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Cartoon of the Week 14: Buy and Return

December 4, 2008 on 10:11 pm | In Cartoons, Generic | No Comments

Buy and ReturnLast week the holiday shopping season kicked off with mad black Friday. With the current economic turmoil and officially declared recession looming on us, many pundits predicted that this shopping season will be less than stellar. However, the black Friday sales reports say something different. Shoppers flocked to the stores in hordes, many camped outside their favorite stores overnight. The tragic stampede death of a security worker at the Long Island Wal-mart clearly indicated the shopper frenzy was not at all dampened by any economic concerns. On the other hand, some may argue, that this shopper frenzy is caused due to the economic conditions since people want to spend the minimum this season. Hence black Friday was possibly their only option to get the best possible deals.
The other day I heard another pundit on the NPR who suggested that whatever disposable (now that’s a loaded word) income one makes this season, they should spend at the stores. This not only helps the economy, but also is the best use of the money at this moment since neither the stock market nor the bank can be relied upon. Hence enjoy while you can.
Another option may be to enjoy short term and return! The long return lines at the stores after the Christmas can be longer this season. After the instant gratification of shopping a fresh product, send it back to where it came from. Returning stuff is a hobby for many folks. They just buy stuff only to return them. The liberal return policy of these stores (who believe that the best way to satisfy a customer is to gladly accept the returned merchandise) have spoiled many a shopper. They love to return stuff, they seem to fall in love with the customer service counter as much as they love the cash counter. The only gripe they have is that they need to retain the price tags and the receipts. If only the tags could have been made invisible and the requirements for receipts waived - this world would have been heaven!

Cartoon of the Week 13: Prediction

November 20, 2008 on 9:09 pm | In Cartoons, Generic | No Comments

Can you please tell me from which platform will the train depart?
Many of us are strong believers in astrology and other similar practices like palmistry, tarot cards etc. etc. that claim to predict one’s future. A huge industry runs on servicing such people and also provides employment to millions. The television and other media advertisements of such sooth sayers and fortune tellers prove that they earn enough money to invest in these marketing campaigns. The precious and semi-precious gem stone market in India depends on the belief that the negative influence of the planets and stars can be countered by wearing a specific kind of gem stone that can cost thousands of rupees. Continue reading Cartoon of the Week 13: Prediction…

Cartoon of the week 12: Culture Shock

November 12, 2008 on 12:19 pm | In Cartoons, Generic | No Comments

Culture ShockThe other day I was at the Union County College (UCC) to participate in a seminar/talk about immigrant issues as portrayed in works of art and literature. The topic emerged from the works of Jhumpa Lahiri, since her two books, “Interpreter of Maladies” and “The Namesake”, are being selected as the college novels for the 2008-2009 term. After my talk, few of us were chatting regarding how we deal with cultural differences in our everyday life in this country. Each of us were narrating some incidents in our life and in connection to “The Namesake” we were talking about the significance of names in different cultures, how we address each other, and how they are being interpreted. Continue reading Cartoon of the week 12: Culture Shock…

Cartoon of the Week 10: The Power of Salt

October 23, 2008 on 8:20 pm | In Cartoons, Social | 2 Comments

Namak Harami Korbo Naa.In the famous Bengali play “Alibaba” by Khirodprasad Bidyabinod, when the righteous dacoit chief came as a guest to Alibaba’s home - he mentioned about one diet restriction that he had - he doesn’t eat salt. Obviously his salt restriction was not because of hypertension or any other nephrological disease that he might have had (the playwright did not give any clues except that he was quite hot tempered). He didn’t want Alibaba to serve him any salty food because then he would have had to pay for his salt indebtedness. He would no longer be able to kill Alibaba and his family and loot back his wealth. He could never be a “Namak Haram”! Such is the power of salt. This mythological power of salt has been used as a test of ones righteousness. If you ever ingest salt served by somebody, you should always sing his praise - in Bengali we say “Noon khai jaar - Goon gai taar!” But these days we hardly obey such silly dictum. Continue reading Cartoon of the Week 10: The Power of Salt…

Cartoon of the Week 9: Are we Missing Something?

October 16, 2008 on 11:10 am | In Cartoons, Generic, Social | 1 Comment

Pujor SaariFrom the recent comments and postings on this and other blogs and from the “addas” at various Bijoya Sammilani parties, I keep on getting a constant message - maybe we are missing the good old style Durga Puja as it used to happen in this part of the world. We all can agree on one thing that back home, the Bijoya Dashami was one of the saddest day of the year. No amount of “Naru”, “Laddu” or “Ghugni” could sweep away the sadness. But when we came to this country, we discovered that Durga Puja does not have to end on one specific day. Continue reading Cartoon of the Week 9: Are we Missing Something?…

