Artlemi #8

Hello Artels,

Every 14^th February I spend wondering what it is that makes this a day anything more than any other day for lovers. This year however 3 persons, answering my question with their 3 different perspectives made me realize what 14^th February stands for. Let me tell you their stories; without revealing the names for my safety reasons.

The single “dude” who believes in love- A childhood buddy of mine, let’s believe his name is ‘dude’, has always been single for his own reasons. Being in a relationship for him, as he quotes it, is “waste of my feelings”. He thinks having a girlfriend means having all kind of troubles. We spend almost every Valentine day together, hanging out with few other single friends. This year however he was out of Kolkata for a family get-together. We were on phone on 14^th morning when I asked him my question. He without taking a moment answered ‘man why don’t you google what this day stands for? You will get your answer. This day is not about lovers, it’s about love. It’s a day for celebrating love that connects people, holds them together’. I was shocked hearing this from him. The man, who prefers to be alone, was talking about love. He kept saying; ‘love is very precious man, our friends, our families, everyone loves us. That’s what this day signifies, togetherness of people. Lovers are just a part of it. Got me? Now use internet to some good use, I am going. She i……. I mean they are waiting for me, Cya’. That was my first lesson for the day; 14^th February is a day of love.

An aunt who misses falling in love- I was going out in afternoon to meet some friends when I encountered with an aunty from my flat. She is a school teacher and she should have been in school in this time of the day. She looked at me with surprise. ‘What are you doing home today? Don’t you have plans?’ she asked me with a teasing voice. I was not sure if I am comfortable with the truth so I asked her if it’s a holiday in her school. ‘Don’t tell me about it.’ She mocked anger; ‘the school was half empty. What’s the matter with your generation? It’s like you people save all your love for this day only. 14^th February, and nobody cares to come except some gloomy faces’.

‘Actually aunty I thi…..’ I was not finished when she started again. ‘I was young once too, in our times we didn’t even know about 14^th February but we did just fine. You know I think your generation doesn’t even know what love is. We didn’t have any special day; we had few lucky days when we had chances to experience love. It was way more fun that way. I miss that.’ She suddenly stopped like she had realized it was too much for her to say all this to me. ‘Now run, I am sure you are late’. She stormed up the stairs. My second lesson; 14^th February stands for changes.

Shit happens: story of a modern day Casanova- I know a boy, a modern day Casanova from our area. He is famous among ladies from a very young age. Sweet looking, stylish, smooth talker, good singing voice, passionate guitarist, he has everything that attracts Indian girls. More importantly, he knows how to use his skills to get ladies he likes. We, despite of envying him for that, love him for his charming nature. 14^th February is his day. From dating 3 different women on a single V-day to stealing someone else’s fiancé, he has done it all.

This year however, was very different for him.

I heard the story from someone on the evening get-together. Our Mr. Casanova was feeling differently about a special someone and she gave him his own medicine. 7 days of love filled moments and she left him on 13^th. Well it seems that picking a new fish in one day was too much of a mission for him. He spent the entire day sending friend requests to random girls in Facebook and now he is blocked from doing that. I was unreasonably happy to learn my final lesson of the day. 14^th February is also about paying back.

So I have learned- well, not a thing. It’s still a mystery for me. What it is that makes this a day anything more than any other day for lovers?       

Please enlighten me if you have any idea.

Bye till the 1^st Sunday of next month

ArkaĐ  

In this week's Artlemi

Poem
উষ্ণ জলের ধোঁয়া... (by Debolina Sen)


Fictional Article
Life is an enigma (by Soham Banik)


Photography
Ray of hope (by Papia Ghosh)
Good Bye (by Chirantan Kar)

Artlemi #7

Hello Artels,

Everything starts with a simple idea. The urge of achievement ignites the execution. Human needs inspire a brilliant mind and revolution comes. Everything we have around us today is simply a result of an evaluating revolution, outcome of an idea.

The idea was to make a machine with wings that human can fly and today we have jets flying with the speed of sound. A giant sized machine occupying a whole building just to calculate, evaluated to computers that we can now carry in our pocket. Telephone, television and many more human necessities was a simple idea indeed. Look around and you will see nothing but evolutions of those inventions.

When I first came to know about the difference between invention and discovery as a child, it knocked something in my mind. Two almost similar human urges divided by a thin but strong wall of imagination and idea. Discovery is finding what was already here but we didn’t know about, it is the result of the search for unknown. A new country, an unknown planet, the exact atmosphere before big bang and many more unknowns are waiting to be discovered. In other hand, innovation is developing an idea and creating what was hidden in the heart of future. It’s about assembling our knowledge and resources, mixing them, breaking and recreating them, just to have something great coming out of a simple thought.

Anyways, I am not here to teach you differences. I want to share something I am feeling these days. May be because of my very little knowledge about what’s going on around the world (trust me, that is exactly what I want it to be), I am feeling that there are not much of life changing inventions coming through; Inventions that can change our everyday life, the world around us. Just like the invention of wheel speeded our human race to development. We are growing up surrounded by gifts of science created by our previous generations. Can we think about our life without TVs, computers or telephones? I don’t think we can and that’s where my question comes- “What is our generation leaving for our future generations that they can’t live without?”

I know what you are thinking, developing what we have and taking it to the next level is also a way to make our future simpler and easier and we are actually doing great even without new inventions. If you think so, consider this- a new invention always comes as a solution to an old problem and developing those inventions are actually an act of improving the solutions but not an answer to new problems that should be solved. Hunger, war, poverty, and many more threatening problems are waiting to be solved. As I said before, everything starts with a simple idea.

I know there is a huge possibility that my knowledge has failed me with this piece of writing but when Stephen Hawkins said ‘we have nothing more to invent’, then I think I am not that much wrong. Pulling out an article like this is never easy for an amateur “writer’ like me but I knew from the beginning; if Mandela, after spending almost 30 years in a tiny cell, can come out forgiving those who put him there, my readers can forgive me for the attempt.

**P.S: Many people are claiming that ‘Sixth sense interface’ is a new invention but I kind of felt that it actually is a development, a great straight from the science fiction development but development indeed.

Hope I have not bored you with my writing; just let me know if I did.

Bye till the 3^rd Sunday of this month

ArkaĐ  

In this week's Artlemi

Poem
Why (by Shinjana Das)
Princess (by Gaurab Mukherjee)
Fear me not (by Rocky Beret)
Girl please forgive me (by Arka Datta)


Photography
The dusk (by Gaurab Mukherjee)