59 years

Yeah, we are approaching 59 years of independence, so i thought we should have a look at what we have achieved. Not in terms of economy, but socially and politically.

The recent OBC bill has more than raised a few eyebrows, with people going on hunger strikes and threatening immolations. Noble gestures, and peaceful indeed, following the lead of Mahatama Gandhi. The 'father of the nation', and the godfather of 'Harijans'. He created a nation without a state religion, and based on all utopian fundas that one could hope for. And meanwhile he picked up BR Ambedkar as his protege, who one fine day decided that India needed reservation for the opressed. Granted, for 10 years, in higher education, and wherever. Turn to 1990, the era of globalization and liberalisation, or so we are told. VP Singh decided that the country could still accomodate these sons-of-god, and made reservation in jobs. Swell.

And turn to 2006, the Hon'ble minister of HRD, Arjun Singh, sold all his honor out, and decided to increase the reservation. Not by 1, 2 or 10%, a meagre 27%. Which now implies that practically 2 out or 4, or every 2nd person would ride the government. You can draw stories, and annomalies and all that jazz, but this is shear spit in the face of the middle class and the hard working 'Indian'. A term which i feel disgusted to use. YES, they have been opressed for 5000 years, but isn't 60 years of charity enough. They may constitute 70% of the population, but the government hasn't even done its homework. They should have had a look at the number of 'factory' products which are under the age of 18 and then they would have had a horror. Because at the rate they reproduce, they shall increase in numbers, always. And one can't be too vocal about this, because, get this, they are constitutionally protected. So if you call a SC/ST/OBC ( i prefer calling them sons-of-god, he does produce miracles) names, and you are too vocal about it, you can be punished legally, probably because the cop would have his hands tied.

This Meena community has a tale in itself, many legends have been heard. So i shall publish what I believe to be true. They had someone initially in the Lok Sabha, and he supported the govt. on some issue, provided they classify them as ST's. He had 10 seats. The govt. just bent over. And after 59 years, they are the ones studying in the IIT's, IIM's and DCE's of this world. And what has the govt. done for the ones who work in their native areas as servants, zilch. They actually are from a region called Meena in Rajasthan and trust me when I say this, every family out there has a child studying in IIT or IIM and even Civil Servants galore. Sometimes the honors are split amongst the same family.

And they are only one of the many sons-of-god sponsored by the Centre. So if he goes out to buy a Nokia, why doesn't the govt. see it fit that he gets the phone at 1/4th the price, which is roughly the marks he scored to study there. This is not a potshot at them, trust me, they deserve much worse, for all the caste politics they play when they join college. Their are way too many instances, but that shall be discussed some other time.

Reservation is fundamentally wrong. Picture this, if you are born out of any of the protected categories, your troubles begin as soon as you are born. Primary,secondary,higher and all forms of education, you have to fight for every inch, because someone else may be willing to give up all he knows for that inch. And then there is the small small matter of a livelihood. So you 'perform or perish', which ironically enough, is also a Mahatama Gandhi slogan.

And now the protected class, you are born, welcome to the free world. You start from school, you have a seat waiting, join college, another seat, higher education, another seat, and Public Sector jobs, another seat. Promotion, another seat, and sometimes dual promotion, due to the experience factor. So, if you and a SOG(son of god) are appointed together, 'you bet your life', as Uncle Sam said, the SOG is the odds on favorite to rise through the ranks and retire at a higher post. And it doesn't end there, soon he will reproduce aka Fibbonacci's Rabbits, and then his children follow the path of the righteous soul. And if someone can still justify RESERVATION, please in the name of the lord, go immolate yourself, you are a waste of keyboard space.

Those who are in favor relate this to the American Civil rights movement. Analyze this, shall we. The civil rights movement started about 200 years after Lincoln decided to abolish slavery, and they had just causes like segregation and racial discrimination. Besides, they had by that time produced JC Owens, Jackie Robinson, and many others. And they had Malcolm X and MLK Jr. So U2 decided to write 'Pride' for MLK.

Come to modern India, 60 years, lots of govt. jobs, digging teeth into the treasury, posh govt.houses, promotions and all those issues later, they want more. I don't think they have done enough for the country, or they are segregated, say, when Mark Knopfler or Brian Adams tour India. Heck, they even get govt passes for Cricket and hockey games. They are allowed to sit in restaurants, and I bet my useless existence on this, they have more cash to spare then we do. General Category constitutes rougly 1/4th to 1/3rd of the population, say 30 %. So its not justified that we produce the top-notch engineers. Granted. But this 30 % give up everything they know when they study for JEE and CAT, and i don't think any of the reserved junta knows the feeling. If you have something waiting for you, your time will come. But when sweat bloood and tears don't add up, thats when it means something.

Besides, the leaders of the opressed, have filled up their pockets enough. SO anyone in the right frame of mind won't compare MLK to LP Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan or Sushree Mayawati (as she likes to be called). And I hope I don't live to see the day that a band writes a song for them. Has the govt. ever ordered a detailed investigation into the fodder scam of the railway minister, who managed to deduct people's pay for being late to work. And Mayawati can afford swanky chateaus in Delhi of the order of 20 crores, which probably has been scammed out of the treasury anyway.

They are not clear in their minds what they want, I know of Haryana, and quite a bit since i stay in Delhi. The agricultural income is tax free. So basically, all you earn is yours. And when you make Ayurvedic medicines, the tax is 30%. SO to practise your ancient science, you need to pay up. But to be a OBC and cultivate, you are protected by the state. And they have gotten the OBC status under the gazillionth amendment brought up by some 'Tau' in the parliament. So Ram Vilas Paswan who openly supports SC, being one himself, opposes OBC!!!!!!. What a cabinet??

I recently saw Crash. Its a look into LA of today, and how they are haunted by ignorance, and how the cosmopolitan nature of the city has practically become its biggest problem. A brilliant movie, worthy of any award. So blacks are still called niggars, and all hispanics are Mexicans, whether they are from Puerto Rico, all middle easterns and central asians are Arabs. Anyways, after all that Jazz, i wondered and pondered, on the reservation for African Americans in Jobs, and Matt Dillon's dialouge in the movie summed it up. I dont remember it verbatum, went something like,

"I can't help but wonder over the five worthy white people who didn't get a job because of you, and i hope i am wrong about this. My father worked as a ganitor all his life, he hired your kinds and paid them equal wages for 20 years. Until the county decided that it was time to give the contract to a black man, and he lost all he had in one night."

NOW, I don't ever remember seeing anyone or using any such lingo myself. And trust me, my blood does boil, when i think of the people who could have made it, myself included, to a IIT, if a SOG won't have been blocking them. It worked out just fine for me, but for the others, it wasn't so ominous. They were left to study in DU, or the flourishing engg colleges in OBC Jaatland of Haryana and the OBC Jatland of Punjab. But i havn't called a SC any names, not becaue i violate the law, or maybe because deep down I know its wrong, wronger than sex, drugs and alcohol:)

My grandfather was literally thrown out of his house following partition, he came to India with 2 rupees in his pocket. As per the formative rules, and using some connections, he could have gotten a certi. But he chose not to, instead, he did what a self-respecting man does. And yes, we may not be filthy stinking rich, but god does enough for us. Allegedly, he is the same god whose children roam the free world.

Besides, what are you going to achieve by producing undeserving engineers and managers, since the field is eventually narrowed down to that. But the bigger catch is left out. Suppose I have a kid tommorrow and I can't afford a private hospital, so I go to a govt. hospital, does the govt. guaran-damn-tee that some unmeritorious SOD won't fuck up the baby. And someone working as a doctor, can even give the wrong drug and end someone's life. It may be a nice way to manage the population, but its not right.

Soon, me and my kind shall 'Walk the Earth'. That, trust me, is all we can do. Soon their will be women's bill, a Muslim bill, a Christian bill, a Buddhist bill and what have you. The women's bill is a story in itself, with some now praying that its passed so that they atleast have a shot. When I asked them, they also categorically said 'no'. they don't want to use charity. And one of my aunts said they had lost their mind, considering they even needed seats in buses to sit upon. Seating in buses to prevent eve-teasing is one thing, and charity is another. This I shall hope to discuss in future, sometime.

And if you are a beneficiary, and you think its personal, you are too damn right. It sure is. Trust me, you shall stay where you are, IIT won't weave its magic upon thee and transform you into a charmed prince from the rotten frog that you are. Plain and simply, you didn't deserve this, and so you shall know.

To end, simply, I feel like a Nigger, no disrespect. Soon people will make a mockery of the general category, and sooner, the OBC certificate holders are handing out sweets, for them, a IIM of their choice beckons next year. Where are my rights? Is my 'Merit' just not good enough? For us, we have a god, unfortunately, he is their father, tough luck, mate.

Where do we go???

So the government is hell bent on implementing the bill, and its only a temporary lull before the 'storm'. come to think of it, after a few animated and heated discussions with family, I was told that they needed the 'reservation' as they will never improve. Granted, the condition of some of them is sad beyond the realm of words, but what is worse is that this new 'bill' won't change a thing. Since the poorest of the blesseth OBC's won't be able to afford coaching or even a school, or for that matter, won't be able to cope with the pressures of higher education. What the government is trying to do is sow the seeds to take India backwards to a couple of thousand years back.

