Another Cheap Title...
Bombay it is where I am going to start my phase of the life where for a change, I am going to be living on my own after about 24 years of living on almost everyone else. Well for starters I never liked Bombay much from the limited interaction I had with her , I must have made about 3 trips to Bombay in my entire life with one being a mere stopover for a connecting flight, Remember staying in Bombay for about a day, because of a technical glitch in the flight, It used to be known as Bombay those days, First impression of the city was at a pedestrian crossing “ This place is bloody stuffed like a can of sardines” saw this huge crowd waiting to cross the road at a signal and I am thinking that the population of the entire town where we used to stay then would be less than the amount of people waiting to cross the road , In other words I found it extremely crowded , a suffocating environment, and a place which had this petrol laden moisture which sticks on you giving you a second shade , never had a chance to interact with the people out there or the places.
Second time around went last year to receive a prize for a paper, my sole contribution to the Endeavour was to go collect the prize as the other chappies had an exam, called up a friend who was working in Patni, or was it I flex, Shankar aka Mudalvan, he was the savior, came to pick me up at Santa Cruz at about 11 in the night, it was way off his regular route, we then took up about three modes of transportation to reach his place , my trip to Bombay form Bangalore had taken just about the same time to reach his place. The next day around, manage to get a ride on his company’s bus till a particular place, and was advised to take a train to Bandra, I had to go to the Taj there, well me in all my innocence went to the station, it was just a ten minute trip to Bandra, I go there and see this huge crowd waiting to get into a single bogey, there I was wondering if I would be able to survive this seething mass of Humanity, I gave up, took a cab, reached Bandra , One thing positive about the entire trip were the people who in their own way did help us out and the cabbies who insisted on using the meter
Another chum from Bombay, who goes up with this naara “Mumbai rocks” on all his internal messenger posts claims that anyone who lived in Bombay/Mumbai would be a Bombayite for life. Let’s see how true it is…..
As of now I do know where I am going ………..
It is to this crowdy, humid, eternally busy place which hopefully shall be better than I think it is going to be, But on another note, am going to live on near the sea, for a land lubber like me, Bah …………………
P.s: Bombay I presume is the only place where IPO advertisements are painted on buses
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Iron Maiden hits Town
Never was a Maiden Fan, the concert did nothing to change my perception , they were good , you do have to give them credit , but I guess I outgrew maiden sometime when I was in my teens , loads of my friends are proclaimed maiden heads , nothing against them, everyone has a different taste in music , but still cant stand Maiden , I know I will be ostracized for posting this, but yes people this is the truth in capital letters, I still think of them as old geezers who never grew up. On another note, they did know how to get the crowd moving, me was wandering around during the entire Maiden performance hoping to talk with someone, but never did that, other than a friend throwing up and us being stranded after the concert, bloody hungry and sleepy, Were desperate for water and a smoke, Nice fun it was with a bunch of friends, met up with some other people whom I had not seen in about 3 odd years
All in all an enjoyable evening except for the music :)
All in all an enjoyable evening except for the music :)
The Ballad of a Thin Man
A brilliant Dylan song; cheaply borrowed it for a vague post
I have always been thin, there used to be this time when I was the chubbiest kid in the class, I actually don’t remember ever being chubby or fat, or any friendly neighborhood aunty pulling my cheeks and saying “so cute”, happened to see my school snaps taken when I was in 1st and 2nd Standard, I was quite surprised to see that I was in fact the fattest kid in the whole lot. There I stood in the last row with my shirt barely covering my belly and proudly displaying a Red badge saying “First Rank”, I did have that stupid grin which somehow tended to pop in almost all my snaps, have only one set of photos in which I don’t have that grin, a half –cocky gesture, which seemed to say “mate what do you think you are looking at?”
So much for old school snaps, I actually remembered a kid from back then, his name was balaji, if my memory serves me right, he used to be the eternal third rank holder for about 3 odd years which I spent in that school, there was another girl who used to share 1st rank with me, don’t remember her name though, have only one line to say about my academics from then to now “kahan se kahan aa gaye”
Well back to the post, was thin all through my school life from 5th and through college, my trouser sizes had remained the same from 9th to post-grad with a decent improvement recently, never felt that I was thin back in school. Hmm was a lean mean fighting machine (another cheap phrase)
Have lost track of what I was thinking , sorry the ballad has to be continued some other day
I have always been thin, there used to be this time when I was the chubbiest kid in the class, I actually don’t remember ever being chubby or fat, or any friendly neighborhood aunty pulling my cheeks and saying “so cute”, happened to see my school snaps taken when I was in 1st and 2nd Standard, I was quite surprised to see that I was in fact the fattest kid in the whole lot. There I stood in the last row with my shirt barely covering my belly and proudly displaying a Red badge saying “First Rank”, I did have that stupid grin which somehow tended to pop in almost all my snaps, have only one set of photos in which I don’t have that grin, a half –cocky gesture, which seemed to say “mate what do you think you are looking at?”
So much for old school snaps, I actually remembered a kid from back then, his name was balaji, if my memory serves me right, he used to be the eternal third rank holder for about 3 odd years which I spent in that school, there was another girl who used to share 1st rank with me, don’t remember her name though, have only one line to say about my academics from then to now “kahan se kahan aa gaye”
Well back to the post, was thin all through my school life from 5th and through college, my trouser sizes had remained the same from 9th to post-grad with a decent improvement recently, never felt that I was thin back in school. Hmm was a lean mean fighting machine (another cheap phrase)
Have lost track of what I was thinking , sorry the ballad has to be continued some other day
The loss of humility
Another post, another day, going to change the name of my blog, shall be know as something better than vishnupurana@blogspot.com
Life has been quite a whirlwind these days, been quite busy (ah the liar in me refuses to stop farting) made a job at Universal consulting; placements are indeed tedious, never thought I would be under pressure, but some interviews do make you feel real bad, moi had a not so great academic record on campus. But the only thing I had in my favor was the fact that I could speak on anything and everything for about 5 odd minutes making sense, (at least I thought I made senseJ) well perceptions do vary, had about 20-25 odd interviews and almost all of them were Fit interviews in other words personal interviews, well I am not someone who is uncomfortable with them, but somehow loads of them decided I was just being arrogant, one of them told me this on my face.
