SAMRAGI MADDEN

Childhood

Samragi was born in Calcutta, India, on the 21st of December 1977. She was almost named Monalisa instead of Samragi! Thankfully for her, her father stood firm, and rejected her great-grandmother's choice of name! So she was named Samragi meaning Empress, to match her older brother's name Samrat meaning Emperor. 

She lived the first few years of her life in the family home in New Alipore, Calcutta, in her paternal grandfather's house. She went to the St Joseph's and Mary's primary school. Her earliest memories include eating butter sandwiches at school...and running about with her cousins in their house. She grew up with adoring cousins Haresh, Rajesh, Latu, Gabu and Kunai from her father's side. She was the youngest, and was often spoiled by her adoring older brothers. From her mother's side she was eldest girl in her generation, and has an army of young cousins - Limca, Lalpori, Donna, Guddu, Rai, Jhimli, Jeet, Tubai amongst others. She remembers happy memories of visiting her maternal grandmother's house for special occasions, sitting by their window, and standing on the balcony watching the world go by.

In 1983 the family moved to Kathmandu, Nepal, where they were to spend 10 lovely years. Samragi's family lived in Old Baneshwore Heights, in Kathmandu. Their first house was called PRANGAN, and belonged to a local Indian family. After living there for a few months, they shifted to the house opposite. 

Samragi's childhood friends include Vidhi Singh, fondly known as Dolly. They lived in opposite houses (Vidhi's family owned Prangan). They spent many afternoons playing and laughing with their respective dogs, chasing butterflies and making merry mayhem! Samragi loved the time spent in Nepal. The pristine beauty of the mountains, the friendliness of the people, the uncomplicated happiness of just being young was to remain with her long after she left the magical country far behind. 

Samragi's school in Nepal was MODERN INDIAN SCHOOL, it was run by a community of Indian teachers who lived in the valley. Samragi has fond memories of the beautiful school building known as Saurav Bhavan, and its adjoining gardens. It used to be an old palace, before it was transformed into a school. Here she studied under the guidance of fantastic teachers such as Mrs Vibha Singh (who also happened to be her neighbour, and best friend Dolly's mother), Mrs Sarita Giri (a wonderful Maths teacher, a lovely person), Mrs Rajbhandari, and a host of wonderful teachers whose names are fading as days go by. She often still sees the old school building in her dreams. It had a very dramatic impact on her, and she often sees the school, and the gardens in her dreams. She remembers the ride to school, on the school bus, the chilly winter mornings when daylight resembled darkness, and the constant chatter of friends. 

In school Samragi was boisterous and was often to be found leading gangs running around the corridors! Her friends included the lovely Raksha Pandey, Prathana Rana, Pradeep Dalmia, Ashish Garg, Amit Kedia, Brijesh Shahi amongst others. Sadly she is no longer in touch with any one of them, she wishes them all the very best, and hopes they are shining in their respective spheres. She misses a lad named Stephen Gautam, last heard studying somewhere in Russia! Not to mention the lovely Taj sisters - Ruby and Shabana...beautiful, kind and wonderful friends. She remembers Nabila, who died in a car crash...and Lily Ma who introduced her to a Chinese delicacy - snakes!

After 10 wonderful years in Nepal, Samragi's father was transferred to Calcutta in 1993. It was a tearful farewell to Nepal. She joined CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL in 1993, under the formidable eyes of Mrs Nanda Chatterjee. At first she hated it! However, after a few months of hiccups she began to love her life in CIS. Her favourite teachers include Mrs Chatterjee (or the dragon as she was known to some!!!), Mrs Latika Chaturvedi (an eternal font of wisdom), Mrs Subramanian, the lovely Mrs Khanna, Dr Nandan amongst others whose names have begun to get erased from memories as time goes by. She enjoyed her classes tremendously, and till today regards them as the basis of all she knows! Her friends include the sweet but mad Ruhi Gupta. She met Ruhi on the very same day she first came into the school, and the two have remained friends ever since. Samragi and Ruhi have been together for more years than they care to remember, going through their share of crushes, hairstyles, boyfriends, exams, complications and hours and hours of pure fun! Ruhi went on to study Medicine, and is soon to become a Doctor, and get married as well! Unbelievable!!! Other memorable characters from CIS remain embedded in memory for their charm and sense of true mischief!!!! 

After completing her O and A levels Samragi went on to do her Bachelors in English Literature from Presidency College. She was introduced to the wonderful works of Dryden, Shakespeare, and Keats by the ever patient, and beautiful Mrs Jayati Gupta. One of the only gems Presidency still managed to retain. She became good friends with Mr Sujoy Gupta, as well and did some work for the magazine he edited! She has always been extremely fond of them, and retains close ties.

