizes peace and

serenity. Without my serenity your world would be nothing.

Immediately Orange peeped in from a corner, with her sweet voice she started

putting her point. I am the colour of health and strength. I may not be seen in

many places but I am precious and need of human life. I carry most vitamins in

the form of carrots, oranges, pumpkin and papaya. See I keep busy so I do not

hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky with me during early dawn and

dusk, my beauty is such that no one gives another thought to either of you.


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Red could stand it no longer and shouted as if he is the king. He told I am the

ruler of all of you. I am blood and life is dependent on blood. I am the colour of

danger and bravery. I am the Colour of passion and of love.

Seeing the wars of heavy words, where no one wanted to settle in for less,

Colour yellow wanted to make the atmosphere bit easy. Yellow said, you all are

so serious, all proving how important you are. Then he said politely, I am the

Colour of sun from which every one draws inspiration. I am the ray of first

hope.

Purple wanted to make her point too, her point was, she was the Colour of

royalty. King, chief and Bishops have always preferred her as she was the sign ofwisdom.

Finally Indigo spoke, in much more quietly than others but with strong

determinations. He said, I am a Colour of silence. You hardly notice me, but

without me you all are superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight

and deep water. You need me for the balance of contrast, for inner peace. I am

found in indigo plants, whose seeds are deeper then my parent colour blue.

And so all the colours continued boasting about themselves. Each would try to

make itself superior. The exchange of words became louder and louder. Suddenly

there was a startling flash of bright lightening, thunder rolled and bloomed. Rain

started to pour down relentlessly. The colours crouched down in fear, drawing

close to one another.

In the midst of the climax, the rain began to speak, Each one of you are such

big foolish, fighting among yourself. I have been seeing that each is trying to

dominate the rest. Dont you know that each one of you is made for a special


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purpose being unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to

me.

All colours joined their hands as they were told,

then again the rain told; From now on, when it

rains, each of you will stretch across the sky.

Form a great bow of colour as a reminder that

you can all live in peace. I am giving that name as

Rainbow, which would be a symbol of peace andhope for the humanity.

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.Robert Frost


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Book Review The Oath of the Vayuputras

The new sensation in India, Amish Tripathi has finally unveiled the third part of

its trilogy series Shiva. Its been a long wait for he has published his latestbook, The secret of the nagas, on August 2011. This wait seems to have

worked well for the readers and also for the author as they have been waiting

desperately to begin their breathtaking thriller on Indian mythology from where

theyd left it.

The third part of the series is more detailed and elaborate than before. Amishhas nicely blended his imagination with

Indian legendary character Shiva to make

this novel such a fascinating one. It takes

us to the ancient days of history where a

great warrior Shiva revived an entire

civilization from evil forces. One of the

factors that make this novel so amusing isthe way the suspense has been unfolded.

One would be terribly curious to know

how the mystery would be revealed. The

characters and the plot have showed a striking semblance with the story. The

valor of Shiva might have all of us left inspired, excited. The minute details on

how a tribal chief from Himalaya has garnered courage to become the protector

of Indian civilization must have made most of its readers proud and contented.

The novel The oath of the Vayuputras starts from where it ended in last

part. Shiva with his representatives finally discovers the evil forces and declares

war. His conviction wins the confidence of many a state across India to win this


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holy crusade. The novel nicely depicts the way the adventure has been unlayered.

Its a wonderful version of historical warfare, political exercise and a very tactical

application of human interface.

However the novel gets a big thumbs-down on how the plot has been extended

unnecessarily. Millions of fragmented incidents have been tried to stitch together

to maintain the continuity of the tale but it hasnt served the purpose at all.

The plot might have kept unexpected twist and turn concealed all along but the

abundance of such pattern has made it predictable and stale at time. The

episodes seem to be a never ending process of a highly tortuous tale which has

lost the coherence at times. This is why it does pose a big question on how the

readers would respond to it when most of them do not have much of time to

lean back on their armrest and enjoy such a delightful expedition with a hot cup

of coffee.

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.Oscar Wilde


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Movie review Hawa Badal

The 2nd innings seems to bear fruits for Parambrata Chatterjee. His 2nddirectional venture faired quite well. It must have given him the confidence to

bring in his sense of literature and art into reality albeitHawa Badal is never a

parallel film. It depicts the way we peek at other's life only to realise how they

feel just what others do.

The film is about two childhood

friends who chose to contrivetheir life differently. While

Parambrata chose to stair up the

corporate ladder to become a big

honcho, Rudranil aspired to

become musician. Parambrata is well settled and Rudranil is still struggling to

anchor his ship. They met after many years and wished to exchange their lives.

And then the story took a sharp turn.

The film has given us an insight to realise the role we play in the society. Each

of us occupies a niche which is what decides the kind of life we lead. Parambrata

though happily married to Raima wishes to undo his chained life. Rudranil dreams

to settle down like Param. And they end up learning a true basic principle of life

that no one can ever replace anyone else.

The scripting has been very detailed. Many subtle frames have been joined

together to make this draft so easy flowing. Parambrata and Rudranil have done

justice to their roles. Raima has nothing much to do. All others did their part

equally well.


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Overall it can be a good outing in the weekends. Go if you wish to have a good

ride.

I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you canlearn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they'reright, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, andsometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

Marilyn Monroe


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The gray hairs

It was Koyals eighth birthday.

The time of the year when she would be loaded with expensive gifts and would

be the cynosure of the party, arranged by her parents. Her birthday celebrations

had always been like that since the time she remembers. And she had always

been happy and enthusiastic about those. But it was different this year. The

chirpy little girl was tearful since the eve of her birthday. She was praying to

her dear God to even rub off the day from the calendar!!! She was sad.

