Come Back Chitrangada

Dearest Chitrangada Singh/Chitrangada Randhawa aka Geeta Rao

Keats once said, 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever'. Add to that intelligence, talent and some sophistication, the resulting cocktail can be quite a heady mix. I am writing this letter under the effect of an intoxicant called 'Chitrangada Elixir'.

Let me first confess my personal feelings towards you before I come to the subject of this letter. I am madly in love with you. I don't know how, but you somehow perfectly fit into my idea of my ideal soul mate. Now, its not just your physical appearence which need no words of praise, (they are beyond praise). Somehow I am able to connect to you on a mental level. YOu may be the antithesis of traits that I desire in my lover, but I don't want to hear about them. I want to keep alive forever the image of you as 'the one' made for me.

Your dad may send the entire Indian army against me; I don't care, I can face them. Your husband Jyothi Randhawa may smash me around all the golf courses in the world but I don't care. Just allow me to worship you silently and just know that there is this young boy who loves you like he has loved no one. Thats all i ask.

I don't know from where I have mustered so much courage to so openly express my feelings, but since i have said them out, let me not repent. This will give me the courage to express my love to 'The One' if and when I meet her in my lifetime. That said and done, let me come to your movie(s). I have used the parentheses on purpose. I know that you have acted in 2 movies, Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi and Kal . I'm sorry to say this, but I have watched only HKA. I do not intend to watch Kal for sometime because I am very upset with you. Upset because you have disappeared from the cine scene after Kal. And if the journalists are to be believed, you will not return.

My Goddess, after 23 years of existence on this planet earth, I have finally found the type of films which are story driven and the heroine is also potraying a strong role with absolute dignity. i have also found a heroine who is not afraid to perform unconventional roles. I feel driven to watch your movies in the theatre. You will not believe this, but I felt really hurt and pained when theatres removed HKA, just when I had finished all my submissions and was ready to come over to watch HKA.

Please do not drive such a stake into my heart. If the reasons for your withdrawal are personal, then I will absolutely respect your privacy and decision, but if your decision is because of some disillusionment with the industry, then I request nay insist that you come back and let us have absolute freedom from the likes of Ash (ash is what she is), Rakhi Sawant, Rimi Sen, Kareena kapoor, katrina etc

Please, please, please, come back and provide the balm for a wounded heart. As of now people are comparing you to Smitha Patil, but I know that you have the potential to surpass her.But I personally want to see you establish yourself as Chitrangada, carve out your own niche.

Come back Goddess, your devotee waits for you with tears rolling down his cheeks. Come and wipe them. Make me smile...........

This stanza from the song 'Radio' by The Corrs sums up my state for you:
You are in my head
Swimming forever in my head
Tangled in my dreamsSwimming forever Swimming forever

and to quote from the OST of HKA
Bhaavre se is jahan main Bhaavra ek saath ho
Is sayaani bheed main bas haton mein tera haath ho
Bhaavri si dhun ho koi, bhaavra ek raag ho

I don't know the meaning of bhaavra. But pure love knows no language right my goddess? Lets treat 'bhaavra' as the empty letter blocks in scrabble.

Love
Deepak

"Who cares! The event is over"

The last week has been a wonderful reveletion with regard to cutting edge technology in the fields of power quality and AC motor drives. 20th and 21st December saw the presence of the lovable, good natured Prof.Ned Mohan, the author of the bible for every power electronics student and a foremost innovator in the field of power electronic converters. 26th and 27th December saw the presence of the soft spoken, quiet Prof. F. Rahman who is a leading exponent on AC motor drives.
The workshop on Power Quality was a beauty because Prof. Mohan was ever so eloquent in his explanation of the various converters that are in use, the 'fundas' behind every one of them, and the best part was, he taught as if he were teaching a baby. Even 'elementary' doubts were answered and commented upon in such a way that the questioner felt that he/she was being praised for such a line of reasoning.
The other workshop on drives was literally a climb up Mt. Everest. Infact, the beauty of this workshop can be explained by saying that it was a journey to the centre of the 'DRIVES' earth. Observe this my fellow bloggers, whether you are an Icarus or an outlaw, this workshop was equally challenging.

Ah, before you think that this is going to be 'roses roses all the way and not a thorn in sight', let me assure you that since this is India, such expectations are not allowed. Mobile phones blaring away, constant opening and closing of the door, people entering and exiting, (yours truly included, but out of compulsion not out of will because I was a volunteer) were all part of the show. The attitude of some of the 'top-notchers' among the set of students here was also equally disgusting.
1. The feeling that they were beyond all work that required them to 'get their hands dirty', so to use the term. What I mean is, they were there to share credit, but when such work arose where there was some potential to draw flak, these luminaries were never to be seen, or at best, they used to 'delegate' responsibility.
2. Criticising (not constructively) some of the presentations.
3. Washing their hands off any further responsibilities once the participants had registered and had paid their fee. Specially irritating was the final comment that I heard today from the mouths of these luinaries, when some participants asked for a separate receipt for their accomodation charges, "Chalta hai yaar, ab to nahin hoga. Dekhte hain"...

My take on the issue is that these big headed luminaries exhibit such behaviour because they have a few publications or patents in their name. They are more concerned about getting things off to a start and not completing it thoroughly (unless its their own work); whereas it is ironically many fellas like me (whose research is being roasted in the fires of Mordor who need the supporting shoulders of time) who take up the job of a finisher, a la Michael Bevan. And everyone knows where Bevan ended up finally.

Ultimately I refuse to see the negative side of things. My reseach may go down the drain, I may fail my M.Tech, but I will be a good human being, a good team-man. As Varakavi Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre, (popularly known by his pen name Ambikatanayadatta) said in one of his poems "Yenadaru Sariye, Modalu Manava Nagu" (trans: Be what you wanna be, but be a human first)...............................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................................
FUCK SELF-SERVING SOCIALLY INSENSITIVE RESEARCH
......................................................................................................................................

'Quo Vadis' Indian sports?

Quo Vadis is a Latin phrase and translates as "Whither goes thou?". A more apt phrase cannot be found to summarise the state every Indian sport with the exception of chess and kabbadi finds itself. Whats even more appaling is that the problems that plague these sports are due to the petty politics played by the administrators. Nothing else. The players are as committed as anyone else would be in their respective fields. Let me summarise a few points:

Cricket:
Though the team is doing well, we can trust the five monkeys aka the selectors to torpedo a steady ship. Yes, I am talking about the exclusion of Sourav Ganguly. He has his shortcomings, but he accepted punishment with humility and proved his worth in the domestic circuit. Selection followed naturally and he was told that performance alone would count. Accepting the challenge, he played two gritty innings in the Delhi test which were vital in the context of the game. Imagine the scenario if he had got out cheaply. One, of course he would have lost his place. But secondly India would have collapsed like a pack of cards. Will the selectors care to explain their action whose foolishness was compounded by the fact that ganguly's replacement is an opener named Wasim Jaffer who ideally should have replaced Gautam Gambhir. Strange are the ways of the five monkeys!!!!

Hockey:
A true prince to pauper story. Countries used to fear us and envy the rich pool of talent that we had (and have even now). But again trust the administrators to make silly errors in selection, constant chopping and changing, no extended run being given to a coach....

Football:
The fact that we struggle to win the South Asian title should convey the status of the 'beautiful game' in our country. no schemes are undertaken to popularise the game and even in case it is being played, active discouragement is given. My own school is an example: we were prevented from playing footer cos the PT teachers were scared that we would hurt the girls.......beat that reason!!!!!!!!!!!!! (please don't read any male chauvinism in this statement. i am just stating the true ground realities sometime arnd 1997-1998 where my school girls played nothing other than throwball, badminton and tennikoit. )

The lesser said about the other sports the better. Its only due to the perseverance of a few sportspersons that we get flashes of recognition in these sports. Of course there is potential in fields like tennis, golf, chess...But what is to be noted is that these are sports which rely on the individual more than anything else. The real challenge is to perform in team sports. Is India in a position to give a fitting reply to the question "Quo vadis?" or will the reply be "Que Sera Sera" (whatever will be; will be).......

Lunch, courtesy Murphy

Phew!! What a day!! After a backbreaking morning of transformer testing, I went to my guide to ask for a few suggestions regarding my project. What followed there was a quickfire La Mastermind round with accusations levelled about my 'non working' and firm denials from my side to the same. Why don't these profs ever learn to trust students!!! "What an irony!!An educational institute is for students, but in India the students are treated as bonded labourers.."

As if to compensate for my 'not-working', I was sent on a few errands to the department office which was duly and punctually shut down for lunch. Along came another prof, who had a look at the closed doors and said, "Arre Bhai, pakistan ki zaroorat hi nahin hai, ham khud apne aap ko haralenge"...Good comment prof, but your time of reckoning will come someday....

The errands ensured that i was left with 5 minutes to sprint back to the 'warm' environs of my mess for lunch. The challenge was duly undertaken and with about 3 minutes left I was behind my hostel. Now, the devil himself came bafore me and laid out 2 paths.

1. Rush headlong to the hostel take the risk of missing lunch.

2. Buy a patty at the local store and have a backup in case i missed lunch.

Not wanting to bite the bullet, i chose option 2 and rushed to the hostel. Wonder of wonders, hot steaming puris and chole were waiting for me...

This just made me wonder, "Is Murphy's Law true?"...If I had not bought the patty would i have got luch at the mess? I don't think so...Do You?

Life is a Power System

Today, I had one of the most gruelling lab sessions ever in my life. Some of you might say, "Whats the problem dude? Labs, classes are all part of a student's life." What if I were to tell you that the semester ended a few days back? I know, you would consider me crazy.

Whatever you may feel, this blog is not about what should be happening in my life or what i want. This is about how one has to fight for every inch in life (in my case for every deci-Hertz). Let me explain for the uninitiated. I had to perform what is known as an Open Circuit Test on a transformer by varying the frequency in steps of 0.1 Hz over a 4 Hz range. "Whats in that?", you might ask. Well, try doing that on an Indian grid. You will face a multitude of problems

1. The grid itself is coming out of what can be best termed as a joke. So, to expect a frequency variation like that of a dead person's ECG is tantamount to expecting the impossible.

