Most common and insignificant woes...

There are days and times when even the minuscule petty things add to your woes..and we just can't stop complaining about it. Ok, let me rephrase...there are days and times when 'I' just can't stop complaining about worthless things...which the south-asians call 'cribbing'.

No one is generally to be blamed for these things because no one can be blamed. Its just the mind game. Its just that you assume somethings to be in a certain way and when they are not...bingo...there is goes! Mostly occurs when you are terribly hungry, horribly sleepy or are on the clock.

Some of the silly woes...

After a heavy snowfall and immense accumulation of snow, the streets were cleared. But the melted snow/ice/water drags around the street-crossings. People fall, slip, drench in it. It is the most common woe heard day after the snowfall.

Its extremely windy on a rainy day and the umbrella is more of a liability rather than an asset. Why is it so windy??...is the woe!

You are supernaturally hungry but can't go have lunch because you are needed at your desk. Just then someone gets a fabulous meal spreading the aroma around...and you crib!

You come back from office hungry, tired and are looking forward to cook something very delicious. Just then you realize the frying pan needed is at the bottom of the sink in the to-be-rinsed utensils.

You are having a sleepless night. And you think the reason is because your clock makes disturbing 'ticks'...tick..tick...tick....tick....!!!

You are missing someone who is far far away and all you can do at the moment is miss!

The list is never ending. I am sure there is no solution for this but may be few minutes of meditation may help....i am trying to be overly optimistic :)

Year end

Another year is coming to an end. I remember 31st Dec 2009, when I was under crocins and woke up only due to firecrackers suggesting the arrival of 2010. I celebrated the new year's eve alone in my dark bedroom that day. I knew then that unlike the previous boisterous new year's eves, this one was different. I was somehow being driven towards something special. Right from then to this very moment I have thoroughly enjoyed the year. 2010 brought with it snow blizzards....my NJ license...my first ticket.....promotion...the Adirondacks...the Bear Mountain trip....Atlanta Coke museum....my most awaited India trip...Tanishq ring. But the sweetest and the loveliest present my fate could have given me was the one who put the ring on my finger next to the pinky one. Can't thank god and this year enough.

Thank you 2010....and welcome 2011. I am awaiting you and her eagerly.

Favorite days - Jul 10th, Jul 30th, Parsi new year's day, 17th Aug, Oct 24th, Nov 3rd, Nov 13th.

Time -- slow or fast

Time is an amazing thing we have in our universe. It varies from galaxy to galaxy, from planet to planet. A relief from numerous time-zones, we earth-ians have fortunately same the way of measuring time. A second spent in India would be exactly same if spent in New York. But that doesn't mean time to spend a second would be similar in all the cases. Confused? :)...well let me explain...

If you are with a person you enjoy most being with or you are truly enjoying the moments, they pass by quickly and when you notice you always remember them in the past. This is one of things I dread the most. Realizing that I would soon be a bereft one. I remember myself crying when my nanny or granny used to go back to their place after a visit to my place. So much was the fear that time, that I would refuse to even to see them the day they were leaving. Well, a good amount of time has passed and now I can definitely control my tear glands...but I still can't control the way my heart beats ...(the amount of blood the heart pumps..to be technical :)). I can bet that you would recall several such moments when you would say 'I just wish this time stops right here..'...well yeah...i am reiterating some of SRK's script lines, but it is true...isn't it?...And it need not be the scenic walk on carter road or a romantic candle-light dinner. It can very well be the time when someone is dropping you off to an airport. And the worst part is you know that you ain't coming back soon enough... btw...well nothing is real soon :)

On the other end, there are occasions when the time is just sluggish...just too sluggish....My favorite pass-time during an extremely boring and snoring lecture was to see the second-hand circulating in my wrist-watch. I tried to console myself that 'this is going to last just 1 hr which is 60 mins which is 3600 seconds....and right now every moment...a second is deducted from the count'... But still the class used to take it had to take. As if this was not enough the teacher would be too engrossed in the subject to hear the bell....So some very obvious gestures like closing the book or packing your bag or looking at the watch would do the trick.

So has the time become so slow recently...especially after I came back from India....after meeting her--Anuja :)...and so was the time so fast during my short (well it was over 3 weeks..but still short) India trip. With my 'always rush to be somewhere' agenda I am being called 'on the clock' person now :)...I always had to be somewhere in sometime and always had to catch a flight soon. Actually, airport was our-Anuja's and mine favorite hang-over spot...because every other day either I was travelling and she was receiving me or she was travelling and I was receiving/dropping her. Now you know why every love story has to have an airport scene filmed in it....

