Sipra's Diary: phishing on fish........ [ fugitive]

                     

                                                                Phishing on Fish

In Norway, New York and Canada  wild Salmons are very tasty but too expensive to be affordable to buy for many. S some fish entraprenuer started to breed the same fish in artificial lake near by the sea .But these 'farmed fish' was found not as tasty as wild salmon.After research it was discovered that fish in ocean have to struggle hard  in fear to save their lives from the predators  This fear cause some hormone from  their gland which make the natural wild fish tasty. Then the fish businessman  left some baby shark in the lake so that they can cause that hormone in the gland of farmed fish to become tastier.

Whole Food is famous for the variety of fresh fish. In UsA every fish-tray bear their historical biography written over each packet with date, rate, weight and price. some fish-crushed customer bought 3 packets of wild fish onsite. 

But he did not relish it as tasty as it should be. He then took other two packets to the food inspector for verifying its genuinety.  After knowing that it was  raised as farmed  he came the manager of the whole food. with a complaint. In USA the business stand on law and  ethics ,quite  different from Asian countries  like India or China, where business model stands not  strictly on ethics but on profit.:Adulteration  is detected even in babyfood!

The man demanded justice : why fake informations were written on the packets. The man was resistant to change or taking back money  from the counter, as most customers do. So the case went on for a long time :Whole food vs fish agent. At last, the fish agent admitted that the fish was in the farming lake nearby ocean ; but somehow some of them jumped to the ocean to grew up as wild salmon; So both farmed and wild .

The customer alleged :'in that case, it should be marked on the packet "from farm to ocean" or "Fugitive."

Bravo!

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               In 2015 my brother went Puri in India .Puri is situated on the bank of Bay of Bengal.He stayed in some resort nearby the sea.  He used to walk early morning  for a walk and also to see  unloading of  the fishing boat.it was amazing to see many never-seen rare sea creatures in the fishing nets. Every time he met a man who became familiar to my brother.  He was Keralian   and worked in a fish research company in Tamilnadu  My brother noticed that man took out a small container from  his side bag  to give the fisherman  who collected something  taken out  nearby from the gills. of fish   Oneday my brother asked him curiously,"What do you collect from the heads of fish? What do you do with that ? The man replied"I work in a fish research company in Tamilnadu. I will send those collection from fish to the company .There the fish  in farms are fed  these glands ,which help the fish grow and  become heavy-weight in very short period. Calcutta is the biggest customer of this company.   These fish are at least from 10 to 15/20 "  kilos .The price is much cheaper than the local fish .   They are sold to all hotels /restaurents, big or small, marriage party and social gathering "" _ .   ' O,I see." 

I heard this from my brother and remembered in flash back related to this story.

My husband used to avoid fish in any party and also told me to follow him. Though  I did not know this  off-scene story in detail before , but I have seen whenever I took that fish ,I had stomach trouble.  When my elder brother was   posted as railway officer in Sealdah station, I heard from him that at midnight fish wagons from Tamilnadu are  unloaded   from midnight  and finished before 3 AM in the local  platforms .The platforms are without crowd  at that time ,but the vagabond platform   kids , both  teen sand adults wake up and wait  for this golden moment As the wagons move away from the platform after the unloading is done  they become enthusiastically active to clean the platform and the rail line . They gather a lot of scattered fish from platform and under dirty rail line which are  slipped from the porters  hands as the porters have to hurry to unload quickly; as they need  the platform to be cleaned and fresh (without fish-odor )before 3:30AM for starting of the local trains peacefully.  

The platform vagabond kids have a good earning by selling the free fish .But the money are used not only for food but mostly in abusive activities.   

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Sipra's diary: Breaking the locked down.

