ChinmayC Blog

     Isn't our Sun getting increasingly autocratic nowadays? During the hot humid days He disperses all dark-looking clouds that are apparently willing to satiate the scorched souls and the parched lands, and rules supreme! When He's done for the day in our part of Earth only then the clouds are allowed to pour if they so desire! But nope! The clouds seem to whisper "He pissed us off!" and blow away! But of course, they vent their accumulated frustration at the slightest opportunity! Poor us! 

As the mobile phone chimed, the name that appeared on the screen caused me an instant AI surge--well, I'm using this famously notorious symbol to mean 'Annoying Irritation' here, if I may! I immediately knew what that old fellow was going to ask me, from various such 'appearances' since he retired years back and I retired about two years later than him. But as always, I decided to take the call, for, after all, he'd been a colleague cum batchmate for several decades. So I answered in a familiar tone, "Hullo there?" And I anticipated his very first question, as always. Hey mate! Where are you now?" His voice was high-pitch and sort of amused. I thought for a moment as I always did on such occasions and then replied curtly, "in India!" "Bugger, I know that, but where in India are you at the present moment?" I informed him even as I anticipated his next question too. "Not getting tired of paying rent yet, then?" My AI ro...

Maybe I lied to her when I used to reassure her that she was going to be alright and was going to resume her life in some measure of normalcy in the future years; maybe all my gestures/expressions were false when I used to run my fingers across her forehead or embrace her on occasions when she was able to move around a bit; and maybe all my exhibitions of love care and responsibility were exposed as superficial when I failed to turn up in Delhi where she along with my mother were treated during September-October, 2022 (my mother Urmila Chakravarty was also diagnosed with dental cancer the same month the same year as she was) and when all the members of my parental family and the in-laws converged. Since that fateful day in August, 2022 when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer to that disastrous day of March 6, 2025—the day my younger blood sister Mitali (Mainu) Chakravarty Sarma (November 2, 1963—March 6, 2025) passed away in the wee hours in a hospital in Guwahati after giving a bra...

We're talking about cricket here, from the point of view of Indian cricket; but mixing it with politics isn't something that was never heard of! We published here kind of a rant post during the disastrous down under India tour which was so, not primarily because of the run-less performances of the stalwarts, but also because of the politics of selection and clout. The heavyweights naturally cannot be disposed of easily which is why they figure in the Team for Champions Trophy-2025 too.  Leaders and politicians spend a helluva lot of time announcing the CM or PM faces as the case may be. Similarly, the cricket mandarins and selectors have managed to announce the squad only after more than ten days of serial huddles. This is typically political! Isn't this?  Now, Congress--the oldest national political party of the country--is in the throes of deadly atrophy! So much so that quite a few parties of the Alliance which was formed recently, have threatened to abandon Congress whi...

The fourth collection of stories titled 'Randomized: A Dozen Short Stories' by Chinmay Chakravarty has been released on Amazon KDP just now! This collection, short stories in a lighter vein plus with mild satire like the previous collections, has been published in both the E-book and Paperback formats. The links are given below:  International: Click Here ! India: Click Here !  Other collections of short stories by the same author: The Cheerless Chauffeur and Other Tales(2021)--Notion Press. Funny and Fishy Tales(2022)--KDP. The Weirdos(2022)--Ukiyoto Publishing. All books of the author are available on Goodreads, apart from Amazon and other outlets! Have a look!

In whole of my ‘aware-of-cricket’ life I’ve never seen my home team in such a pitiable state—in absolute doldrums, no directions pointing anywhere, no will of any sort, a complete absence of a ‘management’ and no team building efforts—since the 0-3 drubbing by New Zealand on home turf till the present moment down under, except, of course, the lone wonder in Perth. Therefore, I’m rather drawn fatally to an arguably merciless mindset of comparing Team India to a national museum. The reasons thereof are very easy to detect: all the preciously historic set pieces are still on a grand display irrespective of if people of a cricket loving nature do grace those with generous footfalls or not; the timings and the duty hours are fixed irrespective of the ‘weather’ conditions as the controllers continue to feel that they must ‘learn’ from mistakes; and that some of the old pieces are only being adjusted here and there without giving any thought to bringing in new and newer pieces of interest or ...

I feel the word 'historic' is somewhat positive, meaning a historic event normally denotes a good thing--a good beginning or a development or an achievement. Therefore, what just happened in the elections in supposedly the most advanced democracy and the most liberated society of the world cannot be described as historic; it could, at best, be the darkest development of modern times replete with ominous future prospects and possibilities.  An impeached, convicted, arrested, corrupt, foul-mouthed and a perverted racist criminal has been elected with a landslide to the highest post. And they call him the Protector who would soon make the most advanced superpower country of the world great again! It's not that a seemingly deserving woman and her party have been rejected; it's rather wanting the country to be great again by accepting the Protector.  So then, the Protector is all set to rebuild the country, in active collusion with a handful of unscrupulous squillionaires, b...