TATA BYE BYE CYA SOON

It's time to bid a very happy farewell to 2008, quite a eventful year !!

Wish 2009 bring more prosperity and peace...


and yes, I forgot to even wish my Blog a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY who turned 1 just a few days back.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG :)

An old gossiping women that we are

A semester came and a semester went by, and amid the cruise I comfortably ignored the torpid existence of my blog. Such things never happen for the first time with me, and especially if we are talking negligence and unaccountability. You can say, I have a history. But all things apart, I no longer fancy stretching this post with inconsequential fables of my life. I would have wanted that a few days back, but not now. I'll reserve that luxury for the subsequent posts. Right now like everyone else in the country, my thoughts are predominated by the terror attacks in Mumbai and our own inability to protect ourselves from such intrusions.

About 10 days ago, terror shed it's shadow on our beloved city Mumbai. Dark chapters are registered everyday in this country's history, whether they are communal riots, wars, discrimination, bigotry, corruption, shameful political dramas or terrorist attacks. This year we had seen it all. 64 bomb blasts in last 6 months. But this time it was far too much adventure, far too much destruction. A boat walks right from Pakistan, straight into the heart of our city creating havoc, leaving hundreds dead and a nation mourning.It wasn't just a terror attack, it was a proper foreign invasion. I don't know what to feel; feel sad, feel anguish, frustrated, stupid, dumb or what.

I no longer feel secure going out shopping now.My parents forced me to call off the Goa trip we were so excited about. England team withdrew it's tour midway, fleeing back to the safety of their nation. No champions trophy this time. No tourist outburst for the Incredible India. It's a financial loss running down in billions, and it's loss of faith and security. Maybe that's what these terrorists wanted to achieve. And maybe I could safely claim, they have not disappointed their masters. But yet again preserving our wonderful record, we easily let things happen. Where was the security ? Where was the intelligence? And why do we turn diligent or start contemplating only after adversity dints it's way into our lives? This time we have been rendered naked and everyone can see how just unprepared we are. It's not about a security lapse. It is about our thinking and our mentality.

The reaction of the government, those wonderful statements that government issue right after such a disaster, sometimes they so make me feel if I could just evaporate into thin ether. It is at these times I feel so disgraceful being an Indian. Look at Israel, these fanatics kill their 2 citizens and they strike them right into their heart. These terrorists won't dare spell Jihad against America again. And see what we Indians do. We condemn these attacks. A few years back, Bangladesh killed our 16 soldiers in an erratic aggression on eastern borders. Now a country like Bangladesh which can't stand a chance against our might, dares to kill our soldiers in a fight born out of our sheer passiveness. And still what we do, we condemn the attacks and we pass a proposal in parliament 6 months later denouncing the attacks and promising to take action by building diplomatic pressure on the neighbor. Can't you sense this is what old fearful women do. Men strike back, once and for all and the enemy conceives a 1000 times before daring such a feat again. Old fearful gossiping women lay quite enduring all the pains while men rule the world. America never needed the consent of world before evading Iraq. No protests around the world or even in it's own territory ever mattered. While we, we Indians, after all such attacks try to prove America and the world that our Neighbors have been involved in fostering terrorism. We seek permission from the world to take actions. We are so feeble in taking decisions ourselves that at virtually every point we affirm that we are still slaves. We will take lots more time to break the thousand year tradition of slavery. Why don't we just accept it ; we are just too soft to live in this world.

Of course, we live in a nation that has served under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and likes. They taught us non violence and peace, the universal values that remain valid even to this date. But surrendering over to these values while terrorists roam fearlessly in our country and ripping apart bodies of our people is not practicing non-violence. If somebody threats your existence without any sane reason to do that, you have full authority to wipe them out of their roots. I don't think we need any permission from anywhere around the world to hunt down these terrorists if we are sure of their hide-outs. We need a strong leadership, one that can use all the diplomatic weaponry to choke the finances these terrorists are thriving upon and which can summon the defenses for an invasion right into their centers if the need ever arise. We are in paucity of good leaders and our corrupt and impotent political system is incapable of fulfilling that demand. If you look at the core, the solution lies in the change of mentality, change the way we think and all the changes will trickle down to other factors consequently.

The only positive this entire episode has brought with it is a sense of awakening. People are getting united to fight terror, and not just terror, they are raising their voice against the crooked and fraudulent political system. People from all walks of the life belonging to all factions of the society are gathering to express how annoyed they are. The politicians of our country, the dirtiest creatures ever to assume life, they have finally started to hear our cries of belligerence. I can't infer that this incidence can spark a revolution. But slowly things will change, as they are changing now. Democracy is the last revolution in a democratic setup, rest all other changes take their time to happen. Change is bound to ensue, as our society is undergoing transition and as our youth is becoming more responsible and expressive. But I fear, there will be still many more attacks that'll follow before we can break the mind barriers that has enslaved us for centuries. Many more soldiers, many more brave officers will lay down their lives for our protection. This nation can never forget their sacrifices. They died by the bullets of terrorists, which pierced their brave souls as a consequence of decades of treachery by our politicians. They are no less than terrorists, even more foul. And we have our own contribution in their making. This is a moment of shame for all of us. It's time to regret and cry, but more than that to learn a lesson, so that we can undo the mistakes that has brought us here. This nation is like our mother, a diseased one, but still she do everything to nurture us. It's time to pay her back.

The only concrete solution to this problem, I'll stress once again, a change of mentality. Once we promise ourselves that we'll not tolerate anyone exploiting us, whether they are politicians or terrorists, all problems will meet their solutions in the aftermath. Good leaders will come out from good people and they'll serve the wants of this nation through democratic channels. All we requires is to break that barrier that has been binding us for long. We need to believe that we can invoke a change. It is tough, but unless we believe in ourselves, there is no progress we can make.

An entire semester came and an entire semester went by, as everyday I saw a quote on my notes register

"The Person who cannot believe in himself, cannot believe in anything else"

I saw this entire story and then I remembered this quote by Roy L. Smith. Suddenly Everything started making sense.


P.S : I request the people of this nation to live like men, but I nowhere want them to perceive that I am a male chauvinist.

