Of cats and dogs!

Apparently with the increase in student intakes every year, the insti has also decided to let in more of the rest of the animal kind. The authorities believe that it is for keeping the balance in the insti ecosystem. So much attention is being paid to give their fraternity a warm homecoming that the mere sight of a panther in the campus is met with loud applause and fireworks. As if that was not sufficient, the high panther expectancy zones are searched with powerful torch lights so that no panther can escape out. All attempts are being made to trap the panthers inside the campus.

Besides, we are also accepting quite a few number of dogs and cats this year. Only recently, a visitor came by in a car and left us 3 puppies. To ensure no friction with the PETA authorities, these have been well accommodated in the student hostels. Due to lack of availability of rooms, arrangements have been made in the lounge area, mess, and in most cases wing corridors, staircases and toilets. The institute also encourages greater bonding between the animal kingdom and the student community and hence encourages the newbies to keep visiting our rooms and feel at home. They also eat with us in the canteen. I find that most of them like the Gobi ke paranthes and Noodles from the canteen. They also come in all shapes and sizes and breeds. My hostel hosts a grandfather dog, a white puppy, a brown skinned and another white skinned street dog along with a gray cat and her bony kitten. Ironically, these have twisted lifestyle choices. They often sleep where we piss and likewise piss where we sleep.

The number of the larger-sized species from the coveted animal kingdom is limited but that of the smaller insects is innumerable and out of control. Recently, to curb their numbers we have installed insect trappers in the mess and canteen areas. The authorities are also considering an entrance test for them to only let the right one in. The student community is requested to pen down their feedbacks in the comments section for further review of the insti animal policies.

Insti Wildlife Secy

500 hits!

:)

Blackout!

Been busy with midsems. Lots have passed meanwhile. Intern fight, fest work, lukkha (apparently i cant live without it) and of course studying in watever little time i was left with. Oh! and the longest blackout in the past two years (unconfirmed) in the insti.

About blackouts, they are ossum! Its one of those rare times when d hostel junta sets aside their laptops and desktops and comes out of the room all excited. You can see (of course after your eyes get adjusted to the gloomy surroundings) people forming addas everywhere..in the corridors, on the stairs, up on the roofs. And people gossip and laugh and scream and shout with their howls audible from over a mile away. You can see people flashing torches (no one bothers to light candles anymore it seems!); those fortunate enough to own a powerful flash enabled camera go wild, clicking at almost anything in the dark. People sing, people talk on the cell phones, some just sit and enjoy the cool breeze...

And in midst of all this, there are some who stay back in their rooms still stuck to their laptops till they have squeezed out as much power as possible from the poor battery.

Multiply all this by 15 and add to it the scene on the roads with people wandering aimlessly, the only sources of light there being the occasional Tum Tums and the ATM outlet and then stage this show of sorts on the night before a midsem exam for more than two hours and half and you get ossumness raised to infinity!

Meanwhile, I sneaked out of the campus to HN for dinner with my friends.

It was amazing!

P.S: What do u like or not like about blackouts? leave comments :)

Birthday BASH!

Ok here's d thing. Birthdays are meant to be fun.

But not with people 'bashing' u up as soon as the clock strikes midnight.
When we were in school, we used to have those bashings on our backs the number of times equal to the number of years the person had lived as of then. Well that was not so bad. I guess you could only hit someone so hard on the back.

But now people have sunk low. Both figuratively and literarily!

The new hitting zone are your bumps. And the hitters take tremendous pride and joy on being able to land hard hitting slippers on the bumps with all strength he can muster. My God! the tradition of bumps on birthdays have uncovered the strengths within guys as lean as stick. It is as if all the frust has finally found a vent and there is no hope in the future. As if all the torture are the misdoings of this guy standing with his face to the wall, pinned by his two hands held stretched out and crying for mercy all because he was born this day!

Only when u have had a sore bottom, do people stop but to smudge cream from your birthday cake all over your face and hairs! Even after this, treats to all those present are in order!

You are hit! Smudged with cream and then you treat them! Bizzare, aint it? And there's no escaping it. Unless you are lucky enough that your birthday (read doomsday) comes during the vacations when you are at home.

