It was raining outside. Sadness had engulfed Pintu watching those small globules of water, as if conjured in midst, of which he had always tried to find the origin with his village friends when they used to run out in rain and went on to play till the rain stopped. Things had changed fast, faster than his small mind could grasp. Baba became bigger babu. Bulbs at home were replaced with tube lights and soon manager saaheb of the bank helped Baba with money from the bank so that they could buy a home in city. He came to full consciousness of it when the behavioral norms changed. You should be a good boy, Aai told him time and again. But Aai I used to do all these things in village, he told her but to no avail. He could never understand it. He had always tried to invoke the excitement associated with the prospect of playing football with his building mates but all in vain. He really used to get bored with this-is-my-ball-so-i-got to get-more-passes tantrums. Their delicacy was no doubt beyond his perception.
Still standing and craving to go out, his small eyes looked further and could see that basti walla boys playing football. This was too much of an attraction to resist for a child of his age. He sneaked through the door. Running down and out of the gates of the apartment premises he was soaked in the rain till he reached the muddy playground. Suddenly the play stopped. The basti walla children thought that an alien had appeared in all those clothes which they could only desire for. But as soon as the eyes met they all knew that somewhere he was one of them. Nothing else was required. Nothing else than that innocent expression in eyes, which gets lost as one grows up. And within minutes he was one of them, with mud on the clothes, some bruises on the knees and a bit of pain in side ribs but with all that happiness which he could only imagine while standing in his gallery. In no time it was dark and everyone was sapped. Play stopped finally. There little legs devoid of all the strength. It was time to say goodbye but a bond had developed. They had same mud on their clothes and joyous spirits. Returning home he saw Chat Wala coming out of gully of the hut-dwelling. He knew the Chat Wala bhaiya as Baba liked the chat and he was delighted that apart from the rain football, his new friends had one more thing in common.
Tan tan tan….. and Pintu knew that bhaiya has come on the gate. In the passage of time when bhaiya left the hut-dwelling and reached his building gate, a lot had changed for Pintu. He had reached home to find Aai Baba in full fury. When told where he was, he had been thrashed and scolded. He was told that he should never even step out of building premises without permission, let apart playing with basti walla boys. He would get spoiled if he plays with them. What will the uncles and aunties in building say if they come to know about this incidence? How can someone get spoiled by just playing, had eluded Pintu’s understanding.
Baba, him and some uncle, aunties had gathered around the chat wala. The word of his deed had spread. One uncle repeated how he would become bad if he continues to do such acts. His building mates were smugly looking at him as if he was an outcast. Pintu’s mood was now on better side though. Baba had brought him new water colours and it definitely doesn’t take more than that to reverse the mood of a child. As bhaiya started giving pani puris to all those standing in half-circle, Pintu suddenly spoke in excited voice. “Baba, Baba you know, bhaiya is also favorite of basti wallas. They also eat this chat”. Suddenly hands stopped in between plate and mouth. Something had transpired the understanding of elders. Social parity had been set by a chat wala and an innocuous line from a child.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Flip side
I saw “3 Idiots”. That is obvious. The unobvious is that I didn’t like it. I found the movie overhyped in some daring proportions. Well I am sure I will be booked for this culpable offence and hence I would like to put up my defense.
No issues with some typical bollywood style story in which a hero never ever loses, in which medical miracles happen at every step, in which there always is chronological chaos and everything happens at whim. Neither do I have issues with some flaws in the technical prowess shown by the hero. I take it that neither Mr. Vidhu Vinod nor Mr. Rajkumar Hirani took engineering classes and if they did they must have flunked them. The issues are with the basic premises movie is built upon.
Anger swept over me when in the end chatur is once again ridiculed by the cool hero. I am still unable to grasp that why a certain kind of individual has been mocked so thoroughly in the movie. I always find my college life, in retrospect, to be a collage of good and bad, cool and uncool yet different individuals with different attributes. Why is the success defined as the hero likes it to be. For every individual in this world it may have a different sense, even if he may end up with a bank job after doing engineering.
The book (Five point someone) from which the movie is allegedly inspired gives a contrasting picture, which says that you don’t need to have a chatur to make life of 3 friends beautiful. You don’t need to denounce someone in order to glorify other. In spite of alienating themselves from the book and the author, film makers could have had his inputs which I assume would have made it better.
In retrospect I felt that the message which movie must have wanted to deliver got lost somewhere in between the commercialization of the movie and coolness of the hero. In fact the absence of a clear cut message poses a danger as it will be open to interpretation to the masses who will be stepping into their college life. I am unable to fathom the consequences right now. But frankly all is really not well. I rest my case.
