LORD OF THE MINDS

As the 9:15 am Jet Airways flight (which was delayed 15 mins due to some idiots who turned up late at the check-in counter) turned to face the runway and start its run towards the sky, towards its destination - Kolkata, my eyes fell upon the words “Bangalore International Airport” and I closed my eyes, tired and somewhat moist. Somehow I felt empty, somewhere there was a void.
36 days ago when the GD/PI results for Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM Lucknow) came out, I was overjoyed. They were published the day before but I didn’t have the courage to look them up (yeah... I too can be scared at times, especially when it’s a life changing event). Moreover the site was unstable and results inconsistent. So I waited a night to see my results. It turned out to be the second longest night of my life (The longest being the night before my CAT exam). My roommate Navoneel was the one to tell me the good news. In a split second, my life had changed. No more was I a struggler. I had made it. I had fulfilled my dream. I had triumphed, finally. What made the news even more sweet was that my childhood friend – Adarsh had made it to IIML too (We were in the same class in high school too. So we were going back to school, albeit a b-school, together).
The celebrations had started before that. We had had an amazing IPL match outing (even though Kolkata Knight Riders lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore, overall the match was fun) in mid-April. That was followed by a crazy Loyola Reunion which included beer, tequila and marijuana (kudos to GVS for that). I bet we ‘took it to the next level’. But things went berserk after the 29th.
The month that followed included trips to Hard Rock Cafe (one on a Thursday to watch a live band performance... awesome \m/), numerous movies (mostly the Friday 10PM show at Big Cinemas), countless lunch/dinner parties (especially the one at Koshy's), my first birthday party where I didn’t touch alcohol and had vegetarian food (veg. food can be lovely too), my career-best performance at Amoeba bowling (right after my career-worst performance), some lovely cooking at home (we made Chicken curry one Sunday afternoon), farewell parties with amazing gifts (that show-piece was beautiful, thanks guys) and fantabulous IIML achievers and alumni meets. I don’t know how it could have been better.
Then the time came to bid goodbye to MindTree. I had prepared 5 versions of my ‘bbye mail’ and even a video of my days at Cadence (my last project in MindTree). Last day included some tearful moments (from the girls of my project who saw the video and the mail) and some hurting ones (from the last day bumps that is). I surrendered my tag and finally lost my MindTree Mind status. At that moment, I didn’t know whether it felt good or bad, but somehow it felt very different.
So, now I am at the 'Bengaluru International Airport', waiting; waiting for my flight to Kolkata; waiting for the journey that I had planned to make long time ago; waiting to end a phase of my life (so that I can start a new one); waiting for a 'change' in my life. But somehow a part of mine didn't want to make that trip, partly because of the fear of torturous weather which I later get to know in Kolkata was atrocious, partly because of the wonderful party life I was enjoying in Bangalore (How I wish I could have had more... :( ) and partly because of.... I don't know! Am I missing something or am I missing someone?

क्या समझोगे आप हमारी ज़हानत को,
आपसे नाता हम तोड्द देंगे |
ना बर्दाश्त करेंगे ऐसी ज़िल्लत,
एक दिन इस दुनिया को ही छोडद देंगे |

कितने ही आंसू झलके हैं,
कितना ही रोया है दिल,
ईतनी चाहत से जो पाने निकले थे,
वोह ना हुआ हासिल |

या खुदा सुन ले मेरी पुकार,
सिर्फ तुझी से रखता हूँ मैं आस |
पूरी कर दे मेरी मोहब्बत,
या बुला ले अपने पास |

आज मुझे बारिश में भींग जाने दो,
फिर उस गीली मिट्टी की खुश्बू को महसूस करने दो,
कब तक रोक के रखोगे,
कभी तो इस दर्द में थोड़ी उमंग भरने दो!

