Personalized parting video message from Br. Brendan MacCarthaigh to me on 2022-10-29

Personalized parting video message from Br. Brendan MacCarthaigh to me on 2022-10-29 before he left for Dublin, Ireland forever. 

My last meeting with Br. Brendan MacCarthaigh on 2022-10-29

I will 'possibly' never ever have Br. Dr Brendan MacCarthaigh Sir to rush to everytime I am psychologically down, hear him talk to me with great compassion for 15 - 30 minutes and return home totally rejuvenated. 

Even while I started writing this piece at 5.15 am on Sunday 2022-10-30, Sir is possibly getting ready at St. Joseph's Collegiate School in Bowbazar to leave his favourite Kolkata (read, India) forever to get airborne and head for Dublin, Ireland (his country of birth) where total uncertainty stares at him at a ripe age of 84. There's not a single relative to even say a hello to him, leave aside be at his bedside in far off Ireland. He has got no savings either. 

Sir came to India as a Christian Brother at a tender age of 22 in 1960 (2 years before I was born) and shaped the lives of thousands of Indian school children for the next 62 years upto the last day of October 2022. 

Sir came to my life as my senior school class teacher in St. Patrick's School, Asansol from mid 1977. Something very unfortunate had happened during the fag end of my school year. It was Sir who drilled it into me that life must go on and that I must stamp out all odds and come out victorious. I never forgot him, although for about 13 - 15 odd years I was out of touch with Sir. 

It was around 1996 that I found him out once again. By then Sir had formed SERVE, an NGO to inculcate value education in schools, to ensure that a school going child is free from all fears and stop the propensity of children to commit suicide which even today is rampant in India. He was very keen that I officially become a SERVE honorary member with some responsibility bestowed on me, which I denied in no uncertain terms. I volunteered to do quite a bit of brand marketing exercise for SERVE out of my sheer love for Sir. However, there were people in his team (which included his most trusted lieutenants) who made Sir believe that my ideas should not be accepted. 

By 1998, I told Br. Brendan that I will do anything for him but not for SERVE. Even the email ID he uses even today was made by me for him. The writing on the wall was bold and clear that people were using Sir for their own interests. Almost everytime I visited Sir at his SERVE office, he would share all his plans, I gave him ideas as food for thought and before bidding goodbye I would invariably warn him that things were not right. I would remind him that some of his writings and utterances need to be politically correct. I have always warned him that people are using him for conveying false narratives. I have always warned him to stay clear of echoing meaningless rhetorics. He would listen to me but never stopped his rhetorics. From 2014, his aides started brainwashing him with extra vigour and he too started getting more vocal to voice untrue narratives. Rightfully, thousands of registered NGOs had a lot of answering to do to the government to stop rampant money laundering and more. On realizing that the 'gandha' days were history, a new metric, viz. 'SERVE works for unity of religion' crept in. The narrative which was drilled into Br. Brendan by his lieutenants and Sir gulped it down and became vociferously vocal in spreading the utterly false narrative. 

In 2019, the decision makers in the Christian Brothers setup in India transferred him to Chandigarh immediately after he returned from a 3 months of leave in various places in Europe. It's obvious that the decision makers too felt that Br. Brendan was surrounded by too many people who had other motives in mind and that might become a deterrent in the smooth functioning of the reverred organization in a new India! 

Around mid October 2022, I was told by someone that Br. Brendan would be leaving India for Ireland possibly forever. I sulked and wept, went into depression knowing jolly well that there's nothing that I can do to hold him back in India, if not in Kolkata in particular. 

Sir, wanted to leave India from Kolkata. He flew in to Kolkata from Chandigarh on Sunday 2022-10-23, a day before Diwali. On Saturday 2022-10-29 I could meet Sir in private at the 2nd storey parlour of the main building in St. Joseph's Collegiate School in Bowbazar. Although our private meeting was supposed to be for 10 minutes, it actually stretched to over 50 minutes. I wept. He held on to my hands tight. His eyes had moistened up, too even while trying to crack jokes. There were too many things he told me for the first time ever. 

A farewell meeting was scheduled in the hall downstairs from 5.30 pm on Saturday 2022-10-29. Although I was in no mood to attend, I could not discard Sir's request to remain present throughout the meet which ultimately ended around 7 pm. Dr. Mohan Lal Mukherjee and Dr. Santanu Chatterjee, alumii of St. Patrick's School, Asansol were pleasantly present for the farewell meeting.   

Even during his last captivating speech from the stage, Sir uttered a few lines what he has been made to believe by the hate India brigade since 2014! 

With Sir's departure from India, it's almost as if I have been orphaned 😩 

I will only be living with memories of how often Sir cheered me up 😩

Sir, stay safe. Stay fit. 

. 

. 

P.S: The headlines in Page 1 in The Telegraph, Kolkata edition dated Saturday 2022-10-29 bears testimony of a false narrative that Sir has been made to seriously believe in by his other associates. Please read the complete article spread over two pages in The TT. 

I have lost the physical presence of my mentor, but the cunning brigade will start working overtime to find and brainwash their next prey. Life will continue unhindered for the hate brigade!

