tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70427711882616410502024-03-24T00:42:37.338+05:30Little Lightbulb Momentssmall epiphanies of a spiritual agnosticDr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-78546673750397685302024-03-18T11:23:00.007+05:302024-03-18T16:01:47.791+05:30HallucinationsYesterday, I had two conversations with two different people about botched surgeries and badly healed bones. So obviously, I woke up this morning thinking about surgeries. My surgeries. I've had ten of them in my 62 years. I hate going under anesthesia. I hallucinate. I hallucinate universes. If it's a good trip, I wake up feeling WOW!! Everything is wondrous, I have seen the secrets of the Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-3226033635200665342024-03-15T11:43:00.012+05:302024-03-15T14:26:40.600+05:30Expressions and Impressions Haiku: 15 March, 2024I write myself butDo I express to impress?What if no one reads?Image by John Hain from PixabayWill I still be meIf you don't see? Will I still sayIf you don't hear? Will I still feelEven numbnessIf I cannot share? Will I still imagine Worlds in wordsIf my world has only me? I like to think I am completeI suffice in myselfI am enough Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-29010807370206499182024-03-15T00:00:00.015+05:302024-03-15T14:53:03.011+05:30Of frayed edges and burst seamsSouth of the smart new skyscrapers, a narrowing artery signals the end of the metropolis. Now begin the signs of suburbia: small, dusty shops line both sides of the street; cycle rickshaws and cycle “vans” ply people and objects through tight by-lanes that narrow snake-like as they get further from the main road. Here, suddenly, people actually have the time to just stand and gaze at Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-2467156955108641432024-03-14T10:27:00.011+05:302024-03-15T11:33:18.769+05:30Mother-musings Mamma,I always thought I was more like Papa and Anju was more you.Then, that day in Lucknow, I held my hand flat against yours too-thinnedage-withered soft-brittleI was shocked to see that they matchedso exactly. The palmsthe fingersthe dividers on the fingersall matched perfectlyline by line.There's so much more that is you in meYour thin skin, both literal Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-16968725526618783332024-03-05T11:16:00.021+05:302024-03-15T14:51:49.201+05:30 My Life in Haiku:
born and died and in between
over and over
image credit: DWilliam from Pixabay
Every time I am born I die
Every time I die I am born
to something new
And in between, I live
sometimes the same life
sometimes another
And in between I think
sometimes like a prophet
sometimes absurdly
And in between I say
sometimes what others also Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-16228379641447979592012-04-19T16:55:00.001+05:302012-04-19T16:57:06.268+05:30Writing Haiku Poems
image from: sarahjmartin.blogspot.com
Haiku poems fascinate me. The traditional haiku format consists of 17 syllables, classically divided into 5-7-5 and in English, is generally written in 3 lines.
I find the form of the haiku intriguing and challenging. Like another Japanese art-form, the bonsai, the haiku, too, demands a cruel twisting and pruning. But like a bonsai plant, a Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-36997883594646755182012-03-08T11:30:00.000+05:302012-03-08T13:56:54.374+05:30"Working Women"
And while we’re on the subject of women and society, I have another pet peeve—the words “Working Woman.” As far as I am concerned, I have never seen a woman who does not “work.” All women are working-women. Unfortunately, only some of us get paid and recognized for the work we do and unfortunately, the work that gets paid for and recognized generally happens outside the home.
My mother Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-34327363279429807752012-03-08T11:00:00.000+05:302012-03-08T13:54:53.493+05:30ON WOMEN'S DAY
I sat down and thought about it, and in the 365 and a-quarter days of every year, there are basically 3 types of days that we “observe.”
There are those days that are supposed to be unequivocally happy—birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Id, Gurpurab, Diwali—and we celebrate those with gathering, gift giving and feasting.