I am not exactly the epitome of humility, but being called “Arrogant” well was a first for me in some time (24 years to be more precise), I do tend to speak in a very direct manner, but never thought that people perceived it in a completely different light. Well had this really deep self – searching exercise in which I bugged almost all my friends asking them the same question again and again “Mate do you think that I sound arrogant,” I did change the wording a lot, the question was rephrased in different ways, almost all the chappies with whom I drank in the last 2 weeks were subject to me proving the fact that I was not arrogant,
finicky (yes), usually uncompromising, short tempered, really cocky in team games, had a tendency to question the existing order, did bark out orders, could be a very bad first mate, someone who could not tolerate shortfalls in other people, cocksure in his decisions, Impetus, someone who could not sit still in a single place, foolish at times, miss the small details, manipulative at times, Bloody lazy, really bad at managing my time, happy go lucky, introverted (???) All these traits are mine indeed mine, but arrogant, hmm I don’t buy that, tell me why should I listen to some one else???
(The above paragraph is something similar to my mind’s thought process when I was given this feedback)
All this “soul searching “did yield something, that I don’t take very well to others commenting about me, while I do want others to take down my opinions as a gospel. The paradox being the fact that it proves the point that I am indeed arrogant as spelt out by loads of them, my friends and family would never say something to antagonize me. But honestly, the day I stopped listening to what others say, I am indeed arrogant
Bah another pointless post
Life has been quite a whirlwind these days, been quite busy (ah the liar in me refuses to stop farting) made a job at Universal consulting; placements are indeed tedious, never thought I would be under pressure, but some interviews do make you feel real bad, moi had a not so great academic record on campus. But the only thing I had in my favor was the fact that I could speak on anything and everything for about 5 odd minutes making sense, (at least I thought I made senseJ) well perceptions do vary, had about 20-25 odd interviews and almost all of them were Fit interviews in other words personal interviews, well I am not someone who is uncomfortable with them, but somehow loads of them decided I was just being arrogant, one of them told me this on my face.
I am not exactly the epitome of humility, but being called “Arrogant” well was a first for me in some time (24 years to be more precise), I do tend to speak in a very direct manner, but never thought that people perceived it in a completely different light. Well had this really deep self – searching exercise in which I bugged almost all my friends asking them the same question again and again “Mate do you think that I sound arrogant,” I did change the wording a lot, the question was rephrased in different ways, almost all the chappies with whom I drank in the last 2 weeks were subject to me proving the fact that I was not arrogant,
finicky (yes), usually uncompromising, short tempered, really cocky in team games, had a tendency to question the existing order, did bark out orders, could be a very bad first mate, someone who could not tolerate shortfalls in other people, cocksure in his decisions, Impetus, someone who could not sit still in a single place, foolish at times, miss the small details, manipulative at times, Bloody lazy, really bad at managing my time, happy go lucky, introverted (???) All these traits are mine indeed mine, but arrogant, hmm I don’t buy that, tell me why should I listen to some one else???
(The above paragraph is something similar to my mind’s thought process when I was given this feedback)
All this “soul searching “did yield something, that I don’t take very well to others commenting about me, while I do want others to take down my opinions as a gospel. The paradox being the fact that it proves the point that I am indeed arrogant as spelt out by loads of them, my friends and family would never say something to antagonize me. But honestly, the day I stopped listening to what others say, I am indeed arrogant
Bah another pointless post
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Ides of March
well not exactly a term i would use to describe the next month, got placemnets coming up in a month,
and reckon what?, Iam writing a blog.
Now whenever i do start a sentence , i never know where to end it , grammar has really gone to the dogs
And i presume i have already written about the use of a comma,
well am now tired of writing bloody SOP's for your firm and what bloody questions on top of that
Some of them go like this ,
1) Have you ever been asked to compromise on your values in any situation???
2) Tell us about an incident in which you had to assume leadership??
3) Have you ever done a usual thing in a different way before?? and please tell us why was it different?
4) Have you ever faced any opposition from others when you were in a leadership position? , if yes how did you handle it?
5)Have you done anything Innovative when handling a project, if yes plaese describe??
these are just a microcosm of the various questions posed by firms, and the worst of the lot
11)Please describe yourself???, some of the more benovolent firms ask you to describe yourself in 3 sentences.
well this is life now, am surrounded by a host of forms and that is life as of now, will post after placemnets
adieu blog
await for the ides of march
and reckon what?, Iam writing a blog.
Now whenever i do start a sentence , i never know where to end it , grammar has really gone to the dogs
And i presume i have already written about the use of a comma,
well am now tired of writing bloody SOP's for your firm and what bloody questions on top of that
Some of them go like this ,
1) Have you ever been asked to compromise on your values in any situation???
2) Tell us about an incident in which you had to assume leadership??
3) Have you ever done a usual thing in a different way before?? and please tell us why was it different?
4) Have you ever faced any opposition from others when you were in a leadership position? , if yes how did you handle it?
5)Have you done anything Innovative when handling a project, if yes plaese describe??
these are just a microcosm of the various questions posed by firms, and the worst of the lot
11)Please describe yourself???, some of the more benovolent firms ask you to describe yourself in 3 sentences.
well this is life now, am surrounded by a host of forms and that is life as of now, will post after placemnets
adieu blog
await for the ides of march
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Catch the Rainbow
When evening falls
She'l run to me
Like whispered dreams
Your eyes cant see
Soft and warm
She'll touch my face
A bed of straw
Against the lace
* we believed we'd catch the rainbow
Ride the wind to the sun
Sail away on ships of wonder
But lifes not a wheel
With chains made of steel
So bless me come the dawn
Come the dawn
Writing this post on the eve of dawn , been a while since i blogged , well another psenti post
One of my fav songs : Catch the rainbow" Bloody sentimental value, just played another baddy match for the hostel , had a good chance , screwed it up, did'nt show a killer instinct before the net , lost from 13-6: well so much for a lament , raed an older blog by me. It goes by the Hisstory@blogger.com
have'nt went or visited that site in ages , shows oodles of differences in charcater, well lemme see if i can lay my hands on a diary which i wrote 7 years back , it was on my initial ragging experiences in pilani, was quite a kid then: unfortunately the diary is at home and has the names of a few women whom i had a crush on, should'nt let it fall on the hands of the press, will be quite a scandal 20 years later:))
well what was this post about???
