DAIICT Bangalore Meet -2

The Bangalore meet was quite a success.
With around 20+ people who could make it to the dark broken streets of Kagadasspura despite facing the odds of utterly bad Bangalore traffic it was worth the efforts.
Sharma and Honey played the perfect host with all kind of food varieties, that was available in the vicinity ,which included Alu ka Paranthas, Bread-Samosas, Cold drinks, nakeens and Cheese-"Lings" (A new gender coined by Desi, there are Purlings, Strilings and now Cheeselings, and as per the eye witnesses DVD was enjoying the third gender). The timely remembrance by Laddu that he has got Rosogollas at his home came as a pleasant surprise to all considering the stories floating in the air about his forgetfulness.
It was the usual Bakaiti sammelan with Barve and DVD being the prime targets of the leg pulling. Barve being the Chaatu and DVD teaching the lesson of "Respaacting" the women.
Though Sharma's marriage topic was also brought into the discussion but the news that Kaka is getting married in Feb 2008 was a great surprise. Though the news has come up from very reliable and close sources to Kaka, but we still want Kaka to confirm it. BTW Congratulations Kaka.

Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar....

Yestrday evening I saw this beautifully created movie for the umpteenth number of time. Everytime I see this movie it leaves me with an excited feeling of joy and celebration. The climax scene is so wonderfully shot that even after knowing the ending you are always sitting on the edge of your seat and your heart ready to skip the beat. But finally the dark horse comes out of its failure and proves its worth.
I have always wondred what is there with success that everybody wants it? No body wants to be satisfied with the failure? Its a well known proverb..Behind every successfull man there is a woman...but I think behind every successful man there are a few unsuccessful man..who are all worth the same, have the same potential but somehow failed. I guess this "somehow" is the thing that seperates the success from failure.
Everybody joins in the celebration of success but very few become a partner of the failure. But that is the time when a person needs the maximum support from his family, his friends and may be even the society. Its the time of rejection, pain, disappointment. Sometimes life looses its meaing and that few moments become the unanswerable question mark in your life. People around you look at you with a suspicion of you mettle never realising that they might be pushing you over the edge that you may never be able to bounce back.

But then do we really care for a loser??

LIfe in a Boyz school...

Life in an all boyz school....surely sounds quite boring in itself...doesnt it...well may be yes..may be not...depends on the way we want to see it....
Studying in all boys school was an experience worth having....We grew up in a community where girls had no place....from the time when girls used to be the sissies playing with dolls and marrying them and so on...it was time when we were enjoying our cycle rides, gali cricket and other outdoor activities....then came the time when we reached adolescence...now whats that?? well it was the time when we started taking notice of the surrounding...we started noticing that a different species exist on the planet who were till now hidden somewhere in the closets and suddenly making their presence felt....
We have our new found interests....Moving around on the streets and markets we found something which would make our heads turn and eyes getting stuck...hmmm so the hormones are having some effect....and is it only on us...NO !!....they are also looking back at us....well that was a big satisfaction and ego booster...
But then all this ogling activity was very restricted as being a good boy the daily schdule was to go to school and come straight back to home....and here comes the tragedy of being in the only boys school....no sight seeing...totally devoid of all the goodie feelings....We all would be waiting for the board exams...you must be wondering why?? hows that realted to this topic...well that was the feast time of the school....the school was the examination center for an all girls school...this period was awaited like a festival....all the boys hanging on the classroom windows to catch a glimpse...."hey !! check her out!!"...."She's a bomb..." and all the similar sounding and meaning adjectives were thrown in the air...for the few lucky ones who were outside the classroom were the most envied ones....another most awaited time was the annual school fest..where the girls from the all girls school would be taking part in the fest.. that would mean another 3 days of companionship with the fairer gender....ok ok..not companionship...just the visibility of them....but how does it matter...
But life in only boys school is not just girls.....it was a total masti time for us...being what we were....cracking the non veg jokes and the lingo containing more abuses than the nouns and adjectives...staying aways from all the b*tCh&%ng....and the faltoo ka sentiyapa....it was fun...playin volley ball for hours and hours....or fighting over petty issues..just to show our growing machoism....we werre what we were....no pretentions and no show off!!!
After all men will be men!!!!