2. The frequency variation is done by using an AC Commutator motor, which obviously obeys Newton's 1st Law of Motion and also tends to ever so slowly vary its speed.

3. The instruments themselves.....

Although it was a struggle to get those darned 40 values, it was great fun, running from the motor to the meter; from the analyser called Chroma (No, you come nowhere near my comp whom I call 'Laetitia') to the autotransformer.....Also managed to coin in a few analogies...

1. Frequency never stays steady at one value. It ever so subtly changes. So is the case with life. The dynamism is what makes it challenging just as frequency control is easily the most challenging problem in power system control.

2. Sometimes, the frequency change can be good as i discovered. The drift sometimes used to get me the next required value which I most definitely would have struggled to obtain with the gear arrangement that was present. So, my dear readers, lesson number two is losing control of life is sometimes a good thing. Dont be like Sarah of Sweet November who cannot bear losing control.

3. Mechanical control can be much better than electronic control in some ways. Similarly, if u have someone to hug/kiss, please do that. Don't rely on the phone/email to exchange ur love. (of course, if its feasible only)

4. 'Plain Jane' power analysers have better accuracy than sexy, sleek analysers. So, my last message is, please don't go by extravagance. Sometimes the plain janes or jacks are the ones made for you. As one of my profs said, "Unity power factor need not be the best power factor. The best power factor is one which is 'economical' to both the utility and the cosumer"....Make suitable changes and apply to your lives.

i'll always remember the chill of november.....

November has always held a special place in life for me. For reasons that range across various facets like personal, literary, academic, festive.the personal cause of joy got over on the 15th..its now the turn of the literary facet to get its share of attention. picked up a book which is slightly off track from the usual stuff that i read.
"Writing on the wall: India Checkmates America 2017"
General S Padmanabhan PVSM, AVSM, VSM (retd)
Former Chief of the Army Staff (India)

so screamed the cover at the IIT Delhi library. let me deviate a little at this junctureand assert that the KREC library is infinitely better that the IIT Delhi library in terms of the sheer volume of the collection of books, rarity of the collection and also the number of copies of a book. the only place where the IITD library can score over is the air conditioning facility.

back to the book: wildly optimistic. even if u were to take a zillion grams of cocaine+marijuana+LSD+ some of the other stuff that college rock bands consume...(iodex, getting bitten by some variety of snake), such thinking is too wild. imagine a situation where the following happen:
1) indian political parties forget all their diferences and form a national government. no more campaigning is done in the name of caste/creed/religion..instead, issues are debated and surprisingly action is taken on all fronts.
2) indian political foresight and sagacity reaches out to the far corners of the world.
3) india actually starts attacking PoK for every terrorist attack on indian soil....
4) 100% productive research being carried out by the combined DRDO+IISc+IIT front...massive technological advances have been made....india develops its own missile defence shield etc
5) indian intelligence agencies have an eye, ear, nose and lots of skin in various coutries. hell yeah, even the conferences that the Pak prez has with his top generals come down to India...
6) all internal conflicts in the north east and the maoist belt are resolved...
7) Indian Percapita income rises to $1000......(i guess it should be per month...any economics student out there who can correct me if i am wrong?)

it was evident that some other person had read this book and had left the following comment on the front page..."Utter bilge! The true picture of the Indian army and Indian generals emerges in 'Uniformly Crazy (355.312 (lib index number)) resting on this shelf"

My review will not be so caustic. All that I have to say is that incredulous as the book may be, it gives one a chance to strut with a chest puffed with pride atleast during the time one is reading the book...

November has also seen a change in my music taste. Previously I used to label techno music sarcastically as 'takchik takchik' music...donno why but i have gravitated a little after istening to the braveheart techno remix..

i plan to celebrate the end of november with a screening of' sweet november' on the 30th..it can't get better than this..me, charlize theron and keanu reeves...

lemme finish this post with a few out-of-the-ordinary quotes that i have heard

1) 'a devout parsi and "virtual dictator" of bombay, sir pherozeshah mehta was a man commited to protect his "spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch"....'The Hindu, November 21st 2005
2) 'I am very happy that you have all turned up here though there are no attractions like naked women", XYZ company executive during a PPT (pre placement talk)
3) "when i woke up in the morning i felt that was hand was missing..i was like 'wheres my hand?'", Murali Krishnan (former classmate) after sleeping on his hand for a long time and finding that it had gone numb...

'Czech'mate

Finally, it has happened. The Czech Republic has qualified for the Soccer World Cup finals to be held in Germany next year. Action starts June 9th. I would have finished my course and if things go well, should get a month's break before joining work which would prove heavenly as the world cup ends on July 9th.
back to the Czechs. After the fireworks in Euro 2004 where bloody Greek luck robbed them of a sure title, they struggled a bit in the WC qualifiers and had to take part in the play offs against Norway whom they beat by the identical margin of 1-0 at Oslo and Prague.
The well oiled machine Czech mean machine is sure to mow down a lot many teams. The mere presence of 'Ostrilava's Maradona' Milan Baros, the giant Jan Koller, the talisman Pavel Nedved, the crafty Vladimir Smicer, the energetic and inspirational Marek Heinz, Tomas Rosicky should cause a shiver or two to go down the spine of the other teams in the fray.
Go on boys, make this Indian supporter proud.

Our names and living with them

There is a story about a young brahmachari in an ashram who found his name very disgusting and asked his guru to change it. His guru told him to take a tour of the world and even after that if he wanted to change his name, the guru would change it for him (a la notary)......

Our hero starts off on the journey and comes across many incidents (which i don't remember) and finally comes to a conclusion that a name is only an identifier and not a prototype (software gurus, please forgive me if there is some error here). For example, he comes across a peron whose name means wealthy but is poor, a person whose name means life, but at the time when the young man saw him was being transported for his funeral rites.

The above story showcases a situation in ancient India where the individual was at war with himself, but learns from society. Fast forward to the year 2004-2005 in the capital of India, New Delhi..The settings are all in and around IIT Delhi. These situations showcase how society is very curious to know why one's name is thus and whether any interpretation about the person can be made.......

1) Room #ND16, Shivalik Hostel: This was when my firt year roomie Vasan Churchill was moving into the room. By my own curfews, I generally do not bother about the origin of someone's name unless I can make some nickname out of it, or if something from literature strikes me or if the name is unusually rare. In this case, the name happened to fall in the third category. Added to this he was also carrying pictures of Lord Balaji and was also carrying a Bhagawadgeetha. The conversation went like this: (before anyone gets dobts about the religiosity of the following conversation, i would request you to come with an open mind and just follow the way in which confusion is cleared)..Also, the original dialogue was in Tamil and Hindi. I provide a translated version for ppl to understand...
DK: "Vasan, its nice to see secularism being practised"
Vasan: "Aah....Deepak, I am not a Christian"..
DK: "Then how do you explain the name Churchill..."
Vasan: "My father is a fan of Sir Winston Churchill..Thats how I got the name tagged on..Its not my surname..its a part of my first name..if you go by the rule book of nomenclature, I should be called Vasan Churchill"...
By this time a few more guys had gathered.....
Prashanth: "Lets call him Anna. In any case, everything from Tamil Nadu has some Anna association"....Thats how the tag Anna stuck.
Everyone called him so except for 'the character of a lifetime' Ankur Gupta who guffawed loudly in his Gorakhpuri accent, "Winshton Churchill chutia..ha ha ha ha ha ha (like a villain)"......

2) IIT Hospital: This was when I had gone to be certified that I would be able to swim. Once the medical check up was done, the doc asked me my middle name. Upon hearing the word Sriram, he started filling out Shriram. The following conversation ensued:
DK: "Sir, its SRIRAM not SHRIRAM"
Doc: (puts his pen down) "Where are you from?"
DK: "Bangalore"
Doc: "I don't know what ails you South Indians. You guys do not follow the Sanksrit pronounciation. If its Shriram, why do u write it as Sriram? Beats me"
DK: (wanting to tell him to mind his own business and also to tell him that his so called North Indian Sanskrit itself says that Lord ram is Sriram and Shri refers to goddess Lakshmi..but remembers his med certificate with the doc) "Sir, it should have been as you said. But when my dad was being enrolled at school the clerk made a wrong entry."
Doc: "Oh....so its only a spelling mistake...ok then" (signs with a flourish relishing the thought of a north indian victory over a south indian)
DK: "Thanks a lot sir."

3) PNB Branch, somewhere near Yusuf Sarai: My ex-roomie Vasan had gone to open an account. This amzing conversation took place there
Vasan: "Sir, I would like to open an account"
Official: "Whats your name?"
vasan: "Sir, Vasan Churchill S C......"
Official: (putting his pen down and calling out to all other bank staff) "Listen everyone, come here. Just look at this guy's name. He says its Vasan Churchill. vasan, I can understand is a Madrasi name. there is some madrasi guy in our HQ right? But Churchill?? Dude, you appear like a fraud to me..Please go get your passport"........
vasan: (psyched and irritated): "OK sir"........

Whew........the old sayng went 'Whats in a name?"..But with such nosey parkers around, a name is everything........

Its a 'Jazz Car' Baby, Abso'fuckin'lutely....