All said and done, its a great feeling when so many people actually make it a point to remember your birthday...for whatever reason. Overwhelming! trust me..

Barefoot on ceramic !

Nine of us walked into a restaurant today...all bare-footed! (Remember Barefoot on Metal;FPS, Ch3? Only, in our case it was on ceramic tiles and that didn't look hot!)

Anyways, it all happened on our wing picnic to Lonavala and Khandala with the new sophie junta. We started at 6 in the morning reaching Lonanvala by 8. It was really cold and foggy up there. And to top that, it was raining. More unpredictably than it does in Mumbai! Despite that, it was really amazing.

Tiger Cliff, Bhushi Dam, Carla caves, Bhaja caves in that order! And lots of trekking, waterfalls and bathing all along (not to forget some 400 plus pics!)

Followed by lunch at Neena's, where it happened. Having survived till 1 o'clock only on two vada pavs we were really hungry. And our shoes had all become wet. So we left them in the Tata Winger that we had hired and got in the restaurant barefoot! ordering amongst the 9 of us, 72 puris, 11 bowls of aloo bhaji, 3 bowls full of pickles and onion!!! And our plates were sparkling at the end. Not a morsel wasted!
It looked as if we were one of those improperly fed-n-dressed people (the bhooka-nangas as we sometimes not-so-politely address them)!!

Lunch was followed later in the day by the famous Maganlal's chikkis and corn (makai or bhutta) at Khandala! It was a great picnic and quite a welcome for the sophie junta into the wing!

Aarghhhh...

The other day while I was walking down a road I was stopped and asked by some guy for directions to a certain place. It was about 4-5 kms from that place. So I suggested him to go to take a bus but he insisted on knowing the directions. Confused..also slightly irritated..I told him it was far.. He became sad and told me that he had been pick pocketed and he had no money and asked for help. Now I usually dont believe such stories. But the look on his face was convincing. I took pity and gave him 10 rupees. That was all the change I had. He didnt seem very satisfied in the beginning but later thanked me and left. Deep inside my heart there was this happy feeling of satisfaction. With this feeling I was walking and I had covered merely a hundred meters when some man spoke to me:

"Excuse me, I lost my wallet in the bus. Can you please help me...."

I could feel my satisfaction slowly ebbing away at that moment...

Its official ! Je parle francaise

I got my results for Delf A1 examination and apparently I passed! So officially I cleared the basic level exam. There are 6 exams in all. A1, A2 upto C1, C2. After the hard time I had wid A1, I am not sure whether I am going any further :P
Waiting for the certificate to arrive!

Cheers!

Literally speaking!

Few days back my little brother asked me the meaning of some common word. I can't recall the word right now but I was clueless as to what should I be telling him. I struggled and finally managed to explain the context that word is used in. He was satisfied.

I wasn't!

It drew my attention to a plethora of words I didnt know the literal meanings of and thats how it started! Since then I have fallen into the habit of finding out dictionary meanings of words and I am falling deeper and deeper into this whirlpool of my passion for dictionary meanings.

Of all the words you know how many do you think you learnt off a dictionary or a thesaurus? I am guessing very few. We learn words as we read - books, newspapers, magazine articles, editorials, advertisements, even the internet, or as we listen to them - news, movies, music, conversations. But with all these new words, we also learn the associated way of usage - the context where these were used! So we end up increasing our vocab but knowing only d contextual meanings. The literal meanings take a back seat and when asked what does a particular word mean, we fidget around trying to find out what exactly it meant!

Jana Gana Mana Rann!

If you are wondering that I messed up with the title of this post, then you have definitely missed the controversy surrounding RGV's latest multi-starrer Rann.

The title track of the movie, also the promo for the movie,- "Jana Gana Mana Rann, Is Rann mein Zakhmi hua hai Bharat ka Bhagya Vidhata" has been banned by the Censor Board in accordance with the Prevention of insult to National Honour Act 1971 because "the tune of the national anthem has been played around with and distorted".

