thaumaturgist

I came across this questionnaire on a fellow blogger's site  Abantor  & here are my answers. I have tried to answer them as truthfully as of this moment, a different mood and a different situation could warrant a different set of answers... but for now here it is A Questionnaire for the Immodest and Curious - Vladimir Nabokov Name, patronymic, last name:  Deepanjana Majumdar  Pen-name, or a preferred pen-name:   Raka Age and preferred age:  29 and 27 Attitude to marriage:   so far so good Attitude to children:  My attitude to them depends on the parents of the said children Profession and preferred profession:  Professionally being trained to be a geomatics expert (whatever that means) In another life would love to be a writer or involved in performing arts! What century would you like to live in?  Would have loved to live my youth in the 1960’s, seems that the world was much more liberal b...

No, this is not an episode of the Game of Thrones, I am merely stating a fact. As I sit at my dining table looking out the window I can sense the doom and gloom. The sky is a pallid grey, the young trees that had been planted in the winter of 2012 on our street are quivering and shaking before the wind that threatens to cut short their spring, the young man braves the chill with a cup of vending machine coffee in hand, donning the hood of his red jacket as he walks away My late breakfast of blueberry yogurt and müsli now seems inadequate, the heart desires warm pancakes, but I still have some coffee in the thermos left to take the edge off.  Generally, I should not be complaining, it has been pretty mild here till today,  it has rained everyday for the last 2 weeks, yes, but the temperatures had been warm enough. This city gets very little to no snow in winters, but it is not a very inspiring winter. If it is going to get cold, I may as well have some snow, no wait, what ...

There are times when dark clouds loom over one's head and the world seems like a big bad place to be in, one might even wish that it would be all over, the world would come to an end as he/she knows it. There are emotions one can feel that have no name. Moments of great joy and prospect of  something may  transform into feelings of bitter disappointment and hopelessness. Sometimes, when one is too deep into it,there are moments when one can feel trapped and liberated all at once followed by numbness and stillness. Things can sometimes seem to move so fast that it gets hard to breath, and at other times in slow motion when you just want the moment to pass by in stead of dragging on.  Talking about it never translates the gravity of the situation, but it will make one wiser when one hears the words tumbling out of his/her mouth with no restraint, or one can hope to be. Human capacity to feel and over-feel, think and over-think is immense, it is what gives shape to lan...

After a few weeks of non-stop indulgence and gluttony I thought it would be good to start cutting back on all the rich and potentially harmful diet I am so fond of. I had been sifting through a cookbook bought around Christmas after having a version of Lasagna at a friend's place for dinner. She later revealed it was from a book called the complete low-fat cookbook; she is diabetic and this particular lasagna omits the heavy bechamel sauce I don't like, and replaces it with some semolina cooked in milk to coat the top, giving it a structure and texture after the baking. It was after this meal that I took a look at her cookbook and decided it order it on Amazon. Don't be deterred by the Low-fat bit, I have never come across a low-fat cookbook that features such deliciousness. It has a number of Asian recipes, including Indian that appeals to most palates, they are mild and innovative, uses different kinds of proteins and vegetable, and has an entire section on desserts, ...

A couple of days back a friend, who also happens to be my namesake, said that I should write more about drinking. I literally laughed out loud at her suggestion, the reasons being that there really is quite a lot that I can write about alcohol and what goes around it but also because I think I have developed notoriety in relation to alcohol. It's not because I have a drinking problem (I know, everyone with a drinking problem says that) but because I can talk about it freely. I can say "let's meet for a drink" any time of the day not meaning "let's get drunk". I can hold my drink quite well, except the hindi filmy hiccups once in a while and I am usually game- if someone wants to share a pitcher of Guinness I will take it, if someone wants company for a tequila shot, I will do it- what I mean is that I am not finicky. That does not mean that I don't have my preferences- on a normal day I usually prefer a beer, like a lager (pilsner). In a pub at...

The absolutely fascinating period of exams are on. This time at a foreign university (my first), making it slightly more mesmerising. People can rediscover themselves at a time like this, these times can bring with them a revelation. We come to know exactly how much the classes preceding these exams have been meaningful, how much the students paid attention and how effectively the teachers imparted their knowledge. Just like there are two sides to a coin, this situation also has two sides to it, we (the students) think the teachers had been ineffective and they(the professors- they like to call themselves that ridiculously old fashioned way) believe we failed them by not working hard enough or  not being smart enough. I have never been very academic, never been much of anything really, but more about that later... so the idea to get a second master's degree was to give myself some credibility and a kick start to a career I never had. But being back in school makes me question my...

 For a while the weather hadn't been something to write home about, it had been dull and dismal, the cold, damp air doing nothing to one's mood. My booted feet squelched on the wet and muddy leaves gathering on the steps in front of the university building as I walked into my department to attend early morning classes, clinging onto my thermos of coffee, the only source of warmth. This had been going on for almost 3 weeks, the same bleakness in the air when a brief flurry of wind blew away the remaining weak, yellow leave still clinging on to dear life.. But today is what an Autumn day should be like in my mind, clear blue skies, sunshine, sparkling golden leaves and a nip in the air. I have friends who adore rain, who are inspired and rejuvenated by it, but I believe that the damp and constant drizzle that go on for days would  fail to evoke any inspiration even in the most ardent of rain lovers. The monsoons and the torrential rains are very different kinds of rainfal...