Diwali or Deepawali is celebrated as the day when light wins over darkness and good wins over evil. Goddess Kali, who rules both, the worlds of light and of darkness, is worshipped on this day and throughout this season, in her various avatars – Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati.
“Cyclones are caused by excessive heat,” explained a scientist of the Indian Meteorological Department in layperson’s terms. When the sea or ocean water gets hot, centres of depressions are formed with the hot air rising and creating a hollow centre. This hollow centre is the “eye of the storm”.
The 29the edition of the United Nation’s Conference of Parties on Environment (COP29) will begin next month. The countdown calls for different aspects of climate change to be discussed.
I first read Fyodor Dostoevsky’s, Crime and Punishment while still in school and inadvertently fell for the protagonist Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov for his intellectual intensity.
The cafe Artsy – Coffee and Culture is tucked away in a by-lane off the meandering A.J.C. Bose Road. It is often discovered by passing Kolkatans by the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and freshly baked cake. And once you’ve walked in, an entire world opens up. It is a space where artists can exhibit their work for free. Musicians can perform live for free. The only cost is food and drink. The prices are fair, and the fare is priceless.
When people declare, “We want justice” which is the war cry that is rending the air today, I think it is more than punishment for the guilty who committed the heinous crime which has sunk people to the depths of despair and anger.
“Why do bad things happen?” or “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why does not God intervene when evil people do evil things to good people?”
During the pandemic, when a question mark hung over whether or not Durga Puja would be celebrated at all, one man was at the receiving end of at least a hundred distressed phone calls. His name is Rintu Das, the artist who subsequently catapulted to fame with his stunning depiction of Goddess Durga as a migrant labourer, walking back to her home in heaven with her children, Ganesh, Kartik, Lakshmi and Saraswati in tow...and in tatters.
But what ARE the roots of evil then and can these be eradicated?
If one could pen down his or her fleeting thoughts about this, that and the other, and turn them into a little booklet, it could make for a potentially delightful read. And that is exactly what Samir Kumar Das Gupta has done in “Random Thoughts, Problems and Possible Solutions”.