Ramu has decided to challenge the Censor Board's decision in the apex court because there isnt any rule against using of the Anthem and because the song doesn't portray the Anthem in a bad light. This is what the lyricist Sarim Momin had to say:

"if we had used lines like "Jaag jao... Bharat ko bachaao' or 'Humari jaan Hindustan', the maximum reaction would have been a yawn or a raise of an eyebrow. Or both, if somebody really liked it and were generous.

It would NOT have made people sit up and think about the current state.

Diverting from the song for a moment, the Election Commission started many campaigns this year to urge Indians to come out and vote yet the turnout was only around 50 per cent.

It's not like we don't care. It's just that we don't care enough to make an effort to even elect the best men to decide the future and fate of our country.

We are comfortably numb and almost sleepy to what is happening to us."

Will the song cause spread of unpatriotic, anti-national feelings? Will this result in the youth believing in and reciting this instead of Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak?

Or is the integrity of the Anthem too solid to be breached by trifles?

What's your say? Comments are, as always, welcome.

P.S: Watch the video here.

India Untouched: Stories of People Apart

I dunno how many of you have seen the award winning docu India Untouched: Stories of People Apart by Stalin K. but I strongly suggest you to do so..that is if you believe that modern India has come far in eradicating untouchability.

The film introduces leading Banaras scholars who interpret Hindu scriptures to mean that Dalits "have no right'' to education, and Rajput farmers who proudly proclaim that the police must seek their permission before pursuing cases of atrocities against Dalits.

Unfortunately, thats not the end of the story. Stalin and team travelled across the country and has captured few hard hitting facts from across 8 states. I mention a few of these which I call most shameful for lack of a better word.

1)In Madurai, TN: The dalits have to descend from their bicycles and remove their shoes in the upper caste parts of the village

2)Mehboobnagar, AP: The masons that build the house are not allwed to step inside them once the buildings are painted

2) Jamui, Bihar: The mid wives of the village are paid only Rs 100 for a child birth and a week's oil massage. And they can't eat food within the house they work in

3) Patiala, Punjab: Street cleaners from the corporation say that the corporation doesnt have any non Dalit member

4) Jhajha, Bihar: The Dalits clean the railway tracks off of mutilated dead bodies of humans and animals and all the shit. Will an upper caste member ever do this, asks one of them

A Brahmin when confronted of the ill that will befall the human society if we touch the Dalits says the Godhara massacre was a result of this!!!

The situation is same in other religions as well.

This is the real scene guyz! People dont even know why they follow untouchability...its always been like this, they say...Paradigm!

A common Dalit song translates roughly into:

We clear up the garbage while you roam about ungroomed
For the crime of cleaning you call me scavenger
When you step into rain water, does that change your caste?
We are stabbed at street corners, our lives end in hard labour

We want the rights written by Baba (Ambedkar)
You treat us as your slaves for your will and pleasure
We will not tolerate this nonsense now
We want the rights that Baba gave us!

Just give this a thought..

P.S.: The video is available on IITB Lan for those who can access it.
P.P.S.: The documentary was released sumtime in early 2007. So I guess it isnt exactly ancient

sophomore-NO MORE!

So this is it!
M not a sophomore anymore..(SOPHO-NO-MORE as one of my friends puts it)
Oh yes I will pass..THANK you very much for your concern !! *frowns*

The one thing I love about being done with the final exams is that you dun have
to read all those same old boring courses anymore (...and other boring courses will take over :P)

Also there's nothing better than to be able to go back home to my family and old friends...
This time however I am not..(bloody internships!)..miss u mom, dad, di..love u

Anywayz...looking forward to a great summer...

Have fun..

Cheers! :)

The Boy Who Lived or You Know Who

This was something I wrote around an year back..

Rowling did her best to portray Tom Riddle as the Ravana of her Ramayana and quite succeeded in it. But I beg to differ. Even Ravana was a pundit. Good or evil is only a matter of perception. We believe something
is good if its convenient.

Lets not hate Tom from the outset just because Rowling showed him that way. Come to think of it, Tom had a very disturbing childhood, much more than Harry had. His Muggle father abandoned him and his mother. His grandfather Marvollo cursed his mother for the ill-fate. Young Tom must have been deeply affected by all this. His loathing for the Muggles was natural given the state of affairs.

