Thoughts of a wandering mind

Up there in the sky

2011-01-19T22:51:00.003+05:30

Beautiful full moon
up there in the sky
with garland of a fluffy white cloud
lets the imagination fly

There lies a twinkling star
not from moon so far
the moon lets a wink at the star fly
the star blushes with a sigh

The moon gives a broad smile
with distributed white rays
the star bathes alike
in the glory of the rays

So melancholic, so happy at par
as I watch from my balcony
so close
so far

How Mr. M stopped worrying, started spending and started worrying again

2011-01-04T00:14:00.033+05:30

What the best MBA schools in the country couldn't teach in the classroom was learnt by Mr. M in a few months. It was a highly valuable marketing lesson and it would definitely go in the annals of the sales and marketing literature as a great case study. Was it how to sell or how to be a sincere customer, we will know very soon.
It was just another SMS on Mr. M's cellphone today like many of junk SMSes that he received everyday. Somehow Mr. M found the sender's name interesting and decided to read it. The name spelt something like slapdeal.com. Mr. M decided to check out the website. It was soon to cast a spell on Mr. M as the website offered everything starting from the meanest undies to the most technically advanced gadgets of the modern world and offered everything with an offer. Some offers showered 20 % discount, some 40%, some 60 % and some even more than 100 %. 'Offer' was soon to become a favorite word of Mr. M. It was something like what Vito Corleone said in Godfather - "I will make you an offer you can't refuse". So got started Mr. M. The slapdeal always made an offer Mr. M couldn't refuse.
The slapdeal kept slapping the offers and Mr. M kept snapping them. The slapdeal never gave Mr. M to have a second thought as whatever Mr. M ordered were delivered by slapdeal to him at his doorstep in a day or two. In the meantime he could consider rather oblige other offers from slapdeal. The bank balance of Mr. M kept flowing, oneway to slapdeal and in return slapdeal always kept the promise. The promise of never letting Mr. M go. They became rather inseparable from each other like the coral and the colourful algae. The coral shines in a multitude of colours because of the algae that attaches to it for its food - in a symbiotic relationship. The only doubt was, who was the one shining here.
Mr. M left nothing to buy from slapdeal. Number of undies to last for eternity, boxers to last for all the summers, the boxers which if all opened up and stitched together could fit Gulliver in a different world, pen drives together spacious enough to take 100 times over back up of his hard disks, beds that could be stacked to reach to the ceiling in his flat, the T-shirts which overflowed in his wardrobe, the suitcases which he started using as tables after stacking, the watches that he never wore, the shoes that became the scale to measure the level of dust settling in the room, the things he never knew the use of and so on and so on.
Thus, the time went on and Mr. M kept himself hooked to slapdeal. In the meantime he got introduced to many other such websites as well and kept an affair with them all at the same time. Soon a time came when just his name sufficed on the delivery package. It was only Mr. M that had to be inscribed on the package and the courier company at once knew where to deliver it. He was no less than a celebrity among slapdeal and all other fraternity. Even the courier company started giving him offers. One of them was - 2 couriers free with 1 courier and these couriers could be booked from anywhere to anywhere within India. The courier company even got a new idea of introducing 'city points' ; only because of Mr. M. Mr. M even got the best customer award from one of these courier companies. Of course he was always the choice for the best customer award from slapdeal and fraternity.
The love kept blossoming, the attraction never fading and the offers kept coming. Suddenly something happened. One fine day Mr. M woke up, straightened up and tried to get down from the bed. To his horror, there was no space left in the room to put his feet anywhere on the floor. He had received the last package from slapdeal only the other evening, had kept it on the floor, then got busy with his laptop and then slept with it. It was now only in the morning that he knew that was the last square foot of floor left in the room to keep that package. He had become a prisoner in his own room; a prisoner of his own making. The offers had made him blind, too blind to see how his bank accounts, credit cards were getting drained down the offer lane. He switched on the laptop lying besides him and checked the status of his bank accounts. For the first time after months he could see crystal clear. His bank balance had remained a zero sum game since months. Within 2 days of the salary coming to his account it had always vanished like anything. And his credit card was heavy with debt.
Mr. M's heart sank. He looked up and the ceiling felt like rotating with a high speed. Then he looked down and sounds came from every corner of the room - "Use me use me, you bought me with an offer and never used me. you cheater, you an offer freak and so on". He could now feel the noise but couldn't hear. He could see everything around but couldn't recognize.
What were all these things lying in his room? From where all this came? What use of they were? He asked all the questions and got the answers for none. Then he screamed, screamed louder and louder and to his surprise he heard none. Then he became quiet. He tried to recognize everything around him again and tried to recompose himself. He slowly started to think and moved down the memory lane, the lane that had been so enticing since last few months and now the same lane looked all parked with thorns. The thorns which had now pierced him all over.
Mr. M started thinking again, the thing which he had forgotten to do since last few months. The stuffs have already been bought. They can't be returned anyway. What to do of all of this and how to repay the credit card debts. Now his mind was working fast. He had learnt two valuable lessons of marketing. First, if you have to sell a product don't tell the consumer of what use it can be. Just tell them about the offer on this product. Second, as a consumer don't get trapped in these offers. A big bulb brightened inside his head and a wide smile swept across his face. He had decided what he had to do. He had already learnt the second lesson the hard way. It was the first lesson which he had to earn.
While I'm doing countdown to publish this blog, Mr. M is sitting comfortably on the cash counter of a big shop in an upmarket area in Delhi. Everything is on sale and everything with an offer. It took him only a month to dispose of all the stuffs he had bought on offer from slapdeal and fraternity.
He even earned some profit on them by doubling their price and then giving huge discount offers on them. And he only knows of all the diverse arrows in his armoury of selling skills he has acquired since setting up his shop and he keeps firing them everyday from the bow of offers. The board of his shop reads - "Everything on offer".