P.S.S : That was a DJ !! ( Dang Joke, a step below PJs)

P.S.S.S: Jokes apart, I'm very serious about this post.

Jaane tu ya jaane na...( The review of my life )

The sodium light transpiring into my room from that old window unfurls itself all over the room. My pupils are wide open, enough to see every trifling detail making up the place. Things like this don't befall often, because at four in the night, I'm generally lethargically crashed to bed. But Now, I'm here, my eyes wide open and my savage mind more clear than ever, a stir of thoughts flowing over space and time as I prepare myself to encounter my past, my present and my future.

It starts when I was young. I often used to visit a fantastic hang-out place with my parents, that's DC, District center, as we fondly call it. Actually, this place generally brim with friends, hang-out buddies, college guy, couples etc etc. Those were the days my body clock went out of my understanding and I discovered puberty. I acquired new habits to discern every pair of shaved legs, espy every enlarged butt, observe all the burgeoning tees, secretly glancing on every girl, her boyfriend, her friends, and other flaunting groups all around. Those guys and gals were my inspiration and my idea of college life, but almost on all occasions I used to bump into a group of losers. And now what do I mean by losers ?

Losers, as in my conclusion, are the group of those guys hanging out together looking dreadfully humdrum, uncool and you-know the typical kind of feel they would measure out to the atmosphere. The reason, the proper reason for such kind of abysmal emanation was just one - There was no visible tinge of women in their life. Of course, mothers and sisters are not counted. Just by looking at those guys one can make out they will never have a girlfriend in their lives, and their parents will arrange a marriage for their losers in due time. Even then, they were never not hanging out together. They were just crying over their wretched fortunes or laughing at the world for the shit that crowds it. Typical losers. You just know they are losers, no second thought, verdict delivered. Anyways, a small point to be made. whoever I assumed to be those losers, they always looked as some science freaks !!

It's about 6-7 years now since those trips. But life has taken strange turns. Time is an unusual thing. Sometimes it slow downs, sometimes it runs too fast, you know, it changes it's speed a lot. But still it just ticks away at one same speed. I can look at my clock now, which is hanging harmlessly over the wall and isn't very much like how I see it during light, but it still quite seemingly tells me that it's just few more minutes to dawn. And then the sun will rise again, cracking that blue light in the purplish black firmament. A new day will begin, and it will end and begin again and the cycle will go on forever. And somewhere in those cycles I'll see the world, I'll live my life and then I'll fade into the eternities of the life. Thoughts like these don't befall often on me. But today is different. Today I saw Jaane Tu ya Jaane na. No, it's no special film, nothing great or epic about it. 2/5 is a brilliant rating to go with for this one. It's that simple old testified and tried love story, the same old wine in a new bottle. But then you'll subscribe with me for the sake of that old wisdom that as the wine gets older, it gets more intoxicating.

Love stories are really common in our flicks. There may not be even a dozen successful movies without featuring a romantic affair tinseled with half a dozen songs. But does the reel life so significantly depicts the real life? Suddenly if Bollywood becomes the gauge to measure this country, half the time the beautiful men ( with six pack abs and funky dress sense) and women ( tall, fair, educated, sensible and cultured) would be falling in love with each other after years of best friendship and fighting their parents in most cultured way. The rest half, they would be singing songs, making humor, bashing bad guys and stuff. Not quite really close to reality, is it ? But still, sometimes it embarks on something so important, so natural, so crude, so perpetual..you know... and that's love, the companionship of the opposite sex, you can't hide these desires for long. Indians aren't know to be much adventurous when it comes to finding mates or losing virginity, but then luckily living in such a liberal minded family and having made so many friends who were girls, it seems so paradoxical that I still haven't satisfied that ultimate rapturous desire.

That's it. Sky is going blue now. Birds and chirping already, and my mom is preparing herself to break free from slumber. But it's still not so clear. Something is wrong. Is it the AC ? The room is chilled now, even as I comfort myself in the quilt. I'm not feeling cheerful. Maybe because I don't have any girl in my life. I'm 19 now, at 20 an average Indian male discovers the joy of manhood. The height of the bridge don't worry me more than it's foundations. The problem is I even don't have a true love in my life. It's not that you need one so desperately for you, it's just sometimes you think that there should be someone you could share some moments with, if you could ever just talk for nights on with her, sometimes just lay down on her shoulders and look at the infinity that abounds the sky and those stars that glimmer in deafening silence of love. It's just those moments where the clocks slow down forever, where times runs paces as it had never before, when it just ticks away tick by tick, and the whole creation dissolves in it.

Somewhere far in neighborhood, an alarm rings up, diminished sound, nonetheless distinguishable. Chain reactions work amazingly when left to nature. The ringing alarm ringed a few bells in my mind. I'm sure, if I haven't been distracted to it, these thoughts would have never occurred. I just realized something. When with my friends in DC, after that Okay film, I was more than desperately scouting for those losers inspite of all the beautiful womankind that inundated the air. Now I realized, why I couldn't find them. Because it was us now. Yes !! We are the losers. No girl, no love, we are the f*cking damn losers !!

My mother is already up, maybe refreshing herself before lodging into the kitchen. Sleep approaches to minus infinity, and I can no longer take it. I'm out of my bed to open up the veranda and to notice the roads wet with water and the smell so typical of monsoons lingering in the air. I laid all night wide awake not even noticing the heavy rains that had flooded the city. I used to find this kind of air particularly very romantic, until now. But today, here I'm standing alone, with nobody besides me as I face my past, my present and my future. I somehow convince myself that in spite of every thing, I don't fall in the same category as those losers. 95% of my friends ( including my respected seniors) don't take the pleasures of female companionship. 75% of my fellow mates from DPS struggle on the same lines. Most of the guys I look around don't have girl-friends. But then, it's Delhi. You look around and you find couples chatting and laughing. Yup. It's quite easy to find mate in Delhi, for it's an open and liberal minded city, and I'm proud of that. But then, it just don't happen. You need at least a strong reason and some due time to get a positive feedback. At least, I'm not the kind of guy who can goto a party and mesmerize the ladies with his charisma. Had I been in college, I may have had made a girl-friend long ago. But then I'm in IIT. You know, the land of males. But even the thought that I compared myself with those loser guys just scared the shit out of me. One girl missing from your life, and it seems your life is about to shatter as with your next breath. Sometimes you just think, that one girl, who is not in your life and you even don't know who she is or if she ever exist, if she can bring your optimism and pride crashing and puts you in the league of losers, imagine what a real girl can do.

