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Jab kautoohal ki nidra me, is jag ke swarnim swapan paash, bandhan me mujhko baandh, kisi anjaan desh le jaayenge. saathi mere tab kya mujhko tum vapas lene aaoge? swapno ki urwar bhoomi chhod, jab main yatharth ke banjar se, aalingan tera tod kisi, girte ko uthaane jaoonga. saathi mere tab kya mera tum haath bataane aaoge? sheetal bayaar jab sawan ki, tan man me aag lagaayegi, dhaani choonar ko od dhara jab, geet milan ke gaayegi. saathi mere tab kya mujhko ker yaad vihval ho jaaoge? Fir tod sabhi naate rishte aur chod sabhi sangi saathi, ek din jag ko taj ker main sukh ki chir nidra so jaoonga. saathi mere tab kya mujhko tum dekh nahi muskaoge?

The heros are of two types. Some of them are born blessed while others are just pushed to the limit. It is hard to decide which side of the line did P V Narsimha Rao stand on and the generations to come can hardly care less. For them, he will be the architect of the era of economic reforms, the person largely responsible for the huge difference between my own 80's childhood and 90's adolescence when suddenly the waiting queue for telephones got shorter by years. PVNR was the first prime minister whose times I remember in some detail. In fact, now that I look back, I realize that it was in 1991 only, shortly after the death of Rajiv Gandhi that I moved to Lucknow from a small place called Sardhana in west UP. Probably the huge difference in the 80's and 90's that I felt was largely due to this shift and not due to the economic reforms of PVNR but I clearly remember mugging up his full name to show off in front of others. I also remember that he was known to be a very lea...

sakhi mori piya ke rang rangi ! aankhon me piya ke swapan bhare, adhron per kampan mukhar dhare, ranjit kapol hue lajja se, jihva pe piya ka naam fire. dhalka jaaye aanchal jheena, shudh budh khoyee, sukh chain chhina, na bhaye use bacpan ki sakhi, bin piya lage ab jag soona. Sakhi mori piya ke rang rangi ! kuch vesh kaho? kabhi mili nahi ! mridubhaashi hain? swar sune nahi ! na des pata, jaane na gali, chad kaandhe chaar kahaar chali. Bin sakhi mujhe kuch na bhaaye, jhoole ke bina saawan jaaye, sochoon to yahi ka jatan karoon, mo pe bhi piya ka rang chaaye. sakhi mori piya ke rang rangi ! [ Those who know better, would probably notice that a long standing promise has been fulfilled today although it has not come out as I would have liked it to but if that could be controlled, world would have been a pretty banal place. ] [ Incidently, there is something in the above poem that is quite indicative of the times it has been written in. Can u notice it? I also noticed it only after finishi...

They say if you are not an idealist at 20, u have no heart and if you are still an idealist at 30, you have no head !! Now that leaves two possibilities for 25. Either you can be completely confused between being a idealist and a practical person or you might be well balanced with both the things in perfect balance. Now if you apply the same logic to 23 (considering 20 and 25), you will know where I lie :). I am in between getting confused and being balanced which, I have no doubt, is an extremely confusing state of affairs to be in. A state of confusion about if you are in a state of confusion !! Anyway, enough of confusion. The news is that tomorrow at 15:15, I will complete 22 years of walking on this earth (for the first year, I was not walking) and considering the kind of people that are inhibiting the earth along with me, I consider this to be an achievement :P. okay sorry !! I shouldn't be this mean :). In fact it is the people living with me who have made this life worth li...

Last week I was reading the women special edition of Outlook. One of the articles in that discussed the radical social choices that women are making today. So there are ladies asking their parents to stay with them even after marriage, choosing to live separately for the sake of job, living alone even though their parents are in the same city and many more. There is no doubt that each of these decisions takes a lot of courage on part of a woman but what is alarming is that most of them relate to one common theme namely breaking down of the old concept of family. Some of the feminists argue and rightfully so that family has been the biggest source of oppression for Indian women and so it is natural that in the new age, the old concept of family breaks down. The question is however how does it affect our society? One particular example is of single mothers. All over India, there is an increasing trend of single mothers and the reasons are various. The one that stands out is that it is se...

Vardan Mathur posted this beautiful piece about adopting a child today. This is something that has been on my mind recently. In fact there are two issues and I'll talk about both of them. First issue is the same as discussed in the talk also. On my way to office, I daily pass a crossing where 2 small kids, barely 4-5 years old, brother and sister, perform some gymnastics and then ask for money from the people who have stopped there. Now as a matter of principle, I never give them any money because I believe that first, giving them money will only encourage this thing and the person behind the game will push even more children into begging (most of the times, there is some adult person involved) and second that giving money is the least and as I said above, may be the worst kind of help that u can provide. It provides you with a false sense of having done something without actually doing anything. So untill I do anything worthwhile, I donot want to live under the false pretence of...

