है इसी में प्यार की आबरू

है इसी में प्यार की आबरू
वो जफा करें मैं वफा करूं
जो वफा भी काम ना आ सके
तो वही कहें के मैं क्या करूं

मुझे ग़म भी उनका अज़ीज़ है
के उंही की दी हुई चीज़ है
येही ग़म है अब मेरी ज़िन्दगी
इसे कैसे दिल से जुदा करूं

जो ना बन सके मैं वो बात हूं
जो ना खत्म हो मैं वो रात हूं
ये लिखा है मेरे नसीब में
युहीं शमा बन के जला करूं

ना किसी के दिल की हूं आरज़ू
ना किसी नज़र की जूस्तजू
मैं वो फूल हूं जो उदास हूं
ना बहार आये तो मैं क्या करूं

Omkara: The movie and its review

I am not even going to attempt writing a review for the movie (which I quite liked) because I read this: http://brangan.easyjournal.com/entry.aspx?eid=3011791

If movie was good, wait till you read the review. I am left wondering whether the review is written so damn well because of the movie or does the blogger write this well habitually. May be reading more of those posts will help...

Go watch and go read.

B-Theory Quotes

In accordance with the B-Theory (topic of another post), I am building a repository of junk quotes, which I think are originally attributable to me! ;-)

So here goes:
1. When the going gets tough, look at the compliment set.
2. My life is like my lips, rosy but useless.
3. We must have a life separate from love. We don't understand the beast. Just as we don't know how it comes, we don't know how it leaves us.
4. Drawing parallels is the new wrapper from the house of brilliance.
5. A life spent with music, books and being nice is a life well spent.
6. Chivalry is a Bombay import.
7. Most of the world operates at a sub-optimal level, global maxima exists mostly in theory.
8. Driving on Noida roads is akin to taking a step closer to a complete disbelief in the goodness of mankind.
9. It is possible to be a hypocrite and not even know that you are one.
10. In north India, there are no traffic rules - only car sizes.
11. You can never shop enough, can you woman?
12. If First me, then you then Fuck You.
13. Collective Responsibility is the single most potent way to screw a task and make sure it won't get done as well as it can be done.
14. Haramkhori on the Corporate's expense is a tribute to the spirit of our overworked, underpaid, overtaxed friends. It is akin to orgasm for single wo/men.
15. I asked God for "Fire in my belly". He said Amen. Now, I am a premium customer of Digene. 16. When I was young, my parents asked God to make me a good kid. Then, time froze.
17. It is tough to find love, with good girls 'affection assymetry' comes into play.
18. I have started spelling it as assid. (For The Duh, it = acid)
19. The mediocre don't even sin well or enough.
20. Suddenly, life is a bitch again.
21. If everyone's friend is "THE BEST" or "THE COOLEST" or "THE DUDE" why is the world still such a suckey place?
22. I am so ordinary that it took me 25 years to even realize that I am so.
23. I think assholes are born not made.
24. I never regret about the things I say, I only regret about the things I don't say.
25. Stupid is what stupid asks.
26. Pray to God but keep oiling the hair.
27. All it takes is a stingray to kill a Steve Irwin :( [New]

रोया करेंगे आप भी पैहरों इसी तरह

It has been a while that I quoted poetry or even wrote here, but talking to someone at length last evening reminded me of this:

रोया करेंगे आप भी पैहरों इसी तरह
अटका कहीं जो आपका दिल भी मेरी तरह

ना ताब हिज्र में है ना आराम वस्ल में
कमब्ख्त दिल को चैन नहीं किसी तरह

मर चुक कहीं के तू ग़म-ए-हिज्रा से छूट जाये
कहते तो हैं भले की वो लेकिन बुरी तरह

ना जाये वा बनी है ना बिन जाये चैन है
क्या कीजीये हमे तो है मुशकिल सभी तरह

हूं जान बलब बुताने सितमगर के हाथ से
क्या सब जहां में जीते हैं ‘मोमिन’ इसी तरह

Only that it doesn’t take a ‘Momin’ to understand his timeless words.