It was 5 in the morning. The taxi was running at breathtaking speed. The sound of the motor accompanied by the infrequent honking was tearing the morning calm which lies on the roads of North Kolkata; Jessore Road in this case. Occasionally, some homeless street dweller peeped out of his rags with scornful eyes scolding us for breaking his sweet sleep. It was cold and misty outside but I felt warm. Partly because of the wonderful 'Pepe Jeans' jacket that I was wearing but mostly because of the fact that I had had a peaceful week long vacation away from the hectic life in Bangalore and the atrocities at work.
The taxi took a turn towards the approach road of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. Within an hour, I would be heading back to Bangalore via a 6:30 am IndiGo flight. And it was then that I realized how much 'change' I had witnessed over the past week. Attitudes, cultures, music, roads, transportation, Kolkata; in short, Life had changed. I was like the NRB (Non-Resident Bengali) coming back to his homeland wishing to see it as it was - untouched, unstained, pure; just as he had left it only to realize that it wasn't. It had changed. It had evolved. It had moved on.
10 days ago when my 10 am SpiceJet flight from Bangalore touched down at the NSCBI airport in Kolkata, I was relieved. Not because the flight had landed safe but because I had successfully managed to escape. Escape from office, from ever-demanding bosses, from the harrowing life that I was leading in Bangalore over the past month. Then when I came out of the airport, I saw the first 'change'. Beautiful Volvo buses waiting outside ready to whisk us away to whichever corner of the city we wanted to go. We got on one which was going to Tollygunj via the VIP Road. It was similar to the ones we travelled in in Bangalore; just as comfortable, just as fast and just as smooth. But that was not all. Most of the old 1970's/1980's private buses had been replaced with JN Nurm buses too. Cool!
So had Kolkata finally grown up? Had it changed its mindset and started accepting the norms set worldwide instead of creating its own and following it?
There was so much more which had changed in the city. Kolkata Metro had added more stations and renamed some of the existing ones to its legendary Bengalis' names. There were station names like Mahanayak Uttam Kumar, Kavi Nazrul and Masterda Surya Sen. Some way to uphold Bengali culture! Ah yes, the legendary CPI(M) leader and ex-Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu had expired; but he was still in the hearts of the people (as claimed by the "shouting" posters all throughout the city). To my amazement, Bengali film industry fondly known as Tollywood had started incorporating Bangla Rock in its songs. Wow! Thats some advancement.
Now lets cut short to 4th of February. I was in Kolkata (somewhere near Dum Dum) attending my dear friend - Raja's wedding. In between I had made a 3 day trip to Jamshedpur, met up with our 12D's King KC - Joshi who is now enlightening XLRI with his amazing "skills", taken some friends out for dinner, bitterly broken up with a once-dear friend and yes, got some much-needed car driving practice. The wedding was a wonderful ceremony, the typical traditional Bengali wedding complete with the Subho-drishti, mala-bodol and basi biye; nothing different from the other ones that I had attended before. But somehow it got me thinking. Was it time for me to plan for my other life, the one apart from my career? Was it time to come out of that pub-hopping, weekend timepassing, HIMYM (for those who don't know what it is - its the acronym for 'How I Met Your Mother'; if you still don't know what that means, leave it.) watching life? Was it time to get serious about stuff other than my profession?
So there I was at the NSCBI airport in Kolkata, waiting for my flight back to Bangalore. Back to that hectic life. Back to that daily struggle albeit with some new energy. But what occupied my thoughts were those questions, those "changes". Kolkata, people there, my friends had "changed". So do I need to do the same? Do I need to "Change"? Or had I changed already?

दोसतों के बीच भी क्यूँ खोया खोया सा रहता हूँ,
अपनों के बीच भी क्यूँ तन्हाई महसूस करता हूँ,
यह कैसा असर है आपकी जुदाई का,
कि दुनिया जीतने पर भी हार महसूस करता हूँ |

इस शेर में हमारी मदद करने के लिए Shreenivasan, Nipanjana, Sutapa और Shailesh को हमारी तरफ़ से धन्यवाद |

Cross-posted on:

यूँ तो हम निकल पड़े थे येह दुनिया जीतने,
पर आखरी पड़ाव पर हार गए |
ऐसा लगा आपका तीर निशाने पर,
चोट दिल पे लगी और हम घायल हो गए |