No issues with some typical bollywood style story in which a hero never ever loses, in which medical miracles happen at every step, in which there always is chronological chaos and everything happens at whim. Neither do I have issues with some flaws in the technical prowess shown by the hero. I take it that neither Mr. Vidhu Vinod nor Mr. Rajkumar Hirani took engineering classes and if they did they must have flunked them. The issues are with the basic premises movie is built upon.
Anger swept over me when in the end chatur is once again ridiculed by the cool hero. I am still unable to grasp that why a certain kind of individual has been mocked so thoroughly in the movie. I always find my college life, in retrospect, to be a collage of good and bad, cool and uncool yet different individuals with different attributes. Why is the success defined as the hero likes it to be. For every individual in this world it may have a different sense, even if he may end up with a bank job after doing engineering.
The book (Five point someone) from which the movie is allegedly inspired gives a contrasting picture, which says that you don’t need to have a chatur to make life of 3 friends beautiful. You don’t need to denounce someone in order to glorify other. In spite of alienating themselves from the book and the author, film makers could have had his inputs which I assume would have made it better.
In retrospect I felt that the message which movie must have wanted to deliver got lost somewhere in between the commercialization of the movie and coolness of the hero. In fact the absence of a clear cut message poses a danger as it will be open to interpretation to the masses who will be stepping into their college life. I am unable to fathom the consequences right now. But frankly all is really not well. I rest my case.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Cut it for memories
Second most fickle thing to politicians in India, is electricity or at least sometimes back it used to be. Sitting alone at my desk one day when electricity went off, I wandered into some very funny and delightful memories. I remembered the time when I was in school, when homework was the biggest worry. Well more worrisome was realizing it late in evening and worse than that was the fact that lights went off as soon as I sat down to complete. But somehow that no-light thing also brought an excitement with it, of spending some more time with friends in the neighbourhood, chatting, gossiping and playing dumb charades. Even adults were not spared. I remember how ghost stories sprang up instantly and aunties revised all the gossips they had completed discussing that day.
The course followed when I went to college. Standing in those galleries of Cautley, we had Inter-branch gossip. It would be a letdown if I say that we had to complete assignments when the electricity cut off, which anyhow remained incomplete till the very last minute. But then the fun was in throwing a light beam at someone’s face or room, to hurl abuses with changed voices and to go to hostel top for a bakar in changed ambience. I think whole of my lobby mates would remember that night during the end sem exam of Solid Mechanics when we had no electricity for the whole of night, for whole of that time when 80% of college prepare for exam. From my branch the guy at the receiving end was DJ. He received a back due to that one fateful night, as the rumour goes.
Well may be down the years, we would have no electricity cuts. I somehow feel bad about it. I feel sad about my juniors who would never experience this part of college fun. I feel for the kids in my locality who have no escape from that evening work anyhow. I feel for the nostalgia associated with such acts as trivial as electricity cut off, which our future generations will never experience. All this I thought in 5 min, because that’s what it took for electricity to resume, thanks to generator in my locality. I resumed my work.
The course followed when I went to college. Standing in those galleries of Cautley, we had Inter-branch gossip. It would be a letdown if I say that we had to complete assignments when the electricity cut off, which anyhow remained incomplete till the very last minute. But then the fun was in throwing a light beam at someone’s face or room, to hurl abuses with changed voices and to go to hostel top for a bakar in changed ambience. I think whole of my lobby mates would remember that night during the end sem exam of Solid Mechanics when we had no electricity for the whole of night, for whole of that time when 80% of college prepare for exam. From my branch the guy at the receiving end was DJ. He received a back due to that one fateful night, as the rumour goes.
Well may be down the years, we would have no electricity cuts. I somehow feel bad about it. I feel sad about my juniors who would never experience this part of college fun. I feel for the kids in my locality who have no escape from that evening work anyhow. I feel for the nostalgia associated with such acts as trivial as electricity cut off, which our future generations will never experience. All this I thought in 5 min, because that’s what it took for electricity to resume, thanks to generator in my locality. I resumed my work.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
On 5th ODI
Firstly like million other I rever Sachin with utmost devotion. I believe that come decades, there wont be a player like him. We witnessed another GOD like display from him yesterday. I just made a loose comment that in India after Mahatma Gandhi, Sachin must be the only person who inspires collective emotion of whole nation. Also he must be soon awarded "Bharat Ratna". Nothing less.