Tom's stay at the orphanage wasn't good too. He knew he was different and that's why he felt alone. This made him restless and reinforced his hatred for Muggles. What he did during those days is known to all.
Now 'the boy who lived' never had a hapy childhood too. But he never had a chance to rise against the wrongs unlike Tom. Harry stayed as a mere puppet of the Dursleys. I m sure if Harry had the freedom, he
would have turned into some Frankenstien himself, given his lack of self-control that was made evident in book 5 when he shouted at Ron, Hermione and even Dumbledore.

Hogwarts was a welcome change for both our protagonists. Tom was a better student but Harry was counselled at every step by Dumbledore. On countless occasions Harry was saved by his dead mother or his friends. On the contrary Tom was on his own. For a lonely adolescent, power tales of the Dark Arts were fascinating and awe-inspiring. Hence such a recourse wasn't unexpected.

Tom's hatred for Muggles, his hunger to be the all-powerful immortal God made him a murderer. Maybe the path he chose was extreme. But think about it, he was a man who was never loved by anyone, one who never realised the power of love.

P.S: I do not think Harry Potter books should be thrown away. In fact, I am a great fan of the series. Neither do I wish to justify Voldemort's character. It's just something that had crossed my mind.

Comments are welcome.

Welcome aboard !

Hi..m back wid a splat(yea splat & not bang..since its holi..anyways poor joke)
The other day I was flying from Mumbai to Kolkata when I observed something rather amusing..
Well it amused me atleast..
I was half asleep..When I was awoken by a sudden change in speed of the aircraft. Then almost immediately came the announcement:
"We are about to land at the Netaji Subhas Chandra International Airport in Kolkata."
And in a few minutes the plane touched ground and it happened..
As soon as the wheels hit the ground came another announcement

"The flight has safely landed. Welcome to Kolkata. We request all passengers to remain seated and keep their seat belts fastened till the plane reaches to a complete halt. It is to remind all passengers that the use of cell phones and other electronic equipments is still not allowed and please keep them off. The temperature on the outside is...."

But people had already gotten up from their seats (obviously unfastened their seatbelts), claimed their luggages from the overhead carriers, informed their loved ones over their oh-that-is-supposed-to-be-switched-off-till-the-flight-stops cell-phones about their safe landing and formed a queue at the exits to descend from the aircraft.
If only the doors were open I am sure no one would still be on board to hear the last lines:

"....Hope you enjoyed your flight. Thank you for flying with us"

100 visits in less than a month!

Just about 10 minutes ago, I got a mail from BlogCounter that my blog has had 100 hits since Jan 30. Thats some achievement for me I guess...and I give almost entire credit to gmail status mssgs. Yea..ppl do tend to click on links provided in status mssgs. Nevertheless, now wat needs to be done is to keep you guyz wanna come back again n again..
Tough job that one..lets see
Bye.. :P

Rahman bags 2 Oscars...Slumdog bags 8

And Rahman ended his acceptance speech by saying, Ella Pughazhum Eraivanukke..."All my success and achievements are dedicated to God, God is great."

Finally Indian music got recognition. Thank you Rahman Sir. We love you.

However I must say, I was a little surprised that Slumdog won the Best Film Award. It makes me wanna see the movie again and check what did they like so much in the film. Personally the film wasnt any new for me. Just the usual rags-to-riches story of a slum dweller. What has been potrayed isnt new. All those hardships of slumdwellers has got a lot of screen space even earlier.

But I guess I will never understand the way Oscars is supposed to work. So thats that.

My heartiest congratulations to all who are benefitted from the victory and my salute to Mr Rahman...

EggJams!!!

I just recovered from one of the gruelling many-to-few encounters we students have to face so often..against a handful of professors whose sole purpose in life, it seems, is to make the life of innocent students hell...

Really I mean why cant we NOT have exams...

What is the purpose when we do not study for the whole year..and during the last few days when we suddenly realize that the war is on us and that nothing can help us evade it..and then somehow after many sleepless nights and futile attempts to cover d entire course material in a few hours we manage to emerge victorious (assuming just having fought the war is victory) obviously with deep ever lasting wounds inflicted upon ourselves...

