ChinmayC Blog

The recent Khetri-Sonapur Traveler bus accident on National Highway-27 that killed 7 people has put the menace of road accidents in Assam as well as in India in sharp focus. Bad roads came to the fore as the main reason. And indeed, it was the immediate reason. In fact, a series of accidents had taken place in the stretch between Guwahati and Nagaon in recent months involving high fatalities, and the highway remained full of potholes , craters and unrepaired still. This agitated the local people who decided to hold protests on the highway day and night that led to temporary closure of the Toll Tax gates which seem to be numerous despite the statutory regulations about their spacing. The State Government announced compensation and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was asked to undertake repairs within a week. The menace of road accidents in Assam has been rising steadily since the last three years with the figure of total road accidents crossing 9000 in 2024 and in...

Cricket is a game loved by the masses all over the globe and growing irrespective of their differences—political or religious or whatever—and nationalities. The grand gentleman’s sport is a passion in India and in Pakistan with fans waiting for their arch-rivals to meet as often as possible over the decades, apart from the other most prominent arch-rivals pair of Australia and England. However, it’s unfortunate political rivalries have been damaging the spirit of the game in the Indian subcontinent—India, Pakistan and Bangladesh at loggerheads that is depriving the common people of all the three countries to cherish the Tests/ODIs/T20Is on their own grounds. Yes! Neutral venues have been the ‘solution’ since quite a few years now. Nonetheless, Pakistan has been the worst affected due to the nation’s terror activities and therefore, the ‘solution’ has also been failing to solve the issues amicably. Cricket fans just cannot afford to give up watching while the respective Boards cannot a...

Psychological thrillers have always been a very popular variant of the larger genre of crime-mystery-suspense-detective-horror spins both for novels and movies—then for the television and latest for the OTT streaming platforms. The unfailing appeal of such sagas to the audiences of the world had its origin in the 18 th century as far as writing and publishing of Gothic fiction or dark romanticism-terror is concerned. Horace Walpole (1717-1797) is believed to be the founder of Gothic novels and his novel The Castle of Otranto , published in 1764, brought the concept of haunted castles or mansions into literature for the first time and the novel has endured ever since, it’s still being read. Stories and novels of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), Mary Shelley (1797-1851) and Bram Stoker (1847-1912) among quite a few others including the authors of the American Gothic fiction, and of course, the Bronte sisters, have been feeding the curious human mind ever since with almost all regions of t...

I never had the slightest element of doubt about the professionalism and fair practices of the fish markets of the great city. Those markets have always been places of joy for the fish eaters, not only for the rich assortment of the fishes—from the biggest to the smallest varieties—but also for the unfailing freshness and taste of the fishes. The priciest is almost always the most coveted Hilsa or the Ilish which is never less than a thousand bucks per kg and going upward depending on the size. The next local attraction is the Katla the cut pieces of the biggest size of which usually cost from four hundred to five hundred per kg—on the busy Sunday the prices hit the upper ceiling. Taking into account other fishes like Rohu and the smaller ones the markets somehow manage to fit everybody’s budget, except of course, for the highly spirited locals who prefer to go for the Ilish or the rather scarce and equally pricey Bhetki varieties only come what may, i.e. the money in their pock...

  Call it population explosion, focused development, urbanisation or congested residential buildings and offices, every place in India has been becoming real tough for people to move around whether in cars, bikes, autos & rickshaws, public transport or even while walking , barring perhaps the countryside and the farmhouses, if you’re lucky. You could be better placed for peaceful walks if you happen to live near parks , lake gardens, playgrounds and the like; however, even parks are often crowded thanks to the increasing number of likeminded people as you in search of peaceful walks along with some mental exercises too. Else, your options are extremely limited. The moment you step out of your house into the roads or small lanes all sorts of hurdles surround you: the bikes rushing at you from all sides as if the bikers were the busiest souls on earth, also having a fascination for shortcuts to make it faster; cars inside which the drivers think more like the opportunistic b...

This post is not a researched article nor even an entertainment news item! It’s an account based on personal observations that, as I perceived, might indicate rather funny amusing goings-on behind the scenes! I’ve decided to write it down here since it involves two huge movie personalities, two great shows and the Sony Entertainment Television (SET). The huge Bollywood celebrities are none other than Amitabh Bachchan and another stalwart but a younger actor Ajay Devgn . The great shows are the Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) quiz hosted by Amitabh Bachchan and the Crime Patrol 2026 hosted now by Ajay Devgn. The two shows are currently being broadcast on SET. Season 18 of the KBC started from August 10, 2026 with its traditional slot of 9 pm to 10.30 pm Monday to Friday. When Amitabh Bachchan seemed to be struggling to finally shift from the accustomed heroes’ roles to character roles the KBC Show, launched on Star Plus channel in 2000, re-established him as an actor whom people of a...

No doubt, the EMI has been an integral part of modern living. The home loans , the car loans and the like are meaningless without the EMI tenures and installment calculations . However, of late, the Credit Card issuing banks seem to have gone crazy over marketing of the EMIs. Even for spends as low as a thousand bucks you get the message to 'convert'. They make it overpoweringly easy for you--just click yes and select the tenure, and it's done! Not only that! If your card bill consists of quite a few EMIs, some banks even give you the option of paying your bill in EMIs too! Yes! At certain times it's very useful to be able to split up a good amount, like when buying a consumer durable , into easy installments; but it gets downright irritating if you're reminded (repeatedly) to 'convert' for every possible spend.  It's obviously very profitable for the banks who at the present tumultuous times seem to believe that 'tiny drops can make the ocean...