Ahh It was about a dream , another one of those in which i go achieve something , and bag the goodies and the girl:))
Unfortunately the song sums it up in bettter words, Life is not a wheel: with chains full of steel
so do bless me for the dream , on another note , what are these chains supposed to mean??
family, naah i would rather call them as chains of " Insert any precious metal"
I sense another Self -portrait evolving :(( , do bear with me as i finish these tirades
well to think of it , I was the quiet , mischevious kid , who dreamt up pranks and well did executed them too, as i grew older , left the execution part to others , either was too lazy or must have realized that the remunerations were'nt worth it.
Lemme see if u can fit someone like this , always quiet , never opens his mouth , not that much , but can get into an argument with a stranger about smoking in a train compartment when i myself used to smoke :)) ( no hidden intent in here)
quiet , but quite hot-tempered , have had my share of fights in school , fortunately no rivalries, around the time when i was about 15-16 years old got into this really bad habit of networking, then knew alomost every other chappie in around 3 odd schools , unfornutaely the girls school was'nt one of them;((
well was always the kid , people used to call when they used to play or for a movie or for just another visit to the bajji-shop or the hand -held shop ( do translate this into tamil) can't spell it
was never marked out as being a snob:)) , yes did have this tendency to shift into Angizlam as the school kids would say
on school premises speaking in engliish was quite taboo, ion second thoughts even in pilani too when u were in a gumabl of tamil speaking junta , baecause of this forced myself to include tamil in my voacab, now when i speak , cant speak a propah word of english or hindi or tamil properly , say if i wanted to say " today was really bad"
I would say : machan today total uppeet ho gaya"
so much for linguistics , i say thsi post was a brilliant example of a random walk, just typed out whatever i thought: except for the spelling errors ::
so
been
a
long
post
g'nte:::
She'l run to me
Like whispered dreams
Your eyes cant see
Soft and warm
She'll touch my face
A bed of straw
Against the lace
* we believed we'd catch the rainbow
Ride the wind to the sun
Sail away on ships of wonder
But lifes not a wheel
With chains made of steel
So bless me come the dawn
Come the dawn
Writing this post on the eve of dawn , been a while since i blogged , well another psenti post
One of my fav songs : Catch the rainbow" Bloody sentimental value, just played another baddy match for the hostel , had a good chance , screwed it up, did'nt show a killer instinct before the net , lost from 13-6: well so much for a lament , raed an older blog by me. It goes by the Hisstory@blogger.com
have'nt went or visited that site in ages , shows oodles of differences in charcater, well lemme see if i can lay my hands on a diary which i wrote 7 years back , it was on my initial ragging experiences in pilani, was quite a kid then: unfortunately the diary is at home and has the names of a few women whom i had a crush on, should'nt let it fall on the hands of the press, will be quite a scandal 20 years later:))
well what was this post about???
Ahh It was about a dream , another one of those in which i go achieve something , and bag the goodies and the girl:))
Unfortunately the song sums it up in bettter words, Life is not a wheel: with chains full of steel
so do bless me for the dream , on another note , what are these chains supposed to mean??
family, naah i would rather call them as chains of " Insert any precious metal"
I sense another Self -portrait evolving :(( , do bear with me as i finish these tirades
well to think of it , I was the quiet , mischevious kid , who dreamt up pranks and well did executed them too, as i grew older , left the execution part to others , either was too lazy or must have realized that the remunerations were'nt worth it.
Lemme see if u can fit someone like this , always quiet , never opens his mouth , not that much , but can get into an argument with a stranger about smoking in a train compartment when i myself used to smoke :)) ( no hidden intent in here)
quiet , but quite hot-tempered , have had my share of fights in school , fortunately no rivalries, around the time when i was about 15-16 years old got into this really bad habit of networking, then knew alomost every other chappie in around 3 odd schools , unfornutaely the girls school was'nt one of them;((
well was always the kid , people used to call when they used to play or for a movie or for just another visit to the bajji-shop or the hand -held shop ( do translate this into tamil) can't spell it
was never marked out as being a snob:)) , yes did have this tendency to shift into Angizlam as the school kids would say
on school premises speaking in engliish was quite taboo, ion second thoughts even in pilani too when u were in a gumabl of tamil speaking junta , baecause of this forced myself to include tamil in my voacab, now when i speak , cant speak a propah word of english or hindi or tamil properly , say if i wanted to say " today was really bad"
I would say : machan today total uppeet ho gaya"
so much for linguistics , i say thsi post was a brilliant example of a random walk, just typed out whatever i thought: except for the spelling errors ::
so
been
a
long
post
g'nte:::
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Another arbit Piece
The man questioned the veracity of her thought
wan is the choice that u have made
far not beyond the hills lies the dragon
he reprimanded ;fear the dragon
Red is she, unyielding and the possesor of a fearful weapon
she is enoromous and is as vindictive as an elephant
the lady replied , i die if i accept the choice or if i rebel
fear say tell me is'nt surrender worse off than a brave death
The wise old man wearing a top hat replied lady , the path you have chosen is not for the meek
neither is it the wise way to lead the people who look upon you
A piece written on a fictional futuristic war betwen india and china
unfortunately the wise man is america
wan is the choice that u have made
far not beyond the hills lies the dragon
he reprimanded ;fear the dragon
Red is she, unyielding and the possesor of a fearful weapon
she is enoromous and is as vindictive as an elephant
the lady replied , i die if i accept the choice or if i rebel
fear say tell me is'nt surrender worse off than a brave death
The wise old man wearing a top hat replied lady , the path you have chosen is not for the meek
neither is it the wise way to lead the people who look upon you
A piece written on a fictional futuristic war betwen india and china
unfortunately the wise man is america
Friday, December 29, 2006
what is in a Name?
hopefully a post , started on a post twice and then stopped it halfway through:
life has beeen quite pleasant the last 7 months, nothing interesting happened other than being bit by bees , getting ur fingers nipped on writing paper not once nor twice but an unprecedented 4 times, getting 3 tetnaus shotrs for getting cut by rust iron on my cot in the last 8 months.
