The Power of 8

It's tag time again !!! (And yeah... I still remember how to login to blogger. It's just that .... you know.... well... you all know so no point re-iterating)

Mini tagged me sometime back, and here it goes :-

8 things I am passionate about :

1. India
2. The place where I grew up (not my hometown Dhanbad, but the small little locality called 'Bhelatand')
3. I.I.T. Kharagpur
4. My Computer
   
5. Theatre
6. Movie-making
7. Fusion music
8. Phoenix Productions

8 things I want to do before I die :

1. Direct a movie
2. Act in a movie/US TV series
3. Name a scientific term after me.
4. Win an award.
5. Take my family on a World tour.
6. Learn to play Drums
7. Own the most luxurious Mercedes
8. Be on a mountain top, arms widespread, and welcome the sun.
   

8 things I say often :

1. Arre yaar
2. kya baat kar raha hai
3. kuchh oonch-neech ho gayi to
4. good for you
5. sahi hai
6. ummeed par to duniya kaayam hai
7. sab moh-maya hai
   
8. makhaa diya
   

8 books I last read :

1. Deception point
2. Angels and Demons
3. One Night @ The Call Center
4. The Da Vinci Code
5. Night over Water
6. Five Point Someone
7. Digital Fortress
8. The Interpreter of Maladies
   

8 songs I could listen to over and over again :

1. Coming Back to Life - Pink Floyd
2. Naa Jaane Kyun - Strings
3. Rock the Raaga - Mrigya
4. Bhor - Indian Ocean
5. Knocking on Heaven's Door - Guns n Roses
6. Deewana Hua Baadal - Mohd. Rafi & Asha Bhosle (Kashmir ki Kali)
7. Sweet Child of Mine (the first 3:33 minutes) -Guns n Roses
8. Jaage hain - A.R.Rahmaan (Guru)
   

8 people I think should do this tag :

1. Lady Godiva
2. Still Searching
3. Zee
4. Di
5. Photon
6. Reema
7. Anu
8. Animesh

jai ho

मनोरंजन पार्क

(Best viewed in Firefox 3.0 and above or Internet Explorer 5.0 and above)

