About me:

I live in USA — the land of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Helen Keller and Dr. Martin Luther King. I have lived in USA half my life — first as a foreign student in science, then as an immigrant-turned-citizen labor educator.

I grew up in Calcutta, Bengal, India — the land of Sri Chaitanya, Bengal Renaissance, Ram Mohan Ray and Tagore. I lived there half my life too — as a child of two poor and morally upright parents.

In both places — U.S. and India — I’ve had lots of fun, friendship and food for thought. And now here, I have infrequent Facebook. I recharged my blog because Facebook is fun but there is an entire, real world with seven seas, six continents and six billion real faces outside of the virtual world, and I wanted to maximize my reach — through sincere conversations. And have fun doing it too.

Z is one my favorite places: Prof. Noam Chomsky whom I brought over to talk to us for the only time at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism first introduced me to Z. I am so thankful he did.

Most importantly, here’s the thing: I am not about I; I am about us. I do not exist without us. Simple. You need something complex? Okay, let’s see…imagine someone who is for equality, society and prosperity from the bottom of the pyramid up. When I sing my songs, write my write-ups, or speak my speeches, I always keep in mind the vast majority that cannot sing their songs, write their write-ups, or speak. They have no power; I have some. All my life, in sunshine and in struggle, I have shared them; and I will share them — my God-given talents and acquired, real, raw (and refined) experience and knowledge — with the powerless.

I reject Ayn Rand because that extreme selfishness rejects history of We the People: it rejects ordinary people’s dignity, struggle and right to equality. I refuse to be a part of rabid individualism at the expense of the vast-majority working people and underclass.

We the People — in its purest form — is my happiness. In fact, that is my religion. We say in Sanskrit: “Bahujana hitaya, bahujana sukhaya.” In today’s English, it means: Of the People, By the People, For the People. I’m sure you know what I mean.

I hope you join me in this spiritual quest for happiness — for us, for all, for always.

Partha Banerjee

Brooklyn, New York

Blog at http://onefinalblog.wordpress.com