Working Class Hero

I was busy all these days, trying to put together a life, like any other working class fellow. A tribute to all of them (and us), in the so-true words of John Lennon

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty-odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they're telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me

मुझे मत रोको

The lyrics of the song aren't extra-ordinary but somehow the way Kavita Seth has rendered the composition is quite soulful. I mean some relief amongst all this crap that FM channels keep churning.

मुझे मत रोको मुझे यार के घर जाने दो
मैं हूं परवाना मुझे शम्मा पे मिट जाने दो

उसको पाना ही मेरी ज़िन्दगी का मक्सद है
गर वो मिलता है मुझे मर के तो मर जाने दो

दिल की आंखों ने मेरी अपना सनम देख लिया
अब इसी दर पे मेरे दम को निकल जाने दो

Listen to the song and the album on Raaga. Checkout other popular sufi/ghazal compositions from the lady, worth a listen.

Apparently, Chandigarh does have its share of classical centric cultural activity going on in Pracheen Kala Kendra (Web of melody captures city audience), should catch one of these concerts sometime.

B-Theory Punchlines

(I believe the following are original compositions, any aberration may be reported)

Punchline:
Fuddu, fuddu fuddu fuddu yeh jahan
Fuddu, fuddu hum bhi yahan
Product: Life in 2006
Inspiration: Rang De Basanti - Ziddi

Punchline (more like an anthem):
Shit kari sukh karan
Shit kari dukh hoye
Nagar dhindhora pher doon
Shit na kariyo koye!
Group: Association of the Victims of Acidity
Inspiration: Tirlok Gurtu - Remembrance

Punchline: Give us 15 minutes, just 15 minutes, we'll change your life
Product: Prostitutional Inc's Devirginator
Inspiration: Bajaj Capital

Punchline: No one can beat you (as well as we can)
Product: Delhi Police ka danda
Inspiration: Slobodan Milosevic

Punchline: Clean Hair, Green Hair
Product: Fructis (for dry and damaged hair)
Inspiration: Delhi Government

Punchline: Thoda aur chalega
Product: Car-backing collision protection device
Inspiration: Saffola

Punchline: Hum Hain Na!
Product: Bhojpuri version of Main Hoon Na
Inspiration: ICICI Bank

Punchline: Kuch log Sumo Victa chalate hain!
Product: BPO's Population Eliminator
Inspiration: Sumo Victa

(Watch this space!)

Social Entrepreneurism

Aaditeshwar Seth has done an excellent job of collecting link and writing briefs about a lot of efforts going in this area (on my wishlist for years now, time to see some action, I guess). See his meticulously created blog.
Though I have never met him but have heard about him from my ex-roomates. This guy needs to be tracked, followed and read!

As the congressmen like to say: Aaditeshwar aage badho, hum tumhaare saath hain! :)

Generating Jobs: Indian Legislature Style

What the fuck is going on?

I haven't had any time to read about this new legislation thing in papers, but from what I've heard around and read in emails, this absolutely sucks. I mean 50% reservation in the 21st century. Are you out of your frickin' mind or something? It is no surprise that no political party is opposing it too. Damn you guys, go eat some crap. what good is the reservation supposed to do? Does anyone make sure that reservation is being used for the upliftment? I guess not, there were this brother and sister duo in my college who entered through the SC quota. And they were certainly not from under-privileged strata of the society. Both their parents were IAS officers. And yes, the parents themselves became IAS (and rose through the ranks) because of quota. Isn't this ridiculous? As if these quotas were not enough, there is a quota for freedom fighter's grandchildren, a defence services quota, a sportsperson quota. Where does it stop? Most of the people filling the seats in the last three quotas come from families which certainly don't need government aid to make ends meet. And whats with waiting 50 years for upliftment of the downtrodden?

This is a sure shot receipe for societal chaos and eventual breakdown. And we (including me) should not let it happen. For beginners, please join the Anti-Reservation Action Forum on orkut, I am not sure what they plan to do, but at the least it will be a single way to address people who are concerned.

Then, please sign this petition and this.

I am also looking for ways to use private firms to form a policy that will cause rebellion against the ridiculous legislation. Here is how it is supposed to work: Private firms decide not to go to campuses, hire only through their own recruitment process which filters the wheat from the chaff, campuses forsee tougher time and a dilution of their brand (lets face it most people know certain campuses only because certain firms visit those campuses and the foolish cycle continues), and thus the campuses, with all their faculty, current student and alumni - basically the crème de la crème of the society rises, more actively than at present, against the bill. Any pointers to such a thing already taking place will help.

