Mid Exams Blues

Six gone and three more to go. numbers don't count any longer. After a constant hammering that i have received for last four days , nothing really matters. finish off paper as quickly and be back to cool urself in room is what i prefer. Never like to run into bugger who starts discusing all sort of questions, too many of this breed getting nurtured on this campus. Eh not so lucky today after a breezy paper(who said eco is long and tedious, not fared really well thugh)i plan to rush to my room, trying to give those "kaisa hua, me hapless pathetic blah blah blah" kind of people a slip. Things are ok till you end up here, gud oh gr8 not so gud fine a c- won't make your life hell but what about those people who would start discssing oligopoly/monopoly after xms. I HATE THEM.yep someone got hold of me wen i was coming back stealthily even this would pass(however bad it may be)is my philosophy and best one for one night kings like me.

I can't help but falling back on those days of my life(engg days) , ooh every time i promised myself a good sincere study when i saw my marks dwindling at a faster rate than ever inconsistent indian team's fortunes, only to end up doing the same last night study but man was i good at that and yeah that precisely was my undoing.But then i relished my life thoroughly there and hardly nurse any grudges or complaints. loved my college n loved my chums .Only rider was that gyan i had to listen to so intently(faked it always)to my machines teacher in his typical nasal voice"Ruchir, you come fraaam a place 2000 Kms away from warangal, your paaaareents have gr8 expectations (hmm luv u dickens) from u, dan't make em unhappy estudy and more estudy to ensure gud marks" i start losing my patience yes sir, next time sir , paper was crooked blah blah ;n eh did i mention once i stole a march over him . yep got 48,50 and 46 in 3 subjects(mind you out of 50 and not in centum what has been my trend in life), only to suffer at the hands of cruel fate in his subject pathetic 25 all i managed. Now i had this pleasure in flaunting my marks to him and rather sheepishly i managed to mention eh subject is dry and not that well explained. typical ruchirian vengeance hahahaa

Ok now come to denouement of the issue(nah it's not a drama , a personal tragedy on Macbethian lines), i could not celebrate many of my birthdays thanks to timely arrivals of these not so welcome exams, many a cake ramained unfinished and many a candle didn't see the light, balloons were there but with their skin off.yep mates me and my friends suffered from what is known as march fever, outpouring of exams kept us on tenterhooks and refused me to have great fun at birthday parties many a time.Ha if my calculations are good(though not reflected favorably in stats papers where strife has been order of the day), i 'll again end up on wrong side yeah another set of exams may beat my bday celebrations to the post.


Mid exams blues continue to haunt me and i am looking forward to 27, wud surely luv to get cocooned in cool comforts of sweet home...

Fiery Engine runs cold finally....

Flavour of another blog of mine is same murky obituary. Fleeting obituary here as the protagonist here is speed king, who else but MS . unfortunate he may be, but imprisoned F-1 driver Bertrand Gachot inadvertantly blessed F-1 championship and fans like me would be grateful to him all through their life.yeah Gachot being forced to cool down his heels in prison ensured MS sailed into uncharted F-1 waters with the Jordan-Ford team at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix .

MS has always come across as cocksure youth who has little time for niceties. want any evidence?? how about 1997's drivers' championship, yeah the scrambling for crown reached to wire and ultra competitive MS(he always had been one) uncompromisingly crashed into Villeneuve's Williams Renault after Villeneuve attempted to overtake Schumacher, when the German left the door open under braking and made a crooked attempt to quell any challenge Villeneuve could have offered . Schumacher ended up on the gravel and out of the race. Villeneuve's badly damaged Williams eventually finished third in the race, thereby winning the Drivers Championship title that year. Schumacher was disqualified from the World Championship final classification that year, but his results and points were nevertheless kept in the official records.

He had his share of run ins with mika and montoya. But at the end of day one has to say man was a genius and methdical as well. Senna and Prost wrapped in a single human, man was bound to succeed rite?? Imola spoiled the party otherwise who knows we all could have witnessed and relished some tremendous rivalry with MS around how fair that rivalry would have been is anybody's guess. Lauda-Prost,Prost-senna and just think of it Senna-MS a rivalry can't come better than that.

MS made the day for "prancing horse". as a constructor they are always inferior to say renault or williams, but MS has shown them many sunny days all courtesy sheer talent of his n ah wee bit manipulation hardly damaged his cause.Irony it may be but MS's most wonderful sunny days were on rain soaked shimmering tracks (Monaco stands out for me), MS is master on wet tracks guess he was called Regenmeister (rain master) for being so.

Wid most no. of championship titles MS certainly commands a domineering place in F-1 world. He still evokes strong reactions from F-1 aficionados. Most of em love him and some hate him. i am not an F1 freak but sensible enough not to ignore speed king MS. With the championship race again predicted to go full stretch , Alonso and MS are the men. Spa is around(i guess MS assured Jordon boss of his vast experience at Spa and that tilted scales in his favor MS never knew Spa well, F1 freaks can vouch 4for that).

Keep it up MS. show the spaniard your sheer talent , your fans won't mind that being done with subtle hint of manipulation(some may call it crookedness, it's all tactical brilliance mate never whine), at the end of the day you should be seen on podium in red gladiatorian jacket and Champagne won't be sans fizz, that's a promise your fans can keep...

