Poems.. Ah those Poems!!

I remember a poem by Rudard Kipling 'IF'. An excerpt:

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!"
...And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!


Then I wondered why are all these poems so idealistic and never ever seem to have a semblance of normal human emotions, psychology or they never seem to respect anything that is human (inclinations that is)!! They always tell you something that is so inhumanly human leaving no space for practicality and reality.

Addendum: One may argue that such people do exist then was the poem aimed at being elitist, telling us not about generic crowd but a little few and why is it that whatever they did should be a guide for everyone. I mean why can't they accept failure for a change. It' s not that these poems don't inspire me but I question each and every thing even those things which I believe in!!

Think:Well if you are asked to make a fresh start. If everything that you did till now is undone or you realise it wasn't worthy the effort, some may make a fresh start but would there be some of you who may not breathe a word about your loss??

P.S.: Those of my Infosys colleagues can find the post on InfyBlogs here. Also there are some interesting points discussed therein. I will post some them as an update in this blog itself sometime later.

India's Entry 2 Oscar

This piece on rediff prompted me to think what should have been India's entry to the Oscars. Out of all the options mentioned, I too ended up with 3 final choices: RDB, LRM and Omkara. Which one should be India's entry to Oscar’s? Rather I should ask 2 questions here given what previous trends at Oscar are
1) Which movie deserves to go to Oscars?
2) Which movie had better chances of winning an Oscar for India?

While answer for the 1 will vary from person to person, to answer 2 One should look at the theme of these movies....

1) RDB- asking the new generation to repeat what Rajguru, Sukhdev and Bhagat Singh did for India. Yes, British have gone but they are virtually still there as some of our own brethren.

DisAdv: While the theme is anti western but the scope of the theme is not international

Adv: Unique presentation, inspiring.

2) LRM- entertaining Gandhian principles in non preachy way

DisAdv: No one knows Munnabhai outside India and the presentation may make the message appear to the judges as hilarious and therefore insincere.

Adv: Gandhi sells big time on international scenario (as mentioned in the opening scenes of RDB itself)

3) Omkara- Indian adaptation of Othello

Adv: very original everything from songs, script and plot is very uniquely adapted to Indian scenario

DisaAdv: No international appeal, and frankly no one knows the situation in any town of BIMARU statesSo what do you think should have been sent to Oscar’s this time to have a better chance of winning Oscars??

I think I would have gone for Omkara in both the cases. The disadvantage in case of RDB is simply too high for it to win Oscars.

According to you all which movie deserves to go Oscars (Question 1)??

A Story, a Kiss and a Lullaby

He walks along the street
winds hitting his face
ruffling his hair , and
rains slowing down his pace


he knows why
he moves against flow
when he can
very well avoid the cold blow


A father he is
happy to be one
but a son he is
in this world to none


he wants to turn back
wake up his child
kiss her, lull her to sleep with a story
and sleep wild


But a faint figure
in the clouds urges the sleepless on
with a hope which
makes him move till dawn


holding his breath
he starts to sprint
and starts to cry like
a kid after his mint


The Wind is harsh on him
harsher on the figure
probably it's yet another night
when he won't make it near


exhausted he stoops down crying to the dispersed figure
"stories I've told many but heard none,
just this once, just one last story, a kiss
and lull me to one last
good sleep I'd call it a bliss"!!!


“Hope of a good night's sleep
hath brought me here
just wanted a story, a kiss and lullaby
and that, ‘Sleep tight, dear!!’ ”

Classic Songs = Pessimism??

Well there was a time when I used to heavily listen to those old heart wrenching classics of Kishore, Rafi, Manna de. That was actually not a good time of the life I'd say. Then when slowly I decided that I have to do something about all this I quit listening to those songs.

I didn't listen much of those songs for the past 1 year but when I started living in this new house with my 2 friends. One of them, Amit is a real hardcore Kishore, Manna De and Rafi fan and has an amazing assortment of such songs and ghazals. Basically a guy who guesses the name of the movie by the playback singers and music composers!!