Why does this happen?...have you ever thought? Please take my sincere advise...don't think about it...because this life runs on it. Those sweet memories, that hope to see your loved one again is what drags you off to work everyday. This hope is what makes our life 'a life'. It is the only thing which gives us power to beat Time.

Family Fun!

This long weekend brought with it fever and cold for me. Oblivious to the new year's eve, I was busy rubbing Vicks! Though, when the fireworks exploded, I did know that we had landed in 2010. I have always wondered why the cold-lady likes me so much. Probably the rhino viruses feel homely when they enter my body. Anyways, with the viruses flushed today, I was ready to go out. But the 40mph wind and 18 F spoiled the schedule. Me and my roommate then bored, chatted.

The topics varied from marriages to khandeshi khichdi. Its amazing how the discussions proceed linking one topic to other. I remember how we (me and my undergrad classmates) once did a de-linking of all the discussion topics on an exam eve. Though, by the time we finished this, it was already time for exam and the whole night what we did was linking and delinking topics. Guss, that's another story.

Today, while discussing, we recalled how we used to sleep on the terrace or outside during summers. How the whole family used to be together - uncles, aunts, brothers, cousins, nephews, grandparents. It was real fun. We used to make pot-icecreams, sing songs, play cards whole night. Men used to go out get paan for everyone after dinner, women used to gossip in a corner, we kids used to eavesdrop that, the college-goers had their group with their college terminologies. I do not think this happens anymore. With busy life these days, one hardly gets anytime to be with their parents leave alone other relatives.

Grandma story was another fun event for the young generation. Kudos to her imagination! She had a new story every night. We did know how she had pushed in some characters or changed the story or the location a little from the previous night but then the end result was a brand new story! My other grandma had an expertise on Krishna stories. While cooking hot phulkas for us for lunch, she used to tell these extremely witty Krishna stories. How Krishna planted the parijaat plant on Satyabhama's side but the flowers used to sprinkle on Rukmini's side or how Sudama was never forgotten by his beloved friend Krishna.

Summers also remind me of mangoes. Every lunch had mango juice with pure ghee. Whatever juice remained was dried in the sun for mango roti. My childhood summer was blessed with whole range of fruits. My grandpa's place in those days had guava, mango, seetafal, jambhul, bor trees. Some of them exist even today but now no one has the time.

Those soulful days bring with them memories and what remains is the exhilarating fragrance.

Status Symbol!

Status symbol has always been an indispensable part of human social life. Generations and generations have submitted to its rule. Status symbols vary from material things like car, house, job etc. to girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband. Recently I read somewhere that now-a-days not only girlfriend or boyfriend is considered as a status symbol but number of ex-girlfriends or number ex-boyfriends! Well, things have changed and status symbols too with time.

I remember a television set being a status symbol in early 1980s. A telephone or a scooter which needed years of waiting would make you a cynosure. A maruti car was another one. The list was pretty small compared to the one in present generation. Indeed, things were simpler in those days. A decent job, a good healthy family were the only things a bride's father would look for in a groom.

School life is really funny. Even today I remember some of things and those make me laugh. Label-stickers on which we would write names, subject etc and stick on the books were considered status symbols! Bicycle in that time just like motorcycles today would make you popular among your schoolmates. Having an entire GIJoe set or a video game was the maximum you could achieve to attract crowds to your home in vacations.

With the technological revolution, the definition of status symbol has changed. Today we want to know not only if other person has a cell-phone but also what service provider he/she is using, what features the phone has, we want to know if the laptop has 2GB RAM or 4 GB RAM (given that more than 2GB RAM is hardly ever used). If I am sounding a bit negative, there are some improvements too. Yesteryears, being fat was considered a status symbol. Today we pay to become leaner, thinner. Education is another status symbol of today.

Status symbol has always been and will always be a topic for we gossip-hungry people. Thats what makes life more interesting!

An era..

I have been hovering around the idea of writing a new post. Given the amount of time between now and my previous post, I had plenty of topics to write on. Let me start on the first one.