She was missing her granny. She didnt want to

celebrate her most awaited birthday without

the person who loves her so dearly. And even

she loves her very much. Her granny was like

her angel.

Koyal knew that her granny was sent off

somewhere by her parents but she wasnt told

where or even why. It was only during the party,

that she overheard her father boasting about how he

persuaded his old and ailing mother to go to the OLD AGE HOME.

This may be a fictitious story, but it certainly has resemblance with thousands

of cases where the old parents have to end up leaving there homes and stay at

the old age homes, just because their childrens inability and unwillingness to

take care of them. It might have been discussed many a times to aware people

about the atrocities of old age home but with little effect. Most of the

intellectual class of human race, who believe to represent a part of humanity &


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Indian culture, does not hesitate to send their closest ones to exile which is why

all are becoming a spineless parsimonious race. It can be a fact that several

other countries might haveaccepted this concept widely but it doesnt apply in

India. From the day we step in this world we become indebted to our parent inmany ways.

In a country like India, where it is still believed that parents are worshipped as

God; in a country where we have examples of Shravan, the dutiful son and Lord

Ram, the son who sacrificed his fourteen years and went into exile to serve his

fathers promise; such simultaneous cases of children abandoning their parents,leave no stones unturned to bring the pride of the country down.

The parents sacrifice their desires to fulfill the wishes of their children. The

parents ignore their illness to help the children at their home-works. The

parents take days off from their work if their children ever fall sick. The parents

insure their lives to make sure that the children would be financially secure in

absence of the parents. What more???

And the children? Parents wishes for holy visits seem to be waste of money.

Having a heart-to-heart talk with parents at breakfast / dinner table seems to

be waste of time. Accompanying them at the doctors chamber seems less

important than the cocktail party after office. However, sending them off to

some OLD AGE HOMES seems to be the best and easy solution.

Do any of us ever try to hold the trembling hands of our parent when they

wish to rest on our shoulder? Do any of us ever acknowledge the kind of


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sacrifice they make to grow us? Hardly any. When our parents take an evening

walk, when the dried leaves precipitate over a gray lonely road, when the cold

breeze races past them our silent presence would definitely transcend warmth of

belongingness.

It is not really a herculean task to take care of ones

own parents. Rather it is the primary responsibility.

A little love, care and affection from the children

can really make the parents lives worth living.

The Sons and Daughters may be busy in their own colourful world, but they

shouldnt forget that even the GRAYs & WHITEs are important.

There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and theother how to live.

John Adams


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Colourful Quiz

1. Where would you find the Great Red Spot? (If you went there, thatis...)

a. Mount Restnovich in New South Walesb. Marsc. Aldebarand. Jupiter

2.Red Rum is (or was) one of these.a. A horse that won the Grand National three timesb. The nickname of Admiral Vernonc. A mix of white rum and cranberry juiced. A caramelised custard containing rum

3.What Colour is NOT in the flag of Amsterdam?a. Redb. Bluec. Blackd. White

4.Which is NOT a famous (Colourfully named) band from the 1960s-70s?a. Deep Purpleb. Pink Floydc. King Crimsond. Whiter Shade of Pale

5. Back in the 1960s some people were "Comfortably Numb", while othershad "Paranoid Eyes". Yet, ___ Floyd seemed to be "Fearless". What is themissing Colour?

a. Brownb. Blackc. Pinkd. White


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6.Which Indian state is the largest producer in the world of the goldencoloured 'Muga' silk?

a. Assamb.

Orissa

c. West Bengald. Karnataka

7. What are the three pigments responsible for the colour of a human being?a. Chromatophores, Chlorophyll and Hemoglobinb. Carotene, Hemoglobin and Lipofuscinc. Melanin, Carotene and Hemoglobind. Carotene, Lipofuscin and Melanin

8. Who or what are Blue Babies?a. Babies with blue eyesb. Babies born in royal familiesc. Babies born with blue rashesd. Babies born with defective hearts

9.Dalmatian dogs are born which colour or colours?a. White with black spotsb. White - spots come laterc. Whitish yellow with black spotsd. Whitish yellow - spots come later

10.Blue, red, green, yellow are the four Olympic rings colours. What is thecolour of the fifth ring?

a. Violetb. Pinkc.

Black

d. White


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Quiz answers1. d. Jupiter. It's a sort of stormy thing that's apparently been going on for hundreds of

years at least.

2. a. A horse that won the Grand National three times

3. b. Blue. Adopted on February 5, 1975, the flag of the city of Amsterdam is red, whiteand black. It depicts three St. Andrews crosses on a red background.

4. d. Whiter Shade of Pale. "Whiter Shade of Pale" is a song title, not a band's name.5. c. Pink. Pink Floyd was an English rock band that originated in London, England in 1965.

They recorded many songs up until 1996.

6. a. Assam7. c. Melanin, Carotene and Hemoglobin8. d. Babies born with defective hearts9. b. White - spots come later10.c. Black


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Through our eyes, the visual acoustics


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Dear Readers,

We really thank you for the kind of response and the encouragement that we

got from your side. We wish to get the same in future too.

Our next issue is set to come out in next month, April13. We invite

suggestions from our readers on ways to improve Cocktail. Please put in your

thoughts as to what other areas you would like us to feature in the coming

issues.

In addition to this we also request all our dear readers to contribute with your

articles, poems, photographs and all that you wish to share on this forum and

make Cocktail a success.

We would really appreciate to receive your mails, sent at

[email protected].

Cocktail Team
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

cocktail march 2013

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