After more than hundred days, I took an evening walk. Though I was able to take a far-sight view from the high-rise building ,but to use own  physical limbs on side-walk is different from visual sight. My daughter caught hold my hand in the zebra-crossing in such a way, as if am blind or sick. I felt odd and funny.But her  constant running commentary to caution me was little irritating! I decided to take walk by myself alone is better to keep her free from stress,

It strikes me to see the bright erected placards around the entire Lincoln Center with slogan,"Black lives matter"!I was reading each placard silently like 'mantra'. Suddenly it came to my mind ,'why only black lives!' 

All lives and any life is valuable related to the earth. I agree the inhuman police brutality of murdering a black man is a heinous crime in history;I have doubt about that police as not a normal person by observing the way the way he killed!  Some other stand-in polices (or persons) nearby who witnessed passively without restrictions should also be punished.

The African Americans highlighted the incident in such a degree that even the pandemic of covid-19  became less important issue for certain period of  time.They incited  all  records from the  past history of injustice committed to them to stir the violence

.Of course the motivated politicians await  for opportunity to exploit such situation.One particular incident is deployed and mirrored in multiplicity. They forget that the present is not less true or less important than the past.They have survived the turbulent past with courage and bravery to avail of this golden present ;they enjoy the equal rights and facilities in the land of whites  as much as the whites do.

The Black Americans enjoy the honorable seat and position in all portfolios of administrative, legal and judiciary as senator, as judge in Supreme Court and even as President of the country, the highest administrative post for two Terms   What more is expected?

Can it be possible if it were a land of white supremist? 

The word 'rights 'should always followed by 'duties 'hand in hand in democracy. To maintain the law, order and peace a loyal citizen should not foster the past ghost of apartheid (of color ) in mind, either individually or collectively. There are innumerable instances of brutal deaths in Africa year after year ,but hardly any rebellion voice from the African -American is raised to protest; even  most popular talk-show mogul also remained deaf and dumb.  

But here centering any instance, noises turn from mole to mountain easily for the advantage of elaborate freedom of speech! They are fortunate enough that because once their ancestors came as slaves by destiny, so they are. fortunate to be Americans now by law. It doesn't matter whatever their color  of skin says. The truth is that they all share equal rights with the free (white ) Americans whose parents were not brought as slaves.

It is an unwritten principle of politicians that "divide and Rule". This Principe is a tonic or ambrosia in Democratic states where several parties compete with one another and the campaign/game of leg-pulling stays  constant. They use the colour of skin as triumph card for the battle of ballot box. A loyal citizen should not allow himself to be puppet of any party. America is a country of different races,  religion and lands. No system is flawless; all roses have thorns. Still compared to any other place in this  planet  in US the  'unity in diversity' still persists firmly.   

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

   

Sipra's Diary: Stupid Dog. .W=2,489.

                                                  STUPID DOG  Sipra Roy

Snowy was the most wanted and best birthday- gift  in my daughter's life from her father; She wrote it in her diary. Her father sent this long- wished  gift  from Bolani .I was never willing to have any pet in my house as I knew that ultimately it will become an added responsibility for  me,

It was  July 17, of 1987,  just one month after my mother's funeral ceremony was over . As I came  back  from the school my daughter opened the door with exuberantly smiling face; "can you see?" I looked around the room and saw my student who was not supposed to come for tuition that day. 

"Oh"! Then the surprise came out from under the sofa like a rolling snow-white cotton ball! For a moment I was unmindful; my mother was  also  fond of pets :pigeon , parrot ,cat.

"Mom ,isn't  a beautiful puppy?What will be its name?"My daughter asked  enthusiastically. 

"Snowy"! said I.

Snowy was only of one month . It was a German spitz .My husband came on the birthday of my daughter and disclosed the ancestral history, the royal pedigree  of snowy elaborately to me , (perhaps to convince me that we were very lucky to own this cute creature ). Its (Snowy's) grand parents went back to London with his British owner while the parents and two other siblings were kept by some Indian dog-lovers .

Snowy was the pride of my daughter. In those days dog as pet was rare to witness.  Dog- loving People were happy with stray dogs  who demanded  no responsibility.