This semester, I got a chance to read some books from our library. Unlike previous course-loaded semesters, this time I got the luxury of doing something I always long for. Many of the Mr.  Poirots and Miss Marples or even Tuppences which I had read earlier were quite blur...so..I read almost all of the Agatha Christie available. An amazing marathi play 'Khara Sangaycha Tar..' which is based on 'Witness for the prosecution' still remains on my reading list though. William Dalrymple's book on mughals, Lala Lajpatrai's Shivaji were some of the books on my issued list. A book which I enjoyed for most of the time was 'A Suitable Boy' by Vikram Seth. Part of the reason was the amount of time taken to finish the 1300+ pages. I guess it took me around 30% of all my reading time this sem. As the book is based on the day-to-day life of a few families probably its best if it is read in small steps...just like a TV soap.

I have always wondered where would I go if I were given a time machine. I would probably have visited the magnificient hall of a king...may be his coronation ceremony....or may be obtain a bird's eye view on the Battle of Thermopylae....or may be see the glittering city of Tenochtitlan just as the Spanish conquistadors did. But after reading this, I would have wanted to visit the just-independent India. An era when everything was new, everything was developing, when entire country was transforming. Ofcourse there were own set of post-partition problems, but there was an air of freshness around. Rather than being just an answer for 'Who is our first prime minister?', Pandit Nehru would have been governing the nation. 

Going with the title, it is but obvious that an Indian arranged marriage system would be depicted. But the important part according to me is the era in which this story is set. I was amazed by the imagination of the author to depict the details of urban as well as rural life in India in very early 1950s. The story revolves around Lata, a middle-class girl for whom a suitable boy is being searched.  Along comes the narration of Lata's family- the Mehras, the affluent Chatterjis, the freedom fighter turned politician Mr. Kapoor's family. A glimpse of all factors existing during that time is cleverly put on by the author. For e.g. the existence of Nawabs, the zamindari issue, the caste problem, partition grievances, the existance of courtesans and pompous princely states. Several events which have been happening for generations like the Kumbh mela, election campaigns are handsomely written for this time period. 

Each character in this book is unique. Lata the middle-class girl with hopes and aspirations, bold Malati, reckless but soulful Maan, hardworking and ambitious Haresh, serene and calm Pran, wicked Prof. Mishra, bubbly Kakoli, spiritual Dipankar, poetical Amit, arrogant Arun and the list goes on. 

An interesting thing I always do while reading a book is searching for a character which epitomizes the author and I have been successful almost everytime. In this case though, I thought the author would share qualities of both Amit and Dipankar.

Anyways the bottomline is that this is an awesome book and would recommend it strongly.

An hour of mesmerizing cricket!

The final moments in the final test of the three-tests series Aus-SA were indeed mesmerizing. With Ntini and Steyn battling the Aussie bowlers and then G. Smith coming out in a super-hero fashion trying to save his team and then finally the Kangaroos winning the match with a narrow margin...everything was so dramatic. This is what we miss in the ODIs or the T-20s. The preseverence, the endurance put to test.

The pitch was a wrinkled one with cracks and grey spots all over. The bounce was uneven. But really there wasn't much in it for the bowlers too. I could see them struggling to bowl a bouncer with the withered ball. 

There was a countdown after every ball bowled. Ntini played with awesome courage and sophistication. After Steyn left, Smith joined the ring with a right arm broken and a left arm holed with injections. Every ball survived was cheered and congratulated. Every emotion known to human-being was sensed. There were comic moments when Ntini hit the bowler over mid-on...there were tragic moments when Hayden dropped. 

With 10 balls to spare, Austrialians won the third test. Having lost the earlier two tests, this win certainly meant a lot for them. With two amazing teams fighting, true cricket was on display.

On a journey to campus- Pilani

This post is purely inspired from my previous one. I could not resist my temptation to write something about Delhi-Pilani journeys throughout my under-grad life after writing the Goa post.

Well..its a sad story and noone other than Bitsians would sympathesize each other as they are the only ones who overcome this journey of life. 

Travel once through the ordinary bus service from Delhi to Pilani and you can travel any other bus route anywhere in the world. Note here I am talking about the bus-service alone that too the ordinary one. Had a Merc journey too  this enduring...there would have been 0% placements.

Anyways..it started with the ISBT-Delhi. Finding the bus was not hard but relying that the bus will take us to the destination was extremely hard. In the event of very few passengers to Pilani or a town on the same route ahead...the bus wouldn't go further. So it was always better to travel in a gang and that too with some bully guys so that atleast money was spared. 