Ek ghazal likhi thi subah (Contd.)

2010-12-28T08:34:00.006+05:30

Aaj kuchh aur yaadein sameti
kuchh aur chehre samete
zaraa bhi dhoondhlapan nahin tha
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

Fir usi galiyare mein jaa
do kadam aur chala
naa khushi thi naa dard tha, bus ek kasak thi
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

Aina se dhool hatayi
Zaraa khud ko nihara
aankhein meri hi thi ya kisi aur ko dekh raha tha
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

Kuhasa dur tak tha
sard baahar bhi pad rahi thi
bawandar le jaata bhi to kahan
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

Naa hum khud se nikalte
naa khud unse nikalte
khud hi mein kasmakas itni
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

Ek ghazal likhi thi subah

2010-12-27T21:29:00.001+05:30

Ek ghazal likhi thi subah
Shaam ho gayi
Wo nahin aaye
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

Bhot Koshish ki
Mehek ho barkarar ghazal ki
naa mila kadr-e-daan koi
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

Ummeed ki asha ki
ki roshni aayegi
ya to band roshandan tha ya roshandan hi nahin tha
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

nasha-e-ishq tha
ya waham
kabhi jaagte mar gaye the kabhi jaagna pata naa tha
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

mehfooz ye rahe ghazal
kisi ke waaste
hum mehfooz ya nahin, unhein kya pata
Ghazal mein dard aur bhi badh gaya hai

Sheela ki Jawani

2010-12-25T22:08:00.005+05:30

Most of the people were contended watching it on TV but some decided to go and watch it on big screen. Of course, along with the movie that came WITH it. Some suvived the torture of Teesmaar khan, some died. Some kept alive in the hope that Sheela ki jawaani screen pe baar baar aani. Those who came alive from the theater were the blessed ones, the blessed ones who could tell the future generation that they did devour Sheela ki jawaani and that too on big screen. They did start believing in Jesus for the next day was Christmas. Only God could have saved these poor mortals after the two hour torture that Teesmaar khan had unleashed on them.
Some of the online status messages survivors flashed after the ordeal are worth mentioning :
One message read - Thank God! I'm alive after watching Teesmaar khan.
Another read - 5 minute ki sheela ki jawaani , 2 ghante ka teesmaar khan ka bheja fry ! Sach hi kaha hai - Sheela ki jawaani kisi ke kaam naa aani.
It is believed that some people even tried to commit suicide after the this inhumane torture. The internet is already abuzz with the support groups that have come forward to counsel these unfortunate people. Some people are also complaining of nightmares where Teesmaar Khan comes in their dreams and tries to crack a joke.
Offices,schools and colleges have also started to put notices on noticeboard not to get misled by Sheela and land up anywhere close to where they might end up watching Teesmaar Khan. The shops and restaurants in malls are also now recording less footsteps. People are fearful that they might hear some joke of Teesmaar Khan if they come close to the theater in the mall. It is now feared that the repercussions of this can be long term and it might hit the Indian economy and even world economy in a big way if people spend less.
The question is not about how long people will be able to survive Teesmaar Khan but the question is whether for all these turbulences Sheela is to be blamed or not. It's now only upto our generation to show an exemplary courage and ride against the suffering that Sheela or for that matter Teesmaar khan has unleashed. Amen.

Let it feel

2010-11-27T19:17:00.003+05:30

Let it feel yourself, feel the surround, feel the sound, feel the people around, feel the aura, feel the heat, feel the peace, feel the wisdom, feel the stupid, feel the difference, feel the unique, feel the seat you are sitting on , feel the wall you are leaning on, feel the spine that's straightened, feel the eye you have closed, feel the world you can't see, feel the floor your shoes are touching, feel the shoes you are wearing, feel the word you can't think of, feel the time, feel the feel, feel you. While the metro felt the track, I closed my eyes for a while and let me feel myself.

while the time DIDN'T passby

2009-04-06T20:00:00.003+05:30

I killed the time mercilessly since morning, not different from last few days. The sun is also becoming a bit harsh now during afternoon and it makes the time killing task even more sweaty. Nevertheless I did a number of discrete things which I can proudly take note of at the end of the day. They can be summarized as below:
(Before that cook has come and due to laziness of my flatmate who can't afford to go downstairs and bring refined oil, poori has been canceled from menu)
1. Time killing
2. Directionless thinking - I can bet it helps in time killing but leads nowhere
3. Strolling in the big hall of my flat and doing throw-at-the-wall-bounce-back catch practice with tennis ball
4. India-NZ 3rd test match - Good news:Ryder is out
5. Random channel browsing on TV and watching none
6. Read some pages of Logic of Life by Tim Harford
7. Strolled for half an hour in the park in front of my home
8. Listened to mar jaawan from fashion 8 times. One of the best melodious songs from recent times
9. Pink floyd always rocks

The lesson of the day: Reading and listening to music can help steer through dull times. Yes now I will include blogging in the list as well.

