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JAI SRI KRISHNA!

JAI SRI KRISHNA!

sri KRISHNA KI JAI HO!

It was a fine sunny afternoon on February 16, 2009.  The time was around 3:30 p.m.  I left my home.  I walked towards the Metro Railway station at Belgachia passing by the beautiful green Tala Park.  I reached the Park Street station.

 I crossed the road near the Asiatic Society and walked towards the Maidan.  The Maidan is the most beautiful stretch of green field in Kolkata where Kolkatans spend their time taking fresh oxygen in an environment filled with thousands of trees and green carpet of grasses.  On this Maidan, the horses graze and these animals  are used for riding tourists.  Horse riding in maidan is a popular tourist attraction.  There are some trees without leaves.  These leafless trees are the skeleton of trees, which were once alive giving shade to the tourist.  There were many large trees, which have become tired of producing leaves and have dried up.  It is like an old man who once had the physical beauty in youth but now grown old.  The old man has grey hairs and a plant has worn out trunks and dry leaves all under the trees.  Unlike a tree, human being do not change in season in terms of physical appearance but only in situations, he shows his psychological trait, which he had inherited from his parents. 

It is wonderful to see horses of different colors grazing.  Their colors range from brown, black, white spots, grey, etc.  The second Hoogly bridge, which is known as Vidyasagar Setu can be seen from Maidan.  "Setu" is a Bengali word for bridge.  The Maidan is the lungs of Kolkata.  The grasses and trees in the big fields are the alveoli, which constantly take in the polluted carbon dioxide and give out oxygen.  What a great supplier of Oxygen!  Oh God, I hope it will stay right there!  The second most beautiful spot after this Maidan is the Rabindra Sarobar.  "Sarobar" is a Bengali word for lake.  Once I visited this place and took a lot of photos.  I am a nature lover and so love to travel in different places with scenic beauty! 

There are many food vendors near the entrance of the Victoria Memorial.  In front of the gate, there is a big statue of Sri Aurobindo erected the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.  Many horse driven chariots are waiting for the tourists.  It reminds me of Ramayana and Mahabharata television shows.  I saw the kings used to travel in chariots.  Sometime I will save time from my busy schedule and ride these horses and chariots.  Tea sellers charge Rs. 3 for a cup.  The place is a little bit stingy as it is a horse's resting place, you could smell their excreta.  So it not good to stay there for too long.  There is an enclosed area with 2 to 3 fountains.  The fountains are decorated with colorful lights, which will entertain the tourists accompanied by instrumental music in the evening. 

The chariots are driven by 2 horses.  I also saw one horse driven chariot.  The seat is nicely decorated.  You will feel like a King when you ride this chariot.  I will later ride horses and tell you my experience of riding horses.  The horse is a wonderful animal.  I saw them relaxing in the Maidan.  It is nice to see these creatures working so hard but they do not seem to be very neat and are often kept tied in the fields in the evening.  I wonder whether they have some shelter in the evening! 

The gate of the Victoria Memorial is white in color.  At one end, there is a ticket counter.  The cost of ticket is Rs. 4 for strolling in the gardens.  The gardens are beautifully decorated with colorful flowers.  I saw cranes are sitting in the gardens.  Many beautiful birds could be spotted in this garden.  The gate is flanked by 2 lions.  They are white in color and are made on cast made of cement.  There are guards who are checking whether you have a ticket and whether you are carrying any plastic bags as it is banned in the garden.

The garden is open on all days.  From October to February, the memorial opens at 5:45 a.m. and closes at 5:45 p.m.  From March to September, the memorial opens at 5:30 a.m. and closes at 6:15 p.m.  It has been printed by Bell Punch (I) Pvt. Ltd.  An instruction is written on the ticket.  It reads as follows:  "Please Do Not Litter The Gardens." 

Many artificial lakes decorate the garden.  There are many small gardens and many big ones.  The grasses are green and  are nicely trimmed.  Everyone will enjoy roaming in the garden.  I saw four cranes sitting in the grasses. I went towards the main building  and saw the gate has 2 guards sitting in the staircase.  The front part of the Victoria Memorial is decorated with flowers.  It looks like National Library of Kolkata.  I used to visit this library in my graduation years. 

