WTF...

What the Fuck... There are times when WTF is just all you manage to say. And then there are times when its hard even to manage that!
Recently I just lost an upper front tooth. Yeah I did, Im just not kidding. It was not while saving a buxom beauty from a few rowdy goond (I wish I'd lost it that way). I dint even loose it in a street fight, none boxed me in my face. Nope, I dint even meet with an accident, not even a minor one. Well, it just fell off. I was in the train on my way home. Early in the morning I woke up and lo my tooth was missing! Just like that! I had to go to a dentist. Id rather face a man-eating tiger than a dentist.
This is not the wierdest thing to happen to me. I met with another WTF incident. Iv had this eye allergy for the past 2-3 months. Just a week back when I had a checkup with my doc, she announced, "Your eyes are allergic to your hair. Please go for a crew cut asap..." She expected me to let go of 6 months worth of hard work just like that, at her whim. I was half expecting the dentist to say my tooth fell of because it was allergic to my tongue or something.
The dentist has fixed a cap upon all that was left of my old tooth. My hair however are still intact. Time passes by and so do these WTF moments...

Embers, Put Out.......

During my last vacation I, along with two other friends set out to see Amchi Mumbai, our beloved city. Well all that took place in Mumbai on the 26th was very bad. Well this is all I guess I can say. Short yet not sweet. Taj Towers reopen today. The embers the terrorists left behind in the century old edifice may have been put out, however the smouldering hearts of the junta have been set ablaze and so they shall be I hope till our country ushers in a new era where the mantri, the babu and the aam admi all work together for the betterment of our country.
I just wanted to express my feelings.

Me Mumbaikar, I'm from Heptanesia

Here are some thaughts from me and a bit of info from Wikipedia about an issue I'v wanted to write about for quiet some time. The bandhs, the mara-mari and all the tod-phod caused by Raj Thackarey and his Maharashtra Navanirman Sena to protect the common Marathi-manoos. Wasnt that so obvious?

Dang and DJ recently re-re-christened me and Jhoola as Baba Saheb Thackarey and Jhoola Thackarey after a long and dicey discussion about this particular issue. I personally feel it has all been blown out of praportions by our good old politicians. Their politically motivated fiery speeches (seat ke liye sala kuch bhi karega) and mirch-masala from the media (TRPs ke liye sala kuch bhi karega) added fuel to the fire (quiet literally). As far as Raj is concerned I dont know whether all this was for the marathi-manoos and the mumbaikars or for the kursi or maybe for both. I dont even support his overtly violent methods. But (theres always a 'but'), I stand by the issues he raised. In a newspaper interview he said 'Mumbai badly needs a Narendra Modi'. Maybe it does, maybe not. But Mumbai really needs help...

Mumbai is my home. I feel city-sick rather than home-sick. Today Mumbai Metropolitan Region (not including navi Mumbai and other areas) has a population of 2,00,00,000+ and thats just the number of people legally settled in the city! The whole state of Gujarat just has a population of 5crores. It houses the largest slum area in whole of Asia (dharavi). At night most foot-paths are used to sleep on and so are parks, stations, bus stops, roads, beaches and I can just go on and on with it. Trains are over crowded, buses are over crowded, roades are over crowded the whole city is fuckin over crowded...

Back to the point anti north-Indians campaign. The railway exam fuss is not something new, the issue was raised in 2003 by Shiv Sena. These exams are conducted for job openings in Railways in Maharashtra and especially Mumbai. Allegations were made saying that although 500 Maharashtrian candidates were selected, the final results on July 21, 2003 declared only ten of them successful. However, 90 per cent of the successful candidates were from Bihar. The High Court also issued a notice to Nitish Kumar and other railway officials regarding this and a further invistigation was to be conducted. Something similar happened on October 19, 2008 only this time MNS took the initiative. No local newspaper in Maharashtra had the advertisement announcing this Railways exam. However some newspapers back in UP and Bihar had the ad. Lalu it is said had announced the job openings in Bihar during some speech. Invistigation regarding this issue too was to be done. On the first working day following the incident uproarous scene ere seen in the national parliament. Numerous members of Parliament condemned the attacks. Anant Geete of the Shiv Sena, tried to give the other side of the story by noting the 42 lakh educated and unemployed youth in Maharashtra. Stating that the Marathis were getting a raw deal in central government jobs such as income tax and the railways, Narayan Rane said it was perplexing that of 54,000, only 54 Marathis were summoned for the railway recruitment exams this year. The railways must give Marathis their legitimate share in employment.