Not an obituary on Babu Moshai

They say superstars don't share that screen chemistry. But i saw them sharing it beautifully in Anand. Yeah Amitabh and Rajesh Khanna were bete noirs but they complemented like magic in this age defying movie. Anand was my introduction to beautiful world of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. My dad made me watch this movie, like any other young man of my time i am bred on lot of SRKs, Aamirs and generous sprinkling of Pacinos, Redfords and Carrys. But the original babu moshai (Legend goes Raj Kapoor has given him this wonderful title, which was tagged with Amitabh's character in Anand). The typical middle class stories with great Indian ethos always there to be witnessed, Da has carved his niche in much maligned Indian Film industry. a film industry which has often been blamed for churning out run of mills day in day out.
da was an exception, Chupke-Chupke,Abhiman, Golmaal, Guddi,Mili, you name it and there is Da ready to encompass all feelings in his movie. Bacchan couple is extermely talented , no doubt about that but da was the one who provided them the launching pad.
What i really liked 'bout his movies was the utmost simplicity. his creations were s sans any frills. ladies were still draped in sarees(really any sorry state of affairs?? nah..)let those producers be aware who pass the buck to changing tastes of audiences for any misadventure of theirs.yeah his movies didn't boast of obscene exhibition of wealth, walls looked pretty much the way you expect when you saunter your home .people looked very much real and yeah i don't remember any mogambo, shakaal or tiger pushings self proclaimed heroes to the edge with Moshai calling the shots(lite, camera , action) . amitabh didn't have to play the same card(angry young man) again and again....his movies were for middle class. i am unawre of any ethos or ethics (quite heavy words worn off my mind thanx 2 mr TNS n his POM POM), but if it ever existed in movies, his would be the first to boast of(he would never boast though, modesty turns out to be curse for some)those values as rare as dodo.

May the man rest in peace and yeah let there be a new breed of movie makers who make movies of those rib tickling
humor and subtle pain.. Amen.!!!

Have you heard this hoop of joy...

Yeahhhhhh. so i finally i heave a sigh of relief. After putting undue pressure on my devil's workshop longer than i have done in recent times, it's time to get a breather. A marathon which was 3500 words long, had to be finished(i ran out of gas after 2775, that's altogether a different matter).I felt like a sprinter trapped in a marathoner's body.How the Roman soldier ever delivered the message after covering a seemingly never ending distance of 26 miles 385 yards is something beyond my comprehension..well i couldn't , i stare at few of final printouts of my classmates(being loomy of CR helps sometimes). all upthere at the very end boasting of "3495 words only". me forfeit the race midway though.are they mocking me, i hardly give them a damn.
whoa was it tough? i am nocturnal vulture alright but not intrepid enough to go on at these unearthly hours ,doing what i have been doing for last 3 hours. hmm so i am again there letting go my fingers on my creepy keyboard. finished my POM assignement 10 minutes back and now my fingers refuse to budge. they have tasted blood and may be they'll keep exploring my keybpoard tonight. ha now i believe Newton's first law of motion does exist. My overweening physics teacher wasn't wrong after all. (what made her so haughty(some said hotty) is beyond my comprehension though). Sometimes surrendering your insticts to biology and chemistry makes physics more interesting, my friends used to say and and even i could vouch for that if i took things in proper perspective ..

Ok so i am again writing profile of future manager(for sum one else)and all i end up doing is pouring old wine in new bottle. words change but content is almost the same. It's 5:30 now. i am feeling sleepy now. rolling out my eyes to ensure i finish the task i am entrusted with. I have even pinched myself when i am on verge of innocuous nap in stats class.

I am doing multitasking rite now. heady cocktail has to be prepared afterall.
POM writing(self less service???? n me i'll extract my pound of flesh sum day hahhahah), orkuttin, yahoo messenger and blogging , now that's true multitasking. listening to "Come as you are", Nirvana can't be achieved in this camp called IIFT though..

Time to hit the sack.. tomorrow will be another strife ravaged day. what to do?
catching on some sleep now to fight for another day.....

Vande Mataram Slams a Ton

So today we are celebrating centenary of the immortal song. Song was a part of Anandmatha a creation by Bankim Chandra and soon became a rage among all those people who felt they had this irrestible force to move mountains(read throw out the colonialism).Vande Mataram" was the national cry for freedom from British oppression during the freedom movement. Abhorrance shown to the song (by britishers) was no way surprising, I stiil remember those days when a toddler me somehow used to venture out to those places where they used to sing Vande mataram in evening hours and unwillingly i used to trudge along and sing it.

Song is not bereft of emotions but can't claim being sans controversies as well.
While Vande Mataram was treated as the national anthem of India for long, ultimately Jana Gana Mana, was chosen as the national anthem of independent India. The song was rejected on the grounds that Muslims felt offended by its depiction of the nation as "Ma Durga"—a Hindu goddess— thus equating the nation with the Hindu conception of shakti, divine feminine dynamic force; and by its origin as part of Anandamatha, a novel they felt had an anti-Muslim message .Indian National congress discussed at length the status of the song. It was pointed out then that though the first two stanzas began with an unexceptionable evocation of the beauty of the motherland, in later stanzas there are refences where the motherland is likened to godess Durga. Therefore, the Congress decided to adopt only the first two stanzas as the national song.


But then something dawned facilitated by truly majestic indian ARR(AR Rahman.. i am biased in his favor and no qualms in accepting that). The man crooned "Maan Tujhe Salaam" , which redefined the whole patriotism mantra n really rocked . For my generation "Maan Tujhe Salaam" became the true vande mataram..

The fact that Vande Mataram is still popular today can be attested to by the fact that it was recently voted by listeners as the second most requested song by the BBC's World Service radio.

Time to render it once more...(courtesy Wikipedia)

सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम्
सस्य श्यामलां मातरंम् .
शुभ्र ज्योत्सनाम् पुलकित यामिनीम्
फुल्ल कुसुमित द्रुमदलशोभिनीम्,
सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीम् .
सुखदां वरदां मातरम् ॥

सप्त कोटि कन्ठ कलकल निनाद कराले
द्विसप्त कोटि भुजैर्ध्रत खरकरवाले
के बोले मा तुमी अबले
बहुबल धारिणीम् नमामि तारिणीम्
रिपुदलवारिणीम् मातरम् ॥

तुमि विद्या तुमि धर्म, तुमि ह्रदि तुमि मर्म
त्वं हि प्राणाः शरीरे
बाहुते तुमि मा शक्ति,
हृदये तुमि मा भक्ति,
तोमारै प्रतिमा गडि मन्दिरे-मन्दिरे ॥

त्वं हि दुर्गा दशप्रहरणधारिणी
कमला कमलदल विहारिणी
वाणी विद्यादायिनी, नमामि त्वाम्
नमामि कमलां अमलां अतुलाम्
सुजलां सुफलां मातरम् ॥

श्यामलां सरलां सुस्मितां भूषिताम्
धरणीं भरणीं मातरम् ॥

Grand Old man hangs up his boots ....