A matter of life and death

A few days back one of my friend was supposed to have an eye operation. Signing the formal papers and understanding the whole operation process and its complications she all set for the operation. But then this doctor had a great idea of inviting her to see the operation procedure on the other patients before her in the line. While she was seeing the patient getting anaesthesia, then the cornea being cut up, things started getting too messy and raw and may be too frightfull for a non medical person to see. The whole idea that these things would be done on her eyes was enough for her to get scared and drop the whole idea of her operation. People around her had a good reason for laugh and make fun of her. But somehow I could relate to the whole incidence quite well, as I was a witness to such raw and scary incidence myself.

Travelling in Bangalore is always a nightmare and specially for the two wheelers riders with the Cabs and Lorries zipping and zooming around. Though the two wheeler drivers are no less responsible for reckless driving and creating a dangerous situation for themselves. Since the day I came to Banalgore there has not been a single week when I have not witnessed an accident, luckily they were all minor ones. But last week I saw the most horrible scene in my life. While coming on the Outer Ring Road from KR Puram to Hebbal I saw a motorcycle driver crushed to death by a lorry. The accident had taken place about 4-5 mins before I reached the place. At first I could not see what has happened and there were some cars arround the place and then I saw a body lying on the road. My first intution was he is just injured and we can take him to the hospital, but then i suddenly noticed that his skull was wide open and his gray matter spread around on the road. It was a horrifying scene and I could feel blood getting freezed in my veins and my brain just stopped working. I ould not think what I should do, should I stay there and do something but what do I do? I could not stand the situation and just drove away. I know I was a coward but that moment seeing all that I could not do more and I dont think that I could have done anything staying there also.

A few kilometers down the road I found a Lorry stopped in the middle of the road and 1-2 people talking to a guy looking like the driver of the lorry. On the next traffic signal I went upto the traffic police man and told him about the accident. He got busy on the wireless and started directing the patrolling vehicle to the accident spot. Then he cam up to me and told me that the lorry driver has been caught and been beaten like a donkey by the mob, and from his tone it looked like even he was not interested in saving him. At that moment I was left wondering will beating the driver help anyone or can it bring back the life of that biker. Though it looks quite evident that the fault would have been of the lorry driver as he was driving the bigger vehicle and by default he has to be the one responsible. But I am not sure if that would be true becuase one thing that I had noticed and which got stuck in my mind was the biker's helmet was perfectly fine and single piece, that means he was not wearing a helmet at the fatefull moment. As I had not seen the accident so cannot tell who was the person responsible for the accident but I am sure the biker was reckless in taking care of himself. Driving on the Ring Road at late night was never safe and on top of that if someone is not wearing a helmet its almost an open invitaion to death.

I myself luckily escaped a similar accident during college days when I was not wearing a helmet and was stuck by a lorry on the highway, but I have lost a very very close friend of mine when hit by a speeding truck. With the stressed life we are always carrying a burden on our heads may be of not missing the project dealines or reaching office on time, we are always under the time pressure. Over speeding cars, trucks, bikes, cabs and lorries are all part of this time pressure. Looking back at these incidences is very painfull but gives me only one lesson, though the matter of life and death is not in our hand but to try to save ourselves is surely in our hand. If we drive safely and sensibly and understand our responsibilites on the road we can surely save our life and may be of others.

Tempo Stand

Imagine a platform where you could contribute your own music, meet up with various artists form all over and even get together and release your own album!! Well TempoStand offers you that and much more…

TempoStand is a platform that promotes independent musicians in India. It is not specific to any genre. Hindustani, Sufi, Folk, Rock, Jazz, Punk, Carnatic, Blues and all other genres are invited. The more crazier it is the better. To be a part of TempoStand you only need to be original. Everything on the site is Creative Commons BY-SA, so everyone is free to mix and share.