Now some incidents of violence against North Indians were just bogus. As we all know one of the so called killings turned out to be a rail accident as per a cctv recording. Not a big deal as 7-8 people die daily while travelling in the ever-crowded over-crowded local trains. Some other incidens were just cases of marital disputes (a case in Kalyan) or Land Disputes (Mumbai) that were glorified by media and politicians into communal killings. Some I must accept were truly cases of communal killings and riots, I do not support such acts. But then this was just politics.

Now about Big B, I initially thaught it was on Jaya Bacchan's comment about being UPwale and talking in Hindi not Marathi. Thats not the case I got to know later from a local newspaper in Mumbai. Raj just commented on the fact that Big B is helping out UP -his native place- every now and then by featuring in ad campaigns or by opening schools named after Aishwarya, which is not a bad thing. But has he done anything for Mumbai or Maharashtra from where he gets all his money. What has he given to the city which gave him everything? Nothing. To this Jaya ji, the politician retorted, "I heard that Raj Thackeray owns huge properties in Maharashtra, in Mumbai at Kohinoor Mills. If he is willing to donate land, we can start a school in the name of Aishwarya here." MNS workers flared up. Can any one walk into Patna and try to make Lalu the butt of his joke publically?I guess not. Same is the case here.

In Mumbai a lot of pople live illegally, may it be on the streets and other public places or in slums. A lot of them are from UP, Bihar, AP and even Bangladeshis. Of Mumbai's increase in population between 1991-2001 54% was because of migrants. A a friend of mine deftly pet it, the slogan in Bihar must be "Hum do humare do, teesra hua Bambai bhej do!" (The guy pointing this out is a Bihari, but a 4th generation migrant or rather as good a Mumbaikar as I am) Initially slum dwellers who have been living in Mumbai's slums from 1990 were declared legal and were to be given rehabilitation benefits. This threshold was raised to 1995 and then 2000 in order to gain a larger vote bank. 60,000 prostitutes dwell in Kamathipura alone and sex-trade is illegal in India. Streets are lined with rekdis or thelas to such a large extent that they block roads and foot-paths. Most such illegal Sabjiwalas and Falwalas or rather fruit and vegetable vendors are from UP-Bihar. Trains are filled with them as they travel from main markets (where again they have been gaining monopoly) to their self proclaimed hawking zones. When there is a need for 3 we have 30 and they bring along their entire families over a course of time and settle down in Mumbai. The very lane in which my house is was once full of bhaiyas as we call them. Now all these illegal hawkers have been replaced by a locer grocery store owner who now has a legal fruit and vegetable shop. Food Bazar and Subhiksha and Reliance Fresh have all cropped up in their place in my area. Instead of a hundred hawkers, we now have 4 registered vendors in my area. Most food stalls at Juhu Beach are now registered. Not a bad change mind you. However the milk-man and his cattle shed right next to the road (all illegal) behind my house is yet go...

All those hawkers used up Mumbai's resources, but paid no tax. We are the ones who pay taxes and countless such illegal leeches thrive on it at Mumbai's expenses. Moreover Mumbai is not in need of labour anymore. There is plenty of it available now much more than is necessary. Mumbai is saturated. These outsiders as some call them, come stay on the road for a while search for some work to do, any work, and then build a hut or rent it and get their family here into Mumbai. Now the ones who dont have their families here are lured toward sex-workers leading to HIV in them and finally in their family. Similar is the case of Rail employees, from othe states, they come here with their families. Now these entire families add to Mumbai's burden. Instead of this, if local people get jobs, they wont have to bring any additional people into Mumbai. Frankly speeking I can go on and on about this and the moment I stop Jhoola will pick up the task and talk on and on and the moment he is exhausted you might find another Mumbaikar say Vishwa ready to pick up from there. Ask most of us Mumbaikars, we just want to get rid of these excess people or outsiders siphoning Mumbai's resources. Just a fact but the amount of money sent to UP-Bihar from mumbai is really really high, as pointed out by MNS in a rally. Another thing worth pointing out is that, most people who eat paan and finally spit it out, as well as most of the people who sell it are from the north. Beetle leaves are auspicious and all, but they are also the reason for most corners in mumbai being 'red' in colour on account of spitting the paan out. (Not a very strong point I know but I and quiet a few others hate it.) We dont want regionalism or politics we just want our Home to be the way it once was. We just want to save Mumbai...