Smouldering charishma from Las Vegas has been finally extinguished quite clinically,(Andre Agassi for those not prospered in Tennis Air).The man with impeccable return who made my favorite pistol pete look even more beautiful at tennis greens(Wimbledon really stood out) and complemented the tennis flame(and everyone else's favorite) by going down the aisles with her, has finally called it a day.When Agassi caught i my attention , i guess it was 1992 french open final , pitted against Jim Courier in a nerve wrecking 5 setter, where JC finally made merry n kissed the trophy(which is yearned by likes of samparas and Fedo with a pinch of agony). I remember AA's flowing locks of hair and eye catching dangling earrings(i was smarting under beautiful earrings then, what else a 10 year would do when Henery Blofeld wud show you gorgeous damsels at sharjah n their equally splendid ear rings).So that cheeky grin lost that day , but soon agassi was in final of Wimbledon where he conquered temperamental Ivanesevic..
By now he was a household name.... few summers, few shaved heads and a tumultous marriage (brooke shields ...) later man was changed.


That rivalry between Pete and Andre was shortlived but to me that was tennis at its imperial best. one serve n volley master , the other who could return all cannon balls with equal ferocity.They soon made me a nocturnal animal(us open) n .sumtimes lark as well(action shifts to flinders park, Melbourne). Tennis lovers would vouch for that n with a slight contorted face would come to agree Nadal and Fedo you still have way to go...

And then after resurrecting a career which was in doldrums after spiltting with haughy Shields, man did what let him won many loyalties, exchanging wedding vows with tennis queen Steffi.

Pete retired , likes of Couriers and Stichs were dumped aside, but AA continued as if his life depended on it. GOM of tennis spent all his blood and tears on a tennis court and still gave his younger one a run for their money.Finally the man feels steffi, jaden n lil girl(don't remember the name though) need lion's share of his time.

AA conquered red clay and royal greens(French and Wimbledon). has in fact won all 4 slams. None 2 do so since Laver.Samaras bit clay many a time(trend continues with dear Fedo) n likes of Lendl and Wilander kept grazing grass...

Have a great life ahead Andre, you weren't the best, not the most nimble footed , didn't boast of artistry la Fed, still you made many days for tennis fans and that Wimbledon would still etched for long in mind where you ended being conquered but that was the MATCH.... Showman departs ....... ladies n gentlemen "SHOW MUST GO ON"

I Want My Garbo Back ......

Celebrity Celebrity everywhere but not a single one worth a peep......
Times are changing and so are dear celebrities. You name it and there they are .
Chasing all n sundry. that charm has long vanished.... SRK ooh how i wish i could see a little less of you, Big B , you would have been bigger if my eyes saw less of you.

i love that aura to be associated with those personalities whose lives are always there to discuss.Deprivation increases temptation you know. May be time has changed and my adored ones cant' do without being media savvy, being P3P helps for some.

In such times when you are hounded with all these endorsements and these flimsy personalities, Here comes she as a whiff of fresh air. Ms Suchitra Sen you wowed one and all with some phenomenal acting prowess(Remember Aandhi, movie i saw couple of years back n till then i believed no one can upstage sanjeev kumar, well she did).
Ethereal beauty she was and coupled with that powerhouse performances she was meant to rule. Reclusive lady preferred otherwise and it let her fans scream for even more. a true Garbo of indian cinema. fly on wall told me (now it's official) she is to be awarded Dada saheb Phalke award the ultimate tribute to an Indian movie personality.she has to accept it from APJ.will she won't she , speculations are rife.
Lady has gone into seclusion and probability is small of her attending the ceemony(will prof chawla throw some light(my stats prof), probability eh??). Ney won't justify her , but when all celbrities are invading your space, tell me how refreshing it is to see a celeb of differnet flavour. You may be egoist, insecure you were, yeh u suffered from those inferiority complexes but Dear Greta i miss you in this mad world of screaming celebs..

One 4 Saikat and his bhreed

Yeah topic is misnomer.To be honest this is not a blog courtesy mr. banarjee. I had this idea long before i came to IIFT. I felt it's high time i fantasized a bit. Marketing lectures just gave me that excuse, so here comes what to many may appear a juvenile thought,wild imagination,eh you may say so.
This one is about dream merchants who have made our life so colorful,remember that "Dream Merchants" on Zee TV, our guide to world class advertising. So a couch potato you ,are glued to your idiot box , expecting the show to reach climax and guess what happens. Ever chortling anchor comes on screen and blurts out "Hey stay glued we'll be right back" How do you feel then. So taking that petite black beauty in hand(haa haa yeah i mean remote control), you are back to surfing spree and yeah couple of expletives may be heard as well. nah not me, i am an ad freak, loved them from the very time i started appreciating TV and its stupid programs. to be frank, be it matches or shows they all are well sandwitched with those wonderful ads. Those ads which try to sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo? cozy cadilacs, sultry lasses and big mansions all brought straight to your drawing room courtesy much maligned commercials. so be it liril zing or pretty different maggy tomato ketchup(as proclaimed by javed jaffery u know him ah yeah the one of 'xactly' fame)ads have caught imagination in a way no one ever could have.

So Kapil may be a thing of past , but his toothy grin claiming "pamolive da jawab nahi" still rings somewhere. Eternal beauty she is and she still warrants our attention but then so does her Crowning Glory ad(yeah Ms Kapadia ,my generation never got enough of you as an actor, but that ol' ad recreates the aura that u had). well these are the old ones and i never saw 'em live on my ol' TV set. saw 'em this summer courtesy one of my friends, an ad freak , i must confess.

ok let me talk of some ads which redefined my era or ads which i can still recall.
Remember that Ericsson ad, Amar Talwar ogling a gorgeous lady and taken for a ride with that wonder of a mobile phone. "One black coffee please" a genuine request from much sought after lady and Talwar's world comes crashing down, poor fella but that bewildering face helped ericsson a lot .