There were also many stray cats who bothered me  very much, almost every day by grabbing fish ,bread or milk .My husband declared proudly :henceforward  no cats would dare to enter your house because cats are scared of  dog !

Anyhow, my daughter kept snowy on bed   first  night and several nights  onwards and   tucked  the mosquito net well under the heavy mattress .Moreover she shut all the windows .

I screamed,  "are you crazy,  what are you doing  in this hot summer night of July ?"

She answered worriedly, "I just saw outside the window that huge  grey cat outside the window of this room ;this monster cat can kill this soft cute baby" 

I became soft with the   new feeling of  worries   of  this "little mother".

I agreed . Snowy  was  whimpering  and wandering to and fro inside the mosquito and I felt its sharp nails to make me  uncomfortable .

  "It won't let me sleep whole night!"

 "Perhaps   he is missing  his mom," my daughter said with sympathy.

Getting out of bed I tried to feed  it   baby lactose with a dropper  several times But still   it behaved same keeping us awake upto midnight.

"Let us keep the light on. May be it  is afraid of darkness."   said my daughter .So  we spent  one week following the same routine.

Next week a separate bed under the study table of my daughter was arranged for Snowy. With short period of time snowy adopt us as its  own family. Snowy was so pampered that it din't take its milk until my daughter feed it with dropper.

 One day I interrupted my daughter," let it be hungry to teach self-help. "

 Leaving the dining space we came in the drawing room to watch TV, :obviously snowy followed us without touching breakfast milk. After sometime ,we both startled  to hear a strange sound ;I muted the TV and my daughter  jumped from the sofa and screamed nervously ," it's from Snowy!"

We heard  the same queer sound  for the second time .We saw the cute furry torso-body of snowy nearby, under the curtain of the door ,and  the head  on the other side of the curtain towards dining room ;Why it was giving such sound !

 I lifted the curtain ;and it came to my notice that an ugly little kitten was licking the milk from the bowl of snowy while  its eyes fixed on staring  aggressively to Snowy.  Poor  snowy  in anger and fear could only give that bizarre whimper  in protest. 

My daughter giggled; she was happy  to see Snowy as fine.

"snowy, go, go ,(like encore, encore ),fight with the kitten !it is stealing your milk", said I.

  But Snowy didn't bulge an inch.

The  fearless kitten was busy to finish the  lees from the bowl making sound like' chulk,chulk',with eyes still fixed aggressively on Snowy. 

The kitten , instead of running like a thief, walked out from the opened garage door like a hero, leaving  behind us stupefied!

I hopelessly uttered ,"you are afraid of kitten, Stupid dog !"

Another story of  snowy's stupidity .

Snowy was then of  four /five months. Enemity between dog and cat is a known fact. It seems to me that   Snowy retained the childhood bitter  memory of the cat's misbehavior. He used to be fanatically mad at the sight of  any cat seen in our boundary and chased after it ,even jumping over the boundary wall like a monkey.

In his whole span of life (thirteen years) he killed seven to eight cats . The cats also caused injuries to snowy to defend themselves. We had to give him injection several times . 

One day Snowy barked and flew away through the collapsible gate like a bullet .From its  ferocious barking we (me and my daughter) jointly uttered, "must be cat !" We were afraid that if it  crossed over  the wall outside and might be a victim of gang of stray dogs !

That day Snowy was chasing after a giant sized goat ,instead of cat. Perhaps the greedy goat  somehow slipped into  our garden  through the open gate when our part time  maid  left our house; It was as big as a calf.

My daughter and me began to shout as loud as we could do,"  stop Snowy ,Snowy,Snowy!"trying to stop him. 

The neighbors came out side bewildered, trying to guess what  happened between mother and daughter running and screaming  because our wall was made too high ( for snowy ) to view the goat or snowy . The goat was chased surrounding the building  at least five six round or more and it lost power to run any more.  Then happened the climax of the   heroic drama; 

The giant goat stopped and   turned facing to Snowy with a loud fearful bleating "Mhaaaeaaa--a-a--a-perhaps 'it was its 'last dance' .By the time my daughter and me also reached the spot from two opposite sides..I stunned  waiting for some very inauspicious incident.

