$#%*Matka(*@&

I will keep this post very short without many explanations.

Some major turnarounds in me over the past one week (my first week of graduate education)
1. Waking up on Saturday morning, knowing exactly what to do.
2. Worse still, the whole weekend is planned out / scheduled and not necessarily - the fun way.
3. I was waiting outside the library at the stoke of the opening hour on the first day of the semester waiting to borrow 3 fat books. (I did successfully manage to issue the last copies of each. Yaaay and pooof.)
4. Sleeping at around 11 in the night and waking up at 5.30-6 in the morning.

Well, based on these observations, one could hypothesize that 'matka' trends are setting in to me and I am afraid that myself.

Nevertheless, I am actively engaged in high-speed (roach-)chases all day round, and hence, I be 'waaaaaay cooler'. Ha.

"I am a Phoenix"

Even YouTube has ads these day! It is quite annoying to wait for any video buffer for a few minutes and now this just adds more spice to the whole situation!
Not impressed. I don't want to be a Phoenix!

Discovering my world

Well, just walking down the International House, this is what I saw (and seems like this has been around for a while now!).
Weird ways of my world :)

Ramayan and Mahabharat and more ...

While trying to pass utterly jobless hours at home, I was flipping through the TV channels and just happen to land up on episode of Mahabharat. I felt totally delighted to catch a glimpse of this evergreen epic which I religiously watch for over 6 years of my childhood loving everybit of it. As I watched, I felt disappointed - ancient graphics, bad animation, paper-made arrows and bows loosely sticking out of dead soldiers - all of which I had failed to notice all these years. Nevertheless, I gently smirked and laughed at how much we have progressed technologically from then to now.

Then I saw something which has compelled to write about it. The scene playing was the killing of the mighty Ghatotkaj at the hands of Karna. A mortally wounded Ghatotkaj folds his palms together seeking the blessing of all his elders, his uncles and finally his father, who were witnessing the tremendous ongoing battle. Realizing that his end is near, his father Bhim overtaken by grief, yells out, "Beta Ghatotkaj, saamnewaale sena pe girna. Tathasthu". I was appalled. The technology can be forgiven but dialogues. Terrible script. I promptly switched the TV off.

It is not just this TV serial. ShriKrishna, another Ramanand Sagar production has a seen where Krishna and Balram are ready to accept the challenge of four pehalwans in King Kamsa's court and out of nowhere, Krishna (still a kid) exclaims to his brother, "Kyu daau bhaiyyaa" with a very very sultry (I wish to refrain but yeah it was outright 'cheap sluty') look on his face. Simply obnoxious - the limit I would say. This seems to be the case with almost all children classics like Ramayan, Mahabharat, ShriKrishna and probably every other Ramanand Sagar production.

No wonder kids in schools are thought to be perverts! Thank our classics I would say.

Dugga Dugga

That sound rings in my head
as I stood,
Waited and watched

Warm touches with cold hands
A smile across the tears
The racing time on my slow clock
I remember it all

A whiff of your fragrance,
Holds me still
11 minutes passed
On that overcrowded platform
I hoped it stopped
and clenched my fists

But, there was that sound
I stood,
Waited and watched
I stood.
I watched.
I waited.

Briskly, I walked off,
Never turned back
The sound still rings in my head,
As I stand and watch.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

A very touching poem this is. A recital of the poem by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal can be found here.

Why This?

Yeah, this the mandatory first post that adorns all blogs. So, why this blog?
To be honest, I have no genuine reason. I am not even a fan of writing or reading in particular. But just for the sake of it, if I have to conjure some up, my reasons would mostly be

• I think blogging is cool - Hi-fi!!
  
• I get to write my own 'shit' and publish it on the web - Gaga Googoo
• I can design a webpage
• I stopped blogging on my old one - and don't feel like restarting there again!
• My life is awesome. I want to tell everyone about it.
• ...
  

The list can go on. However, the real reason why I made up this blog space is because, I was introduced to this domain a whole two years back. From that point, my life has taken a turn and risen to new levels. This is a small token of respect, love and admiration to that lovely incident.

An excerpt from Robert Browning's "A Life in Love"
Escape me?
Never—
Beloved!
While I am I, and you are you,
So long as the world contains us both,
Me the loving and you the loth,
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.

And, the other thing is that, I am right now, sitting in my lab, starting at a bright shining rod rotating at 2000 rpm lighting up my workspace brilliantly. Even though I am desperately trying to finish my Dual Degree Project at the earliest, this kind of mundane (or so some may call) work gives me a strange joy and this is the reason why I have decided to put a further five years of my life down this road.

Signing off,

She is always full of insane joy
Good for a joke or a jibe
Always nice to talk to
It's wonderful to know this is true

It's still me. Welcome to the jungle!