यूँ देखा जाए तो आज की शाम कुछ अलग नहीं थी। हवा ज़रूर कुछ तेज़ बह रही थी लेकिन ये तो उसकी फितरत है। कितना भी समझाओ उसे पर मानती ही नहीं। मेरी पत्तियों को तो अब आदत सी हो गई है। प्रकृति के आगे किसी की कभी चली है भला !!
खैर, छोड़िये हवा को, वो नहीं मानेगी। वापस आते हैं आज की इस शाम पर । आधी से ज़्यादा बीत चुकी है, सो वक्त ज़रा कम है। चिंटू और उसके दोस्त अपने क्रिकेट के नए नियम बना रहे हैं, और पिछले महीने ४ बार खिड़की के कांच बदलवा चुके नारंग साहब 'कॉलोनी मीटिंग' के लिए शरमा जी और वरमा जी को अपने पाले में करने की कोशिश में लगे हुए हैं। १५ मिनट सहने के बाद विमला जी की कमर तहेदिल, या यूँ कहें की तहेकमर से विश्राम की कामना कर रही है। मालिनी मैडम बच्चों को स्कूल से लेकर लौट रही हैं। दिनभर की नौकरी और २ छोटे बच्चों के बाद उन्हें पार्क की सैर करने की फ़ुर्सत नहीं है। वो बस रोज़ इसी वक्त इधर से गुज़रती हैं और बस हमें देख कर ही संतोष कर लेती हैं। वैसे ये सही ही है। हम कौन सा भागे जा रहे हैं। जब ज़िंदगी इज़ाजत देगी, मालिनी मैडम भी आया करेंगी।
पिंकी अपनी सहेलियों के साथ बाजू के गुलमोहर के नीचे गुड़िया-गुड़िया खेल रही है। पिंटू के गायब होने से पहले उसकी मम्मी भी साथ आती थीं। ४ महीने पहले पिंटू क्रिकेट खेलने के लिए घर से निकला था, उसके बाद से कोई ख़बर नहीं है उसकी। उसकी मम्मी आज भी रह रह कर फ़ोन की तरफ़ देखती रहती हैं। हम भले बहुत सख्त और मज़बूत दिखते हों, लेकिन पिछले महीने जब राखी के दिन पिंकी ने पूछा की क्या वो हमको राखी बाँध सकती है, अन्दर तक हिल गए थे हम। आज पिंकी को फिर से हँसते-खेलते देख कर बहुत अच्छा लग रहा है।
२ साल तक टालने के बाद १० दिन पहले गुप्ता जी ने अपना वज़न कराया और अब वो 'बाबा रामदेव क्लब' के सदस्य हैं। प्रतिदिन नियम से 'कपाल-भाँती' और 'अनुलोम-विलोम' करते हैं। पहले दिन ही उन्होंने घोषणा कर दी थी की जिस दिन १५ किलो वज़न घटा लेंगे, पूरी कॉलोनी में लड्डू बाँटेंगे।
आज १ महीने बाद शुकला जी दिखे हैं। पहले पति-पत्नी दोनों आया करते थे, बिल्कुल नियमित। रिटायरमेंट के बाद बहुत सुकून की ज़िंदगी जी रहे थे दोनों। काफ़ी मेहनत की थी उन्होंने ज़िंदगी भर। शुकला जी के चेहरे से संतुष्टि झलकती थी। किसी बात का ग़म नहीं था उन्हें। जिन्दादिली की मिसाल थे वो। बच्चों से साथ क्रिकेट और कभी कभी फुटबॉल भी खेलते थे !! हमारे बाजू वाली बेंच पर बैठ कर अक्सर मिसेज शुकला को छेड़ा करते थे। मिसेज शुकला तो शर्म से लाल हो जाया करती थीं। बहुत प्यारी जोड़ी थी इनकी। हंसमुख, खुशमिजाज़, ज़िंदगी से प्यार करने वाली जोड़ी।
पिछले महीने मिसेज शुकला का देहांत हो गया। बहुत दुनिया देखी है हमने, लेकिन इतना दुःख शायद ही कभी हुआ होगा। संसार की मोह-माया से मुक्ति मिल गई उन्हें, यही सोच कर ख़ुद को तसल्ली देते हैं लेकिन शुकला जी की तरफ़ देखने की भी हिम्मत नहीं होती है। टूट गए थे बिल्कुल, लेकिन ज़ाहिर नहीं होने दिया उन्होंने। हाँ, पार्क आना ज़रूर छोड़ दिया था उन्होंने। ये पेड़, हरा-भरा मैदान, बच्चे, ये पूरा माहौल उन्हें अतीत की ओर ले जाता था।
आज बहुत दिनों के बाद शुकला जी को मुस्कुराते हुए देख रहे हैं। इस मुस्कान में ग़म है पर शिकायत नहीं है। और किस बात की शिकायत हो। जब तक साथ थे दोनों, बहुत प्यारी ज़िंदगी जी थी उन्होंने। एक दिन तो सभी को जाना है। तो क्यों न कोशिश की जाए एक अच्छी, खुशियों भरी जिंदगी जीने की। शुकला जी कहा करते थे," ये ज़िंदगी जीने के लिए है, मौत के बारे में सोचने के लिए नहीं।" और आज भी वही कर रहे हैं वो।

किसी ने कहा है, और शत-प्रतिशत सही कहा है, "उम्मीद पर तो दुनिया कायम है"। सो, उम्मीद बरकरार है। मालिनी मैडम से मुलाक़ात की उम्मीद, चिंटू के अर्ध-शतक की उम्मीद, गुप्ता जी के लड्डू की उम्मीद, पिंटू के घर लौटने की उम्मीद, और शुकला जी के होठों पर पहले जैसी मुस्कान की उम्मीद ।

A Birthday and a Century

April 13th, 2006 : Birth of 'Daroga Speaks'.

April 13th, 2008 : 100th post published.