As the goat threw a prolonged bleating in fear in front of snowy,  Snowy ,instead of jumping upon  it to  attack (As I apprehended)  , knelt down before him and began to pee , non stop ,more than  gallon, gallon   after gallon with eyes fixed to  the goat and vice versa . 

My daughter opened the gate .The goat ran  quickly. Snowy was still peeing with vacant look at me.

I burst into laughter to the ground . "shame ,shame , the stupid dog !"

My  daughter pleaded on behalf of her pet ,"he is a  brave dog,  mom;  dogs' auditory capability is ten times higher : so  the bleat   sounded to his ear like explosion of dynamite .  

My snowy  made the coward goat to bleat  in fear louder than the syren..........

I couldn't stop laughing when I narrated it to my husband.

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æ

 

 

Sipra's Diary: PROFOUND PARADOX(. "DEATH" :Demise of a member of Memoir Goup)

Today one senior member of our memoir group passed away. She was sick for last week .She was German ;May be survivor of holocaust .Couple of months ago she went second time ,and for the last time, to visit Germany.

The group praised her "'how courageous lady are you" '!She was also a strong 
spiritual lady. I knew her vaguely on personal level. Only one day she asked me ,"are you Indian? I went Tibet and also I am influenced with the religion of Hindu." 

I was interested to know the story: how was she influenced; who and what made her interested.; My curiosity remained unanswered.  Her memoir was published just on last Thursday, a gift on her birthday by the publisher .( only four days ago).I think she fulfilled her two last wishes : visiting own birthplace after 50 years and publishing her memoir.

Most amazing thing is that we all know that we will die still we aspire to live ,a tremendous desire  for clinging to life .The journey from life to death is really a profound paradox for us.
"O Death where is your sting?"     

The 'sting' is inherent with life  itself  in the denial of death; in the fear of death and in the utopia to remain immortal through fame . When Woody Allen was asked by the journalist ," do you dream to be immortal in the silver screen ? He promptly replied," No, not at all; I want to exist in this apartment , in New York !"

In the Epic of Ramayana, It was advised that because death is inevitable but unpredictable nothing should be delayed for 'tomorrow' which is  also unpredictable: 'Now or Never! '

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Sipra's Diary: ( Poem): " I AM NOBODY "

                                    I Am Nobody

     My first encounter with the poem of Emily Dickinson was in 2013/2014 at Morgan Museum

where  some special events was going on about her. I came to New York  from India  for visiting my

daughter. I didn't  even know her name before that.

-                      ------"Who are you ?"

                       'Are you -Nobody -too?"

                      Instantly I was hooked.

                      How nice to be self-banished    
                     
                    Under  the shadow of Nobody!        

                   To be somebody is dreary

                   As to bear the bug of identity

                   Paired with "crisis"running paralley

                   Chased by social insects: name, fame,

                   Maladies of modern time!

                                                        Sipra Roy
                     

Corona -Virus ... April14,2020. ( Memoir : PANDEMIC PARA DOX)

 April 14,2020. Corona-Virus.    ( The Memoir): Sipra Roy. 

                                                 (PANDEMIC_PARADOX )!

We are passing now through hard times.Normal way of living is ransacked by a deadly virus

named Covid-19. "Stay Home,Stay  Safe, Wash Your Hands" :This is the weird prescription  for

the global mass given by all doctors, politicians and well-wishers until the exact cause and

vaccination  against the disease is discovered.

Freedom of normal life  like taking a morning walk to a park near by , going to a movie or

restaurant with friends  has to be at the cost of life-risk.