The actual distance was 200 Kms. In normal circumstances, it used to take 6-7 hrs reaching Pilani. Part of the reason was the pitiable condition of the roads and buses devoid of any shock-absorbers.  Passengers occupying every inch of the bus brought with them stuff having horrible odors. In addition to that were the street-vendors selling cut-fruits, coconuts. Dust as it is in any part of India was always omnipresent...n then those pathetic hindi movies on yellow-colored TV screens added to the pandemonium. The volume used to be so loud that it was hard to hear each other. 

Even reaching Pilani was no fun until you reach your bhawan. Fighting your way through the rickshaw-wallahs who sealed the bus-door was the most grueling task. The rickshaw used to very cheap..not even a quarter. Riding through the campus on a mounted rickshaw was the best part of the tiresome odyssey. Had Alexander, who was keen to see his home again, reached Macedonia back after conquering the world....he would have experienced the same feeling. 

On a journey to the campus - Goa

Today I happened to read in the news about the New Year's party in Goa..n suddenly I was reminded about my 4-hours stay there back in 2006. It would have been the shortest stay for anyone in Goa. 

I had gone there to take Recos from my professor who had shifted from Pilani to Goa recently.

The journey however was not that short as I had taken a volvo from Bangalore. Today its hard for me to understand why on earth I took a volvo and not fly there. May be I was testing my endurance. Reaching Goa was not the only hurdle....reaching the remote isolated BITS campus from the station turned out to be worse.

The campus is on a major highway. There isnt any train/bus/taxi stop in the radius of 2 kms. I really had no clue whatsoever. Having no other option...I was about to rent a vehicle. But after some enquiry, got to know that there was a bus-stop on a road nearby..just that no vehicle would go from that road to the main-highway where the campus was located as I had to cross a hill-type pathway. If anyone has seen Amol Palekar's Choti Si Baat in which in sheer desperation he climbs up the hill to meet Ashok Kumar..I too staggered through. Though I should say that this option of clambering the path was selected knowingly as I kind of was curious to see how students, if they travel by bus, reach the campus.

I do not know about other things but overcoming impediments-on a journey to the campus is certainly the facet shared by BITS-Pilani and BITS-Goa students

Sad...Agitated...Shocked...Confused

Finally...after gruelling 59 hours the mission rescuing Taj, Oberoi and Nariman House is finally over. This nightmare...no.... worse than a nightmare rattled the globe all around. I don't think any Indian slept all these 59 hours...there were these brave officers flushing out terrorists....there were these people trapped inside....and there were people like me glued to television praying for the best. I donot remember how many times I actually cried after watching the torments of the hostages.

No one would doubt the Spirit of Mumbai.. which would always remain..but one thing is for sure.. Mumbai would not be the same for days to come. It would be an arduous task to reinstate the prestige of Mumbai. India has lost out on top officers, NSG commandos....we have lost our beloved ones...this loss is irreparable. 

Kudos to all the rescue operators who fearlessly crushed the heartless militants. Thanks to the media who kept the country and world together with the information. One thing which always comes up with a terrorist attack is the wake up call. How many times is thing going to happen? Over the last year or so..India has been terrorised with bombings...and now this fidayein attack. Hope that we act promptly to this wake up call and ramp up our security. Hope that the sacrifices of the brave officers do not go in vain. As civilians..lets join the global war on terrorism...lets be alert and if We See something...we will Say Something.

Small Screen

Small Screen....It has been an indespensible part of our lives. I don't really remember when we got our first tv-box. But I do remember the model ..it was a Crown b/w 20'' television set. It was brought exactly when the one of the first popular tv-serials Ramayan was being aired. Some are curious to see if Tendulkar makes a mark in the upcoming series...some watch it to find out if Prerna meets Anurag..while some just want to get entertained.