I never thought I would come this far (if I may even use this term considering that there are bloggers who have posted 200 posts in an year) when I started, inspired by some exceptional bloggers and a desire to be heard, to be appreciated. All you readers are the best judge of how I have done till now, so I leave that to you.
I thank all those who spared even a second to actually consider giving my posts a try. And I can't even begin to thank those who stuck around with me, bearing with me all this while. I have met some great intellectual minds here and my interaction with them are devoid of any malice that arises from physical constraints, hence making them absolutely pure.

Thank you all for being with me.

jai ho.

Repeat Blog-cast

Hi all !!!
Disclaimer : The relatively older (and not in terms of age :P) readers of my tiny little blog may ignore this post from this point.

During my stay in Kgp, I was very lucky to become friends with some of the best human beings ever. And as a result of our extremely high level of camaraderie and the desire to do something very unique, we founded "Phoenix Productions" in August 2006. So far we have made 3 short films and 1 trailer to our ambitious, but yet to be made project. Before "Phoenix Productions", we were Team Phoenix, which had done street plays in Kgp and IIM-C. We had also run (though for a short time) Radio Phoenix inside Kgp and I had actually RJ'ed for close to 2 hours. I just wanted to share all this with you. Here are the films, which I am extremely proud of. Comments, Compliments and Criticism are awaited and will be highly appreciated.

1. [Phoenix Productions]Tedhi Baat(Twisted Talk) with subtitles
A humorous take on the issue of ' "harassment" of Freshmen by Juniors and Seniors', which was the most talked about issue in Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) in July,2006.
Original Release Date: 08/10/2006 on the Local Area Network of IIT-KGP



2. [Phoenix Productions] Tedhi Baat Dwiteeya (Twisted Talk-II) with subtitles
Sequel to 'Tedhi Baat (Twisted Talk)'. This time the target was the administration and central forces behind all the turmoil in Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) during July-August 2006.
Original Release Date: 08/26/2006 on the Local Area Network of IIT-KGP.



3. Black n White Trailer (not the movie)
A trailer for a future short film called "Black n White" by Pheonix Productions.



4. [Phoenix Productions] dis-Placement
A short film shot in IIT Kharagpur. It's a humorous take on the Placement scenario in IIT KGP.
Original Release Date: 04/28/2007 on the Local Area Network of IIT-KGP.



Hope you all like them.

P.S. --> All the older readers. Now that you have reached this point, it didn't hurt to relive these memories with me, did it ? :)

jai ho

Tagged ... yet again!!!

Ya Ya... I am very much alive and kicking too. It's just that a good enough combination of writer's block (if I may call myself one) , PhD screening exam (failing which means that I won't be allowed to pursue a PhD degree) and my laziness kept me away for this long. Luckily, I got tagged few days back by Mini and my screening(written) got over today. So, here I go:

A - Available?

Since Eternity (and as the looks of it... till eternity)

B - Best Friend

With whom my wavelength matches the best ( there can't be a perfect match).

C - Cake or Pie

Cake…Definitely

D - Drink of Choice

Non-Alcoholic : Lassi. It is AWESOME.

Alcoholic : Margarita (which I have had only once, and that too a crude one)

E – Essential thing(s) used every day

My laptop and cell phone.

F – Favourite Colour

Black. Black is beautiful. period. I am near-obsessed with Black of late, though my wardrobe has lots of blue (past favorite).

G – Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms

Gummy Bears... 'coz worms in any form are eewwww. ( I have not yet tasted either of them)

H – Hometown

Dhanbad (Jharkhand). I love my locality more than the town/city.

I – Indulgence

Cake, cookies, Gajar ka Halwa, French fries and omlette :) ( I think I have mis-interpreted the word 'indulgence' here)

J – January or February

February. 25th February...the day when I got the confirmation of my Fellowship here.

K – Kids and Names

Are you kidding me !!!!

L – Life

Life is to flow along with. And I don't mean not to try to be afloat.

M – Marriage

Future tense.

N – Number of siblings

1 younger sister.