There are many more ads which create the magic, what 'bout ol' Philips Ad(Boy pretending to woo girl with his singing prowess with stereo on and his accomplice spoiling the show). Lalitajee and her pragmatic approach. Cadbury and that cheeky Sehwagish six (poor girl has her heart in mouth before she breaks into zig). List is long and countless. Yep they never let me go bonkers over their product. Yeah as a child i continued gulping that gems ki goli rather than pestering for Dairy Milk.
But then they used to make my day, specially when I sat silently trying to overcome those late evening blues with India being again hounded on a friday in an alien place known as Sharjah.

Captain courageous to rescue pommies

Soccer is a team game and we have been told nth times ---leave strategy to coach damn it and skipper is meant to sweat it out in the middle along with 10 of his brethrens (with 10 sisters if you are Birgit Prinz ). ooh you need a pekerman to spoil the game and sorin just haplessely finds Klose scoring one of those dreaded header past the goal(Argentina lost it out in 79th minute, and pekerman couldn't name another dog of his , germany. he has 3 dogs named qatar , argentina and malaysia as he coached 3 argentinine sides to podium in 3 youth world cups.).
for that matter Becky can do nothing but shed tears and onus is on sweedish coach, Ericsson to come up with unconquerable strategy.
I am sorry i still don't buy this idea. I had the same argument going in an earlier blog of mine, hunt for a nanny for men in blue and i still vouch for it. if you don't have a motivational skipper you are doomed. Coaches can gesticulate and pretty wildly too but all in vain if that man proudly flaunting armband doesn't lead the pack. Juergen Klinsmann was adored all the way , but remember Ballack wasn't a mute spectator.

I was a happy soul when i knew paper tigers(pommies) have gone for a change in captain and coach. who the captain is? yeah John Terry it is. Becky was not the one cut out for the job. He can still bend and he can still juggle around, but he can't motivate and push youngters to go for the kill. Terry , yeah he can.
I have seen Terry captaining Chelsea and quite efficiently too. oh yeah i envy Chelsea , yeah i love to hate them as my favs ManU are never seen to be in hunt.
Chelsea is very systemetic , sometimes agonisingly systemetic and they kill the competition with deftness of a surgeon, where is the individual brilliance mate i howl, but at the end of day winners are revered. and winner they are. Mourinho and Terry together have coverted hopeless ones into bunch of invincible ones.

I never believed defenders could be excellent skipper material , but Terry has proved it otherwise. ok Kaiser was also more of a defender too. JT is a great CB and i can remember his shirt no. being 26 as he wanted to be one better than chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola ( who wore no. 25). pretty opposite to shirt no. 23 funda of basketball legend MJ(Jordan). Legend has his no. was 23 as he believed he was half as good as his bro wearing no. 45. 2 much gyan , hey again i end up on other side of road. Terry has earned a reputation as a tough, committed, no-nonsense defender and an excellent leader on the pitch. In addition, he offers an attacking threat at set-pieces pretty much la carlos only a lot more regularly and without compromising on defence.

Way to go JT, i would love to see you winning laurels for poms and eh i hope paper tigers start delivering a lil more often. wen u have team of high quality players Gerrard, Frank Lamapard and Rooney 2 name few, not mentioning Coles and owens is a sin big enuough, n still not reaching semis of a world cup for last 16 years leave me flabbergasted. Ah should i mention i yearn for them being pitted against their bete noire(fawkland rivals), no match comes as big as Eng-Arg, and i have my own biases. I won't mind Terry carrying the day for poms , skippers are expected to carry em any way and Terry have shoulders broad enough to carry his nation's hopes .
JT do it for poms , come Jo'berg 2010, and your holding WC trophy aloft would quite be a picture. Wembley 1966 has long been forgotten , give an englishman a moment to savour.

Pouring myself out on italian delicacies

So finally,i settled in Delhi. I am not a typical in your face person , i take my own time in getting in groove and making friends. but finally i have made my peace with brash city Delhi, everyone told me so, have yet to find it brash though. so time to let few glass clink to relish and maintain new connections. Circa 7 PM, August 14, i am ready to let my guards down(game 4 a drink or two). my all roomies/loomies(i hate this loomy word reminds me of three up there livin in a lunatic assylum,(true lunatics are my roomies though). lunar is quite different from loos though). again veering off the topic. ok so we all(sid,vinit,shashank,vinod, gandhiji and me, ah ayush was also around)settled 4 a downtown pub in an upmarket place(haze at priya).
Place is nowhhere close to purple haze, bunker, LOR, etc (pubs at b'lore where i learnt this reverential art of drinking). Never mind happy hours are on and we are determined to encash on it. orders are made, no peter around, i settle 4 paul(signature in this case). turns out to be a nasty drink(last gulping of signature had culminated in elimination of my favs argentina from the world cup hell with klose's head and pekerman's mind, ensuing hangover let me overcome the grief), but ppl around me r relishing it somehow. i can't stand it anymore i 'll have couple of them more. and there she comes ,a lady from my class. she joins us in drinking orgy with a friend in tow.
ooh i told you signature is not my cup of tea. pub wallahs(it's a bar i must say) are playing some boring blues, i yell out "change the music yaar". what are they playing 2 my ears it sounds like sinatra , god save me i want metal/gruge/psychedellic.
ok i bore the lady a bit with my itsy bitsy trivial knowledge about the song she keeps crooning(ha she doesn't know the history of song, never mind she croons it quite well ,whole insti wud vouch 4 that). she reminds me of SB(nah not sonali bendre 4 chriss sake). SB was one of wonderful singers at my engg. college. oh i am still playing on periphery. ah here comes the third drink. i gallop it and get into withdrawn mode.