Cartoon of the Week 8: Puja Prasad

October 2, 2008 on 10:29 am | In Cartoons, Generic, Social | No Comments

Holy Food, PrasadFinally, the Durga Puja festival is upon us. After all the registration/pre-registration dust settles, we’ll all assemble in front of Maa Durga and pray to give us a good life. We may be at different puja celebrations, but in some way, we all will be connected by the single thread of joy, hope and happiness that this festival has been bringing to us over the years.
One of the most enjoyable things at the Durga Puja festivals is the community dinner. Sitting together and having a nice meal with the rest of the community gives a great feeling of solidarity. But these dinners are also a source of major logistical issues. Continue reading Cartoon of the Week 8: Puja Prasad…

Cartoon of the week 7: Durga Puja Chaanda Collection Service

September 25, 2008 on 5:44 pm | In Arts-Culture, Cartoons, Generic, Social | No Comments

Chaanda collection service In several of my earlier blog articles, I wrote about our sensitivity to paying Durga Puja contributions (popularly known as Chaanda). The Puja organizers have tried to be innovative in extracting (no I never said extorting) the funds from the pockets of the attendees - they suggested (very strongly) donation amounts which partially resolved the problem but not the unpredictability. They have now resorted to early registration to ensure the committed funds (doesn’t matter if the contributors fail to attend due to weather or personal issues) and again they are successful to a great extent (Kallol has stopped early registration two weeks in advance and have declared “House Full”). Continue reading Cartoon of the week 7: Durga Puja Chaanda Collection Service…

Cartoon of the Week 6: The Pujo Entertainment

September 10, 2008 on 4:57 pm | In Arts-Culture, Cartoons, Generic, Social | No Comments


Pujor AddaEntertainment events are the major attractions of any Durga Puja festival. The Puja organizers spend thousands of dollars to get the most popular artistes from India as well as from the local talent pool. It is the star entertainers that pull in the crowd, and crowd brings in revenue. The popularity ratings of the entertainers define the success of a Durga Puja.
But is it true? If the stars and their entertainment was the only reason to attend a Puja festival, then why do we have to listen to the constant rumbling noise of numerous “adda” sessions that continue in the background? As the audio levels of the performers rise, so does the noise level. To many attendees (myself included) the main attraction of attending a Puja is the opportunity to meet friends and engage in endless “addas”. We have no ill feeling towards the performers, they can continue to do their job as long as they don’t disturb our “addas”. After all, it is them who made us decide which Puja to attend - but they cannot deny us our birth right to be able to talk, talk and talk for hours on. We will occasionally listen to one or two songs to give our tired jaw bones some rest, but soon we’ll get back to argue about who was the best performer of the song, and how this “hopeless” artist has ruined the song completely. We’ll lament the dearth of talent in Bengal and how we miss the golden days of Kishore and Hemanta-da, how the new generation of band music is destroying Bangla music and why one should ban artistes like Sumon and Nachiketa.

Cartoon of the Week 5: Pujo Cartoon

September 3, 2008 on 11:19 am | In Arts-Culture, Cartoons, Generic, Social | No Comments


Suggested minumum pieces : 8Durga Puja festival has always been a great source of inspiration to me as a cartoonist. I have drawn several cartoons related to this festival and the way we celebrate it in our adopted homeland. Last week I posted one on the “Chanda” issue. This cartoon (drawn a long time ago for Kallol Sahityo Patrika) also takes a spin on the same touchy subject. In earlier times (late 80’s and early 90’s), the Pujo organizers did not specify or “suggest” any contribution amount to the attendees. The strong “suggestion” became, sort of, necessary from the later half of the 90’s when goat meat (or mutton curry) became a must item at the Saturday evening community dinner. Goat meat has always been an expensive item, and with the unpredictable attendance being a major problem, estimating the amount of meat to be cooked is always an issue. The volunteers serving dinner had to deploy smart strategies to control the number of mutton pieces to the hungry devotees standing in the line. At the beginning phase, they are generally generous, especially to their friends and families. However, soon (after a quick review by the supervisors) the strategy changes to a rationing mode when the number of mutton pieces served becomes indirectly proportional to the number of attendees. Now in this situation, the tired and hungry attendee, who has paid the “suggested minimum contribution” has all the right to demand a “suggested minimum number of pieces” of the precious goat meat. After all, that was one of the key factors that attracted him to this festival in the first place!

Cartoon of the Week 4: Pujor Chanda

August 28, 2008 on 3:08 pm | In Arts-Culture, Cartoons, Generic | No Comments


VegeterianPujo contribution or Chaanda (as we fondly call this concept) is always an issue with the average Bengali. Be it in India or in USA, Bengalis have the feeling that this is an unjust extortion in the name of a festival that we all like to attend. It should be free for all of us. Where the organizers get their funds is not for us to bother about. Since, most of the Pujo organizers make it a point to ensure that each and every attendee pays their contribution, we’d like to get away with the minimum amount that helps us to claim a stake in the festival. But the Pujo organizers these days are smart, they make the contribution amount quite obvious by displaying it in bold font. To justify the specified amount, the organizers will cite different components of the cost incurred to hold a festival of this magnitude, like goat meat, Mumbai and Kolkata performers - etc etc. This cartoon raises a legitimate question - why not an a-la carte system for Pujor Chanda? Sounds fair to me!

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