Balaka Basu's Blog, page 21

#ThursdayTreeLove- KanthChampa

“Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower and draws all good things towards you”- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

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We often forget to become happy. We are busy doing so many things that we have no time left for being happy. It is easy to be happy. True happiness doesn’t come from wealth, fame or success it comes from the little things. At times looking at a flower is enough to be happy.

When I asked my friend Kavita to click this tree in Shantiniketan, trust me, Parul’s Thursday Tree Love was in my mind. I love taking part in this blog hop and literally look forward to it.

Movie Marathon #20Day Challenge

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I am on a movie marathon. In the last couple of weeks, I have watched a lot of movies, both in theatres and on television. The two movies that I watched in the theatre are Manmarziyaan and Manto. The others that I watched on Television are Call Me by your Name, Concussion, Collateral Beauty (second time), Friends with benefits (fourth time) and Deuce Bigolo, European Gigolo.

I usually do not love watching television, however, the last couple of weeks I was feeling low so went on a binge-watching spree. I am not an expert movie reviewer, therefore the views expressed in this post are merely my personal feeling and should not be considered as a critique.

Manto: This is one of the best movies that I watched in recent times. I have been a huge fan of Manto’s writings and this movie did complete justice to his writing and his life. Manto was not an ordinary writer, he was a rebel who couldn’t accept the fallacy of the Partition. His writings always reflected, the injustice and bizarreness of Partition. He always empathized with the sufferings of people, especially women during partition. Nandita Das did an excellent job of using inter-textuality. She weaved Manto’s stories in his biopic as real characters. If you are not aware of his stories then you may not be able to relate to the random characters that appear and disappear throughout the movie. This movie is Nawazuddin Siddique’s best performance till date. He literally became Manto. He could express his hope and hopelessness through his eyes. Rasika Dugal gave an equally strong performance. Tahir Raj Bhasin was impressive as Shyam Chadda. But all in all, it was the narrative that kept the audience glued.

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Manmarziyaan: This is Anurag Kashyap’s nemesis.  This movie is a hybrid of Tanu Weds Manu and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. I found nothing unique in this movie. The story is cliche and every third Bollywood movie is on this theme. Tapsee Pannu was good but she had nothing new to do because Kangana Ranaut had already done that in Tanu Weds Manu. I read a lot of praises for Abhishek Bachchan but I felt that he acted like a speed breaker and single-handedly brought down the enthusiasm of the movie. Unlike, Ajay Devgan in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, the audience doesn’t feel any sympathy for Abhishek. Ajay was unaware about his wife’s love affair before marriage, therefore, what he did audience could sympathize however in Manmarziyaan Abhishek knew everything and he took it as a challenge to marry the girl and make her forget her ex. It was bizarre. The only person I loved in this movie was Vicky Kaushal. He was unapologetically irresponsible, he looked and played his part with elan. Anurag Kashyap is known for his out of box movies, it is sad to see him falling into the trap of cliche romance. Romance should be left for Karan Johar and gang and Anurag should keep doing what he is best at.

Call Me By Your Name: is based on the novel by Andre Acimen. This is a love story between 17-year-old Elio and 24-year-old Oliver. Let me confess, I have always felt uncomfortable watching scenes depicting homosexual love-making. No, I do not have any reservation but I always felt that most scenes were shot in a manner that left the audience bit uncomfortable. Starting from Brokeback Mountain to Fire, I never felt the intense passion in those scenes, however, Call me by your Name, breaks that reservation and shows beautifully the passion and romance between two men. The scenes left me with goosebumps and in the end, I was crying with Elio when Oliver decides to marry a girl. This movie is shot in a lazy manner and takes the audience on a beautiful and mesmerizing journey of the Italian countryside. The movie at times feels like a poem.

Concussion: This movie proves once again the brilliance of Will Smith as an actor. In this movie, Smith plays the role of Dr. Bennet Omalu, who accidentally discovers a disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) that affects American football players. The movie is about his struggle to establish his research. He is subjected to considerable pressure to back down from his research. While watching the movie I was wondering why Bollywood never makes such movies.

Collateral Beauty: This movie is philosophical and spiritual. This movie makes my heart heavy every time I watch it. This movie is so beautiful yet heart-breaking that writing about it extremely difficult. Just go and watch this movie and enjoy the collateral beauty that exists everywhere.