Fifteen-sixteen years back DD ruled the stage. Hum Log, Hum Rahi, Buniyaad, Gul Gulshan Gulfam were some of the classics. Mahabharat enjoyed the largest viewership. Turning Point gave a scientific edge whereas series like Bharat Ek Khoj, Chanakya maintained the cultural heritage. Zee Tv was I guess the first hindi channel besides DD1. Star Plus was an english channel then.  Steadily but not slowly the tv world has evolved.  One of my favorites (n I guess for many)-- Jungle Book started animated age. Kids glued to Duck Tales, Arabian Nites, Tale spin.  Dillagi- the comedy series based on people and their relationships in an office was a Zee Tv starter. Another big one was Chandrakanta. Though I haven't seen much of Chandrakata...I used to get updates every Monday in school. Alif Laila...the boring one..paradoxically was a big hit.  Summer afternoons..we had Dekh Bhai Dekh, Swabhimaan, Shanti. Tehkikaat, Karamchand jasoos, Byomkesh Bakshi were from a different genre. Hum Paanch, Campus, Antakshari, Sam Re Ga Ma (Sonu Nigam), Parampara, Zee Horror Show, Philips Top Ten, Filmi Chakkar, Saans, Tol Mol Ke Bol were some of the popular ones.

10th to 12th was a period when I had the good old Doordarshan. Dishayen, Suraag, Jaane Anjane, marathi soaps like Gharkul, Damini entertained me these four years. Kaun Banega Crorepati which marked the entry and the survival point of BigB was named the one with highest TRP after Mahabharat. Then the K-series paved their way in people's lives. 

Marathi serials have evolved quite significantly over the past few years. With new channels opening up...the marathi viewers have started transitioning towards marathi tv-entertainment. Awantika, Wadalvaat, Abhalmaya, Saheb-Bibi aani Me, Ghadlaya Bighadlaya, Prapanch have engrossed the marathis.

Though I would have missed quite a few names...looking back I see how well I was amused by this same television set. Just like recalling the college days makes us nostalgic...I am sure the serials and their characters force us to open up our memory album.

Dynamism

BITS Pilani...my alma mater, my ex-abode has been known for its Parampara Prathista Anushashan ...

We have heard amitabh bachchan quoting "mujhe parivartan pasand nahi" in his Gurukul. The same should be true about BITS. The shivering cold, melanin raising sun-god, the PILA(yellow) buildings, the same old edifice, the boisterous BOSMs, the exhuberant OASISs and not so overwhelming APOGEEs.

Neverthless, dynamism is at its heart. The next day after OASIS... is just like an ordinary day. Now, I do not know...may be SAC is used for department rooms. But then...the classrooms were transformed into department/club HQs. Hardly a few hours have passed and you would see the gardener watering the lawns where more than 2000 students rocked on a dance floor.

The test schedule is the same...the same grades...the same courses...the same CDCs..but the CTs(course toppers), 10ps, Aves (averages) change. Shivganga is still the couple place...but the couples change every semester. Blue Moon still is one of the favorite hang-out spots..but the addendum (coffee or shakes) changes with season. The LAN is still the same..but the bandwidth destroying games change. Munnaji reidi is still the same...just that we also get bread-pakoras. Campus is still 100%...just that the salaries are sky-high.

Some of things which I am very fortunate to have seen...the Cent-li and Ref-li...Central Library and Reference Library.. These were in FD-II and still we can see the board "Library Area- please keep silence". Imagine Pilani campus without mobiles. I have talked hours at the abandoned/rusted/pathetic looking telephone-box near the common room. With the arrival of cellphones, gate-calls have become almost extinct. Thanks to BITSConnect, the IPC stay of most BITSian have reduced exponentially. (FYI-- We had non-graphical internet in our first year..n that too only in IPC. Only third year onwards graphical internet was allowed.) There wasn't any SAC, any FD-5 or the lecture theatre complex then. MAL or Malviya Bhawan has been one of the most dynamic bhawans. An abode of fifth year students became a girls hostel which became a boys-girls hostel(Obviously proper care was taken that no interaction of any kind was possible between a resident boy and a resident girl) again was transformed back to a boys hostel.

So, whenever I visit Pilani...I will have to restrain myself from saying -- everything is still the same here. A lot of things would have changed just that they got assimilated unknowingly.

Kal Aaj Aur Kal..

Currently, I am on a blogging spree...third blog in three days...

One of the topics I thought is worth mentioning - "Indian Music". By Indian I mean hindi music and especially the bollywood music. My soulmate since I don't know what age...in every mood, in every situation good or bad it has buttressed me thoroughout. Indian music has seen generations and has seen adept professionals like Lata...born talent like Kishoreda...hyper-active Dr. Palash Sen...sarod legend Ustad Amjad Ali Khan...Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismilla Khan...even the latest find Farhan Akhtar.