There are those days that are supposed to be unequivocally sad—9/11, Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-50963849431825386152011-05-16T11:41:00.002+05:302015-02-07T17:01:27.181+05:30The Weight of My Soul
image credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mystery_Novels_Magazine_Spring_1933.jpg
I picked up this crime thriller by Mark Billingham from the British Council Library the other day. For all my love for the literary "greats," I go to sleep every day with the exploits of gory, psychotic, Dexter-esque cops and killers.
In any case, something in this book I'm reading set me off on Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-50298235946177934662011-02-07T11:30:00.003+05:302011-02-13T12:42:42.954+05:30THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGSFor some reason, I’ve been ruminating the truth about cats and dogs today.Perhaps my canine thoughts owe their origin to Asterix (my Jack Russel Terrier, son of my heart if not my womb) who is, I know for sure, pining at home in our absence as my husband and I spend two weeks in the Andaman islands.Maybe our frequent conversations about Asterix and his antics (we're missing him too!) make my Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-37951559380460140872010-11-08T12:35:00.002+05:302010-11-08T23:36:15.803+05:30Under the Mango TreeThe mango tree in my Nani’s garden is my ultimate metaphor for life. My most blissful moments of communion with myself in total peace happened in the lap of its wide branches during the long, hot, summer-holiday afternoons when everybody else was taking their mandatory siesta.Hidden for hours amidst its rich leaves, I learnt so much about life in general and myself in particular. Alone with the Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-81161684140946563662010-07-15T12:47:00.006+05:302024-03-05T16:42:13.751+05:30From Madness to Mental Illness image: avsar-deeds.blogspot.comI’ve been revisiting Foucault’s History of Madness and it has started off a thought process within me that, I think, is long overdue and was just waiting for a push.As I look again at the journey of what I see as alternative states of mental (st)ability, the stagnation of more than a century of rut-thought is offensive. It is, in fact, a great disservice to those Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-21573948775921525452010-04-19T12:45:00.005+05:302010-04-19T13:25:26.551+05:30Sania Mirza's Mehndi and My MemoriesIt must’ve been the sight of Sania Mirza’s extreme mehndi that did it: I really have no better explanation for the sudden onset of my recent henna / hina / camphire / mehndi-centred thoughts.Maybe it’s the early swelter of summer heat this year. I swear I can smell the mehndi plant in our garden. The hotter it became, the more the plant disbursed its distinctive fragrance into the dry, Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-48932925415882485362010-04-05T15:40:00.001+05:302010-04-05T15:40:00.167+05:30Us Versus Them. And We All Fall DownUs versus them--that is the essence of the civilized, industrialized, fractured world.It is the absolute antithesis of the pantheistic nature of spirituality and the spiritual aspiration. The pantheistic sees everything natural as “us,” indistinguishable from “us” and therefore an integral part of the Universal whole and the param-atman--The Supreme Atman—the Source, the Primordial Energy from Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-77086672062374720402010-04-02T15:22:00.000+05:302023-07-25T14:21:49.902+05:30Religion and SpiritualityI've been getting questions on religion and spirituality or religion vs. spirituality. Or the relationship between religion and spirituality.Let me, from the very outset, say that I don't really subscribe to oppositions. I don't really believe things must be paired either. And I certainly don't think things must be associated with each other. In my considered opinion, therefore, religion and Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-11482529613765293342010-03-30T12:55:00.001+05:302010-03-30T12:55:00.116+05:30The Chicken and the EggWhen I think of how my self is constructed, I envision layers that are complete in themselves but that create and affect and are affected by other layers.Each layer is not just a "container" for the one within. There is an active chemistry at work between and within and outward and inward and my body-mind-soul-spirit is an interactive construct not an exclusive one.Which brings me to another set Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-49692317328134078792010-03-27T12:09:00.000+05:302010-03-27T12:09:00.633+05:30Tat Tvam Asi: That Thou ArtThinking more of the body versus soul debate, I am impressed by some of