Deuce Bigolo, European Gigolo: When a mainstream movie is made on a prostitute her clients are always shown as good looking men often rich. The best example is Pretty Woman, Chameli etc. Yes, some men are shown creepy but not all. However, in the Deuce Bigolo series not a single client of Deuce Bigolo, the male gigolo is ever shown as normal. one gigantic, one is morbidly obese, one is full of warts, one has a male organ on her face, one is dirty. I often wonder why can’t they show a normal girl as his client. I find it quite sexist.

Friends with Benefits: I love romantic comedy and this movie is my comfort movie. I particularly love the chemistry between Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake. I watch this movie whenever I feel like. This is simply my Feel-Good Movie.

 

 

 

Signs of a Fake Friend #20DayChallenge

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I never seek quantity but quality in friendship. To me, friendship is a sacred pact that should involve two honest individuals. I need a deep emotional connection to maintain a friendship. I am not the type of person who would meet some random person in a party, then click a selfie and post it on social media with the hashtag #bestfriendsforever. I can’t, I just can’t. I know many people think I am a bit unsocial but sincerely, I do not care.

I know of few people who regularly change their WhatsApp profile picture with different groups of friends like gym friends, husband’s office colleague’s wife friends, child’s school friend’s mommy friend, random kitty part friend, heavy drinking club friends etc and post with the hashtag #FriendsForever.  However, the very next day they bitch about each other. What is the point of this fake friendship? What do they want to show the world? Do they want to show that they are extremely popular and ‘happening’ and always having fun? Or just hide their loneliness in fake friendships?

To me, I can only become friends with someone after knowing him/her properly. Well, I do not deny that in few instances I did connect with a person on the first day itself and stayed connected for the rest of our lives, but most of my ‘good’ friends became my friend gradually and in most cases, there was repulsion preceded by attraction.

I have friends whom I can trust with my life. I like people who share the same values as mine. I do not like to call somebody a friend today and then find him/her having a completely different lifestyle tomorrow.  However, all of us across a few people who would force their friendships on us. These people often do it for their own benefits.

My friends know that I hate calling people, so they never bother me, I love when people give me my space but these ‘forced’ friends would expect me to call them up every day, meet them every week, update them about every single incident of my life and worse force their decisions on me. I am sure many of you have such friends. These friends are toxic. These friends are never happy for you deep within. They will never give you any positive suggestion yet expect you to follow whatever they say. These people are often jealous of you and often compare. For example, they will compare salaries, grades of kids, brand of your car, how many foreign trips you take etc. These people are often bad listeners and always busy talking about themselves or they ask you too many uncomfortable questions. The tragedy is they will keep asking you and expect it as their birthright to get an answer. They do not stop at asking, once you reply they will start analyzing. In most cases, they would deduce that you took a wrong decision and you are foolish. These friends will always try to belittle you. Criticise you on everything from your choice of clothes to choice of life partners. They will want you to consult them about every aspect of your life. These people will always try to put you down in the camouflage of doing your good. They pretend as if they were born to take care of you. They always show concern but in reality, they are least bothered about your feelings.

These people often get jealous when they see you getting close to others. If you have another friend whom you genuinely like then they will create a ruckus over why you are spending more time with that other friend instead of him/her. At times they get so jealous that you can’t even spend time with your partners without bothering them. These people will listen to your problems with utmost curiosity and never bother to solve them rather they would try to catalyze the problem. For example, If you are having a problem with your spouse then they would never give you suggestion on how to sort it out but give you the phone number of a lawyer so that you can get a divorce.

Do you have any such fake friend? Do let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

Shantiniketan-#wanderfulwednesday #20Day Challenge

I have not written a travel post in ages. I started blogging as a travel blogger and gradually I started writing about everything else but travel. In the month of May, I went on an amazing 15 day long trip with my friend Kavita. It was a mommy and kids and I cannot stop gushing about it even four months later. It was one of the best trips of my life.