As the match came to an end with the loss I somehow could find the flaw in my loose statement. Gandhi finished the job for which he came into the arena and thats where Sachin has not been up to the mark.Not for the first time its happening that maestro played a valuable innings and India lost. So close yet so far. I was disappointed with Sachin just because he didnt just finish it. I mean you got to finish the job you take over. He just didnt do it. It made me remember Misbah's shot in T-20 final. He could have won it for pak, but he just didnt do. All good work went down the drain and it further added to the tally of those innings which Sachin played in vein.
Also it highlights one of the major difference domestic cricket structure of Australian and Indian cricket. And it shows when the situation is what it was yesterday. Our players just didnt have that temperament to take us to victory when experience was absent to guide them. I mean there was a circus going on the pitch.
Last but not the least. We were playing an Australian team which was far far depleted in resources and which defied the odds once again. And I feel thats what a champion attitude is. I was not that disappointed coz these days cricket is Sachin Tendulkar for me. I will watch if he plays. Else it is shear waste of time to watch and then have disappointment of loss, of game and time.
As the match came to an end with the loss I somehow could find the flaw in my loose statement. Gandhi finished the job for which he came into the arena and thats where Sachin has not been up to the mark.Not for the first time its happening that maestro played a valuable innings and India lost. So close yet so far. I was disappointed with Sachin just because he didnt just finish it. I mean you got to finish the job you take over. He just didnt do it. It made me remember Misbah's shot in T-20 final. He could have won it for pak, but he just didnt do. All good work went down the drain and it further added to the tally of those innings which Sachin played in vein.
Also it highlights one of the major difference domestic cricket structure of Australian and Indian cricket. And it shows when the situation is what it was yesterday. Our players just didnt have that temperament to take us to victory when experience was absent to guide them. I mean there was a circus going on the pitch.
Last but not the least. We were playing an Australian team which was far far depleted in resources and which defied the odds once again. And I feel thats what a champion attitude is. I was not that disappointed coz these days cricket is Sachin Tendulkar for me. I will watch if he plays. Else it is shear waste of time to watch and then have disappointment of loss, of game and time.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Snippets
Rain it seems, is a thought provoker not because it comes from heaven but just because it gives a lot of idle time, when you just have an option to sit and think. This weekend was again a rainy weekend and so in breaks I had a lot of time to ponder over things.
Gandhi Jayanti seems to have no importance to people in jamshedpur, since this is one of the 5 holidays many of us get in the whole year. But I am sure the importance of it is lessening across nation too. What a pity.
I think we are witnessing the slow death of cricket. The attendance in recent champions trophy is one measure. I witnessed one of the die hard fans confessing his loss of interest in the game. Go football ( read as “GOD”). Btw no offence to cricket fans, I was also one, once upon a time.
Read a new Dan Brown book, well the ending should have been better. Though I found it better than “Da Vinci” on some points. One more book I read was “ P.S. I love you”. Really a bad book I must say. Disappointing.
Football on weekend was upset with my team drawing and the rivals winning.
Well the news of the fortnight has to be this. Jamshedpur has got a Dominos. I twice checked the spelling on the hoarding to make sure. Went and asked the junta around and then the reality dawned on me. Some reality. So this weekend it was beer, pizza and football.
CCD here has finally started playing good songs other than “ghunghat-ki-aad-se-dilbar-ka” types. But dominos is yet to catch up. It had “saat-samundar-paar-me-tere-piche-piche” types on first day.
Saw the movie “Gone with the wind”. Couldn’t believe that the movie was made in 1939. “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”.
Ending on a sentimental note. Read this in a status message. “Some feelings sink so deep in heart that only loneliness can help you find them”. True, I must say. Sitting alone and watching rain dripping, I replayed some of the long forgotten good incidences and could still feel the warmth. No good thing ever dies.
Gandhi Jayanti seems to have no importance to people in jamshedpur, since this is one of the 5 holidays many of us get in the whole year. But I am sure the importance of it is lessening across nation too. What a pity.
I think we are witnessing the slow death of cricket. The attendance in recent champions trophy is one measure. I witnessed one of the die hard fans confessing his loss of interest in the game. Go football ( read as “GOD”). Btw no offence to cricket fans, I was also one, once upon a time.
Read a new Dan Brown book, well the ending should have been better. Though I found it better than “Da Vinci” on some points. One more book I read was “ P.S. I love you”. Really a bad book I must say. Disappointing.
Football on weekend was upset with my team drawing and the rivals winning.