What Caste System??
Quite frankly, I didn't even know what caste system really meant till I reached the entrance levels, and was asked to mention a category in the forms. Quite sadly, as it turns out and will continue to do so, I belong to the high class khatris, which means, that I won't ever have any chips to cash. On the other hand, I feel relieved that I will have to earn my keeps, and not be a 'son-of'god', the pride in my family name shall stay forever, and thank goodness for that.

Picture this, in the hayday of the caste era, if one shook hands or ate with a low caste shudra, he would be deemed untouchable. So for all practical purposes, I am a untouchable. But since I don't have a caste certificate, and the government is looking to move 'ahead', I am not deemed eligible for one. Hon'ble (what a joke) ministry of HRD, if you want to have your cake, please dont eat it at the same time, and in this case, they have a red cherry on top as well.

Moreover, I don't really think that there is any remains of a caste system in the big cities. The brahmins of today, don't read scriptures all day, me and my kin don't ride horses and carry swords into battle, and most definitely, all the baniyas don't run shops. So theoretically, if there is no caste system, there shouldn't be a need for reservations. There are only two caste systems today, the blesseth sons-of-god and the unlucky frigging idiots like us, who want to make a difference in this country.

The Cause
How many of the 'privelaged' give back to their community??? I have not seen one case, where a SC/ST member has tried to support anyone from his immediate family, let alone the commuinty. And better still, they have scolarships waiting for them as soon as they enter a branded insti, and sometimes for passing their exams as well. And trust me, they do need it. Not, in no way, however to complete and support their education, to fill up their pockets, drink and eat at expensive joints, and yeah to buy those swanky cars and gadgets. and did I mention, they don't need to produce a category certificate if they want to listen to Led Zeppelin, or any of their 'hindi' favorites. So why are they not required to wear their certificates and a badge, when they go out and buy groceries, since we are moving backwards, we should be made to do it properly. So, if a sweeper's son, as was the practice, has to study, he must earn his keep by carrying excreta and garbage on his head. And a cobbler's son must also be subjected to the fate of his father. However, this ain't always true, because those who cash in their 'category' chips are always living in 'hep' areas like Chanakya puri, Asiad, and Panchkuain to name a few. And so much so, for upliftment.

A few more examples of the above, Laloo Prasad Yadav's cricket and soccer team, are already at it, and Jagjivan Ram's daughter became a civil servant using their blue chips. And picture poor old Kiran Bedi, who unfortunately got caught, trying to pull a few strings to get her daughter to be a doc.

Their so called 'Leaders' live in houses not seen since the days of ancient senators from the greek and roman civilizations, and next election comes, and then next, and another, and they are voted back to power. In case of Bihar, the true land which defines India, more than half the MP's come from the state. Infact, William Darlymple's The Age of Kali, carries full length chapters on the state, describes it articulately and perfectly, thus-

"Bihar was the state where the Buddha attained his enlightenment 2000 years ago and that was the last bit of good news to come out of the state."

The surviving saint patron of the Nehruvian socialism and 'Fabian' policy, by his own admissions, is a semi-literate prick and the homemaker of all Bihar, Rabri, well, don't waste blogger space about her.

The Reality
The only way these 'Candidates' screw up their exams is when they can't write their names properly. Trust me, this happens. So for example, one person from my class, scored a 88 percentile in CAT this year, and he filled up his category as 'general'. 88 didn't fetch him any calss this time round, only because he shot himself. To quote Vinnie Jones from Snatch, "You cannot underestimate the predictability of stupidity'.

If the centre thinks they are abolishing anything, they can't be more mistaken. When the party president is a foreigner of sorts, she can't understand the plight of the country. Even Nehru was against this, or so we are told. Increasing seats will not help anyone, indeed, it gives us the same sort of chance, since the overall seats remain the same. But what about the faculty student ratio, heck, who cares?? The politicians never took a entrance, don't think they ever prepared for one, and I don't think their children would know. Its a plight of the middle class, the ones who want to do something, but don't always get what they want.

They are ashamed, ostensibly to roam about. They even lie about their ranks, and categories. One such instance, from my own class. A lady said that her rank was 1050, and that year the admissions closed at 981 for the gen category. And her name, predictably so, was nowhere to be seen in the list.

Define OBC
The constitution was ironically enough, drafted by a son-of-god himself. So he left plenty in the treasury for his descendants to loot from. And I don't think many of them would know who he actually was. Anyways, the definition of OBC varies from state to state. YES. So a Baniya in Bihar is a OBC, which is not true in any other state. So we shall soon have people hopping borders to get certificates, alas that day seems a few moments away.

Epilogue
So If you are a high-class Brahmin, pray that god forgoes his own children and this bill doesn't go through. The rest of us, can hang on to something tantalisingly useless yet our only chance, HOPE HOPE HOPE.

And Justice for none

Well, recently, the ministry of HRD has come up with a newtonesque Idea to increase the reservation for OBC's from 0-27 % effectively raising the reservation to a meagre 49.5%!!!! So come the next academic session, most 'top-notch- instis in India, believe it or not will have one unworthy candidate, to a slightly more hord working one. This comes on the wake of the fact that these 'economically backward' classes need this 'Assistance' in order to come forward and make a name for themselves. A few eyebrows have been raised, and this has been labelled Mandal-2, the undwanted sequel, or so we hear. Now if this goes through, there will be more suicides, and more deaths, but i dont think the OBC's would be the first one's mourning.

The catch here is that the OBC's or a handful of them, have been granted admissions into the various instis and government jobs, when they have contested the general category, and they didnt need any help. So now when they cash in their blue chips, everyone else would bang their head into the walls. Trust me, there is no worse feeling than a lesser person getting what he doesn't deserve. And its not me or my pals, this is the supposed belief of the govt. that needs them to 'prosper'.

I had first heard of this when I was sipping coffee with my friends in the canteen, and thought of it as a big joke that they were putting up. After a little bit of convincing, and some reading up myself, i realised what a ridiculous and incredulous idea it was. If you want someone to come through, you give them better oppurtunities, not a seat out of every four to comfort their asses upon. Besides, in young urban India, there is no cast divide, and the IIM's and IIT's and many other concerned are located there. So hypothetically, this will be a step backwards, when you, the damn government want us to go back in time. And we thought we lived during the times of globalization and free trade.

Since me and my kind, who know a little bit, if not too much, of slogging purposefully, or so we think, for our entrance exams, will have to bear the brunt. I dont think too many in the cabinet have had to struggle in queues for education and have ever taken an entrance test, for that matter. So you want these 'babus' to be in places they don't belong, and as Uncle Sam said, 'You bet your life', will not be able to comprehend. Since when has 'handing' out oppurtunities as pocket change helped anyone. To their credit, some of them acknowledge the 'Platter' that they have been served, and are reaping the fruits. How many, one asks, just about as many as Bangladesh's series wins in Cricket.

Kill Em All
We are told that these classes have been opressed for over 5000 years, and hence need a 'chance' to make things happen. Hail BR Ambedkar, the BMF from the days of the past who first proposed the idea for 10 years. 10 has become 60, and the number 22.5%. However, this has not quite worked out according to his deranged plan, as they have created divides amongst themselves. Picture this if you may, a classmate of yours truly, stays at Lodhi road, has three cars, and keeps buying new ones, probably every gadget that money can buy, and still needs a Tribe certificate to study. Which effectively translates to the fact that he scored about 1/3rd and 1/4th of what we scored, and got in nonetheless. And not just him, families like his have a tendency to produce civil servants, docs and engineers, with a Henry Fordesque assembly line.

Natural Justice
I am also told by one of my family, that this is natural justice since they have been opressed for that long. Okay, 5000 years is a long time, which i or anyone else wont live to see. But 60 years, is on an average, is what we live and 'rot' in front of people like those mentioned above. Worse still, they even hide the fact they are the category kinds, even pretending to be general students.

Since their rerpoduction history would give fibonacci a complex, their population won't ever decrease. And they would strive to get more and more seats, and the whore that is our central govt. would eventually cave in and concur. I would tell you what natural justice would be, take away their privelages and make them live from where they started. Or better still, bring back Hitler, since he was condemned for the Holocast, this may be the time finally when he wins his goodie points back. I shall spport him wholeheartedly, since this would make my definition of natural justice. And since what he did at the time was democratic, its all the more justice.:)

More on the natural justice part, since we are on it. Take the example of the subcontinent , more specifically the Panzer tank land of North west frontier in Pakistan, an area off limits to most civilians and tourists. Off limits signifies the lack of responsiblity of the govt. if you wish to pay a visit. Here their are tribal laws, so for example, If someone from your end murders someone, he is not tried or punished. It becomes only natural for the family to reciprocate and kill any of the original family's member.

So since, they have used up their cheques for the past 60 years, its time for us to cash our cheques, which we don't have, and won't ever, since we are condemned to the general category.

Intent
If you think that my intent is a little malicious, you are wrong. its too damn personal now, and enough is just about enough now, when these swanky covent and private schools educated 'Sons-of-gods (Harijans), come and fuck around with our country. Indeed, they are the sons of gods, because god looked out for them in the first place, and hence the category of their birth. And people still wonder why there is brain drain!!!!

