Durga puja- it is an emotion to all the Bengalis. We have a local saying in our culture that Bengalis have 13 festivals in 12 months. And the biggest among them is Durga puja. The uniqueness of this festival is that we don't worship the goddess Durga! I mean yes we do, but this festival is much more than worshipping. To us, Durga is our own daughter, she is coming to her paternal house with her 4 children. We welcome them with all our hearts open. Preparation for the puja, shopping, planning etc. start almost two months prior from her arrival. The festival continues for almost 5 days and ends in ‘Dashami’ with bidding our beloved daughter with teary eyed good bye as she again starts her journey to her in-laws house. Durga puja symbolizes family union- spending time with the near and dear ones all together. We use to get a month long vacation in schools and colleges. So naturally like every 'traveloholic' Bengalis we use to plan tours keeping in mind that we must be presen...
A deep dive into Nepotism In the recent few months, among all the topics that have come to the forefront in India, Nepotism has probably gained more controversies and raised more questions than any other. In this article, I am going to try to define nepotism and try to look at it from different perspectives. What is Nepotism As per Oxford learner’s Dictionary, Nepotism means, “giving unfair advantages to your own family if you are in a position of power, especially by giving them jobs”. This advantage can be in different ways and forms depending on the industry, sector and context. Two things stand out for me in the definition here. Firstly, the word ‘unfair’ and secondly that there is no notion of competency. ‘Unfair’ is not very quantifiable all the time. It’s relative to the person not getting something. Many a times, afraid of owning up to our limitations, we tend to think that the situation or the superior (in the context of position of power) has been unfair to us by not giving...