Gargi Banerjee's portfolio

The single most important device that one cannot do without today is the mobile phone. Correction! I would rather name them the I-Phones, the I-Pads, the Tablets, the Smart phones. All these can be used to read books, write letters/stories/blogs, draw pictures, surf the internet, purchase products, book train, flight, movie and theatre tickets, play games, do official work, do monetary transactions, etc. etc. etc. And, by the way, they are also used as phones. About 7-8 years ago, I had once heard a line about a mobile phone: “It’s a phone, you call, and you hang up”. But I suppose, it’s not that simple anymore. This gadget offers multitude of services or apps which help you with almost every possible need in life today.   However, it’...

I felt that my return to Dehradun and Mussoorie after 17 years was destined. But I had never imagined it would be during the monsoon of 2011. Living in the city, I had lost the charm of the monsoon season. Apart from welcoming the showers after the scorching and sweltering summer, there was no other reason to rejoice. The romantic and poetic inspiration brought about by this season, the beautiful aroma of damp earth and the clean and green look of the trees had been almost washed away by the slush and waterlogged streets, longer traffic jams and delayed travel time everyday. Today, having witnessed the rains in Dehradun during dusk and the floating clouds in ever-lovely Mussoorie, nostalgia and love for the monsoon was re-kindled, ...

Parked at a comfortable corner at the waiting area of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, I was awaiting my flight to Dhaka along with other passengers headed to different destinations. As far as my vision went, I could see a myriad of colours, faces, heads, people, luggage, and hear a multitude of announcements, voices, squabbles, tongues and noise. It seemed like I was in some cosmopolitan country, where being an Indian felt strange. There were many Indians, correction, NRIs around who only resembled that they once belonged to my beloved India. Of these, the older generations might have even spoken in a familiar tongue and accent, but the current crop looked, behaved and spoke completely foreign. It made me wonder whe...

Ever since I’ve been living in New Delhi all by myself, this feeling of people’s interference has intrigued me more often than not. Sometimes it’s made me wonder if living single brings along a baggage. But over the years I noticed interestingly, that Indians in general are curiously inquisitive about anything which is not their business. Initially the neighbours/semi-strangers/ office colleagues enquire about your age and then your marital status and the reason for being single. Not satisfied, they want to know the reason for your living single and why parents do not stay together. The amount of rent and if there’s some partner staying together is also enquired about. Bucketful of advise such as it’s risky for a single female living a...

Across the globe there are found large wastelands of plastic bottles. This is mostly evident at what used to be scenic locations once upon a time, and have been converted into popular picnic spots. People do not pay heed to the environmental damage and have a tendency to dump plastic plates and bottles among other refuse in these places, thereby further converting them into wastelands. Moreover, we also see empty plastic bottles being strewn across the city roads. All this shows mankind’s negligence towards protecting our planet. Firstly, it is important to understand the need for recycling plastic bottles at homes. One can regularly wash the empty water/ soft drink bottles and reuse to carry water/ juice etc., if needed. This will...

During my frequent train journeys I keep meeting a variety of people who make me feel this is a world blessed with a plethora of incredible individuals. On one such journey I met her. She must have been all of seven years old and was traveling with her parents and younger sister. Clutching her doll bag she seemed shy and quiet, unlike her sister. Although I noticed her non-child-like nature initially, I didn’t quite bother since I was concentrating on my book. After we all settled in and the train had taken some pace, I noticed the younger girl was jumping all over, playing, and asking constant questions with her bright eyes. The other one’s participation, was verbally active, although not physically. Both sisters shared an amazing...

Every time I visit this small quaint town I feel like I’m reliving my childhood. It’s as if time forgot to touch Allahabad when it passed by. Everything from the buildings, the neighbourhood, the old playground, the local people, the old school building, the shopkeeper, the rickshaw puller, and even the old guard seem unchanged. Although all these almost unvarying circumstances seem strange because it’s been decades since I left Allahabad, but what makes me most happy and rejuvenated is that my feelings, emotions and sentiments towards the place and the people remain unchanged. My degree of emotional connection with the city makes me want to return again and again. It adds to my zest of life, and removes the boring and challenging rout...

I’ve been living in this modest two-roomed flat on top of a building for the past four years now. When I moved in here I literally felt on top of the world. My friends and family loved my den and it has been a venue for many a small get-togethers in the past. The view from the terrace is of a green field and lots of trees on one side and of some more buildings on the other. The sun rises from the far end of the field and sets behind the buildings. I marveled at the thought that I get to feel the morning freshness, see the clear blue sky, the starry night, hear the happy chirping of the birds and enjoy the seasons despite being in the middle of a big, polluted city where all this cannot be thought of. My house is close to the airpor...

It’s not often that we experience the loss of so many special people at the same time in our lives, but when I lost my sis-in-law a couple of days ago, I felt I had lost all. She came into my life when I was all of eight years and I never imagined even in my scariest nightmares that I will lose her one day. Although I’m sure my brother and nephew have lost an integral part of their existence, her loss has created a vacuum in my life as well. Teaching me right from wrong, scolding me, educating me, standing up for me, supporting me, believing in me, and above all loving me through the years, she has always been outspoken yet wise in every advice. Her behaviour and respect towards one and all and her ever-smiling face showed her mettle i...

The recent devastating earthquake in China adds to the list of several such major natural calamities in 2010. The year has just seen only three months go by and we’ve already witnessed tragedies such as in Haiti (Earthquake Jan 2010), in Chile (Earthquake and Tsunami in Feb 2010) in China (Earthquake Apr 2010), in Eastern India (cyclone/ tornado in Apr 2010) and in Iceland (eruption of volcano Ejyafyallakjokull in Apr 2010). All these have brought forth disastrous misery to hundreds of thousands of people of those regions and it seems the worst is not yet over. In addition, we cannot ignore the extreme weather conditions the world over. The summer of 2009 saw heat waves across India and Europe which caught people unawares and took many...