When they took him out of the ambulance he was tainted in so much blood that it was hard to speculate what was the original color of his shirt. The shirt, the stretcher, his visage and his body it was all blood red. There was mayhem all around him but he was motionless, so immobile that when he was carried to the ICU people in the passageway thought he was already dead. The stretcher was rushed through the corridor, lead by ward boys clearing space between the myriad pathetic and hapless incumbent of the place and followed by his panic stricken miserable family members.
Now he is struggling to cling to life or better say combating with death aided with numerous medical gizmos. His family has been told that his condition is sensitive and the next few hours are going to be critical. They are somberly crying, praying and waiting. His family consists of an old widow mother, a young unmarried sister and a soon to conceive wife. No other male but him. No other hope but him, who’s hope of surviving himself is right now abysmal.
He had a troubled childhood, one of abject scarcity and limitless struggle. His alcoholic father was almost lunatic and of little support and plenty of problem for family. In fact honestly speaking childhood never existed for him. His adverse situation turned him into a man too early than usual. In a man of constant sorrow and into a man of endless hardships. His mother’s limited love which was constrained by her own misery and his sister’s innocent affection was the only good thing which happened to him previous to he met the third of its kind, the adoring love of a wife. It’s nearly a year since they married.
Although his shop is a small one but is of great help to them. Just few days earlier he had said that he is expecting excellent sale in the coming festive season and will have adequate money to get his mother’s cataract operation done. Though there were other financial needs too, like wedding of sister, reimbursement of bank loan, repair of the dilapidated house among other, but this one was at the summit of priority order.
As a child he was always at loggerhead to the idea of God. His adversity made him an atheist by faith. At that time life had inadequate space and no reason to make him think of religion. Thought of endurance preoccupied his psyche. But as he grew financial protected and emotionally matured the atheist in him gave some space to the agnostic. And when his empty heart was poured with love the idea of divinity seemed more appealing to him. This would be the first Ramadan fasting for him.
To the transformed him religion meant a means to realize his soul, guidance in refraining from everyday evils and to purify him through self-restraint and good deeds. It brought harmony in his life. But the same thing can be so different concepts for different minds. Just when his life was through the commencement of happy days, today a group of self proclaimed religious guardian bombed the market while he was returning home after offering his daily namaz. It would have been just another serene day had not been done this act ‘In the name of God.’
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Cultural hypocrisy
Yesterday while traveling back to college after durgapuja vacation, I once again encountered a malady universal nationwide. It was like this; I had one attractive young lady seated near by. She must have been in her early twenties and probably was a college student. She seemed decent and looked incredibly innocent. She was very expressive when she was along with her family at the railway station but right that moment she was alone and appeared bit nervous. She was the only member of contrary gender amid a herd of bachelors and few wedded middle aged uncle’s seemingly discontented with the women they had back at home and surely intrigued with this solitary lass. All eyes were gazing her and exploring each and every nuance of her body. Most fascinating admirers were a father and son each one constrained by other yet unable to relinquish her magnetism. I kind of felt sorry for her to be tangled in this awkward situation and a bit sorry for the bachelors around who were exceedingly excited by her presence yet unable to convey it. But I felt much sorrier for those discontented uncle’s for whom life probably had no subsequent chances. In such circumstances my policy is to act as if I am too engrossed in the journal or novel in my hand that I am totally oblivious of the scene around. But that was a journey long enough to confirm that I was a dumb imbecile, if I continuously trailed that policy of mine. So meanwhile I swapped my eyes from my book to catch her eyes and glinted mine eyes in a manner to convey her ‘Look miss I do understand the gravity of this uneasy situation you are going through and I am very sorry for you and also I hope you understand this that I am not in anyway involved in it. But at the same time I am not in any position to help it and I hope you understand that too’.