What life

Okay, i am back to my 'holden' Suicidal moments now, where everything seems made up, the relevance of things disappers. The changes that have happened over the last couple or so years, have been 'unique', shall we say. I have had enough, or life has had enough of me. I want an end, the mundane ablutions, and everything else, out. OUT. OUT. OUT

Two days of laid back champions league soccer, and the training diary submissions near, but what of that. What do you write about when you dont care what you are doing, indeed, you never have. Then people disappear, thats all i needed. Back to the old days of G n R, my first thorough music band after The Beatles. Thats the good thing about life, and all of the music of life and the arts, when all seems lost, you get back to the drawing board, and relax. Ofcourse, saw Munich, liked it. Spielberg has made a comeback of sorts after the shambles that was 'The war of the worlds'. Infact, that was such a classic, that i had to see Dus on the same day as therapy and Dus seemed like a modern classic. And then Greatbong, the best blogger in my not so humble opinion made a detailed post, and well, I dont wana put up the hyperlink, too damn tired to do that now. .

A post in tough times

Alas, exams, they are ripping me apart, but a song for someone who has held me together. Hope she does read it soon.......

Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you
By now you should have somehow realised what you've got to do
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.
Backbeat, the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before but you never really had a doubt.
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.

And all the roads we have to walk along were winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are so many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how.

Because maybe,
You're gonna be the one that saves me?
But after all
You're my wonderwall.

Today was gonna be the day but they'll never throw it back to you
By now you should have somehow realised what you're not to do
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.
And all the roads that lead to you were winding
And all the lights that light the way are blinding
There are so many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how.

I said, maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me?
But after all
You're my wonderwall
You're my wonderwall

Said maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
You're gonna be the one that saves me
You're gonna be the one that saves me

The day that was

Yesterday was a long day, not as long as the one before, however. Organizing a quiz with numbnuts is a bit tough, so yours truly had to do it all, right from framing the questions, to checking the elims, and the usual running around for lights etc. I dont believe we have to use OAT as a venue all the time, why not do it in a class, or expo. I hope they learn. Btw, the quiz lived upto all the hype with NSIT and LHMC winning on the last question and DCE was second, and a mixed team from north campus rocked the second half to come in at third. All those who had asked for the q's have been mailed all of them barring the video clips. Enough said.

So we come to yesterday, a great great day, more ways than one. I finally got to go out with
the phoenix. Yes, she is the scarier out of the two of us, but a gem of a person she is, and ofcourse, the doc, who has become famous in blogdom for the blogwars she had once fought. It was supposedly my treat for winning the IMS quiz, and i hope you guys had a great time. I did, for sure. And my recent explorations with tobbacco, and the experimentation was not full recieved, but in time i shall leave that too, or so i believe.

After a lot of maar-Dhaad , me and the doc decided to push off to GIR, the annual 'extravaganza' of Indian rock, as close to woodstock as you can get in this country. And yesterday was a great day, with three out of the six bands putting up great shows. Zero, the baap of all indian bands, admittedly weren't at their best, with Warren showing signs of rust after seven months out of the country, and Rajiv even said that the solos were 'Fuck-all'. The best band of the day had to be Cassini's Division, being from the land of Satyajit Ray, ekdum Bhaalo. I have not seen a more versatile sounding band in the Indian scene, and the vocalist with his rapcore influences, caught my eye. Their EP is not out yet, i hope to buy it soon. Another band of note was prestorika, who have had a lineup change of sorts with JD and the Joy out, Lokesh kicked ass though, and i think he would win best guitarist easily. All this while, thedoc, me and a couple of other special pals were sitting, and we had a blast, and we even got to smell the best quality weed possible. So much so, that the doc got a headache, while yours truly had the feeling of what have i left behind. It was a lot of fun, and the UK Band also entertained, been a while since i saw a band with three guitarists.

Phew, thedoc is out of town for a while, so no more meetings or rock shows for a while. I hope to keep writing, btw, someone mail IMS and find out abt our TV show being aired. Please.

Dont look Back in Anger

A lot , and a hell of a lot has happened since i posted last. Ok, musharraf and Manu Paaji still rule, but things are different. Almost a month and a half of vacations has meant more chilling and more doing nothing. Now that my only interview is out of the way, back to some serious blogging. Aint that something in itself?

Okay, so some of the followers ( i know its hard) of this space, have come to know through people that we happened to win the IMS quiz delhi round, and on a bit of stupid judgement, ended up second best in the national finals, which has led yours truly to believe that i am always destined to be the eternal runner up, those magic 10 points, alas.

This however, takes none of the credibility off from our worthy competitors in the delhi round, and the national finals too. We were pushed to the limits and beyond in the delhi round and a bit of good luck and inspired buzzing helped us scrape through with the skin of our teeth, and literally that only. As we had told by none other than Mr Handa, that we dont have a chance if IIT D shows up. Well, we did beat them and admittedly, we needed a bit of luck to do that.

And we did qualify as the highest scorers in the elims, not scraping thrrough as some of the other zonal winners did. The finals were a case of hard luck and bad choices, still we managed to push IIT M to the last question, a feeling unknown to most zonal winners. Bofi was his effervescent best as usual, during the quiz, and afterwards as well, during the cocktail & dinner party, where us, IIT M and a dear friend who had allegedly 'tipped' us as favorites, sat and savored the great evening.Bofi's partner in crime, Rohit, also had a thing or two to say which people usually do after three screwdrivers down and he also liked the way yours truly tells stories. Will tell more in future, i say. It would have been nicer to have other teams and come share some thoughts and have a drink with us, but they were getting a masterclass in gyaan, or so it seemed. As some of the teams i had met before, all those i had the pleasure of meeting that day, cheers to you all.

Thanx a lot to neha, my team and the pople who supported us throughout the delhi round, even when we were second last, after half the quiz had been done and dusted. Beatzo, the great, had his words of encouragement and well, being the champion that he is, means a lot to me.

Long time no see

i have been travelling, 10 days or so now, half of my tour done, chlling, thrilling, and laying back, catching up with all those i can't leave behind, making new friends along the way,meanwhile. It has been a lot of fun, yes, though, it has taken its toll, tired i type, broke i sit. But tommorrow is a new day, and new beginnings beckon.

Went down to NLS and bangalore for a while, barring the lingo of the people, the complete lack of knowledge of their own city and the traffic, phenomenal place, my trip was of course made a lot easier by the friends, the ever flowing daaru and much more which is beyond the scope of this post. As i have read, the indi blogger awards are being announced, all the best to those who are nominated and those who finally get top honors.

I cannot miss the true spirit and the competetive spirit of the lit events down in bangalore, the way its done and the good humored banter which carries on.. Amazingly, these are things which have been erased off the map in the parts that i have been in, and i dont really understand why. Anyways, one more thing, for a change, and a comforting one at that, NLS wont allow their own teams to participate in the lit events, exemplary as this sounds. A good example for 'some' of us.

The train to bombay was a long, exhausting, tiring and interesting one. Had good fun reading Seabiscuit, an epic true story, well researched and the true epitome of all of american civilization so to speak. The ray book has become a holy crusade which refuses to end, and will hopefully be conquered. A few light hearted MAD comics have come in handy, which i am sad to say, some of my old acquaintences have no idea of. But the old dudes are still the Right Stuff, and its fun catching up and talking of old times, and the usual mumbo jumbo.

In other news, the deteriorating Indian Metal scene keeps going from bad to worse, with PDV doing punglish ( punjabi english) cover versions, and their originals sound more like Johnnny johnny yes papa, with somebody blowing the utensils in the background. SAD, plain simple sad, is all i have to say about that.

I had a discussion with one of my teachers once upon a time, on how these software firms like to keep hold of their employees, and they throw up parties and what nots, where one can invite their friends, and kin. I went to one of those parties a few hours back and got a fair idea of what he meant. I dont wana hurt anyone's sensibilities and everything, but i am perplexed to say the very least which i dont usually do.

A borrowed laptop means that i will have to keep the story short and sweet, and will look to more frequent posts, soon, as they say.
peace

What do i Say

No blogging sadly in a while, nothing to do, exams, paranoid me, and what have you. things do take a back seat. Reading has been alrite, considering the amount that i do read. Read about mrinal sen and his take on his life and works, quite a astonishing chap that he is the book was even better, genius is genius is all i can say. And ofcourse, if you win the book as a prize, its treasured even more. Then there was the man himself, satyajit ray, started reading a book on him, still in progress, will see how that turns out. Watch this space for more.

However, this has just been lukewarm in a sad and disappointing time, with nothing of note going on, apart from exams. I did manage to get hold of Audioslave, live in Cuba, on DVD, and well, was disappointed to say the very least. Here is a true supergroup , if ever there was one, with impeccable and flawless music, almost surreal lyrics and great vocals. Did i say great vocals, you gotta be kidding!!! Check the DVD out and you would know, somehow the vocals have come off very badly, almost besura. Yours truly, who hero worships the band, was not happy.

I dont really know what to say, apart from the fact that i hope they get better sound on their next record, and better sound on their next live show, if that is gonna happen. Lets see, as i always say, i hope

in other news, exams will get over soon, and then a few days of rest and a lot of travel beckons, lets see how that works.....

Glory Glory Man United

After a failed attempt at writing this post, i start afresh. Since my yahoo and Gmail accounts have been hacked quite inexplicably and unbelievably, i have been in a not so goody mood. So i had to create a fresh account and what not, but i have survived and so i shall continue to do. After about 9 days off, its finally time to go back to college tommorrow, and i am not really looking forward to it, i mean who does??