I tried to convince myself to the best of my capabilities. It may not resolve the truth of the situation. But now the slumber within me is seeding out once again. My mother is now in the kitchen, unaware that I had been awake all night and what all I went through as I scrutinized my life. Neither does she know that I'm in my bed again and would not wake up before my maid would serve the lunch before me. She'll be in her office when I'll lie to her that the breakfast was nice and the day was as good as the other days after I wake at 9. I don't care if the all the darkness has vanished from the skies. I don't care what the birds are up to now. It was the kind of night that don't encounter me often, but it's over now. I don't know how it will affect times of my life. Someday maybe, I won't even remember it. The sun is out and the night is gone. The sun will fall and another night will come. And in this cycle of life, this night and the adventures it brought upon will dissolve forever into hibernation.
Heaven.


P.S : zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
P.S.S: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Adhesives under Swiss Guard

Browsing the net or browsing the book stall isn't the only kind of browsing people are doing these days. They are browsing a lot of different things. For example, you can browse your own blog. I just did that wonderful thing, and you know what I found out, I just found that I have been publishing very intelligent posts lately. Very intelligent and for that sole reason, very irrelevant in this world. And then you see, I'm the lord of bakarthoery, not some intelligentstuff theory, or something like that. If I can't publish crap, no one else can. But then everybody in the world is doing that. That's what the web is all about, you publish crap !! It's as simple as that. I'm not the sole responsibility to induce intelligence in the world. And nobody even ask me to publish intelligent posts. And most events occurring around me are some of the most unintelligent things happening in the world. So I, Solemnly pledge today to relive myself of all my responsibilities to make this world an intelligent and hopeful place to live in.

Okay (sigh !! feeling relieved). So lets start with one of those things that just happened to me in very recent past, recent enough to call it present. I just met up with an old childhood friend. We used to call him 'Pochcha' ('Pochcha' is a kind of sweeping cloth, generally torn underwears, used by domestic servants in middle class families to clean the floor). His father is the owner of an adhesive company. When we were in 3rd standard, and were like cute little puppies, he forcefully made me believe that he owns the biggest company in the world manufacturing Fevicol, and is the richest person alive in the world for past 100 years ( that was the age of the earth according to him and he didn't acquainted with numeration after 100). They manufacture adhesives by a very complicated and multi-step processes involving 100s of coins. In first step they used to melt the coins and in second step it became adhesives. These coins were swiss Rupees, worth hundred of rupees and were manufactured in their Swiss factory located in Switzerland. Then they used to carry the adhesives back to India in a train, and it was guarded by hundred thousand million swiss soldiers ( I'm just translating how many times he said hundred into shorter terms). And those soldiers were under command of none other than the President of Switzerland - Hitler. Well, I never believed a word of what he said, but circumstances made me pretend that I did.

Today after several years, we met again. He has grown smart looks, and stands 7 inches taller than me and twice wide with 6 pack abs and stretched muscles. Of course, I didn't call him 'Pochcha'. He was on his Charisma, and I learned later, was going back after throwing a treat to his friends, as he successfully tugged 75 on IQ tests on his 9th attempt. Good for him. He really needs it. More than I need those six pack abs and muscles. Luck can be merciless at times. Anyways, as he went past me, I started the all unintelligent conversation, one among those that always keep happening with me.


Me : Hey !

Pochcha : Hey ?

Me: You recognize me ?

Pochcha: Uhmm...??

Me: I'm Amit. Remember we were in school together some time back?

Pochcha: Oh yes ! Now I do. How'r you doing buddy ?

Me: Great ! What about you ?

Pochcha: I'm fucking whores !! 100s of whores.

Me: Great !! ( Pretending to look impressed)

Pochcha: ( Showing off, acting to chew a chewing gum he don't have in his mouth and pretending to hum a song as if I'm really impressed. Bragging actually).

Me: So what are you doing these days except fucking whores. I mean, you must be attending some college right?

Pochcha: Yaa, I'm doing my BA. It's Bay..Bay..something of arts. I don't know the name of the college.

Me: That's nice.

Pochcha: What college are you in anyway( taunting, as if I know the name of my college)

Me: I'm in IIT Roorkee.

Pochcha: Ohhh....IIT ( impressed). Is it in Delhi ?

Me: It's IIT Roorkee buddy.

Pochcha: Yeah! But where is it? Delhi ?

Me: It's IIT Roor...Yaa. It's in Delhi.

Pochcha: So what are you doing there, B.Com ?

Me: It's actually 5 years Integrat...yaa B.Com.

Pochcha: Ohh ! I knew One day you'll be doing a B.Com. B.Com in Science stream or Medical.

Me: Science.

Pochcha: Nice !! Nice !! So ? made any girlfreinds ? ( Showing his muscles as if he was supposed to while asking this question. Life can be very unfair)

Me: Nah ! We don't have a lot of girls in there.

Pochcha: Where ?

Me: In my college.

Pochcha: So what ? I fuck whores all around Delhi. You can't restrict yourself to just the college.

Me:But I don't have muscles like you.

Pochcha: ( Showing off, acting to chew a chewing gum he don't have in his mouth and pretending to hum a song as if I'm really impressed. Bragging actually).

Me:( Trying to act modest, pretending I don't want to slice him into two pieces)

Pochcha: Hey! You know about my adhesive company, TicToc Adhesives.

Me:Yaa...(For God's sake...say you burnt the factory. What company will have it's name TicToc, anyway?)

Pochcha: You know, we signed a deal with a swiss company. Soon we'll be opening up in Switzerland. We'll be manufacturing Swiss adhesives then.

Me:(Here we go !!)

Pochcha: After the deal, we will be one of the biggest adhesives companies in the country. We will become very very rich. Hundreds of thousands of millions of...

