Pohela Boishakh - the Elish chronicles!

Warning: before reading this post, do know that this post is in no way intended to hurt your of any of your friends' sentiments... it's just something that came up on my mind after observing one of the common trends related to Pohela Boishakh... if anyone is still offended, then know this - you've been warned!!!

Pohela Boishakh has always been one of my favorite times of the year. I absolutely love the idea behind the day and the festivities that go along with it. For as long as I can remember, I have always been celebrating this day of the year. However, as we grow older (and in some of our cases, wiser :P), we start viewing the things around us from multiple perspectives. I had such a realization today while shopping for a Dawat at my place on Pohela Boishakh. 

Elish (no, I refuse to refer to my favorite Elish maach as Hilsha!) has always been an integral part of Pohela Boishakh. For many, a Pohela Boishakh meal without Elish is pointless. When I went to the shop today, I kinda expected the place to be out of Elish as it was both a weekend as well as the day before Pohela Boishakh. Surprisingly, the place had plenty of Elish and it is then that the so called realization actually struck me.

As I was standing at the fish corner, confused about which Elish to get (as there were three types, with different price tags of course), I observed the different type of people who were also Elish shopping! Let me warn you again, this is solely my own observation! Let's see if you can relate -

Tk 3,550 per kg - each of your Elish will at least weigh 1 kg, you are the 'elite' Bangali to whom money is not an issue. Fresh Elish on Pohela Boishakh is a must for you regardless of the fact that you wouldn't even know the difference. You probably don't even bother about Elish for the rest of the year but it's definitely a must on Pohela  Boishakh. Ekkere Bagher Baccha!

Tk 2,495 per kg - for the 'shoukhin' Bangali. Your Elish is also 'ekdom fresh' but a little small on the size - probably not up to the 'elite' standards. Like your elite friends you also need 'taaja' Elish on this day even though it actually doesn't make a difference to you. But nevertheless you still have to maintain your social status and 'lagle ekta kinmu kintu daami tai kinmu' is your motto (the person next to me actually did that). Hats off to you mate! - such a fighter! 

Tk 740 per kg (Frozen) - for the 'khati' (feel free to read CHEAP/KIPTA/CHALLU) Bangali aka Myself! Like me, you probablyy thought 'eto taka diye Elish kine ki labh? ke bujhbe? maal moshla diya radhle to shobi ek!' Yes my friend, you are right - just as I am right! In fact I might as well pass my Elish as 'taaja' and if it doesn't taste good (hoping it doesn't come to that) I might as well blame the shop and say 'shob shala baatpar! taaja boila eita dhorai dilo???' We are the true Bangalis and have barely managed to keep the title by getting ourselves Elish on Pohela Boishakh. For the rest of the losers, Elish kino nai to ajke tomra Bangali na! Ta tumi jotoi 'hedom' hou! Muri khao!

So, 15 minutes at the fish corner and I actually saw the three types of Elish and their typical buyers. On a personal level, I consider myself to be a food enthusiast and according to many, I have a bad reputation of spending 'too much' on food. However, I am strongly against the idea of quoting absurd prices on items for a particular time of the year - as in this case, what the opportunist shop owners are doing with the price of Elish, and people willingly paying these absurd amounts. We all know that this is a common scenario in our country during Ramadan, Eid and other festivities but for some reason, this Elish fiasco actually pissed me off as I blame many of us for allowing the sellers to ask for such absurd prices and getting away with it. We all love Elish but it surely should not become a symbolic necessity of our Pohela Boishakh for which many of us would be willing to pay such absurd amounts.

Anyway, I still hope that everyone is happy with their Elish purchase - I certainly am happy with mine. Shubho Nobo Borsho everyone!

Goodbye House 67

Well yesterday was my last day at Therap. It was the end to one of the best chapters of my life. I had a hard time coming up with a goodbye email before I left so I wont even try writing about my time at Therap here. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words - so here is a collection of pics taken during my two years at Therap. Actually there are tons of pictures but I'll be needing an actual wall to create such a big collage! These are definitely memories worth cherishing!

Goodbye House 67... thanks for the good times!

P.S. I'll definitely miss the Thursday lunch! 