Anyways, after a drab holiday week, and India somehow firing in cricket, it was time for another drab sunday, and another game, and another day of BAD telivision. Ofcourse, the rest of it stayed the same, but the evening game of Man U v Chelsea lived upto its billing, if not more. Hardly have i ever seen a more competitive game, with fierce tackles, closing down, desparation, scrapping, this game had it all. Ofcourse there was grea football too, quality beyond the realm of any words. After a wretched week, Man U won, their goal led a charmed life throughout the game and more so in the second half, with Chelsea pretty much throwing it all at them, including the kitchen sink and the bath tub. They continued to fight, and surive, the hero, was the unlikeliest of them all, Darren Fletcher, a young scot, who is often overrated, sometimes underrated & overly criticised, pullled off a missile like header, which loooped and dipped over the defenders and goalie alike into the corner. That was all that was needed apart from the good luck. Crisis it was for a week, drubbing and a sad result in europe meant that much too much was written even before a ball was kicked.

Anyways, the indian team flattered and decieved in the same game, the usual, as they say, but today shall be the day when Fergie finally beat Jose Mourinho, something that he had failed to do in the last 6 games, and kudos to Sir Alex and the boys.....

Life on the Road

After 6 days of non-stop fun and joy and everything else included, life finally went back to its slow paced, boring ways on monday morning. BITS was so so, IIT-K was awesome, just for the rock show, the quizzing events of beatzo, were in a league of their own. Now the words mindboggling and nervejangling have been used as pocket change to describe certain 'reputed' or so called QM's, the real reputation lies in the content and not in the QM's gasbag antics. Some of the greatest quizzes, which yours truly has enjoyed have been done by not so famous peeps, may it be at IIT or NSIT, even my own DCE. Sadly however, after the shambles on wednesday, i shall abstain myself from making a comment on quizzing quality anywhere

This post shall not be another one on rants and qualms and what shit. This is life on the road, away from home, a world that i know. Going to BITS, i took a train called Bikaner express, the train was late by no less than 2 hours, and with a unreserved ticket, i did try and try to get into the compartment. Sadly, this was not a Rocky movie and my efforts were futile. Then i gave up and went to the sleeper coach, to my utter amazement, it was near empty. So i srtuck up a conversation with some Rajputana rifles soldiers returning home from assam. And some parts of it were surreal. They had been on the road (train) for the past 3 or so days, and would require another half a day of travel before they reach home. They asked me stuff too, the usual Where do you study kinds, after a while i realised how fortunate i have been to be born and bred in Delhi. I mean, these guys, who actually do something for their country, had no clue about certain syndromes/facilities and stuff available in the big cities.

Then ofcourse, the highly overrated utopian Pilani failed to impress, barring a few events & the occasional bit of eye candy, four days and a few events later, it was time to go home, and ironically enough, we actually felt like we were leaving something behind, barring the 50 bucks that they still owe us :). Since the buses are very luxurious and have the best possible facilities, we decided to skip them and take a cab instead. The cab driver conveniently raised his price to 1850, when the ride was not more than 1000 or so bucks. And ofcourse, listening to Rabbi's Gill te Guitar sure made it more fun, passing by Oasis after oasis, and seeing the dim moonlight light up the fields, it looked very poetic, and very fun. ofcourse the chat was a lot of fun. With the topic changing from the indi-music scene to the jazz rock band like mahavishnu and shakti, it made for a lot of fun, the weary eyes soon took over and people started dozing around, yours truly couldn't get any. So i reached home at 12 or so and the family was awake, came here, checked some comments and the mails, slept a couple of hours, ripped own a zip, took my clothes and shifted em to another bag.

And then i decided to push off for the railway station, and reached one hour before the scheduled departure, and found the train was there already. And the reputation of the train did precede itself, the seats were filled up with people from the unreserved compartment, and to my dismay, they offered me a seat to sit on, the seat which was already reserved in my name. Then ofcourse, there was a movie plot kind twist and turns, where my partners and more importantly, the ticket keepers, had nt shown up. So i decided to dash off to the PCO and found that the ticketek would indeed be here, and the other guy kept on sleeping. The sleeper slept and the ticket guy just made it on time, as i was contemplating getting off the train. The blue line like journey was very taxing, with the train stopping everytime it could, and everytime it couldn't, it did the same.

And then ofcourse, we had a great time in Kanpur, the hospitality is just heartwarming, and overly kind. The plush rooms and the miminal paperwork meant that the formalities didn't get too shady & rigorous. And the quizzes and rockshow, it was a toss up. But we kind of got the best of both worlds, we listened to the rock show as we participated in the quiz. The results were nice, and the competition was the stuff of legend.

Travelling is tedious and all that gyaan. But trips like these don't happen too often.

Remebrance of Things- Past, Present and Future

I sit here and listen to Aerosmith, wait now its Stillwater and Audioslave, after a marathom weekend of writing, yep. I was given The Ultimate Assignment (it had 42 pages in all), and even copying that takes a lot of time. So much so, that the winamp MP3 list had gone through quite a few songs . Well Im not here to talk about that (though, i just did). My thoughts after finishing the work;"The Bastard has beeen nailed", words of Edmund Hillary to Tenzing Norgay after conquering the Everest.

Anyways, today was a time for reflection, as the musings continued in my twisted head. I recalled some of the things that i did in college, of course there were others, which were more illicit and spicy, but they shall be posted some other day and time. Today is all about my years in 'The Village', a not-so-affectionate title for college.

The Early Days
College for me was a whole new ball game for the first few days, I knew of only one form of education & teaching. Where uneducated teachers come and bark their lectures at unattentive students whose only aim in life is to.... (well, think of something). Fundamentally, the first half remains till today while the second half changed when i joined college. Here I was, A mama's boy still, thrust into the land of the toppers, the CAT champs, the perfect GRE scores, the 3 job holderrs, and most remarkably, the Beer Guzzlers, chain smoking potheads. Not that they ran the show or something, they were the ones who get all the attention somehow. So i cleaned a couple of rooms and did some ragging stuff to get to know the DUDES of the college, and did a fairly decent job, may i add. Then ofcourse, the bunking started, while people used to bunk to go out with their beloved, to sit in the canteen, to smoke up or to do nothing. However, for me and the likes, it always meant cricket or basketball all day long.

During one such game with the 'village boys' (yes, this is true, it was a all village team and we had a bet), as i was bowling the last over, this senior came and gave us a little rollicking, saying that he needed a 'Crowd' for a event and we fucchas were out playing. After the usual mumbo-jumbo and a few jitters, my team scraped through with a few runs and off we went to the event. As luck would have it, it was a lonewolf quiz. The elims from sports turned out to be crackable and I somehow ended up in the finals, albeit after 5 tie-breaker questions. I held my own despite the constant banter and ragging threats from the seniors in the audience and above all, the host himself :) . I finished a decent fourth out of six, considering that was my first quiz as a finalist (Didn't quiz at all in school, barring a couple of events as audience) and the GODS themselves had all qualified. The gods later on opened up and I got to be their partner, and above all, am still good friends with all of them.

The Transit
This result suddenly made me believe that i was decent enough and could quiz a bit. This spurred me on to compete more and get more good questions. Then ofcourse, 'An Offer was made which i Couldn't resist'. A senior, who i considered to be a divine person, asked me to team up with him. First of all, I couldn't believe that i had such a offer, and secondly, with power came the responsibility. So I knew I had to hold my end for us to do well as a team. And boy o boy, well we did. We swept the first few quizzes with astonishing margins, then ofcourse there was the odd heated word and we sat as different teams, didn't do either one any good, IMHO. The juggernaut rolled on and on and we ended up winning most things in the college circuit. Sadly, his CAT preparation slowed him down and meant lesser number of quizzes, otherwise, it would have been even more fun.

And in the month of september 2003, the greatest thing of all greatest things happened. HT Horizons used to do a quiz called ICE-Breakers, which ran for only 2 editions, won once by NSIT with the incomperable (he is that, undeniably) Rohan. I didn't know its that big a deal, so I had asked The Invincible and Legendary Debashree to team up with me for a few quizzes that she and i would show up for. DID we win? You bet. This story looks like a fairytale out of children's lit. and for me it still is. The underdog won. And I didn't know the accolades and the what-nots that came with it. Chuck the prizes for a second, as hard as it maybe to do this, I was in the HT supplements twice and enjoyed pop (Read: Rock) star status for a couple of weeks. Here I was, a newbee to the hostel life, and soon people who I never knew would walk upto me and shake hands with me. It felt good,& still does. And we finished third in the IIT open quiz, 'Kombat', one of the best results that i have achieved considering we were the best all college team on stage. . University Challenge had just happened for the first time in India, that did also help, considering the publicity and the free food and all that came with it. Sadly, we didn't do too well in UC, losing in the quarters that year and the most unceremonious exit known to quizkind, a first round elimination the following year.

Yeah, I did carry on quizzing, but somehow the charm went out, with quizzards in the so-called delhi circuit increasingly becoming reminiscent of mercenaries. And we won more, for the college and ourselves, but somehow the whole thing turned into a futile mechanical exercise, rather than the intellectual activity that it is & supposedly believed to be.

Ofcourse, there were other things to do in college like basketball, volleyball, the odd game of bulls-n-bearz. the JAMs that were so enjoyable. But these remained intra activities while quizzing was more mainstream and more competitive. I will miss em all, just played my last competiticve game of basketball, ended up losing by 3 points, in a 103 point thriller. And tommorrow is the last volleyball game, sadly, memories is all that will remain. And fond memories they shall be....