In the end something dedicated to me:
waqt aata hai waqt jaata hai
par hamara waqt nahin badalta

And do listen to this haunting song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J3cvVWsAbA

अब तलाश ही नहीं थी

2008-10-11T17:33:00.003+05:30

करवटें बहुत बदली अधखुली आंखों से
पर तलाश का किनारा नहीं था
मैं उठ बैठा , आँखें पुरी खुली, अब तलाश ही नहीं थी

अँधेरा बहुत था
मैं सहम गया , बदहवास भागा अपने बिस्तर से उतर,
मैं ढूंढता रहा , ढूंढता रहा बत्ती का स्विच,
दीवारों के सहारे उन्हें टटोला, पर दीवारें सपाट हो गई थी

मैं चिल्लाया, पुरी ताकत से चिल्लाया
उनकी गूँज मुझपे चिल्लाई
मैं अब थमा, अंधेरे को महसूस किया
अब तलाश ही नहीं थी

Krishna Krishna Krishna

2008-06-14T16:49:00.004+05:30

This is the only word echoing in my mind now after 3-4 days of listening to it continuously and this is what the only sound now coming from the hall of my flat where TV is kept. Well ! you must have guesses by now from where all this Krishna is coming. My all sympathies to Krishna (Noida double murder case) but I can't stop hating all those bullshit news channels who hang over a news for weeks. My flatmate must be changing channels once in a while but still sitting in front of my lappy what all I can hear is Krishna Krishna Krishna. You can't escape these myriad news channels now. Without realizing I've already mentioned Krishna 9 times and if didn't get enough of it here is more (including biographies):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWRunXTKuys

झूठी यादें

2008-05-31T16:01:00.003+05:30

झूठी यादें
तू क्यों मेरा दामन नहीं छोड़ती
पलक नहीं झपकते तेरे लिए
तो तू मेरे तसव्वुर में बरक़रार है

झूठी सी ही है याद तेरी
झूठी यादें क्या अब भी तुझे मेरा इंतज़ार है
मत ले अपनी आगोश में मुझे
झूठा सा ही मुझे तनहा छोड़ दे

The man from earth

2008-05-28T23:13:00.005+05:30

The movie comes in one of those categories where you keep on guessing with the flow of the movie. There is a middle aged professor John Oldman who announces his retirement from college and arranges an informal gathering with some close colleagues before leaving. The people at gathering are curious to know the reason for his premature retirement. Suddenly he says that the reason is that he is immortal and doesn't want people to observe that he isn't aging anymore. Then the arguments start, jokes are cracked, tables pounded, eyebrows are raised and tears flow in some eyes. Oldman has a justification for everything from every angle to prove that he's not lying when he starts describing his journey right from the primitive ages. He tells them how he has lived with different names and in different countries for ages. At one point he even says that Jesus was him only. Some are convinced, some want to get convinced and some keep on putting forward counter arguments to falsify Oldman's claims. All this keeps on going in a single room until it comes to a persuasive, disillusioning and shattering climax.
Worth a watch!!!

My B'day Gift :-)

2007-12-30T14:45:00.002+05:30

My B'day gift on 29th Dec, by my mom...

On the horizon, above the Ganga

2007-12-28T22:27:00.001+05:30

This is one of my all time favorite pics. The sun is soon going to set and disappear over the horizon and it still shows the amazing grace only a person can have who has stood tall and high above all during its DAY. After all, each time the Sun gets only a day, one single day. And it never fails to achieve the height after originating from the sink of horizon. It just gets brighter and brighter. Conquers the clouds, rises above all and challenges proudly in the loudest voice - "I'm the king of the world. Anyone out there. If you can, just show me by rising above me". The self-esteem so high that it keeps burning on its own and the shine so vivid that you can't look into. It burns and the humanity basks, the humanity comes to life.

I captured the glorious sun over the Ganga with my Canon A530 camera sometime in End-May 2007. This pic was taken by me from a boat. Actually my father got posting in a rural hospital and he had to buy a motorcycle for up-down. While going to the showroom we covered a semicircle by road-route and while coming back with the bike covered the diameter of the semicircle on the Ganga, the smaller root, over a boat .

My gift from Santa Clause :-)

2007-12-27T14:56:00.000+05:30

My christmas gift.....
By me ..... for myself :-) :D

The movie day

2007-12-24T00:29:00.001+05:30

This Sunday was destined to be a movie day. I had booked the tickets in advance for not one but two movies. The first movie was scheduled to be at 10:10 am. As usual got up too late in the morning and after that cook came at 9:30 to make breakfast. And first thing he started was convincing me and my flatmate once again that he doesn't carry anything in his pocket after he leaves our flat after cooking. What our concern was that the guy cooks up 1 liter of oil in 1 week just for two persons. Of course he must not be bootlegging oil in his pocket (:D) but then he must be held the most responsible person for planning to increase our cholestrol level :-( . Anyway he DID finish cooking breakfast but it was already ten past ten when we left for "I am Legend". I had booked the ticket online from a website called bookmyshow.com and I had to show the confirmation sms and credit card on the counter to get the tickets. I got in the line of current counter and after 5 minutes when I reached the counter the beautiful lady says there is a different counter for advance booking (for which there are nowhere directions shown and is hidden somewhere in the multiplex.. damn f$!&). Probably she meant I will get a dream that advance counter is somewhere there if not clearly visible (:D). When finally we reached the theater it was 40 minutes past 10, already 30 minutes late. And the scary part was that there were not more than 10 people in the auditorium (:D). It was next release of Will Smith after "pursuit of happiness" but these two movies are a class apart. This movie turned out to be a total crap, one of those many typical hollwood thrilers. Old stuff repacked. The storyline was similar to movies like Day after Tomorrow, Resident evil et cetera et cetera. Nothing impressive about the movie. Came back home disappointed.
The second movie was "Welcome" at 7:30. This time we were on time :-) . The movie started with some good jokes but as it progressed it was all the same boring stuff, typical of all comedies coming in Bollywood in the last one year stuffed with 3-4 B grade heroes. The only difference was here the actors were A-grade. And ofcourse Mallika Sherawat was there ;-). As usual Akshay kumar was good at comedy once again. In the end it turned out to be a somehow-just-once-watchable timepass movie. A movie without soul.
I hope to see some better movies now as soon as the downloads in my bittorent complete. Let me check:
Before the rain (Antes Da Chuva), Hidden (french), Jean De Florette, Decalogue. Really waiting for these downloads to complete after I read their reviews here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/commentaries/top10moviesfromeurope.html