There is a huge statue of Queen Victoria probably made of metal. The queen is sitting on the throne.  The throne is quite high and there are steps to go towards it.  She was seated in a relaxed position.  The folds of the garment are nicely carved out.  The iron railings near this Victoria statue has a lamp over the top.  There is a bridge in front of the statue.  At the base of the Queen's statue, there is a sculpture on the wall with the inscription, which reads as follows: "  THIS BRONZE PANEL ORIGINALLY EXECUTED BY SIR GOSCOMBE JOHN R.A., FOR THE PEDESTAL OF THE STATUE OF THE LATE EARL OF MINTO VICEROY, GOVERNER GENERAL OF INDIA (1905-1910) WAS PRESENTED TO THE TRUSTEES OF VICTORIA MEMORIAL HALL BY THE DOWAGER COUNTESS OF MINTO."

I have written the line in the way it has been written in all capitals.  I hope you can understand how closely I observe just like a researcher to make my travel story more informative and useful even to the man who is going to visit from the other part of the world. 

The paths of the garden are made of concrete and cemented nicely to make the visitor feel comfortable.  The monument is surrounded by a pebble footpath.  The decorations have remained the same.  I visited this place in childhood and visiting it now.  There was no such marked difference!  The trees are cut in a circular fashion to make them look beautiful.  The lamps on the small bridge from the pre-Independence make you feel really nostalgic. 

Victoria Memorial is a place where you will love to visit again and again.  You should have a camera to take photos.  A digital camera is preferred as you will have the desire to take a large number of photos to make the trip memorable.  There are so many things for photography!  I was walking out of the garden as the sun set and over the sky I saw an orange ball floating.  I walked over the maidan again.  I saw many people sitting and a pet dog playing with his master.  I saw horses taking rest.  Some of them sitting, others standing.  I saw a white horse lying down in the field with a rope tied to its neck.  I reached Park Street metro and took a train and came to Belgachia.  I will remember this day.  I have spent many days roaming in shopping malls of Kolkata.  But this travel across maidan and Victoria Memorial will be etched in my memory.  I just cannot forget the place for its lovely gardens and the wonderful greenery of the maidan.  It was really a memorable experience for me. 

Dear Friend,

WISH YOU A HAPPY VALENTINE DAY!

Today i spent the morning in office…………………starting from 8:30 a,m.  workload was low and i left the office and went to electric office to submit the bill…then came home and did the most valuable thing:  Sleeping!!!

This is my ENJOYMENT!!!

Working in this single shift BPO.  Yesterday my work was over at 8:30 p.m. I started to work at 8 p.m.  Just think of that!!  I thought the best enjoyment is going home early and sleep…….and here I am talking with you at 4 : 43 p.m. 

So How are you going to enjoy Valentine Day?

Yoursever

Pratanu Banerjee

(Nick Name: Pablo)

A Senior Medical Transcriptionist From Kolkata.

Being a back office worker for approximately four years, today I am going to tell you  about the positive and negative effects of this profession.  I am a medical transcriptionist by profession and started my career as a junior medical transcriptionist after receiving a training of 6 months at Infovision Software Private Limited.  This training period lasted for another month and finally I got the job at Infovision and worked for more than 3 years.  I changed my company to Metrics at Shovabazar and thought that my company Infovision was better than this being more systematic and well-managed.  I returned back after working in Metrics for 11 days and worked for another year. 

In Infovision, I used to work in 3 shifts in the beginning, morning (7 a.m. to 5 p.m.), afternoon  (11 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and night (9 p.m. to 7 a.m.). In any back office you go the starting time is fixed but the end time depends on the work load.  There is a target, in case of Infovision, it was line count.  Speed and accuracy are important in this field.  You have to work under pressure.  You have stay in the accommodation provided by the office where there is strike for more than 1 day.  You have to be responsible for your job.  You have to chalk out a plan and your target in the next 1 or 2 or 3 years will be asked in the KRA. Infovision had a system called KRA (Key Result Area).  This is evaluation of the employee every year on the basis of his/her performance.  The salary raise in my case, I should say was not enough compared to the rising price of the things in the market and compared to other MT companies. 