O –Oranges or Apples

Apples. Nothing against oranges though. I like both.

P – Phobia

Dogs, reptiles, height, water, must be more which I don't know yet.

Q – Quote

Life is a Drama

R - Reason to Smile

Being able to give my family whatever they wish for, Being able to pleasantly surprise a friend

S – Season

Spring. Hardly a surprise here. I find Autumn very romantic, though.

T – Tag people

Arpz, Still Searching , Zee

U – Unknown fact about me

I go blank after 1 min on the phone. After that I start to fumble for words, slurr, and sound all weird.

V – Vegetable you do not like

Kacchu ( I don't know the english name)

W – Worst Habit

Not studying enough for the exams. ( I used to be fully prepared during school days)

X-rays you have had.

For hairline fracture in left thumb, a long time ago.

Y – Your favourite food

Daal-Chawal and Aalu-Gobhi ki Bhaaji.

Tandoori Chicken

Aalu-Paalak and Plain Roti.

Z – Zodiac

Virgo. I don't really go into the details of zodaic signs.

Done-Dana-Done.

Jai Ho.

To Touch or not to Touch

As she was walking through the street, a guy passed by and touched her (fill in the blank depending on how bad you want it to sound). She retorted back screaming,"How dare you touch me?????". And just as she was about to start the tumhare-ghar-mein-maa-behen-nahin-hain-kya thing, he stopped her in her tracks.
"I would pause you right there dear lady. Before you go on to ask me about the female members of my family, let me tell you one thing. I did NOT touch you. All I did was to bring the tip of my hand sufficiently close to your ( ). After that what happened was that the mutual interaction between the two skin surfaces increased to such a level,owing to that small a distance, that it triggered a neurotic response in your brain, and the way your conscience has been modeled, you perceived it to be a bad thing. So, if this is anyone's fault, it should be the nature and the way it works. I don't think reducing the distance between two skin surfaces is any sort of harassment. So, I reiterate that I did NOT 'touch' you, because if I had, there would have been a nuclear fusion releasing such an amount of energy that you and I would not be standing here having this discussion."

I say that if the guy asks the girl out, she definitely should 'coz
1. With this level of scientific knowledge, he will surely make a more than decent living.
2. Actually coming up with this when he was about to be 'sandal'ed proves that he has a terrific sense of humor.

P.S.--- What the guy said is absolutely correct scientifically.
P.P.S-- This is NOT a real incident.

jai ho.

'Book'ed

Got tagged by Arpz who asked me to write about my tastes in books. Not that difficult a task unless you happen to be the one who is hardly into reading. So if most of the answers are blank, don't cringe 'coz that's pretty much all I have. Here it goes :

A book that made you laugh:
First ball bouncer !!!
(After forcing my grey cells to go wild hunting for 5 minutes) I duck. None of the books I have read falls into this category.

A book that made you cry:
Literally.... none.
Otherwise.... 'The God of Small Things'. Same reason as Arpz, it was way too boring and dragging. I actually got headache after some 25 pages and the maximum I could torture myself was upto 50 pages or so. Then I gave up.

A book that scared you:
Literally.... again... none.
Otherwise.... All the textbooks post school.

A book that disgusted you:
'The Blue Bedspread' by Rajkamal Jha. I have not read it but the content made me sick. It talks about lesbianism and incest. My objection is to the incest part of it, which is the basic underlying theme of this book.

A book you loved in elementary school:
'Chacha Chowdhary' series. Awesome stuff. I bet every kid still loves it. On a second thought, this is also the 'book that made me laugh'.

A book you loved in middle school or junior high school:
On the risk of sounding a Geek, 'Mathematics' text books.

A book you loved in high school:
Continuing in the geeky mode.... 'Mathematics' by R.S. Agarwal.

A book you loved in college:
'Five Point Someone'. Those who have read it will know why and others.... go, get it.

A book that challenged your identity:
None yet. And I don't think any book has the power to do that.

A series that you love:
The novels by Dan Brown. I have read all 4 of them and loved each one.

