Oh! he, a fifty times cool. And me, fifty times a fool...
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He was a bourbon and cigar man.
By Sreela Das Gupta /Santiniketan/West Bengal
Slices of Life…
Oh he, a fifty times cool
And me, fifty times a fool
He had charm,
he had wit
His eye had a wicked glint
Even as he waxed eloquent
On Che and Cohen
He was a bourbon and cigar man
But had ready tales
Of rum and weed from dorm days
He was a man's man
He knew each four off Gavaskar's bat
When asked of his favourite poet
Neruda he declared
A tad embarrassed
He had me at that
Oh! he was a fifty times cool
And I fifty times a fool
Or maybe not
I stole from him some sun
Some oxygen
Some langour
Some laughter
Some heartbeats
Sepia memories
Of wine drenched summer
And moonlight on the river
Yet never let this fleeting magic
Languish to heartache
So maybe I am a fifty times cool...
From Orchids on a Mango Tree: A Collection of Poems
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Sreela Das Gupta has been working for over a decade in a large corporate as the Global Lead Subject Matter Expert in Diveristy, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.
With an MPhil in Population Studies, from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, , she has worked for over two decades in the not-for-profit sector, focusing on issues related to women’s rights and social inclusion. She has worked both with rural poor communities in the states of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand (to name a few); and in the area of research, policy formulation, strategic planning and programme deployment with organizations like International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW), CARE International, UN Women, USAID, Centre for Policy Research, Oxfam.
Sreela was a Humphrey Fellow in 2000-01 -- a mid-career fellowship funded by the US Congress. She went to the Tulane School of Public Health, New Orleans for her focus area of study on Gender and Public Health.
She has engaged with national and international platforms for policy formulation and strategic dialogue on diversity, such as ILO (International Labour Organization), UK Disability Forum, Purple Space, WeConnect and CII (Confederation of Indian Industries).
She is on the Board of Transform Schools (India), which designs, tests and scales educational solutions to bridge the learning gap in India’s secondary schools. She is also on the Board of National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities.
She currently resides in Santiniketan, Tagore’s Abode of Peace, and a UNESCO Heritage site. She steeps herself in the silence – broken by birdcall and squirrels.
Her writing career started with her volume of poems Orchids on Our Mango Tree which talks of love, longing, heartbreak and life. She soon grew restless and decided to pen a Cosy Mystery – a genre she reads as a stressbuster in her very busy schedule. This was also a response to the complaints of her aunts and uncles aged 80 and above who complained about the recent crime books full of gory violence and explicit sex. Her first book was The Murder on the Khoai where she introduced her detective ‘Mini di’ solving mysteries with a motley group of characters. She has also written Murder at the Mela followed by Murder in Shimla and Murder on the Sets. Three of four of these books are based in Santiniketan.
Recently she has tried her hand at a romance novella Of Pets and Vets, set in Atlanta, Georgia. And plans to write more in this genre.
All her books are available on Amazon India.