This was a trip where two mothers went out with their kids minus the dads. I have gone on solo trips but this was the first time I was going with my son alone on a trip. Let me confess I was a bit skeptical. When I am alone I never worry about anything but when my son is with me I have to worry about a lot of things. When I travel alone I live in budget hotels and if I am going abroad I prefer hostels. However with my son in tow, I made sure to book a good star rated accommodation. We also always hired cabs from good rental agents and in the matter of food also we were extremely careful and ate from proper places and avoided roadside eateries. When I travel solo I experiment a lot with food and eat whatever I can put my hands on, however with the son I stuck to regular food.

Shantiniketan was not in our itinerary, it just happened because I believe it was destined to happen. I had avoided visiting Shantiniketan ever since I lost my best friend Subha to the deadly C. She was from Shantiniketan. This time also I felt a bit miserable before going but once I reached the rustic beauty of Gurudev’s abode mesmerized me.

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Shantiniketan is a quiet place away from the hustle bustle of city life yet everything is within reach. The best way to explore Shantiniketan is by foot. If you are an early morning person then you can always go for a morning walk in this University town. Kavita and I did the same. As we were living in the university guest house it was a very safe place, therefore, we left the kids in the room and went for a morning walk. It was such a divine feeling we didn’t want to come back.

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If you want to relax for a weekend, then Shantiniketan is the best place. It is only a few hours drive from Kolkata and regular trains are available. We reached Shantiniketan on a Saturday. Every Saturday a flea market called Sonajhurir Haat comes into action there. It is a great place to pick up artifacts, souvenirs, handloom and terracotta products.

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Sunday morning we decided to explore BiswaBharathi University, the revolutionary project of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. If you want to get an idea of how revolutionary genius Rabindranath was then do visit this place. Rabindranath was not only a mere poet and novelist he was true luminary leader who thought out of the box.

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The evening was spent in exploring the nearby Surul Palace and temples and then we went to watch a play ‘Maya Mridangam‘ and then called it a day. The next morning we boarded a train to reach Kurseong.

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Picture Courtesy: Kavita Negi

How I Met Your Father- #20DayChallenge

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The other day, my son asked me ‘Ma, where did you meet Baba? why did you marry him? Both of you are so different.’ It is true we are different because while I am a woman, he is a man. There are more differences than similarities yet we are married for a dozen years. The fact that we survived each other for so many years is our biggest victory.

We never had a Yash Chopra kind of romance. There were no pehli nazar pyar, dil dhak dhak, chura k dil mera moment for us. Like two boring matured adults we met through a matrimonial site. We exchanged emails for over a month, then one day he called up. We were living in two different continents at that time. And those were the days when ISD calls were expensive, so we spoke briefly.

We are very different from each other, we had a very different upbringing, while I had a cosmopolitan upbringing he came from a small town. I come from a dysfunctional nuclear family while he comes from a huge family with parents, grandparents, siblings, nephews, nieces and an army of extended relatives. I went to a convent while he went to a vernacular medium school. I love to read books and he hardly reads any. I am an introvert who avoid human contact and he is an extrovert. I hate parties he loves them. I hate to make phone calls to people while he has a list of people to call each day. I love Enrique Iglesias he loves Rashid Khan. I love to eat paneer he loves to eat fish. The list is endless and it is no less than a miracle that we are together.

The day I first met him is etched in my memory as if it happened yesterday. I went to the airport to pick him up. From the airport, he came straight to my house to meet my dad. Unlike these days skype or video calls were not available, so I had to rely on a few scanned photographs to identify him. Thankfully, I did not pick up the wrong guy at the airport. We exchanged a brief conversation on our way.

The previous night my Dad had rehearsed a lot about what he would ask the would-be, would-not-be son-in-law. He had prepared a list of questions that included how much the boy earned, what were his future plans, in which country he would settle, when he would buy a house, what his father did, etc. Like a typical father of the bride, he had settled on some 100 questions to ask. I am sure the groom also had prepared himself for a deluge of questions from the would-be, would-not-be father-in-law.

Finally, the young boy entered the arena like a gladiator to face the father of the girl who was roaring like a hungry lion. So the conversation started and it was as follows…

Father: Where do you live?

Young Man: Colorado, USA

F: That is a nice place. So who is winning from Colorado Democrats or Republics?

YM: Bill Owens, Republicans

F: Do you feel that the Republicans are soft on terrorism?