Your favorite science fiction book:
If I am allowed to double-count, then 'Digital Fortress' by Dan Brown.
Otherwise, none. Though, back in my growing years, there used to be science magazine called 'Vigyan Pragati' which had a Sci-fi story in every issue. I loved them.

Your favorite fantasy:
None, which is probably the perfect answer for a non-reader who doesn't like fantasy.

Your favorite mystery:
Double-counting again.... 'Angels and Demons' by Dan Brown. Truly riveting.

Your favorite biography:
None. 'Coz I have read none and I have no reason why.

Your favorite "coming of age" book:
Absolutely no idea. Though, venturing again in the geeky territory... 'Multi-Objective Optimization using Evolutionary Algorithms' by Kalyanmoy Deb. It IS the "coming of age" book in the world of Genetic Algorithms and Evolutionary Computations.

Your favorite classic:
'Tughlaq' by Girish Karnad. I read it as a textbook but it is a classic in every sense of the word. A true masterpiece.

Your favorite romance book:
Yet again... none. Though I like romantic stuff but somehow I am yet to convince myself to read a romantic novel.

Alright.... job done.
And I hereby tag Godiva , Zee , Still Searching , Di , Lavender and Mini .

P.S. - I am not a geek.
Jai ho.

Heroes

Few days ago I came across a segment on IBN-LIVE called 'Citizen Journalist'. Actually I stumbled on this piece of news:

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/impact-cj-hajabba-gets-the-fruit-of-his-labour/58031-20.html

Here is an illiterate fruit-seller who earns hardly Rs 100 a day and he saved for 12 years to open a school for the poor children of his village.

I followed the segment and came to know of a 75 year old man who owns a small cycle-repair shop in Faizabad in U.P. He makes sure that as many anonymous/unclaimed dead bodies in the region as possible are respectfully buried. Every individual deserves proper last rites and he has made this the mission of his life.

How else would you define 'Humanity'? How else would you define 'Selflessness'?

There are a lot of people silently doing their part and trying to bring about a change, a change for good.
http://cj.ibnlive.com/story/

All it takes is to believe and to actually do something about it.

I salute the Heroes of India.

The First day

First day.... every first day is memorable, though we may not always remember them. First day in school, First day in a new city, First day in college, First day at job.... all of them unique in their own unique way. Specially talking about the first day at job, there are so many emotions running inside that it is extremely hard to be normal. I have not experienced it till now and neither did Shekhar before ... well... his first day at his job.

Shekhar was not a bright student and didn't really believe in hard work at school. He was an eccentric kid, to put it politely. But then, 'eccentricity' is a relative phenomenon. A normal person can be 'eccentric' to an eccentric person. So, for now, we'll assume the mass behavior to be 'normal' and hence Shekhar was an eccentric kid. His teachers and parents(read: mother; his father was mostly away for his job and on top of it, he really didn't care) had a terrible time to get him to pass every single of his exams. And it was not that he couldn't read, write or understand stuff. He simply refused to give attention to academics. He hated to study, and on some heavy over-dose of over-confidence, he did whatever he wanted to. By now, if you think he was a brat then ... well... you are quite right.

But everyone, brats included, learn something in school. The only lesson Shekhar learnt and retained was the story of Arjun aiming for the bird's eye and how he was able to see ONLY the bird's eye and nothing else. This little piece of mythology went deep inside Shekhar. After the teacher finished telling the story in the class, he ordered Shekhar out of the class for non-attentiveness. Little did he knew that the reason for Shekhar's non-attentiveness was that he was trying to concentrate on the tiny chunk of chalk-dust which slid along a vertical line on the blackboard. And to this day, only Shekhar knew that he was able to actually see 'only' that tiny chunk of chalk-dust and nothing else. It was at that moment, that Shekhar knew he could do something others couldn't. And probably this led to him being over-aggressive and extremely confident about himself.