Me: Hey ! It's been nice talking to you. Really. But I'm extremely short of time. Got to go. Now. Take care. Bye

Pochcha: Bye ( and wheels off)


A week later, I read in a local newspaper that a local adhesive manufacturing company - TicToc adhesives has signed a deal with a swiss manufacturer of local goods. This deal will allow Indian company to manufacture deal for the swiss company and it's sub-units. And also allow to expand it's base in rest of the Europe. The Indian company, which had been operating locally within NCR, will become one of the leading adhesive manufacturers in the country. It's a significant deal because now even small companies are going global and expanding ata very fast rate, and as in this example, bagging big deals so as to emerge the top players. This deal ...

Life can be very very very unfair.

How'r u doin ??

Walking past the morning newspaper with my unbrushed teeth, on some morning in springs of '03, I saw a blonde named Jennifer Aniston standing with a Golden globe trophy. It was love at first sight. Very soon, we were kissing each other on a marooned island, secretly making love, away from our half a dozen children, which I had fathered her. Now there was another lady in my life and things were going great, until my mother dragged me back to the world pressing me to brush my teeth and getting prepared for the breakfast, that was already freezing now. Now, she can be very demanding and stubborn at times. I would never mind skipping a breakfast, if that can anyhow help my love life. But I had to heed my creator (and over the years, I found out that the hard way), and before she could snatch the paper out of my hands, I glanced those subtitles which clearly indicated where my destiny lies

'FRIENDS sweetheart bags the Golden globe award.'




And that's how I started poking around F.R.I.E.N.D.S, just because of dear Jennifer. I watched a few episodes, couldn't understand much, except for that some sunaffabich bumbling man named Ross Geller was already having things with Rachael. Now I didn't like that. Seriously. And I didn't like that man too. (However, I forcibly changed my notion about him very soon, as I realized I was being too GUNTHER !!). But that's how I gradually got myself involved in the series. And then before I could realize anything, I was laughing with these guys, crying with them, enjoying with them, and having loads of fun with them. Suddenly I had new friends in my life - Rachael, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey and of course, Ross. And that's how slowly I forgot dear Jeniffer and Courtney swapped places with her. I had a crush on Courtney for a very brief period, but it just didn't matter at that time. That won't be a reason enough now, to meet my new friends every night.

I still remember the initial months of my 9th standard. That was about the time I started spending a lot more time with books, as I realized there was no other option than to study my way out through those tougher academic phases. That was the time academics began to suck and I realized I need to spend least an hour or two on the table, everyday, something I had never done before. That was where FRIENDS came in. Everyday, after my regular hitch with the books, FRIENDS at 10 on Zee English was always there for 5 days a week to help me revive the cultural shock the new academics was giving me. It's like an old friend helping through your difficult times. I would talk about the series with my friends later in the classes, but hardly any of them was seeing them at that time ( Of course, all of them are madly in love with the series now!!). But in those tough hours, my folk-fare deprived themselves of one of the greatest proposals of friendship ever designed.

But anyhow, I continued watching the series, and I take pride in announcing that I watched the 9th season live as it went to air in America. It was definitely one of the best seasons and I have seen the entire season in order for 5 times now. That was a good one, but My favorite is the season 7, the season preceding my luckiest number. Take a look at some of the best moments from it.



Now I don't know how actually I can come up with some of the best scenes without doing injustice to the others. There are just so many. There was this story when Ross and Joey were stranded on the apartment roof, and the other one on thanksgiving when Ross couldn't remember all the states. And that one with the Spa in Ross's home, or the one when Ross hits the pole in central Perk while attempting to hit Joey, and he so fantastically ducks. TOW Rosita dies, TOW Joey "accepts" the award on her behalf or TOW Ross comes in as Holiday Armadillo. TOW, TOW, TOW...And then there were those senti ones too. There were just so many, I can't even recollect them now. Mind completely blocked you see. OverLoad !! This series had this amazing ability to take the viewers through a hilarious rides, with emotional turns and then back to the humor track. I guess that's what differentiated it from the other series, and that's why people became really attached to it. 10 years, mind you, is not at all, on any scale, a small time for any series on American Television.


As I said, I watched the 9th season live and was expecting to watch the tenth season again with the Americans,it arrived a little late in India though ( an year late actually). As always, the season was outstanding but the last episodes, the parting of the friends just broke me up. That were the finals of my 11th standard, and I remember that I went into a big depression for about a week or so after watching those last episodes. At that point, it seemed, I had lost someone of my own, forever. It was a feeling I never had before, I had never experienced how it felt to loose someone, and still I couldn't believe it was happening. After all, they were just characters, not in real life, and thousands of miles away from me. Anyways, I felt the ache, and it gradually went away, but it seems I still have lots of feelings for them, especially for ...well..uhmmm...Joey. After my initial stint with the girls, I guess I found my true love in Joey. Yeah !! Not that kindda love you would like to have on a unscathed island, just the kinda love you have with your baby...or your puppy!! Lots of love anyways. So here I conclude, By giving you some of the best joey moments. Laugh and keep smiling and keep saying : How'r U doin ??

A walk to remember

"first you will smile, and then you will cry --- don't say that you haven't been warned."



I picked up this book while strolling past a book vendor in Cannaught Place. I had decided to buy this book some time back after reading very positive reviews about it on shelfari. And it was just by chance I happen to walk across it. I bought the book for a ridiculous price, a price not very synonymous while shopping with street hucksters. Now, all this should Ideally not be part of a book review, but you know, it's just to give a personal touch and set the tone.

This is what I'll call the most beautiful story I have ever chanced on. No book till date ever bring tears in my eyes. This book almost did, and the emotional fallout of this book was enormous.

This is a love story of a boy Landon Carter. A series of events led him fell in love with a girl named Jamie Sullivan when they both were seventeen and about to graduate from high school. Her father was a minister in the baptist church and the two families never shared a musical history. And the relationship was never cordial between Landon and her father, who had crossed fifty when Jamie was born. Of course he was a very old man when the story was told. Jamie, on the other hand was downright devoted to god. Everything in the world according to her was a part of " Lord's Plan". She lost her mother when she was born and carried her mother's bible all the time with her. She was very sweet with everyone, even animals and helped any, any soul, needy or not. She wasn't the kind of girl that would hang around with friends or chill out some on weekend night. She would rather prefer to spend her free time in an orphanage. Although this made her very popular with the aged population, she was never much liked by her fellow mates, especially boys in the school. Landon on the other hand was a totally normal boy, and tried to maintain distance with her. But events did happen and as they went by, and gradually they both fell in love with each other.

