[My first write-up of 2011. Reposted.]

Considering how much I write here and how little people read it, this is my newest gig — live. It’s short, slim, and in sequence. You might want to put up with this one, because if you didn’t, you would definitely not put up with the next one. If you’re a friend, find five minutes of your quiet time, and read it up. If you don’t, there’s a chance I’ll be sad and won’t see you ever again (and I mean it) — even those of you whom I’ve never seen.
So, here’s 2011, and by “God’s grace” — as they say it — I’m still alive. Actually, it’s not just the good deed of God; it’s rather a combination of divine and hellish forces, their tug of war and my constant, perpetual, perennial, forever, eternal, never-ending struggle to decide which side I’m on that’s in all likelihood kept me alive. As my Columbia J-School pal Karen once fondly called me “unflappable,” a badge of honor I since wore on my ventricle, what else could’ve been the driving force for a dwarf who dared to shoot for the moon, to actually shoot for the moon and getting some half way there, in one life?
Subroto, my childhood buddy whom and I learned together about women, love and sex, and who ten years ago stood on a Calcutta commuter train track, and that too, in front of an oncoming commuter train, only to be cut up in half, tried to shoot too. He didn’t make it. I did.
Regardless of the underlying reasons, I’m still around to report today that I’m still around.
Some friends — on Facebook and beyond (yes, there’s still a real “face-less” world out there) — recently asked me some pretty troubling questions. I figured I’d attempt to deal with them, as transparently as I could. Only a transparent examination would make you see the ventricular badge I’ve been wearing all these years; and the instruction manual said every time I hit a yes-answer to a real difficult question, I get an extra second to live as a bonus reward. It also said with every no-answer, the two dueling forces would take a second off each. That’s a double whammy.
So, as you can see, it’s like one of those your-life-is-on-the-line tests. I’d better start taking it now.
[come back for sequence two. see you soon.]
Sincerely Writing,
Partha