:-)

Twelve Handkerchiefs

2007-12-23T23:54:00.001+05:30

Delhi is a place where you find all kind of things, all kind of people. And you get all kind of markets as well right from the suck-your-pocket mall to the haggle markets. One such latter kind of market in Delhi is Sarojini Nagar market. Go to the market on a Sunday evening and you will feel like you are on the Howrah railway station. Just try standing there at your place and the crowd will effortlessly push you forward at the rate of 100 steps per minute. Those who have been to Howrah railway station have experienced that very well.
Well! one fine day I too happened to go to Sarojini Nagar market with a friend of mine. My friend had to take a laptop bag. We were just roaming around looking for shops. Just then, out of the blue a person with bundles of handkerchiefs in his hand came to me and asked if I want them. I said I'll take one. He then set a pack of twelve in my hand and before I could pick up one he said sir take all 12. I said no but then he started insisting it'll be of your use, take all 12. I again said no but then he started telling price: 12 for Rs. 140. I just said no I'll not take 12, tell me price of just one. Then without any bargaining, without a word from my mouth the conversation (rather one-sided haggling) went like this.
Handkerchief person: Ok. Take all 12 for Rs. 120.
Me: Silent.
Handkerchief person:Rs. 100 for all 12.
Me: No I have to take just one.
Handkerchief person: ok. Rs. 80 for all 12.
Me: I need just one yaar.
Handkerchief person: Rs. 50?
Me: No
He kept on offering the new price each time and never accepted my offer of buying one :D :-(. And till this time after each offer of reduction in price from his side I kept on trying to push the handkerchief in my hand back to his. But it was only now that he accepted the pack back. Even till now I had not made up my mind to buy those 12 handkerchiefs. And now, even before I could run away he once again reduces the price himself to Rs. 40 for 12. Damn. What will I do with a dozen handkerchiefs. And then the thought crossed my mind as both of us already have invested a lot of time let me buy it now. And finally I bought it. Yes, all twelve. After a few months, they are still there lying somewhere in a dark corner of my room. I may have taken a maximum two out of the pack.
Moral of the story: Never touch anything in SN market unless you are sure you wanna buy it. And the implicit one: guys out there have got amazing sales skills :-).

Ye meri bikhri hui zindagi nahin to aur kya hai

2007-04-10T17:42:00.000+05:30

Ye bikhra kamra mera,
Bikhri kitabein, bikhre kapde,
Makdiyon ke jaal se ghira mera guitar,
Ye meri bikhri hui zindagi nahin to aur kya hai

Khidkiyan jo lagti nahin,
Parde to udte hain in khidkiyon se aane waali hawaon ke saath,
Aur panne bhi ud jaate hain mere is bikhre table se,
Kya kya sametoon,
Ye meri bikhri hui zindagi nahin to aur kya hai

Saamne tanga calendar do hazaar aath dikha raha hai abhi,
Computer ke monitor pe kafi chhitein hain syahi ke,
mere kursi ke paanv bhi girne waale hain ab shayad,
Ye meri bikhri hui zindagi nahin to aur kya hai

Main apne kamre mein baitha hoon aur jo panktiyan maine upar likhi wo bus mere kamre ki haalat ka gungaan hai. Par upar likhe shabdon ke chhayawaad ko samjhein to panktiyon ki sundarta jyada nikhar kar saamne aayegi.

Three D's

2007-04-08T17:35:00.000+05:30

1st D:
(Time: 9:30 pm)
Knock knock on my door!!
who's this?
Babu!!!
Okie (it's one of the mess workers). Khol raha hoon.
ye (bagal ke room waale) babu kahan gaye hain?
yaar mujhe kya pata. Keys dene hai naa. De do mujhe. Main de doonga.
Thik hai babu. de dena.
Thik hai dada.

2nd D:
(Any time after i have retired to dreamworld)
Banging of my door!!!
haan kholta hoon.
Keys?
haan le le Mishra. CPU pe rakhi hai.

3rd D:
(I haven't completed my sleep yet)
Bang bang on my door!!!
I open the door.
Kya hai dada?
Babu! Chavi.
Dada! main G.Sec mess thode hi hoon.
Babu! xyz ne bola chavi C-328 mein hai.
yaar, maine raat ko hi de di chavi bagal waale babu ko.
Thik hai Babu.

And it happens everyday. Everyday. I'm damn sure this is what we call a vicious circle.

Trois Coleurs - Bleu, Blanc, Rogue

2007-04-06T22:10:00.000+05:30

Trios Coleurs (Three Colurs) - Bleu (Blue) , Blanc (White)and Rogue (Red). These are three cinematic masterpieces of the part of three colour trilogy made by Krzysztof Kieslowski. The name and theme of the movies are inspired by the tricolour of the french flag. Three adjacent vertical bands of blue, white and red colour denote liberty, equality and fraternity respectively. I just finished watching two of these - Rogue and Blanc - back to back. While i'm writing this blog, i'm still trying to let the two movies sink in. I'll be watching the third one Bleu just after writing this blog.Before starting this trilogy , i watched "About Schmidt".