I need to thank Mr. Big of Sex and the City for the above dialogue. Er..not the whole one, only the abso'fuckin'lutely part. The way he says it sweeps Carrie Bradshaw off her feet and had me and many of my friends hooked on to the series.
Now, before you get any ideas that I am going to turn into a bouquet-carrier for S&C, let me tell you that this blog is intended for three things, two of which are related to Jazz and two of which are related to Carnatic music. That means, if you apply De Morgan's theorem for the intersection of sets, you wil find that there is one element which is common to both jazz and carnatic music. A list follows:
1) Sex and the City: for Jazz (about the sex, well it requires an entire blog..will write about it sometime)
2) Morning Raga: Jazz and Carnatic....(the other pillars of this movie Shabana Azmi, Perizaad Zorabain and the singers Bombay Jayashree, Ranjani Ramakrishnan, Sudha Raghunathan, Kalyani Menon, Gayathri, Nandini Srikar, Suneetha Sarathy, Veena and Rajesh Vaidya deserve volumes and volumes of space for the excellent work that they have put in...)
3) Sangeetha Shivakumar: Carnatic

Morning Raga: A very different film to say the least. But I'll confine my writing to only the soundtrack of the movie because 1) i haven't seen the movie 2) because of this review in the NY Times by Anita gates, where she says, "The screenplay doesn't have a shred of subtlety. The strange man who talks to his cow, apparently intended as comic relief, isn't very funny. But the performances of Carnatic music, Southern India's classical form, are heaven"...check out the full review at
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/movies/18raga.html?ex=1142658000&en=c21aaedc59dc060a&ei=5083&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes

The songs are trendsetters in the carnatic-jazz-rock remix field. Listen to these songs guys. They are available at http://www.raaga.com/channels/hindi/movie/H000765.html
Each song has a unique characteristic. But the underlying theme is fusion. Songs like 'Thaye Yashoda' sung by Sudha Raghunathan and Ranjani Ramakrishnan; 'Mathe' by Sudha Raghunathan and Kalyani Menon; 'Saamaja varagamana' by Gayathri; 'Alaap Jam' by Nandini Srikar; 'Mahaganapathim' by Bombay Jayashree are mindblowing. Apart from this there are instrumentals like 'City Interlude', 'The Chase' and 'Charminar'. The use of Jazz in 'City Interlude' and 'Mahaganapathim Jam' are just awesome. read more about Jazz at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz

Sangeeta Shivakumar: This lady is a revelation in the field of Carnatic music. Her rich voice mesmerises you. She renders even the difficult Ragas with consummate ease. A pity that I haven't atended even a single concert of hers ,my friend Malavika scores over me in this aspect; but as far as listening to her voice on CD goes, i guess the scoreline is in my favour.

Sex and the City: This show is not only about sex, nor is it only about New York City. Its also about Jazz...The subtle use of jazz makes each and every scene a treat to behold (which in any case it is..he he he)

Have always wondered, what is it that makes jazz and cities gel so much together? classical music certainly cannot capture the entire essence of a city..nor can rock.....lets take an example of carnatic music, rock and bangalore. while carnatic may capture the essence of some areas like malleshwaram, rajajinagar jayanagar or basavangudi (grudgingly giving some credit to the home of the rival of MES college (the place where I studied for my 12th), National College); it certainly cannot capture the spirit of Koramangala or MG Road. on the other hand, rock and roll, techno, trance will capture the essence of these areas but fail miserably when it comes to malleshwaram and sutta mutta (as a community on orkut goes)....'sutta mutta' translates to in and around
But jazz....aah..jazz is different..it incorporates the naughtiness, soberity, rebelliousness, modernity, ancientness and most importantly the cultural composite of a city. thats the beauty of jazz....
would certainly like to hear about this from you guys.....

Let me conclude this post with a list of some of the best musical voices that I have heard among my friends/relatives/acquaintances/people i have just seen once....please note that the serial number is just that..a serial number..not a rank
Male:
1) Nagachetan: this chubby disciplinarian was a schoolmate upto 12th....wonderful voice, very particular about the technique and the rules of music
2) Vasu: my colleague at my music class. we have given a couple of performances together. unfortunately he is no more...
3) Mahadevan: my cousin..he's now in the US and is still continuing full time with music. amazing voice..
4) Shakeel: the lead singer of my college rock band
5) The Unknown Singer from CREC: This chap sang 'My Sharona' and 'Highway Star' during Incident in KREC in 2002.....
6) Noel Fernandes: the Pink Floyd expert
7) Keshav Desai: every list needs a rebel in it...though not a singer in the conventional sense, Kesh managed to sing well if u judge him solely by the interest that he shows and the effort that he puts in

Female: this is going to be tough..I may be accused of favouritism..but I steel myself against criticism and barbed comments...he he he
1) Ranjani: my friend from school....guess shes out of touch now, but when in form she was the musical 'Sourav Ganguly' of our school...Dravid's dialogue about Ganguly "On the offside, there is God first, then there is Ganguly" would turn into "On the music scene of SPHS, theres Ranjani first, then the rest"....
2) Shwetha Keshav: If Ranjani is Ganguly, this lady must be the Rahul Dravid of SPHS music....technically superb....
3) Sreedevi: my senior....undoubtedly The Javed Miandad....very good at singing..but i brand her as Miandad for all the games hours that she has made me miss for music practice....but thanks all the same for all the prizes that we won together.....
4) Malavika: She was with me in KREC..her rendition of 'Chaiyya Chaiyya' had all of us guys floored...wonder why she never performed in a musical show after that....
5) Melissa: this female was in Nitte when I was in KREC...she sang a Roxette number 'Sleeping in my car'.....anyone who can sing that certainly has talent..

We deserve what we have

Some incidents in the last few days have made me think on the lines of the title. The incident concerned was during the inter-hostel aquatic events specially water polo. Some members of my hostel brought disrepute to everything that they represent and the game, by indulging in activities like impersonation of players, trying to eyewash the officials etc. Its a relief that the culprits have been brought to book.
If the so called 'elite' among the engineers can behave like this, then what right do we have to complain against our rulers? If we want an honest administration, we have to have an honest society first. Do we have that? But we preach to the others.
This is a national syndrome. India is the most hypocritic nation in the world in all fields. Examples? Plenty abound:
1) We have the communist bufoons led by the CPI(M) and CPI (specially Prakash Karat) who advocate outdated unionism and communism on the rest of India while in Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharya rules like a capitalist. In addition, these oafs regard the Russian and Chinese nuke tests as 'asserting their rights' while Indian tests are considered as deviating away from an independent foreign policy....
2) We shout ourselves hoarse as the champions of democracy and castigate Nepal for having imposed dictatorship, when the reality is that its the same here..In Nepal the king rules with an iron hand while in India, armed gangs (be they 'in-law' or 'outlaw') rule the roost.
3) We expect our leaders to be honest but we ourselves take the easy path at the earliest available opportunity.
4) We claim things like 'woman is mother/sister blah blah' but how do we behave when we see a bit of skin or a foreign woman? People literally go berserk...why ago that far? just answer this simple question...whats the status of a woman in our society?
5) We say that our society is 'moral' and western society is 'immoral'....what is done by the westerners that Indians do not do? rapes? orgies? porn clippings? Holy shit man, just accept the reality and get along with it. This item specially applies to tamil nadu....simple matters like the personal opinion of Khushboo, a private party at a 5 star hotel, choice of dress on campuses is projected as an assault on the 'Tamil woman"......interaction b/w the sexes is prohibited on campuses.....Who makes these comments/decisions? People who are known for their concubine connections......

There are many more....A list would occupy the entire space on the web. Coming back to the heart of the post, an Indian will be an Indian whatever age India exists in..Even if it becomes a superpower, India will be backward morally and ethically.........And this is the beginnign of the end of superpowerdom......

'Jog falls' by The Dream Weavers

Firstly, let me explain the phrases used in the title. Jog falls, as some of you know is the name of the most spectacular waterfall in India. How does a waterfall sound to you? If you are the kind of person who looks at only the "water fall" part, it will only be a roar with tremendous velocity and power. If you are the kind who looks at only the part of it before it falls, it will only be a speedy, smooth flow. What you need to be is like the river rafter who negotiates the currents and then takes the spectacular plunge to the bottom, but at the end is still steering his/her boat.

A similar sense of exhilaration is present in music. It happened to me while composing music along with my band for a fusion piece for the annual cultural fest at IITD, Rendezvous. For all those still puzzled, let me say that Jog Falls is the name of the piece that we played. Inspiration? Obviously Jog Falls which roars in the monsoon. Also the fact that a Raag named Jog from the Agra Gharana was readily available to simulate the effect of the falls was an added attraction. And of course, Dream Weavers is the name of my band.

The piece was conceptualised in the following fashion:
1) An alaap on the violin followed by an alaap on the flute: this denoted the birth of the River Sharavathi in the silent/majestic jungles of the Western ghats at Ambuthirtha
2) A rhythmic beat pattern on the drums, tabla, mridangam and congo drums: denoting the buildup of the river as it struggles against rocks, crevices etc
3) A smooth musical piece involving the violin, keyboard, tabla, drums, congo and the guitar: denoting the flow of the river in its full glory
4) A rapid change of pace denoting the splitting up of the river into the four falls raja, rani, roarer and rocket
5) A brief lull to allow the impact of the waterfall as it touches the ground to be absorbed by the listener
6) A sudden resumption at top speed to pay our respect to 'The Law of Conservation of Energy' whereby potential energy is converted to kinetic energy
7) A slow ending to denote the gurgling flow of the river after it has fallen 960 feet

Credits for the piece are listed below:
Keyboard: Manish Kumar (also the band leader plus the composer)
Flute: Shival Khate
Tabla/Mridangam: Balaji M
Drums: Sameer
Lead guitar: Raghav
Base guitar: Akhil
Congo drums: Santosh
Violin: Deepak Krishnan

Future plans: Jam on a regular basis, take part in events outside...lets see after that......

Of Music and Movies

mu·sic (my›"z¹k) n. Abbr. mus. 1. The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. 2. Vocal or instrumental sounds possessing a degree of melody, harmony, or rhythm. 3.a. A musical composition. b. The written or printed score for such a composition. c. Such scores considered as a group. 4. A musical accompaniment. 5. A particular category or kind of music. 6. An aesthetically pleasing or harmonious sound or combination of sounds.

I'll begin this piece with an article from The Telegraph, a revered British newspaper. Analysis of music is a tough task, but I must say that the columnist has done a pretty good job.

