Cluttered or clean: Which is yours?

While going through the updates in Facebook like every other morning, I happened to notice an interesting post which led to me another post. It talked about preferring which type of work desk: cluttered or clean?

The reference:

According to study conducted at University of Minnesota, a person who works in a messy environment develops a creative and innovative attitude and are willing to take risks in their lives. It can further enhance your problem solving abilities. In the same time a study shows cleanliness promotes good behaviour among the workers and it discourages them in committing crime and help them to display generosity.

The reality:

If you ask me and take cue from the image posted above (also taken from the website), I have always been a supporter of cluttered desk. Right from the school days, I had proudly boasted a cluttered desk. While my parents would try to find a decent corner in our room to accommodate all my books and that I keep them clean, I would always end leaving the desk messed up with books, writing copies, pens, pencils, etc. An occasional threatening from my mom that she would throw away the books and I would be punished at school, prompted that once in a while cleaning spree but other times, it would be my style.

When we moved to our own little flat, I was allotted a room of my own which, by law and rights, was also to be shared with my elder sister. Since she’s the elder one and had no relation with studies and academic books that time, I filled almost two-third of the room with my books. I demanded new books and my mom obliged, every damn time. She realised that the room needs special furniture to keep my ever growing stuff (yes, books) and got me racks made of bamboo sticks. Even the trolley that was made to keep food was a den for my books. And yes, the dinner table wasn’t spared. All these spaces have been my cluttered desks for years.

I became the sole owner of the room after my sister got married and made it the cluttered room which also became a reason for my mom and sister to scold me about occasionally. While they are strong supporters of clean desk and doesn’t support studying in a messy way, I am the exact opposite. I studied and kept my things in a fashion so that they are in easy reach. When I cleaned the room and kept things in their original places, I failed to remember the simplest things like where else on earth will I keep my pen other than inside the book I was studying last? Yes, I did find it later. It was kept in the pen stand near the computer.

Not that clean desk is bad, it is simply empty. Empty is like loneliness.

Not that cluttered desk is good, it is simply filled up. Like you have company. In my case, lots of company. My fascination for books, magazines and papers still rules my brain and my office desk gets cluttered in no time in this age of digitisation as well.

I really can’t keep myself away from paper and habit of collecting these printed stuff. And therefore, I can’t help but have a cluttered desk and thus a creative and innovative attitude also, may be.

Love: What does it mean actually?

Story 1

Every person has a story to say. Even I have one. This is not about me but an instance that I came across some time back. Phases, they say, in our lives come and pass by. It may be a good one or a bad one. You only judge it when it you are experiencing it or have been a part of it.

I wrote for a health portal professionally then. This job needed me to interview a mother of an autistic child. I had to meet the lady at her place in the afternoon and note down her story over a cup of coffee. Like any other story, this story too needed background research and questions to be framed that do not hurt the emotions of the mother.

I had already known an autistic child in my family. I knew how he behaved, what he thought and how he was treated despite his disorder. My editor had given me instructions at to what I should not ask anything that might hurt the feelings of the mother and that I should consciously study the mannerisms—the ethnographic study. This would help us in writing and build up the story better.

I reached their apartment in the afternoon and was greeted by the lady herself. She was taking care of her younger daughter—not an autistic child—as she was preparing to go out and play in the compound park. I was told to begin my interview for she was now ready to share her story with me.

The purpose of conducting the interview was only to convey to the readers that “every child is special to their parents”. This daughter was the couple’s first child and they didn’t even have an idea about her mental disorder until she was near about two years old. She explained her initial bouts of stress, not being able to accept and believe her luck and her daughter. Medical tests and every other way to find out measures to treat the little girl, learn about the nuances of the disorder and failing to take her own into confidence that the child has done nothing wrong. It was not only her daughter’s struggle to win over the family member through her innocence but it was her struggle to make others believe that her daughter was the best gift that God had given her.

The girl is now about to enter her teens and is being taught at special school. The doctors are hopeful about her wellbeing and that with special care, she might be able to learn more things and probably take care of herself. The lady had enrolled herself to classes that teach ways and methods to help such children overcome their day-to-day struggles. She keeps herself updated about the new developments in the research and keeps a tab on the developments that she witnesses in her daughter.

She feels it important to mention that both the sisters love each other in normal ways and that the younger one is more enthusiastic about taking her elder sister along when it comes to playing or dancing on bollywood tunes.