Kal -- the past generation..the most melodious one I must say...Ofcourse some elder people might argue that there wasn't just one such contiguous generation...but there were times when vocalists like Mukesh, Manna Dey, Talat Mehmud, Rafi, KL saab, Suraiya ruled the podium. For me....it is the same...right from 50s till 80s. My favorite song is from this Kal ..Abhi na jao chhod kar..The song focusses on the restiveness of a lover who insists his girlfriend to stay. 

Several immemorable songs are from this era... Chaudavi Ka Chand, Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan, Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar, Madhuban mein radhika nache re, Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hain, Yeh shaam mastani, Dekha ek khawb to yeh silsile...countless...

Then comes...the 90s and the current kaal..I hate those 90s movies n those songs wherein a huge loafer college-going gang monkey jumped through their university corridors...The only place where i heard such songs was the hair-cut salon...These guys I guess got the cheapest of all cassettes so that the customers do no linger around for long. The crux I would say was that Indian music needed restructuring.

Aaj is the time when there is a talent boom...rather talent-hunt boom. Possibility is that we have surpassed the impasse and back on the right track. Fusionised version depicted in movies like RockOn, Jhankar beats  is commendable. Seeing the inclusion of songs like Teri Diwani, tu hi meri shab hai, Piya basanti re... in the hit lists make me feel top of the world. Even the dance numbers like Just Chill, Hare Krishna Hare Ram, Its the time to disco, Pappu can't dance are in some sense sensible unlike the 90s. We are regaining that lost glitter.

Tomorrow's kal looks brigher and I hope to soothe my ears and rock the dance floor with the upcoming future.

Enjoy Maadi!

Date When I Dated!

“All Characters in this article are fictitious. Resembling to any living or dead is only coincidental"

Well..according to US standards, writing about a date at the age of 24 is surely unacceptable. But then, at the age of 15, I probably knew of date only from the Gregorian calender.

It was a perfect morning...birds chirping love songs, someone somewhere synthesizing a romantic tune on a piano, a pleasant 68F morning! ...n why not...I was on a date! I had waited for this for a while now...I mean its a rare occasion when a girl asks you out for a date. It was 10 am and I had 2 hours to groom and polish myself. I took a bath and then it was Gucci all the way...Now I know why brands like Gucci survive. Who will anyway put on a Cartier and beat on a laptop to complete an assignment?

I had to worry little about clothes-selection. She liked me-with-blue and I had only one blue T-shirt which she had not seen. A black Levis suited best with the Duke T-shirt. I was ready.

The restaurant was at a walking distance...n the rendezvous was decided to be the same. I reached there exactly at 11.58. I can never be late..not even by mistake. As always, she wasn't there...not because she used to be late..but all girls I knew were always late. I had to book a table presumably...The restaurant manager who was no stranger to me gave me the most secluded place. Well...he had to...I took care of his waiters' tips.

The aroma was at the place. Helpless I was....I hated to only watch people gobbling up delicacies. Chicken tikka, Veg Jalfrezi, Dal Tadka, Navratan Korma, Ras Malai, Dosa...all luring me...n I cudn't do anything....I cudn't do anything? I asked myself a few times...n I emerged transformed by the lust for food...helped myself...and got every dish from the menu. Thanking myself profusely I enjoyed every ounce of it. But hey..hey I was on a date....so what don't I have any space..individualism rose its head..Such are the circumstances when you thank god for a girlfriend who is understanding.

I spent rest of my date watching her eat....n boy...she looked super duper gorgeous. Everytime she chewed..everytime she swallowed....everytime her lips touched the glass...Ahh!!..it can't be expressed in words...

Since then, I never ate with her...either finished before or waited for her to finish. 

Fall of a giant!

Back after a long break. Well..things have changed..in fact a lot! Actually, I had no plans to write a blog but this topic is mouth watering.

A fall of the 49th Street giant..yes the same news which was chewed and chewed over the last few weeks. As a matter of fact, I was there just a couple of months back and now when I visit the city I would be eyeing that building with a tag of Barclays..

Lehman Brothers had a reputation...it still has...but something went wrong. I wont talk about what went wrong because we have several expert blogs discussing the same. Whatever the reason be, the company was great and did achieve great things. A trend-setter in Fixed Income, some of the brightest minds on Wall Street occupied Lehman desks, competitors awed at the pace LEH bounced after 9/11, it owned the crown of having some of the highest salaried employees and the list would continue to grow. I would say I was very fortunate to experience such a work culture just before it became extinct.