How Beethoven ruined classical music
By Dylan Evans(Filed: 12/06/2005)

It was Beethoven week on the BBC last week. By midnight on Friday Radio 3 had filled six days of airtime with every single note the composer wrote - every symphony, every quartet, every sonata and lots more besides. At the same time, in a series of three films on BBC2, the conductor Charles Hazlewood told us about the composer's life, while BBC4 produced three programmes of musical analysis.
It's good to see classical music getting some coverage on primetime television, but the relentless focus on Beethoven is dire. Not all fans of classical music are members of the Beethoven cult. Some of us even think he did more harm than good to classical music.
Beethoven certainly changed the way that people thought about music, but this was a change for the worse. From the speculations of Pythagoras about the "music of the spheres" in ancient Greece onwards, most Western musicians had agreed that musical beauty was based on a mysterious connection between sound and mathematics, and that this provided music with an objective goal, something that transcended the individual composer's idiosyncrasies and aspired to the universal. Beethoven managed to put an end to this noble tradition by inaugurating a barbaric U-turn away from an other-directed music to an inward-directed, narcissistic focus on the composer himself and his own tortured soul.
This was a ghastly inversion that led slowly but inevitably to the awful atonal music of Schönberg and Webern. In other words, almost everything that went wrong with music in the 19th and 20th centuries is ultimately Beethoven's fault. Schönberg was simply taking Beethoven's original mistake to its ultimate, monstrous, logical conclusion.
This is not to deny Beethoven's genius, but simply to claim that he employed his genius in the service of a fundamentally flawed idea. If Beethoven had dedicated his obvious talents to serving the noble Pythagorean view of music, he might well have gone on to compose music even greater than that of Mozart. You can hear this potential in his early string quartets, where the movements often have neat conclusions and there is a playfulness reminiscent of Mozart or Haydn.
If only Beethoven had nourished these tender shoots instead of the darker elements that one can also hear. For the darkness is already evident in the early quartets too, in their sombre harmonies and sudden key changes. As it was, however, his darker side won out: compare, for example, the late string quartets. Here the youthful humour has completely vanished, the occasional signs of optimism quickly die out moments after they appear and the movements sometimes end in uncomfortably inconclusive cadences.
It's instructive to compare Beethoven's morbid self-obsession with the unselfconscious vivacity of Mozart. Like Bach's perfectly formed fugues and Vivaldi's sparkling concertos, Mozart's music epitomises the baroque and classical ideals of formal elegance and functional harmony; his compositions "unfold with every harmonic turn placed at the right moment, to leave, at the end, a sense of perfect finish and unity", as the music critic Paul Griffiths puts it. Above all, Mozart's music shares with that of Bach an exuberant commitment to the Enlightenment values of clarity, reason, optimism and wit.
With Beethoven, however, we leave behind the lofty aspirations of the Enlightenment and begin the descent into the narcissistic inwardness of Romanticism. Mozart gives you music that asks to be appreciated for its own sake, and you don't need to know anything about the composer's life to enjoy it. Beethoven's music, on the other hand, is all about himself - it is simply a vehicle for a self-indulgent display of bizarre mood swings and personal difficulties.
Hazlewood claimed, in his BBC2 series, that music "grew up" with Beethoven, but it would be more accurate to say that it regressed back into a state of sullen adolescence. Even when he uses older forms, such as the fugue, Beethoven twists them into cruel and angry parodies. The result is often fiercely dissonant, with abrupt changes in style occurring from one movement to another, or even in the same movement. Hazlewood is right to describe Beethoven as a "hooligan", but this is hardly a virtue.
In A Clockwork Orange it is the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that echoes in the mind of Alex whenever he indulges in one of his orgies of violence. Alex's reaction may be rather extreme, but he is responding to something that is already there in this dark and frenzied setting of Schiller's Ode to Joy; the joy it invites one to feel is the joy of madness, bloodlust and megalomania. It is glorious music, and seductive, but the passions it stirs up are dark and menacing.
I was unable to resist tuning in to Beethoven at times last week, but I needed to cheer myself up with something more optimistic and life-affirming afterwards.
• Kevin Myers returns next week. Dylan Evans is a senior lecturer in intelligent autonomous systems at the University of the West of England. This article first appeared in The Guardian.


It was this article that spurred me on to listen to the western classical collection that I had on my PC. Till now, these files had served just as ornamental pieces showing visitors to my room that my musical collection was wide and varied and oh yes, it represented my 'jack of all trades' nature.
The first thing that i did was to watch 'A Clockwork Orange'. Its a true classic, a must watch and if you haven't watched it yet, please do. It answers many questions regarding ethical treatment of prisoners, prison reforms, exploitative nature of humans, how a violent mind works and so on. What the author says is true. Ludvig van's (as Alex (the protagonist) puts it in the film) fourth is certainly disturbing to a viewer who is immersed in the movie as much as the protagonist is. It matches well with the rape scenes, the assault scenes and the show of power of the nazis during their heyday.
The next thing that I did was to listen to Handel and Mozart. Vivaldi I had already heard to long back. The difference is spotted instantly. Handel's music is what do I say, more religious. A quick search on the net proved my guess. Compositions like 'The Messaih' were meant to be catholic rather than narcissistic. My personal favourite is "Turkish March'. my dream is to dance for this piece with my lady love as and when I find her. Mozart's compositions, needless to say are pure joy. They leave you light hearted, full of joy and hopeful. Vivaldi falls in the same category as well. Love 'The Four Seasons'. A crude modern comparison would be Dream Theatre's 'A Change of Seasons'.
If one tires imposing these compositions upon the very same scenes, the mismatch becomes obvious. Beethoven is the 'Dark Angel' who could compose such pieces. One can feel the emotional upheaval while listening to Beethoven. Dark, disturbing are some words that come to the mind. On the other hand, the very same Beethoven has given classic, lovely pieces like 'Fur Elise'. The Berlin Philharmoniker pieces are a musician's delight.
If I have to choose 2 singers to represent my state of mind, it would have to be Handel and Beethoven. Beethoven for those depressed, dark days when nothing is happening while Handel is for those heavenly periods that come along as a silver lining.

Right folks, I close this piece with the opening lines of 'A Clockwork Orange'....Hope it encourages you to watch it: Auf Wiedersehan from DK, Ludvig van and Alex.....

"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence"

ramblings of a sleepless mind

some crazy questions for which i am looking for the answers and hope that i may discover them myself some day:

1) Why didn't I study Physics as my major?

2) Why is an orgasm called 'seeing God'?

3) Will I be The One?

4) Will my ideas be ever accepted as radical and pioneering?

5) If Dream Theatre remakes like 'Funeral for a friend, love lies bleeding' and 'perfect Strangers' are so good, why weren't they the original composers?

6) Why, why is Kate Hudson so heartbreakingly beautiful?

7) Why is it that "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than the others"?

8) Why did Rommel have to die?

9) Why did the USA lose the innocence of the 1940's?

10) Why is code writing such an addiction in perfection?

11) When will I get back my Bangalore of the 1980s?

12) Will the world ever see a Saladin again?

becoming a roman

2004: The state of DK

Incident 1: Bombay Central Railway Station

DK: Bhaisaab, zara yeh saaman utha na tha. kitna lagega?
Porter: saath (60) rupaiye
DK: Krupaya kam kijiye.
Porter: Nahi ji, isse kam to nahin
DK: Theek hai phir..chaliye...

Incident 2: On the Coimbatore-Kurla Express, somewhere near Kalyan

Chakka: Dena hero, nikla paise nikal
DK: Chalo chalo main nahin dene wala
Chakka: Deta hai ki khol ke dikhaon
DK: nahin, nahin, lelo (gives 1 rupee)
Chakka: BC/MC, ek rupaiy??? (does some dirty act which is not worthy of reproduction here and throws the coin back on DK, but DK ducks with the agility of a Roger Federer at the net and evades the 'tainted' coin')

Incident 3: Palika Bazaar

DK: bhaiyya, yeh t-shirt kitne ka?
Salesman: paanch sow
DK: thoda kam kijiye na...
Salesman: nahin bhaisaab...
DK: dekhiye, palika main to bargaining chalta hai
Salesman: maana ki bargaining chalta hai lekin is cheez pe nahin. yeh original piece hai aur hum kyon jyaada bolenge bhaiyya? hum sirf utna maangte hai jitna cost hai. usse upar to nahin maangenge..aakhir hum izzatwale hain
DK: dekhiye, main appka margins ka izzat karta hoon, usi samay jo main sahi samajhta hoon woh maangraha hoon. app ko dena hi padega...
Salesman: theek hia ji aap ke liye char sow rupaiye........
DK: (feeling elated on this bargain) lijiye (walks away with the shirt)

2005: The state of DK

Incident 1: Palika Bazaar

DK: bhaiyya, yeh t-shirt kitne ka?
Salesman: paanch sow
DK: na na...yeh thodi hai asli daam...chalo accha price batao
Salesman: yehi hai bhaisaab asli price..aur yeh original piece bhi hai
DK: kisko ullu banarahe hain aap? main original piece bhi dekha hoon, aur jo piece abhi haath main hai usko bhi dekha hoon...dono main zameen aasman ki farak hai....iska asli daam hai dhai sow
Salesman: nahin bhaiyya, aap ke liye sade teen sow pe aa sakta hoon. usse kam nahin
DK: theek hai to yeh shirt aap rakhlijiye..main chala
Salesman: yaar aise pet pe lath mat maro yaar. chalo kuch nahin bika aaj..dedo jo dena hai
DK: (angry with himself for not quoting a much reduced price) lijiye (walks away with the shirt)

Incident 2: juice shop, Munirka

After payment has been made for the juice
DK: bhaisaab, baki to do..
Juice Guy: kahan diya aap ne paisa?
DK: yeh kya bol rahe ho? abhi to aap ke haath main diya..
Juice Guy: aap ne to nahin diya.....mere paas nahin hai...
DK: yaar sow ka note diya that..aise na kaho...
Juice Guy: agar aap ne diya to mere paas hoga..mere paas nahin hai...aap dhoka de rahe ho
DK: theek hai phir, main idhar hi rukhta hoon...aap abhi isi waqt mere saamne ginti kijiye..agar kam pade to main aapko doonga
Juice Guy: (giving the balance) aayinda aisa kaam mat kijiye
DK: lo, kaun kisko bol raha hai..aapne abhi jo bola woh aapke jindagi main apnaayiye...