Image Link

From Subject Line To Signature: How to Do Work E-Mail Right

something interesting and useful that i came across ...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/07/11/from-subject-line-to-signature-how-to-do-work-e-mail-right/

2012... the year of Slash !!!

well to start it off it was Slash's 47th birthday this monday ... the last few years had been amazing for the top-hat wearing, jack daniel's drinking rocker. starting from his much awaited self-titled debut solo album in 2010 that featured an array of guest appearances from Ozzy to Fergie,  Slash followed up the success with his second album 'Apocalyptic Love' this year. although this was more of a band effort consisting of Myles Kennedy (alterbridge) and The Conspirators (the backup band Slash put up initially for touring), Slash's first album was a rare concept where he composed each and every song and brought in guest singers for the vocal duties. Myles was also featured in his first album and later Slash had invited him to tour with him in support of the album. the touring experience led to the development of the second album and the duo ended up forming a real band with the rest of the crew.

however, Slash is always expected to rock and his work outside GNR had always proved the fact that he still has much more to offer to the world. apart from the musical endeavors, there were two other milestones that Slash had achieved this year - first, GNR was inducted in the Rock Hall of Fame and secondly, Slash received his own star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame. There were much talks regarding the GNR Hall of Fame induction as the original lineup never got back after they had broken up. although Slash had formed the hugely successful Velvet Revolver with Duff and Matt, Axl's version of GNR went no where within the last decade. Axl lived up to his reputation and declined the Rock Hall of Fame induction and announced that he would not be attending the event. but the rest of the crew did not disappoint. Slash, Duff, Matt, Gilby and Steven Adler decided to show up and once again Myles Kennedy filled in for the singing role. it was great to see Steven get inducted and play with the rest of the bunch as he really didn't have much going on in his life for all these years. this was the key moment of Steven's life! it would have been great if Izzy was there as well, but that was his thing .... he was never fond of the whole publicity thingy. all in all, it was a great show and in my opinion the right slap on Axl's face.

Slash was handed over the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by actor Charlie Sheen, his long time friend. part of Sheen's speech was -

"It's quite fitting that Slash is getting a star on the very street Axl Rose will one day be sleeping on," quipped Sheen. "This star is going to be stepped on more than the coke we did in the Eighties."

Slash is the reason why i listen to rock. i still remember the first time i listened to sweet child o' mine and how i was blown away by the guitar solo. it remains my favorite guitar solo to date and although my music taste has evolved over the years, Slash and the old GNR would always be my first love when it comes to music. there isn't much to write on my part on such an icon but i believe that after all these years Slash has finally earned the greatness that he was destined for. rock on Slash!!!

The Aerosmith Chick

aerosmith has always been one of my favorite rock bands and till date they are one of the few bands of their time who came up with great music videos without SELLING OUT!!! steven tyler and crew have quite a few good music videos under their belts and i guess most people are at least familiar with the ones featuring alicia silverstone (aka the Aerosmith chick!).

my first exposure to aerosmith music videos came from some locally compiled disk that i had come across and i was surprised to see that alicia silverstone had appeared in three of their music videos all of which were from the get a grip album. i guess she is the only actress other than stephanie seymour (who had appeared in two guns n' roses videos: don't cry and november rain) who had appeared in multiple music videos by the same band. seymour was dating axl rose at the time those songs were recorded which makes complete sense behind her appearances in those videos. alicia, on the other hand, was not related to any members of aerosmith at any point which makes the selection rather interesting.

the first video featuring alicia silverstone was that of cryin'. the video features a teenage girl who has a falling out with her boyfriend after she catches him cheating. rather than describing the plot of the video, i will leave you with a link to the video itself. it's a great song with a great video. the video was a smash success on MTV, becoming one of the most requested videos in 1993, and earning the band several awards at the Video Music Awards.

the next song to feature alicia silverstone in the video was amazing. this video features a teenage boy and girl, both depicted as two cyberspace kids who escape to a world of virtual reality together, both not realizing the other isalso doing virtual reality. it's a pretty cool video with an amazing joe perry guitar solo that builds the song's momentum.

the last song to feature the actress was crazy. it also featured liv tyler, steven tyler's daugher. crazy was the first aerosmith song that i had heard and it got me into their music. the video depicted the two actresses as two schoolgirls who skip class and run away, driving off in a convertible. 

i still wonder what aerosmith were thinking when they decided to cast alicia silverstone in three music videos from the same album. well, to date it still remains one of the most unique music video ideas and the videos themselves continue to be some of the coolest music videos ever released!