I've watched very few European movies including this ongoing trilogy but i can definitely tell that European cinema has a better taste than Hollywood. Now, i'm on lookout for more European movies and would appreciate if knowledgeable people can suggest me more masterpieces.

Retreat to Solitude

2007-04-05T14:07:00.000+05:30

Thy retreat to solitude
Far away from the world
Far from the malaise
But why?

To catch thy or
To run from?
Neither a hedonist nor an egotist,
Are these the benign fears thy run from?

One nowhere leading to another nowhere
Is that thy?
The quest to be the best
But what's that?

Thy met thousands
But your soul stood unlike,
No green-eyed monster,
Found the truth of others' souls, yet so silent

Sank through pretty faces
to the depth of malign minds
yet that child inside soul of thy
fails to die, fails to die.

Manzar'07

2007-04-03T13:43:00.001+05:30

Pretty good start for a festival of its own kind in KGP. Congratulations to people who dared to look out of box and organised a literary festival. I attended a few events and workshops in the event too and i enjoyed immensely as well as learnt interesting things during the workshop. The festival was a 3-day affair last weekend from 30th March to 01st April.
The fest started on a popular note with kavi sammelan which saw full attendance in T.O.A.T (Tagore open air theatre) connecting famous personalities viz Nida Fazli, Dr. Kumar Vishwas, Surendra Sharma, Munavvar Rana and Sampat Saral to the KGP junta via "Shabd". Junta enjoyed avidly with the sound of wah wah reverberating in the ambience after each ghajal and shayari and the applauds never stopped during the three hours. It was the first Kavi Sammelan for me though it had been organized before also in KGP. The interest and taste of youth towards kavi sammelan has developed during only the last 2-3 years and I think people like Dr. Kumar Vishwas , who has a cult following among youths, have played a big role in that by connecting to them through their popular taste, though mostly romance. A few lines of one of his popular shayari goes like this:

Koi Deewana kehta hai, koi pagal samajhta hai
Magar dharti ki bechaini ko bus badal samajhta hai

But then Munavvar Rana's shayaris were also diamonds in their own way and sinked straight to the heart of the people. No one can forget this shayari of his on maa (mother) -

Kisi ke His'se mein makan aaya, kisi ke his'se mein dukaan aayi,
main ghar mein sabse chhota tha, mere his'se mein maa aayi.

No wonder, after hearing those i couldn't stop looking for more on the internet. Sadly, I found only a few ( I'm going to buy his book) and can be read on the following links:
1. http://www.shayri.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-13817.html
2. http://www.shayri.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-14848.html

Who haven't heard the unforgettable lyrics written by Nida fazli - Hosh walon ko khabar kya... (sarfarosh), Tum aaye to aaya mujhe yaad gali mein aaj chand..(Zakhm) and many more. More can be seen on http://www.urdupoetry.com/nida.html. Then, there was the usual extraordinary performance of Surendra Sharma, the God of stand up comedy . Too subtle yet too straight on the face. He is a livewire on the stage with his minute observations of the things going on the stage and intelligently using them as premises to generate the charm and comedy. Sampat saral's slapstick comedy was a hit too.
The movie making workshop by Sameer Kohli had the theme C.G.P.A. and you are wrong if you just read that as Cumulative Grade Points Average. It was Creativity Generating Presenting Ability. As an outsider to the movie making world, it was fun knowing the abc of film making. Not many people attended the workshop because may be it was not publicized properly due to time constraints or less expectations but next year hope the interested people don't miss it. Sameer Kohli, a B.Tech from IIT Delhi, is a name to reckon with in ad-making and writing movie scripts. He explained the structure of the crew, the relationship between them ,their relative importances and all the nitty gritty things and last but not the least scandals involved too. The workshop was as interactive as it could have been. After he showed how to write scripts, participants were asked to write script on an event where a child shocks a parent. People came up with real good ideas and taking the liberty for sometime to praise myself I'll like you to know, he commented 'brilliant' on reading our (together with Nakul) script :). A total fun and quite interesting things popped up during the workshop. The next day there was a lecture too by Sameer Kohli. I would like to point out that it was European movies and not hollywood (no hard feelings for bollywood) that he suggested as a splendid dose of cinema. I learnt that casting couch do exist.

There was another workshop on journalism by journalists from Financial Express that included Sandipan Deb (chief editor) , one of the brightest alumni of IIT KGP. They were very enthusiastic and though the attendance was poor here too, the workshop was excellent. A budding journalist from KGP had to be there to learn the tricks and get the tips from the best in the field. On a question, Mr. Sandeepan Deb said that it's an occupation where you have to be always on your toe but at the start of the other day you will be the most satisfied person of the world to see the article in print that you wrote at the end of the last day. Mr. Sandipan Deb is also the author of the famous book "The IITians" and had been editor-in-chief of "Outlook", a weekly magazine, in the past too.

One common thing that both these IITians shared was that both followed their dreams howsoever weird and stupid they seemed to the world at that time. And they are successful. Mr. Sandeepan Deb after passing out from IIT KGP and IIM C, worked in ITC before deciding one day that he would go for a career in journalism even though he had no such previous background. When he told this to his boss in ITC, no guesses, the reaction of his boss was that you have become mentally degenerate and no problem, you can go and i will be keeping your job intact for next six months with full payment of the salary without any constraint and for that duration you can see what's there for you in journalism. And you can come back anytime you want. He never went back.