Incident 3: On the H Nizamuddin-Secuderabad AP Sampark Kranti Express
Chakka: Dena hero, dena
DK: chal nikal yahan se
Chakka: (mutters some curse) deta hai ki nahin
DK: nahin doonga bola na.....
Chakka: (after an intolerable wait in which every attempt to extract money goes waste) #@#@#@# (walks off)
This time there were no threats to disrobe. I would have been interesting to find out my reaction then...

Moral of the story: One year in Delhi (N India) will definitely toughen you. You will live according to the proverb "When in Rome do as the Romans do"

Capitalistic musings

sometimes i wonder "why is delhi the capital of our country? " according to me, a capital should have certain attributes which should reflect the nature of the country and it should also set standards in some other areas. if seen through this prism delhi satisfies on some counts and fails miserably on some others. i have come up with a list. lets see how i fare in my analysis:

1) Pluralism: we have had this concept drilled into our 'accept what is told by ur teachers as gospel' brain that india is a sovereign, secular, socialist democratic republic with some fundamental rights assured for a citizen and most important, its a country where unity in diversity flourishes and it has the name sub-continent blah blah blah. in this sense yes, delhi satisfies my definition. you will find many many people from many different parts of india. we have the tamils, telugus, malayalis, kannadigas, marathas, gujaratis, bengalis, NE Indians etc. people live together harmoniously without any animosity (apparently). but the usual back-bitching goes on. so, on two counts delhi satisfies the criteria...it mirrors the pluralism that is india and has many different linguistic groups of people living in harmony.
2) Good roads: whatever you may say about delhi, you got to accept its excellent network of roads. it is termed bad by international standards..then if i am asked to comment on the state in other places...all i have to say is 'God save the other places!!' You have to see the roads which are broad, well marked with proper signs. the flyover network beats them all. well, in this sense it sets a standard for other places to follow.
3) Eateries: As far as food is concerned it mirrors the pluralism in food. you only have to go to dilli haat to get a first hand experience of this. but make sure you have enough cash with you.
4) Low cost markets: haven't seen such pocket friendly markets anywhere. heck, the items available here would even put the malls in gurgaon to shame.
5) an already established administrative mechanism consisting of buildings, administrative culture, established head quarters must surely tilt the balance in favour of delhi.
6) proximity to the major army units - Mhow, Beas, Bhopal,Amritsar, Ambala, Jodhpur..these are all major cantonments. quite useful in case of any rebellion in the capital. another advantage is that they can also be used a strike corps against our enemies (i will be a bloody 'sinner' if i mention their names in this era of bhaichara)..

seen from the above angles, delhi surely deserves to be the capital of the country. but there are other points which i would like to list and would like you, my dear reader to ponder over them..
1) should the capital also bear the title 'the rape capital'? check this link for some 'revealing' statistics http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/12/stories/2005081213400100.htm
2) should a capital have the highest incidence of traffic violations, road rage etc?
3) in my estimate this is the rudest city in india. so...................(case in point: people fling across the balance cash in a shop for example, whereas down south it is given to your hand)
4) the most money minded city in india where people will do anything for money.

nothing more to say folks. i personally dont know if i have a right to make such comments because i have never belonged to a particular place so that i can imbibe the ethos of that place. bangalore does comes close on that count. i just dont have the feel for any place. i also dont get very passionate about any place. in this regard i would like to quote a dialogue from 'The Shawshank Redemption'.
"I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend."

i only hope somebody feels like this about me.
i am an everybody who is a nobody. guess thats what settlers are doomed to. a life without identity. maybe my kids will be the caged birds. thank god, its not me!!!!

Manipur and Nagaland:a saga from the mahabharata to the present

If you have been following the news recently, you must have read about the economic blockade of manipur by the All Naga Students' Union of manipur. these 'students' (pun intended) have partly achieved what they wanted i.e cripple Manipur, but their other aim that of making the rest of India take notice of their claims has not clicked that well as they might have expected to. it will not, because when have non NE Indians bothered about what happens in the NE? we ourselves humiliate our NE countrymen/women by calling them 'chinkis' one of the most disgusting terms i have ever heard. our knowledge of the NE region is confined to Assam and Sikkim, albeit limited. the indifference can be guaged from the coverage given in the press to incidents like the blockade, the anti-Assam rifles protest, the manipur assembly burning. these hogged the headlines for a few days and later on completely disappeared. I know that this is true with all kinds of news, but if one were to use a half-life measure for longevity of news items, do you think stories connected to the NE will even have nuclei left to be counted?
In this respect, our ancient scriptures (specially the Mahabharata) (which organisations like the BJP/Shiv Sena/RSS and sometimes even the thieving/chameleonistic Congress exploit to the hilt to garner votes) have integrated the NE into the story. Lest we forget, Arjuna had wives in nagaland (Uloopi) and in manipur (Chitrangada). Infact he faces defeat and death in manipur at the hands of his son Babruvahana during the battle for Yudhisthira's Sacrificial horse. The lessons associated with the NE saga of Arjuna teach us about the existence of a matriarchial society in manipur (kerala is the only other place where such a system exists).
The solution to this problem is not simple. many have suggested a military action against the Naga students. Please people, just pause to think. These guys are fighting for a legitimate demand. Imagine, if maharashtra can have the bloody gall to ask for Belgaum just because there is a sizeable marathi speaking population there, whats wrong with the Nagas asking for a district like Senapati wherein the population is almost entirely naga?
At the same time, Manipur is precious to us too. The Manipuris too have attachment to their state. Who doesn't?
The only solution to this problem is in the rest of India earning the trust of both the Nagas and the Manipuris. The two parties should first develop the trust that people on the mainland have not isolated them and they are ready to help. we should also learn to respect them and not call them by derogatory terms. If we don't do such basic things, don't be surprised if the NE becomes part of China/Myanmar within the next 50 years.
As a conclusion I would like to say that the occupying allied forces won the trust, love and respect of the West germans when they flew in essentials at great risk to their own lives because of a Soviet economic blockade. At the same time they might have earned the love of the East germans too. Imagine if we put our lives on the line for the manipuris. Not only will we earn their trust, but at the same time the Nagas will realise that we appreciate their needs too but they will not twist our hands in such a way that we make another set of our countrymen suffer thus!!!

A Paradigm Shift

This blog can be considered as an epitaph for my days as a doormat or in more laymanistic terms, a guy with a lose-win mentality.
Being a doormat means that you drop everything that you do and plunge headlong to help others. It also applies to situations when i should have said 'No' but have said 'yes'.

I have come to realise in the adage
"laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone"
Horace,65 BC to 8 BC,Roman Philosopher

time i switched over to the win win mentality....Sean Covey, lead kindly light

7 best books

Old editions of Readers' Digest used to carry really good stories, not like the present issues which carry stories like 'How to beat depression', 'How to spice up your sex life' etc. Agreed, a magazine needs to change with times and the times of today demand such topics to be highlighted upon. But at the same time, the charm that used to be associated with an old RD issue, thick and full of stories which could kindle anyone's imagination is missing nowadays.
The title of this blog is a direct rip off from a compilation of RD called "Readers' Digest: 7 best books". I chanced upon this at home while cleaning my grandfather's cupboard. This is a book which i will treasure over all Harrys, Aragorns, Holmes and the like.
Its a great joy to share such stories. You, my dear reader might know about these events, but lets spare a thought for those who might not know. Even if you do know, I suggest that you go ahead and try to get hold of this RD book (sources: (1) me, if u meet me in Bangalore (2) a lucky draw at ur local raddiwallah).

(1) The Lady with the Lamp: A delightful piece upon the life of Florence Nightingale. Not like the drab lessons we might have studied in school. (the worst example of a biographical torture that i can think of is the stories of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar...i used to have it alternately in English, kannada or Sanskrit every year till i finished my 12th.....I hope Maya memsaab is not reading this)....Coming back to the topic, this piece talks about Florence's life, how she was motivated to be a nurse, how she pioneered the hospital system in Crimea and the like

(2) The little black room: I do not remember this title all that well and neither do i remember the story exactly. Thats because my favourite character in the story gets killed while trying to defuse a bomb set by the IRA (Irish Republican Army)....I used to model my mannerisms on that character and reading about his death demoralised me so much that even now i haven't been able to reconcile myself to read that story objectively.

(3) A Pattern of Islands: This was a delightful piece about a young doctor (or was it an administrator?) and his wife who go to the carribean to serve the people there. Nothing much except for a nice travelogue on the customs, way of life etc

(4) Kon tiki: Most of you must have heard about this story of adventure and daring of 6 men: Thor Heyerdahl, Erik Hesselberg, Bengt Danielsson, Knut Haugland, Torstein Raaby and Herman Watzinger. It gets real personal and thats what a book is supposed to do

(5) Mt.Everest: This is a story with an Indian connection. Its narrated by Tenzing Norkey. It talks about his efforts to conquer Everest with many mountaineers until he finally tasted success with Edmund Hillary. An interesting book to say the least

(6) The sinking of the Bismarck: My personal favourite. This is about one of the greatest naval battles fought in the history of mankind. i rank it at the top followed by Nelson's victory at Trafalgar, the defeat of the Spanish Armada and Jutland (WW I). This is the story of the two heavy duty state of the art warships of the German navy at that time and the chase across the seas by the British fleet and finaly the sinking of the Bismarck.

(7) The Longest Day: This one is about D Day and Erwin Rommel's failure to anticipate the time and position of the attack/landing. Its about how the biggest invasion occured, what was the scenario behind that (on both allied and axis sides), what happened on ground that day etc. The lasting impression that you carry from this story is when Rommel says, 'How foolish of me, how foolish of me'.

Well, these were the 7 stories (aka books in RD terminology) that i wanted to blog about. But i cant help sneaking in another one about the 6 day war israel fought. facts like how farmers below the Golan burnt the fields to prevent the Syrian tanks from entering Israel, or the one wherein Israeli historians uncover some subterranean Biblical passages which helped the Israeli army capture an Egyptian division with the divisional commander in his underwear make for really good reading.

really, sometimes i wonder where such writing skill has disappeared nowadays.

Nari ka samman karo..mat uska apmaan karo!!