Time : 9:00 PM
ok we leave Haze and i find world quite hazy. well that figure 3 drinks was quite an offical one, while rest of em were socializing , chatting , i gave these formalities a slip and guzzled much more. friends decide-- Time to eat. ah what a great idea, i wanna go home i try to cajole em. they remain unimpressed. less go 2 hut have fleeting bites of pizza. oh i am dragged along. I feel satiated, no delicacy for me i announce. have this sid says. a #$##%$%% pizza , eh my god i have reservations for italians(Cannavaro's lifting world cup may have added to that aversion even more).
i abhor italians i scream(perhaps in my head, no one hears me). i start whimpering and ah pour myself out on plat. ook eek eeich my friends howl , i shuttle between loo and table and keep pouring here there and every where. a sardar kido is casualty, he slips over my generous offerings and screeches along (quite a distance).
I have never done that in my life, i start whimpering, baby every one has it 4 the first time friends console. hey gimme a break, dispatch me 2 hostel, i dont wanna be
butt of jokes.
Time 10:15 PM
i am brought to hostel(do i know).a lil bit more of those pre production morning tendencies (i am quite outgoing by now and keep pouring myself out).. It's high time i hit the sack. tomorrow is 15th august.


Moral: never go 4 those sasta items n please never play 2 gallery u damn fool.
i have learnt my lessons, come whatever i won't touch daaru glass on fresher day, i don't wanna make a spectacle of myself. i'll let my hair down(of whatever left on my crown) on dance floor and will act as a perfect gourmet. prasoon do you have straws, you see i don't want to touch glass .. period..........

Bangalore will be missed

They say all good things must come to an end and so my Bangalore sojourn comes to a sudden halt.
I hate formality and I am determined I won’t let that banal form ruin me and my friends.Still when you are about to leave, a lot is reeled off in front of you.
I remember cribbing a lot when I had to take that morning ordeal (that of going to office by a bus plying on patience challenging Hosur road).
Traffic was never meant to move; at best it used to crawl and hapless me (hot minded me) could do nothing but keep cursing garden city.
“How good was my Hyderabad” I always used to whine. “Remember those broad roads, those good souls. And see these people they are determined to paint their city black, is black the new red? What kind of culture it is, where you can’t respect others and let them live peacefully” I would rattle off at the slightest hint.
Yes first few days at IT Hub were miserable. I did not like the place nor did I like my job. Most of my teammates were wonderful and that certainly helped in easing a wee bit. But I abhorred the work, not that I was lazy but it all seemed alien to me, looked like we were unsuccessfully trying to build castles in the thin air.
It was good to see few friends of college being here in Bangalore and that too at my esteemed company. So I floundered for a while, struggled a lot, but finally I started doing what all so called geeks do , do a wee bit coding and take a long coffee break. Made new friends at newer place. Somehow started falling in love with this place and its residents. Move over Hyderabad, Bangalore rules over me, I started blurting soon.
And it was then I followed Dickens (Nah nothing to worry just wrote a creepy blog ‘bout tale of two cities).
As they life always turns full circle, some of my friends migrated to Hyderabad and there was slight temptation for me to do so as well.
But call it lack of opportunities; call it fate I stuck to buzzing Bangalore.
By now I am so well adapted to Bangalore and its much pooh poohed traffic, that now I am one of those few souls who really won’t mind a congested Hosur road.
It was Hosur Road which let me fall in love with creations of Mistries, Kunderas and Rushdies .Bus became new library for me, would see my co passengers dozing off or cursing traffic while I tried getting few more pages of another one by another master. And yeah there is something about company bus, variety is missed here.
All faces look equally harried, they all look eerily similar, hence I was never distracted, and did I ever say I loved observing people, but with variety being serious casualty I resorted to reading books.
Hmm again veering off the track. They say you know the worth of a thing when you are about to part with it and how true it is
I love you Bangalore and there is no diplomacy (all my life close ones have criticized me for it) here.
Where else would I see multitude of people pushing and shoving me even on an escalator, where else can I find a multiplex with record no. of screens still unable to Hand out one ticket to me. Crazy and freaky, ooh, and in lighter vein where else can you ogle without being reprimanded.
I guess my fingers can go on this creepy black key-board and I can never finish.
Dear Bangalore you are just what a life should be strange mix of heady feeling and earth shattering experiences, lot of fun and a lil heartburn .
You have handed out enough friends to me, some sure would continue to be good pals in future and some would wither away as time goes by.
By the end of day, you are just another city where men come and leave and some may say “Remember my good ol’ Bangalore , that city rocked and this creepy new place , well ppl out there were cultured and these creepy people do they ….???“ , cycle continues but a sojourn to a beautiful place comes to an end.

Another One falls prey to reservation

So finally I booked my ticket to say: Mama, I am coming home(ooh i Love Ozzy u know)”. But before mama breaks into a broad smile seeing her dear child in front of
Her, the child could see a faint smile playing on his face. Yeah child was me and smile, quite ironical my seat was not confirmed and I was in RAC.
Ok chap but that never is a reason to smile, right. Now face the fury of Mother Nature in a Non AC second class sleeper and that too waiting to lap up a seat.
What’s so funny about it? Any sensible person would admonish me and ask the same. Well suddenly the whole reservation hoopla seemed so relevant.
How do you feel to be an unreserved passenger in this world reserved for certain people? Yeah I felt the anguish, you would when you anticipate you’re being tossed around being tagged “UNRESERVED”. But still I managed a faint smile, being tossed around in a train is nothing when you know journey is for 36 hours and your agony would come to an end. And who knows you may still manage a seat courtesy some fellow passenger. My anguish is nothing compared to multitude of people who had dared to dream. Remember “I am young, I too have dreams” uttered by Rajeev Gandhi while being a gracious guest at White House.

True I may not be a casualty and thinking of posterity is something too much to ask. Yeah I have a lil sister and I do wish the best for her.
I worry for her and thousands of people stuck in a quagmire. But for God’s sake hunger strikes and suicide attempts are cowardly attempts and tell me whom would it benefit anyway. Strangely media too is ignoring what is turning out to be a burning issue. Media has been reduced to P3 reporters who would write pages about a celebrity dog wandering away and dear o dear celebrity shedding tears for her pyara kutta, coz it would make a chatpata news . People would pop their eyes out to read scandals and gossips. Link ups, break ups, phone calls and MMS have become much more important for media. And why not these stories sell like hot cakes. And now you have people like Rahul Mahajan hogging lime light. Shame on you so called source of restoring public conscience blah blah you media.

