Basket Case

I am pasting the mails I sent to IITK friends today. Please spread the word, as it appears that some other cases of receiving similar phone calls have also come into picture. -- Hi all, This is really embarrassing but also important. There is this who called me up under the name Shyam Sunder, claiming to be a passout of 1996 batch. He said he has been working in Sydney Australia and has come down to India to interview with some company in Chennai. His wallet has been picked up and he needs some help to get back to Bombay. I was a little suspicious in the beginning so I asked for some identity proof. His ICICI account showed the name Shyam Sunder. On google, I found out that there indeed was a alumni named Shyam Sunder in 1996 batch. The page which showed his name didn't open (it timed out). So I fell for the bait and transferred money to the account. He promised to contact me back on reaching Bombay. After I had made the transfer, I just out of curiosity again tried to load that pa...

Well, yet again nostalgia at work. I promise this is going to be the last post in this mood, at least for the time being (of course I may have to post nothing at all for sometime to honour that but ab bol diya to dekha jaayega). Sometimes I think of Google as the Hubble Telescope. Now Hubble was a wonderful thing. Along with Voyager 1 and 2 , it was the Hubble Telescope that made sure that I want to be a astronomer even today. Now in the age of ISS and mars rovers, it is difficult to understand the kind of fascination and excitement that something like voyager and Hubble generated. I had a big poster of Hubble Telescope from a science magazine that I used to cherish a lot. Ah ! the good old days of big dreams when satisfaction was so easy to achieve !! But lets move over Hubble. The topic of this post is not Hubble but Google and why I think of it as Hubble sometimes. One of the most exciting part of Hubble was that it could look into very distant corners of Universe. Now the farther ...

The ocean of beauty, The Islands of pain. The Earth. The men. --------- Clear blue sky, No rain but Sun. Some tan, Some burn.

" How many lives do we live? How many times do we die? They say we all lose 21 grams... at the exact moment of our death. Everyone. And how much fits into 21 grams? How much is lost? Twenty-one grams. The weight of a stack of five nickels. The weight of a hummingbird. A chocolate bar. How much did 21 grams weigh? " He must have been so happy when I was born. So many times he must have carried me in his arms. So many times he brought me chocolates when he returned from office or market, brought me comics. How happy he became on seeing me and mom and my sister. And somedays ago, I carried his body on my shoulders and gave it to fire. I always thought I was wiser then all are, that I knew and understood the inevitability of death. I could hardly imagine myself crying over somebody's death. Even that day when I reached home and looked at his body lying in the room, the sense of grief was more because of surrounding environment rather than inner grief. But when I finished perf...

There are thousands of things in my mind right now that I would like to put on this blog, share with the world. But I hardly manage to find time or the kind of tranquility that I want in order to write. There is one thing however, that never fails to push me to the emotional state where words just seem to flow. Few minutes ago, I watched a video prepared by IITK students called "The Way We Were". There was nothing much in the video. Large part of the video is a music video produced in house at IITK which, I must say, is quite good. The rest of the video is brief snippets of some junta talking about how they feel about IITK and what makes it special for them. It is this part that prompted me to write this post. First to quote a dear friend of mine, the later part in the video looks rather like a "boisterous attempt at self-glorification". I somewhat agree with that and it is this feeling of agreement that forces me to think what would I have said if I was there in th...

than to introduce myself :). So here it goes: Three names you go by: 1. Abhaya 2. Abhaga 3. ashu Three screen names you have had: 1. abhaya_summer (yahoo) 2. mathabhaga (aim) 3. tohellwithname (indiatimes) Three physical things you like about yourself: Being known as a hetrosexual, I refuse to answer this :P Three physical things you don't like about yourself: 1. Moment of inertia 2. Uncertainity 3. mass Three parts of your heritage: 1. Desi lucknowi nawab :) 2. Hindi/urdu 3. Family Three things that scare you: 1. pain 2. appear to be selfish and double standard 3. there might be no afterlife Three of your everyday essentials: 1. emails,surfing 2. The Hindu/ TOI 3. plan to start reading all the books I have accumalated Three things that you are wearing right now: 1. pain in my index finger 2. a not-looking-happy look 3. a worry that TV repair costs too much Three things that you want in a relationship: 1. a girl (yes, I am discriminating on the basis of gender. Go, sue me :P) 2. hi...

Alright !! So time for another I-am-back post but let's make an exception this time. Instead of a I-am-back post, let's have a I-am-around post this time because I don't know if I am back still. But as I said, I am around.