By now you must be acquainted with the title that Delhi has i.e "Rape Capital of India". Its a name tag which even the most die hard lover of Delhi cannot deny. What, with a rape a day being so common that it is shuffled to some obscure corner of the city page that only the sensational ones (sensationalism being defined by a very brutal/psychopathic injury or a unique modus operandi) get reported in the main news. The victims are mostly from the following categories: residents of slum clusters, college students and believe it or not minor girls.
Initially I had the thought that this too was like some of the one-off incidents that used to occur in bangalore. but soon faced with a deluge of such news, i had to do a quick rethink. the rapists also fit a common profile: they are either some petty gangsters who find their 'peace-time' outlets by unleashing sexual violence or they are people whom the victim knew pretty well.

Generally what I have observed is that a majority of the people here are perverted. They ogle at women and devour them with their eyes. (please note, this is very much different from the natural youthful curiosity towards the female of the species..don't confuse the two). Lewd comments being passed are very common. You will note this specially in buses. It stops at the stage of words and desires when the guy does not have the means to unleash his sexual urge. But imagine the same happening in the mind of a pervert who has the means, courage and the momentary lapse of reason to commit the act!!! Get the picture?

The reaction to this has been on expected lines..reactionary and as inhuman as the crime. Suggestions like castrate the rapist, ban the influx of migrants to the city, open a full fledged brothel on the lines of kamathipur (bombay) or Sona kachi (calcutta) have been floating around. and of course the opportunistic bastards, the Shiv Sena have issued statements like 'let the females not wear clothes other than the sari/salwar kameez'. my dear fellows, most of the atrocities have been on sari/salwaar clad females, please don't forget that.

My take on the issue is that none of these will be as effective as a moral overhaul of the society. More so an overhaul of the male half. As a society we need to grow up and move towards a state of mind wherein the female is not seen as an object of desire or someone whose function is to extend the family tree. Instead we need to adopt the thinking on the basis of "Ardhanaareeshwar" (the male and female halfs merged in one) form of Lord Shiva. The statement of that form is simple : "male is incomplete without the female and the female is incomplete without the male..each needs to respect the other...only then is a harmonious existence possible". Time for a few lesons in morals perhaps?

concluding remarks: i have used the case of delhi in particular because its the most visible face of the rape Demon in India. But there are other instances too where rape has been used as a weapon ex: the Gujarat riots, the partition, the Imrana case etc........
All our tech/cultural advancement will be brought to nought if the female half of our society is treated the way we are doing now. Initiative must come from within. This also applies to the women organisations like AIDWA which is mostly comprised of high society ladies who merely make speeches and organise protest marches on some days.
We also need to redefine our definition of progress of females. Just because there is a Sulajja Firodia Motwani or a Naina Kidwai occupying the CEO's post, it does not mean that the cause of women in India has improved. Its only when females like Imrana or the rape victims in Delhi are able to move about freely at any time of the day alone without any fear of being molested, thats when the lot of women would have improved.

Hitler worship on Mount Road

Mount Road is the spinal cord of Madras (i don't like the new name Chennai). Madras as you know is one of the four metros in India, the others being Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta. Built by the British out of a fishing hamlet, it is one of those lovely places where you find tradition and modernity balancing each other perfectly. Kanjeevaram saree clad mamis in Ranganathar Theruvu (ranganathar road-> the road shown in the song 'Girlfriend', of the movie 'Boys'), jeans clad chicks on Besant nagar beach, the lovers at marina, bangy IITians shouting 'Yen Maga', the window shoppers and the credit card swipers at Spencers, the lovely Trisha, you will find them all here.
The incident which charecterises the title of this blog happened last Saturday ( July 2nd). I was on my 5th trip to Madras and my first to Spencer's Plaza. I don't know what has come over me nowadays. I go to check out the malls (and of course the maals in them) in whichever city I go. By far, Gurgaon wins hands down. The Spencer's Plaza is located on Mt. Road. But as I generally do, I located the side entrance (the sidey character that I am...just joking....I am as sweet as sugar comes) and was passing along the road when the picture of Hitler caught my eye. My head immediately went into a spin. I rubbed my eyes, pinched myself. 'Could this be true? Is the founder of the third reich, the bastard exterminator of Jews being potrayed in the heart of Madras?' was the first thing that caught my eye. Upon casting my eyes around the potrait, i also found the hated anticlockwise swastika, the symbol of the nazis and the words Heil Hitler. It was shocking to say the least. the beast who murdered millions and caused the biggest and most bloodiest war in the history of mankind was being openly paraded on the centrestage of Madras, the most tolerant city in India, the second most Anglicised city in India after bangalore (there will be a blog on this sometime in the future). If this had been Europe, the offender would have found himself behind bars.
The stain Hitler has caused upon germans is enormous. They are still derided as nazis in many parts of the world. the best example is during the 2002 Soccer world cup finals telecast on MG Road in bangalore. Chants of 'Go Nazi go' rent the air. such worship of such a beast and more so the open worship in a tolerant place like Madras is disturbing. it reflects the development of the ideology of hatred among people. More so, it is an insult to Germans in general.
At this juncture, people may ask me 'How is it that a guy paranoid about Germany should criticise the very person who gave Germany a sense of identity and enabled them to break free from the shackles of the Treaty of Versailles?'. My answer to this would be is that 'yes, I do admire Germany. I admire the Wehrmacht, the scientists and engineers who developed the Panzer, U Boats, the Stuka. I admire Germans like Otto von Bismarck and Erwin Rommel. Scum like Hitler, Ribbentrop, Reynard Heidrich,Hermann Goering, Goebbels et al should be confined to the dustbin of history and most important, their memory should never be recycled which is precisely what the Mount Road incident did. ' You may not appreciate my words but i earnestly request you to read books like 'The rise and the fall of the third reich' by William Shirer; 'The Scrouge of the swastika' which will leave a deep imprint of the horrors wrought on Europe by these vermin Nazis.
Think it over people, if this becomes a trend, then we surely are on a highway (nay flyway) to hell.
Coming to pleasant topics, I have a few blog topics in mind. One is definitely going to be on Deepika Padukone, my latest crush. the others could possibly be: into the mind of a frustu; a few effective habits of PJ masters and of course a derogatory article on my embattered and humiliated f(r)iends the BJP (i call them BaJji Party now, because like onion (vengayam) or mirchi (molagai) Bajji they are being devoured with great gusto although by themselves).
And a question to my readers? Do you think the amount of tamil that I am using in my blog needs to be cut down? i seem to have developed a sudden fetish for writing tamil words in English...Inspiration???? Trisha Krishnan..................

Vairamuthu's lyrics in Ayutha Ezhithu..specially Yakkai Thiri

This man is a genius when it comes to poetry. i realised the power of his lyrics when listening
to the tamil version of the song Fanaah (from the movie Yuva). each word is pregnant with
meaning. u need not be in love to feel the power.truly, pen is mightier than the sword. i have
tried my hand at dissecting the lyrics for those of you who do not know tamil. and those who
know, please correct me if i have made a mistake somewhere.
the best part of this song is the beautiful use of the urdu word Fanaah. I used to think that
fanaah was just some random chant. nopes people, its loaded with meaning..check the following
link
http://www.lazygeek.net/gb/archives/2004/04/29/funda_on_fanah.html
yes people its nirvana. and nirvana is what everyone is looking for in this world. from the
testosterone charged teenager who headbangs to led zep, to the middle aged family person who
looks for solace from family pressures in work and vice versa, to the tottering oldie who turns
to bhaja govindam, its nirvana that is the raison de etre. vairamuthu says that love leads one to
such an exalted state. now 'Dont u want somebody to love???'...;)
Now, to the lyrics. The translation is provided below each line.

fanaa....... fanaa.........
"Salvation........Salvation......"

yaakkai thiri kaadhal sudar - anbae
"O love,The body is the wick and love is the flame,"

jeevan nadhi kaadhal kadal - nenjae
"My heart,Life is a river whilst love is the ocean"

piRavi pizhai kaadhal thirutham nenjae
"My heart,The sin of birth is rectified by love"

irudhayam kal kaadhal siRpam anbae
"o love, The heart is mere stone whilst love is the sculpture"

yaakai thiri kaadhal sudar - fanaa
"The body is the wick and love is the flame"

thoduvoam thodarvoam padarvoam maRavoam thuRavoam
"We will touch love, we will continue love, we will spread love, we will not forget love , we
will not renounce love"

thoduvoam thodarvoam padarvoam maRavoam iRavoam
"We will touch love, we will continue love, we will spread love, we will not forget love , we
will not die"

thoduvoam thodarvoam padarvoam maRavoam uRavoam
"We will touch love, we will continue love, we will spread love, we will not forget love , we
will develop relations"

jenmam vidhai, kaadhal pazham
"Birth is the seed love is the fruit"

loagam dhvaitham, kaadhal adhvaidham
"The world is dual, but love is non-dual"

sarvam soonyam kaadhal pinniyam
"everything is zero but love is infinite"

maanudam maayam kaadhal amaram
"humanity is an illusion while love is eternal"

ulagathin kaadhal ellaam ondrae ondrae adhu
"In this world, love is only one"

uLLangaL maaRi maaRi paayaNam poagum
"The bodies keep changing and go on far away journeys"

What interested me was the use of the words dwaitha and advaitha in the song. The dwaitha and advaitha concepts must be known to you from your social science textbooks in school.
Specifically i am referring to a chapter called Bhakthi and Sufi movement (that was what I was
taught). For the sake of continuity i will summarise these two schools of thought. The dwaitha
philosophy clearly stresses upon the duality of man and God. on the other hand, the advaitha
philosophy states that the finite and infinite (man and God) are one and the same except for a
screen of illusion separating them. For more info on such topics check out the following link
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/9410/hindu1.html
what does vairamuthu mean by saying that the world is dual but love is non-dual? my
interpretation is this: everything in this world has a dual. for example, male-female, fire-water
etc and the list goes on. on the other hand, love cannot be characterised as 'adjective' love.
(adjective can be anything, male/female/animal) A hidden attribute may also be that Vairamuthu is suggesting that love is divine/infinite too.