the writings of the upanishads.The father-teacher Aruni says to his son-disciple Svetaketu:“Sa ya eso anima, aiatat atmyam idam sarvam; Tat satyam, sa atma, tat tvam asi, Svetaketo--”(Chandogya Upanisad, VI.8.7)Loosely translated:“You are that Atman, infinite, immortal, and ever pure: that is your true nature. You are not Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-42297472779097856172010-02-17T11:37:00.002+05:302010-02-17T11:46:19.304+05:30Animal pleasuresAs I sit at my desk on this cloudy, sullen day, feeling sorry for myself, I suddenly see three squirrels cavorting. Even as I write this, they are running, jumping, skittering up and down my window sill, chasing each other, feeling the thrill of teetering on the edge—just because they can.My Jack Russell Terrier Asterix has a frantically scampering alter-ego that my daughter has christened his Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-28177823080040949682010-01-28T07:15:00.000+05:302010-01-28T07:15:00.653+05:30Au revoir mon amiAt 11.50 am on January 28, 2009, Dr. Christopher Augur, a scientist working with the French government’s IRD in Mexico City, was shot in the head for a princely sum of four thousand eight hundred Euros. A friend was driving him after he had exchanged the money at the airport. As their car entered the viaduct, three cars blocked their way and two gunmen demanded the money from Dr. Augur. He handedDr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-14187747762755640942010-01-08T04:06:00.001+05:302010-01-08T04:06:00.292+05:30Is this it?This morning, I had breakfast at the Tollygunge Club with one old friend I see often and another I hadn't met for 26 years. The first lives and works here in Calcutta and the other teaches at MIT now but years ago, all three of us studied French at Alliance Francaise and read for our undergraduate degrees at St. Xavier's.As they sometimes do, the years in between just seemed to vanish in the Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-27450407727609581232010-01-07T18:27:00.002+05:302010-01-07T20:48:41.984+05:30Turkish DynamiteOne perfect, balmy night in a small Turkish town, I met Hulya Celek.Back home, I find myself thinking of her at odd moments. I am glad I met her. Her spirit inspires me. Her confidence uplifts me. Her kindness, warmth, hospitality and above all, her laughter as as she constantly battles the custodians of tradition make her unforgettable.It was Rubik’s 16th birthday and we were in Selcuk in TurkeyDr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-57450740186598726772009-12-20T10:15:00.001+05:302010-01-07T20:49:59.233+05:30RediscoveryThe last 2 years have been strange. After years (decades!) of losing total touch, old school friends have been returning to my life in ones and twos. First there were a few drops, then a trickle and now that we're all on Facebook, there's a veritable deluge!I'm glad. I like the women we've become, each one of us. As Indrani put it, "I like where I'm at right now." Anjali, Promita, Indrani, Nila, Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-57076495511055737542009-09-15T09:42:00.001+05:302009-11-17T18:24:09.609+05:30SPIRIT-MUSICIt has been heard from time immemorial in every culture, every nation, every corner of the world.Call it what you will—Om.The music of the spheres.The harmony of the universes.The rhythms that make the stars burn and the planets turn.The tunes that make nature dance.The primal vibrations that guide the indomitable life-force in the flowing of rivers, in the salmon swimming against the currents; Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-68577591301320223752009-09-07T10:46:00.002+05:302009-09-07T10:55:14.544+05:30TEACHERS AAJ-KAL: ARJAN'S VERSIONOK, Vipul, taking a page from your blog, here!While I was writing my post, my son who just turned 16 was writing his own version, just for fun. Now that the contest is over, I present his thoughts on the subject.I must emphatically add that this is pure, unadulterated Arjan Banerjee--not a word has been changed; not a punctuation mark has been altered; not a thought has been injected or edited.I Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042771188261641050.post-1467378088313212022009-09-05T00:42:00.006+05:302009-09-07T10:16:13.408+05:30Teachers: Aaj KalThis post has been published by me on the occasion of the Teachers' Day as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 2; the second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.Kal, aaj or kal, I take great pride in my “noble” profession as an educationist.“Noble?” you ask.Well, there’s noble and there’s noble.You canDr. Ranee Kaur Banerjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915043555307038876noreply@blogger.com13