Coming back to his first day at the job. He had got this job, courtesy his friend. Well, this was more of a practical interview. He was given a task and accessories required and he had to show his prospective employers that he could do it better than anybody else. Though, over the years Shekhar had become emotionally immune, this day was different. Like any other newbie, he was anxious, nervous and a little excited, all at the same time. With the current situation of cut-throat competition, he knew he had just this one opportunity to seal the deal. He bought a whole new attire for this day which included a Black leather jacket, a pair of Black shades, Black trousers, Black shoes, Black gloves, Black socks, Black belt.... he was literally living his obsession for the color black. Though extremely nervous, he was very stable and calm and trying to be a thorough professional. He went to the building, took the elevator to the top, assembled his portable workstation, positioned himself and waited for his moment.
He was supposed to be focussed but we rarely have control over our thoughts. A lot of thoughts were running across his mind while he was waiting. Most of them from his childhood. The images of him spending a lot of time at the pool trying to hit the electric wire from an electric pole with a stone, him concentrating hard on a tiny pebble hoping it would move, him staring at the teacher when he scolded him (Shekhar believed his best feature were his eyes), him hitting fellow kids with a stone, while hiding in a bush after they had beaten him up in an earlier fight. Lots of memories were relived in those few minutes.
Every job has a deadline. If you miss it, you missed your chance and you are screwed. Shekhar didn't want to miss his only chance at a career. So he took a deep breath, calmed himself, focussed and concentrated hard. He touched his lucky charm, a gold locket in a black thread around his neck (it was with him since he was 15) moments before taking his shot and when the moment came....... he was bang on.

This was the first of the 169 sniper shots Shekhar fired on his way to become the most dreaded Sharp-Shooter in the country. 15th January, 2008 was the day he was supposed to take his 170th victim. 15th January, 2008 was also the first day at job for Raghu. And as they say "Beginner's luck", Raghu didn't miss his chance either.

.

The art of losing

Life is a BIG battle and in the due course we have to fight little battles almost everyday, some may be very significant and some not. Everyone wins some of them, but invariably loses a lot of them. And though every individual has a certain way of fighting and winning, (s)he can be understood inside out by the way (s)he loses.
I believe losing is a more of a virtue than an art. It is really difficult to distinguish on the basis of winning but every one has a unique way of losing. And that is a characteristic trait. Yesterday I watched season 6 of 'The Apprentice" again (for the sole reason that it is based in LA and I get to see some of the places that I have been to or passed by). Those who have watched the show will know that the board-room can get really really ugly. Those who haven't watched it yet, go and watch it. There's a LOT to learn from it. And of the 10 people who got fired in the board-room, most got buried in there by someone who fought as if for their lives.
Lesson: Fight On !!!!
But this is the story before the loss. Once lost, very few lost gracefully. And I have tremendous respect for those who did so. Once the battle is on, fight with all you have. But once you have lost, accept it and bow out gracefully. It is a game, and someone has to lose for other to win. It is the spirit with which you fight, matters. Results are secondary.
Whatever little battles in life that I have fought, I always did it in the right spirit. And I fought the way I am , not the way it HAD to be fought to win. And that is the reason I do not regret whenever I lost. Of course, I wish I had done a little more and won. But nevermind.

I have known people who think that only they deserve to win, and if they didn't , they would go around blaming everything under the sun for a conspiracy. It was just sickening. And the truth is, the world is full of such people. There is a difference between being aggressive and abusive, which sadly many people do not understand.

*When we lost 'Inter-Hall Choreography' at IIT Kgp, I was very sad. But there was this satisfaction that I tried my best, which just was not good enough.
*When we won the Bronze and the Best direction in 'Inter-Hall Hindi Dramatics', I was satisfied because finally our efforts paid off, though not in Gold.
*When we lost all the other times, I never tried to please the judges, or go about the formula. We did what we believed in. We did what we wanted to do.
*I could never jump upon a question in a viva-voce if it is asked to another person, inspite of knowing that though I can answer that particular question, I can't answer the question that followed from it. But I have been on the receiving end of it. Result: The professor thinks that the other one knows more than me.
*Before the results of IIT-JEE came, I knew whatever they would be, I would be satisfied because I had given it my best shot.

Fight hard, Fight honest and lose gracefully.

Jai ho