Those were the most beautiful days of their lives as they enjoyed their first love. But destiny takes a turn here. The love and happiness broke into dismay and sorrow. Their lives were about to be changed forever, and it is at this point that tears will start flooding your eyes till the very end of the story. I won't tell you what happened, and how their love finally shaped, but believe me, even if I tell you the entire story, it won't even matter. Because this book is not so much story driven as it is character driven and Nicholas Spark just miraculously weaves those characters and the lives that they live, so much so, that you almost starts to feel a part of them. You will laugh with those characters and cry with them. And even when you put down this book, they will remain within you for a very long time.

All I can say to conclude is that it is a very very beautiful book and no person should ever miss on it. And yes, As you read the book, you'll realize the there had been quite a few attempts back here in India to translate it through various medias, but I'll bet my youth if we could have gone anywhere even near to the emotional grasp of this story. It's just soooo beautiful.

Must Must read it !!

A new post !!

It's just for the sake of it, I'm putting on a new post on my blog. The thing is that, it's not that I haven't been visiting my blog so often. Well I'm not ignoring it. I have written about 4 posts write now which I haven't published yet. As soon as I finish a post, I realize that it would be better that I don't publish it. Not that they are not worth it, it's just some other strange reasons which I can't broadcast, because if I do them, there would be no reason not to publish them. And it's even not that I'm not working on my blog anymore. I do visit it everyday and I'm in constant search of topics to get about them. As soon as something happens, I'll surely put it on the this bakarblog. As most of you don't read my blog ( Note: When I write blog, I write it as if I'm serving to every reach of humanity), you won't care why I'm not doing so. Those who ever even faintly thinks of it, have absolutely not effect in their lives whatsoever( Though I may caution you of the butterfly effect). By this time, if any one of you is reading this, must have realized that this post is an absolute waste of time and digital space and some people have this wonderful ability to keep on talking and talking when there is nothing else left to talk. And I promise you, I could have extended this post to GBs if my lappy wasn't running out of charge. Anyways before I go, some of you wise matter must should acknowledge the title of the blog : The (GREAT) Bakartheory !!!

One year on the Road less taken....

An year ends, what can easily claim to be among the best times of my life. The college life, and particularly the hostel life, had been a totally new experience for me, and I have rejoiced every moment of the feast. I have made new friends and learned so much in many different ways. I can conclude it by saying just this : I have grown up a lot !!

But this was the first year, and as often the case is, it's not always the best yadrstick to measure your rest of the college life. After one year, it was just natural for me to ask myself again...one year ago...did I make the right choice ??

I'll tell you what it was like one year ago. One year ago, at this point of time, I was anxious and was in a big dilemma, just like many of those who were done with host of entrance examinations and were now on the needle head of situation as the results were slowly rolling out. I was confronted with something very similar. After cracking the JEE pathetically, I managed an Int. Msc in Applied Mathematics in IIT Roorkee. On the other hand, I had the option of IT in DCE. There were two paths, and go ask any normal delhiite, the choice was pretty much obvious.

IIT is IIT, but DCE isn't bad either. Any engineering aspirant knows that, especially someone belonging to Delhi. If he cannot break even into top 2000 in JEE, he'll be giving a serious thought of taking up something good in DCE/NSIT rather than chasing the IIT dream. That's how most Delhiites think. Come on, step into my shoes, or rather in my mind, and just see it for yourself.

'You love Delhi, so much that You can call yourself city-sick to some extent. If you take up this course, you'll be living in Delhi all the time !! Enjoying every moment of whatever wonderful is happening here. Damn !! you can make a girlfirend !! And Then you're getting IT in DCE, something that most of the crowd still fancy. IT, an extremely wonderful field, with best placements going on and most light course structure, how can anybody just leave it ? But hey, you are doing it!! And for what ?? An Msc. course in IIT Roorkee !! hey, that's not even an engineering degree and that's not even an IIT !! And buddy, it's Mathematics, for 5 years !! Yuck yuck yuck !! And lol...it's a first time course, you even don't know the course structure yet. Hell !! they haven't even designed it. And placements ?? You sure it's not for research...well it seems like that,...and those two year JAM guys don't seem to be making a lot of money either. And Mathematics department sucks there...maybe only after E&C. Friend !! Let's talk shop now !! Let's face it...FORGET IIT !!!'

Forgive my mind for being too hyper ( too many exclamation marks !!) but that was exactly the state of my mind at that time. And as you must have realized, any man with tiniest sense of logic would have happily opted for IT in DCE. But I didn't. I took the road less traveled, very less traveled. And to some measurement, I can posit it as the road totally untraveled. But why ? It wasn't out of adventure. Whatever logic you can conclude from babbles of my mind, it all fails on it's last two words: " Forget IIT !!!". That is something I can't do !! For two years I have rotted my ass on piles of books to get into IIT. I never thought what course I'll be getting there, but the driving force had been IIT and the life I will get there. It was IIT, my real aim, and not the further consequences and situations that will boil along with it. But my decision was not just based on emotional factors, it stood on pillars of hope and optimism, on a very new and thinking.

This was the time when got around a book called 'The World is Flat'. I have to admit that this book had been the most influential read in my life. I got to know so much going on in the world, and how new things are happening...actually how the world is going flat. What this book did was, it just confirmed some of my fears, like the non-linear relationship between education and industry. Today, a person is valued not because he maybe a king of one and may or may not be jack of some, but because he is a king of at least a few and a jack of some. Gone are the days when a mechanical engineer is required to build and design new cars and machinery and just take care of the technical know-how of his profession. Now he is expected to do a lot more than that. He is expected to organize resources much more efficiently, effectively lead people working under him, participate in the growth of organization, understand and optimize his role in global supply chain and have better understanding of economic forces that are today shaping a new world.