I have several memories from my internship...a few being the managerial talks, outings, my commute, weekly meetings, suiting myself, free dinners...The best I would say was being a New Yorker.like...get a newspaper, travel through a path/subway, get coffee, walk from the station to the office from streets filled with suits and yellow cabs. I know this might sound a little childish but I dunno..while watching movies portraying NY..I used to search myself on those streets/avenues passing by the Empire State, the Central park or the NYSE...Being there on those street not as a tourist but a daily bread earner used to make me proud.

Sorry...enough of digression.. The bottom line is I had a wonderful time at Lehman...though I cant work there full-time..no one can restrain me from pointing towards the 49th Street, 7th Avenue ex-Lehman building and saying "This is the great place where I worked" 

So it happened!

I am here at Stony Brook and would be doing my MS in CS starting Fall 2007. The university is great and it certainly sometimes reminds me of those beautiful years of BITS, Pilani.

So it happened finally! On Sunday, August the 19th, 2007, me and my fellow batchmates here visited the NYC. It should be the most wonderful city on earth. The most-efficient subways, the ferry ride to Staten Island, the never-trembling traffic and the excited visitors blessed my day. Everyone who visits the city for the first time is awestruck. How can they build such a city? The planning is foolproof, the architecture is amusing and the extravaganza is worth watching. The subway build underground, beneath the running city epitomizes the technological advance.

The Statue of Liberty standing proudly marks a grace. The Empire State adds every visitor's respect for NYC. Our trip highly economical, did not allow us to go to the 82nd and 102nd floor of Empire State, but as and when our pockets are warm, we definitely are going to go for it. The Times Square, the NASDAQ, the company edifices at the Wall Street, the posh complexes give the world's financial capital its true adornment.

Walking on the same path which SRK strided during Kal Ho Na Ho or KANK made me feel that a reel is rolling behind me.

The Apple showroom near the Central Park is a must watch for every tourist. With its amazing architecture and its location among the skyscrapers makes us believe..Apple is different!

I am pretty sure that I would be going to NYC again but this first visit was a lifetime and a memorable experience.

India Shining!

Saturday...I was reluctant to go out even for dinner. In fact, I was busy watching back to back and overlapping episodes of Indian Idol, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, MTV--On the Job and The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and was awestruck with the response each of these shows received. After all they provide both fame and money.

The awareness for talent search in the entertainment sector has suddenly risen to a new scale and the opportunities are flourishing. Where MTV -- on the job awards internships for the future RJs, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa provides a platform for the next-gen playback singers. When we blame the media for their news-mastication, the same media has produced numerous employments for journalists, cameramen, hosts etc. A decade back we wouldn't have even in our dream expected the jocular vein getting this amount of publicity. Laughter Challenge has set the acclivity for the comedians.

No wonder there is an exaggeration in everything. With a layman getting a chance to be a crorepati in an hour, we are being pulled away from the reality. Are we tempted towards this easy money? Is this easy money really easy? When millions apply for the Indian Idol only one achieves it. When millions call SRK, only a few get more than a million. What we see is very much the superficial layer where the funniest Raju Srivastava entertains the crowd. But can we see for how many years was he struggling to get such a platform. Yes, nothing is easy but atleast today, we can think of achieving it, which was considered as impossible a decade back.....we need to very much stay on ground though.

The IT sector is booming, the fashion arena is crawling, small-scale industry is protruding its head. There are equal chances in every field. With great diligence and perseverance, not only in the entertainment world but also elsewhere, we can definitely find new careers, new roads to success. A better life is waiting for the new generation.

Just read it!

I recall myself penning down "Books are our friends" essay during my school days. I feel writing it again.

Books bring with them love, compassion, wit, humor, hatred and what not. They take us to a new world away from our predicaments. They teach us to hope, to persevere, to sustain. I find solace, peace with books. Whenever I am depressed, I long for their company...and always get comforted with them.

Once during my summer vacations, I was at my grandfather's house. As usual, I searched his cupboard for an unread book. And I found an old tattered but hard-bound edition of The red hibiscus. I was so moved by it that eventually I burst into tears. It was a story about a bengali girl and her maid. Their lives were extremes, each one had their own impediments to cross. But they had this peculiar thing in common, they both liked to put a red hibiscus in the hair. Such a simple story but emotionally touching.

