The First Post

I do not know why I chose 11:30 am on a working day to start my blog. But since I have spent all of half an hour, let me just waste until lunchtime giving you a brief introduction about the 'Phissmarket'. It actually means 'fish' market, but it becomes 'phiss' due to certain deficiency in pronouncing the letter 'F' in the part of the world I come from (Calcutta, Kolkata, Calcuta, made famous by Mother Teresa, peace be upon her!). A fish market is also about a cacophony of voices, some selling, some buying, but taken in its entirety, it is a constant hum of activity, much like this blog thing. There are also the actual 'phiss', some fresh, some not so fresh, prawns, shrimps, carps, hilsa, bekti, tuna, sardines, crabs...you name it. Some black, some white. Some local, some imported. Some sweet water, some salt water, some from the delta of the river Ganges, where the two waters meet. Some perennial, some seasonal. Some live, some frozen. And so on.

The fish market always seemed to me to be a microcosm of our own world, or our own existence. Events far away would disrupt supplies, drive up the prices much like gasoline in the recent past. There were the regular customers, who got a good price and the correct weight, non-regulars cheated of both - like the nepotism and corruption in the wider society. You have to check the colour of the gills, to know whether the carp is fresh or not, much like news stories that seem innocent from outside, but you have to probe deeper to get its real meaning. And then there is wisdom...to know which fish has the best caviar inside, which prawns will taste great when cooked in coconut, which part of the fish will make the best fillets. That is like experience one acquires by observation, which we all have in our own ways.

That is the idea. I am a small-time economist with a social conscience, so that will be the flavour of the blog. I am also a small-time linguist, and interested in global affairs. I am a small-time traveller, so some travel stories that I would pick up from time to time. I am completely irreverant, politically and religiously, so a bit of malice will creep in for sure.

So, welcome to the 'phissmarket'. Its lunchtime, folks!