The story goes back around 10 years. Some bright young students were having a Botany class and the topic of discussion was flowers. Flowers of all colors, red, blue, orange, violet, yellow, green... "Green?? Who said that ?", demanded the teacher. The culprit was asked about which green colored flower he had seen and was ordered to bring one to the class next day which he couldn't. The reason for this was, as the teacher told them, that there are no green colored flowers, none in the whole world !! No green roses? How unromantic !! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fast forward 10 years and we find ourselves in Ooty. Well not exactly in Ooty but on the Coonoor - Kotagiri road, in a organic farm called "Beulah Farm" which, in Hebrew means, Blessed by God . It is run by a person called K. Eapen Jacob, who is 70 years of age and who insists that he is only the in-charge of the farm, owner being the God. In the farm, Jacob grows various varieties of herbs, fruits and rare plants, ...

I got a little distracted from the Nilgiri posts for a while but no more. So here it goes. The trip to Ooty was memorable not only for the nice sceneries, beautiful places, and lovely climate but also because we met some of the most unforgettable people. Having come back to the daily routine and struggles of life, they even seem like a little unreal. But they are very much the people of this world who have learned to keep the balance between the ambition and satisfaction. This post talks about one such person named Antony Joseph, creator of thread garden . Are they real? Thread Garden is situated in an exhibition form right in front of the Ooty lake. It consists of over 300 varieties of plants in it, plants with lovely flowers, of all shapes and sizes. Not impressive you say? Well consider that none of those plants are real (you wouldn't guess yourself) but have been manually created by 50 crafts men over 12 years using threads !! Over 60 million meters length of threads have been ...

थके थके से कदम दिल का बोझ सहते हैं , ज्यों लद के फूल से दरख्त झुके रहते हैं । कभी उदास हो कर दिल भी हमसे कहता है, बातें वही जो सब दुनिया के लोग कहते हैं । दीवाने दिल के हाथों इस तरह मजबूर हैं कुछ, गुनाह कर नही सकते, सज़ायें सहते हैं । कभी छलके थे मेरी आंख से जो दो आंसू, अब हर एक शख्स की आंखों से देखो बहते हैं ।

I bought a combo cassette of Kajal and "Do Badan" this weekend. Both the films have excellent songs and I was thinking of getting "Do Badan" for quite sometime now. To make things better, I got it paired with Kajal. I hardly remember the story of either of the movies but the basic undertone of the songs in both the movies remain sad. Of course, Kajal has this favorite Bhajan of Mine "Tora Man Darpan Kahlaaye" but most of the songs, even the romantic ones are not without a touch of melancholy in them. I remember the picturization of "Chhoo lene do naazok hothon ko" in bits and pieces and I can see a Meena Kumari trying to keep away a drunk Rajkumar. Similarly all the songs of "Do Badan" are sad songs. Now from the musical point of view, two movies are very similar. Music director for both the movies is same, Ravi, and Rafi and Asha have sung most of the songs. The only difference is in the lyricists and what a study in contrast they pres...

[ With due apologies to Philip K. Dick ] For some days now, every morning I find a bunch of emails in my inbox from some friends who are graduating from IIT this year and the mails bring back so many memories, happy and sad !! It was around 2 years back when I was also busy writing such mails to all the people I knew. The world still seemed very small and every fellow IITian a close friend. It was beyond imagination that I wouldn't keep in touch with that guy living at the end of my wing whom I hardly had any interaction with. I wanted to get every address, every phone number, every email id. Yahoo groups were formed, mailing lists were created and with all the fan fare we marched out to the real world. And yes ! I also got all those "Friends' " episodes, all those songs, all those movies. How could I ever live without them? Today after 2 years, I have never talked to or mailed to R, my roommate for 3 years. I have little idea how M is doing,my next door neighbour for...

For long I have had this peculiar relationship with dance. Peculiar? Well, Let me explain. I like to read and I also like to write. I like to listen to music and so I also want to learn how to play an instrument. I enjoy good meaningful Cinema and so I have a strong desire to pick up a camera someday. With dance this is different. I love to dance but I hardly feel enthusiastic about watching a dance performance. I never went to any live dance performances even in IIT whereas I always went to all the musical (vocal or instrumental) once. I wonder why? May be the reason can be as banal as having not been exposed much to this particular art form. But I think there is more to it. The fact of the matter is that whenever I look at somebody dancing, I want to go up and join and dance my heart out. It is not so when reading a book. Though I may get inspired but I do not want to go and start writing. I also do not feel that instant need to go grab a camera while watching a movie. They are all d...

Stolen Moments  I almost skipped this one. In fact I went on the trip because the tickets had already been bought and I was not very keen on going and getting them cancelled. Now in the retrospect I think even procrastination has its own virtues. The best part about the trip was our excellent host, Colonel Rajiv Kumar. Due to his busy schedule during our visits, he was not able to accompany us on our excursions but he made sure that we had a well planned and satisfying itinerary for the 3 days. Alas he will be moving to another place in a short while and so we will have to be on our own when we visit next. It was due to him that we got to stay in the DSSC guest house in Wellington, away from the maddening crowd in Ooty in this peak season. And staying in Wellington, which incidentally is the center of Madras Regiment also, gave us the chance to explore more in the Kunoor Valley and beyond. Dear Rajiv, if you are reading this, thanks a lot indeed :) And how can it end without a litt...