Lastly, I feel Lalu or Nitish Kumar or Paswan have no right to criticize MNS. Had they acted properly, had they done something for our fellow countrymen living in the states ruled by these netas, today so many North Indians would not have left their homes in search of jobs elsewhere in the country. Even now all they do is criticize others and engage in politics. Not a single one is ready to take the initiative of improving UP and Bihar (worst states according to India Today Oct edition) or creating jobs there. Much can be done here starting right from the grass-root level. North Indians are said to be unwanted in a lot of parts of the country (this weeks Sunday Times) they are frowned upon. Being beaten (Maharashtra) or killed (North-East) why are these politicians not ready to rehabilitate these extra people in their native states. Why is no politician ready to rehabilitate the 60,000 sex-workers in Kamathipura or the people who have settled in Dharavi after 2000. A lot more can be done in UP-Bihar, infact nothing has been done yet at all.

MNS used the wrong means but what they said is true. I want a better Mumbai for sure. However the state of Mumbai is, I love my city...


PS: Pretty long!

Yawn...

Its tough to go to sleep at night when you've already been sleeping all day long. And its even tougher staying awake at night with nothing to do. I dont feel like watching movies, books dont do the trick either. I dont feel like listening to music (not even CoB), dont feel like playing guitar (now thats strange) dont feel like studying (as if I ever do), these days infact I just fail to find a way to kill time. Is it we who really kill time or is it time that kills us? Yeah! Now Im jobless enough to think like that...

Dawn

Well this is a pretty short poem I just wrote it early in the morning just after a complete night out.


All the mornings that I dint wake up to,
Because I just never went to sleep;
Or I'd gone to bed very late,
And too low was my alarm's beep.

All the mornings that just came and went,
After the nights darkest hours;
When the birds began to chirp again,
About all this I never did care.

All the sunrises that I've missed,
Tried to teach me the same old thing;
Every time you think it has ended,
Something new is just about to begin...

- Dawn, 18th August '08

Vacation

Note: Comic Sans MS my favorite font! And blogspot doesn't offer it in their standard fonts! We need a Comic Sans revolution!!!

Just a weeks worth of vacation is left to me now. Those two and a half months - such a long time I'd once thought - have just passed me by. And after a bit of retrospection, I surely wont say I've been up to nothing. The more time we loose, the more memories we make. And these eighty odd days have given me magnificent memories - magnificent, as in grand mind you; don't be judgemental yet, my days in fact have been a grand cacophony of good and bad, light and dark experiences - which I'm not going to forget so soon. Well I had to phrase it this way, ' I'll cherish them for my life ' wouldn't sound good coming out of me considering my forgetfulness that sometimes even qualifies me as an amnesia patient!! Here I'd like to borrow something from Abhishek Moharana who in turn borrowed it from Mr. Ruskin Bond,

"Looking back on boyhood days, Even unhappiness acquires a certain glow..."

Time is natures way of keeping everything from happening at once. And Mr. Nature with his 13.73 billion years experience made sure that I stick to his way. My vacation too dint unfold to me in one single shot, but I got to live it in three different installments, in three phases with each lasting a tad under a month. This post is about the three installments in which I've lived the last couple of month's. Well a great trip to the Dalhousie - Dangs paradise is indeed paradise - preceded my journey back home and a post about my experiences there too has been pending. These phases began as I returned home.

