Leslie's Laughs

 [This is the third in the series of Christmas-themed articles for My Kolkata.  You can read it online with all the bells and whistles.  Click here ] Trees Are Green, Evergreen! The writer, the father of three one-time kids, recounts the variety of events loosely packaged as Christmas Tree Parties that define Our Kolkata in December The title of this piece is an old kiddie joke where some lady’s name was “Teresa Green” which of course brought a laugh to our baby faces.  And that joke, I believe, remains evergreen like the pines we emulate every year. Emulate and simulate because pine trees don’t grow wild in my Kolkata, we are driven to Free School Street and New Market to purchase the trees grown from plastic and tinsel - foldable ones and trees that can be dismantled branch by branch and can probably be used next year, storage permitting. In our young days, and through the Enid Blyton years, we read and heard about “trimming” the trees - not what the KMC does afte...

  [This piece was written as part of a series of four pieces for My Kolkata.  Published on December 7, 2023.  You can read it with all the videos, images, bells and whistles ONLINE  ] Christmas not on the (greeting) cards — a traditionalist reminisces An author reflects on a once-staple Xmas tradition that is fast fading away lESLIE D’GAMA     | PUBLISHED 07.12.23, 06:56 PM Every year around this time there is a sort of resurrection of ancient traditions in the Christian households. One is consistently reminded of Charles Dickens’  A Christmas Carol and its Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Some of these ghosts have long been put to bed by the new spirits. The spirit of giving is rivalled only by the spirit that attracts excise duty from the off shops. The Christmas Spirit is changing .. or should I say the XMas spirit? For years families like ours were schooled into believing that we should not use the word Xmas instead of Christma...

 [This piece was written as part of a series of four pieces for My Kolkata.  Published on December 3, 2023.  You can read it with all the videos, images, bells and whistles ONLINE . ] A former choir master and Christmas Carols enthusiast traces the recent evolution of Carol Singing in the city “ O Little Town of Bethlehem / How still we see Thee lie! ” - brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear these lines sung by an ageing contralto, accompanied by a light piano, or not. This fast vanishing breed of pure voices, sometimes with perfect pitch, reminds us of our salad days when, at the behest of the choirmaster, the rest of the carol singers would break into the chorus. Silent Night followed as did Adeste Fidelis and all the other Christmas Carols. It also brought tears to my eyes of a different sort when, just outside our main door, we were rudely disturbed by the same words belted out by raucous and probably inebriated voices, accompanied by a guitar whose strings were as...

Tomorrow I turn 69.  Turn 69 .. that's like getting into a new position, turning over a new leaf, or turned on its head.  No change!  But birthdays are meant for musing, reminiscing and otherwise boring people who deign to read on. Small consolation that John Lennon would have turned 83 too.  Not to mention it's World Postal Day - to remind us that Dead Letters still exist and haven't been stamped out yet. Bad pun, but that's my problem - for all of 69 years. When I turned sixty, I decided it was the Swinging Sixties.  Easy to calculate. It comes after the Roaring Forties and the Furious Fifties which as Geography students know are merely a lot of wind depending on where you are. But there were milestones throughout the decade, which isn't over yet, but it's worth celebrating anyway. A couple of years before the 60 year mark I decided that I would not retire.  People I worked with and for were unhappy that I quit, but I just didn't want that handshake, watc...

  [An apology to all those who don't share my opinion or my experiences.  To misquote Khushwant Singh, it's written with malice to none at all.  But seriously, India Today, 75 - nay 76 years - later, needs to hear this. A chance encounter with Vedika Singh, an energetic intern, caused me to finally pull this out and write it down.  I must confess I had attempted to get ChatGPT to write this just to see how it would fare. As you can imagine it was all artificial and no intelligence.  But that's the free version.  I understand if you pay a tidy sum it can even select things to write that you never knew existed.  Another time, another story.] History A friend of mine turned 60 last year and a great big bash was planned, secretly.  He loves to read - apart from being glued to Netflix, I hear.  So, in a flash of what was then mistaken for brilliance, I decided that I would present him with a One Year Subscription to Reader's Digest (with bonus fre...