Indian Roadie Drive For Food to Putiram on 2022-10-17 with Nikhilesh Roy

Indian Roadie Nikhilesh Roy and I drove to the plumbing accessories hub (market) in College Street, North Kolkata on 2022-10-17 afternoon for a lot of work. By evening we were terribly hungry. Nikhilesh suggested that we should walk down to have Singara (samosa), Kachuri (that's how we Bengalis pronounce Kachori) with thick Daal, Darbesh (a special sweet) and Rasogolla at the age old mithai shop Putiram on Surya Sen Street. 

After more than two decades I entered the shop to have Kachuri and Daal. I was disappointed. Local shops in predominantly Bengali localities make far tastier Kachuris. The Rasogolla and Darbesh were nothing great either ☹️ 

Here are some photos from our Indian Roadie Drive For Food.

PUC of my LML Vespa on 2022-10-12

My 31 yrs young LML Vespa 150 NV (mid 1991 model) has surely clocked over 2,00,000 kms (might be even 2.5 lakh kms, too). 

On Wednesday 2022-10-12, I got the PUC done at my regular PUC outlet attached with Auto Super Service, a HPCL filling station near my house in Kolkata. Prior to inserting the stick in the silencer, the PUC boy was apprehensive if my workhorse would pass the test. Once his system was switched on he was stunned to see how phenomenally my baby performed. 

And still there's so much of hoopla in India about scaringly expensive electric vehicles (EV) and scrapping of automobiles above 10 yrs (for diesel)/ 15 yrs (for petrol). 

Dumping the enemies within India behind bars is a far better idea than trashing old vehicles. True Indians will be able to breathe better and live longer! 

* My WB38A0582, 

* PUC, 

* Enemies Within India Are More Harmful Than Vehicular Pollution

My brunch on 2022-10-16

I am still an Indian 'bachcha'. 

That's my very simple brunch at home at 2 pm on Sunday 2022-10-16. 

Posted for No Rhyme Or Reason. 

. 

. 

. 

* Emni Emni 

* Meri Marzi 

* My brunch 

Gobinda Mandal, Biplab Das, Pritam Jana (R to L), the passive Indian roadies of Rangmahal

The extremely friendly and affable 'Three Musketeers', viz. Gobinda Mandal, Biplab Das, Pritam Jana (R to L), the super-salesmen of Rangmahal, a 100+ yrs old shop in Joramandir, Beliaghata, Kolkata 700010 from where I buy my regular supplies of bread, margarine, biscuits, chips, soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, ice creams, needles, threads, noodles, tea packets, coffee sachets, shoe lace, boot polish, pens, refills, etc, etc, etc since 1992 or maybe earlier are keen listeners of road travel stories and advices I pass on to their 'boss' during my frequent visits to their shop. With their meagre earnings as sales persons in a shop they can't afford a bike or scooter but keep asking me innocent questions which I enjoy answering to their satisfaction. I had clicked their photos on 2022-01-13 and promised to feature them in our forum. However, I had totally forgotten my promise made to them. Today on 2022-10-16, after 9 long months, while browsing through my collection of photos, I found this worthy collection. 

Even while I leave 'My WB38A0582' parked and unattended outside their shop, the boys keep an eye on my old worhorse overloaded with merchandise. 

Amitava Sadhukhan, the owner of Rangmahal is an Indian Roadie member/ follower from the initial years. About 5 years ago he bought a Ford Ecosport Titanium Petrol from Ganges Ford on my advice. Prior to that he owned a Hyundai Santro for 10+ years and had barely driven 10,000 kms. His profession doesn't allow him to leave the flourishing shop and drive out too often. Till recently he wasn't too confident about long distance highway driving. However, off late Amitava's daughter who's a B.Tech student and a new driving license holder and he himself has mustered enough courage from Indian Roadie and have started heading out for long drives to Durgapur, Mukutmanipur, Puri, etc in their Ford Ecosport Titanium Petrol. 

Friends, please react and comment to boost up the morale of these three wonderful boys. If you happen to be in this part of my city, please drop in to the shop and tell the #PassiveRoadies that you saw and read about them on Indian Roadie. They will be thrilled 😊 

. 

. 

. 

* Indian Roadie Little Joys

Durga Puja 2022 - Maha Saptami outing 2022-10-02

Maha Saptami, Sunday 2022-10-02. 

I left my place in the vicinity of Salt Lake Stadium at 3.15 pm with daughter and wife for Puja hopping in my VW Vento. I was back home at 9.15 pm after visiting a handful of the popular Durga Puja pandals in South Kolkata. 

Visited Bhowanipore (starting with Paddapukur and onwards to Chakraberia, Northern Park, Abasar, Golmaath, etc). Then drove to Southern Avenue, easily parked my Vento on a lane besides Nav Nalanda School. Walked down to the pandals of Mudiali, Lake, Shiv Mandir, etc. Finally, drove back to Salt Lake Sector 3. Visited the HA, HB, GD Block association puja mandaps. Then, stuffed ourselves with goodies from Mio Amore at IA256. 

Bought chicken biriyani for dinner at home from my regular joint in Beliaghata. 

Roads were unbelievably empty. Parking the car was far more easy than on normal non-festive days. 

Total distance covered was exactly 30 kms. 

. 

. 

. 

* Durga Puja 2022 

* Indian Roadie Durga Puja 2022