Blogging in the Name of......

The post comes about as I reflect on the pot-shots and other garbage being thrown by IIPM and a few artificial and superficial bloggers who confuse Alma-Mater for Alum- Mater. A lot of typing has happened over the weekend in the world of blogs, I am not so sure how much of it has been for the better.

This is how it all started , when Gaurav posted a usual post. This reveals (probably, the facts still disputed) the credentials or allegedly the lack of. But somehow, this started a forest-fire, which went on & on & one and culminated into this. As the editor-publisher of JAM, and a IIM-A alumni, she probably thought that it was a moral & a journalistic ethic to bring it to some aspirants' attention, the tall claims that these institutes make. I hereby clarify, that i don't necessarily uphold the views of any of the parties, however, since Rashmi and Gaurav are IIM alumnus, i think its only natural that they ought to know a thing or two, if not more, about management. But this, has gone way out of hand, with comments, despicable as they can get, being posted on youthcurry. And ofcourse, where there is a comment, there has to be a blogger. Somehow, about 1 million (or there abouts) bloggers were born, and they posted their own management fundas along with those of the other avid bloggers, and this started, what yours truly refers to as, World Wars. The term has not been a cult or a popular success, but i have survived much worse.

Coming back to the matters which are more pressing than the odd potshot, these events added up and have culminated into a resignation, now i am sure Gaurav Sabnis, someone who I have never met in person, an avid blogger, yet most importantly someone who believes in standing up for what he thinks is right (& it truly is, AFAIK), will get a lot of respect, if nothing more. And yeah, he's capable enough to get over this and turn the page.

Sadly however, this also means that someone who posted facts has had to bite the bullet, IMHO, and this is unpardonable. I am not politically perfect and far from it, most readers of this space know that. But if IIM-L didn't teach him a thing or two, where else could he have learnt? Yes, he stood up for himself, and resiging a job at IBM, just for doing the right thing, is a choice not many would dare make. That shows the exemplary nature of the man. Sadly, when i got to know of this matter vulturo's blog, i hoped and hoped that it was a rumor, worse than the alleged AAJTAK and Tehelka's of JAM. But I was wrong, and i felt dejected, not because i feel JAM is a journalistic bible, (wont mention you know what, dont want to end up in jail), and i dont think any (almost all) of the blogger's would qualify as godly authors, One can't deny the 'smoke without the fire' saying, can one?

Gin soaked gentleman, someone whom i had known and acquainted with some while ago had also made a post in the same regard. Now, if burning PC's is a solution, i have a better idea, my HCL is growing OLD, and i need a new PC, so instead of burning them, why not hand them over? Did i hear morals, If mr unstoppable had any, there would be a lot of better posts on a lot of blogs. Sadly, this never happened, and we had ourselves a skirmish, I don;t really care about who came out victorious.

PS: Vulturo, at one of my meetings with him, actually mentioned this fact on how controversial blogging had been in the states, adding up to many ejections from jobs and what nots. I didn't really want to see a live demo, 'Inspired' as our country can get, i did see one.

The Ultimate Post

Ok, Since my original post has been removed, thanks to the wonders (blunders) of technology, i am here for a rewrite. This ,by the way, for some of the regular eaders, happens to be my 42nd endeavour as a blogger, and i didnt really think i would write this much, knowing a little bit about myself. Hell, i have survived and living to tell more stories and more rants and qualms about life.

Since 42 in quizzing and Literature parlance has been described quite aptly as The Ultimate Answer, i think i would try and make this post as ultimate as possible, or close enough. So, here are the 42 things, ideas,facts,suggestions, call it what you want.this will be soulful recollection, slightly less radical than usual, hopefully. And this is some collection of 42 thoughts criss crossing my head

START
1. Blogwriting should be renamed to Blog Fighting. (Credit-Neha)
2. One person per blog, leaves things simple and easy to follow, no hotch-potch of 200 blogs being run at once by 5000 people!!!!!!!!!
3. Blogspot should be punished for messing up my original post. and i should be paid damages....:) I stil love it, so no hassles
4. Blogging should be about love, peace and co existence, and all the good things in between, no other stuff should be allowed.
5. More Templates and fonts, and free HTML tuts, so that people like me do a graffiti on their blogs.

moving on
6. Grunge music should be properly defined, instead of being called loud, Alice in Chains should return and kick Oxford's ass.
7. The PAAAP (pop) music of the 90's, Backstreet Boys, Spice(less) girls and co. should be honnored with Madame Tussaud statues, for ruining music for good.
8. The line

"As long as there will be music,

we will be coming back again"

Should officially be voted as the most scariest line ever in music history, considering its from a backstreet boys song.
9. Once great, now OLD bands like Metallica and U2 should pack up, they cant go any better, and the worse the fans should not witness.
10. The boy band vidoes featuring 500 hot chicks should be archived, simply because their would be a subsequent announcement of one of the members being 'Gay'.
11. MAD should do more spoofs of music artistes, rather than spoofing movies, the music spoofs are better

A bit further on
12. For my next birthday, i will get RATM, Audioslave, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, and ofcourse, ze GOD himself, Rabbi to do a closed doors concert aptly called,
"me and F.R.I.E.N.D.S."
13 Engineering colleges should be located near civilization, of course the nearby villages grow good weed, but thats where the benefits end.
14. Ok, this is where i am a BIT radical. Movies like American pie, The Graduate and Original Sin should always be screened uncut on TV, so that the Ganda bacchas can go more ganda.
15. Beer, Petrol and whatever other indulgence people have should be provided free-of-cost, and people must have the right to pick-their-own-poison.
16. Bands which imitate the beatles shall serve their afterlife in hell, and worse.
17. uummm, k, Quentin Tarantino should make more movies and write yet more scripts, he rocks.
18. Some one will please explain the Stanley Kubrick school of movies to me someday
, which would be fun to understand,hopefully.
19. IMDB should go desi and cover indian movies.
20. OK, now for some more revolutionary ideas. Cricket and Hockey have to be outlawed and banned from a country obsessed with mediocrity and hypocrisy.
21. Our Bhakti Bhaavna must go louder, with people like Cradle of Filth , showing up and doing the Jaaagrans.
22. The Great Indian (zaleel) Laughter challenge should become a daily sitcom, that ways we can discover yet more ways of higher nonsense and laud Siddhu, who is aspiring to start a Death Metal band with shekhar suman, considering the unnecessary loud shouting and headbanging which goes on.

More Shit
23. World peace is a empty and a hoax concept, should be banned from use at beauty pageants, just to see what the Hot shot contestants come up with.
24. BCCI,as is inevitable, should be handed over to Laloo Prasad Yadav, since he has a Cricket team of his own including the extras and the coach, there would be no jhagdas and they would all use the choicest swear words from bhojpuri/maithili and do the job that present crop can't.
25. Bipasha Basu and Shahrukh Khan, along with Karan Johar, will start a fresh TV show, aptly called,"So fucking dumb yet so hep and proud".
26. The times of India will be renamed to The Crimes of India.
27. More papers and mediamen continue to achieve a Orvellesque era of Totalitarianism .

Ok, Some Creative collabarations i wish would come true

28. Quentin Tarantino and Ram Gopal Verma doing a gangster flick, multi-lingual, Similarly, David Dhawan and Monty Python,uuummmm too dreamy, is it? The first one, would be a DREAM, if there ever was one,i shall call this the 'almost_useless' dream.
29. Ok, this is my favorite, Kishore Kumar and the Marx Brothers, or better still, the kumars and the marx brothers combine along with one extra dude, and remake Seven Samurai. Leave that, just a comic musical would be awesome.
30. The goody goody things of life like music, books, movies, food and all the other stuff must be cheaper.
31. Delhi , The city of Djinns, will be a lot safer for women, and have more of a nightlife, the rowdy elements must be disposed and taken care of.
32. If only the distances in delhi would become smaller, no cops on the road, break the speed of sound.....
33. All of one's friends should be as close as possible, as Mic Jagger says," you don't always get what you want"........ You only miss people when they are not around.
34. News channels air some informative entertainment programmes rather than crime watch and whatever patrol, and some informative anchors wont hurt either.
35. I must stop living like a insomniac nocturnal nutjob and learn to sleep on time. Sadly, i cant even hope of getting this right. Somalia will upstage them all and win the soccer world cup before this happens, i am waiting for the day.
36. Message T shirts must look like graffitti boards, with multi lingual messages and as many at a time as possible :)
37. People change from their fundamentals and become more rational for their own good and for the greater good of others.
38. Some one will come and explain me some physics, some of which will make some sense to my peanut brains.
39. I will do something worthwhile for the country, so that others carry on gloating and riding this country like its a whore.
40. The Shawshank Redemption would become real and someone's HOPE will actually free them from their own demons.
41. People like me start blogging and start typing their radical, angry, uneducated, politically incorrect rants on forums and blogs and make fools out of themselves, while getting some praise along the way.
42. Somewhere in time, DNA would read this post, and would aprreciate it.....

as i have always said, i continue to HOPE...............