Presidency offered Samragi with a chance to meet diverse people! From the truly gifted like Mrs Gupta, to the truly bizarre (names better left unmentioned!!!). She made friends with a gang of mad, vivacious girls - Deepta Chandrashekhar (the beauty), Anindita Moulik (the energy), Tapasya Sen (the mischief!). Together they spent three years experimenting with Tragedy, Comedy, and Drama in real and literary life!!! There were long afternoons spent at the National Library, frantically making notes, midnight phone calls before exams, and the final exhilaration of results. She retains her friendship with these wonderful ladies. Deepta is still beautiful, and is a blossoming graphics artist. Anindita is pursuing academics, and is currently a teacher. Tapasya has settled down!!!! 

During this return to Calcutta, Samragi also made some very special friends close to home. Her friend and neighbour Peauly Dutta, and her very handsome Rakhi brother Jai Banerjee. Imagine her delight when the two got together, fell in love, and eventually got married! It wasn't that easy, and they have their shares of stories to tell. Peauly or Lali as she is fondly known has been a constant source of strength, encouragement and constant mischievous adventures. They grew up together in Behala, Calcutta from school to College and there after. Lali and Jai have formed very close bonds with Dean as well. When Samragi and Jai both lost their fathers within months of each other, it brought them very close together. They remain in touch almost every day. Samragi and Dean hope Lali and Jai will be able to visit them in England very soon. They are a very special couple. 

In Calcutta, Samragi was always doted upon by her cousins. Her cousin Gabu accompanied her as she underwent the application process into various local schools, finally settling with CIS. Her cousin Haresh stayed with them for a few months, and they had fun chasing her dog Alfie all over the house. She was inspired by her cousin Rajesh's will and determination and ultimate success, and the two share a love of Literature. Her maternal cousins Limca, Jhimli, Rai and Tubai idolised her. They would often have lovely afternoons, where Samragi would cook for them, then spend the rest of the afternoon chatting about everything and nothing in particular.

Everyone expected Samragi to go abroad to study. It was likely she might have chosen America had it not been for Dean. Her brother was sad he missed the chance of spending more time with her. She came to England in 2000, shortly after her father's sudden demise. 

She spent a lovely year in Liverpool, under the tutelage of such wonderfully compassionate professors such as Professor Bernard Beatty - Masters Course Director at the University of Liverpool. She also made firm friends with Barbara Smith (Departmental Secretary cum wizard!), and remains in touch. Life in liverpool was full of explorations, fun and the occasional studying! She was sad to bid farewell to her very first home in England, and fondly remembers her landlord Peter Hutchinson, his cats and rabbits!!!

The couple got married in June 2001. The wedding itself was a very low key affair. It was a civil ceremony, as both Samragi and Dean are atheists. This was followed by a reception, but since the newly weds had to catch a flight to Dublin they barely managed to stay for an hour!!! 

Which brings us very close to present day in Derby. After completing her Masters in Liverpool, Samragi moved down to Somerset with husband Dean, two years later they ended up in Derby.

Interests

Samragi has varied interests. She enjoys sketching, although she hasn't had a chance to paint anything at all since she came to England. Hopefully one day when they have their own home, Samragi can re-acquaint herself with paintbrush and palette! She occasionally uses the pc to draw pictures, all of which Dean has retained!! Samragi enjoys going to museums and art galleries. Her favourite artists include Monet and Degas. 

Dean shares Samragi's passion for exploration. The two often spend weekends in London, going to various museums, art galleries, and the lovely parks and gardens. Dean has an abiding love for all things duck-like, and cant bear to think of them being harmed, as a result Samragi no longer eats duck! The two will often go to the parks at London to feed the ducks. They were lucky to get an apartment in Liverpool very close to Princes Park, which had a huge lake, and a strong population of resident ducks. Samragi enjoys going for walks with Dean, feeding ducks, and in general enjoying the outdoors. Her favourite places include Porthcurno, Portland and Nepal as she remembers it.

Samragi and Dean love the contrasts of rugged and bare beauty of the Southern coastline in Devon & Cornwall. They spend many happy hours by the cliffs, spending time listening to the sea. 

Samragi's choice of music is constantly changing!!! She will often stick to one tune, and keep listening to the same thing over and over again till it drives her potty. She enjoys everything from Edith Piaf to Jim Reeves! She is very fond of Jim Reeves, Elvis, The Beatles, and even Sir Cliff!!! She enjoys western classical, but is by no means an expert! Favourite pieces include Traumerei, Moonlight Sonata, and the beautiful Blue Danube. 

Of the more recent arrivals, she enjoys listening to Coldplay, Norah Jones, and Evanescence. Samragi is not too sure whether she enjoys listening or watching Madonna videos!!! She still thinks George Michael is probably going through a phase, and isn't really gay!!!