A MBA degree can help a lot, but it just don't end there. Today economic and scientific progress is governed by so complex processes, that everything is intermingled with each other. If you think that biology has no roles to play in aerospace technology or material sciences has no role to play with the browser you are using or any other connection like this, I'm sorry to inform you, but you have just been too ignorant till now !! You see, until there isn't a major breakthrough in material sciences, you can't expect new electronics to shape up, and until that happens, you can't expect any major hardware revolution which in turn can foster a software revolution which brings about You-tubes, Googles and your browsers. We have reached at such an height that all scientific and economics and even social processes have been so much entangled, that it needs a pro in lots of fields to take us up a notch higher. The machines build today for advanced medication requires just not the expertise in field of electronics, but also in biology. It's just an example and world today is full of it. That's why you see a lot of switch-overs these days. Most of the engineers end up in field of finance, because today companies require people who can better understand the planes or computers they are making, and hence apply suitable economics for better progress. And because the demand is way too more than supplies, placements are pretty hot.

Being in Applied Mathematics, I believe certain things can go in our favor. There are a lot of fields we can disperse in like Software, Finance, Economics, technical fields like aerospace or higher physics or mathematics. The choice is broad and the course seems promising over these aspects. The course offered to us has quite a lot in common with the successful Maths courses already in service at kharagpur and kanpur. I just hope it all turns out well for us. Of course, the success of the course will depend a lot on our batch and the guys here are simply talented. We can yield something nice, only if we are ready to get a bit more serious with acads. So I guess, It's time to rot some real ass over the texts.

Let's see how things work out !!!

As we grow here and what we'll become...

The day I cooked up Bakartheory, I promised my substance that I'll blossom a post at least twice a week on it's tender stems. Time has passed and my substance questions me. For past two months, my blog had been marooned unscathed and there had been no more than 3 posts added to it, counting very generously, the fortnight before that. You know, I'll fool my self if I say I couldn't find time, but I'll still say that because I've become such a bustard sluggard, such bustard sluggard that can never find even a hint of spare time in the routine he lives. Living the IIT culture is like living very lavishly. Sometimes I feel bad, we live a life an average Indian can't even think of living but bills in enough taxes to make sure that crap like us get off well from this place to serve the nation. This issues touches onto something different and I'll write about this somewhere else in spacetime. Right now, I'll just like to focus on the IIT culture and how is it molding us, so much so that I can't even face my substance as after a long time, I breath yet again in blogosphere.

I can't put the entire blame on the life I'm living in my hostel, but stewing it with my personality and aspirations, to a large extent I can. First time I landed here, I never knew we were expected to have so much fun. I expected to do a lot of ghissing. That notion soon changed. I realized, that the best way a person can survive, or better say live life king size in IIT was, to allocate minimal time to academics and devote rest of the share to a world lot of activities, which will nurture his personality to the fullest. But yes, there was a minimum time to be dedicated to studies. Until you are in possession of a celebrated brain or you are a knucklehead, that minimum time in IIT means, attending enough lectures to save an attendance back, submitting all tutes and pracs on time ( or at least, not so late to land you in trouble), and learn enough stuff (and that won't take more than a day or two) so as to atleast sense what the question paper is about. Rest the system can take on it. You can gracefully expect something decent out of your results if you have managed that minimum quanta of time. As we say here, it takes a lot of effort to fail in IIT. But what if someone actually puts in all that effort and starts doing the things by too daring means.

I'm part of a group called Watch-Out, a group that brings about a student news magazine twice every semester. Being in the group, I have talked to a lot of seniors over various issues as we keep conducting surveys and interviews among students every time we bring out a mag. While talking to them you get to learn a lot about this place and some other things too. This can provides you with a lot of insight. But you see, It's not difficult to sense a level of frustration that has taken toll over them. I have seen this with lot of seniors, this thinking of theirs to get out of this place as soon as possible. They've had their share of fun here, but not everyone seems very cheerful with the life they live now. Of course, they radiate nth degrees of coolness which can't let anyone go uninspired. But they do admit themselves, that they've been disappointed in some way or the other. I'm not saying everyone is frustrated, but many are and amount of that vary over a large range. I had been chewing over this aspect for a long time and had been wondering how can this so colorful life let down anyone. Yes, I'm new and the life we have just subscribed to, seems very glamorous. But with time, everything change. I pondered over it long enough to realize that one day, we too may grow bored out of the life we live. And I see, entropy already increasing in the direction I think.

Last month had been a rugged road on the venture of time. Chaos finally taking charge of me as my life sinked in the ocean of turmoil. It was never earlier than 4 in the morning that I banished to the bed. And whenever that happened, you'll find myself with my peers in most inadequate postures. Naturally, I never piled out on time to attend the lectures. I must have missed over half of them. I got a few proxies, and rest were all marked absent. The other classes that I attended, I was found absconding seeking salvation in the shades of Alpahar and Khosla. My TS marks are nothing my parents could boast of and my academic life is on it's way of decimation. Leave the academic life apart, I never cared about it much. But a little problem with a nut and a screw can bring an entire bridge down. My oblivious self on the part of academics has affected every other work that I've doing. Once I know I can ignore academics, I know I can ignore any other stuff as well. I'm not playing squash anymore, neither I'm doing anything for Cogni, and nothing great for the cells I'm committed to. When I came here, education was never high on my list, but I intended to do a lot other activities. And when I see myself horsing around my own pursuits, It's all natural but to fret. And thats here that I can conclude.

We all expect things in life, and when we don't get them (including women, of course), we sulk and we erupt within. I have seen people here, who have been left disappointed in lot of ways. Academics has disappointed almost everyone here. There is a limit, at least in theory, to which anyone can engage in inventing and harnessing crap (Bakchodi). After that, everyone can feel the dormancy creeping into the talents they have. Some people come here with lots of expectations of the academic environment they will get, like my roomie. He is kind of really interested in Higher Physics and he's rare and lucky to get the branch of his choice. But the reality concealing this place is far away from anyone's anticipation. I'm happy to see him resorting to other interests, but many people who are dedicated downright to studies, are disappointed the most. First year can serve you well, with a new air and everything exciting and colorful, but as you grow here and find your best not being exploited, it's your gusto that channelize into dismay later.

