Pujo is coming...

A Vir Sanghvi article on Pujo and Bengalis, written a few yrs back in The Hindustan Times.

“It’s always hard to explain to somebody who does not live in Calcutta what it is about Puja that makes that period so magical.
Before I came to live in Calcutta in 1980, I was only dimly aware of the significance of Puja. I knew the boring facts and figures, of course. I knew what proportion of annual retail sales took place during the Puja period. I knew that the city shut down for the whole week. I knew that at ABP - where I was soon to work - telephone operators would, strangely enough, take the trouble of coming to work, only so that they could receive incoming calls, shout ‘Pujo’, and then hang up on irate out-of-town callers.

It’s like Christmas, they told me. Imagine Christmas in New York: Puja means that to a Bengali. Others found more home-grown parallels. It’s like Diwali in North India, they said. You know, the shopping, the parties, the festivities and all that stuff.

Actually, of course, it was nothing like Christmas; and certainly nothing like Diwali in North India.

Nothing, in fact, can prepare you for the magic of Puja in Calcutta.

To understand what it means, you have to be here.
As the years went on and as I went from Puja to Puja, I tried to work out why nobody could explain to outsiders what it was that made Puja so special. Why was that I failed as completely as everybody else in communicating the essence of Puja? Why did all the time-honoured comparisons not really ring true; with Dushera, Diwali, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and God alone knows what else?

The answer, I suspect - and after all these years, it is still a suspicion, I have no solutions - is that you can’t understand Puja unless you understand Calcutta and unless you understand Bengalis.

But if you want a city with a soul: come to Calcutta.
When I look back on the years I’ve spent in Calcutta - and I come back so many times each year that I often feel I’ve never been away - I don’t remember the things that people remember about cities. When I think of London, I think of the vast open spaces of Hyde Park. When I think of New York, I think of the frenzy of Times Square. When I think of Tokyo, I think of the bright lights of Shinjiku. And when I think of Paris, I think of the Champs Elysee.

But when I think of Calcutta, I never think of any one place. I don’t focus on the greenery of the maidan, the beauty of the Victoria Memorial, the bustle of Burra Bazar or the splendour of the new Howrah ’Bridge’.

I think of people.
Because, finally, a city is more than bricks and mortars, street lights and tarred roads.
A city is the sum of its people.

And who can ever forget - or replicate - the people of Calcutta?

When I first came to live here, I was told that the city would grow on me. What nobody told me was that the city would change my life.
It was in Calcutta that I learnt about true warmth; about simple human decency; about love and friendship; about emotions and caring; about truth and honesty.
I learnt other things too. Coming from Bombay as I did, it was revelation to live in a city where people judged each other on the things that really mattered; where they recognized that being rich did not make you a better person - in fact, it might have the opposite effect.
I learnt also that if life is about more than just money, it is about the things that other cities ignore; about culture, about ideas, about art, and about passion.
In Bombay, a man with a relatively low income will salt some of it away for the day when he gets a stock market tip. In Calcutta, a man with exactly the same income will not know the difference between a debenture and a dividend. But he will spend his money on the things that matter. Each morning, he will read at least two newspapers and develop sharply etched views on the state of the world. Each evening, there will be fresh (ideally, fresh-water or river) fish on his table. His children will be encouraged to learn to dance or sing. His family will appreciate the power of poetry. And for him, religion and culture will be in inextricably bound together.
Ah religion!
Tell outsiders about the importance of Puja in Calcutta and they’ll scoff. Don’t be silly, they’ll say. Puja is a religious festival. And Bengal has voted for the CPM since 1977. How can godless Bengal be so hung up on a religions festival?
I never know how to explain them that to a Bengali, religion consists of much more than shouting Jai Shri Ram or pulling down somebody’s mosque. It has little to do with meaningless ritual or sinister political activity.

The essence of Puja is that all the passions of Bengal converge: emotion, culture, the love of life, the warmth of being together, the joy of celebration, the pride in artistic _expression and yes, the cult of the goddess.
It may be about religion. But is not about much more than just worship.
In which other part of India would small, not particularly well-off localities, vie with each other to produce the best pandals? Where else could puja pandals go beyond religion to draw inspiration from everything else? In the years I lived in Calcutta, the pandals featured Amitabh Bachchan, Princes Diana and even Saddam Hussain!
Where else would children cry with the sheer emotional power of Dashimi, upset that the Goddess had left their homes? Where else would the whole city gooseflesh when the dhakis first begin to beat their drums?
Which other Indian festival - in any part of the country - is so much about food, about going from one roadside stall to another, following your nose as it trails the smells of cooking?

