WOMEN - HELPFUL ADVICE

মেয়েরা যদি বা প্রাণ খুলে হাসেন [হাসে], মেয়েদের বিস্ময় ও সহানুভূতি প্রকাশের ঘনঘটায় প্রাণ আছে কিনা বোঝা দায় ৷

'শ্যামা ডিভোর্স করেছে ৷'

'ওমা, তাই না কি, বলিস কি?'

'রমাদির ছেলে এবারেও পাশ করতে পারেনি ৷'

'ওমা, তাই না কি, বলিস কি?'

'শ্যামলকে খুঁজে পাওয়া যাচ্ছে না ৷'

'ওমা, তাই না কি, বলিস কি?'

মাঝরাতে স্বামী বললে, 'গোপা, বুকে অসহ্য ব্যথা ৷ আমি বোধহয় মরে যাচ্ছি ৷'

'ওমা, তাই না কি, বলো কি?'

ভোরবেলা 'মেকান্যিকাল টি' ৷ 'ওঠো চা ৷'

কে উঠবে ! ফাঁকি দিয়ে প্রাণের পাখি উড়ে গেল আর এল না ৷ পাশের বাড়ির প্রতিবেশী শুনে বলবেন, 'ওমা, তাই না কি ! মারা গেছে ৷ দাঁড়াও, ডালে জল ঢেলে এসে শুনছি ৷'

(সঞ্জীব চট্টোপাধ্যায়, 'মাপা হাসি চাপা কান্না' in মাপা হাসি চাপা কান্না অখণ্ড, পত্র ভারতী, 3/1 College Row, Kolkata 700 009, Price Rs. 450.00, 959 pages.)

আমি একটা দারুণ plan আবিষ্কার করেছি - mute করে দেব যাতে boring গান আর কান ঝালাপারা করা advertisements শুনতে না হয় - যাতে কেবল s. females দের চেহারা ইত্যাদি দেখতে পারি (দেখার মত হলে) আর ব্যথিত হৃদয়ের কথা শুনতে পারি (নাটক হলেও) - আজকাল YouTube খুললেই ত ভাল ভাল গান সহজেই পাওয়া যায় - India তে Internet খুব cheap হয়ে গেছে আর এখন সবার হাতে হাতে mobile smart phone - বাজে গান আমি কোন দুঃখে শুনতে যাব? আমার ত কোন দুঃখ নেই - very mediocre গায়ক গায়িকাদের স্বামী স্ত্রী boyfriends girlfriends guru গরুরা ত শুনবেই - কিন্তু আমাকে কেন শুনতে হবে? - channel switch করতে থাকা আর switch off করা options ত আছেই thank God.

G

WOMEN

Fifth Avenue was shining in the sun. The sun was warm, even though it was February, and everything looked like Sunday morning.

Michael held Frances' arm tightly as they walked toward Washington Square in the sunlight. They walked lightly, almost smiling.

"Look out," Frances said as they crossed Eighth Street. "You'll break your neck."

Michael laughed and Frances laughed with him.

"She's not so pretty," Frances said. "Anyway, not pretty enough to take a chance of breaking your neck."

Michael laughed again. "How did you know I was looking at her?"

Frances cocked her head to one side and smiled at her husband under the brim of her hat. "Mike, darling," she said.

"O.K.," he said. "Excuse me."

"You always look at other women," Frances said. "Everywhere. Every damned place we go."

"Now, darling," Michael said, "I look at everything. God gave me eyes and I look at women and men and moving pictures and the little flowers of the field. I casually inspect the universe."

"You ought to see the look in your eye," Frances said, "as you casually inspect the universe on Fifth Avenue."

"I'm a happily married man." Michael pressed her elbow tenderly. "Example for the whole twentieth century - Mr. and Mrs. Mike Loomis. Now listen, darling," Mike said, choosing his words with care, "it's a nice day and we both felt good and there's no reason why we have to break it up. Let's have a nice Sunday."

"All right. I don't know why I started this. Let's drop it. Let's have a good time."

They joined hands consciously and walked without talking...