But I am an eternal optimist. Young people are good enough to bring back sanity to this mad world called India.
I sincerely hope they would succeed. Let all of us contribute in whatever part we can, and rather than remaining isolated and doing a hunger strike better we indulge in some meaningful talk. Bring ‘em to table and rationalize the matter. Let sanity and wisdom prevail here. World is going to be a better place for you and for me and for everyone else around us. Lobbying is the need of hour, put the pressure back on them, they won’t listen to these hunger strikes and all.

Bollywood's uncalling

I was just going through some of old ranting on my blog. Oops I have never broached tinsel world so far, how I could miss that. Time to give a serious thought to not so serious business. Dreamy world of cine business has nurtured some and destroyed many.
Score of people migrate from different parts of India with those dreams in eyes and nothing else to support them and eke out a life of miseries, They get exploited end up there day on streets and god forbid sometimes they end being casualty of drink and drive rage of so called celebrities. Sad but true. How many SRKs get born who have no godfather in this bitchy world, they are few and far, where fame and money is mirage.Oops I bungled up once again; let the dreary world be kept aside.
Let go of harsh realities, we all love to waltz in a dreamy world, a perfect world where you don’t have any hassles, where you keep cooing into ears of your sweetheart without even knowing of Iraq, Afghanistan or you blink rising- you blink falling sensex..Where you fly into rage the moment you see someone treated in a wrong manner where truth, integrity and honesty still are marks of a true man (read hero). Where you are pint sized and can still floor 7 ruffians twice your size, something would befuddle a certain Mr. Darwin. Where Maa is always teary eyed and gets emotional in no time. Where all of them are still saath saath hain and every one is goody two shoes in a joint family Where girls are as dumb as they come, never questioning their pati parmeshwars’ motives and obey to all whims and wishes of their in laws. Well versed in laws of gyration, they do this art well and rather well in showers installed by producer with a lovely cotton saree draped around(this is done before marriage, how this art is forgotten while taking 7 chakkars of agni maharaj still baffles me).

But then times are changing now in bollywood as well. Old formulae have been kept aside and newer ones are cooked up. People are lapping up serious and conventional issues and daring directors are given opportunities. Still, to this day it remains a place where mediocrity rules. Pretty mediocre actors are made great actors. And decent ones attain demi-god status. An actor’s son is a born actor and bound to be good. He/She is not supposed to live miserably in acting schools of Pune. All he/she needs is a dancing session by Shimak Davar(or whoever he is), fab body(athletic for men ,sexy for ladies , they are for public display afterall) and choco looks. Whoa and you have recipe ready for serving a perfect star, which a hungry/mindless pack of cine goers would gorge on. As I said times are changing and now for every dumbo kereena there is one Tabu and every equally idiotic bobby/sunny is countered by shreyas. There are few saving graces here too. And Amitabh stands tall among debris(literally).Good that they have few good men in show business, truly a bitchy world which still fascinates us.

Learning the intricacies of sport german way

Time to fall back on sports, now time comes to write something about players who made game grander and made me look forward to their jalwa on and off the court.
Oh list is long (should be for a sports freak like me). When I was born, my parents had
bought a wallpaper of star all rounder Ian Botham and when I showed first sign of identifying folks around me, Bothy became one of us . But Bothy though became my first connection to sports action, He wasn’t the one for whom I glued to my Idiot box. First and foremost name that comes to mind is of a German fraulin who made tennis a gorgeous game. One who defeated might Navratilova at Wimbledon and let me swoon over her at tender age of seven, whoa sound unbelievable. She was and till day remains my favorite sports person. She has it all beauty, brains, courage and never say die spirit. One Miss Novotna came to know of her such spirit hard way on a July day at Wimbledon in 1993. Yeah, fraulin is Steffi Graf... A lady who let many hearts go flutter with every move of hers. Her forehand was just awesome, wish she could have been blessed with a wonderful backhand as well say la Henin. And she could have been better at red courts of Paris where she lost to Sanchez quite many times. She could not beat Margret Court’s record haul of 23 major singles and that is something I bet must rankle her even today.
1988 was her dream year, I had not switched to tennis big time then and she had completed a golden slam (4 majors and to cap it off Olympic gold medal in a single year).
In French open she had destroyed Natasha Zareeva 6-0 6-0 in final something which shows at that time she was in her own league. There she was, always tossing ball very high in air as to bring a whiff of rain with it when it kissed back the earth. And poor opponent survived for another split of second (ah ball has to still land at earth) but then diva was just delaying the inevitable for her mere mortal opponents. She mostly handed them a merciful kill at net. No ifs and but she used to waltz at court and put her opponents past their agony quickly. Hmm guess it’s sounding more of an obituary kind of thing , so let’s stop here . Saw her playing against Davenport at hollowed courts of Wimbledon , what eventually turned out to be her last hurrah. God was American on that day, lady was vanquished by Davenport and I surfed the channels to hear of Indian conquest of Tiger Hill by Indian Jawans. So the day could have been just perfect but Davenport chose otherwise. Tennis would never be same without smiling fraulin.