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जो पाने निकला था वोह मिला नहीं,
जो मिला उसे रख सका नहीं,
यह कैसी अजीब कहानी है मेरी ज़िन्दगी की,
कि जिससे सब पाया उसे हासिल कर सका नहीं |

Cross-posted on:

Q: What goes through your mind when you go to the theatre to watch a highly anticipated movie like 'Kaminey'?
A: You want a crisp story, good direction, brilliant performances, nice songs... In other words you want a total paisa vasool show.
And Kaminey delivers just that. In these times of utter crappy movies (like Kambakht Ishq) or total bore ones (like New York) or somewhat ok ones (like Love Aaj Kal), this movie comes like a breath of fresh air. And a lot of the credit goes to the director - Vishal Bharadwaj.
So lets start with the story. This is probably Shahid's first movie where he has a double role. One as Charlie - a gangster who wants to be a bookie, lisps (pronounces S as F). The other brother, Guddu - an NGO worker who has big dreams, stammers and loves Sweety (played by the gorgeous Priyanka Chopra). Both got separated when their father committed suicide and went separate ways. Then during one of inter-gang-crossfires Charlie hits jackpot when he gets cocaine worth ten crores in the 'guitar' . Guddu gets Sweety pregnant and so has to marry her. But then he realizes that she is the sister of a top goon - Bhope bhau, who in turn wants to become a politician. What follows is a pacy story of how they get out of the mess and claim their lives. Not once will you yawn during the 2 hour show that the story is getting boring.
Next about the direction. Typical Vishal Bhardwaj stuff but then you want the same style. Anyone who has seen Omkara would agree that his dark handling does wonders to the movie and never does it get dragged into the typical Ram Gopal Verma style of gangster movies.
Now about the performances, Shahid does an commendable job. The biggest difficulty when playing double roles is to keep the two characters separate and Shahid does that part brilliantly. One person's stammering and the other's lisping are executed well. Priyanka does well in whatever small role she gets of Sweety. She has her typical bubbly and sometimes crying persona. Among the other actors, Amol Gupte as Bhope bhau was good too. But its mostly Shahid who dominates.
The songs all get overshadowed by one top notch number - Dhan Te Nan and its melody gets repeated throughout the movie. Among the others Pehli Baar Mohabbat is melodious. But rest all just merge well with the movie.
In all, a movie definitely worth watching once maybe twice (mostly twice). I bet you would feel satisfied and come out of the theatre feeling good that you had a paisa vasool time.

Photo: courtesy www.bollywoodhungama.com
Cross-posted on:

प्यार खुशी देती है, दर्द भी, प्यार हँसी देती है, आंसू भी,
प्यार मिलने की उम्मीद देती है, बिछड़ने का गम भी
आप नसीबवाले होंगे जो आपको आपके प्यार ने खुशी दी,
पर हमें तो इस प्यार ने देवदास बना दिया और शायर भी |

Cross-posted on:

कभी आना किसी बहाने से,
फ़िर ना जाना किसी बहाने से,
हम तो भुला ना सके कभी आपको,
पर आप कभी हमें ना भुलाना किसी बहाने से |

Cross-posted on:

क्यूँ तुम ख्वाबों ख्यालों में आती हो,
आकर चैन और नींदें उदा ले जाती हो,
हमने तो आपके बगैर जीने की कोशिश शुरू ही की थी,
क्यूँ हमें हराकर मौत की और खींच ले जाती हो |

एक और शायरी ख़ास आपके लिए ...

यह हवा आपकी हँसी की ख़बर देती है,
मेरे दिल को खुशी से भर देती है |
खुदा सलामत रखे आपकी हँसी को,
क्यूँकी आपकी खुशी हमें खुश कर देती है |

Cross-posted on:

आज मौसम बड़ा सुहाना है, और हमारा mood बड़ा शायराना है ! इसलिए अर्ज़ किया है....

हर वक्त मैं तुझे याद करता हूँ,
हर लम्हे में तुझे जिया करता हूँ,
अब तो यकीन कर लो मेरे वफाओं को,
नहीं तो मांग लो मेरे मौत की दुआओं को |

और इस शायरी के एक दीवाने, Shreenivasan, का सुहाना जवाब...