The Legacy of Ex- Gentlemen and women

Another day in paradise, not quite. As usual, saturdays are meant for sleeping and lazing around, and watching movies and reading, but today was different. As i was the defending champion of a quiz, i had decided to bunk a cricket match, and instead go for the quiz. So i went, and as and so it happened, the quiz was done by some extraordinarily intelligent and astoundingly brainy CREATURE called arpita, and had questions ranging from medico trivia, to old calculus stuff from class 11 and 12. Sadly, they even managed to squeeze a couple of "wrong" questions in the elims. And yeah, did i forget to mention, the elims was MCQ's- multiple choice q's for the uninitiated. So if any of you grew up playing Samurai and atari video games, you would have gotten those 4 and 8 in 1 types, surely. Sadly, when these SAD elements of quizzing combine, you are the game who is played, and all of it is done without any rules.

Now, my disappointment is not with the quiz, believe me, in the era that i have quizzed, other people including myself have seen much much worse, something these people can't even fathom in their wildest dreams. But when i have a streak of 4 victories in LHMC, and winning whatever i have shown up for, i think i am entitled to a bit of chit-chat and banter. So the quiz starts and we are told that its a MCQ format, with +1,-1 scoring, sadly, i told my partner to hold back and not maaro tukkas. Not a prudent decision, i may add, but it would have been worse to qualify, then i wont have written all this.

I have nothing personal against LH, i have won some good quizzes, one was a real shady one, where i almost got a -15 for jumping up and down on stage, which was revoked, and we managed to win that joke of a quiz by 5. The other quizzes have been pretty good and better than many others i have been to,as far as the quality of content and presentation and were done by a very good friend and partner,neha. Sadly she is no more a student and as they say, quizzing has gone to the dogs. I had done a quiz for them last march which was well appreciated, had ok ok participation, but sadly the feminine jealousy and envy of some one 'else' coming over and doing a quiz there was not tolerable and the lit secy. was blasted within a couple of inches of her life, so much so that she had to cancel a few events.

Now i am not a world champion, i repeat, but i have beaten all my contemporaries and a few others, so i can run my (keyboard) mouth on MY blogspace. And this post comes against all doctor's orders, so i think i may get blasted by a few people later on, which i won't care, considering it would be peanuts whn compared to what i had to FACE in the morning. Not that i have won everything i ever took the elims for, the biggest learning curve was sitting as audience and being a scorer occasionally, ironically enough, sometimes i miss that too.

I wasn't always this spectacular and this good, i learnt as a understudy from my seniors, who literally taught me how to quiz, for some, that may be stretching it a bit, but i have no qualms about using these words. Yes, LHMC has been a subject of speculation before and much too much has been made of nothing. i dont want to start a world war again. They can atleast learn from neha, just a little bit, and be MORE sensible and open. Gloating on egos of self dependence and what nots won't serve anyone for the better, would it.Yes, all of us learn, but not when the reputation of the college is at stake, for a college is known by the quality of the events they put up at their fests, believe me, mine is a lot worse. I dont think the CREATURE mentioned above or any others apart from neha would come and read this, but i hope they do. SADLY, Hope is all i have....

Back to the Future

After World Wars 3,4,5 & 6 due to quizzing, and many posts on that, and one on stairway and well, u knw what, its back to serious blogging, aint that a phrase in itself.

The Indian team is at it again, no i dont mean winning matches, or more important matters like opening restaurants and saloons, and making retirement plans. Not that they wont do any of this, they have boldly gone where no team has gone before. Bitching and fighting like no other, makes me a proud supporter of team India, I mean where else would team members be singing, "kyunki Chappel bhi kabhi Ganguly tha".

The whole thing has started rows and rows of speculation, how long has this gone on, the actors may be different, the characters and the scenes may have evolved, but are we not a bunch of mediocre back-biting dandies when it comes to sport? Albeit in school, nationals, or world championships, or even college domestic events. This comes back on the fact that Arena, my intra college meet starts tomm, and i have been dropped unceremoniously, because there was a trial and BS like that. Now i m not tendulkar, kallis or cairns, but when it comes to college, i am much better and all that crap, i dont really wana write about it.

But this has raised its head again, and again we are left wondering whats wrong? When a genius of a cricket thinker like Greg Chappel. and the most believing of all believers, Sourav Ganguly, can be made to fight like two aunties at a kitty-party, something is fundamentally wrong somewhere. What does this prove, i dont really care....

I dream of a day when team India will be about the game and winning and not overpaid nannies who show up just like babus at sarkari naukris......

Stairway To Heaven

As i Sit here, high in the sky, barely able to type, my tribute this will be, to the greatest ever song,which looks and sounds even better when ur stoned, i mean EVER:

Stairway to Heaven
There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold

And she's buying a stairway to heaven

And when she gets there she knows if the stores are closed

With a word she can get what she came for
Woe oh oh oh oh ohAnd she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure

And you know sometimes words have two meanings

In the tree by the brook there's a songbird who sings

Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven
Woe oh oh oh oh ohAnd she's buying a stairway to heaven
There's a feeling I get when I look to the west

And my spirit is crying for leaving

In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees

And the voices of those who stand looking
Woe oh oh oh oh ohAnd she's buying a stairway to heaven

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune

Then the piper will lead us to reason

And a new day will dawn for those who stand long

And the forest will echo with laughter
And it makes me wonder
If there's a bustle in your hedgerow

Don't be alarmed nowIt's just a spring clean for the May Queen
Yes there are two paths you can go bybut in the long run

There's still time to change the road you're on
Your head is humming and it won't go because you don't know

The piper's calling you to join him

Dear lady can't you hear the wind blow and did you know

Your stairway lies on the whispering wind
And as we wind on down the road

Our shadows taller than our souls

There walks a lady we all know

Who shines white light and wants to show

How everything still turns to gold

And if you listen very hard

The tune will come to you at last

When all are one and one is all

To be a rock and not to roll

Woe oh oh oh oh ohAnd she's buying a stairway to heaven
There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold

And she's buying a stairway to heaven

And when she gets there she knows if the stores are closed

With a word she can get what she came for
And she's buying a stairway to heaven, uh uh uh

The Day the Result came Second

As i come hone, slightly drunk (thats new, aint it?) , and think about the quiz that i have attended, and participated in, and did pretty well, i couldn't think of anything better for the title. I dont think its original to the best of my meagre knowledge, but not many things are in the days of the web are.

The day was highlighted by getting up fairly early, and going for the IIT open quiz, kombat, arguably the most prestigious open quiz in delhi. And with the team that i had, i think it was a honor, something only a few of my generation may ever know or experience. Wont know if i would ever forget this, so great this was. Yes, we didnt win, then again, who cares?? I wont think the winners would mind, and neither did i. My team had the Almighty Krishna and the Almightier Archana, viewers of quiz shows and others alike would know. And boy, for the first few q's, i was overwhelmed. Dont really know what else to say, this is just about as good as it has been for me, in my days of quizzing.

Since a lot of mumbo-jumbo about quizzing has been going on in the world of blogdom and some of my previous posts, i think its only fair that all was forgotten, or as rabbi says, "Sab Visar Gaya". Yes, I have been overly critical of Arnav and IIT D, and they had been overly critical and not so modest about their own abilities in quizzes, the crux is that it was all settled the way that it should have been. A nice quiz, though stretched on a bit too long, was the way to go about it. And go about it we did. So what all has been done and said, I hope its buried in the past and we move on, or so i would like it to be.

I guess i have said enough, but how many times have i ever said this before..........

A Day in the Life

As i have come back from yet another hectic day in the life, i sit here listening to Rabbi's Gill te Guitar, the new Anthem for me.I recollect the day's happpenings. It all started with a mini-night out (i did get SOME sleep), for the exam, of course the exam went alrite, albeit the two fatso invigilators did cost me a couple of marks at least by their constant kitty party talks, all this in the middle of a exam. What NUTJOBS!!!!!!!!!!!

And after this ofcourse, there was the freedom from the burden of exams for a cuople of months, so what better to do, than to go for a Quiz, and ofcourse, i took the IIT neighbourhood dost log along for a ride home. Escaped a speeding ticket, and followed most rules, and made IIT after a marathon drive, just about the time my legs were about to crumble under me, i just about managed to reach amidst the finals of a on-going quiz. And i managed to catch up with some people, and had a few jokes, the usual

Business picked up in the afternoon when my partner, the very illustrious nalin decided that my heartbeat was normal and it had to rise, so when i had told him that the quiz was at 2, he decides to leave home at 2:15 and ofcourse, he was late. Not just late, he missed the prelims, so it was me and my other partner in crime, Anang, who managed to scrape through, just about, by the skin of our teeth. And ofcourse, he shows up as the answers are being announced and manages to answer something that we haf missed. So i decided to punch a few teeth out of his mouth, but somehow i let that be. And after a gruelling and fiercely contested quiz, we did win, and win we did with flying colors. Somehow, after a lot of brainstorming and thoughts, we did it. My first win at Rendezvous ever, boy it feels good. I may have been animated and unparliamentary with a few earlier remarks, but haven't we all been?

So all said and done, it works out well.......

Dont Believe the Blogs

Well, after a tumultuos week, exams are just round the corner, and as usual, preparation, is just , well, unmentionable....

Not here to talk abt this, howver, there was a lot of BS going on in the past few days, with some people i have known and acquainted with, some of whom i have better terms with. But in order to try to be politically correct, something that i have not learnt to be in the 20 odd years of my existence, i messed up or more accurately, i fucked up...