Well the news of the fortnight has to be this. Jamshedpur has got a Dominos. I twice checked the spelling on the hoarding to make sure. Went and asked the junta around and then the reality dawned on me. Some reality. So this weekend it was beer, pizza and football.
CCD here has finally started playing good songs other than “ghunghat-ki-aad-se-dilbar-ka” types. But dominos is yet to catch up. It had “saat-samundar-paar-me-tere-piche-piche” types on first day.
Saw the movie “Gone with the wind”. Couldn’t believe that the movie was made in 1939. “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”.
Ending on a sentimental note. Read this in a status message. “Some feelings sink so deep in heart that only loneliness can help you find them”. True, I must say. Sitting alone and watching rain dripping, I replayed some of the long forgotten good incidences and could still feel the warmth. No good thing ever dies.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Ritual
This piece of writing follows, in the fond memory of my group benzene. The name may suggest a group of chemistry geeks, but it was nothing like that, there were six of us, hence the name. Six of us and unfortunately after first year we were allotted different hostels. I was in Cautley, 2(Dex and Myst) of them were in Ravindra, one (Virus) in azad, 2 other(Dude and Matt) in Ganga. Except for two of us all our branches were different, so meeting regularly became problem. We met sporadically, especially on bdays to give bumps and all. Still we always felt that we could make it more frequent. Finally as I remember it was matt’s bday in 2nd yr (6th apr) when the idea of meeting every Saturdays , w/o miss was discussed and passed with 6 ayes to 0 nos. Now every Saturday we used to meet and go for dinner, then have a night-out, play AOE (which is a one big story in itself :D) and then be back in our rooms around Sunday morning to sleep. After sometime, this Saturday night dinner came to be called as Saturday night ritual and there were very few Saturday in the next 2 yrs when the ritual was not followed. Even in heavy downpour we used to walk to hostels and eat in canteen, just to keep the ritual intact.
Actually I was just thinking about it this Sunday when it was raining on and off for the past 2 days and I had lot of spare time. When I looked back I realized how the unfortunate event of separate hostels became a kind of blessing. It reiterates its importance when you get out of college and into the job when weekends is the only time when you can have a night out and it is the only time to go out with friends. May be the ritual seems too stringent but believe me if you enjoy with a group it will become a way of life. What I feel is that living in a social group is ingrained in us, as we grow up. No matter how much we try to remain a loner, a need for a group, where we can laugh off some bad memories, where we can discuss some problems is always felt. And believe me, when you will look back on these meetings, as I was doing this Sunday, you will feel a surge of emotion rarely felt.
I came back to present and it was still raining and I decided to dine out along with some friends, since we dine out every Sunday.
Actually I was just thinking about it this Sunday when it was raining on and off for the past 2 days and I had lot of spare time. When I looked back I realized how the unfortunate event of separate hostels became a kind of blessing. It reiterates its importance when you get out of college and into the job when weekends is the only time when you can have a night out and it is the only time to go out with friends. May be the ritual seems too stringent but believe me if you enjoy with a group it will become a way of life. What I feel is that living in a social group is ingrained in us, as we grow up. No matter how much we try to remain a loner, a need for a group, where we can laugh off some bad memories, where we can discuss some problems is always felt. And believe me, when you will look back on these meetings, as I was doing this Sunday, you will feel a surge of emotion rarely felt.
I came back to present and it was still raining and I decided to dine out along with some friends, since we dine out every Sunday.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Sense and Play
There must not be many people around who do not like any kind of music. Music is an appeal to the emotions inside you, it rejuvenates your soul. Some say it is language of god. This world had music right from its inception. Evidently most of us felt that music should accompany us wherever we are on this earth. This want resulted into rapid progress of technology in this field right from first walkman by sony to latest version of I-pod in the market. But still I feel there is a missing link and I am pretty sure that very soon this missing link will also come into existence.
The missing link I am talking about is the link between my instantaneous emotion and the song which my I-pod is playing. Is it not possible, considering the advances in the field of bioelectronics, that in future we have a mp3 player with emotion sensing device, which will sense the emotion and play the song accordingly. Imagine the situation when you are high, your mp3 senses it and plays “comfortably numb”. Can there be better customisation of your mp3 player to suit your personal needs. I hope I am heard.
The missing link I am talking about is the link between my instantaneous emotion and the song which my I-pod is playing. Is it not possible, considering the advances in the field of bioelectronics, that in future we have a mp3 player with emotion sensing device, which will sense the emotion and play the song accordingly. Imagine the situation when you are high, your mp3 senses it and plays “comfortably numb”. Can there be better customisation of your mp3 player to suit your personal needs. I hope I am heard.
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