This Covid19 has disrupted every sphere of life: our heart, soul, emotions, self understanding, our

whole  being. My daughter was full of concern and to calm down her I , though not serious, at the

 beginning, but listened to her and self-qurantined myself.There is no fire or smoke from gun, no

military truck ;but the frequent yelling siren of the  ambulance running through the deserted avenues

creates a painful but dumb hollowness in the mind; If 'social distance' is the most valuable commodity,  how can I

 take any  useful part  in the pandemic? My daughter replied   if you "Stay home" it will control the

 spread of disease ! Think that is helping the society  for  your part .Any way she made  some donation to "GO FUND ME".

No noisy war but a deadly atmosphere of  silence  is spread all around.

Inside  in the most of New York apartments  the scenario is different :As if playing a new drama ,on new stage!

Working from home keeps the young less tired So in the  Friday afternoon the chat-room of video and

   zoom become very busy to active  social  life.They call their parents or closed one and ask to follow

the  rules . I entertained myself by listening them as a non member  Eaves-dropper!

Their discussions spin mostly around food channel (The second instinct after fear ): Like how much

grocery they have stocked or, how  much they are in crisis for the scarcity of food, because home-

staying children are grabbing too  much to empty the  refrigator. It is hard to cope with their

 hunger;  some  are complaining about their husbands who have become intolerable for their growing idleness and demand for enjoying  bed . If Corantine

continues indefinitely, lots of divorce cases will be filed  shooting towards another potential social problem!

While some are sharing the  innovative ideas to utilize the excess fruits and vegetables they have

ordered ; an innovative boutique of culinary creativity!   It seems  that they are ready to start their own restaurant as soon as they will get over the  pandemic !
  All of them enquired whether they have stocked enough the 'most essentials' : enough tissue-paper,Toilet paper  sanitizers and etc, etc,


 Thanks to the benefit of technology;  it replenishes the gap of social distance by introducing Zoom and video-conference in large scale.

I have not to be bothered  with the above problems. As  my daughter is working from home, I get whole-time care from her.

Since lock down I listen the speech of Andrew Cuomo: It gives painful gloomy picture.  My social life

is limited to mostly DOROT.  When I came to know about Carol and Marsha , I really felt the impact

  of the Corona Virus.:

 In the TV  the repeated news relayed  only"increase of numbers ,and the numbers with 

  no names ,no faces "strikes  on

me like  waves,  and the description of  viewing the  pale moon hiding behind the high rising building

leaving its gleam"......is so metaphorical !

".......Let  us carry the 'gleam' that significantly represents  the hope that we will overcome the

pandemic, as we did in the past  to combat against  the lethal   viruses.



I think about the relentless service of the doctors, nurses health-carers, and the employees who

deliver medicines, food and essentials to run the city-life smooth at the cost of life-risk , are  really

 as adorable as angels .

Here in Manhattan right at 7:PM citizens  cheer in chorus with  bell to  greet them ! The positive

side  against the dark screen is " rising of  Human  Love.": Lots of donations and eager volunteers are

coming forward  for required help ; politics, religion  racial differences are swept by  human

love. Hope, Our medical science  to be  equipped more rough and taught to cope with and protect the

global health in  coming days.

I will mention a contrast picture of  the nature of human society with the animal world.

 New York is well-known for the rodent population. Yesterday I read that millions of  rats came out

from the subway in search of food . As the restaurants are closed  and trash-can are empty  the hungry

rodents have turned militant. They are fighting with one another for the land and food  and   grabbing

their own babies.!!

I mentioned this  incident  to notice that rodents are also carriers of disease ; let not it stand in

waiting list  to  invade us next! 

 

                                              [{. IN.  COVID __COMPLEX}]

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Sipra,s Diary: JAN 2, 2020,Back To New York

                                                   
                                                    Back to New York from Calcutta


It was Jan2nd Our flight touched the land of JFK, NewYork at dawn-,5:30 .After the security check

and  luggage-collection we took Uber at 6:A.M .....Outside was still dark .....