It all started with a reference from Arnav's blog , a IIT student. The post was all about quizzing, since the comments section is a Phd topic in itself, dont think i wana say much about it, much 2 much has been made of this already. However, since i sort of knew all the parties and i knew one a lot more than others,and the trust, well, i wont know who i trust more, my own reflection,or..../

Since this issue had been raised, and a quizzer, well, i would say, they would all have their opinions. But, sometimes, as in the age of IT, these opinions clashed and overlapped with some repurcussions. I have had too much gyaan being thrown at me by many novices, with all due respects, but i couldn't belive some of the things mentioned here. All hell has ofcourse, broken loose, and heavens fallen apart since, in my life.

So there was the post as mentioned above, and there were readers, kyunki where there is a post, there will always be readers.. So the word spread and i got the news, and to be politically correct, i decided to maaro a anon post, in the ID of bask_in_self_glory, yes it was me, me, me.

To quote colonel jessop from A Few Good Men

Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee (Tom Cruise): I think I'm entitled .
Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Jessep: You can't handle the truth

So, the fact is, that i cudn't handle the truth, and hence decided to post anonymously and when i did post using my own ID, i said what i felt, that i didnt know what the big fuss was being made about, and what the f*** was going out. Why was public laundry service being held out in the open? Yes, its personal space and people are allowed this once in a while, but this got out of hand

And yes, Arnav's blog is insightful, as much as i Disapprove the quizzing posts, it does make for good reading. Sadly, i had fever last year and wanted to attend his quiz, as he and jinah (pardon the spelling) had asked me to turn up, in a very friendly and respectable way and i had a partner too. Sadly however, something had to give and i couldn't go . Heard some decent things from jantagana who had gone. Talking of the junta, as handa says, saboot mangti hai, i HAVE SEEN THE SHEETS in question. I dont kiss anyone's ass, i would much rather kiss an axe and slit my own neck and chop it off, if i meet arnav, will mention all of this to him so that we all get out in the clear. I have never really met him and whatever any one has to say of him, the things that i have heard have always been full of admirations.

Call me hypocritical, double standard, i just tried something i am not good at, and i have got caught. So think of me whichever way u wana........

The Days of my life

A few people, who i know and who occasionally happen to stumble upon my stupid, sometimes radical and most times self-indulgent and politically incorrect posts couldn't help but ask me about the new profile pic that i have put up. So here is to all of you devout readers, the pic is a album cover of a band that used to play, sadly they have broken up now :(. And my obsession with their music has been shown in this space before. This was their debut in mainstream music and they later on influenced and paved the way for much lesser acts like Korn, Limp Bizkit and of late, Linkin Park, LP though, have different influences as well. Heck, i sound like a overpaid editor from rollingstone, so back to the point

The picture, like many others, speaks a few words, in this case, however the number is closer to a million than a thousand !!!!!! A photo of Thích Quang Ðuc, a Buddhist monk who burnt himself to death as a protest against Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem's administration's practices against the Buddhist religion, features on the cover of the first Rage Against the Machine album. Sadly that is the name of the game these days, where people still die in the name of religion and something called as 'god'. Im not a KAAFIR , though, and i do believe in a higher powe, sadly i think, too many people go about religion in a wrong way.

Back to the post, since most of u wud knw by now, this is mostly a result of boredom as i have to leave and i dont have anything better to kill time, so i sit here and listen to, yes, you guessed it, RATM, and of course the song is one of great choice and prudence, and above all, real relevance, its called killing in the name....

Do check out their music, may not be very Sureela , if you have a liking for Jagjit singh and his likes (not that they are bad), but does make for good listening and a strong message. Sadly, inspite of being monarchists, ooops, marxists, they managed to sell a few records and fill up their pockets, but it was all for a good cause, wasn't it?

How Often can lightning strike?

I sit here and reflect on another DIMWIT hosting and making a mockery of quizzing and quizzards. Now the scene of the crime, Miranda House in DU. As if being a stupid ass aint bad enough, being stupid and dumb at the same time is worse. And being proud of all the above things, is like the red cherry on the top of a cake already iced......

The prelims were like no other, 20 q's, one liners, more like a penalty shootout, so if u missed one, u wont live to tell the tale. And stupid questions from the school quizzes, guys, seriously, who gives two shits on which is the smallest bone and which is the slowest mammal, better still was the AWOl expansion- Absent without official leave. And this wasnt all, they had 4 answers wrong, which inspite of begging/pleading/arguing/ confronting weren't reversed. And that does help, doesnt it.

And its not as if the girl's colleges are the only ones at fault, the they atleast try to have some decorrum and conduct, even though if you are reminded of the days of class 1. Many other colleges have had people QMing, the likes of which wont be able to differentiate between astrology and astronomy!!!! And they do practise the F word a lot, so when urs truly has a fight, its straight out of the pulp fiction script. My point is not that these people are stupid, ur being kind to them and insulting the word 'stupid' to call em that. if you dont know, dont speak, i cant sing, so i dont pick up the guitar and try to pull of a hetfield on stage. The same way these people shouldnt host quizzes, they make a mockery of it.

And then there are the organisers, the real black ass SOB's who recruit people like Parnab 'Mother fucker' Mukherjee . What a fucked up gasbag he is, the cheap gimmicky, organisers pleasing ASSHOLE.

I dont knw how to end this, so forget it.......

Celebrate Teacher's Day, like only i can

This post is dedicated to all the insipid and big-mouthed fatsos who ever taught me, if you happen to be one of them, pls dont read any more. But if you are a regular reader (i have a few now), pls 'follow the leader'. This week, the first day, was of course Teacher's day , all the more significant as this is the only day which doesnt guarantee a holiday and in all fairness, should, because the loser teacher's have to go and rant bout how useless their students are.

If any of you are teacher's im sorry, but im sure u haven't ever taught me. If u have, consider this a personal opinion, u can have urs on ur blog. I read a teacher's blog, very soulful and insightful, beautifully written, but alas, she teaches in a different college!!!!!!

Anyways, back to business, so on the monday, i had the usual 4 lectures and during the 2nd, a dear frd of mine suggested to the idiot who was teaching us, that we would celebrate teacher's day in the 3rd and 4th lecture. (Believe it or not, she teaches 7 hrs for a theory subject a week, which wont have more than 4 hrs by the univ. rules and these losers have to attend all of them, and so DO i, becos of the shitty rules of the university). So she says, that all of us had to prepare something for her, a song or something like that. And predictably enough, the gang that had predicted this disappears in the next class and unfortunate people like yours truly had to bear 'item songs' being hummed by people as the stupid ass laughed and joked her way to glory, much like Govinda used to do Chappad Phaad Ke.

I was sitting in the second row and was asked to sing a song, since she owes me some marks, i shut up and told her that singing ain't my fortay. She somehow understood and baton was passed on to some 1 else. Not that i couldn't think of a song, i had the lyrics memorized and all, the song was of course by my favorite band, Rage Against the Machine, called Killing in the name . No my teacher dont work for KKK, and i dont think she's a cop, though im not sure, my dedication to her and my classmates is what follows. first. to my illustrious classmates....

And now you do what they told you
And now you do what they told you
And now you do what they told you
And now you do what they told you
Are u under control?
And now you do what they told you
Are u under control??

they go on and, now for my dedication to the teacher, in a perfect world i would get up on the table and raise both middle fingers to make her believe that she's no. 1.
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me

If you think i sound like the whining Edward Norton from American History X , though with a completely different sense, think you may be right. But my point here is that she should know her standing and get the f out of class when the time is ripe and that i shouldn't waste my print/blog space on her. And if u wana knw which college she graduated from, it was none other than my own!!!! Another one of the 'Illustrious graduates' from my college uses expressions like details being 'Fed Up' into a computer. I just got 'fed up' with his class, i must say. And i have had too many people giving me gyaan on how teacher's are god's own men/women, what crap!!!!! Im sure there is trouble in paradise, if that is true. And if u wana read more about teacher's you can go here

I dont hate any teachers, i repeat. Just my thoughts on the people i have to put up with........

Is maith liom bananai

Is maith liom bananai - 'I like bananas.'You're laid-back and you enjoy the simple things in life. Some might say you're a little too laid-back. Just what is it you're smoking, anyway?

The Pinnacle and the epitome of all mindless surfing, which i am upto these days, for the sheer time that i waste everyday of the week, i actually took this weirdo quiz, like another one i have taken before, for the one's who are regular readers of this space, u would know abt the kill bill quiz that i had posted abt sometime back.

This however, left me gasping for breath. The Not for the plain and simply unbelievable nature of wela panti expressed here, but for the results. I guess i am laid back, and all the goody goody things said above. The ' I like Bananas' part is tricky though (before u start firing abt a fruit hatred propaganda, the deal is that i do like bananas, lovely and nutritious as they are,only in the cullinary sense), it sounds like some goofy AD campaign for a weirdo product.