the year that was 2006 had to be the most injury and sickness prone year in my life
started on a bad note ,
january: had a fever , a smokers cough , exams and other stuff
february : was quite ok , other than a bruise and a limp caused by a rougue piece of iron jutting out of my cot
March: nothing much
april: bloody hell breaks out , get really sick ,on a posiotive note quit smoking for about 74 days ,started after coming back to campus
Late december : get stung by bees
In the intermediate months , got cut by paper, swiss knife, nail clipper , shoes and what not , even by a badminton racquet
as u would have guessed not quite a momentous year in my life , would be quite happy that the year has paased by without any more dire consequences
but on the other hand , found some self belief in the fact that i quit smoking for about 2 odd months , generating a faint sliver of hope that i may be able to quit it one day , my short temeperd outbursts which used to be at the rate of about one every 20 minutes have gone down drastically, and to top everything, spent about 3 odd months of quality time at home, did'nt pick a single argument with papa ,no major ones. quite an uneventful yaer i must say
so on that note , a real happy year for moi atleast , on a corny seedy and a hopelessly romantic note , experienced the joy of lving last year
adios blog
life has beeen quite pleasant the last 7 months, nothing interesting happened other than being bit by bees , getting ur fingers nipped on writing paper not once nor twice but an unprecedented 4 times, getting 3 tetnaus shotrs for getting cut by rust iron on my cot in the last 8 months.
the year that was 2006 had to be the most injury and sickness prone year in my life
started on a bad note ,
january: had a fever , a smokers cough , exams and other stuff
february : was quite ok , other than a bruise and a limp caused by a rougue piece of iron jutting out of my cot
March: nothing much
april: bloody hell breaks out , get really sick ,on a posiotive note quit smoking for about 74 days ,started after coming back to campus
Late december : get stung by bees
In the intermediate months , got cut by paper, swiss knife, nail clipper , shoes and what not , even by a badminton racquet
as u would have guessed not quite a momentous year in my life , would be quite happy that the year has paased by without any more dire consequences
but on the other hand , found some self belief in the fact that i quit smoking for about 2 odd months , generating a faint sliver of hope that i may be able to quit it one day , my short temeperd outbursts which used to be at the rate of about one every 20 minutes have gone down drastically, and to top everything, spent about 3 odd months of quality time at home, did'nt pick a single argument with papa ,no major ones. quite an uneventful yaer i must say
so on that note , a real happy year for moi atleast , on a corny seedy and a hopelessly romantic note , experienced the joy of lving last year
adios blog
Monday, September 25, 2006
The beginning:
The beginning:
Far away at the horizon stood the steed
With its head held high in mighty pride
They came to steal the bride
Wanderers, vandals, hooligans, vamoose
All look upon and ostracize
The convert looked at the suns glow
He remarked never have I seen a sight
So warming and enervating thy senile piety
Never have I seen a man grovel in his apathy
For a snub is a snub even it comes from the almighty
No man is an island
Pray I am cutting the oars to light a fire
To keep me company
The bride in all her razzle dazzle looked and remarked
Behold the day is here at the darkest of the night
When the winds blow high and nigh
The knight shall come to me
On a white sand beach shall I give away my embrace
They came on horses reeking of flesh
Cast in iron were their faces
They gave away covert glances
Mighty were their vices
They demanded very high prices
Hypothesize a dinner given by the pride
Where the animals laid a feast for the deer
Invited were the main dishes, so were the rabbits for appetizers
They came to prey on her
Where was the knight?
Answered the voices
They come only in fairy tales
Don’t be a dreamer said the old maid
Life is full of unwarranted surprises
He will come said the bride assuredly
Wanted is he amongst the masses
Time he does not have for farces
Said the dark lord
Do the needful, bring her to me
Have to see what fancies the bride to be
Far away at the horizon stood the steed
With its head held high in mighty pride
They came to steal the bride
Wanderers, vandals, hooligans, vamoose
All look upon and ostracize
The convert looked at the suns glow
He remarked never have I seen a sight
So warming and enervating thy senile piety
Never have I seen a man grovel in his apathy
For a snub is a snub even it comes from the almighty
No man is an island
Pray I am cutting the oars to light a fire
To keep me company
The bride in all her razzle dazzle looked and remarked
Behold the day is here at the darkest of the night
When the winds blow high and nigh
The knight shall come to me
On a white sand beach shall I give away my embrace
They came on horses reeking of flesh
Cast in iron were their faces
They gave away covert glances
Mighty were their vices
They demanded very high prices
Hypothesize a dinner given by the pride
Where the animals laid a feast for the deer
Invited were the main dishes, so were the rabbits for appetizers
They came to prey on her
Where was the knight?
Answered the voices
They come only in fairy tales
Don’t be a dreamer said the old maid
Life is full of unwarranted surprises
He will come said the bride assuredly
Wanted is he amongst the masses
Time he does not have for farces
Said the dark lord
Do the needful, bring her to me
Have to see what fancies the bride to be
Friday, September 15, 2006
Poverty:((((
I see a woman holding a child and begging at a railway platform
I see a 6 year old kid washing plates at the local dhaba
I see a kid working in a Mechanic shed opposite a school
I see lepers flaunting their disease outside the temple
I see a woman working with a kid bawling by her side at a construction site
I see people doing their morning ablutions at the railway track
I see a family of eight sleeping in a single shack
I see families sleeping in front of shop fronts
I read about farmer suicides every other day on the eighth page on my newspaper
I hear about unclaimed corpses on the streets of Delhi
I hear about what an auto rick wallah has to do to drive a vehicle on Bangalore (he claims he is well off)
I see kids with swelling tummies on BBC
I Read about the alcohol deaths every odd year in tamilnadu
I read about fights happening over Quota implementation (have u ever heard of a protest for improving primary school education)
I see rickshawallahs in Delhi plying ladies weighing about a Ton for a pittance
Well you get the point, things are not exactly as they seem, was reading an article or rather a speech by sainath, he does make a point that farmer suicides and all never make the front-page , it is quite true , all of us want to believe that we are living in a hunky dory world where everything is fine at least that is what TOI wants us to believe , they would cover amitabh’s birthday , but would never cover the plight of a widow with two young kids who have a smile on their face because the cameraman asked them to give a smile ( remember a snap from an article in the India today some 3-4 years back ) , on a personal note , am a staunch believer in primary education , yup we don’t learn much at schools other than some fossilized material about benzene and gravity, but still an equal opportunity is to be given to those kids working in those factories making , beedis, match sticks and crackers.