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Phase I:
During this phase I guess nothing much happened. I just stuck to my same old Roorkee daily routine. Glued my eves to the computer screen, slept late got up even later, skipped meals. Stuff like getting stuff from the local vendor and strolling around aimlessly with some other jobless soul replaced the lectures while going around meeting people replaced practicals. Though it was a welcome change. There was no Mt. DOMS and occasionally school boys would just ask me what they should do in life IIT or AIEEE or CET, the kind of stuff you give to boys with big ambitions and all. Its better than being told by profs what you'll finally be in life a nothing or a loser or a failure, the kind of stuff profs give you after trespassing your sleep. Alibag replaces Dehra Dun and Mussoorie, sand and sea replaced peaks and valleys that's about it. I did read a books, to name a few, The Three Mistakes of My Life - about Indians and for Indians similar to his previous ones, but not bad - by Chetan Bhagat, Brida - a few brilliant ideas shrouded in PCs typical mysticism and inner meaning thoughts - by Paulo Coelho and Right Ho, Jeeves - not my cup of tea - by P. G. Woodhouse.

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Phase II:
I had to part with my laptop for 3 weeks at a stretch - I hate those HP Care Centre guys for it, its still not with me!! - the longest I've been away from it so far. Here I was without my daily dose of staring at the LCD screen, desperately in search of something to do. Football - something I knew nothing about - came to my rescue. I'd recently mistaken Peter Cech for a referee and his protective skull cap for some high tech headphone set used by the referee! Euro 2008 had just begun and football fever had gripped my - mostly cricket playing - friends. With new studs being bought and footballer's jerseys donned, we were all set for a daily dose of football. Every evening we played in spite of the rain and every night I sat glued to the TV set, following every single second ( even pre and post match analysis). I thought of blogging a bit about the matches, but I guess the inertia thingy crept in. And now that I'm kinda rid of it, its too late to talk about Euro 2008. Now I know most players, their teams and positions in them, also the clubs they play/played and their strategies. That's not it, I can kind of remember every important or interesting match.

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Phase III:
The third phase turned out to be the busiest of all. After years of wanting to learn swimming I finally decided to do it. Every morning I would wake up at 7am - that's kinda midnight for me - and make my way through Andheri Station's relentless traffic. Its kinda hard for commuters when just a two lane one way road leads to Andheri's Railway Station, Bus Depot, Auto Stand and a shopping area. Exhaustion - due to swimming - caused most of my afternoons to be spent sleeping. I did watch a lot of movies during these few days. Every friday evening was spent watching some or the other movie. Sarkar Raj - the producers called it a hit, media called it average, the trade called it a flop; Aamir - a nice and realistic thriller about a common man forced into criminal exploitation; Jane Tu...... Ya Jane Na - a tolerable love story portrayed in new light; Hancock - first half was nice, by the second half, things take a turn for the banal, its pure bollywood masala climax sucks; Kismat Konnection - sucks big time, waste of time and money; The Dark Knight - brilliant movie, go watch it now if you haven't and even if you have, I guess you'd love to go again. Joker is too good - " Why so serious? Lets put a smile on your face." I also read a book, or rather finished a book I'd been reading for a while, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini. A novel not to be missed, an incredible chronicle of forty years of Afghan history and the pitiable condition of Afghan women. A deeply moving story of family, friendship and faith.

And thus have I spent 3 precious months of my life.......

Newtons 1st law of motion............

S-37 RJB -I'm gonna miss it this year!!- about half a year back I lay sprawled upon my bed half asleep and fully confused thinking about my first post. I'd just decided to emulate Dang and opened up my own blog 'Babeypedia'. And a poem - too mushy to be mine - I'd written long back to impress my seniors and to win a place into WONA, came to my rescue.

I guess I haven't done justice to my blog. Its been a long long time since my last blog. Unlike my initial blogging days, I no more have a shortage of topics. In fact I'v enough astray brainwaves pulsating in my brain to fill up volumes and volumes with my usual gibberish. But the truth is I haven't even been able to put together a single post let alone volumes. I really dint know what was keeping me from blogging. Was it the absence of my laptop - which has spent half the vacation in HP Care Centres being fixed up - or the absence of Wi-Fi or was it the absence of free time. Well I guess neither these nor the numerous other reasons I coined were true.
The reason was laziness. I'd rather sleep than write. Its not that I dint try, I did but I must confess it was half hearted. I tried to write but never went beyond a line or two I'd often linger on the first or second line for a long time and then I'd quit for the time being. I had to break free of my inertia. Bits and pieces of an article on inertia - the mental one mind you - that I'd written with Dang started cropping up in my mind. I tried hard, but Mr. Inertia tried harder and when I was about to give up, it happened I just needed a bit more of nudging.
Most of my friends have started blogging while my blog lies half dead already. There is so much I want to blog about, so much I want to share. And today I read this scrap from Dang, "And wt about ur blog....it seems every1 is bloging now expect you..cum on update ur blog...lot of ppl frm 1st year hav already started to blog..." This proved to be that one nudge I needed. And here I am at a cousins place with a virus infected half dead pc blogging again!!!