Samragi and Dean share a love for the cinema, and often spend weekends at their local Cineworld. Dean will always choose a "boring" film with themes which range from - fathers battling for their children, social injustice, prison dramas, life of sportsmen,  memories of the  holocaust, the gaping social reality of unemployment, drugs, crime etc as it happens in the real world. Samragi's choice of films will have one main theme - as far removed from real life as possible!!! She enjoys blood and gore, as well as sophisticated horror films, and prides herself on having watched more vampire films than anyone she has met. She also enjoys science fiction, and is a huge fan of Star Trek. Dean recently gave her a surprise gift which consisted of around 130 Star Trek novels! She is faithfully ploughing through them, and has about a 50 more to go! 

Samragi enjoys the works of Hitchcock, her favourite remains Rebecca. She enjoyed the Matrix series, and keeps persuading Dean to dress up like Keanu Reeves! Samragi is a great lover of cartoons, and enjoys X MEN, Garfield, Top Cat, Tom & Jerry, Pingu, and Postman Pat. 

Samragi's favourite television shows include Pingu, Noddy, Star trek (everything except Deep Space Nine, and the recent disaster Enterprise), Fawlty Towers, Jeeves & Wooster, Mash, Are you being Served, Some mothers do 'ave em, As Time Goes By, To the Manor Born, The Good Life, Allo Allo, The Royle family  etc. Her favourite tv personalities include Stephen Fry, Michael Crawford, Angus Deayton, John Cleese, Lucille Ball etc. Of the more recent shows, she enjoys watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Scrubs and Have I got News for You

Her favourite films include To kill a Mocking Bird, Rebecca, Nosferatu, Mousehunt, Star Trek - The Motion Picture, Star Wars - The Return of the Jedi, etc etc, there isn't enough space in cyber space to put the entire list!!! Her favourite actors include classics like Elizabeth Taylor, Lawrence Olivier, Robert Redford etc. Among the current generation it would have to be Patrick Stewart, Anthony Hopkins and of course Keanu Reeves! Her Star Trek favourites include Leonard Nimoy, Mark Lenard and the wonderful Brent Spiner.

Samragi is also a keen follower of Indian Cinema, and her many favourites include directors like Guru Dutt, Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Mani Ratnam among others. She adores the classics such as Mughal-E-Azam, Do Bigha Zameen, Awara, Harano Sur, Razia Sultan, Shakespearewallah, Kaagaz ke Phool etc. She also enjoys the new breed of Hindi films such as Lagaan, Lamhe, Raat, Devdas, Hum Dil de Chuke Sanam. Her favourite actors include Guru Dutt, Nargis, Aishwarya Rai, Naseeruddin Shah among many. She is also very fond of Indian music, and will listen to hours of Jagjit Singh, Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, among many others. 

Samragi used to write poetry and prose as an exercise for her literary studies, she hopes to resume someday. She enjoys reading immensely. Much to Dean's annoyance, she seems to completely shut herself away from the outside world when reading, and will often get scolded for not listening to him while she reads!!! She enjoys anything vampyric, or other forms of the occult. She does not enjoy hard hitting reality based books, or romances. She is often quite happy to pick up old copies of Asterix, Tintin and Snoopy books from the local children's library. She enjoys anything which stretches the boundaries of belief. She enjoys watching dramatic representations of the life of the Tudors, her favourite ruling dynasty of England. 

Samragi's idols have all faded into history books...her heroine is majesty personified - Queen Elizabeth the First, and her  hero would have to be the suffering poet John Keats. She is inspired by the politics of Tony Benn, although she does believe a return to absolute monarchy might prove to be a wiser choice in the current political climate. Like Dean she is awaiting a socialist revolution to overthrow the Bush administration, although unlike Dean, she would like to go back to the halcyon days of the great British Empire - the Raj. Or perhaps a peaceful world government like Vulcan ? Live long and Prosper...

Her favourite books include Dracula, and The Lady of the Shroud by Bram Stoker, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, she vastly enjoyed Cat's Eye by Margaret Attwood. One of her favourite authors is Dom Moraes, the Anglo-Indian writer famous for his works such as Nowhere at Home, and My Son's Father.  She loves reading the plays of Shakespeare, personal favourites include Macbeth and Othello. She also enjoyed Marlowe's Faustus. She loves reading the poetry of John Donne and John Keats. As a child she loved Enid Blyton. She hopes to include some of her favourite poetic and prose pieces onto the website someday. 

Mostly she is happy playing with the cat, listening to music, and writing long letters to her friends. Samragi's favourite time is the weekend, Saturday morning, when she and Dean fight over the newspapers, and Cody happily ignorant tramples them, as she sits on them bathed in the winter sunlight streaming through the open window. Bliss.