क्यूँ फालतू में मुझे याद करता है,
खामखा हिचकियाँ क्यूँ दिलाता है,
मरना है तो ऐसे ही मर जाओ,
दुआ मुझसे करवाके, मुझे पापी क्यूँ बनाता है |

A week ago on 5th June 2009, a certain incident took place. An incident which was to have serious consequences on my future. An incident which shook the very foundations of my over-the-top-spending, too-much-How-I-Met-Your-Mother-watching, playing-Mafia-Wars-on-Facebook ... life.
Well, I exaggerated in the last part. But it surely was a significant incident. This took place on the beautiful morning of 5th June, 2009. As usual, I woke up at 6 am, a good one hour before my usual (by usual I mean what I used to do one month before) time. And this was so that I could go for some jogging in the morning. Why jogging? Now that is a question that you would not have asked if you had seen me. The 9-6:30 job in front of a computer all the time had started to take toll on my health and quite naturally (and very usual for a Software Professional) I had started to develop a bulge. It didn't bother me that much 'cos I was never really the athletic kind and also not the I-date-girls type. But this one fateful weekend in April I went to Kemmanagundi (where I had taken this beautiful picture of my feet on the left) and had to trek quite a bit down to Hebbe falls and then climb back up. The trek wasn't too difficult but I was panting after some climb itself. Its then that I realized I had to work up and do something. And the most logical choice was to start running. So back to Bangalore, I went straight to an Adidas showroom, bought a brand new pair of running shoes and there I was ready to start the eternal struggle against the burgeoning bulge.
Hey, we are deviating from the main subject. Lets get back. So where was I? Yes. That morning. So after a round of nature's small and bigger calls (and having felt relieved after that, don't we all?) I put on my running gear which comprises of a pair of track pants and t-shirt and my Adidas shoes and headed out. I took up my usual route which was first a down-lane (I mean it was downhill but there was no hill, just a lane, so down-lane). All was fine. Since it had rained the night before, the route was a teeny bit damp and the air was chilly. I was enjoying the cool Bangalore morning breeze, looking up to the beautiful flowers springing on the trees which formed a part of my route and also keeping a lookout for the other flowers who took the pain to come out in the morning (they came out for their jogs/workouts/walks whatever but in the process they do shower a lot of happiness to the surroundings and people they interact with). So now there is this turn where I reach the farthest point in my jogging route and I have to take the parallel road back to my place. Its a kind of pothole-infested point and especially that morning due to the heavy showers and wind, a lot of stuff was lying around that area along with water which had filled up the potholes. And then it happened. My right foot landed on one such spot and as I transferred my balance onto that foot, I suddenly felt the ground give way (like what they say in Hindi - mere paon tale zameen khisak gayi). OMG! For a split second, I was under shock. Dhud! I fell down twisting my ankle in the process. My track pants greased the road and attained a whole lot of dirt in the process and for five minutes I was in immense amount of pain. It was through a lot of mental strength that I managed to not cry.
But what mattered at that moment was not the mental but the physical strength. So I garnered whatever ounce of strength I had in me and got up, dusted myself and tried to walk. Putting any amount of weight on the right leg was like asking a 5th grader to solve a Calculus Problem. Too difficult but not impossible! Somehow, I managed to limp my way home. My roommate, who had just got up from sleep and successfully managed to evade the need to go for jogging was stunned. Ki holo tor paye? (translated from Bengali to English it meant - What happened to your leg?) The pain in my leg managed to cut the story short to just 5 words - Ami dourate giye pore gechilam! (again translated from Bengali to English it meant - I fell down while running!) That spurned a sudden spike of activity wherein he helped me get to the chair and sit down. Next he put on the geyser and filled a bucket half full with hot water and another half full with cold water. I was to alternately dip my leg into the two buckets in what was the hot-and-cold-water-therapy/massage, something suggested by my dad whom I managed to call while on the way back home.
Ten minutes of therapy and I suddenly felt a lot better. But I was late for office. So I rushed (where rushed means quickly limping) to my room to get ready. Somehow I managed to do that and come to office. I had brought crepe bandage with which I duly bandaged my ankle and simply sat down on my seat. Since Fridays are typically lazy days in office with not much work, I was happy. But then nature's calls are something you can't avoid and a visit to the loo became the most difficult task for me for the day. Still I managed it along with a visit to the cafeteria for my lunch.
What was interesting was the number of 'get well soon' messages that I got. I had updated my status message on all my social network profiles viz. Orkut, Facebook, Gtalk, Twitter. People who had never scrapped me started sending scraps asking about the health of my leg. So many people pinged me on Gtalk. The comments I got on my Facebook status turned out to be a discussion in itself ranging from the status of my leg and the status of the ground where I fell upon. And that's when an idea struck me. Why not keep updating the status of my foot right through the week! So any improvement was duly reported as status messages on the respective social networks. And as I had thought it produced the desired results.
When I reported that I could barely walk, people asked me how bad was it.
When I reported that I could now walk but not climb stairs and all, people asked me if I had consulted a doctor.
When I reported that I could walk well but not run, people asked me the need to run and where the urge came from.
Well, I made the last one up. But it does prove that the little experiment that I did with my social networks did prove successful. So now I am finally reporting the status of my injured ankle.
The ankle is a lot better and I have successfully managed to give it the much needed rest over the last two weekends. Walking is not so much an issue but still running is. I tried to have a practice run last weekend but my first jump desperately told me to stop and forget about the idea for the moment.
Those of you who may be wondering what happened to that ground where I fell upon; well when I last saw it it was fine although I must admit I wasn't in the state for a more precise inspection of that piece of land. So this topic is still open for speculation and debate.