To understand Puja, you must understand Calcutta. And to understand Calcutta, you must understand the Bengali.
It’s not easy. Certainly, you can’t do it till you come and live here, till you let Calcutta suffuse your being, invade your bloodstream and steal your soul.
But once you have, you’ll love Calcutta forever. Wherever you go, a bit of Calcutta will go with you.

I know, because it’s happened to me. And every Puja, I am overcome by the magic of Bengal.

It’s a feeling that’ll never go away.”

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Going to home

Going to home after a year, is something always very exciting. Last year we just planed and planned but nothing materialized. I hope this time it would be as per the plan and schedule. My wife is staying away from her parents for such a long time for the first time. So she must more excited than me. This time again I will attend the “Jamai Sosthi” at her house. This will my second time. Last year was my first time and I enjoyed the ceremony a lot. I hope I am not still old for them :) .... after all its only the second time.
Last year we had participated in a TV game named “Rojgera Ginni”. That game show actually is about husband-wife. My wife contacted with them and they had actually arranged the same in a quite a short notice. I must say she has quite a quality to do something if she decided and convinced.
After getting my job in Infosys when first time I returned home during Puja, I think that was the best “Returning Home” experience of mine. We were four people Me, Bap, Hilu and Avik. And I remember we had a great train journey. That time such was the excitement that the two and half a days of journey was not at all a boring one. I remember, as soon as I reached home I just had some food and went out of home with friends to visit Puja Mandaps. It was just like I returned home from my college and go out with my friends to have fun. But now all my friends at Berhampore are scattered everywhere for their job purpose and I know I won't able to find all of them whenever I will go to my birth place. Hence it is true that for me, the returning home thing is not any more that more attractive.
Now returning home means to me nostalgia of my house at Berhampore. And ofcourse the foods from my ma's kitchen. Also I would visit my neighbors. My ma gets very happy if give sometime to her to visit her neighbors. And to me it's a duty also because it's her neighbors only who used to take care of my parents when I have to leave in a place which is quite a distant from them.

हिन्दी ब्लोग्गिंग

इ मेरा पहला हिन्दी ब्लॉग हेई । अच्छा लगा के अब हम हमारी निजी भासा में भी ब्लॉग कर सक ते हेई। गूगल इ से पहले बही एईस तर के की सरे सुबिधइए दे चुके हेई। और इ सी लिए सयद गूगल दुनिएया में सबसे जयादा पोपुलर हेई। कभी कभी इंग्लिश में अपना चिंता को जाहिर करना थोरा मुल्स्किल हो जाता हेई। कु के आपनी मत्री भासा में कोइए भी बिचार लिखना हमेसा जायद आसान होता हेई।
अभिभादन देना चाहूँगा गूगल को इस के लिए।
पल्लब

IPL (Indian Premier League)

IPL definitely marks a new beginning of an era of cricket where games goes short-crisp and fast. This format is a huge hit at list this point of time and I think this will be the future of cricket. Now there was a lot of debate before the tournament starts or even after it got kicked off about the effect of this cricket "Tamasha" on the present forms of the game. I think this is not going to affect the test cricket which is the mother form of all. But definitely this will mark the end of the attraction of one day cricket. Simply because, one day format was made to make Cricket short from the test format but, now people have even less time to watch a full one-day game. So T20 is appropriate for the present generation. In the disadvantage front, I think this will erode out playing skill as T20 requires making run fast. Also T20 means a lot of cricket would be played now in the year. So players should be more cautious now so that they do not play in excessive matches in the lure of money. Yes, this money aspect is also going to affect cricket now. After the IPL auction of players, people were actually shocked to see how much money poured in cricket. This will no doubt make this sport even more popular. And the cricketers will surely get their due now. Even in the lighter note I think, parents now motivate their children to get into this sport more than the "study hard" stuff. So this generation of boys would have a better life than us for sure :) They will play more Crickets and get a good chance to make their carrier in cricket.

Straddle Fundas

Long straddle
An option payoff diagram for a long straddle position
An option payoff diagram for a long straddle position

A long straddle involves going long, purchasing, both a call option and a put option on some stock, interest rate, index or other underlying. The two options are bought at the same strike price and expire at the same time. The owner of a long straddle makes a profit if the underlying price moves a long way from the strike price, either above or below. Thus, an investor may take a long straddle position if he thinks the market is highly volatile, but does not know in which direction it is going to move. This position is a limited risk, since the most a purchaser may lose is the cost of both options. At the same time, there is unlimited profit potential, since the change of the underlying price of any option is unlimited.[1]

For example, company XYZ is set to release its quarterly financial results in two weeks. A trader believes that the release of these results will cause a large movement in the price of XYZ's stock, but does not know whether the price will go up or down. He can enter into a long straddle, where he gets a profit no matter which way the price of XYZ stock moves, if the price changes enough either way. If the price goes up enough, he uses the call option and ignores the put option. If the price goes down, he uses the put option and ignores the call option. If the price does not change enough, he loses.