Caught this in today's edition of Bangalore Times: when desires have no descriptions, longings possess no definations, expectations refuse fulfillment, questions seek no answers, wounds cease to give pain, path decides to go nowhere, what consolation can the words offer? -- Milind Nayak

Relationships are really confusing things as any high school student studying Set Theroy will testify. However if he would have even the faintest idea as to what lies ahead, he might have other ideas. Relationships are strange entities. They attract us and they scare us. They bind us and then free us in most wonderful ways. They can make our life worth living but they can also make it a living hell. And no matter, how much we may try, it is difficult to write down a formula for a perfect one. But since we can't just slip through life without worrying about them, it is worthwhile to think about what makes them tick. To be more precise, let's talk about men-women relationships (My apologies for the inherent bias but I don't think alternate sexualities contribute much to my readership). Most of the people have this notion of a perfect partner, a prince who will swap her off her feet or the sweet lady who will just take away all his pain with just a touch. We search for the per...

Its been over a month since I have written anything here. There are reasons for that but generally they are so silly that they are not worth your consideration, dear reader. And now after a month, I feel a little ashamed in putting up yet another placeholder post, just listing out what all tid bits have been happening in my life. It would hardly be worth your time. So I won't do that. No updates on my life in this post but only a little info which I think is very important. I have started taking Dr. Batra's treatment for hair loss !! Yes , ladies and gentlemen, me have finally fallen prey to the monster. Anyway if you remember, long time ago but not in very distant past, I promised to write something called "The Bangalore Chronicles" that was supposed to be.. well, something interesting. And if you could see my life from where I am seeing it, you would have agreed whole heartedly to the date when the first chapter should end and the second begin. I am not so sure abou...

adhikaar mera tum per na priye !! unmukt pawan si ithlaati, balkhaati chalti aati ho, kuch jaani si, kuch anjaani, khushbooen anekon laati ho. chapper mera hai ud jata, ghar uthal puthal ho jata hai, ek mast hawa ke jhonke si, tum pal me gum ho jaati ho. adhikaar mera tum per na priye !! jeewan ki kaali raaton me chanchal chapla drut daamini si, manas per chaati ho mere, sab aalokit ker jaati ho. tan dagdh hua jata mera, man bhi swaha ho jata hai, tum jyon agni ki lapak ek, choone ko gagan ud jaati ho. adhikaar mera tum per na priye !! jo abhi dikha na hai poora, voh swapan ho mere nayanon ka, jisme main rang bhara karta, ho chitra adhoora jeewan ka. yoon raaten vyarth kiya karta, main sapne bunta rahta hoon, tum mujhe akela chod, som ke sang ast ho jaati ho. adhikaar mera tum per na priye !! man me hai mere aakulta, ki pranay nivedan karoon kabhi, baahon me tumko baandh, adhron per rakh doon apne adhar sakhi. Man taane baane bunta hai, kaise mutthi me ret bharoon, banki...

Recently there has been a lot of commotion and ugly situations at my alma-mater which is actually nothing new considering the last 3 years. However the ever increasing stupidity of the situation is definitely remarkable. As expected, the incident has been evoking a lot of reaction in the alumni too. A lot has been said and it is interesting to see the sharp contrast that is evident in the standpoints of alumni and current junta. For a background on the incident, you can refer to: Life is beautiful Here is my take on the issue. There are two powers at the disposal of the man that he uses for foraying through this world, namely brain and brawn and although the human history is a live example of superiority of the first one, both have their own use at times. The recent fiasco can be attributed to the extremely bad judgement on part of IIT junta about when to use what. The incident started when some PEC guys, showing the utter lack of most uncommon sense, resorted to hockey sticks for try...

I wrote this yesterday, I posted this yesterday, I lost it yesterday. But love's labour is never lost and so as the battle lines are redrawn every morning, here's to those who fell and here's to those who stand. --------------------------------------------------------------------- A bad hair day is a bad day that starts with hair problems. Since now a days most of my days start with hair problems, it was only a matter of time that one of them qualified as a bad hair day. But on account of the good food that I had today and the good news that I received today, I guess I would settle for a "Not so good hair day". Having been on the wrong side of the line in case of hair lose for a long time now, I had almost forgotten the taste of panic and anxiety that sets in when you first see that white streak or when the trips to head for a flip to hairs starts returning a handful. It is something with which you learn to live just like the rate of inflation. However, recently, ...