Ah, coming to the subject of this post, on deeper thought, I conclude that the legislature let this bill pass to conform to their long standing promise of generating jobs. Here is how, let's make it a figure-it-out-yourself exercise.

1. Go to the nearest video rental shop and rent The Day of the Jackal
2. As you will notice, a lot of men, at one count about 100,000 are in one way or the other involved in catching Jackal.
3. Think about what this reservation will lead young, capable, and frustated guys into.
4. Yes, crime is the answer.
5. Who is incharge of (how successful is the story of another day) keeping tabs on crime?
6. Good, you're learning. It is the Government.
7. What is needed to keep tabs on crime?
8. Yes, men (Or "yes men", whatever)
9. So more crimes mean more men required.
10. More men required means, more jobs.

Ah, there is a little problem. 50 % of these men will be from the Scheduled and Other Backward Castes. All their life they would have gotten in through the backdoor. So they will be less capable of doing anything right. Or, lets just say less willing. So they will encourage corruption. And more crime. Voila! This is a self perpetuating way of creating jobs. Hail reservation.

I am disgusted.

The Hymn of Creation

श्रिष्टी से पहले सत नहीं था, असत भी नहीं
अंतरिक्ष भी नहीं, आकाश भी नहीं था
छिपा था क्या, कहाँ, किसने ढ़का था
उस पल तो अगम, अटल जल भी कहाँ था

श्रिष्टी का कौन है कर्ता
कर्ता है वा अकर्ता
ऊचे आकाश में रहता
सदा अध्यक्ष बना रहता

वही सचमुच में जानता, या नहीं भी जानता
है किसी को नहीं पता, नहीं पता
नहीं है पता, नहीं है पता

वह था हिर्नयागर्भ श्रिष्टी से पहले विद्यमान
वही तो सारे भूत जात का स्वामी महान
जो है अस्तित्वमान धरती आसमान धारन कर
ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करें हम अवि देकर

जिस के बल पर तेजोमय है अंबर
प्रिथ्वी हरी भरी स्थापित स्थिर
स्वर्ग और सूरज भी स्थिर
ऐसे किस देवता की उपासना करें हम अवि देकर

गर्भ में अपने अग्नी धारन कर पैदा कर
व्याप्या था जल इधर उधर नीचे उपर
जगा चुके वो का एक्मेव प्रान बनकर
ऐसे किस देवता की उपासना करें हम अवि देकर

ॐ! श्रिष्टी निर्माता स्वर्ग रच्येता पूरवज रक्षा कर
सत्य धर्म पालक अतुल जल नियामक रक्षा कर
फैली हैं दिशायें बाहू जैसी उसकी सब में सब पर
ऐसे ही देवता की उपासना करें हम अवि देकर
ऐसे ही देवता की उपासना करें हम अवि देकर

This is not only supernatural like all of other Hindu chants but also brings nostgalic memories of Shyam Benegal's masterpiece. I'm looking for a source to download/buy the episodes of 'Bharat ek Khoj', any pointers will be highly appreciated.

Transliteration Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Ek_Khoj
English Translation: http://www.crhc.uiuc.edu/~vbhandar/hymn_of_creation.html
MP3 Download http://www.coolgoose.com/music/song.php?id=211300

US Trip Photos

http://charlotte.lti.cs.cmu.edu/zombie/photos/dc/

(DSCN1066.jpg, sorry they ain't chocs, the thumbnail I viewed while writing commentary was too small!)

Download speeds aren't very exciting though, could be a temporary thing.

I'll be uploading to other locations soon.

Looking Around

Mehra read an interesting article [first recorded kiss traced back to India!] on kissing, and Munjal visited Israel (good pictures).

KabiraSpeaking tries to find the logic behind Americans having their water on the rocks in a post aptly titled "Water No Ice Please, we are Indian". Of course, Indian as I am, I found it strange too. I mean, what the heck! I called for water, paani - paa nee, baraf nahin - no ice.

George Constanza's Words of Wisdom!