Books my favorite indulgence

This one on books, my favorite indulgence. I can’t deem it my hobby as I feel hobby is not something which is pampered by you. Books on other hand have been always pampered by me. I have given them my time as well as money in ample amount and what have they given me , ah yeah a much needed fun, an escape from harsh reality and an opportunity to indulge myself in a wonderland, Alice could have understood me.
Well they provided a much needed break . Came as a whiff of fresh air in monotonous world. I started with those good old Russian books, with lot of Ivans and Alyona
With Vovas and Anushkas thrown to good measure. Vova was a terrible child who did not like any thing, had a penchant for creating ruckus and complaining to no end.
Russian version of Calvin one may say. Russia disintegrated and Russian books vanished into thin air, I too was growing up and parting with those old books was not that painful.
I now started with some light books, Enid Blyton and famous four captured my heart for a while , then I graduated to sport biography. Sunny Gavaskar remained my favorite author, dad always asked to give Cardus a try. I am glad that I did, though it was after some time. A lot of water has flown under the Ganges by then. Iraq was hounded by Senior Bush, India had tryst with Mandal Commission, Rajeev Gandhi was assassinated
And by then Tendulkar has attained demi god status. But I read Cardus finally and read of Ranji Singhji ,blue eyed boy (blue blooded as well)attired in silk Flannels , his late cuts used to leave Yorkshire dumbfounded . Then maturing (read puberty) process dawned. Started with Sheldons ,sounds ironical maturity and Sheldon, can’t be spoken in same breath, I know that. Left Sheldon aside and gorged on Grishams and Cooks for a while. But then I started what perhaps is read by every teeny bopper today, Ayn Rand and her “The Fountainhead”. Agreed it was revolutionary book which aggressively supported US led philosophy and without naming once mad a veiled attempt to attack Communism.
But so did George Orwell and his was never thin veiled with his sharp biting humor he meant to offend communism where it hurt most , their ideologies and their practices.
Coming back to Rand, her book is exceptional but to tell that individualism is the ultimate path to success and working you way in a group breeds mediocrity is tad too harsh. In a practical world, her theory of living all by your self, swearing by your ideologies and give a damn to those who put your life in misery just doesn’t seem to fit.
I don’t see and Roark and Dominique around who can lead lives all of their own without getting slightly influenced by whatever goes around. Ended up many night arguing over characters of Fountainhead, and it was fun to argue with your friend over Roarks, Toohys and Dominiques and finally come to conclusion that we can continue this argument for another day. In between I read DH Lawrence, His Sons and Lovers was interesting. The
Story of miner moved me, the protagonist was a bit grumpy sometimes , didn’t handle his relationships very well, was a kind of weird person, but still I loved him. Had a big debate with a lady on orkut few days back and she had all her sympathies for the lady love. As I said curt he may sound, but his was a character you are force to have empathy for. Back to Orwell, 1984 was a classic, a kind of negative utopia where he has gauged it correctly how in future thoughts would be influenced and controlled. Government’s half of problems would be solved if it can influence people’s feelings and thoughts.
Orwell’s stance has always been against communist ideologies and this age defying book was published way back in 1948. And yeah people generally switch to Orwell with wonderfully crafted book Animal Farm, a book which stamped his genius and wit in world of literature. A good book to get hooked to Orwell and then serious ones follow the suit. Then there is his compilation of essays a good one to get a know how on politico scenario prevailing during his times. And yep how can I forget a certain Mr. Rohinton Mistry someone whose parsi centric stories are quite sentimental and a throwback on good old times. Yeah his stories build up slowly but you tend to get engrosses in it.
How can I forget Family Matters a book “which literally moved me to tears”. I could feel myself in place of Nariman or Yezaad and could feel the pain. Coomy was painted as someone who hurt Mr. Vakeel most, still she to was never an object of despise.
You tend to love such characters and come to understand that no one is evil/saint; it is conditions and prevailing scenarios which bring out a hero or villain out of us.
On a parting note I would say all these authors have given me many sleepless nights , in case of Mistry solace while boarding a crawling bus on Hosur Road.

Sorcerers of World Cup Soccer

World Cup Soccer fever is beginning to catch on. Bleary eyed, I give a cursory glance at newpaper and only pleasant news which peeps out is the buzzing excitement awaiting the unveiling of Mega Show. All those histories and trivia related to WC soccer have surreptitiously managed to reach back pages of my morning newspaper
Oh so when did I see the first WC match , whoa no one would believe that it was at a very tender age when I saw Denmark vs Uruguay match in 1986 world cup.
I did not know soccer at all. Hmm let me recollect oh yyes I was there ‘coz my dear brother(My devil Cousin forced me to watch the match) and he asked me “Kyon rinku kya lagta hai kaun jeetega “ and poor me I did not know ABC of football and here I was asked to predict an outcome. He made the hydra headed looking problem simpler. “DekhDenmark ek goal se aage hai matlab who jeet raha hai, ab bol”. Now it was quite easy, “whoa Danes will snatch it away”, I blabbered . My Bro played along”ah right you seem to be right, since you don’t have much idea of soccer I will settle for Uruguay ok”.He said. “Why not” I jumped for joy. What I did not know that Danes were not equal to Uruguay , so indicated the history. But Danes, the underdogs(who won 1992 Euro Final too as an underdog), shocked Uruguay , they pumped 5 goals and letting only one in and so it was wonderful encouragement to my fledgling soccer following.
Well I remember few rushes of 1990 world cup, Careca,Shilachi, Cannegia, Mattahues ,Linekar , Milla and above all Diego Maradona. Well I am unabashed supported of Argentina and I think there were couple of matches to cherish in Italia 1990.
One was the big one Argentina Vs Italy. Two giants locked in a pulsating battle.
Italy drew first blood Shilachi getting better of Goykoshiva(donno if spelling is correct)
But Cannagia drew level in second half letting the ball squeeze past Walter Zenga who made a world record of remaining unconquered at goal post for longest duration.
Finally it all boiled down to Penalty Shootouts and Goykoshiva did it again, whoa Argentina managed to put it past Italy.Made it to final but lost it to Germans, Andres Breheme ‘s penalty could not be stopped by Goykoshiva and WC was lost.
That referee from Uruguay is still much cursed in Argentine households.
Well Maradona Refused to shake Hands with FIFA President and superhero limped out.
Ah 1994 was a damp squib, Brazilians won but they played pretty unlike Brazilians.
Carlos Parreira Team made it to the top with Dunga proudly holding aloft the much coveted trophy but it hardly enthused a soccer fan like me. Bulgaria was the emerging tem of this WC , shocking Germans en route to world cup semifinal where they were stopped by Baggio’s brace. Italy once again lost the cup courtesy penalty shootouts.
Something which they dubiously repeated four years down the line against France .
Oh Now enough for now the French and their zizzou deserve a separate chapter.
Signing it off for now, promising more on zizzou who did what Platini could not, letting les bleus kiss the WC trophy.