Another one worth mentioning is the eye-watering The kite runner by an american-afghan, Khaled Hosseini. I read this book on a cosy sofa in an air conditioned hall...in Crosswords! ...thanks to its unavailability at the street vendors. I really would like to extend my warm regards to these guys...who have saved a lot of money for me over these years.

And then my favorite ....Shantaram. This is the best one so far. Though the publisher has selected the minutest of the fonts, the author has claimed his supremacy on the paper. He makes you feel his torments, his passion, his apprehension. I was amazed with his observation of Mumbai city. He creates that sense of visualization....which many books lack.

There are lots of books to talk about, The sands of time, The monk who sold his ferrari, The namesake, The Afghan, Five point someone, The inscrutable americans and many many more.
How can I forget my own marathi literature. I have read dozens of english translated marathi novels too....one of them is Lajja by Taslima Nasreen. The language could vary....but the impact remains the same. Maharashtrians are fond of Pu La Deshpande. He creates an inevitable humor, but it is has a tinge of black comedy. So much was this literary genius loved that when he passed away, many of his fans including my mother actually cried.

I cannot imagine myself in a bookless world. This is the most altruistic invention of mankind for mankind.

RandomBots

My blog would have been incomplete without the mention of randombots.
Gaws, Joe, Sikki, Bond, Jammy, Naidu, Shank, Raju, Thool, Mare, Dhoke, Tapar, Ricky, Bachha and myself....we found this group in the third under-grad year.

When others were busy extolling their wingies in the BITS annual magazine writeups, we proudly did the other way. It was a derogatory affair altogether. I am quite sure that none of the randombots would ever read aloud what has been written about them in public. Having said this, some randombots would definitely come over and claim to do that. But let me tell you this i don't care about others nature is purely superficial.

Numerous incidents spur up and add to the nostalgia. That unending RHTDM show, the longest AOE match ever played, cnot-garden, batch-snaps, exam-eve gossips.....this has to be noted that we used to put a lachha only on an exam-eve. Where I ceased being a gamer just after the disastrous 2nd yr- 2nd sem, most of the randombots have spent most of their time gaming.

Why did we choose this name is a tricky question...may be because everyone is highly unpredictable. You cannot find any similarity between any two members of this group. On the contrary, till recently we did share a "single" adjective in common...here the pun is intended!

Even after the golden bitsian years, randombots are very much alive thanks to Google. Randombots also flashed a special appearance on wikipedia. But sadly and rightly, the wise-wiki guys have removed the good-for-nothing article.

Every persona here is unique. Even with such segregated behaviors, there is a string which binds us together -- the string of friendship....and I hope it continues forever.

Crossroads

"Now you have to cross the road and turn right"
"But there is a vehicle coming...", i replied.
"then it will wait for you to cross", replied my driving class instructor.

Driving always adds that extra-bit of thadi-ness. Bound to that two-wheeler habit of turning the vehicle without disturbing the pedestrians...it takes some time to make a way by blowing horns just as lord krishna did through the flooded river ganga. But then time teaches. Today I am no more a fledgling.

One cannot resist imagining oneself as the king of the road especially when, one brings the car to a halt on a busy square. The car and of course the novice driver suffer severe denigration from the traffic. The panicky driver shuffles through the gears, but the instructor is as cool as buffalo on a road. He advises to start the car and raise it slowly. This exemplifies the quality of keeping cool in tense situations.
Such a thing happened with me too.....I was like....tell me now what to do??!!....the car isn't starting...!!, the traffic police is looking at me!!!....the behind-cars are blowing incessant horns!!!....what to do!! ...
But at the same time, my instructor the coolest fellow on earth said....arey don't worry,main hoon na!

It has been a great experience for me with my driving class..... especially the early morning driving sessions. I certainly dreaded the afternoon traffic sessions, but then they come as part and parcel of driving :) .

My instructor has the peculiar quality of pricking me with his sarcastic comments.

"Haan...this is not our car. This means that we do not have to put brakes before a speed breaker".
From this I had to interpret that I am traveling at a high speed from over the speed breakers.

"Haan....I will put on the indicator every time...you don't worry".
He meant.....put on the indicator dude!

But then the next time I turn or the next time I confront a speed-breaker, I always remember these comments.