Finally after few apparently long hours for her and too short a time for her admirers the train arrived at her destination and she left. With her was gone the obligation of sham outward show of each and everyone present and all were back to their originality. Sooner people initiated discussing about things relevant to their life and then moved ahead to the irrelevant ones. Mostly craps, I tell you. Among all this crap some restless soul instigated the usual ‘U.S. superiority’ Vs the ‘Rest of world’ chat which soon turned into ‘Rest of the world’ Vs ‘India’ chat and which was finally diverted into the cliché ‘India’s rich cultural heritage’ Vs the ‘profane western culture’ chat. (It’s really amazing how much we love to only ‘talk’ about our true Indian culture and rarely pursue it). Now in order to keep discussions going on and to look modern and pragmatic thinkers few took the western side. One could tell by merely looking into their eyes how nakedly modern they were. While the loyalists were busy emanating their points and the moderns were busy pushing their meager modern knowledge, someone among the patriots brought forward the point how women always were and still are respected in India like nowhere else. Well at this juncture, I who was till now silent and appeared ignorant among those enlightened minds thought of interrupting them and to remind them of their behavior when that pretty young thing was around. But something inside me forbids me to do so. My inner intuitions were approved when even the pretending modernist espoused the idea of women enjoying respectful and dignified position in India like nowhere else. And thus I witnessed yet another Indian cultural hypocrisy
Finally after few apparently long hours for her and too short a time for her admirers the train arrived at her destination and she left. With her was gone the obligation of sham outward show of each and everyone present and all were back to their originality. Sooner people initiated discussing about things relevant to their life and then moved ahead to the irrelevant ones. Mostly craps, I tell you. Among all this crap some restless soul instigated the usual ‘U.S. superiority’ Vs the ‘Rest of world’ chat which soon turned into ‘Rest of the world’ Vs ‘India’ chat and which was finally diverted into the cliché ‘India’s rich cultural heritage’ Vs the ‘profane western culture’ chat. (It’s really amazing how much we love to only ‘talk’ about our true Indian culture and rarely pursue it). Now in order to keep discussions going on and to look modern and pragmatic thinkers few took the western side. One could tell by merely looking into their eyes how nakedly modern they were. While the loyalists were busy emanating their points and the moderns were busy pushing their meager modern knowledge, someone among the patriots brought forward the point how women always were and still are respected in India like nowhere else. Well at this juncture, I who was till now silent and appeared ignorant among those enlightened minds thought of interrupting them and to remind them of their behavior when that pretty young thing was around. But something inside me forbids me to do so. My inner intuitions were approved when even the pretending modernist espoused the idea of women enjoying respectful and dignified position in India like nowhere else. And thus I witnessed yet another Indian cultural hypocrisy
Monday, October 13, 2008
Overlooked middle class
That was a stage when dish TV was still a fresh experiment in India, and a rare commodity in small towns akin to mine where having a dish connection destined getting loads of undesired frenzied cricket fiend in your drawing room to track team India when they were overseas and no more accessible on Doordarshan (however watching gregariously helped to put up with the gloom of loses we consistently guzzled on foreign soil). I was privileged (still wary) to have it near the beginning. That was also the stage which I used up by and large watching no matter what on TV. It was a time when I was entirely eclectic and robotically followed the whole lot. Thus I have a reasonably first-rate experience of Hindi cinema under my belt. Though I am not proficient to keep track of it from past few years as for a while I was busy in preparation for highly demanding cutthroat competitive exams (though what I finally landed in makes me feel ‘Was that worth?’) and after that I was struck by Hollywood masterpieces (so you see, I take no lessons from life).
Now though I don’t watch them anymore, but few innovative and creative exceptions, still by following the trailers on TV and internet I observed that all most all the bollywood yield are either dealing with a same monotonous stories based in a high societies aristocratic backdrop or on underworld and criminals psychology. We have one camp of director, producer delivering feel good movies full of pomp and show illustrating all the exotic and striking locations, big mansion, costliest automobiles, sexiest and shortest attire, cosmopolitan lifestyles, latest trends, phoniest dialogues and exceedingly illusory characters (karan jauhar is a champ in this group). Then we have another camp delivering movie depicting criminal mindsets, filthy language, underworlds jargon, scrupulous politics, unwrap prostitution, intricacies of pervert system, crooked officials and one indomitable chap against all odds (Ram Gopal verma leads here). Then there are also some who are on the go creating senseless and irrational potboilers (Faraha Khan is the Queen in this genre).