Falling in line fashionably

I was just flipping through an old edition of Outlook which has featured Manish Arora on its cover. Manish who? I thought. I am a man who belongs to old school of thoughts when it comes to follow things as fickle as fashion. Oscar Wilds has said Fashion is so useless that it has to be completely changed every six months , now a days every sixth day. Well blame it on my poor knowledge of prêt designs hogging the limelight. Yeah Manish is a famous designer and he was voted no. 1 designer by esteemed magazine. NIFT graduate Manish is held in high esteem in Indian fashion circles. Manish was followed by Bals and Tahilianies Vallayas and Rathores and a lady named Beri was snubbed for being overrated designer and some one who has scaled new heights all courtesy to her excellent business acumen.
Ooh fashion has become such a huge rage and I asked that blasphemous question Manish Who? I snubbed myself. Manish is well known for his wackiness and catching (read outrageous colors and lines). He designed T shirts with lines such as “Jack n Jill had sex’ and ‘Jab hum jawan honge’. Manish’s clothes have always been termed unwearablre and it was only during this time high powered jury did a kind of volte face.
So guys now time to get laid.(ooh ooh don’t get panicked Get Laid is Manish’s Men’s line)

Demon Of Plagiarism comes to fore

Last few days have seen authors courting controversy as the old demon of plagiarism has again turned its head. First it was Dan Brown whose book ‘DaVinci Code’ once again made headline, this time though reason was a bit unenviable. Readers practically gorged on this thriller and copies were sold like hot cakes.
Then came the rude shock as two authors claimed Brown’s lifting their plot. I am not a great fan of Mr. Brown’s writing style but it seems he does quite research on his subject, so as this plot thickened; I pursued it with much interest. Unlike Brown’s books which have so many twists, this real life plot was shorn of any climax. Brown was reprieved, authors cringed and filmmakers of celebrated novel heaved a sigh of relief.
So finally Tom Hanks can play Langdon and we can watch the movie version of novel and end up arguing with our friends on how movies generally don’t live up to expectations created by celebrated novels.
But teenaged Harvard hopper Kaavya seems to be less fortunate. After making a big killing( a record offer for a teenaged writer 5 lakh dollars for the fledgling writer to be accurate), she made another screaming headline. We felt Plagiarism has been buried but that was not the case. Lady ran into trouble as certain Jennifer(don’t know her surname nor want to know some editor of cosmopolitan) claimed and convinced that Kaavya has lifted many a passage from her book. Yeah, passages were disturbingly similar. So unlike her protagonist Opal poor Kaavya hasn’t got a life, she is embroiled in this ugly controversy at very outset of a budding career . Let’s see how many more such big names are there to crumble and who knows with active readers and hyper active media, soon our dear Austens and Shakespeares may be plagued by doubts of plagiarism.

nocturnal animals glued to tv sets

It had been long since I watched a Live match on TV at odd hours(1:30 to be accurate),just coz an Indian was slugging it out. Have watched a lot of Ronaldos and Federers,giving inherent owls and larks a run for their money. Alas,stopped doing so for Indians. Last time I was intrepid enough to do so was when Indian cricket team was visiting West Indies. Indians lost while chasing a score which was begging to be chased.
Indians truly showcasing glorious uncertainties of cricket refused to budge and succumbed to ignominious defeat. Then came the horrific betting and fixing scandal and I discontinued my nocturnal misadventures. What else could have I done, India meant cricket and cricket meant India (literal take on India meant Indira and Indira meant India ,some chanting by sycophant congressmen.).Chess was never in good books of TV(I sorely missed watching few vanguard moves by Vishy and Rajyavardhan did it all of a sudden on a breezy evening at Athens).So once in a while switched on a TV to see night matches ‘coz wanted to see nimble footed Brazilians and ooh that wizardry of Federer which dumbfounded his opponents . So Sunday night was a wee bit different for me when I glued to TV set to watch fluctuating fortunes of certain Sania Mirza.
Well she started in great style and I felt proud of Hyderabadi.But then she flattered to deceive and went down to the Siberian beauty Miss Maria Saharapova .

Never mind the same, she reeled off some great winners and her cross court shots would envy certain Miss Henin . She is bound to hit back and will continue to rock tennis world.
Well she would continue to give Indian sport freaks some sleepless nights and avid fans like me would hardly nurse a grudge for the same. Way to go Sania….

Here comes my languid elegance to the fore.

I am a lazy person. Inherently lazy. I prefer it calling languid elegance. Guess I was a big fan of Azhar(Until Hansie Cronje broke down and spilled the beans) and his effortless game.
Lazy people aren’t successful generally unless they get everything on platter, but there is something what stands out. Lazy(or languid as I prefer ‘em calling) are generally not too much interested in worldly affairs and most of turmoils have nothing to do with ‘em. Creating furor isn’t their cup of tea or you may say it’ not the sector where they like to chart out. Lazy people won’t budge whatever you do, laziness runs in your genes or so feel. Sorry for unveiling your family traits my lazy brethren, but can’t help it.
I find these fanatics (be it Laden or Bush making a distinction is tough) the real workaholic, seems they are the ones with some real job at hand and worse they have to finish it in a squeezed time frame.
Sorry for deviating from already aah pretty long trudged (u may not agree) path.
Laziness and unrealized talent generally work in tandem (sadly hardly they work).
I find it futile to go on, just to strengthen some brawny points.
Just wanted to reveal something, this one almost took 25 days to write this much.
This lazy man was burdened with some grinding job…
Nice men will inherit the earth, so says the bible. Will they have this languid streak in them is something I would yearn to know. Leisurely pace that I have embraced won’t let me go further, another uncharacteristic denouement to one another subject, I sauntered to broach.