Many friends who used to work with me left the company for a better salary and benefits.  I wanted a single shift job and kept on trying for government jobs.  I gave tests in private firms also.  I wanted a headphone less job but found that the jobs have a low salary.  So I kept on working consistently with the support of my dear father who always motivates me to work with quality.  After working for more than 3 years in a three shift job, I needed a change badly.  I needed a normal job with a single shift.  I got too tired with the company lifting the canteen facilities.  On tea was provided to us and we had to go out in the scorching sun and rain to fill our empty stomach!  In fact, most of the MT companies are doing it just like that except Metrics where I worked for 11 days.  Metrics has a canteen facility where the boss arranged a system in which the employees share a lunch pack. 

 I left Infovision and joined Infoscribe, which is located in Rabindra Sadan.  It is a good company and under Mr. Atulit Bhalotia, the company is well managed.  The employees are getting salary at a fixed date in month and getting promotions in time!  The call center guys and gals speak with the head phone as a crown! J  We need to create reports based on the instructions of the healthcare providers. The work pressure in a single shift job is high where are more files as you need to end your allotted job within the same day.  There is no one who is going to go at the night.  You have to take all the pressure.  When there is less work pressure, you are a happy person, moving out from the office like a free bird! J  I forgot to tell you Infoscribe starts at 8 a.m. in the morning.  I had to stay one night at Infoscribe, which I will tell you in a different blog! J  In this company, as soon as I finish work, I am free to go home.  There is no fixed hours of staying office as I did in Infovision where there was a supervisor who used to order us to stay at least 8 hours.  In this company, the techs are very efficient allotting files and providing us with all support in technical problems of the computer. 

I found that in this profession, quality and speed matters and I would advise you to work in a company where there is provident fund.  You should not worry about night shift. You do not know that a back office with night shift helps reduce your burden in the daytime.  It means that when a job gets downloaded later in the day, you do not have to worry as the workers slotted in the next shift will do it.  But in a single shift job, you have to do the additional work getting downloaded.  These things might be different for different back office jobs and here I am talking only about my profession, i.e. medical transcription. 

And bad audio files?????  Never get worried about those bad files my friend.  In real life, they are like wicked people who are going to screw you, cheat you!!  In medical transcription, you might write some homonymns, wrong words at the wrong place.  This irritates the editor/proofer.  So be careful!  It might lead to a reduction in salary and finally job loss!   

If you do not see success in this profession within one year, it is better for you to change your profession.  This is my first advice.

My second advice is that you have to be strong in the following things to be successful in this field:

1. You should not look at the watch while working.
2. You should be good in English.  If you are not, then read English grammar books for self-improvement.
3. Always obey senior.  If you see the company is not suitable, then look for self-improvement till you achieve the capacity to work for home as no company can provide you a heavenly atmosphere.

On February 1, 2009, I went with other four family members to the temple of International Society for Krishna Consciousness.  I was accompanied by my "jethu" or Uncle, Sikar Bandyopadhyay, Subhra Banerjee, Kakali Banerjee, and Polin Roy. The bus of ISKCON came at 6:55 a.m.  The bus was scheduled at 6:50 a.m.  I woke up at 5 a.m.  I got bathed and dressed up in Indian style clothes of pyjama and Punjabi.  I wore a Punjabi of blue sky color.  We went to the Ultadanga Capital Electronics where the bus is scheduled to come.  We went there by a taxi from Paikpara bus stop.  The taxi took us within 15 minutes as assured by jethu.  Jethu is very punctual and systematic person being an ex-joint zonal manager of Bank of India. 

I forgot to tell you that we greet a person in the morning saying "Good Morning."  The breakfast was provided around 7:40 a.m. inside the bus.  It comprised of laddu, a cake, 2 other sweets.  We halted at a petrol pump of Hindustan Petroleum at Nadia around 8:30 a.m.  It took around 2 hours to reach the second halt at Sri Chaitanya's birth place.  The gate is beautifully decorated.  It is followed by garden filled with all types of roses and Dahlia and pansy and other rare plants.  The bright colors ranging from red, green, yellow and pink have made the temple grounds colorful.  It is the efficient gardening that has made the place so picturesque that birds are coming far and wide along with colorful butterflies.  At the Chaitanya's birthplace, there is a 400-year-old Neem tree.  There is an open gallery of photographs covered in a glass case where the national and international appreciation of the sacred place has been publicized.  The beautifully decorated hall with chess like black and white squares in the floor design is notable.  The alter is nicely decorated where Sri Chaitanya is placed.  The visitors are requested to leave their shoes outside before entering the hall.  