before i close this topic, let me just give u a list of tamil songs i feel are nice....
1) Endrendum Punnagai (Alaipayuthey) (the same as Humdum Suniyore in Saathiya)--> nice mix of techno beats and rap
2) Hey Goodbye nanba (Ayutha Ezhithu) (hindi equivalent=Hey Khudahafiz (Yuva))
3) Ale Ale (boys)
4) Ennaikonjam Matri (Kaaka kaaka)
5( Uyirin uyire (Kaaka Kaaka)--> racy beats
6) Haiyyo Pathikichu (Rhythm)--> sexy song, sexy singer (vasundhara Das), sexy artiste (ramya Krishnan)
7) Elangatru Veesude (Pithamagan) --> beautiful song
8) Chinna Chinnadai (mounam Pesiyathey)--> check the video of this if you want to see the tamil version of creed in 'my sacrifice'
9) Pachai Nirame (Alaipayuthey)--> melodious
10) Yaar Yaar Shivam (Anbe Shivam)

guess thats it for now folks...till the next time i get the inspiration to write, Shabba
Khair.....

the lie that is the RSS

For the uninitiated, the RSS stands for the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. This is an organisation that is supposedly 'dedicated' for the welfare of the Hindu religion and hence by their own implication, the Indian nation.
The RSS in its website claims that it is a movement for national reconstruction totally fostered by the people with no parallel elsewhere in the world or in India. This is the first and the basic flaw of the RSS, thinking that it has no equals in the world and its the best school of thought in the world. By these 'airy' words, they have displayed their ignorance of many more people's movements like the Russian revolution, the French revolution and the communist revolution in China which were I should say, a far more integrated effort as compared to the India Freedom Struggle which had its share of infighting like the RSS-Congress feud. Oh and thats not all, there is some excess high funda shit which I reproduce below:
There could be only one explanation for the continuing march of the Sangh from strength to strength: the emotive response of the millions to the vision of Bharat's national glory, based on the noblest values constituting the cultural and spiritual legacy of the land and collectively called 'Dharma', comprising faith in the oneness of the human race, the underlying unity of all religious traditions, the basic divinity of the human being, complemen-tarity and inter-relatedness of all forms of creation both animate and in-animate, and the primacy of spiritual experience.

Totally contradictory to what these guys are following I should say. The RSS also claims that idealism should have been a founding principle of themodern Indian state. i say, this is rubbish. Rubbish because by idealism the RSS means its idealism which it claims as the idealism of the nation. A totally Hitlerisque quotation. In a modern society, religion should play a role only in individual development. Outside a person's house, nay, outside a person's body and mind the concept of religion should die a quiet death. The RSS website further goes on to create a fear psychosis by claiming that religious conversion is a major threat blah blah. My take on this is, if you are so worried about conversion, where were you when the poor and the destitute needed social help? its natural that i take a liking to the beliefs and views of a person who helps me when i am in penury because of my present situation. Remember RSS dudes it was the same discontent that led to the growth of many religions. So, please dont make such a big issue in the name of conversion. If you can help people, do so in the name of society not religion. YOu will be surprised to see that the benefits will add up to ur religion finally.
The most blatant lie of the RSS is the concept of 'Akhand Bharat'. They claim that they wanted independence of an undivided India. All bullshit considering that their founding theme was a separate nation for Hindus and Muslims. Infact this theory was propogated by these self styled custodians of Hinduism a long time before Jinnah even started thinking about such issues.
The website goes on to list its achievements in the periods of the partition, 1961 liberation of Goa, 1962 war with China, 1965 and 1971 war with Pakistan etc. It seems remarkable that an organisation with such a proclaimed illustrious background should have sunk into such depths that it has sunk to today.
There is again a lot of cacophony about their mission. read about it
http://www.rss.org/New_RSS/Mission_Vision/Why_RSS.jsp

I could go on and on about the various claims that these guys make. Unfotunately I do not have the luxury of time. If I have to coin a word that describes the RSS today then it is 'CONFUSED'.

In conclusion I just have to say that the RSS is just one of the evils plaguing the modern day Indian society. there are others too like VHP, babbar Khalsa, SIMI and allied organisations. If we are to progress as a nation, we need to outlaw religion in the public sphere just as smoking is. Religion is a dangerous weapon, it can be used to mould young minds, mobilise people and launch violent attacks. Whatever one's religion may be, in the interest of the nation, one should disrobe oneself of the religious cloak and proclaim one's identity as an Indian. We have many issues challenging us which are worthy of our attention such as winning an olympic medal, winning prominent sporting events, making a mark on the world economically, militarily and politically. We cant afford to waste time on dumb concepts like religious fervour. A society built on the basis of religion is just an aberration. Whoever is willing to acept this, I just say to you 'You rock dude!' ..........................

keeping your cards close to your chest

An engineering student today is faced with an unprecedented glut of information. The number of journals have gone up exponentially, the number of luminaries-double exponentially and most important, every possible use of a device, mode of operation has been anlaysed with such rigour that a new discovery is well nigh impossible unless you are the next Narain Hingorani (the father of FACTS).
The first difficulty that a student (undergraduate or graduate) faces is the problem selection itself. As mentioned above, most of the matter has been dissected to the atomic level and if one wants to move on to the sub atomic level, thats when you begin to encounter the Fermisms, Hiesenbergisms, Schroedingerisms, Diracisms etc. Since most of us have the degree as the first priority (obvious dude, if you go after the research paper very very aggressively, you end up screwing up both your degree and the paper) implementing what some other fellow engineer in some corner of the world has done becomes an acceptable research activity. Well, I don't see any mistake in that because for one, it hones your reengineering skills which may prove useful if you get into the war ship, battle tank and war aircraft building industry of a country like India. Secondly, there is an infinetisimal probability of finding a mistake in the 'parent implementation' which gives a great opportunity to publish a research paper yourself and in the bargain going up a few notches in the eyes of the professors.
Lets say that the problem has been selected. The next problem is sifting through your literature survey. Sources are many and the same information can be presented in slightly different forms in different journals (something similar to two similar loads on the power grid at different times of the day, something we call diversity of the load). The next stages would be to choose a paper for implementation, run your simulation and if you are game, go ahead with the hardware implementation.
The focus of this blog is on the problem of deciphering what is in the paper. This has become a problem only recently. This is because the latest trend in todays world is to hide as much information as possible, let the other guy break his head and yet gain recognition. This is reflected in some typical instances like when an author claims that such and such a simulation has been run but has cleverly omitted the value of the circuit parameters, control settings etc. Some may argue that this is necessary to maintain intellectual rights but I say that the intellectual rights have already been granted when the paper has been published. And I dont believe that the publishers of such journals are such villains so as to tag on their name or worse substitute your name with theirs.
This was unlike the open 1960s where you will find that the papers are crystal clear and the desire of the author to pass on knowledge is clearly seen. The best example of this would be "The Transmission and Distribution Handbook" by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Westinghouse had a status similar to what a GE (general Electric) or a TI (Texas Instruments)or an Intel has today. They could easily have hushed up the trends in transmission and distribution and made mega bucks. But they chose to publish their experiences and in the process helped an entire generation of Electrical Engineers.
I leave this as food for thought for you, dear readers (if this humble effort does have readers). I rest my case by saying that "In the older days, people were less selfish and hence society grew, now they play for only themselves to win". This is why the society of today is stagnating!!!

a journey to 'chambal'

yesterday being a sunday (guys, i am writing with reference to IST), it was an opportunity to break away from my dull, dreary routine and head out to have fun with friends. One of my pals from IIM Lucknow, Rajesh who is currently into his last week of summer training at Rohtak, my pals in TCS - Chetak and ishan, my pal from Sandvik Sanam, and my pal from Lexorbis, Sunil (Dipsy) and of course myself had a get together at Hotel Saravana Bhawan, Connaught Place (CP).
Saravana Bhawan (SB) is a well known brand name down south in Tamil Nadu.(at least thats what i have heard, having lived in bangalore/surathkal for nearly 20 years, i know of only udupi hotels).
With such a solid reputation inscribed in its name, we decided to give the 'neo-rich' establishments of gurgaon a skip and try out some classic south indian menu. The initial entry into SB was mouth watering indeed. Having been used to mess food/self cooked food/company canteen food for days together, we were dying to have a bite at the temple of S Indian food. Our first shock was the way he rava idlis turned out to be. they were pretty bad, lacking the 'zing' that a steaming hot idli should ideally give you. The next shocker was the bland tasting masala dosa which had a very very poor masala content (in fact i should say none). Down south this guy would have been skinned alive for even daring to think of such a preparation. Then what followed was South Indian paranthas, the size of marie biscuits. all that i can say at this moment is:
all i want is english marie
oh! so english! the real marie!
crispy, crunchy ooooh!!!
This ladies and gentlemen was 'twilight' robbery. It felt as if I was naked in the Chambal valley having been robbed off all my belongings. The conclusions that I could draw from this was that SB is making a fool out of people in Delhi taking advantage of either their ignorance of south indian food (ppl who fall into this category: N Indians) or their desperation for S Indian food (the case with expatriate S Indians). Whatever it is, SB is one place that will never be patronised by me.

relief!!!

its a sense of relief for every student, whatever class he/she may be when exams come to an end. its like as if the world has been lifted off atlas' shoulders.
this blog is an interesting opportunity to analyse the examination system of IIT Delhi. The evaluation is spread out over the entire semester. the general pattern is 2 minor tests, 1 main test. the professor can make up the total with these itself or he can provide some weightage for assignments or quizzes etc. this is an impressive scheme. u have to be on ur toes all the semester. no flash in the pan efforts. but the flip side isthat if u slip even once then its going to be really tough to get back. this is the grouse that student's normally nurse against this system. but having lived life in the student lane i must say that the students waste time throughout the semester and end up losing sleep and health towards the end. infact there is lot of time for extra curricular activities too. a bit of moderation would help in the long run.
all said and done what i just said is not going to be practised even by me. just hoping that someone follows it and tells me the result.

