I found this newspaper cutting in one my old dairy … about being Beautiful !! It changed my view towards the meaning of n being beautiful ….

“Beauty is the birthright of all women and the sooner they understood it - the better. Beauty is not a single set or arrangement or measurement of feature and complexion. It has no single faces nor it is limited to any age group. Beauties abound - but rarely do two beautiful women look alike. They all have their individual charms. There may be tall graceful beauties - short petite beauties - full figured beauties - fair damsels and dark beauties. There is no ideal height or weight or complexion … any combination could look beautiful !!!

A true lady must have inner as well as outer beauty ….. inner beauty includes voice - conversation - manners - personal adjustment and facial expression while outer beauty includes figure - face - hair style - grooming.

A beautiful woman makes others feel better simply by her presence. Charm is the most lasting kind of beauty…. though beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Creating a lovelier - more exciting and more poised you … is an art - because even the most attractive figure seldom have a perfect features or figure.

It is the universal truth … every woman wish in her heart of hearts to stay young and lovely forever !

From everything else - i love nature the most. Flora n fauna - river - mountain - sea beaches - rain or anything that are associated with nature….

At my aunty’s house (one that lives in Barasat) - there is a plant called “Rongona” on both side of her entrance gate. Those are Chinese rongana ; a bit orangish in color. The real Rongona …. well for me this one is the original as i saw that one first n so it is the real Rongona for me. It’s bright red in color - it’s a beautiful red … so bright and lively - simply adore it … well it is obvious as i have taken so many photos of it !!

Another beautiful flower … i have brought its seed - hope to have a plant at my house too. It’s called “Aprajita” … it’s double petal with royal blue in color. I have the single petal one but the double petal one is rare … so i m very happy to have it too. To get its seed is a story in itself ….

whenever i visit my uncle’s house in Andharmanick - there is no seed only flowers. I told my aunty - my cousins - my grandmother n to all to keep its seed. They did but misplaced it somewhere and forget …. on another time they gave it to my cousin who was coming to Delhi … but she forgot to bring it and later it got misplaced again. This time also - there were no seeds (well … one would think so) only flowers but after searching thoroughly for half an hour … i got one ripe bean !!! I was very happy … at last got it

Also saw white Aparajita (double patel one) … but no ripe beans yet - told everyone to keep a bean for me. Hope they will keep and i will get it

A man lives forever … if not in person but through his work - he lives forever. Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay is one of my favorite Bengali writer …. though my bengali is poor (it takes me about 20 minutes to read a page) but still I try to read and enjoy his descriptive way of writing.

In his stories one can feel the real Bengal …. the essence of wet soil on the muddy curvy road - the sunset beyond the bamboo trees - the cool breeze after sunset on a summer night - the unknown floral plant half sunken from the river bank …. and so many more. One may not have been there or seen these places but still they can visualize it without fail.

As i’m a nature loving person …. i love all his stories but yes some are very sad (like “Mouri phool”) - the story indeed is very sad but his description of nature is so vivid and yet so simply that one gets involved in the story completely … and i guess that makes the story more sad as it seems that it’s all happening in front of you n you cannot do anything about it.

Recently from Kolkata … i bought 2 books of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. One is a novel (Path-er Pachali) and the other is a collection of short stories. Some of my favorite short stories are : “Pu-i Macha” - “Brijahom o tar badha” - “Nadi-r dar-e Bari” - “Tara nath tantrik ke golpo” … I definitely leave out all the sad stories after reading it once. “Mou-ri phool”, “Kinor Dol”, “Megh molhar” …. for me these are extremely sad stories.

People may say that “Pu-i macha” is sad too … but it has a touch of happiness. The girl may die around whom the story is written but the nice thing is that she was loved by her family esp. by her mother who seemed to be hard on her but by heart she loved her daughter … this really touched me n so it’s my most favorite.

Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay lived in Berakpur (at his father’s house) n at Ghatshila (he has his own house)…. On 1 November, 1950, he died of a heart attack while staying at Ghatshila …. May God bless his soul n rest in peace !!!