Radharani - A Novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

This is a famous story by Sahityasamrat Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Most of us know the story. I read it for the first time during student life. 

Recently I saw the name of the story on Youtube as audiobook by Mirchi Bangla Youtube Channel. As we know that this story begins on the day of Rathyatra, so this year I listened to the story on the occasion of Rathyatra. It was such a nice experience that brought a smile on my face.

 The sweetness of the story, the purity of the feelings of both Rukmini Kumar and Radharani capture our heart. We feel their emotions and we feel happy when they meet at the end of the story. 

Listening the story on the Rathyatra day made it a special experience for me and enhanced my enjoyment.

With lots of love for all,

Jai Shri Krishna.

Obhinetri- a Story by Ashapurna Devi

This is a famous short story by Ashapurna Devi. 

Many years ago I read it for the first time.  Recently I listened to the audiobook of the story in the Youtube channel of 'Prithar Ichhedana'. 

It portrays the psychology of the mind of a woman. Women bind the family with her love and care. She plays many roles according to the needs of her family. This story shows us how women manage the difficult situations which keep on challenging all of us while leading family life. It takes wisdom and a loving heart to keep the wheels of the family running. This story is both amusing as well as a lesson about life. We learn to appreciate the effort given by women to nurture her family. I would request all of you to listen to the story and enjoy it.

With lots of best wishes

Jai Shri Krishna. 

Rathyatra 2025

Shri Jagannath Rathyatra is a unique festival when the Lord of the world comes out of his temple to meet the devotees. Devotees eagerly wait for this day to have darshan of their favourite Lord. Like every year, this year also Rathyatra took place in Puri Dham. Doordarshan National airs the live video and commentary of Rathyatra every year. The anchors use Hindi, English and Sanskrit language in their commentary. They give very detailed information about the ritual. So I always enjoy listening to it. This time Rathyatra was delayed due to heavy crowd. So the yatra could not be completed on that day. The yatra was finished on the next day when Shri Jagannath, Shri Balbhadra and Devi Subhadra reached Gundicha temple. After seven days, Bahuda yatra, Suna besha, Adhara pana and Niladri Bije- all these celebrations took place generating bliss to the devotees. Many vloggers and live telecast from different media agencies covered all these celebrations during these days. In this way devotees get the chance to experience these special darshans of all the three deities through Rathyatra festival.

Jai Jagannath.

Kul Chhere Eshe- A Bengali Song

Today I am sharing a beautiful song which tells us about the journey of life. It is written and composed by Pandit Gyan Prakash Ghosh and sung by Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty. 

In this song, life is compared with a river. Any two phases of life are compared with the two banks of a flowing river. The feelings evoked while crossing the river are narrated in the song.

 Many times we feel confused while taking a decision about life. In this song we feel all those emotions which we go through while moving from one phase of life to another. The starting of the song tells us about this feeling.

The known life is always preferable to us. It gives us a sense of security. The first stanza of the song tells us about all these emotions. While taking a decision to move forward in life, we remember the memories of joy and sadness attached with the current situation. It seems very hard for us to leave the cosy place.

Now we come to the middle part of the song. It narrates how the fading images of one phase of life, and the fear of a new uncertain life- both are felt by us at the same time. 

While continuing the journey, gradually we also feel an attraction towards the unknown mysteries of the future life. It seems as if the future is near, it is full of positive hopes, as if it is blessing us with fearlessness. This is narrated in the last stanza of the song.

The song ends with the positive note that fills us with a the hope of a promising future. The concept of the song is very unique. It is the reason it is one of my favourite song. And also the style of singing by Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty is excellent as we all know, which adds to the beauty to the song. I have also listened to another rendition of the song by Bani Konar in the year 1954. 

Do listen to the song and enjoy. 

With lots of best wishes,

Jai Shri Krishna. 

Blue Beetle- English Film (2023)

Blue Beetle film is based on DC comic characters. The main storyline revolves around a scientific innovation of Blue Beetle machine which will make a normal human being capable of super human powers. 

Victoria, the owner of a defence technology company, wants to capture the machine as well as the power of Blue Beetle and use it for their profit. By a coincidence, Jenny, the niece of Victoria, gets hold of the machine. Through Jenny, the scarab reaches a young boy Jaime, who gets the power of the machine by sudden interaction with it. Thus starts the main story of the film; how both of them team up and save the machine from the evil clutches of the current director of the company, is shown in the film. 

The story goes in expected way, there is no surprise element in it. The young hero, his careless and inconfident approach in the beginning, later becoming responsible and matured- we have watched such storyline in numerous films. 

The hero Jaime lives in a joint family with many members, all of them have their own unique characteristics. They all make a happy family in spite of their differences. This quality of Jaime's family is appreciated by the heroine Jenny. 

In the end Jaime defeats the main villain Victoria and the machine bot Carapac, who was helping Victoria. 

Overall, the film is targeted for young audience, who may not have watched other films based on such comic characters. For matured audiences, there is nothing much to watch. It is only an action film with futuristic machines and special effects. 

With lots of best wishes.