If we leave aside some very rare exceptions than in past few years hardly any movie was made showing the simplicity of a common man’s life and the middle class way of affairs. Gone are times when a Hrishikesh Mukherjee touched the cords of entertainment with the fingers of an ordinary man to create eternal tone of art. Gone are the times when just an Amol Palekaer and Uttpal Dutt were all it needed to create a spectacular success of peerless comedy.
When I think why it is so that middle class has been omitted from silver screen in India I get few response. One is may be the geniuses of olden days have already exploited all the stories which could be possibly thought of as entertaining regarding this class. A second notion says may be the general mass itself is not much fascinated in paying to see the same melancholy of his day to day life on screen and perceiving this fact the directors are reluctant to make such ones. My third speculation is as mostly the filmmakers themselves are from the cream of the crop elite class and are not much sentient of the ramification and shade of life of middle class and are incapable to discover it now they vacillate to make a movie on it. Whatever the exact reason or reasons may be, indubitably (no may be) there is large interlude of absence of movies of this particular genre and thus creates a space which if proficiently exploited can ensure good returns to filmmakers. Now seeing that management gurus like Mr. Arindham Chaudhary and corporate houses like Reliance are trying hand in moviemaking may be someday they may realize this fact and we may be fortunate enough to witness few may be classics of this genre in our era and may reply our parents ‘See its not all crap, still we have lots of movies which make sense.’ Till then it’s only a lot of MAY be.
Now though I don’t watch them anymore, but few innovative and creative exceptions, still by following the trailers on TV and internet I observed that all most all the bollywood yield are either dealing with a same monotonous stories based in a high societies aristocratic backdrop or on underworld and criminals psychology. We have one camp of director, producer delivering feel good movies full of pomp and show illustrating all the exotic and striking locations, big mansion, costliest automobiles, sexiest and shortest attire, cosmopolitan lifestyles, latest trends, phoniest dialogues and exceedingly illusory characters (karan jauhar is a champ in this group). Then we have another camp delivering movie depicting criminal mindsets, filthy language, underworlds jargon, scrupulous politics, unwrap prostitution, intricacies of pervert system, crooked officials and one indomitable chap against all odds (Ram Gopal verma leads here). Then there are also some who are on the go creating senseless and irrational potboilers (Faraha Khan is the Queen in this genre).
If we leave aside some very rare exceptions than in past few years hardly any movie was made showing the simplicity of a common man’s life and the middle class way of affairs. Gone are times when a Hrishikesh Mukherjee touched the cords of entertainment with the fingers of an ordinary man to create eternal tone of art. Gone are the times when just an Amol Palekaer and Uttpal Dutt were all it needed to create a spectacular success of peerless comedy.
When I think why it is so that middle class has been omitted from silver screen in India I get few response. One is may be the geniuses of olden days have already exploited all the stories which could be possibly thought of as entertaining regarding this class. A second notion says may be the general mass itself is not much fascinated in paying to see the same melancholy of his day to day life on screen and perceiving this fact the directors are reluctant to make such ones. My third speculation is as mostly the filmmakers themselves are from the cream of the crop elite class and are not much sentient of the ramification and shade of life of middle class and are incapable to discover it now they vacillate to make a movie on it. Whatever the exact reason or reasons may be, indubitably (no may be) there is large interlude of absence of movies of this particular genre and thus creates a space which if proficiently exploited can ensure good returns to filmmakers. Now seeing that management gurus like Mr. Arindham Chaudhary and corporate houses like Reliance are trying hand in moviemaking may be someday they may realize this fact and we may be fortunate enough to witness few may be classics of this genre in our era and may reply our parents ‘See its not all crap, still we have lots of movies which make sense.’ Till then it’s only a lot of MAY be.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Small town boy
Today I read an awful chauvinism titled ‘’Small-town Boy” in editorial column of TOI by some bigot Ramakrishnan Sundaram. It proclaimed itself to be a discourse on rustic wisdom but happened to be a ‘prejudiced’ discourse on rustic wisdom. It started with a deliberate exaggerated perversion of a simple remark of Mahindra Singh Dhoni, accusing him to be an arrogant skipper fecklessly biased to his small town teammates and having a supercilious and scornful attitude for players displaying metro mores. Mr. Ramakrishnan considered it heavily disdainful of a small town chap trying to stay in touch with his small town roots by accessing news on it via electronic media. Mr. Ramakrishnan crosses the limits with the lines “Don’t be confused by the accent; thanks to his town’s engineering college, he was writing codes at back room in the bay area before the dot com bubble burst and he was benched again”. The writer feels compassion for those working in organization headed by a small Towner cause he believes the intelligent metro cultured worker their have to play a mediocre and have to abandon there dazzling ideas (ditched by the chief) and follow the mundane stratagem of the small town wits.