Mr. Sameer Kohli too was doing a marketing job, in his words 'selling air conditioners' , after passing out from IIT D before he decided where he always wanted to go. He says , "switching to the movies as a scriptwriter was totally an accident". No doubt behind his success lie a lot of hard work and determination.

I attended the lecture by famous english poet Keki. N. Daruwalla too. I'm an illiterate in English literature so can't elaborate much on that lecture. His poems are special in the way they depict stark realities creating poetry out of ordinary things and superficial things are avoided unlike most of Hindi poems today. His most famous one is 'Kauravas'. He is a winner of Sahitya Akademi Award in 1984 for his volume of poetry The Keeper of the Dead and the coveted commonwealth poetry prize for Asia in 1987 for his Landscapes. Interestingly he was an I.P.S officer too. He retired from government service in 1995 as chairman of joint intelligence committee.

In the end, not a big success and lack of popular participation but yes the pillars for grander lit. festivals in the coming years have been firmly established by the initiation taken this time. Big congratulations to all involved in bringing a lit. festival to life in college campus for the first time in the history. With a little more push, the event is definitely going to rock in the coming years.

26th October, 2006

2006-10-26T23:03:00.000+05:30

10:52 PM. Just saw India losing the match against WestIndies in champions Trophy and watched Lost-304 before that. While India deserved to lose after dismal performance with the bat, Lost is creating more horizons to spread itself(to more seasons). While TV series are said to be like chewingGums which are sweet in the beginning but then just go on being streched without any taste, Lost is unfolding its sweetness and bitterness with each new episode.Just right now the Godfather soundtrack started playing on my VLC player for the 5th time. I really like this track. It is so tranquil and at the same time so full of adrenaline. Quite contrasting but it is. Well! I pressed play in my VLC player for the 6th time now.Holiday for 3 days now.No class tomorrow aand then weekends.Yuppieee..... Hope I do something useful :).

Nice Quotes

2006-02-15T12:13:00.000+05:30

"Work like you don't need the money
Love like you've never been hurt
Dance like nobody is watching"

"If a job is worth doing,
it's worth doing well"

October Sky

2006-02-09T12:57:00.000+05:30

Russians have launched the Sputnik and this first satellite ever launched will be visible across the America October sky one hour before sunset.Really, watching Sputnik in the sky among stars inspires a many and a few high school boys residing in the town of coalwood, West Virginia, USA decide they are going to make rockets. The youths of the city never go beyond the coal mines of coalwood and here the four youths are dreaming of making rockets. Homer is the main character.The four guys start the work on simple rockets and their first rocket on launching destroys the fence of Homer's house with a blast.But the guys are really serious and a teacher in their school further motivates them when she tells them that they could win a national scholarship by participating with their rocket in a science fair.Homer's father is strictly against them wasting their time and believes that his son's destiny is to work in the mines only like him.Yet his father is very disciplined, hard working and is respected by his colleagues.The guys work hard and indeed win the first prize at the national science fair.
I really liked the dialogue of Homer with his father after he wins the science fair when Homer goes to invite his father to watch his last rocket at coalwood being launched.His father as usual tries to excuse himself by saying he's got work.Homer says(not exactly) : Dad!May be we don't look eye to eye on somethings.May be we don't look eye to eye on anything but we are not different.We are exactly the same.I want to be as hard and as great as you are.Only we see differenly. And my hero is not the great German scientist but you.

The way it's searched

2006-02-08T12:44:00.000+05:30

Just 2 days ago,I was irritated by google when searching for my department topics and was getting mostly irrelevant results & then I had this idea about such a search engine which first specifies a broader field and then searches for the topic requested within that broader field.But now fikar not."kosmix.com" has been launched. So, Google beware ! Two grads from Stanford have decided to overthrow Google's empire by launching their content based search engine rather than a page rank based search engine. The search engine "http://www.kosmix.com" claims to be a search engine more fast than Google and also better results in terms of their relevance to the topic being searched.Presently their specific topics are limited to only health,travel and politics and they plan to add more topics in future.But i think it's not going to be an easy task for them.For example only consider engineering field and you will get a plethora of topics under it : Electronics engg. , Computer Sc. engg.,mechanical engg etc..
Wish them all the best..

Guncha koi

2006-02-03T20:15:00.000+05:30

Guncha koi mere naam kar diya
Guncha koi mere naam kar diya
Saaki ne phir se mera jaam bhar diya
Saaki ne phir se mera jaam bhar diya
Guncha koi

Tum jaisa koi nahin is jahaan mein
Tum jaisa koi nahin is jahaan mein
Subah ko teri zulf me shaam kar diya
Saaki ne phir se mera jaam bhar diya
Guncha koi

Mehfil mein baar baar idhar dekha ki ye
Mehfil mein baar baar idhar dekha ki ye
Aankhon ke zazeeron ko mere naam kar diya
Annkhon ke zazeeron ko mere naam kar diya
Saaki ne phir se mera jaam bhar diya
Guncha koi

Hosh bekhabar se hue unke bagair
Hosh bekhabar se hue unke bagair
Hosh bekhabar se hue unke bagair
Wo jo humshe keh naa sake
Dil ne keh diya
Wo jo humse keh naa sake
Dil ne keh diya
Saaki ne phir se mera jaam bhar diya

Guncha koi mere naam kar diya
saaki ne phir se mera jaam bhar diya
saaki ne phir se mera jaam bhar diya

Wonder Years

2005-11-12T22:24:00.000+05:30

Truely wonder years were those.Just watch an episode of "Wonder Years" and you can't resist youself putting in kevin Arnold's place and wandering down the memory lane to your childhood.I like the way it's narrated.The narrator's comments bring the moments live and for a moment connect you to the same type of situations you were at some point of time in your school days.You just can't resist yourself laughing at the awkward situations kevin often gets caught in.His crush on next door girl,his quarrels with his older brother who says him a "butthead", there are all the things you find yourself connecting to your childhood days.Given a chance i would surely like to return to my childhood and devour those sweet days again.

criminal behaviour@genes

2005-11-09T21:31:00.000+05:30

There are lots of talk everyday about relation of a criminal's genes with their criminal behaviour.Well !i suppose that's just one of those many weird talks in genetics.