We all agree that a lot of meaning is packed into such songs. But that meaning most often dissuades us from pursuing what we all want to and is mostly masochistic, melancholic to listen to. Try imagining the situation when in one room I am reading Eric Segals' Doctor and in another room Kishore's song (forgotten which was the songs that was playing that day) is playing telling me that my reading books will do no good because I've come alone and go away alone from this world!!

And as if nature's conspiracy...the timing is nearly perfect in these situations.

Now Amit plays these songs all day and night long (even when he is sleeping)! Not that I have a problem with that. But to me those songs have become a symbol of pessimism. Just the right ones to play on an evening when you are drunk/stoned and think about life's past shit..!! Or just think why such songs sound perfect in a lonely lounge/bar. I am not a habitual smoker (I've quit actually just at the right time)...but his songs give me an urge to go out and sit in the balcony and smoke as long as the songs are playing.

So every evening my head really begins to spin when I come home in a good mood and the sound of all those songs greets me at the doorstep thereby activating my melancholy. So forget java or any puzzles book, the best you can do is go to sleep, if you can that is.

Just to defend the beauty of such songs, this line of arguing, it seems is my own defense mechanism to believe that Life is still beautiful!!

P.S. I don’t know how good a job of defending these classical songs I did in the last line!!

Chauka...

Well I was looking for something to write when Sid tagged me. Interesting enough to write especially when I was hungry to write something and knowing that it’s the first time someone has tagged me.
4 jobs I’ve had:Let me recollect…..

• Infosys – First company


• Working for SIDH- A dedicated blog on this experience.


• Teacher – a failed attempt to earn some pocket money in Delhi. I sucked at it.

4 films I could watch again and again:My job is more difficult than Sid’z because I have even hollywood movies to choose from!!

1. Masoom


2. Guide


3. Forrest Gump


4. Lakshya

4 places I’ve lived in:
Since my father was a govt. official there are so many places I have lived in and each has its own distinct memories. But I think I will name those places which have had a distinct effect on me.  

1. Varanasi- through 2 schools and 7-8 years made some amazing friends, but there is still something which makes me hate this place. Probably, hard lessons started here and went on to my college life.


2. New Delhi- 4 yrs of my life here. Earned some good friends, learned some hard lessons


3. Hyderabad/UK- Clubbed both of them together because I spent roughly the same time in these places: 3 months. Both were like “Little work full pay”.


4. Mysore – My idea of life: Jobs like u do in Bangalore and stay in Mysore.

4 TV series I like to watch:Not much of a TV buff I am

1. YES BOSS (Mohan ji and Meera ji’s hilarious comedy)


2. CID (I like there detective serials)


3. FRIENDS (not too much but I have seen lot of episode on CDs)


4. The Big Fight, We The People (Repository of some amazing topics to think about)

4 places that I’ve been on vacation to:I haven’t been much of a vacation guy, but still there are some amazing places I have been to.

1. Goa- visited twice during the carnival season.


2. Mussoorie- the one month spent here were eye opening experiences for me.


3. UK- Amazing places in UK like London, Swansea Beach, Lake District.


4. Pune

4 websites I visit everyday:

1. Blog - mine and others


2. Rediff


3. Gmail


4. Wikiepdia- for randomly searching some trivia.

4 books I’d love to read again and again:

1. India Unbound - Gurcharan Das


2. Godfather- Mario Muzo


3. Rising Sun- Michael Crichton


4. 1984- George Orwell

4 favorite dishes:

1. Bhindi


2. Baigan Bharta


3. Chicken Biryani –with Raita.


4. Any crap thing served with Curd/Yoghurt- thanks to my hostel days.

4 places where I’d like to be right now:

1. Varanasi- with old friends- The only reason to be there.


2. Mussoorie - In the very same village


3. On a lonely trip to Kerala


4. Goa Beach, but alone again, with my diary and keep writing.

4 people I’m gonna tag:

1. Jat


2. Avishek


3. Danny


4. Naveen

P.S.: This post also wishes my friend (name withheld intentionally), best of health. He recently discovered that he is suffering from Hepatitis-B. I am still not able to get in touch with him. In fact I really don’t know what I am going to say when I will call him. Here’s wishing best of health to you dost!!