The article, altogether, is just another indifferent opinion of a snob for small town people. Or it may be the frustration of Mr. Ramakrishnan after some mere embarrassing incident with some particular guy from a small town but that does not entitle him to form a droopy outlook for all the small town guys based on few minor incidents. And what is more appalling is how an article in such a dire flavor was allowed by the editor to materialize in a newspaper of nationwide (including small towns) circulation and paramount influence. TOI is not like “Samana”, a space to scribe personal hatred of a chauvinist targeting a particular group. A newspaper like it cannot afford to reduce itself to be a channel for the flow of parochialisms.
And regarding you Mr. Ramakrishnan let me toss some light on your so called ‘wisdom’. Firstly you have no constitutional rights to tamper with the statements of celebrated personalities to serve your individual goals. Dhoni’s statement meant to provide prodding for new comers from small town facing the frenzy fan following and inevitable attention of global media. It was never like contrasting Sachin with Raina on the basis of their background.
Secondly, how can staying in touch with your roots be something one should be embarrassed about? It’s only cause of pig-headed persons like you that an average Indian feels no sense of National pride.
Thirdly, with regard to your haughty view on software professionals from small town let me tell you these are the people who have created a brand value of Indian professionals abroad. Mr. Ramakrishnan just find some time and visit few premier institutes of engineering like IITs and NITs and you will come to know the origin of the guys who are driving the cradle of technological leadership. And to add to your information database, Reliance one of India’s largest business organizations was founded by a small town boy from chorwad, Gujarat. And one of the leading business consultants, the mystic man, Ramcharan was once a small town lad. They are shinning example of small town boys making it big globally and more importantly they are not the few lonely examples but there is a whole legion of such Dheerubhais and Ramcharans.
And lastly Mr. Ramakrishnan I request you to ask your parents in which city were Ram and Krishna born. Or in case you are a non-believer (as you find it embarrassing to stick to one’s root) than at least search where were these religious characters emanated.
Hope you got it.
The article, altogether, is just another indifferent opinion of a snob for small town people. Or it may be the frustration of Mr. Ramakrishnan after some mere embarrassing incident with some particular guy from a small town but that does not entitle him to form a droopy outlook for all the small town guys based on few minor incidents. And what is more appalling is how an article in such a dire flavor was allowed by the editor to materialize in a newspaper of nationwide (including small towns) circulation and paramount influence. TOI is not like “Samana”, a space to scribe personal hatred of a chauvinist targeting a particular group. A newspaper like it cannot afford to reduce itself to be a channel for the flow of parochialisms.
And regarding you Mr. Ramakrishnan let me toss some light on your so called ‘wisdom’. Firstly you have no constitutional rights to tamper with the statements of celebrated personalities to serve your individual goals. Dhoni’s statement meant to provide prodding for new comers from small town facing the frenzy fan following and inevitable attention of global media. It was never like contrasting Sachin with Raina on the basis of their background.
Secondly, how can staying in touch with your roots be something one should be embarrassed about? It’s only cause of pig-headed persons like you that an average Indian feels no sense of National pride.