YM: (visibly excited) Oh No!! on the contrary I feel they are quite harsh…

The conversation now started to meander towards what strategy USA should follow to capture Osama-bin-Laden (as if without their opinion the USA would not be able to take any step). From Osama, the discussion reached the middle-east and what strategy Iran and Saudi Arabia should adopt (as if the Saudi king was waiting outside our window to get approval on an oil deal from these two) Why Israel is an important country (Israel would have never realized its worth otherwise) and how Russia and China should contribute to Global Economy (Putin immediately followed their suggestions)

None of them even obliquely discussed anything about the marriage. I was sitting in one corner and wondering what was actually the agenda of this meeting, our marriage or political future of Earth. A part of me was fuming at their instant camaraderie. The young man had hardly spoken to me while with Dad he was discussing every possible issue of the world. The discussion continued for almost 3 hours and it would have continued longer but the young man had a train to catch.

At dinner, I asked Dad bit sarcastically “So did you ask him about his future plans?” Dad nodded in negation and said, “There is no need, he seems good, get married to him.”

That is “How I met your father, son”….

The Art of a Broken Heart- #20DayChallenge

“Take your broken heart and turn it into art.”– Meryl Streep

 

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My heart is broken, the scars are all over and they have created a mosaic. At times, I feel confused because all the scars and bruises demand my attention and I do not know whom to attend first. Should I attend the scars from childhood or the recent ones? The scars are entangled and often overlapping each other. Some are bleeding fresh scarlet blood others have maroon dried blood engulfing the bruise. The zig-zag pattern looks like a beautiful piece of art. Only if I could frame it somewhere on the walls of an art museum as a fresco.

We often read that we should learn to forget the past, live in the moment, be mindful, blah! blah!blah! but those of us feel the pain know how difficult it is to forget every scar, every pain, every heartbreak. Each time the heart breaks a part of us dies and it is quite difficult to revive that dead part of the soul.

I have a doctor friend who is a pain and palliative care specialist. Last week I met him for some work and we were discussing pain. We were mainly talking about physical pain but during the course of the discussion, we started talking about mental pain and trauma. And he said that pain has its own memory. Just like computer software has a memory of its own and remembers everything, similarly, pain has a software. When we think of a painful event it gets remembered and the older the memory the more engraved it gets in our system. The interesting fact is when we recollect a painful memory we are actually referring to the last time we thought about it. Therefore painful incidences keep revolving in our system and for few of us until we suffer complete memory loss the painful memories are not going to go away.

Recently, I read a post by one of my favorite bloggers and a dear friend Shilpa Gupte from Metanoia where she asked ‘why don’t we share our imperfect moments?’ I agree that we never share our imperfections because we are scared to bare our wounds to the whole world. We are scared of being judged by others and most importantly we feel inferior to the ‘happy’ people with our ‘sadness’. There was a time when I was afraid to attend family weddings. I used to see my cousins with their parents, siblings, husband, and kids wearing the finest of costumes and jewelry and laughing their heart out while I used to sit alone in a corner brooding in my pain of being a motherless child. While my cousin’s had their mothers to dress them up, I had no one even to comb my hair.

If you are an orphan or a divorcee or a widow/widower or childless (not by choice) or if you have a physical disability or survived a traumatic incidence then weddings and social media are the worst places for you.  These are the places that will point the finger towards your pain and make you feel more vulnerable. If you are grieving the loss of a mother then you will definitely come across friends posting photos of enjoying Switzerland with their Moms. Right after a miscarriage, you will find your timeline crowded with baby shower pictures of your friends. Right after a financial crisis, you will see friends splurging money, exactly after divorce your best friend will post a romantic picture. There is definitely some kind of Murphy’s law in action in these cases.  I agree it is not good to compare your life with others but let me be honest when you are bleeding within at that time the happiness of others does make you feel worse. This is human nature. I often feel that few of my ‘happy’ friends do take sadistic pleasure in torturing the less fortunate with their ‘happy’ pictures.

There was a time in history when people who failed in life were punished. Those who lost money in a business were paraded naked on the streets, if a woman lost her family in cholera or plague she was termed a witch and killed, widows were put on the pyre of dead husbands, childless women were considered bad omen, and a rape victim even today is blamed for the rape. We have a history of criminalizing the unfortunate and punishing them. And I believe even in this modern age of smartphone and iPhone nothing has changed. Even today those who are less fortunate are considered outcast and the center belongs only to ‘happy’ people.