"I want to tell you something," Michael said very seriously. "I have not touched another woman. Not once. In all the five years."

"All right," Frances said.

"You believe that, don't you?"

"All right."

They walked between the crowded benches under the city-park trees.

"I try not to notice it," Frances said, "but I feel rotten inside, in my stomach, when we pass a woman and you look at her and I see that look in your eye and that's the way you looked at me the first time. And it makes me feel bad. It makes me feel terrible."

"Sh-h-h, please, darling, sh-h-h... I look at women. Correct. I don't say it's wrong or right. I look at them. If I pass them on the street and I don't look at them, I'm fooling you, I'm fooling myself."

"You look at them as though you want them," Frances said. "Every one of them."

"In a way," Michael said, speaking softly and not to his wife, "in a way that's true. I don't do anything about it, but it's true."

"I know it. That's why I feel bad."

He sighed and closed his eyes and rubbed them gently with his finger tips. "I love the way women look. One of the things I like about New York is the battalions of women. When I first came to New York that was the first thing I noticed, the million wonderful women, all over the city. I walked around with my heart in my throat."

"A kid," Frances said. "That's a kid's feeling."

"Guess again," Michael said. "Guess again. I'm older now, I'm a man getting near middle age, putting on a little fat and I still love to walk along Fifth Avenue. They're all out, shopping, in their furs and their crazy hats, the handsomest women, out to spend money and feeling good about it. Understand," he said, "you don't have to listen to this."

"I want to listen."

"I like the girls in the offices. I like the girls on Forty-fourth Street at lunch time, the actresses, all dressed up on nothing a week. I like the salesgirls in the stores, paying attention to you first because you're a man, leaving lady customers waiting. I got all this stuff accumulated in me because I've been thinking about it for ten years and now you've asked for it and here it is."

"Go ahead," Frances said.

"When I think of New York City, I think of all the girls on parade in the city. I don't know whether it's something special with me or whether every man in the city walks around with the same feeling inside him, but I feel as though I'm at a picnic in this city. I like to sit near the women in the theaters, the famous beauties who've taken six hours to get ready and look it. And the young girls at the football games, with their red cheeks, and when the warm weather comes, the girls in their summer dresses. That's the story."

"You say you love me?"

"I love you."

"I'm pretty, too," Frances said. "As pretty as any of them."

"You're beautiful," Michael said.

"I'm good for you," Frances said, pleading. "I've made a good wife, a good housekeeper, a good friend. I'd do any damn thing for you."

"I know," Michael said. He put his hand out and grasped hers.

"You'd like to be free to - " Frances said.

"Sh-h-h."

"Tell the truth." She took her hand away from under his.

"O.K.," he said gently. "Sometimes I feel I would like to be free."

"Well," Frances said, "any time you say."

"Don't be foolish."

She began to cry silently into her handkerchief. "Someday," she said, crying, "you're going to make a move."

Michael didn't say anything.

"Aren't you?" Frances asked harshly. "Come on, tell me. Talk. Aren't you?"

"Maybe," Michael said. "How the hell do I know?"

"You know," Frances persisted. "Don't you?"

"Yes," Michael said after a while, "I know."

Frances stopped crying then. Two or three snuffles into the handkerchief and she put it away. "At least do me one favor," she said.

"Sure."

"Stop talking about how pretty this woman is or that one. Nice eyes, nice breasts, a pretty figure, good voice." She mimicked his voice. "Keep it to yourself. I'm not interested."

"I'll keep it to myself," he said.

(From IRWIN SHAW: THE GIRLS IN THEIR SUMMER DRESSES, in "FIFTY GREAT AMERICAN SHORT STORIES" Edited and with an Introduction by Milton Crane, BANTAM CLASSIC)

tinsel reel ৰীল trash vs. REAL  - G

Bong. vs. Ass. বে. equally অপদার্থ time pass

GIAN@JNU 02/03/2016 Prizes/GIAN JNU (6:20) (YouTube)

My intuition tells Me that beloved Dr. Govindjee's audience mostly females are there just to meet a top scientist but the poor gals will understand nothing. - G

GIAN@JNU, Prof. Govindjee & Prof. B... /GIAN JNU - 27 videos (YouTube)

***

When I received letters from Dr. Govindjee, Chairman of UIUC Graduate Admissions Committee, department of Physiology and Biophysics, confirming My admission to the Ph. D. program on aging under Dr. Howard S. Ducoff, on UIUC scholarship, I saw that kind-hearted Indian scientist Dr. Govindjee wrote beautiful English.