Thirdly, with regard to your haughty view on software professionals from small town let me tell you these are the people who have created a brand value of Indian professionals abroad. Mr. Ramakrishnan just find some time and visit few premier institutes of engineering like IITs and NITs and you will come to know the origin of the guys who are driving the cradle of technological leadership. And to add to your information database, Reliance one of India’s largest business organizations was founded by a small town boy from chorwad, Gujarat. And one of the leading business consultants, the mystic man, Ramcharan was once a small town lad. They are shinning example of small town boys making it big globally and more importantly they are not the few lonely examples but there is a whole legion of such Dheerubhais and Ramcharans.
And lastly Mr. Ramakrishnan I request you to ask your parents in which city were Ram and Krishna born. Or in case you are a non-believer (as you find it embarrassing to stick to one’s root) than at least search where were these religious characters emanated.
Hope you got it.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Chemistry Behind “FALLING” In Love
The remark chemistry in the title is not in the figurative sense but literal. Unquestionably you must have pondered over why it is always falling in love why it isn’t in the other way, rising in love. Well I do recollect a commentary in TOI’s ‘speaking tree’ discourse where some maharishi sermonized over how to ascend in love. Though I did not bothered much about it as it, more often than not, dealt with universal brotherly sort of love, which is a perplexing concept even in the locality of Philadelphia (the city of brotherly love).
Now let us scan this love virus through a rational perspective. The cheeky citation which once an eventful Mr. Einstein remarked on the question of love is proverbial. He cited “Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love”. It’s straightforward. We all can identify that. But Mr. Einstein with all his consummate and innate physicist flair failed to convey a theory of ‘falling’ in love, may be he would have included this issue in his theory of everything which haplessly is still been devised. Thus all the physics, till present, fails here.
Switching over to biology and neurophysiology in hunt of a plausible elucidation. It appears so vexed to an engineer like me. Also at the end it talks about the various chemical processes engendered in brain, the heart is conspicuous by its very absence. They say in love it all originates from heart and biology projects it as a miniature human cranium stained in oodles of blood. That’s why biology is so soporific. So I stirred to chemistry of which I can claim to have a little acquaintance (although it was nightmarish in preparatory days).My darling topic in it was ‘Atomic Structure’ (as it was damn plain), and luckily I figured my much sought after answers there alone.
Remember drawing the energy diagram during formation of ionic bonds. The underlying theory is: “As opposite charges attracts each other therefore the electrons fall towards the nucleus and as they get nearer the energy of the entire system dwindles which thus leads to stability of the system”. A parallel rationalization of ‘loveology’ for the vindication of the falling term could be “Lovers attract each other (opposite pairs provided they are straight), this brings them closer (In our institution at the onset library is their citadel though later on if love prevails they scour out all the exotic locations where their contingent is in preponderance). The energetic inanity and seemingly endless drivel telephonic sessions (at one of the cheapest rate worldwide) is a highly demanding process (so energy is naturally lowered). The complexity involved in the process hardly leaves someone with time for any other activity, and thus stability comes as a byproduct.”
Remember drawing the energy diagram during formation of ionic bonds. The underlying theory is: “As opposite charges attracts each other therefore the electrons fall towards the nucleus and as they get nearer the energy of the entire system dwindles which thus leads to stability of the system”. A parallel rationalization of ‘loveology’ for the vindication of the falling term could be “Lovers attract each other (opposite pairs provided they are straight), this brings them closer (In our institution at the onset library is their citadel though later on if love prevails they scour out all the exotic locations where their contingent is in preponderance). The energetic inanity and seemingly endless drivel telephonic sessions (at one of the cheapest rate worldwide) is a highly demanding process (so energy is naturally lowered). The complexity involved in the process hardly leaves someone with time for any other activity, and thus stability comes as a byproduct.”
Ironically most of these phenomenons often end into feud. Now tell me how such a complex milieu could leads to a rising situation unless and until it is an illusory Bollywood movie? It may look blasphemous to few and raise some ire. But boss in case your love story is true (CAUTION think again: which is the rarest of things to discover) than the stability which your fall will fetch is pious and virtuous one. Still if you are at loggerheads feel free to scribe your comments.
P.S. U still can post comments even if my analysis is at par with U. Now U will say he is hungry for it.