But who cares...the lull AFTER the storm is what we care about now...

Thats it for now..If you feel the same way about exams, do post comments...maybe we can sart some sort of an online petition against exams and send it to a certain Mr Arjun Singh..now that the response to online petitions is terrific..(referring to the pink chaddi campaign)

P.S: Dont take me seriously on this petiton thing ;)

CASH is on my mind!!

hey all..howz u doing?

Hrithik Roshan’s Kites has reportedly been sold for a whopping Rs 150 crore to Reliance Big Pictures, setting a new record.

When I read this in the papers today, I couldnt help thinking...

150 crores!! can u imagine..

No, wait...I dont think u get it...Ironically, the actual amount had not caught my attention,no..the issue of handling that much cash had...

Come to think of it..how many people would have actually seen that much cash...

Many thanks to modern day banks..

Just imagine if all transactions had to be done in cash, I doubt , Tatas and Birlas would exist.
I mean...where would you store all your money?? Or maybe you would have to build money bins just like Uncle Scrooge. How would u feel if instead of ATM vestibules and banks, we had individual money bins that held all the hard earned cash(OK, the not so hard earned cash as well, but thats not the point)? What if you had to move out or something? You shift your money bins as well! Trucks full of currency notes maneuvering across streets!! Maybe we would have money bins for hire available in each block...
Maybe....

Makes me love the very idea of banking..What say u???

A Tribute to the Mahatma!

"...suddenly a man, who was later identified as Nathu Ram Godse took steps out of the crowd and fired three shots at Mahatma. Bullets hit him on the stomach and chest. Mahatma fell down saying Ram-Ram... "
– Nand Lal Mehta, in the First Information Report recorded on January 30, 1948, at 9.45 p.m.

I am not a Gandhian. But I do respect him.
You need guts to stand up to your enemy, as unarmed and vulnerable as he was. Agreed he made a few controversial decisions.He called off the Non Coop Movt when it turned violent.But how can one advocate something one dissapproves of. Again, Gandhi could have commutated the death sentences of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. But probably Irwin was a better bargainer than he was. He explains, "It could not be done so. And to threaten withdrawal now would be a breach of faith."

He once said, "Would our women known as the meekest on earth have done the unique service they did, if we had violence in us? And our children - our Vanar Sena; how could you have had these innocent ones who renounced their toys, their kites, their crackers and joined as soldiers of Swaraj - how could you have enlisted them in a violent struggle?"

It is worth pondering over these words. It is the mass support that decides the success or failure of a method of struggle. The people of India chose non-violent means over violent ones so clearly that even after these controversies, whenever Gandhiji gave a call he had millions responding to it.

To say the very least he was way better than you and I !!!

Namesake!

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet"

If the Bard was alive today, he would be more than willing to eat his words...

His was a time when people were recognized by their potential. Whatever was their background or stature in the society.
But times have fast changed...

Glamour is all we talk about. BRAND NAME matters, no matter what..right from time you open your eyes..the urge for fancy Names gets bigger day by day.

We have turned into brand conscious beings. Name is all we care about these days...Associate yourself to a brand however remotely, and there you go..half the battle is won!

I myself went through lot of names for my blog, searching for fancy ones before I decided on Zeitschrift (German for journal).

To quote Richard Strauss(German composer):

"Building brand name is key. That's what America is all about"

We are sorry Will but Rose by any other name aint sweet anymore.

Vous parlez quelle langue?

Bonjour Messieurs et Mesdames!
Among the things that I always wanted to do was to learn foreign languages. And I always had a fascination for French. So be it. Came summers and I registered for a French course.

The basic problem with learning a new language is to unlearn the rules of languages that we are used to. Sometimes even the most basic rules of Grammar change! Add to that the French pronunciation(pronounced as- prho-nun-see-aa-siyo in French), and what you have is total mayhem!!!

But with a little effort you get familiar with these. It maybe a bit early to say, but now I have developed some interest in the language.

That's all for this time.

Au Revoir!