I found this hilarious:

The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A death. What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you go live in a old age home. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, then, when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day. You work forty years until you are young enough to enjoy your retirement. You drink alcohol, you party, and you get ready for High School. You go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back, you spend your last 9 months floating with luxuries like central heating, spa, room service on tap, then you finish off as an orgasm! Amen.

Depression ki ...

Rashmi wrote an excellent post some time ago, I just happened to read it today.

Depression is such a depressing beast that even the thought of it is depressing. It can get very tough for the person suffering from it and those around. My father went through depression and hard it was. The helplessness associated with depression is immense.

And I don't know why, I think I have a natural tendency to get depressed. May be it is because depression is known to have genetic effects. It is weird how things start seeming uninteresting, music starts seeming repetitive, and concentration goes for a vacation.

Gosh, even writing this is making me feel depressed, so am winding up here.

Be happy and don't think too much about it.

If it has gotten too depressing (like it has for me), read about and listen to some swear songs at
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14128125 and http://www.jammag.com/etc/etcshow.php?art_id=21

Swear songs from an XL (XLRI Jamshedpur) Band at http://www.jammag.com/rock/show_rock.php?article_id=66

As they say, Depression ki G*** mein danda de!

Chillaxin!

No, this isn't only a lower middle class B. Tech. lingo, it is also an absolutely fabulous composition from my new favorite Jazz man, Eugene Groove. Tune in to Narada Radio for the allegedly love-making song! Also, few samples on the MSN Radio.

Others that I have absolutely loved are:

Euge Groove - Get 'em going
Gabriela Anders - Go to my head, Abracadabra
Brenda Russel - When you're coming back to me
Molly Johnson - Melody
Jeff Lorber - Flipside
DeeDee Bridgewater - Watermelon man
Jason Miles - Sexual Healing
Ozzie Ahlers - Night on the town
Down to the bone - I'll always hold you close
Incognito - Will I ever learn?

Chillax!

Henry David Thoreau: Wisdom!

I have been following quotes from Henry David Thoreau for a while and now my reading has reached a critical mass for a post here! Without further ado, here are the quotes that I could relate to the most:

About Money/Wealth
1. A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
2. That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.
3. The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.

About Living
1. Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
2. Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.
3. Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality.
4. Be not simply good; be good for something.
5. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.
6. The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.

About Solitude
1. I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.
2. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.
3. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

Of course, I will keep updating the above list when I come across more of quotes from the master.

V Day ...

... meant Visa interview for me! But anyway, shouldn't let the day pass without dedicating some words for the pretty. And the beautiful thing is that these words are from the pretty - Gabriela Anders, am totally in love with her smooth jazz vocals. ;-)

You go to my head and you linger like a haunting refrain
And I find you spinning 'round in my brain
Like the bubbles in a glass of champagne
You go to my head like a sip of sparkling wine
And your smile makes my temperature rise
Like a summer with a thousand Julys
Don't have a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance
You go to my head
Don't have a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance
You go to my head

You go to my head and you linger like a haunting refrain
And I find you spinning 'round in my brain
Like the bubbles in a glass of champagne
You intoxicate my soul with your eyes
I only hope I can make you mine
You go to my head
You intoxicate my soul with your eyes
I only hope I can make you mine
You go to my head
You go to my head

Don't have a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance
You go to my head
You go to my head
Don't have a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance
You go to my head

You intoxicate my soul with your eyes
I only hope I can make you mine
You go to my head
You go to my head
You go to my head

I can make you mine
I can make you mine
You go to my head
Like the bubbles of champagne

Color de Brillianti

I was just about to skip watching Rang De Basanti, like I allowed myself, in the recent past, to miss other (potentially) good movies like Amu. That didn't happen though because a friend strongly suggested I go and watch the movie, more so because "... that guy who plays Anupam Kher's son, I forget his name, his eyes and mannerisms are quite like yours...". Intrigued as I was, I did end up watching the movie. And this is what I wrote to my friend:

... now, thanks for recommending the movie. I LOVED IT. I think such movies are made only once in few years. I liked almost every bit of it. Yes, I agree the end could have been a little less dramatic, but the sheer brilliance in most of the other parts of the movie was enough for a cynic viewer like me to forgive the drama. So, I liked it, will watch it again [I did infact watch it again], highly recommended to anyone who has not seen it. I liked several things, particularly:

1. At a subconscious level, I have been a proponent of delivering content (in this case the script of the movie) by having two tracks. For example, in the movie we had a story from the early 1900s and a story from the early 2000s. I think this helps gripping viewer interest/concentration and the parallels that can be drawn, interspersing fundas from the two stories can be brilliant. I subconciously made several attempts doing so in my blog posts, an example is http://zombieworld.blogspot.com/2005/07/bad-times-good-spirits.html (the backdrop is a ghazal, which I totally love, and in the normal course I am talking about what my colleagues and I went through).
2. I like the subtle attempt at introducing religion [at the least an attempt at understanding what it stands for] to the youth. I was fortunate enough to meet an uncle of mine who said something similar. Read http://zombieworld.blogspot.com/2005/09/being-spiritual.html. Co-incidentally, this is the same Paath, which is in the movie. A post of mine which attempts to combine 1 (two tracks) and 2 (religion) is at http://zombieworld.blogspot.com/2005/11/humorous-interpretations-of-god.html.
3. I have been personally pained by the crash of MiG 21s. Living in Chandigarh, one can read about a crashed MiG more frequently than one cares to. So I am kind of satiated that this has been brought to the fore.
4. I had a chance to be at several funerals of army men, mostly young lads, who were brave enough to stop thinking about themselves and capture a hill post for the nation. I have friends in the Indian army who at 20 something are sitting in Arunachal Pradesh and guarding the Indian border from the Chinese. These are the real men of honor, we are sissies. I could totally relate to the rage of the junta at seeing a young and handsome one of theirs die - go to a place where no one comes back from. The sequence in the movie is still a peace time army man funeral. During war time - like the ones I witnessed while in Kasauli during the Kargil war - are a time of enraged emotions and very moving.
5. Like any other 20 something, I am also clueless about where life is heading - this is fairly a no-brainer.
6. The sequence towards the end in which the youth of the nation are shown enraged at the "death of democracy" is just brilliantly done. I mean not for once did any of the about 30 characters in that sequence seem to be acting. Not their dialogues, not their accent. So the correspondent in Calcutta was with people who had a genuine Bengali accent, and so on for Kashmiri, and others. The role of NDTV was integrated really well into the movie, I haven't seem any comparable integration of the depiction of "media" into a Hindi movie. Of course, several English movies exist with such integration.
7. The notion of holing up of "terrorists" and commando action such that "there should be no survivors" is too real. Growing up proximate to a terrorist affected Punjab, I have seen instances where the police never made an attempt at determining if the hiding youth are actually terrorists and made sure that after the "commando action" only bodies are brought out. For if any of the "terrorists" survive, the Human Rights Commission will make KPS Gill's wishkey unsavory. Some of the enraged Sikh youth during the Punjab militancy days did not choose the gun because they wanted a "Khalistan", but because they were too fed up to take the police's attrocities any more. Maachis, the Gulzar movie depicts this well enough. I am not too aware of the Kashmiri situation but I guess there would be a component of police/army atrocity enraging the youth.
8. I made every attempt at finding similarities between the look of Karan (Anupam Kher's son) and myself and miserably failed. I think you forgot how I looked [sic]. You are going to be mighty disappointed at meeting me if you thought that Karan looks like me!
9. Soha Ali looks wow, really wow. I think I will ditch my plans of never marrying and add her to my matrix that determines the ideal match!

I am sorry the above will not make you laugh, but you know what, laughing is just one embodiment of bliss and a satiated self is also blissful. If you shared any of the above thoughts (I know you don't share my views on Soha Ali) you will feel blissful at a subconscious level and thus be happy.

Have a good day ahead.

Acappella!

The new Honda ad is awesome! I have made several not-so-popular attempts at Acappella while at school and Infosys. The latest one was in anticipation of a wild new year's party this year, for which my friend and I had prepared a muscular-movement-cum-acappella-background-music item! The eve turned out to be disappointing, Daman ain't too cool a place. But yes, I'm a fan of the genre.

In Love With Narada

http://www.narada.com/Radio/RadioNarada.htm

Awesome!