PhD=Phulgaya horns dimagmain

first, the literal translation of the title. PhD as most of you may be knowing stands for Doctor of Philosophy. I beg to differ with all of you who say so. Thats because I have found out an expansion for that abbreviation which suits the behaviour of most of the research scholars and those who have obtained their degrees and have embarked upon their career either as a teacher or as a researcher.
They say that 'EMPTY VESSELS MAKE THE MOST NOISE'. taken in the converse sense, 'A FULL VESSEL SHOULD NOT MAKE UNNECESSARY NOISE'. the vessel that i am referring to here is the vessel of knowledge i.e the human brain. What is generally taught and assimilated from an early age is that as one studies more one should become more humble and thence will flow fame and riches. infact there is a sanskrit proverb in this regard
vidya dadati vinayam
vinayat labhdati (am not sure of this word) patratvam
patratvat dhanam aapnoti
dhanaat dharmam tatah sukham

but what i have seen is a converse of this subhashitam. my version of this proverb would be
vidya dadati avinayam
avinayat labhdati 'fucking rights'
'fucking rights'aat aapnoti 'further desire'
'further desiraat' aapnoti 'need and greed to fuck'

a typical phenomenon observed is the way research scholars behave at the time they start working on their research area and their behaviour when they are on the way to that honoured doctorate or worse when they get employed as faculty members or some researchers.
when they start, they are normal. by normal i mean there is no trace of arrogance in them. they are willing to discuss things with you, allow you to put across your point of view and are even ready to accept their mistakes if they have made any. but woe betide you if they achieve the latter stage of progress as mentioned. the typical arrogance is manifested in dialogues like "What do you know?", "you know nothing!", "don't try to tell me". and may heavens fall upon you if they achieve some position in society....there is simply no chance of such a conversation.

what i want to ask such 'mandarins' is this "Why do you treat your less endowed (i mean wrt qualifications) friends like pieces of trash?" after all we are human beings. we too have a sense of dignity and honour.

as a final warning i want to say "please dont take advantage of our necessity to remain in everyone's good books as a sign of weakness. someday a Che Guevara will rise amidst us and thats the day when you will be on your knees and we will force you to say.................
LAL SALAAM....

India loses at Wagah too

With the dust settling down over the recently concluded India-Pakistan cricket series where India undeservedly escaped a thrashing in the test series but got what they deserved in the one dayers, I am reminded of what I saw at the Wagah border during my trip there.
Wagah is on the border of India and Pakistan. There is nothing special about this place except for the fact that the border guarding agencies of the two countries BSF (in the case of India) and Pakistani Rangers have built magnificient amphitheatres and conduct enthralling drills every evening for the benefit of the populace on both sides.
The journey to the border from the Indian side begins from Amritsar and takes about 1 hour to reach the border. The way to the amphitheatre takes on along the International Border and one gets a close up view of Pakistani soldiers.
The actual ceremony begins close to sunset. Before that the two organisations (mentioned earlier) try to motivate the crowd to raise slogans, provide full throated support for slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Vandemataram, Hinduatan zindabad etc.
It is this aspect that i want to comment on. It was a moment of pride for me when i started shouting out the slogans, but soon i realised that there were many pairs of eyes drilling at me as if to say, "This dude is performing an action that we have never seen. Wonder which planet he is from." People were so busy in chatting with one another that they did not have the 'enthu' (this is not the word that has to be used here. the correct phrase is FEELING OF DUTY) to support their soldiers. And i am sure these are the very same people who will go to some rock show and shout themselves hoarse, end up with a whiplash the next day and maybe even have a few Js and G strings in their mouth in the bargain. It was most shameful that the BSF commanding officer of Wagah had to come out with a microphone to make himself (i dont blame him for this. people were behaving like in a fish market) and us (this is unpardonable) heard to the pakistanis.
On the other hand the enthusiasm of the Pakistanis was there for all to see. They cheered their soldiers and got their voices across to India.
By this post i am not suggesting that we have to have a rat race for everyting. but atleast we need to be enthusiastic in places where it is required.
Hope future visitors will keep this in mind.
Jai Hind

a long hiatus indeed!

back to blogging after a very very long time. tests, trips and a lack of mood to blog contributed to this hiatus. my trip to amritsar, wagah, dharamsala, kangra, mccleodganj and chandigarh proved to be a smashing success. won lots of favourable reviews for my planning. the photos and the travelogue are expected to be shared among the online community anytime soon. had an offer to attend a talk show hosted by Sonali Chander, NDTV. Turned it down because the topic was Indo-Pak cricket series (yuck!!).
Appearence wise, long hair is the norm of the day. A typical rock star like look has not met with any opposition from my parents though there were feeble protests. plan to stick with it through the summer months and see if it brings any change in fortune.
will be regular henceforth.

Revenge of a nerd!

The Oxford dictionary defines a nerd as a person who is foolish, feeble,boring and uninteresting. You may be wondering why i am talking about such a topic.The origin of this blog is another blog by my friend Rohan Ranade (http://therohanranade.blogspot.com).
During the course of my random perusals of his blog i found that he had taken up a 'nerd test' in which he had scored 81/100. Curious, i took up the test and ended up with a score of 87..fuck that!!!!!!
but the very definition of a nerd is opposite to the kind of person i am. i am one of the outgoing guys whenever there is any get together. even in my current capacity as a master's student in india (some people consider this nauseating. masters students in india are called uncles, matkas (pots..basically because supposedly they were not smart enough to complete their graduation from the institute where they have come to work on their masters), i feel that i have carved a niche for myself. and that i am much much better of than these 'high priests' of engineering who know only to solve equations and score marks. my name may not be on every lady's lips on campus. I may not go to the movies occasionally or may not be an active skirt chaser. but does that make me any less interesting? for those of you who do want to know as to what i do, i play basketball (pretty well), i play the violin, quake, play AOE, roam around, explore places...(only to list a few things that i do)..And coming back to the definition, nerd=feeble??? take a drink baby....u are colliding with the wrong person.
what i want to convey through this blogs is that never ever rely on such shit online tests. i just took it to prove the test wrong. and to top it all, the oxford dictionary is unaware of the origins of the word nerd. so much for classifying someone.

Sexy 11

There are two class of amorous men in this world. One who like it the raw XXX fashion, i.e unzip and stick it in, blow, lick, swallow types and the other who like it subtle i.e. a bit of skin show followed by say a sensuous dance or a sensuous dinner and then some foreplay followed by sex known by the terminology of 'making love' not the 'crash bang wallop' variety.
What appeals most to a man when he looks at a female? the answer varies depending on the taste a person has. Mind you, we are not talking about mental compatibility but of physical attraction. some guys look at the breasts, some at the thighs, some at the waist, some at the belly button and some get turned on only with a 'darshan' of the area down under.
all said and done, sometimes its the stage of being partially dressed and moving about sensuously that appeals most to a male than the stage of being in the nude. nothing stirs the imagination more than the thought of being the one to remove those figure hugging clothes and enjoying hours of coital pleasure. such a visual treat is available aplenty in hindi films, specially in some raunchy song settings. rack your brains guys, think of all the songs that you have seen wherein you wanted to make love to the sensuous beauties. Heres my list of such songs. The format is Film name,heroine,song and comments if i deem necessary:

1) Dhoom, Rimi Sen, "Koi nahin hai Kamre Main"....man, if i have a wife like that then my kaam will get postponed for eternity.
2) Sailaab, Madhuri Dikshit, "Intezaar...".......proved my hypothesis that any female will look awesome in the fisherwoman's garb
3) Beta, Madhuri Dikshit, "Dhak Dhak"....nothing as compared to the others but in a league of its own considering the times it was made in
4) Dhoom, Tata Young, "Dhoom Machale"....gr8 music+hot babe
5) Aradhana, Sharmila Tagore,"Roop Tera mastana"...what setting, what a scenario!!!! ooohhh man just think of it, need i say more?
6) Rangeela, Urmila Matondkar, "Tanha Tanha"....i can only say 'I just wanna have sex on the beach' after watching this
7) Road, Antara mali, "Makhmali Yeh Badan"...wish i was vivek oberoi
8) Mr. India, Sridevi, "kaantein Nahin Kat te".....proved the power of a sari and rain over a man's senses
9) Ashoka, Kareena Kapoor, "sansanana"....water nymph+mermaid all rolled into one = bebo darling
10) Shakti, Aishwarya rai, "ishq kameena".....beautiful ash proved that she can become horny too
11) Mohra, Raveena Tandon, "tip tip barsa pani"....wet wet wet and its time to get wet!!!!!!!!!

'BASKI'in IIT

"Basketball doesn't build character it reveals it"

"Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best" - Tim Duncan

"Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals"
--Dr. James Naismith, the father of basketball


The basketball season is in full swing in IITD. Every other person seems to have caught the 'baski' virus and i am no exception. i have never had a craze for any game till now (not even tennis). i love all games and to be honest and humble, i have a knack for all of them. i just need to spend some time at it.
things have changed with basketball. its become really addictive. such an interest in the game was not found when i was in NITK. this can be explained by the following reasons:
1) i was more into tennis
2) no one taught me the game with the intention of teaching me. people used to teach me with their style in mind and asked me to adopt to it. honestly, such a method of teaching is bullshit.

out here, i have a friend who taught me from the basics but encouraged me to develop my own style of playing. hes a treat to play with, always encouraging you to aim higher (like Tim Duncan said). Plus he makes it fun, something i was never able to see when i was in NITK.

Moving away from my story, let me give you a brief outlay of whats been happening in the inter-hostel basketball tournament. My hostel Shivalik is into the semis where we are going to face the defending champions, the Nil Bulls (from NIlgiri hostel). Incidentally, we are the Shiv Guns. Our progress to the semi was littered with a defeat and two victories. We beat Vindhyachal and Kumaon but were thrashed by Jwalamukhi. jwala is a one man army with its all purpose missile being a chap called Bhandari who has played for Rajasthan state. Semifinal matches start on Wednesday with the following line up.
Shiva vs Nilgiri
Jwala vs Karakoram/Aravali (i am not sure of the grp A standings)

Heres hoping for a cracker of a match and hopefully a victory and still hopefully a tournament win....