The mental and intellectual development of any person depends upon the type of environment they are living in. Genes have a role to play in giving particular attributes to body like immunity against diseases, height, complexity, skin color etc. and they also carry properties of their forefathers but it doesn’t mean that the son of a criminal will become a criminal and son of a good person will not become a criminal .It is in fact effect of an aggregate of all the experiences that a person encounters during his life from his birth that give him a particular type of character.

There probably is not any behavior that is criminal across all contexts. Child sacrifice was acceptable in ancient Carthage, but in modern societies infanticide is a repugnant criminal act. In England, during the industrial age, a poor wretch in the city could be put to death for stealing linen scraps from a factory, but a member of the gentry did not face penalties for enclosing commons land. In the modern world there are crimes like banking frauds, investment frauds, which are done by so-called white collar people. So, how can this be explained by genes? One can say that a crime like rape is due to so called criminal genes but what about shoplifting? In fact, “Crime” is rather a cultural concept defined differently around the world; it is not a biological concept.

The truth is that what the press and people keep talking about criminal genes has in fact never been proved and has been often exploited by politicians to meet their diplomatic ends. For example in 1992, the Bush Administration began the Violence Initiative, a program intended to find genetic predispositions toward violence and criminal behavior and eventually to treat these with drugs and other therapy. But this program hasn’t generated any result so far. In the 1970s when studies claimed that the XYY configuration (in which males have two instead of one Y chromosome) contributes to violent behavior: after all, males are more violent, so to be "doubly male" must make one more violent. These modern theories are essentially new approaches to the old game of blaming individuals and not society for crime. Little was known, and perhaps little could ever be known, about the biology of criminal behavior.

The Evening goes darker........

2005-09-05T20:46:00.000+05:30

It was one of those lovely weekends in Pune.It was Sunday that day Ravish had invited Amit and Abhinav(Rancho) to Pune.We'd to decide where to roam around today.After a lenghty discussion and then on dependable advice of neighbour Atul we decided for Singhgardh.None of us knew it was going to be so adventurous that even we could have placed our life in danger!

Well ! Singhgardh is among one of the monumental forts of Shivaji among hills where Pune folks love to hang out.The place is really well maintained and at the top it looks like some medieval city ruled by some king.You have lots of choices to eat,drink and even you can stay at night in a (so called)palace where once Bal Gangadhar Tilak stayed for some months and wrote the great
masterpiece,sorry i don't remember the name of that book.View from the top is goddamn scintillating.No better place to devour natural scenic beauties and fresh air.You can go on trekking to reach the top or there is well furnished road people love to go
biking on.We took a jeep to reach over to the top.We reached the fort around mid-day and had a hell of enjoyment till evening.Finally at around 6:30 we decided to return back.
It was very simple to take a jeep for the return journey.But Ravish suggested let's go trekking on foot not by the well furnished road but by the forest path taken by professional trekkers.But that path is not always well marked!!!!
Rancho and me were against this suggestion and Amit supported the suggestion.Finally we decided to do it the adventurous way in the looming darkness.People had different estimations of how much time it was going to take to reach down.The least time expected was one and a half hour but if everything went fine!!!
In the name of light we had only the torch of NOKIA 2100 possessed by Ravish and there was one litre full water bottle for drinking.So,our journey began and nearly around 8pm we had lost the track.It was complete dark.Only thing that could give an indication of the path was the village light of which we had kept track of every moment.But now we were lost.The path now led to two directions.But at this moment a couple came to our help.Most probably they were professional trekkers.They were lashed with head searchlights.We now kept ourselves behind them.After a while we thought of having a photo session and after the photo session
nobody could see the couple.Shit!!we had to search our path again and that too with a NOKIA 2100 torchlight.We moved forward and saw domestic animals kept in the shades.We were supposedly out of danger zone of hill forest.The real sensation was to arrive now.Suddenly after moving for a while we saw a thick forest in front of us and no one could dare to cover the rest of journey through the thick woods where even moonlight couldn't reach or it could be the last journey courtsey a cheetah or some other wild animal.Now we moved back and started searching for other exits.This was the moment where you could see your aim,the village light
down the hill but after trying out desperately so many ways couldn't find a single way to reach over there.There was a small pagdandi on which we went for a while and later found it was made by a small spring.Then , there was one open field in which we entered and hoped to find some way on the otherside but of no avail.By then everybody among us was more or less sure we would have to spend the night there only and had started to measure pros and cons of choosing that open field as our tavern for the night.Well ! why can't I say that place as tavern.We were to stay there in darkness under the blue sky,overlooking moon in isolation from the whole world.
It really felt spine chilling and sensational that moment working on the ideas as how we're going to spend the night in jungle and possibly in how many ways we could die.
Now there was no way but to again go back to the previous marked point to see if some other way was there.It was nearly 50-55 minutes after which we were overjoiced to find one way which went just besides the thick woods we had previously encountered.We had been so close and yet so miserable to not to identify the right way.
Finally we landed in some village we had no idea of.We were lucky we found one private jeep and got a lift to main road from where we could catch a bus.Rancho and me cursed a lot for this decision.How was this going to be an adventure if we're not alive after it to feel the joy of that
adventure.There could be we four going in the jungle and suddenly the leading man moves his head back to only see no body but a cheetah who is ready to jump on him having already finished rest three.There could be a snake who could bite.One could have fractured his hand or leg if slipped on a rock.We didn't have any first aid box.We had no proper searchlight,
a mobile torch in the name of it.For these type of adventures we should have come prepared like the couple we encountered in the journey.
We had a hell lot of discussion in the bus while returning in the night on the return journey accomplished in the hill.A proper GD.Two groups one for the motion and one against the motion.
It was really a refreshing and memorable trip but i still don't find any wisdom in the idea that was originally put forward by Ravish and Amit .I wouldn't call it an adventure but a spoilt adventure.
Ravish,Rancho and Amit !!! comments from ur side are must...........