What I want to settle with in this post is, that life in IIT is not the way people think it is, and I have realized it now. Personally, it may never disappoint me because academics was never in my 'I want to do good in this thing' list. IITs have lot to offer for those who seek for other activities. But from the point of view of academics, it hardly serves it's purpose. It's not a place for academic excellence. Maybe for excellence in field of entrepreneurship and management, but not for academic excellence. Academics is deprived of genuine interest. The frivolity is so much, that in most of the lectures everybody, every student sleep. It's an unchallenged tradition. Even I sleep along with everyone else, when I'm not supposed to sleep. But I still sleep, and in moments when I wake to change in positions, sometimes I think that we are being taught by the best in the country, some of the most prized men. And then we are sleeping not paying a damn to what the profs are muttering. Are we fooling ourselves or the system, or sometimes I think, maybe even this country. And then discerning the depth of thought I had penetrated into, I raise the eyebrows up, smiling over myself for the thoughts I just had, I decide better to submit again to slumber god. If that's the way things are supposed to happen, I'm no maverick to foster a new cognizance.

And yaa, our tech-fest is on it's way !! At least I can promise my substance to add a post to the count when those three glorious days come.

Coffee in the mountains...

This is the story of coffee in the mountains. It starts not so far away and not so long ago. In the shivering cold of the concluding year, the NCC camp left most of them hankering for adventure, and it was in those days that they decided for the expedition. They were six friends : Tanay, RV, Gigs, Jayant, Babe and Dang. They were back from their places after spending a much awaited break-out from the insti life and now the starvation for adventure was getting furious. Confused they were till the hindmost moment, but in the end, they all agreed to set out their foot for the mountains in the first light of the weekends. So that's how they started the new year. Early in the weekend morning, after a sip of tea, they sat down in a buggy that was supposed to escort them to Dehradun, a very prominent city in the Himalayan foothills. And it was there that the story of coffee begins.

But before going any further, you'll need to know this,...something about these fellows. Starting with RV, he is an awesome and cool isolated system who hates to share anything with anybody ( except for the possible exception of his would to be GF...as he confesses). His obsession for his N-93 is quiet very apparent, but what's not is, is his secret impulsion to search for a wi-fi in whatever building he enters. Tanay, is a very expressive person. Loads of stories and for all occasions are always ready with him, which are supplied by a very special newspaper delivered only to his house. He also enacts the stories, in an action replay sort of manner. Gigs and babe keep on fighting, most of the useful time, always contradicting each other when babe tries to prove Haddus are universally assholes. Babe would keep running from one end of the mussorie to other, finding the right angle to snap up the same mountains thousand times. He'll take all the slangs thrown at him by the group for this reason, with a teethful smile. On these occasions, Gigs would be having shopping nightmares or be very worried or would be searching a Vodka shop. And Dang, inspite of being in Musoorie, would keep talking about the heavens in Dalhousie and the beauty thats shrouding it. He'll sometimes find himself in very awkward positions in photos. He'll remain very suspicious if his friends are planning out for a meal in a South Indian Cafe. And in all this mesh of traits, jayant will try for a dose of Welcome (the pathetic movie) again. He'll never spare any oppurtunity for pulling a (or two) leg, and he is a pro at this. But there's another issue. He'll believe it's night if he's asked to belive it in noon. He believes in pretty much all the things that are told to him, so much so, even AJs. ( AJ AJ marke **** to hila ).

And now since you have an idea of the people you'll read about in this post, they begin their journey. After making it to Dehradun, all engaged themselves in useless bit of shopping , like Gigs bought a pair of Addidas shoes (ironically, original) which would be vomited on during the quite eventful retreat. After the shopping, they all hanged-out in Barrista. This was the time, the old memories drenched the gang. Those good old times, a cup of coffee with the friends, hot coffee, sometimes cold, and all that leisure and all that talks that went along with it. Wonderful times, once again were wandering right in present. After those blessed moments, they headed for the mountains.

It took them sometime to find a lodging, but eventually they settled for one among the decent lot. Ensuing the contentedness of finding an abode and after capturing some glorious posses on the micro-film, they again launched themselves on the roads of Mussorie. This time round, they ended up in a games parlour. They played games worth about 300 bucks, and telling you, that a lot of money for ten minutes of rapture. All the childhood swaying away in front of their eyes. Anyways, highly content, they took a dinner in Dominos, a very average meal, as Dang described. He frequently argued with babe and Gigs, convincing the superiority of Pizza hut over Dominos. The poor ambiance and service, which all agreed on, forced them to leave early and fall back once again in barista, for a hot fudge treat. And there, they enjoyed, sang songs, talked all the crap their minds could formulate, tried some strings on guitar and Played the truth-only version of truth and dare. Nice time, to sum it up. Coffee shops, were becoming their favorite hangouts. But the cold outside and the night overhead, was something they enjoyed too. A stroll back the hotel, lavished upon them the shining gold in the twilight. Yes, Dehradun with all it's street lights on, sparkled like shimmering gold, as they viewed the city from scenic spots of Mussorie. Babe, who was transfixed by the view, made a lot of desperate attempts to take the beauty down in his camera. He was spellbounded by the views, resolved to gape every moment at the gold spread. He was determined, but after quite some insistence from the gang, he toggled his plans for a night-out in artic balcony. They all made themselves cozy in the warm quilts to start-up with the Bakar, which lasted more than 2 hours, and I'm excluding Ice Age 2, the movie they all saw together for an hour or so. Like all the bakar sessions, this one started too with random insanity, but ended with all intellectual discussions. They talked about live-in relationships, university culture in IIT R, the future of the country, entrepreneurship. Whatever, they talked, they all enjoyed every moment of it.
This part of the trip, Dang gave it 10 out of 10.


The next day started with the ropeway junket, which led to the higher extension of the hill-station, where they saw mountains covered with snow. Dang convinced the gang, they'll find loads such in Dalhousie. They retired from the place on a 20 minutes walking journey, full of scenic beauty, and the descent allowed loads of oppurtunities for photography. Babe ran all the height up and then down to reclaim his forgotten bag. All settled, the group decided for some shopping, a decent meal ( Not south Indian, as Dang sighed ) and another Hang-out in CCD. Another cup of coffee, and an hour of relieved Bakar that they all engaged in. Soon, they packed up for the departure, bidding the final good-bye to the mountains they had such a nice time in. The retreat, though, was the bad part of the journey. There was Loads of vomiting and a Big Gigs crying, and Dang was not feeling perfectly healthy. Jayant was on the verge vomiting too ( Don't think of CHOCOLOATES !! ), but somehow the journey ended finally. The rest of whatever followed was quite uneventful.