Currently working on: Handwriting Technologies Currently Reading: Mahadevi Verma "Path Ke Saathi" Currently Listening to: Abida Parveen "Amir Khusro" Currently watching (TV): Kasuati Jindagi Ki, Sanjivani, Kahaani Ghar Ghar ki, Des me nikala hoga chand, CNBC The Challenge, Ripley's Believe it or not, The History Channel Recently Watched (for the first time): The Wedding Planner, Samay, Dhoom, Terminal, Phir Milenge and one half each of Erin Brockowich(first half) and Training Day (second half) Recently been to: Bangalore Book Festival Recently eat for the first time: Chetinadu Dishes, Baser Beli Bath (Suggestion for other Southern delicacies welcome) Blogs I manage to go through: Jaya, Handa, Alpha, Diwaker, PSD, Manish and Gosling Websites I still manage to frequent: /. Jobs wish list: Google, RJ on Radio City More personal kind of updates are available on personal request ;)

but I missed out on. It is not everyday that bright sunlight starts ur day in Banglore and nothing better to lighten up the mood on a Sunday morning than the mild sun rays falling on ur face :) (I am sure many won't agree but every one to his own). Now mornings, a bright new day, lovely weather all indicate a new start but strangely enough it can also bring back old memories just as clearly. And so I thought may be I should make use of this day to write one last post about IIT before I start with "The Bangalore Chronicles". Yes ! that is what I am going to call my series of posts about life and everything in Bangalore. (Now don't frown at me. I am just trying to follow in the foot steps of J K Rowling :P) Through the 4 years of life at IIT, I did a lot of things, many of which I never imagined I would do but as they say that there is no end to the human greed, I craved for more. Some of these were not under my control. At some of these I failed and for some, I never s...

Musafir ke raste badalte rahe, kismat me chalna tha chalte rahe. -- Bashir Badr New place, new ways, new ppl, old faces New paths, unknown destination, New building on old bases. -- me This is abhaga from City of Gardens. I am loving it !!

Long have I bored u guys with tales of some distant Galaxies. Its time now to move closer to home and closer to reality :). Today is our Independence Day and just like every year, its an occasion to feel proud of our country, its achievements and most of all its character. Although I strongly believe that we can surely do with being more aggressive and firm when it comes to international matters, it is not something I would be really proud of. It is more like a necessary evil which cannot be avoided in today's scenario. This reminds me of someting from the famous Chanakya alias Kautilya. When questioned by one of his childhood friends about the rather ruteless image he had acquired, he said, " Under sab shubha hai, shuchi hai per uski raksha ke liye upper se kathorta ka aavaran od liya hai ". A very simple and innocent looking statement but carries the essence of keeping right balance in life. The world always tries to destroy the goodness within us, it makes us look l...

Both DS and PB ended up at a difference of .2%. So both the teams were decleared joint winners. GH took the second place.

What is better than watching a Galaxy? Of course being part of it :) but before I tell u more about it, here are the remaining editions of GT: GH I DS II PB II GH II Apart from regular things like street plays, road paintings, the publicity events were a Parade and a Bhajan Singing march in which the aim was to collect as much money as u can by singing bhajans. These guys had the audacity of actually going to Dean's house and ask him for some money. I heard he bequeathed in the order of Rs. 6 to Rs 10 :), don't know who won in the end though. Lit events saw their usual crowd coming together although the events were much more experimental in nature. I unfortunately missed the GH cul show but other two cul shows were quite impressive. There is however one observation which I cannot avoid making though I am not sure what to conclude from it. In our times, Hall 2 used to always get screwed in musicals which was the forte of Hall 3. In the play the situation was just the...

is available here . This one is by the team "प्राणस्य भावः" (pranasya bhavah). It turns out that out of the 7 teams proposed, only 3 are actually participating. I have mentioned about two of them already and fortunately or unfortunately, one of them comprises of Hall 2 guys and another, of Hall 3. But can anybody guess which is the 3rd team? With Hall 1 choosing to remain out of the picture for the most part, it is our very own GH that has a team in the running and as far as I have heard, they are working pretty hard. In the golden olden times :), GH used to be one of the rotating teams. They used to be paired up with hall 1, hall2 and hall 3 in a cyclic order. Other rotating teams were the two PG hostels. Now although, I would not go on to say that GH used to be passive but Galaxy never seemed to arouse the same kind of passion there as was seen in Hall 2 and Hall 3. One reason is obvious. When u are being forced to change ur loyalties every year, it becomes kinda toug...

Can't say that this makes me happy but it surely moves my heart. Galaxy is back !! Its very low scale, even if u are on campus, u can easily miss it all together, I haven't seen any of the events to comment on the quality but it is happening ! I have no doubt that the organizers are insane but galaxy can do that to u. I would try to do an online coverage of whatever happens and whatever I am able to catch but here are some tid-bits to start with: Galaxy 2004 : Announcement Page Galaxy Times : 1st Edition (Dhande Shining Team) psd, I hope u remember the Galaxy Times :)