I remember that there used to be this kid who used to work in the place where I lived in Delhi, this kid was bright, and quite enthused too, he was about 10 years old , kid could not read or write , he smoked and drank, there used to be this jat in that place who used to send the kids on errands to the grocery store, the kid’s commission used to be one cigarette for every pack and he used to get daaru every now and then from that illustrious gentleman. Now the kid used to steal, tell lies and used to badmouth everyone on the road. I used to stay on the 4th floor, One Day on a nice bright afternoon , unusual in Delhi , I was standing on the terrace and smoking a cigarette, I look down and I see this kid washing a fellow tenant’s vehicle, on the same road there were two more kids who were playing cricket. The kid was looking at the other kids with an inscrutable look on his face, I never understood what that look meant, was that a look of longing or that of misery, or of a profound understanding of the world, I felt really bad at that moment, maybe one of those things which u don’t forget, the kid in question got kicked out a week later as he was found with a ring belonging to a friend, never saw him again , his mom came and picked him up , happened to have a conversation with the mom, she spoke a dialect of Hindi which I couldn’t comprehend properly , the kid’s dad had come to Delhi to find work , he ended up as a rickshawallah, he sent for his family, they were 4 kids and a mother , the kid was the youngest one , he fell in love with some other woman , abandoned his family some 8 odd years ago, the eldest son now works as a taxi driver and he does not give a penny home , he apparently has his own family now at the age of 22, the 2 girls were working in a local cloth factory and this kid was the worst of the lot , accused of stealing in some 3 houses where he worked , asked her why she did not send this kid to school , the answer was that if he works I get about 250 odd rupees a month and the kid gets food too, a school was an indulgence according to her , had a 15 min conversation with this woman , I could never really convince her why she should send her kid to school.
I see a 6 year old kid washing plates at the local dhaba
I see a kid working in a Mechanic shed opposite a school
I see lepers flaunting their disease outside the temple
I see a woman working with a kid bawling by her side at a construction site
I see people doing their morning ablutions at the railway track
I see a family of eight sleeping in a single shack
I see families sleeping in front of shop fronts
I read about farmer suicides every other day on the eighth page on my newspaper
I hear about unclaimed corpses on the streets of Delhi
I hear about what an auto rick wallah has to do to drive a vehicle on Bangalore (he claims he is well off)
I see kids with swelling tummies on BBC
I Read about the alcohol deaths every odd year in tamilnadu
I read about fights happening over Quota implementation (have u ever heard of a protest for improving primary school education)
I see rickshawallahs in Delhi plying ladies weighing about a Ton for a pittance
Well you get the point, things are not exactly as they seem, was reading an article or rather a speech by sainath, he does make a point that farmer suicides and all never make the front-page , it is quite true , all of us want to believe that we are living in a hunky dory world where everything is fine at least that is what TOI wants us to believe , they would cover amitabh’s birthday , but would never cover the plight of a widow with two young kids who have a smile on their face because the cameraman asked them to give a smile ( remember a snap from an article in the India today some 3-4 years back ) , on a personal note , am a staunch believer in primary education , yup we don’t learn much at schools other than some fossilized material about benzene and gravity, but still an equal opportunity is to be given to those kids working in those factories making , beedis, match sticks and crackers.
I remember that there used to be this kid who used to work in the place where I lived in Delhi, this kid was bright, and quite enthused too, he was about 10 years old , kid could not read or write , he smoked and drank, there used to be this jat in that place who used to send the kids on errands to the grocery store, the kid’s commission used to be one cigarette for every pack and he used to get daaru every now and then from that illustrious gentleman. Now the kid used to steal, tell lies and used to badmouth everyone on the road. I used to stay on the 4th floor, One Day on a nice bright afternoon , unusual in Delhi , I was standing on the terrace and smoking a cigarette, I look down and I see this kid washing a fellow tenant’s vehicle, on the same road there were two more kids who were playing cricket. The kid was looking at the other kids with an inscrutable look on his face, I never understood what that look meant, was that a look of longing or that of misery, or of a profound understanding of the world, I felt really bad at that moment, maybe one of those things which u don’t forget, the kid in question got kicked out a week later as he was found with a ring belonging to a friend, never saw him again , his mom came and picked him up , happened to have a conversation with the mom, she spoke a dialect of Hindi which I couldn’t comprehend properly , the kid’s dad had come to Delhi to find work , he ended up as a rickshawallah, he sent for his family, they were 4 kids and a mother , the kid was the youngest one , he fell in love with some other woman , abandoned his family some 8 odd years ago, the eldest son now works as a taxi driver and he does not give a penny home , he apparently has his own family now at the age of 22, the 2 girls were working in a local cloth factory and this kid was the worst of the lot , accused of stealing in some 3 houses where he worked , asked her why she did not send this kid to school , the answer was that if he works I get about 250 odd rupees a month and the kid gets food too, a school was an indulgence according to her , had a 15 min conversation with this woman , I could never really convince her why she should send her kid to school.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Ennui v.1.21
another arbit post
sitting at home feelin proud about the fact that iam not smokin even when iam alone: ok chuck smokin, been stayin in cbe for the past 20 odd days , needed this break and a change in my brilliant lifestyle , in which all that mattered was who is gonna treat me this weekend , free daaru is actually available, if ur friends work and they believe that they have a healthy rate of return in terms of alcohol as soon as i finish my education.
