One unknown song and its lyrics...

Singer : Rupam Islam (Lead singer of the bengali band FOSSILS)

The Song :
tumi tomari dhorar e majhe,
more pathale apan kaaje,
ami khela kori pathe, phiri patha hote andharo jibon o sanjhe...

amai daraye chilam taai
bhito nirabo aparadhisamo sudhale jobab naai...

maa tor sneher sashone, khomar adore hridoy giyeche gole,
omaa eije niyecho kole.

aage khub kore more mere dhore
sesh a aai jeno bacha bole
omaa, ei je niyecho kole...

Trip to Amritsar ... Jo bole So Nihal - ਜੋ ਬੋਲੇ ਸੋ ਨਿਹਾਲ

If you are a software engineer, living in NCR and bored of doing same coding day by day then take a break on any weekend and visit Amritsar. You need only one night stay in Amritsar to visit four main attractions of Amritsar - Golden Temple, Wagah Border, Jalianwalah Bag and Great Food Junction- Bhrawan Da Dhaba!!!

One can take +SWARNA SHTBDI from NEW DELHI at 07:20 am and it reaches AMRITSAR JN at 13:25 hrs. Reaching Amritsar just book any hotel, average rate is INR 500 for family room that can accomodate 4 person. Now quickly freshen up yourself, take a lassi and then go out for Wagah Border.

Wagah (Hindi: वाघा, Urdu: واہگہ, Punjabi: ਵਾਘਾ) is the only road border crossing between India and Pakistan, and lies on the Grand Trunk Road between the cities of Amritsar, India and Lahore, Pakistan. Wagah itself is a village through which the controversial Radcliffe Line was drawn.

The Wagah border often called the 'Berlin wall of Asia', is a ceremonial border on India–Pakistan Border, where each evening, there is a retreat ceremony called 'lowering of the flags'. At that time there is very energetic and thrilling parade done by Border Security Force (B.S.F), India and Pakistan Rangers soldiers. It may seem slightly aggressive and even hostile to foreigners, but it really is just grand entertainment for the crowds with grand stands being built on both sides. Crack troops of each country put on quite an entertaining show in their uniforms.

(Me and Jana with one BSF Personal at Wagah Border)

After the end of the flag lowering ceremony, while returning to the main town, we stopped at Jalianwalah Bagh. Jallaianwala Bagh, situated 400 meters north of the Golden Temple, is where the most notorious massacre under the British rule took place. In the afternoon of 13 April, 1919, thousands of people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh for a peaceful demonstration on the Baisakhi day. The ground is surrounded by high walls on all sides and has only a narrow alley for access.
General Dyer personally led his troops to the site. Standing on the only access way, he ordered his men to open fire without any warning resulting in the death of 337men, 41 boys and one baby and injuring more than 1200. A section of the wall with visible bullet marks is preserved, as is the well that some people jumped into to escape the bullets. 120 bodies were recovered from the well. Today this ground has been changed to a memorial park. At the entrance there is a memorial plaque which recounts the history.

Afterwards you have ample time to spend either in Golden Temple or just walking through the roads of Amritsar. After Jalianwalah Bagh, we visited Harmandir Sahib, also know as the Golden Temple in Amritsar City is the holiest shrine of the Sikh religion. Also known as the Shri Darbar Shaib, it is in the center of the old part of Amritsar. The Golden Temple sits on a rectangular platform, surrounded by a pool of water called the Amrit Sarovar from which the City is named. The entrance to the Golden Temple complex is through an ornate archway with intricate inlay work. During Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s reign the lower half of the temple was decorated with marble while the entire upper half was inlaid with copper and gold plated. Its four gates symbolically invite everyone from all directions.

(From Left: Ayan(Malik), Abhijit(Jana), Me(Aka), Shuvo(Bihari), Bikash(Biku))

Built in a blend of Hindu and Muslim styles, the Golden Temple is a two story marble structure and the interior of the temple is decorated with semi precious stones, frescoes and glass work. Here, one can buy Halua made up of pure desi ghee to offer it to the shrine. I can bet in your entire life you will not be able to find such delicious Halua!!!

And the last thing, if you are hungry just go to Bhrawan Da Dhaba and make sure at the end you have taken a glass of Lassi.

James Princep and Kolkata - Love@Silence

This is a picture of Princep Ghat on the banks of the river Ganga in Kolkata. Situated near the Vidyasagar Setu, it is one of the restored heritage buildings in Kolkata.Ghat in Bengali/Hindi would mean a jetty for small ships and boats.Sir James Princep was a renowned researcher, and was a real prodigy in his field. He served as the secretary of 'The Asiatic Society' from 1832-1838. He did prolonged, tenacious research on meteorology, chemistry, Indian scriptures, numismatics, archaeology, mineral resources etc. His greatest achievement in life has been to decipher the doctrines of Emperor Ashoka, from the inscriptions in rocks and boulders. He was also the acting Asst. Master of the mint at Calcutta. This rare genius passed away on 22nd April, 1840 at a mere age of 41. He had probably been the victim of excessive mental tormentation and overstrain.After his death, the Calcuttans collected fund and built the 'Princep Ghat' in 1843 on the south of Chandpal Ghat to commemorate their beloved man. The Viceroy Lord Attenborough aboarded the ship from Princep Ghat in 1844 before abandoning this country. Before this, Chandpal Ghat was used by the British to aboard on ships. However, all the princes and the royal emissaries who came to Calcutta after Lord Attenborough, used the Princep Ghat and not Chandpal Ghat.The Workshop captures the interior of the building.What can be seen on the background is the Vidyasagar Setu a.k.a "The second Hooghly bridge", on which I will provide details in my next post.During the construction of this bridge, the Princep Ghat sufferred some damage. The Kolkata Port trust and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation joined hands for the restoration of this heritage building, and this was how it looks before restoration.

Attitude matters ... Never say die !!

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before. Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built. Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling (Picture given below)

Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move. "We told them so.""Crazy men and their crazy dreams.""It`s foolish to chase wild visions."Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment. It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife. He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.