The young UIUC Biophysics department secretary Nan Miller also wrote beautiful English in her official letters to Me prior to My admission and I was surprised when she told Me after we met at UIUC Biophysics department that she was a high school graduate (if I remember right). I hope Nan Miller is well.

I learned from the Internet that My kind-hearted guide Dr. Howard S. Ducoff died a few years ago, aged about a hundred or thereabouts.

I now wonder if some rich American philanthropist funded My Ph. D. research at UIUC. (Actually, I had in fact solved everything in a flash ten years before in Bombay but I kept that a profound secret for many years except that I told My father Krishna very briefly soon after My return home from Bombay.)

Kishalay Sinha [G]

***

I have decided to STOP listening to ANY video as soon as I hear a pointless reference to Google and YouTube. NO ONE including Rachel Stephens/Rachel N. Stephens is that important to Me - each is a tiny speck, a tiny insignificant drop in a vast ocean. I am not hungry for advice. I don't NEED any advice - I listen only out of politeness. Best of luck. - G

HELPFUL ADVICE

Q. Dear Madam, I have been having suicidal tendencies since the past one year. I do not want to die but I feel very lonely nowadays. I have tried and thought of ending my life before [tried? thought?]. But now everything feels bad. Things have started becoming worse for me. Everybody is always scolding me. My whole life feels like a mess. Even my family does not support me. Please help me madam.

(Name withheld)

Ans. I am very sorry to hear about your problem. Please remember no problem is so big that we end our life because of it. No matter what, ending our life is never the solution. I do agree, at times in life, the future seems bleak and dark. We may not be able to see anything clearly. But hold on. At the end of every dark cloud there is a silver lining. This is a fact. Have patience and don't get so worked up. Many a times [many a time] in life we meet with crisis [crises] but we have to be patient. You appear to be [appear to be?!!] suffering from depression. Talk to a close relative/friend. They will surely help you out. Ask them to help you consult with a trained mental health professional at the earliest.

Q. Dear Madam, I am 23 years old. I met a boy 4 years ago. Actually I didn't like him too much. Nowadays, however, I love him. I like him quite a lot. He too has feelings for me but he is very shy and gets nervous easily. But he feels uncomfortable when he sees me in public. Please advice [advise].

(Name withheld)

Ans. I really don't see any problem here. You love the boy, he loves you too! It's perfect! Some people tend to get conscious when in public. It is better not to force him to acknowledge you when in public if he feels conscious. This will further make him more conscious. Initially meet him in private [easier said than done], this will give him time to adjust to the relationship too. New things take time sometimes. Better not to rush things for him. Being in a matured [mature] relationship is a wonderful experience. Enjoy! All the best!

Q. I have a peculiar problem. Whenever I meet new people, I feel they like me instantly and we go on to develop good friendships. But when they meet my best friend they do not respond much. But my best friend is very pretty. She usually gets upset when this happens. I feel very bad. What should I do?

(Name withheld)

Ans. From what you have written it appears that you are a warm friendly person. Maybe that's why people can relate to you and feel comfortable in your company. Whereas your friend may have difficulty in interacting with new, unknown people, thus coming across as cold and unfriendly. You can definitely help her out by helping her develop her social manners. She would benefit much by attending few [a few] sessions of counselling on social manners.

(Ms. Gariasi Dutta, Psychological Counsellor, MIND OVER MATTER weekly column, The Sentinel Sunday magazine melange, December 30, 2018)

Pathetic... Tragic... Comic... Funny...

stream-of-consciousness writing... psychological realism... soliloquy... dual acting...

Kishalay Sinha [G]