nowadays all the news channels seem to be hell bent on focusing on the reservation issue, my personal opinion, quite indifferent about it, but still feel angry about the fact that people can shun responsibility for an idealogy, it was bloody sick watchin a woman lying with tumor in the ward with not even a single doctor around, that is the only bad part with all these doc chappies marching about, yes it is votebank politics , yes it is harming meritious students, yup some people on reservation may not become as brilliant as other doctors, yes reservation in post graduation is unwanted, but with all of them being true, it does not give them any reason to hold patients as ransom, it is bloody bickering, another brilliant idea is that of economic reservation, nothing wrong with it except for the fact that not many indian's pay taxes, i've personally known a person declaring his dad's income as 12000 p.a when his dad was running a travels company and a trucking service also if iam correct :))
economic reservation is not exactly very realistic in this country: affirmative action : really welcome , but would love it on the primary school front: '
another subject in news, people from other castes can become pujaris in temples according to a new resolution passed by the government: nothing against brahmins but almost everyone being interviewed by a news channel( all of then pujaris) were quite skeptical about this and some spoke quite frnkly as only brahmins can take up this and people born of another caste should never be a pujari( iam slighta confused here) and people say the caste system is on its way out, naah: believe me it is gonna be a long time: people still make a ruckus about quotas:
iam slighta sounding pro reservation: all about me being indifferent:))
watchin almost 1/2 a tam movie everyday, have to make a trip to chennai and pondicherry sometime, it is been a while since i met up with some friends, will do that sometime before hols ,people from my batch have started workin:(( , dee flunkin sure hurts: am actually not reading much nowadays. done with all the books i got from bangalore: chalo high time to end a post and dont trust the broadband connxn here:
sitting at home feelin proud about the fact that iam not smokin even when iam alone: ok chuck smokin, been stayin in cbe for the past 20 odd days , needed this break and a change in my brilliant lifestyle , in which all that mattered was who is gonna treat me this weekend , free daaru is actually available, if ur friends work and they believe that they have a healthy rate of return in terms of alcohol as soon as i finish my education.
nowadays all the news channels seem to be hell bent on focusing on the reservation issue, my personal opinion, quite indifferent about it, but still feel angry about the fact that people can shun responsibility for an idealogy, it was bloody sick watchin a woman lying with tumor in the ward with not even a single doctor around, that is the only bad part with all these doc chappies marching about, yes it is votebank politics , yes it is harming meritious students, yup some people on reservation may not become as brilliant as other doctors, yes reservation in post graduation is unwanted, but with all of them being true, it does not give them any reason to hold patients as ransom, it is bloody bickering, another brilliant idea is that of economic reservation, nothing wrong with it except for the fact that not many indian's pay taxes, i've personally known a person declaring his dad's income as 12000 p.a when his dad was running a travels company and a trucking service also if iam correct :))
economic reservation is not exactly very realistic in this country: affirmative action : really welcome , but would love it on the primary school front: '
another subject in news, people from other castes can become pujaris in temples according to a new resolution passed by the government: nothing against brahmins but almost everyone being interviewed by a news channel( all of then pujaris) were quite skeptical about this and some spoke quite frnkly as only brahmins can take up this and people born of another caste should never be a pujari( iam slighta confused here) and people say the caste system is on its way out, naah: believe me it is gonna be a long time: people still make a ruckus about quotas:
iam slighta sounding pro reservation: all about me being indifferent:))
watchin almost 1/2 a tam movie everyday, have to make a trip to chennai and pondicherry sometime, it is been a while since i met up with some friends, will do that sometime before hols ,people from my batch have started workin:(( , dee flunkin sure hurts: am actually not reading much nowadays. done with all the books i got from bangalore: chalo high time to end a post and dont trust the broadband connxn here:
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Ennui v 2.1 ( an upgrade)
another arbit post on nothingness, have been really vela enough to fill in all this thrash. The copyrights to Emily dickinsion's poems should be bought by some really good rock band, i seriously vouch for the fact that they would be awesome rock ballad's , atleast her 4th set, she is one of the best poet's i've ever read, i actually have'nt read that many, another arbit thought , why cant i use any other punctuation mark other than the comma?
Well firstly it is one of the easiest one's around, a comma gives you a feeling of continuity, an innocous comma just extends a sentence, it gives you a sense of completeness rather than what the full stop gives you, it is not exactly a dead end, it is something which can give birth to another stream of ideas after it is placed and it is also very useful for people who tend to give their written lore a harried speech or rather the ramblings of a bored,confused,mad,pricky,pointy,amorous,articulate,astounded, well you get the point, now let us see how the comma originated, or rather where should it be exactly used, i remember reading an article about the comma, from wiki "According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "comma" comes directly from the Greek komma, which means "something cut off" or "a short clause", me actually never knew that some comma's had a special name to, again from wiki" A comma before the word "and" or "or" in a list of more than two things is called a serial comma, or an Oxford comma:" oopsie me never learnt this from wren and martin, a book which is majorly responsible for the way i write without following any grammatical rules, another fact about this chut little character again no point in qouting the source again and again "In many European languages, commas are used as decimal separators. The only English-speaking country which uses this convention is South Africa. Thus, "1,5 V" means "one and one-half volts" Hmm can't write any more technical drab about the comma, According to me a comma is a lover's continual of a sentence, chee how seedy can i get, it is the continuation of the unfinished symphony, lemme end this sentence here for a comma can also mean that you never know when to finish a sentence