The Pilgrimages

The Pilgrimages: Contemporary Quests for Obsolete Wisdom, is a recollection of Babey and his friend's experiances as they makes their way accross IITR - traversed by pilgrims for 160 years - on the frequent pilgrimages of LR-3. Babey and his batch mates have been banished to live in RJB - situated in a secluded low lying corner on the outskirts of IITR - for a year. Every morning they drag themselves out of their cosy Rajais (quilts), get geared up and set out. They encounter mysterious benefactors (who give them double seat lifts on their cycles) and devilish opponents (who stand ahead of them in the long line outside the mess). They face a series of obstacles. Freezing gusts of wind stab them with its icy fingers as they try to surmount the Mount DOMS that connects the lowlying corners to the heart of IITR. There in LR-3 an unknown doom awaits them daily. They are subjected to five or seven hours of gruelling penance. Those of them with weak hearts succumb to this prolonged mental onslaught and doze off. While few astray minds try to grasp as much of the obsolete lore being prophesised as they can.
Every dark cloud has a silver lining and so does this one. A select few, brave at heart understand the real essence of these pilgrimages. True enlightenment lies in being outside LR-3 and not within it. They glance at the back door, the door leading to salvation. Stealthily they head for the door. They run out of LR-3 and seek refuge in their true sanctities Alpahar and Khosla Canteen. And these few souls find their freedom as they feast upon Pakodis and Samosas and brilliant Chai in the cold winter mornings in Roorkee....

P.S: Any resemblance this post bears to The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom by Paulo Coelho is merely coincedental. For further clarification,
http://www.amazon.com/Pilgrimage-Contemporary-Quest-Ancient-Wisdom/dp/006251279X
P.P.S: I'd started off with this long time back in winter and today as Mumbai is being drenched in this yearts first rainfall I'v finished it. Small delays keep happening!

Exam is here, Im shivering with fear!!!

Disclaimer: Its 4 am almost and I'm fed up studying some shit I'd never want to study. TS is 2 days away n I'v to study a hell lot more!



The longer I sit

And the longer I stare;

All that I realize is

I really dont care!



Loads of assignments

And hell lot of tutes;

Up the professor's asses

I'd like to shove bamboo shoots!



Days are now longer

And winter has begun to wane;

I stare at the textbooks,

This stuff is real pain!



All the ghissus are away,

In the library they ghiss;

I wish they'd be bound

And on their faces I'd piss!



I really dont know,

Where do I stand;

Neither ghissing nor enjoying,

I'm on the no mans land!



The time is ticking,

I must start to read;

For a good GPA

Is something I need!



I'm truly frustrated

And my brain is chewed up;

I'm really very sleepy

And my state is screwed up!



I look at my notebooks

And I shred them to bits;

Staring at these bits I realise,

I'd rather go for the test with chits!!!







Just wrote it as I wrapped up a part of EC. Loads more to be done. TS is fast approaching and Im gonna get screwed!

Some IITR lingo ghissing is studying for marks all the time and ghissus are book worms.

No hard feelings Iv got about the profs, the line was just added to make it rhyme! Ha Ha Ha!!!

The Week that was.....

Day 1:
The first day of 2008 is just about to pass and I'm stuck up in a bumpy bus with a cranky driver trying hard to manoeuvre the khatara out of Delhi's ISBT. I'm trying my best to balance my guitar, my laptop and 3 bags all over the place to make sure they dont bump into anyone during the violent tremors in our good 'ol khatara. Just when you think things cant get worse, they actually do! My sweatshirt failed miserably against the assault of freezing gusts of wind. In my attempts to close the window shut I failed even miserably! All I could do now was shiver helplessly. At last I reached Roorkee and sleep peacefully in my Room-Sweet-Room (S-37 Rajendra Bhaven @ RJB)!