TempoStand aims at being a complete music portal, a place where people can create, share, mix, remix music. It aims to foster creativity in music and grows with the user. It provides a common platform to all bands which dont have a banner’s, as well as solo artists in the country independent of the genre of the music they create. It is an attempt to provide a chance to the many artists, musicians, and composers who fade into the oblivion because they do not have resources to reach out to the audience.

In just 45 days of its launch they have announced their first album Light. Featuring 8 artists from Ahmedabad, Light’s music is categorized under classical, semi classical, folk, fusion, instrumental, jugalbandi, light classical and sugam sangeet. TempoStand offers its users the unique opportunity to hear the songs before actually placing an order for the album. Users can hear to the songs online and if they like them can then place a order.

Visit their official site ( www.tempostand.com )

Reservation in Politics???

I was reading about the stay order by the Supreme Court of India on the extension of Resrvation quota for OBC's being implemented in the institutes like IIT's and IIMs, and its really wonderfull to see the political parties coming to con sensus on the same topic. If they could do so on lot more issues of national interest I am sure India could have been a totally different country all together. The political party in on voice are raising voices against the intervention of judicary in the poilitcal system of India, which for the least have been beneficial for the greater mass in most of the cases. This stay order is an interesting one as it does not rule against the reservation system but has raised the concern over the % of OBC popultaion and questions the base i.e. the 1931 population distribution. So if the political paries can come with the manipulated census indicating the OBC population to be approximately the same as they are forecasting right now, then this stay does not have any significance. The future, of the more deserving, un reserved candidates already fighting for the very few available seats in these institutes, looks to be quite bleak.
Another interesting thought that came to my mind was will these politicians who are standing together for reservations in education and in private jobs will be as willing to have 49.5% reservation in politica also. Will they allow to have half the people coming into Parliament and Legislative Assembly be from the SC, ST and OBC's ? I am sure none of them would even dare to think about such a thing as it would reduce their chance to gain such powerfull positions where they can make the money for their whole life and next 7 births, give all kinds of benefits to their family. At that time they would never think of the equality rights to education and work. If we need reservation in all the other fields than I think we do need reservation in politics also to represnt the "true" India. And most interesting would be the case of T.N which has about 75% reservation :D
Lets see if these politicians have the enough guts to do so.

India's World Cup Triumph

Well it looks to be the end of the world cup 2007 journey for India, untill and unless there is a miracle tomorrow and Bermuda beats Bangladesh. HAHAHA....Now we have to depend on Bermuda to give us an entry in the Super 8. A big WOW to the cricket gods of India Tendulkar, Gangul, Dravid, Sehwag, Dhoni and more than that to the millions of people of India who were struck to their TV screens waiting them to reach the target which always looked very well achievable. But never during the match with Sri Lanka it looked like India was fighting for the lost pride, they never looked like they can ever be the world champion with their present attitude.
We have been talking about this world cup probably being the last one for Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid, and if that is the case yesterday's match was the last for them in the world cup. I wonder if this thought ever came to their minds that they need to show why 100 million people have been praising them and worshiping them for years. They had to fire, they had to hold their ground, rotate the strike and all the good things in the cricket book that the commentators keep on talking about. But look at them Tendulkar in the last match of his last world cup gets out on ZERO by a bowler who has probably not played even one-fourth of the match played by Tendulkar, Dhoni never knew where the ball pitched, Ganguly playing a shot in air as if going for Gilchrist style.
I do not want to discuss at great details of what team India did wrong, their decisions, their strategies, the team composition and so many topics that we will be a part of hot discussion throughout India. People of all age group, income group, political interests or whatever differences will be surely disappointed and disheartened with what has happened.
The way they played I think they deserve to come back home at the earliest and go to exile.

The pic is what I received 2 days back as a forward and at that time laughed about it, but it has turned out to be a reality....

First Blog !!!

I am not sure what will be there in my first blog, its just an experiment I am trying my hands at as I have never been into writing. Sometimes I do feel like writing down my thoughts but I have a big problem that I cannot concentrate on a topic for a long time, my thoughts keep on wandering so I am not sure for how long I can write on a topic without getting diverted OR if I can even write my second blog!!
Presently I am planning to write mostly about my experiences in Bangalore but may be sometime can add more variety to it.