Well firstly it is one of the easiest one's around, a comma gives you a feeling of continuity, an innocous comma just extends a sentence, it gives you a sense of completeness rather than what the full stop gives you, it is not exactly a dead end, it is something which can give birth to another stream of ideas after it is placed and it is also very useful for people who tend to give their written lore a harried speech or rather the ramblings of a bored,confused,mad,pricky,pointy,amorous,articulate,astounded, well you get the point, now let us see how the comma originated, or rather where should it be exactly used, i remember reading an article about the comma, from wiki "According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "comma" comes directly from the Greek komma, which means "something cut off" or "a short clause", me actually never knew that some comma's had a special name to, again from wiki" A comma before the word "and" or "or" in a list of more than two things is called a serial comma, or an Oxford comma:" oopsie me never learnt this from wren and martin, a book which is majorly responsible for the way i write without following any grammatical rules, another fact about this chut little character again no point in qouting the source again and again "In many European languages, commas are used as decimal separators. The only English-speaking country which uses this convention is South Africa. Thus, "1,5 V" means "one and one-half volts" Hmm can't write any more technical drab about the comma, According to me a comma is a lover's continual of a sentence, chee how seedy can i get, it is the continuation of the unfinished symphony, lemme end this sentence here for a comma can also mean that you never know when to finish a sentence
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Miracle
Every drop of rain that falls in Sahara Desert says it all,
It's a miracle,
All God's creations great and small, the Golden Gate and the Taj Mahal,
That's a miracle,
Test tube babies being born, mothers, fathers dead and gone,
It's a miracle,
We're having a miracle on earth, mother nature does it all for us,
The wonders of this world go on, the hanging Gardens of Babylon,
Captain Cook and Cain and Able, Jimi Hendrix to the Tower of Babel
It's a miracle, it's a miracle, it's a miracle, it's a miracle,
The one thing we're all waiting for, is peace on earth - an end to war,
It's a miracle we need - the miracle, the miracle we're all waiting for today,
If every leaf on every tree, could tell a story that would be a miracle,
If every child on every street, had clothes to wear and food to eat,
That's a miracle,
If all God's people could be free, to live in perfect harmony,
It's a miracle, we're having a miracle on earth,
Mother nature does it all for us
Open hearts and surgery, Sunday mornings with a cup of tea,
Super powers always fighting,
But Mona Lisa just keeps on smiling,
The wonders of this world go on,
It's a miracle, it's a miracle, it's a miracle, it's a miracle,
The one thing we're all waiting for, is peace on earth and an end to war,
It's a miracle we need, the miracle, the miracle,
Peace on earth and end to war today,
That time will come one day you'll see when we can all be friends,
this is all that i have to say for arsenal being in the finals of the championship
It's a miracle,
All God's creations great and small, the Golden Gate and the Taj Mahal,
That's a miracle,
Test tube babies being born, mothers, fathers dead and gone,
It's a miracle,
We're having a miracle on earth, mother nature does it all for us,
The wonders of this world go on, the hanging Gardens of Babylon,
Captain Cook and Cain and Able, Jimi Hendrix to the Tower of Babel
It's a miracle, it's a miracle, it's a miracle, it's a miracle,
The one thing we're all waiting for, is peace on earth - an end to war,
It's a miracle we need - the miracle, the miracle we're all waiting for today,
If every leaf on every tree, could tell a story that would be a miracle,
If every child on every street, had clothes to wear and food to eat,
That's a miracle,
If all God's people could be free, to live in perfect harmony,
It's a miracle, we're having a miracle on earth,
Mother nature does it all for us
Open hearts and surgery, Sunday mornings with a cup of tea,
Super powers always fighting,
But Mona Lisa just keeps on smiling,
The wonders of this world go on,
It's a miracle, it's a miracle, it's a miracle, it's a miracle,
The one thing we're all waiting for, is peace on earth and an end to war,
It's a miracle we need, the miracle, the miracle,
Peace on earth and end to war today,
That time will come one day you'll see when we can all be friends,
this is all that i have to say for arsenal being in the finals of the championship
Monday, April 24, 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Patriot: a dialogue
They say "You never think of your nation as a benign cancer"
"I say forgive me can cancers be benign ?"
They say " The greatest country in the world thinks it is.."
" I ask how can a country be the greatest when it never defines It's own boundaries"
They say "Never think of your nation as a static piece of land, It is an ever evolving mass"
" I ask pray tell me is the imposing of your culture patriotism?"
They look at me astounded " Yes that is the true sign of a person who worships his country "
"I look around despondent and ask what about patriots in other places?"
They say "They are not patriots "our neighbours" they are nationalists"
" I laugh and agree that they are nationalists"
p.s I dont get my head chopped off
place and time of the dialogue:
Circa 2045:The U.S.A
1938: Somewhere in the nazi regime
"I say forgive me can cancers be benign ?"
They say " The greatest country in the world thinks it is.."
" I ask how can a country be the greatest when it never defines It's own boundaries"
They say "Never think of your nation as a static piece of land, It is an ever evolving mass"
" I ask pray tell me is the imposing of your culture patriotism?"
They look at me astounded " Yes that is the true sign of a person who worships his country "
"I look around despondent and ask what about patriots in other places?"
They say "They are not patriots "our neighbours" they are nationalists"
" I laugh and agree that they are nationalists"
p.s I dont get my head chopped off
place and time of the dialogue:
Circa 2045:The U.S.A
1938: Somewhere in the nazi regime
Another dialogue
DEATH is a dialogue between
The spirit and the dust.
“Dissolve,” says Death. The Spirit, “Sir,
I have another trust.”
Death doubts it, argues from the ground. 5
The Spirit turns away,
Just laying off, for evidence,
An overcoat of clay.
"Emily dickinson"
The spirit and the dust.
“Dissolve,” says Death. The Spirit, “Sir,
I have another trust.”
Death doubts it, argues from the ground. 5
The Spirit turns away,
Just laying off, for evidence,
An overcoat of clay.
"Emily dickinson"
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Save the sparrow:
http://www.birding.in/birds/Passeriformes/Passeridae/house_sparrow.htm
Iam not exactly an Ornithologist, i cant name birds except for the few very popular ones, but i do find the sight of them really cheerful on a nice wintry morning, well this post was supposed to about the house sparrow, or the avian erat which inhabits most cities, they have been one constant companion throughout my life, the first place i missed them was noida, i could never see a sparrow, try whenever i wake up, moved to delhi,there the sightings atl;east happened, pilani was full of them , coimbatore, never really rememebr seeing them, atleast not in the current house we inhabit:
bangalore, i actually am yet o see a sparrow, i stay at IIM Bangalore, a really beautiful campus, an oasis of green in this concrete desert: but Iam yet to see this chut little bird, ven on campus, maybe Iam not looking at the right places or Iam not being observant enough , I still can't understand what happened to this birdie;
I have a weaver bird right outside my window, he is actually decent company, manages to wake me up every other morning, but still the sparrow is a sparrow, the last sighting i managed to make was in a small town some 45 odd km from banaglore, had gone down with some friends for their rural mktng project, for linguistic reasons,
There in the middle of the day, i saw him , the first sparrow after almost 800 days, that single sight was worth travelling for some 2 odd hours on a pathetic road, maybe i could have seen him earlier, but thi little fella was special, he was right there in the middle of the town's market:
this post was supposed to be made some n days ago after the sighting, well really do hope someone takes the sparrow under his wing , just like the tigers have been taken, hopefully not handled the same way as them , Sarsika was a disaster: My descendants are most likely gonna be seeing either genitically cloned big cats or stuffed ones at some nice club:
I dont know anything about the status of the sparrow, i could actually do an itsy bit of research before posting this , but i have'nt seen one in ages and i do believe my eyes, it is just gonna happen like what happened to the vultures, they just faded away, all i can see in the sky is R.K Laxman's favorite birds, :
This link has some nice videos and snaps of what else the house sparrow
http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/birds/Passer_domesticus/
Btw they are on the high conservation list atleast in britan, when we guys can't stop poaching some 3000 odd tigers available in the wild, i seriously believe no one is gonna give a damn about this little creature,
I would love to say adopt a sparrow now:))
P.s
My posts suddenly seem to have taken a weird turn, i promise no more posts like a place called home and all: will add two more dialogues tonight
Iam not exactly an Ornithologist, i cant name birds except for the few very popular ones, but i do find the sight of them really cheerful on a nice wintry morning, well this post was supposed to about the house sparrow, or the avian erat which inhabits most cities, they have been one constant companion throughout my life, the first place i missed them was noida, i could never see a sparrow, try whenever i wake up, moved to delhi,there the sightings atl;east happened, pilani was full of them , coimbatore, never really rememebr seeing them, atleast not in the current house we inhabit:
bangalore, i actually am yet o see a sparrow, i stay at IIM Bangalore, a really beautiful campus, an oasis of green in this concrete desert: but Iam yet to see this chut little bird, ven on campus, maybe Iam not looking at the right places or Iam not being observant enough , I still can't understand what happened to this birdie;
I have a weaver bird right outside my window, he is actually decent company, manages to wake me up every other morning, but still the sparrow is a sparrow, the last sighting i managed to make was in a small town some 45 odd km from banaglore, had gone down with some friends for their rural mktng project, for linguistic reasons,
There in the middle of the day, i saw him , the first sparrow after almost 800 days, that single sight was worth travelling for some 2 odd hours on a pathetic road, maybe i could have seen him earlier, but thi little fella was special, he was right there in the middle of the town's market:
this post was supposed to be made some n days ago after the sighting, well really do hope someone takes the sparrow under his wing , just like the tigers have been taken, hopefully not handled the same way as them , Sarsika was a disaster: My descendants are most likely gonna be seeing either genitically cloned big cats or stuffed ones at some nice club:
I dont know anything about the status of the sparrow, i could actually do an itsy bit of research before posting this , but i have'nt seen one in ages and i do believe my eyes, it is just gonna happen like what happened to the vultures, they just faded away, all i can see in the sky is R.K Laxman's favorite birds, :
This link has some nice videos and snaps of what else the house sparrow
http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/birds/Passer_domesticus/
Btw they are on the high conservation list atleast in britan, when we guys can't stop poaching some 3000 odd tigers available in the wild, i seriously believe no one is gonna give a damn about this little creature,
I would love to say adopt a sparrow now:))
P.s
My posts suddenly seem to have taken a weird turn, i promise no more posts like a place called home and all: will add two more dialogues tonight
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Quit smoking
Ok It has been time and i have to stop smoking, before it becomes too late,
when did i start smoking? i presume, It was after my 12th board exams before i joined pilani. I smoked about a pack of cigarettes before i joined pilani, started smoking in my 2nd term again
let us put a timeline
2000- started smoking
2001- doing about a pack a day
2002- increases to about 15-20 cigarettes a day
2003- shoots upto 20-35 cigarettes a day
2004- mayhem , smoke about 40-60 cigarettes a day
2005- Restoration of sanity- back to 20 cigarettes a day increases after june to about 30 odd cigarettes a day
2006- still on 30 cigarettes a day
April 19th 2006
write this post out of desperation have to quit smoking! high time i guess
Phase out : Plan to smoke about a pack tommorow, nothing more , nothing less,
Have to stock my room with fruits and other eatables, so that whenever i feel like having something , dont start smoking
Now a daily timeline for the initial phase
7.00 a.m :Smoke the first cigarette
8.00 a.m:breakfast: Smoke the second cigarette
10 a.m: may smoke a cigarette
12.30 p.m:Have Lunch: Smoke 4th cigarette
3.00 p.m:have coffe smoke 5th cigarette
5.00 p.m:smoke 6th cigarette
6.45 p.m:smoke 7th cigarette
8.00 p.m:Have dinner: smoke 8th cigarette
9.45 p.m:smoke 9th cigarette
10.30 p.m:snacks and a late night snack: smoke 10th cigarette
12.00 p.m:smoke 11th cigarette: have to avoid this or cut down somewhere in between
Now let us see if i can adhere to this schedule: starting tommorow, the nicotine withdrawal phase
Money saved on a daily basis : about Rs 55 a day
Health gain,: hopefully should be there
3 months from now 2nd phase commences:
which would be 5 ciggies a day
6 months from now: cigarettes only after Grub and during drinking sessions
12 months: ought to quit this by the time i graduate and move on to cigars
ought to find another addiction
when did i start smoking? i presume, It was after my 12th board exams before i joined pilani. I smoked about a pack of cigarettes before i joined pilani, started smoking in my 2nd term again
let us put a timeline
2000- started smoking
2001- doing about a pack a day
2002- increases to about 15-20 cigarettes a day
2003- shoots upto 20-35 cigarettes a day
2004- mayhem , smoke about 40-60 cigarettes a day
2005- Restoration of sanity- back to 20 cigarettes a day increases after june to about 30 odd cigarettes a day
2006- still on 30 cigarettes a day
April 19th 2006
write this post out of desperation have to quit smoking! high time i guess
Phase out : Plan to smoke about a pack tommorow, nothing more , nothing less,
Have to stock my room with fruits and other eatables, so that whenever i feel like having something , dont start smoking
Now a daily timeline for the initial phase
7.00 a.m :Smoke the first cigarette
8.00 a.m:breakfast: Smoke the second cigarette
10 a.m: may smoke a cigarette
12.30 p.m:Have Lunch: Smoke 4th cigarette
3.00 p.m:have coffe smoke 5th cigarette
5.00 p.m:smoke 6th cigarette
6.45 p.m:smoke 7th cigarette
8.00 p.m:Have dinner: smoke 8th cigarette
9.45 p.m:smoke 9th cigarette
10.30 p.m:snacks and a late night snack: smoke 10th cigarette
12.00 p.m:smoke 11th cigarette: have to avoid this or cut down somewhere in between
Now let us see if i can adhere to this schedule: starting tommorow, the nicotine withdrawal phase
Money saved on a daily basis : about Rs 55 a day
Health gain,: hopefully should be there
3 months from now 2nd phase commences:
which would be 5 ciggies a day
6 months from now: cigarettes only after Grub and during drinking sessions
12 months: ought to quit this by the time i graduate and move on to cigars
ought to find another addiction
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