Raju and the Legend of Professor P

2005-08-06T18:03:00.000+05:30

**DeDicated to fond memories of All those who couldn't Survive after attending ProfeSSor P's lectures :D**

Once upon a time there lived a fella called Raju who studied in IITKGP.He was a bit lazy but believed in attending classes.He had already sailed through 2.5 years in KGP without a chhaggi and till now had already become acquainted with the IIT system.But as goes the saying "you feel like you have experienced everything but there is always some element of surprise you are sure to encounter",this time he was going to have a different kind of experience.
This was semester number six and people had to take an elective subject.After lengthy consultations with immediate seniors and his own PEACEMAARU depmates he decided to go for ProfeSSor P's subject who was supposed to be one of the all time ultimate ch***** of the department and the good factor being he never gave worse grade than B.So,it was all set in his mind that this subject is over and peacemaaru hours can be increased by bunking the classes and still getting a good grade.But who had known this time something different was going to happen.
The First lecture. ProfeSSor P greets the class with a big smile(it was quite a typical one and he always retained this same type in any kind of situation) and after some formal introductions started to give an overview of the syllabus.The topics seemed to be quite familiar to the chaps,similar to the topics studied(or seen) in an other subject taken in the previous semester but when Professor P started to elaborate the topics one by one everyone had a blank face ,not because topics were tough but it was because ProfeSSor P seemed be seeing everything from an altogether different dimension.Raju was quite sure this dimension wasn't touched by any of ProfeSSor P's contemporaries.
The Second lecture.It was ProfeSSor P in his full form today hitting bouncers here and there.Everyone tried his best to prevent any injury.But how many times a mortal has succeeded in defending without any defence moves prepared in advance.Anyway ProfeSSor P completed writing full black board when suddenly he cried foul with the same typical smile, devoid of any regrets,that he seemed to develop over years torturing unfortunate souls like Raju.Raju had never wasted inkpen worth 4-5 pages this way in his entire life.He had to cut out all the notes made till now when ProfeSSor P told the reason behind the foul.The reason was :"All that I've taught till now is wrong".This quote was going to be famous in the coming months.It is said that after this event no one ever tried to note down anything in his class.Inspite of seemingly peace whispering in the air it was all cruelty and torture being unleashed by Professor P, no souls untouched by them . There could be dead bodies all around in ProfeSSor P's class hadn't been some light entertainment available during the lecture.
There was an Army Major (doing M.Tech) in the same class.He had a never seen before way of asking doubts.There was not a single word on which he didn't raise any doubt.This guy will shout on the top of his voice and ask the doubt as if some war was going on around and he was commanding to his soldiers.Everyone including Raju could see the terror on the face of ProfeSSor P whenever there was a session between Major and Professor P.The rumours were making round that ProfeSSor P was so much frightened by this Major that he had written an application to HOD to go for a sabbatical leave in the same semester.When Raju looks back now he thinks had ProfeSSor P gone for a sabbatical leave in that semester could anything be better than that???

Well!!seasons changed,some good moments came ,some bad moments came and went .But ProfeSSor P never changed.His atrocities continued to increase.In due course of time Raju stopped visiting this class too often.Sometimes he called Raju in his office but see if Raju had attended his every class he could have died.And the future generation would have never ever come to know about the heinous crimes done to poor children by ProfeSSor P.So in the last month or so Raju never went to the class.One of the(Or the only one) merit of ProfeSSor P is that he remembers every chap by his name.So it never became possible to maroo proxy for any friend .
The midsems came and went .Few people were able to derive the meaning from ProfeSSor P's lectures and those few and the one who sat behind them in the exam were able to score and others watched as their grade seemed sure to explore new depths.And Raju was among the others.Finally endsem also arrived and on the eve of the exam Raju was quite sure eve-studying in this subject like other subjects wasn't possible as there were no notes available anywhere in the whole KGP.Even the brighest were wondering about the start and end of syllabus.
In the end it was all as expected and ProfeSSor P awarded Raju a D resulting in the overall worst performance the world had ever seen performing Raju.What would you say about the guy who just missed by 0.01 the opportunity to get stipend without taking the Gate exam??Well now it's said that it has become compulsory for every dual dude to take the GATE exam but what about the deep scars ProfeSSor P left deep inside the brains of all those who attended his lectures??What about those unfortunate souls who are still attending his lectures??
These questions will continue to reverberate in Raju's mind and haunt him all his life asking obstreperously why the hell you ever took ProfeSSor P's subject ????????????????