This was a day, a time and a moment that had helped me realise the joy and pain of being a parent and a mother. While you have unconditional love for your child who may not be perfect, there’s nothing enough that you can do to prove your love for them to the on-lookers. For the mother in my story, hers is a continuing phase but for me, this was a sheer experience of listening and learning about a woman growing up to become a wonderful mother. A story of love that cannot be explained through words even from the finest dictionary that you or I may own! Love that is not found in the romance novels!

This is the Baap of all Kahaanis

This was a movie that I had planned to watch for few obvious reasons. One, because of the city—Kolkata, second, because of the story and suspense created by the movie promos (I had even asked my bollywood reporter friend about the climax before it was even released but thankfully, she declined to comment) and third, actors (Vidya Balan and the host of the accomplished Bengali TV and cinema actors). And one more, because this would be movie where I know the local language spoken and the songs in the movie and gives me the opportunity to explain to others what they said.

Kahaani: The Movie

Kahaani, as they titled it, is a suspense thriller where a heavily-pregnant Vidya Bagchi lands up in Kolkata from London. Her first conversation was with a taxi driver who shares his astonishment when he's asked to take her to the police station. Her first stop in the city: the Kalighat Police Station. And her story starts here. Inspector Chatterjee and sub-Inspector Satyuki (Rana) Sinha are introduced to her thrilling story of her missing husband. Arnab Bagchi was in Kolkata on a project while working with the National Data Centre (NDC). His interactions with Vidya were regular for the first two weeks until he vanished from the scene all of a sudden without any prior intimation. Her husband’s details are recorded in the good old book (and not the computer that has been recently loaded with the applications and software required) and is taken to the same guest house where Arnab was put up. She is quick to divulge minor details like the presence of a golden peacock near the elevator or the same room where her husband was staying. Thus begins her thrilling encounter with the city. With time and Rana by her side, Vidya manages to churn out least known details involving the planning and the scam behind the Kolkata Metro Gas Leak incident that led to death of hundreds of daily commuters in the city's most preferred transportation mode. Names such as Milan Damji cropped up to indicate that Arnab must be danger given his face is identical to that of the terrorist. Tracking down Milan meant revealing many of the underlying mysteries of NDC and murders of people who would have shared vital information. Vidya's journey that started with the onset of the Durga Puja when the city gets dressed up to welcome Ma Durga ended on Bijaya Dashami by tracking down the suspect in question and fleeing away tactfully amongst the hundreds of red and white saree clad women with sindoor on their foreheads and faces.

You've got watch the movie to know what happens to her husband, if you haven’t watched it till now and unravel the suspense slowly as you watch it.

Why it drew my attention?

During the promotions, Vidya Balan carried her pregnant belly to give every onlooker a real feel of the movie and that she needs track the existence of her husband in Kolkata. The city has, for once, been well-captured in the camera lenses simply the way it is. The old buildings of North Calcutta, the by-lanes of the city having the usual garbage on the road as it is always found and the commonly known places like Camac Street and Park Street or SSKM Hospital at Harish Mukherjee Road. The movie beautifully captures these places the exact way they are and shows nothing fancy about the city by staying true to the need of the movie plot.

Before Kahaani, nobody would have ever thought of creating a crime and suspense thriller without any kind of "dhishum dhishum" and with a woman being the hero. Kolkata has always been perceived as the city of mishti, mouth-watering street food and politics. Well, here is a movie that brings the real essence of the city live on screen.

Bengali actors—both cinema and TV—have marked their presence on screen with every bit of their acting and roles, even if for few seconds. These are actors whom I have seen growing up and playing unforgettable characters in some of the mega serials of Bengali television. It is definitely a treat to watch these people on the 70 mm screen in a city like Bangalore or Mumbai. You do feel proud when people praise these actors. Incredible thinking by the director that he chose this bunch of actors and made them speak "bengali-hindi" and  make their characters real but not fancy.

Of course, the new "hero" lady takes all the praise for her incredible acting but loud applauds to the supporting cast from Bangla film industry as well.

This one movie is surely going to stay as one of the best suspense thrillers that the Indian Film Industry has produced for years to come. And I am sure that I am going to watch a few times more (a little later) when I, along with Vidya Bagchi, will be unfolding the mystery again.

Image courtesy: bwreviews.com