Monday, August 18, 2008
THE LOST SYMMETRY
Have you ever reflected over the significance of symmetry in creation of universe? I believe it enjoyed an alpha incumbency in God’s psyche when he was busy in creation. It is just a private judgment and one is free to squabble in favor of the ‘Divine Proportion’ (Mr. Dan Brown we owe you great deal of gratitude to introduce us with it when all our mathematics teachers failed to do so), but still the symmetry factor is more palpable one. Infact it is it’s omnipresence that we shell out no heed to it. It need not takes a bona fide geometrician in us to appreciate the symmetry in life. Either be it we the Homo sapiens or other living creatures, either be the trees or be the mountains, either be the celestial bodies and their elliptical orbits or be the minuscule atoms every single one flaunts symmetry. Thanks to our forefathers who reverentially esteemed its relevance and so imitated it in all human conception either be it the mighty pyramids or something as basic as poetry and verses.
I for myself paid no heed to it ere I attended our last hostel foregathering. Don’t assume that we were given any sermon on it by a faculty and in case if they delivered who cares to give even a single byte of their limited oomph to them. Never do I (and given that you found time to read this blog my conjecture is nor do you). Friends I legitimately believe that one is the paramount pedagogue for oneself, and experiences are the real lessons to be learnt (which I myself do sporadically).
It happened so that when after the soporific congregation was over and populaces were energetically swarming out of the foyer, someone inadvertently swapped his left base slipper with that of mine, as they both were alike in all respect but only the size (I wonder how he naively missed to admire the disparity). Being the last to egress, I was left with no alternative but to plant my legs in the vaguely disparate pair. Now whenever I use them uneasiness prevails and I try my level best not to anywhere make it conspicuous to others. The very gaze of them exasperates and I curse the person who mistakenly did so and then I curse my very stance to linger till the pandemonium ends prior to exiting an entrance. But nevertheless it compelled me to identify the grand evenness clandestinely around. Thank you my lost symmetry.
P.S.- Though the blog is not intended amid this reason but in case if you are the hapless possessor of the other pair please just let me know.
I for myself paid no heed to it ere I attended our last hostel foregathering. Don’t assume that we were given any sermon on it by a faculty and in case if they delivered who cares to give even a single byte of their limited oomph to them. Never do I (and given that you found time to read this blog my conjecture is nor do you). Friends I legitimately believe that one is the paramount pedagogue for oneself, and experiences are the real lessons to be learnt (which I myself do sporadically).
It happened so that when after the soporific congregation was over and populaces were energetically swarming out of the foyer, someone inadvertently swapped his left base slipper with that of mine, as they both were alike in all respect but only the size (I wonder how he naively missed to admire the disparity). Being the last to egress, I was left with no alternative but to plant my legs in the vaguely disparate pair. Now whenever I use them uneasiness prevails and I try my level best not to anywhere make it conspicuous to others. The very gaze of them exasperates and I curse the person who mistakenly did so and then I curse my very stance to linger till the pandemonium ends prior to exiting an entrance. But nevertheless it compelled me to identify the grand evenness clandestinely around. Thank you my lost symmetry.
P.S.- Though the blog is not intended amid this reason but in case if you are the hapless possessor of the other pair please just let me know.
ARRIVING ON THE SCENE
Arriving so late makes it appear as if I am just following the bandwagon and may be I am. But scribbling out my mind on my diary pages has always been something eternal to me as I find it hard to articulate it to others, I blame this to my introversion often misunderstood. Feelings are still akin just the venue has altered.
Finding nothing motivating in my classes and reluctant to waste my time in asinine pointless gossips I habitually switch to the last pages of my notebook (the only page which reflects an individual). Most of the things posted here will be the one emanated in the gloomiest hour of my working day…....Yes my classroom hours.
Finding nothing motivating in my classes and reluctant to waste my time in asinine pointless gossips I habitually switch to the last pages of my notebook (the only page which reflects an individual). Most of the things posted here will be the one emanated in the gloomiest hour of my working day…....Yes my classroom hours.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)