Each and every dawn and  evening  are always special  and auspicious to me; So,on the way to my

apartment the calm and quite morning  with the touch of the soft mild glow of the sun revealing the

sleeping city carefully  just like a doting mother to her beloved baby,  offered a visual buffet to me !

 This revealing of day from the dark appeals to me as the very  First  Dawn of the  Planet Earth with


 her magnificent beauty of Nature as well as man-made  sky scraper, high-rise half dark buildings

 with blinking windows, opening her  dreamy eyes to drink her own beauty and flushing red  in

romance like a new bride, as the rising sun, her first love openly embracing and kissing her ....
,
The cab was running parallel by the river Hudson; People of the city are still in slumber; Even the

 river Hudson was lying still under the quilt of fog .

I reached my apartment with the feeling of a wandering bird coming back with empty stomach in its

own nest. "

"Empty " stomach --- because I don't get any psychological nutrition of my expectation while

staying in India for last couple of years. I  made plan  to do something before going but most of them

remained unfulfilled. I wished to visit some  close aged relatives  staying scattered in the metro

city I was born and accomplished higher studies but I could not go alone..The city with new costume

is difficult for me to go here and there: Old roads with new names and new fly-overs hiding the

known roads banished me in confusion To my delight ,I saw some buses ,protecting their identity

still  run with  old numbers to old destination. Whether shabby-looking shops or buses with old 

 names, became animate to me: very much  vibrant ; they glanced at me ,  "hmm You !you look

somewhat familiar, are you-"?


  I remember-   T-2  International Airport in Mumbai is  really huge and a baroque piece of art and

grandiose. The executive lounge is more luxurious than the Persian Palace ..........Let  the caption

"India  is rising" float or swing and let me basking on that picture. It is true,the economic condition of

people as a whole has suddenly improved. We have to seek now poor people to donate our old

clothes or left over food.  Even up to 2007 this airport looked like a den :dirty, smelly and reigned by

mosquitoes.I could not sit in the lounge: I left as soon as my son with newly wedded wife entered the

for check -in- luggage  section..

..Our flight was at  12:45 AM from T-2 terminus. So after couple of

hours watching on the map root of our flight I fell asleep  almost twelve hours.


We reached  at 5;30  in JFK airport of New York ;I felt not only sad but shame for  the  unadorned           
basic  look of  the  New York airport which is  globally supposed to be the best.    JFK airport,

the most glorified  global place looked so ordinary compared to yesterday's T-2 airport of

Mumbai! As if, I landed from the  bright heaven to the  muddy earth . All around the crowd of

passengers were mostly Asians and miscellaneous . Had  this  dream -land of the  world  really

  turned into a  common place open for anyone to enter in?


I remembered the story of "Happy Prince " [[of Oscar Wilde]]  who was bereft of all royal grandeur

 with the help of a little swallow who took shelter under the feet of prince's' statue, gave away all his

jewels from his body, one by one, even the gem from his eyes, to remove  tear and poverty of all the  needy    people of his city.

What was the ultimate result?

 When  the city aldermen saw   the bare and ugly  iron statue of the Prince ,they ordered  the statue 

 to be   thrown  away from the lofty pedestal to replace by another new piece of art which would

glorify the city.

    Is it desirable  that the  fate of New York city -cum-United States of America to become   like

that of the fabled story of the HAPPY PRINCE ? I remembered couple of years ago President Trump

once lamented about the NY JFK airport that it seemed, as if, he landed in some third world country

compared to Beirut or Beijing airport. Trump as president might be novice ,and aberrant in speech

or  behavior; but as an  American, no doubt,   he loves the country deeply .  Otherwise , he

would not have felt that type of  pinch.  Only unflinching love can stir up  similar

feeling from the heart;though this type of love is considered as  narrow and selfish  from idealistic

point of view.

                             Did any president of US ever had such feeling or comment before? ....Might be

with Lincoln or Hamilton, or.......................
                                                                              Sipra  Roy                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ********************************