One of the most talked about stories in the journey was an IIT in mountains. IIT Mussorie, for example, sounded a hell beautiful, and IIT Dehradun would be so cool, giving all that city-like feel. But the group wondered, if any other IIT, even a one in mountains, could be as good and as cool as IIT Roorkee. After all, this was the place where they all met, and where the gang was formed. This was the place where they all belonged and where they all were walking finaly, inspired, somewhat tired and a world lot excited, as their delightful trek drifted to finality.

If you like reading this post, you'll also like to read NCC Camp( fire)

If everything could happen the COGNI way...

Cognizance is approaching fast now, and it dazzles me to know it is the second largest tech-fest in the country, and it does so even more with it's young age of four. Talking in context of other IITs, IIT Roorkee has a bad habit of losing out on everything which amounts to University rankings, especially the PR ( what people think about your place). When you compare yourselves with any other institute in India, except "our brothers" (with the possible exception of IIT Guwahati) or when you don't compare yourselves with anyone, you feel this IIT is better next to heaven. We've got one of the most beautiful campus in the country and hostels that other IITs envy. And we have such good sporting facilities, great food and brilliant internet accessibility. We've all the luxuries at our disposal. But the point is, there is more to the college life, and especially a one in an IIT, than that.


The Problem with IIT Roorkee is that it has still not moulded in the shape of an IIT. In 2001, University of Roorkee was converted to IIT Roorkee. That's the problem. And you see that word - University, that's the biggest problem of them all. That's the reason why we have such a bad habit of losing out to other IITs, as referred above. The University culture is still prevalent here. IITs are places which breed intellectuals, gives them lot of room for creativity and thinking and enough resources to materialize them. That's something like a trademark of these places. But not our's. We still live in those old days where University Politics and dominance was the way to get things done. You are not supposed to be creative in a University (defined in Indian education system) and you have no scope to look-out in any field that is not a part of your curriculum, which is lol...devised by the gods of University Politics. Passiveness, is the word that can best describe the administration here. They want to improve, but not at the pace other IITs are going, or how a "world class institute" should uplift itself. It's not that the progress in not visible or you get a feel of typical government administration here, but certainly you don't see the level of progressive ideas other IITs make. There are cells and societies here, and lot of them, which keep experimenting different things now and then, but they are never given sufficient resources or mentorship support or even encouragement to do something ground-breaking. The administration is reluctant to implement new ideas that dilutes their authority ( as what they feel because the idea is not Their's). Just for example, this institute won't go off the way to arrange even a few grands to support a project if it's out of pre-determined budget ( This actually happened with a guy in Electronic section of Hobbies club). I'm quite accustomed of exaggerating stuff, but it's all truth, even if with somewhat less immensity.

And That's why I'm so amazed. To make a very young tech-fest in a fiercely competitive environment the second largest in the country, requires a vision of great leadership and ideas, that are adored and cherished by the new generation, the ideas and efforts that belong to them. I don't think I have any further permit to comment more on this issue. I'm just in first year and say what I've learned by my observations and by interactions with some seniors whom's opinion really count. Anyways, I'm happy to see Cognizance reaching such heights so early and applause to those who have made this possible, and yes, administration needs special mention here. Hope to have a great fest this time again. But just imagine, if everything here in Roorkee could happen the GOGNI way...

So I'll leave this one here. And I'll leave you with this photo: The leaning tower of Pisa (of Roorkee). I found out this while on my way to breakfast in Khosla, which I believe, deserves an entire post to do justice to the pleasure it provides :




This is still in front of Electrical department. It's been more than a week and it seems the " administration" has taken no note of it. Lol... Go out and check it before it's gone.

Silent Wings Are Loud Again...

So, once again we are back to the life of anarchy after spending a much awaited break-out from it, to meet our people, in our ancient lands. Anyways, since now we are back, the SILENT WINGS ARE LOUD AGAIN, just as I promised ensuing the NCC camp(fire). We are back now, and we are so happy. It seems all those days of yore would soon be soaring their way to the posterity, and the signs are showing up. We got good new teachers ( Now this is important: When we say good teachers, we don't want to say they teach well and all and what not, what we actually say is how lenient they are and how careless and undemanding they can get while taking attendance ) and we got good classrooms too. Even the hefty fine of 500 bucks, imposed on many of us kind-souls as a lousy hoax devised by our alma mater to annex profits, don't quite seem a big deal. The optimism is in the air and the sun is shining over head. Although it kicks the god out of our ass to get up in the morning leaving out of cozy quilts in the killing cold, but the thought of the day ahead, and all the fun we are going to have with our lot, makes the painful mornings all that manageable.

The best part is, this time we have an easy course structure. The last time it was more difficult and it was our first experience. For the nonce, we have gained a lot of knowledge regarding time management and we have, hopefully, much less to handle. And with minimal academic pressure, we are all free to watch movies, enjoying bakar and trying hands at sports. Like me, Yesterday I played Squash, breaking a long tradition of physical inactivity. Those who are not playing are hooked to their lappies downloading whatever crap available anywhere, and few of them have joined Guitar and Drum classes. The rumors are, love is in the air too. Now the identity of the 'love-birds' is highly confidential, but most of us are wise enough to understand who they are. Well, it's all so good going on...and life is so happy now. Maybe I'm getting too over-optimistic, and many of you can rightly argue, but the internet is working so good now, it's a pleasure surfing and a pleasure blogging.

And Hey !! This is our Photograph...Some of us from the I batch. locate yourselves into it...if you are into it.





Anyways, the year has started, and so has the new semester and so has a new phase in our lives. The start is good, and we can just hope everything goes fine. After all, we deserve some luxury after spending gruelling months stuck up in the first semester !! Lol...

Let's Hope for the Best....

LET THE PARTY BEGIN.........