Short straddle
An option payoff diagram for a short straddle position
An option payoff diagram for a short straddle position

A short straddle is a non-directional options trading strategy that involves simultaneously selling a put and a call of the same underlying security, strike price and expiration date. The profit is limited to the premiums of the put and call, but it is risky if the underlying security's price goes up or down much. The deal breaks even if the intrinsic value of the put or the call equals the sum of the premiums of the put and call. This strategy is called "nondirectional" because the short straddle profits when the underlying security changes little in price before the expiration of the straddle. The short straddle can also be classified as a credit spread because the sale of the short straddle results in a credit of the premiums of the put and call.

A short straddle position is highly risky, because the potential loss is unlimited, whereas profitability is limited to the premium gained by the initial sale of the options.

The collar

The Collar is a more conservative "opposite" that limits gains and losses.

As a volatility strategy

By engaging in a straddle transaction, the investor is also taking a position on the volatility of the underlying security. Going long a straddle is a bet that the underlier will be more volatile over the straddle's term than predicted by the market. Conversely, going short a straddle is a bet that the underlier will be less volatile. To see this, assume that the investor frequently re-hedges his portfolio with the underlier to keep his portfolio delta neutral. Because delta for an option is a monotonically increasing function of the underlier's price, one can quickly see that large underlier movements help the investor who is long a straddle. When the underlier's price goes up, the total delta of the straddle goes up as well, and the investor will need to sell the underlier to maintain a delta neutral portfolio. When the underlier goes down, the investor will need to buy the underlier. Hence, lots of movement in the underlier, or volatility, causes the investor to gain from his hedging transactions - he will always need to buy when the underlier is low and sell when high. In the same way, an investor with a short straddle will face the opposite situation - he will have to buy high and sell low when the underlier's price is moving. For investors with a view on the future volatility of a particular underlier, a straddle (or, for that matter, any option in general) can be a way to implement that view. Recently, the development of variance swaps allows investors to trade volatility directly without the need for constant delta hedging. For a further discussion of this style of investing, see volatility arbitrage.

Strangles

A strangle is an options strategy similar to a straddle, but with different strike prices on the call and put options. This is used to bias the profitability of the strategy towards one particular direction of price movement in the underlying, while still offering some (reduced) protection against a movement in the other direction.

For example, the trader in the example above might enter into a strangle if he believes that XYZ's financial statement will probably be positive, but he is not certain and still wants to hedge some of the risk of a negative statement (and is willing to pay for this privilege.)

Nick Leeson and the Barings Bank collapse

Nick Leeson took short straddle positions when chasing losses he had run up for his employer, Barings Bank. He had initially invested in futures on the Nikkei 225 stock index. Following a dramatic fall in the market, largely due to the Kobe earthquake, Leeson lost millions. He tried to re-coup these losses by investing in the higher risk, but potentially more rewarding, straddles. He bet that the Nikkei would stabilise and stay in a range around 19,000. His bet failed and losses escalated to $1.4bn, causing the bankruptcy of Barings.

Mirakeel---Bada Meiaa Chote Meiaa

I actually love whatever Mir does in the show. And that is why I usually stick to the my tv as soon as it's 9.30 PM on Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday these days. I must say the contestants are not any surprise this time except one or two this time. I really don't know why 'Dipanshu' does not come when some 3rd grade Bade Meiaas are there.

As a judge I think 'Srilekha' and 'Roni' are obvious choices. But, Sidhu a bit dull and boaring sometime when he is not actually singing on the show :)

Anyways I am not going to miss Mirakkel this season as well unless Zee Bangla goes of air in Pune.

Race-Full of Bollywood masalas

Race is a nice thriller from Aabas-Mastan kitty. Although there are hardly any new thing except the old and trusted Bollywood masalas but I would say that this is well put together. The action and the twists sequences are well placed in the movie. Songs are well fast tracks in line with an action-thriller. But, Pritam disappoints when I came to know there are plagiarisms in the songs' compositions.

To me Saif and Bipasa are the best of the lot. Katirina is really looking sizzling in the movie. But, I must say she really has to learn some acting to stay longer here. Akhshay Khanna was a bit diminished. He seems to me a bit overdoing with his acting this time. All in all, it is a full pasia-wasul movie and really good time pass on a lazy saturday.