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Linking this post to #MondayMusings hosted by dear Corinne.

 

Masturdating-20 Day Challenge

It is always challenging to write something on a Sunday. I really appreciate myself for being able to sit down and write this post.

It is Ganpati time in my city and the entire maximum city has got dressed up like a new bride. Well, not really a pretty bride if you take into consideration the metro work, potholes and traffic snarls. I do not want to sound racist or sexist and thus I take back my “bride” metaphor.

I had a relatively lazy Sunday morning because I got enough time to finish the newspaper along with the supplementary pages and the tabloid. It is a great achievement because I usually never get time to read the paper from corner to corner.

In the supplementary page I came across the term ‘masturdating’. It means dating oneself. The article said this is a new concept, however I beg to disagree because I have been doing this since puberty.

I have lived alone in a new city, where I hardly knew anyone. Being an introvert I cannot make friends quickly and thus tagging along with someone was impossible, therefore, I started going out alone. Initially it was to buy essential items, then gradually I started to go out shopping and then started going out for movies alone. The first time I went for a movie alone I felt so liberated. Then one day I bought a book and went to a coffee shop. I started reading the book and left the cafe only when I finished the whole book.

Even after marriage this habit didn’t change. My husband is a busy man and he is not very keen on going out for a movie with me. Secondly our taste in movies also differ, therefore, I continued watching movies alone.

Even today my favourite way to hangout is by sitting in a nice cafe with a book. I love to observe people and a cafe is q best place to do that. I will tell that story some other day.

So do you masturdate? Let me know

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How to Deal with a Toxic Person

We often talk about physically abusive relationships but very less is spoken about mentally abusive relationships. Physical abuse is visible and therefore easy to see for everyone, however emotional abuse is invisible and therefore many a time goes unaddressed. However, mental or emotional abuse takes a huge toll on the victim. A victim can be emotionally abused by anyone parents, friends, colleagues, boss or partner. Emotional abuse can cause a deep scar to the victim’s mind and can often lead to depression and other psychological disease.

The emotional abuser is often a toxic person but apparently he/she may look like extremely caring but deep down within they will try to destroy the other person. I have come against numerous such toxic people in my life either directly or indirectly and these people actually make me feel sick. I feel claustrophobic and fatigued in the presence of these people.

The sad part is toxic people often do not realise that they are toxic. They never realise that they are causing harm to the other person or to the relationship. These people are so self obsessed and narcissist that the only thing they care about is themselves and never the relationship. It is often believed that toxic people never had a loving upbringing or were themselves involved in a toxic relationship either romantically or otherwise. They could have been bullied in school. They could be suffering from an undiagnosed mental health disorder, such as depression or anxiety or bipolar disorder, an eating disorder, any form of trauma. Some kids grow up with toxic parents and later on start exhibiting the same toxicity in their own relationships. It is often some kind of a defence mechanism.

The sign of a toxic relationship is when one person wants to control everything and the other person starts feeling resigned, like you’ve sold out. In any relationship, be it with your parents, partner or a friend stop bringing joy and always make you feel sad, anxious or angry you could be in a toxic relationship. Relationships are meant to make us feel happy and complete however when they fail to do so they are definitely toxic.

From my experience I have seen that toxic people exhibit certain characteristics

They can never be wrong: These people never admit their mistake. They always feel that they are right and the word wrong is not there in their dictionary. I am sure all of you have come across at least one boss in your life who was like this.

They never apologise: As they feel that they can never do any wrong the word ‘sorry’ simply never figure in their vocabulary. Occassionaly they may say ‘sorry’ but mind you they never mean it.

They always criticise: They will always try to find fault in you. They will always play on your self-esteem and try to put you down. It takes immense strength to deal with their constant criticism.

They are master at blame game: The one thing they love to do is blame others. They always try to turn the table and blame others for everything. In a relationship their primary target is to blame and make the other person a scapegoat. Remember they would always try to blame you for their failures and mistakes. Example: Why are you sleeping so late? Because you did not set the alarm clock.. Some people are happy blaming everyone else for their problems, including those they should take personal responsibility for. So the chances are, whatever happens to them it will be someone else’s fault.

They always play the victim card: These people will always try to gain sympathy. They always behave as if the entire universe is conspiring against them. They always behave as if all bad things are happening to them and they are the only ones with problems. They are cynical.

