Well, that's exactly what happened to me yesterday. & this suddenly developed euphoria resulted into an wide grin & an irresistible aspiration to hug everyone & to shout, "I love ya all my countrymen". I guess this wild desire was traceable in my feature. 'Cause everyone, in between wiping off their sweats & cursing U.S for causing the hike in food price & temperature, was looking at me in suspicious eyes. Probably they thought that the heat has probably corrupted my nervous system & has unhinged my brain. Otherwise there won't be an outline of smile in this epoch of (inter)national despondency. Many opinions were formed regarding the origin of my smile. The corpulent lady sitting at the front row surmised that it was a smirk aimed at her...the moustache cladded man sitting beside her thought it to be coquetry & suddenly, being enthused, burst into a bizarre & dire Bollywood no; much to the utter surprise & annoyance of the co-passengers.

Now, I mentioned this just to demonstrate how tough it is to sustain any personal subtle emotion. After decades, for the 1st time I really felt like smiling & that too driven by a very delicate & private impetus. But, everyone was pretty sure that they had their own share in it. My mood was completely destroyed after that coarse song & when, after reaching home, I discovered that the electricity was gone; I was back to my pathetic, petulant, cantankerous self...the old Sisyphus was touched by the joie de vivre of the global spirit for a moment; but the same spirit has reminded him who he is & so he is leaning again to pick up the same old stone!

No matter how much we boost about our secularity & tolerance, how much crocodile tear we shed after watching bollywood blockbusters like "veer jara" & "Bombay"; our subconscious mind can never look beyond the narrow racial sentiments.

I belong to a kind of family which had been successfully preserving its bloodline ever since the (in)famous ballal sen coined the "Koulinya Protha"; an errant though effective rule to impede ethnic adulteration.In our family the 1st jolt to this revered ritual decorum came when it was known that my sister was engaged to someone outside her own cast, let alone the safeguard of the 4 holy titles...though excruciating, that was at least acceptable...all this years of education had rinsed some of our prejudice. But what my maternal uncle did was just deplorable! He had chosen a girl who is not from his own religion...
I met with that girl..very pretty, very simple, very humble & above all a typical Bengali who adores rabindrasangeet... my family never had any objection about me having friends from other religions...they often come & no, there aint any different plates for them...but when I pointed all these out their answer was a simple one-"but they were just friends"...

Surely I did a mistake. I'd forgotten that we still think genetic fraternity is of more value than the intellectual ones & so when it comes to intra-religion interactions ; the level of kinship should never cross the safe realm of emotional attachment & enter into the forbidden land of perceptible things like the body...the rule is especially valid for girls. a girl's hymen still bears the onus of family honors. The actual situation of this metro is not really different from those villages which supports honor killings. Here a soul doesn't marry a soul, a body doesn't crave for a body. Even after uttering endless amorous odes, the learned,-admirer-of-literature dad still advises his daughter to restrain her ardour & preserve her family values. In India marriage is just an institute to create a(preferably male) descendant who'll bear the swollen family values. & those who arrange it are crude & calculating & so despise any element which might vandalize their calculations.

The scene is changing but not in the pace it should be. We, the youngistan haven't yet fully shed off our hypocrisy. We are the kind of adventure lovers who loves to surf in the artificial whirlpool of their own swimming pool. If we don't grab the boat & raft now then the social rancidness is never gonna perish.

No matter who you are, what your social, economic or political position is; I am watching you.& if I ever notice anything devious then I'll bring you right here in the ICU of virtual reality to dissect & reshuffle you!