We left the spot and went towards ISKCON.  The organization is 70 years old.  It has 100 centers in India and many abroad.  The ISKCON temple has a website named:  " www.mayapur.com.  There are many stalls where gifts ranging from pen to key rings to lockets and albums are soft all displaying Lord Krishna in different stages of infancy and adulthood.  The pictures of Radha and Krishna adorn the gift shops.  The bus stopped at a place where other buses and cars are there.  The guide was a young man like me and dressed in dhoti and Punjabi and he has a tilak of sandalwood paste and a tikli at the back of the head showing his Brahmin status.  His main work is decorating the website of Mayapur with photographs. 

We entered a building to commemorate to Shril Abhayacharanabinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.  He was the founder Acharya of ISKON.  He was born in 1896.  In 1922, he met Saraswati Goswami.  Saraswati thakur established 64 Gauriya Matha.  In 1933, Goswami thakur baptized Prabhupada.  Under Goswami's instruction, Prabhupada spread the message in 1922.  He started a journal on 1944.  He was conferred Bhaktivedanta on 1947 by the reputed Gouriya Vaishnava Society.  In 1950, he was 54 years old and retired from his family life and spread 4 years in study of Shastras, preaching, and writing books.  He used to live in Sri Sri Radha-Domodar Mandir.  In 1959, he became Sanyasin (a saint).  He translated 18000 slokas and wrote a book "Onya Lok Sugam Yatra."  In 1965, he went to USA without a single penny at age 70.  /after working hard for 1 year, he established ISKON in July 1966.  Under his careful supervision, within 10 years ISKON flourished worldwide with ashrama, schools, temple and village ashrama.  In 1974, he established ISKON at West Virginia's hilly region.  He established a published house named "Bhaktivedanta Book Trust."  In 1972, he established Gurukool system at Dalas in America at Primary and Secondary level.  Starting with 3 students, his gurukul has now flourished around the world with 15 schools with a total 1500 students.  The Mayapur center of ISKON at 1972.  It is called "Sridham Mayapur."  Sri Krishna Balaram temple was also established where students from India and abroad come to study the sacred Vedas.

In 1977, Shril Prabhupad traveled the world 14 times!  He preached Vedic philosophy, literature, religion, and culture through different books.  Through these literature, the religious minded people around the world enjoyed the religion.

Now we traveled to the different parts of the ISKON.  It has tight security.  Our bags were checked by guards and we had to pass through metal detectors.  We entered the museum of Prabhupada and were amazed to see Italian artistic decorations adorn the ceiling, which is like a dome.  We went to the first floor after visiting the "Asthadhatu" statue and the guide narrated the stories at the different corners in the ground floor.  He requested us to visit the museum where the life and activities are demonstrated in life size statues and it is wonderful to learn of such a great person. 

Our guide took us to an open field where we kept our shoes and went towards the main temple and we saw three middle-aged men singing beautifully and dancing.  Many people are relaxing in this big hall.  We sat in the room where there is a big idol of Chaitanya with his followers dancing and both sides of it adorned with writings of Hare Rama and Hare Krishna.  We returned to the same spot and made a queue at the dining hall.  It is a large hall where we had our lunch comprising of dal, rice, curry, chatni, payesh, papad, etc.  The foods are served hot from the buckets which are moved with the help of wheels attached beneath it.  The boys were dressed in uniforms and we ate in leaf plates.  The arrangement was wonderful and systematic.  Our lunch was wonderful.  I gave Rs. 270 at the booking counter in Rabindra Sadan's ISKCON branch for the lunch and the traveling (up and down) of Mayapur. 

Mayapur is a wonderful place where there is Maya, a magic of Lord Krishna and the wonderful place with the beautiful surroundings enriches and makes a visitor happy.  It is a world where the religion acquires a new form of social work, integration and compassion.  I enjoyed my journey and I hope that in the near future your visit will also be as pleasurable as mine and the message of Lord Krishna is most effectively spread through the beautiful wall paintings and the effective guide taking you on a tour in the Krishnaland.  I call it a Krishnaland as like Disneyland it is a whole new world!