Day 2, 3, 4:
The next day goes on pretty uneventfully, with me sleeping while the friendly neighbourhood ghissu set out on their early morning pilgrimages to the lecture rooms (this has become their routine now). It has become my routine too, though I set out just a bit late, 30 mins late that is! With the hostel full again and life back on track 3 days pass us by swiftly.

Weekends are here again,
Just sleep till late,
And relax your brain,
To hell with the NCC parade!

Day 5:
The very first weekend into the second sems and I get up late as usual. Now LAN is something I really did miss when I was back home. You ask for it and they'v got it, movies, music, ebooks or software. I download from LAN Taare Zameen Par and watch it. For 3 hours I am transfixed, its possibly the most touching movie I'v seen. Amir Khan is a perfect perfectionist! The child artist Darsheel Safary too is par excellence. Everyone has lived their roles not merely acted them. Aamir Khan has handled the theme with great dexterity. He has not just succeeded in making every child a hero but actually helped us see a child in ourselves. Just like no man is perfect no matter what position he commands in the society, every child with both their ability and inabilities is special and talented in their own way. The movie isn’t just about a child suffering from dyslexia and his challenges, it’s also about how parents get carried away by today’s competitive world and fail to understand their child’s dreams and nurture their inborn talents.
We may love our family or our friends, but how many times do we actually say that we do? Rarely if at all ever. At Mood Indigo, Shankar Ehsaan and Loy for the first time to my knowledge campaigned for TZP at a live concert. The music too is gratifying. Its worth watching this movie once, twice, thrice an umpteen times.....

Day 6:
Sunday! All I do daylong is eat and sleep. At night though I decide to start reading a book, something that I'v been planning to do for long. I decide to start reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. A very bold book I would say. Its not easy to stand up and talk about atheism or rather prove God to be a Delusion in this world driven - or should I say riven - by pernicious theism.

'I suspect - well, I am sure - that there are lots of people out there who have been brought up in some religion or other, are unhappy in it, don't believe it, or are worried about the evils that are done in its name; people who feel vague yearnings to leave their parents' religion and wish they could, but just don't realize that leaving is an option. If you are one of them, this book is for you. It is intended to raise consciousness - raise consciousness to the fact that to be an atheist is a realistic aspiration, and a brave and splendid one. You can be an atheist who is happy, balanced, moral, and intellectually fulfilled. That is the first of my consciousness-raising messages. I also want to raise consciousness in three other ways, which I'll come on to.' - Richard Dawkins.

Day 7:
After my fourth pilgrimage of the semester, I decide to go out and have dinner with my friends and thats just about when things begin to become interesting! My mom always thinks Indra — a Hindu counterpart of Zeus — will zap me with a bolt of lightening for not believing in him!


And it turns out to be true! Mr. Indra or Mr. Zeus or may be both together are busy formulating Holy Plans to Zap me - the blasphemous atheist (thats how we are always portrayed)! While I am busy eating the sky starts to get cloudier and cloudier as if it still is monsoon. Bolts of lightening began fencing with each other and there is deafening thunder, the Plan is ready and about to be excuted. (Ok this sounds just a bit more melodramatic than it was, just thot it'd be funny) Five of us, me and four friends (isnt it obvious?) begin hurrying toward the NIH gate inorder to try and reach RJB before it begins to pour, merrily discussing about lightening strikes, totally unaware of The Holy Plan. And suddenly we see a flash of blinding light and a loud bang. We all run helter-skelter knowing very well that we just missed being struck by lightening. The shopkeepers come to help us but manage to make things worse with their stories of casualties nearby due to lightening strikes. Gathering some courage, we set out again and again lightening struck us! The same flash of light, the same bang. We survived the wrath once again! And it began to rain. At last we returned to our rooms half drenched and fully petrified but thankfully all alive. The Holy Plan failed again!

Thats it folks my first week of 2008 and my first week of second semister too!

P.S: I'm thinking about a post on The Pilgrimage that is our daily trips to DOMS to attend lectures.

P.P.S: I have no intentions of harming religious sentiments wrt my day 7.

P.P.P.S: I recently went to Mussoorie and its beautiful.