Now to the most interesting part, something that i was quite amazed to read, the what have u been smoking anyway part. Cos i have been smokin some, and boy has it been mindblowing or what. Yesterday, i lit up more than i could enjoy and my head felt like a, well, it was somethin else. And today wasnt bad either, lit up my share and was in another world, and passed out and slept like a baby. And woke up feelin as good as ever, came back home and saw

Is maith liom bananai

not bad at all, as they say

Jaane Bhi Do yaaron

The post which follows has nothing to do with the movie, so if you came here looking for another gyaan pilaao review, please dont kill me!!!!!. The movie is a piece of genius, and i dont take no part away from that. This is actually a factual, almost cynical look at the indian Cricket team and dispute which apparently broke between Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan on how Agarkar was carted to all corners and how pathan was better, cos he picked a kiwi inspite of being carted to all corners. Apparently the two had a momentary lapse and went back to normal. There is a power struggle looming in the team with the Old school and young turks both doing their bit. Sehwag, better known as Ganguly's Bitch from 3 years back, sticks his neck out by opening a restaurant and makin 'retirement plans'. In Sehwag's own lingo

" BHAi YO batting karni hai aisi, toh retire ho ja, ghanaaa badhiya rahega"

When will they learn, when will they be a team, when can they play, not for the money, just play like we do in the street, and dont worry, results do come. Ever seen warney bowl, thats a sight of a kid who still runs and bowls and has his fun, takes his wickets and enjoys life, mast hai yaar, kuch seekho. One blogger from the world, wrote this post , my source of info, originally. As much as irfan pathan is the future, i think the present and some part of the future, belongs to agarkar,true,his thin,frail frame can be blown away & everyone knows about his UGLY DUCKLINGS :). But surely, there can be peace between team-mates, they play for the country and not for a mohallah.

My Suggestion to the team management, drop them and send them to prison, just like sudhir and vinod in the movie. Maybe then they will sing hum honge kaamyaab and get some sense.

Badhiya Hai

Had a good sunday, which to me is going with friends and spending money. And i guess i did a pretty good job of it today, and had a fine day. Didnt Start off too good, fucked up a mock CAT, the way i have become used to. With declining performances one after the other, i think im gonna hit rockbottom now. But forget that, things only got better. Met a friend who i hold very dear for lunch, and ate and ate, went off to her house and lied down, listenin to a assorted compilation that i had given her......

Then decided to push off for CP, had to meet some people, some cool people, people who call themselves bloggers. The first ever (my first) delhi blogger's meet, fun it was, different people, diff influences, diff hobbies, " All Different, Each Unique". It was fun, got to see how bloggers are, and kinda enjoyed it, pushed off to blues. I had heard loads about it and its a awesome place. just for the choice of music, if nothing else. Kickass rock music, very very savvy (its a chic word, but who cares). But since the sound was blaring, we decided to push off to DV8, another pub-cum-restaurant nearby. My first time there also, since i really dont get the cash or the time to go clubbing and pubbing, so my knowledge of delhi pubs is as good as viru sehwag's knowledge of victorian english!!!!.

coming back to DV8, nice place, decent music, and very quiet, good place to discuss, much like Zen. And they had a overhead LCD and showed india beat (call it that if u can) a depleted and fucked up Zim Cricket team, where people are beaten up and devoid of food, only a few hundred metres from a fuckin sport. I like sports, i am a sportsman at heart, think and act like one, will see all the sports (practically all), but i cant see and bear a thought of a shootout half-a-mile away, people being beaten to pulp and not being fed, cos they chose not to support a particular MF leader. Thats a story for another day n time.

India did win, however unlikely it may have looked, and we gulped down glass after glass of beer, and talked abt ,life,the universe and Everything and it was different. Not the average sunday, when i plan to ease and lie around and maybe clean up the mess on my bed, which is reminiscent of a fuckin earthquake rubble, so much of stuff lies around here. And i plan to read some papers and study, but what the hell, today was worth it.

Ambition

I really dont know what to write, my life has become a farce, or whatever u wana call it. I have probably become the worst version of myself, a disillusioned young man, if there ever was one. I dont like my life, nothing about it seems appealing,a engineer, at the site where i did my training, said that i have had the oppurtunity of a lifetime to study in a reputed college and what have u's and i should make the most of it, join a job as a trainee for a year and learn more on the job, after that write IES (WHAT CRAP), so that i work with the govt and cripple them the way the rest of the country rides it like a cheap whore (pardon my lingo, with all due respect to the better half of all of us, and for due reason they are called better). Some of my frds tell me that im doin well for myself, and there are people who would die to be me. My advice to 'these' people, "pls dont waste your life here".

Heck, ambition is cruel, aint it? Its the one word which dictionary would define, but the definition, to quote Robert Frost,is, "lost in translation". For one doesnt know what are the limits of one's own ambitions. I mean seriously, if we limit our ambitions, where are we headed?
The cruel nature,however comes in play, paradoxical as it may sound. The one's that are put into this predicament are the middle class dudes and chics, they are the ones likely to rise or slump through the ranks, so to speak. For the filthy rich, education is a luxury and the poor kids are too poor to afford a education, which makes me sad. And they are the ones who are made to grovel and persevere, for belief and hope is their life, having a career is something they live for, and boy when they achieve it, the serenity of it all is something out of this world.

But the paths followed are treacherous and really testing, and boy do they test you out. And herein lies the test of character and desire, for the fiercer that u get, the better chance u have. A pinch of luck wont do you any harm, though. This whole post is a reflection on the state of affairs of my life these days. You are out on the weekend with frds, smoke pot on saturday night, get up really late on sunday and decide to sit for a mock, some how land up with a decent rank and improved performance from your last one. and then the hydra headed thing (wont call it evil though) called ambition rolls in your head again, and u start to think. You think how you have dug up a grave for urself, where things went wrong, how cud u mess up something that meant a way of life to u???

A million q's that zip thru my head, i struggle for answers. And i have something to hang on to, something that all of us do, ambition.......

Weekend "Entertainment": Who's watching?

As one sits back and reflects on a weekend of great(??) infotainment,you can't help but wonder, what does the word entertainment mean?Forget Oxford or Webster, this word has been given a whole new meaningand dimension by our media.

Does it mean watching a flop movie star,turned highly overrated TV anchor, sit alongside a average (at best)cricketer and laugh their way to glory (gory), or watching thehard-hitting crime shows. A handful of people like yours truly are still recovering from the blows. They claim to show the heinous nature of crimes and help in catching criminals, but since when has glroifying crime helped catch a criminal?? They are packed with sensation, and are inspired from America's most wanted. While the original was more than helpful with catching criminals, the efficacy of the Indian counterparts remains to be seen. what they promote is,more creative ways to commit crime. one reputed news channel even carried a detailed segment of Dawood Ibrahim's rise from the son of a constable to a multi millionaire don.

And now to the Great indian laughter show, the show has been a success with the Indian public. yes, some of the contestants deserve credit,for their creativity, flair and novel ways to make people laugh, what requires Einstein's brains is to know the reason behind Shekhar Suman and Navjot Singh Siddhu laughing persistently. They look like paranoid androids, programmed to laugh after fixed intervals. And Siddhu even manages to raise his arms up and down and occasionally headbang, as if he was at a Rage Against The Machine concert. And his collection of Idioms, proverbs and phrases seems to have been exhausted, someone please buy him something new. One couldn't help butadmire his tenacity & guts as a cricketer. Of late however, he has the performance of the Indian team after the world cup 2003, one GRajaraman (journalist with outlook and ESPN) , a very famous and reputed one at that, made a valid point on how they beat lesser teams and made it to the finals and got bamboozled in the finals. Siddhu somehow managed to potray as if the person had made a comment on WC2003 performance, ridiculed him and even got applause from the (Dunce)audience. Seriously, if that is the credit dished out to a learned man, our media is doing a good job of it. The same channel had claimed that Mushtaq Ali had captained India, when and where, no one wouldknow, for he's dead now and no such records exist. !!!!!!!

Then, there is KBC. Being a quizzard and the great respect i have for my comrades, i will be hush hush about my opinions. What i couldn'tget is why Saif Ali Khan had turned up along with Preity Zinta to do ahour long trailor for 'Salaam Namaste'.But what i do admire is the way Amitabh Bachhan handles the show and proves beyond all doubt, why he's the sarkar.

As mush as one hates the BCCI, a arm that runs the game, has no proper office, no permanent meeting place, controversial elections, and everything else in between, one must thank the powers that be for imposing the experience clause in the tender. For if ZEE sports got the rights, it would be armageddon and apocalypse rolled in one. They managed to broadcast a series where less than 1000 spectators turned up at the venue, to all of asia. And the luncheon/ Supper shows were out of this world. Their was the 'wannabe Mandira Bedi' Tina whose knowledge of the game rivals the average indian's knowledge ofamerican football. And the male host was even better, he asked waqar,why was kumble named as an extra in the all time asian 11, Waqar though, thankfully had some senses left and promptly told him that it was a insurance in case some one got injured. And the 'Panel' carried on their discussions in Scottish punjabi (waqar) and kapil's 'rapidex' brand of english. Here are two cricketers, legendary and iconic, gone astray. Though one mustn't forget that the couch potato indian public,true to its reputation, watched all the matches and prove how 'good' the coverage was.

There was of course, the usual dosage of EPL and F1,which does bring reliefAnd yeah, there was the usual 'Desparate Housewives' and 'Sex of theCity', two shows which potray housewives and four single women yuppies(not so young, but nevermind) in their own ways. While they havetheir detractors, one can't deny the critical and commercial success.and yeah, the ever growing popularity in the metros. The screening ofHum Tum also did help, a candid unique look at the interactions of a boy and a girl and their turmoils with life, relationships etc.I dont really know where our electronic media has headed, but it can'tbe anywhere half decent. For the sheer quality (lack of) ofprogramming, they leave me bemused.And please, someone please tell the news channels not to make idols out of criminals.Thos country has enough troubles already.