They are narcissists: These people feel that they are god’s best creation. They consider themselves perfect and flawless. No wonder these people never grow as individuals. They are so self obsessed that they are incapable of thinking beyond themselves. They are I, Me, Myself always.

They are selfish attention seekers: They only think about their own comfort. They will always try to be the centre of your attention. They always want you to emotionally support them but never return the favour. If you tell them I am feeling sad their immediate reply will be ‘oh my god, you don’t know, how sad I am’ and then go on and on with their long sad story not listening to yours.

They are bad listeners: A lack of acknowledgement, lack of response and just plain disinterest is what makes someone a bad listener. Many times, they’ll just continue talking about themselves anyways. They will always expect you to ask them how was their day but never ask you about yours.

They want to control you: These people survive on controlling others. Their main motto in life is to manipulate and control others.

It is not easy to deal with a toxic person. Especially if you have a parent or partner who is toxic it can be extremely draining. It can make you constantly walk on eggshells. These people love drama and they will always pick up fights or worse start emotionally torturing you by stonewalling you. They can stop talking to you for months. They never try to resolve any fight and always expect others to come crawling back to you. It is never easy to discuss any issue with them. You can never talk about your feelings freely to them and always live in a constant fear that this may anger them. These people love to get angry and pick up a fight at the drop of a hat.

However, there are ways to deal with toxic people. If you don’t deal with a toxic person it can drain you emotionally and cause extreme stress and depression. The worst part is identifying a toxic person. It is not easy to identify a toxic person easily as many of them may apparently behave extremely caring and loving. Beware, it is the wolf in a lamb’ skin. Loving you is also part of their plan to control you. It make take you years to acknowledge the fact that the person is toxic. These people always play on your self-esteem and make you feel guilty in such a way that you start believing everything is your fault and the other person is a saint. They always tell you that you are good at nothing shattering your self esteem.

The best thing to do is to walk away from a toxic person, however, in many cases it is not possible. Therefore the next best way is to deal with them firmly. Many of them are not even aware about their toxicity and if you find your close someone as toxic do consider a visit to a counsellor to deal with unresolved issues. Next best thing is stop dancing to their tunes. Toxic people only have the power to upset you if you let them upset you. Even if you can’t distance yourself physically, you always have the power to distance yourself emotionally.

Draw a boundary, toxic people get freaked out by boundaries. Make them gradually that they cannot control you and trust me they would change their behaviour. They love to pick up fights. When you feel them they are trying to pick up a fight either keep quite or just move away. The less you allow them to fight with the better. They would come to understand that their strategy is not working. Don’t allow their criticism to get on your head. You know your worth and keep valuing yourself. Don’t let them break your self-confidence. Look at the positives.

Sunset at Victoria Memorial #skywatchfriday

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This was taken during my trip to Kolkata in May this year. I couldn’t resist capturing the orange sky during sunset.

Thursday Tree Love – Shantiniketan #20daychallenge

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Last summer my friend Kavita and her daughter joined me in Kolkata. We did lot of touristy things. It was great being a tourist in my hometown. While taking a stroll in Kolkata’s Alipore zoo, Kavita expressed her desire to visit Shantiniketan. She being an avid reader considered Shantiniketan as some kind of holy place and wanted to go on a pilgrimage. As the Hindi saying goes “chat mangni pat beha”, immediately we bought tickets. I called up my friend “Dhee The Man” who is a professor in Shantiniketan and he booked a room in the university guest house.

The following day, we arrived in Shantiniketan. The kids were super excited. After lunch, myself and Kavita locked the kids in the room (don’t get scared, the kids insisted it to be that way, they were in no mood to take an afternoon stroll and wanted to watch TV and read books) and went for a stroll.

If you have never been to Shantiniketan then let me tell you. This place was built by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Even today the place has retained the old charm. It is still a sleepy town and the best way to explore this town is by foot. All along your way you will find interesting statues , houses of famous people like Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Ramkinkar Beg etc and beautiful murals, mosaics and a great collection of plants. During spring the Palash blossom is worth a watch. If you want to see spring fall in India then do visit Shantiniketan.

This particular tree of Champa was within the premise of our guest house and we couldn’t resist clicking it. Isn’t it lovely?