With two aching calfs, few scratches on my hand and a heart full of memories, I am back from the Nilgiris (Ooty for the uninformed). It was a nice trip to a nice place in nice company and a nice host and there are quite a few nice experiences that I would like to write about but right now I am too tired to write anything worth reading. I'll be back !!

Although he is undoubtedly the master of this genre of posts, bringing back to my attention some of the wonderful old songs that I have love and lost over the years, let me also try to contribute a little. Today I came across this song and boy ! am I hooked to it now !! The poetry, the music and the rendition, everything is so addictive. And it is not only the powerful lyrics but the way Rafi has rendered them, every nuance of meaning hidden in those lines comes out. As the poet goes from the self defending to encouraging and finally blaming mood, Rafi's voice makes it difficult to not appreciate the changing shades of mood. The pain and that wish to get back what has been lost just gets to you. The music provides full support to the inherent flow and rythme of the lyrics. May be it is the mood or the mausam, I just can't stop humming these lines. Incidently they come from the kalam of Shaqeel Bandayuni, somebody who is rising quickly in my list of favourites. Music is by O. ...

उस दिल मे जो है छिपा, जान ना पाया हूं । जो स्वपन देखती हैं मेरे संग वो आंखें, मुझसे पहले भी ख्वाब बुना करती होंगी ? जो रातें अब मेरी यादों मे कटती हैं, मुझसे पहले क्या सोच कटा करती होंगी ? अंजान स्वपन रत्नों से भरे हुए उसके मन आगारों मे अभी झांक ना पाया हूं । उस दिल मे जो है छिपा, जान ना पाया हूं । अब तान छेडता हूं मैं उसके हाथों पर, कल तक क्या जीवन राग हुआ करता होगा ? अब गीत है अपने प्यार, मिलन, विरह का तो , मुझसे पहले क्या गीत हुआ करता होगा ? जो सांझ सवेरे मन गुंजन गाता होगा, वो स्वरलहरी मैं अभी कहां सुन पाया हूं ? उस दिल मे जो है छिपा, जान ना पाया हूं । इस बार नही फ़ूला है बस वन उपवन मे, इस बार बसंती रंग चढा मन पर मेरे । और उन जाने अंजाने रंगों से प्रियतम, मैंने अपने जीवन के कितने चित्र उकेरे । पर तेरे मन की शाखों पर जो फ़ूल खिले, उनके रंग अब तक देख कहां मैं पाया हूं ? उस दिल मे जो है छिपा, जान ना पाया हूं ।

There have been complaints that my last post about my vacations was too out of the box and that a little more earthly account of the same would be much more appreciated. So now, when I am more into my senses, I thought of writing a Guide to Life . No, I don't plan to write a guide to life, if you ever lay your hands on one, tear it apart, burn it, bury it deep into ground but don't read it but rather a brief guide to Life . The first line can be approximately translated to : "The amount of time spent on deciding the title of a post and amount of time spent in actually writing the post sum upto a undetermined but positive and finite constant, within the limits of experimental errors. This assumes that the time you spent in writing the post and the time that you spend in deciding the title are directly proportional to the final gravity (depth of meaning) of the result." And since there is hardly anything graver then Life , the post losses out on any chances of having a...

Ab samay milan ka door nahi. Main ghoom raha tha vyathit akela, raat shahar ki galiyon me, jyon pagal bhanwara dar dar bhatke band kamal ki kaliyon pe, man ki aakulta pag me bhar, main chalta jata idhar udhar, lagta tha jisko dhoondh raha, voh paas hi hai, kahin door nahi. Ab samay milan ka door nahi. pighli chaandi si chandra kiran girti patton se chan chan ke, tim tim nartan karte taare, man bahlaate the ban ban ke. rukna kintu na bhagya mera, man ko tha duvidha ne ghera, "manzil meri aane vaali aur, main ab tak thak ker choor nahi?" Ab samay milan ka door nahi. Chali pawan fir door desh se ye sandesha le aayi, us virhani ki vyakulta apne antar me bhar laayi, "Tum udwigna hawaaon me, mere antar me jwala hai. Itne din yajna chala ye ab, antim aahuti door nahi !!" Ab samay milan ka door nahi.

The total sum of gravity of the title of a post and post itself is more or less constant. As usual, I am trying to be witty after a long hiatus from this blog but the reason for that is not at all usual. I was on a journey, one like I never went on before, one I would hardly ever go on again. Those who cared to keep track, saw me travelling to City of Nawabs from City of Gardens and back. Those who cared to travel with me, travelled from as far as Deccan Queen and NCR and for next 15 days, City of Nawabs turned into a Never Never Land. Unfortunately I cannot tell you what Never Never land is, You will have to see it for yourself, someday ! For now, its spring time, both inside me and outside me. I guess I should start bracing up for summers !