Talking about bulges or rather paunches, here's an Ode To A Bengali Paunch by Amit Varma.

Cross-posted on:

Found this randomly somewhere:

दिल के दर्द को जुबाँ पर लाते नहीं,
हम अपनी आंखों से आंसू बहाते नहीं,
ज़ख्म चाहे कितने ही गहरे क्यूँ ना हो,
हम DETTOL के सिवा कुछ लगाते नहीं.

कोई दिखा के रोये,
कोई छुपाके रोये,
पर मौत का असली मज़ा तो तब आये
जब कातिल खुद तुम्हारे जनाज़े पर रोये |

And its not to the tune of music. I mean I do dance to music. Whenever I have been to discos, I have not been on the sidelines watching the pretty babes dancing but actually been shaking a leg or two with them (although I must say I am a pretty bad dancer, though better than Sreesanth). But I just couldn't fathom a better, more fitting name than this. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had won their second consecutive match in the Indian Premier League Season 2. They had defeated the Rajasthan Royals (which the Fake IPL Player calls Big Sister's team) ensuring that the defending champions bow out of the competition before the semi-finals. And this time too, the match went down to the wire.
And this time around the unlikely hero was Laxmi Ratan Shukla. And guess who was at the other end to provide support? Ajit Agarkar. Who would have imagined that? Especially after the departure of Hussey. It was a complete transformation. KKR had won this match without the batting prowess of McCullum, Hodge and Hussey. Wow! In one innings of 48 not out from 46 balls made under a pressure situation when KKR were down 5 wickets for just 37 runs, Shukla had shown what he was capable of.
But the victory also belonged to two other knights - Ajit Agarkar and Charl Langeveldt. Agarkar had scored an unbeaten 13 off 17 balls establishing a partnership with Shukla to see KKR through. He also clocked a bowling figures of 4-0-15-2 which means he bowled 4 overs taking 2 wickets for 15 runs giving 3.75 runs per over. Did he actually do that? I mean I will have to think hard to remember the last T20 match when Agarkar had conceded less than 6 runs per over and also taken wickets. And the other star was Langeveldt. Where had you hidden him Buchanan? He was outstanding in the match taking 3 wickets for 15 runs in his 4 overs. If only KKR had played him before!
But if you had to single out a comeback match, it had to be the previous one against Chennai Super Kings. CSK batsmen had again put up a fine performance piling up 188 runs off their 20 overs on the back of a superb knock by Suresh Raina and a cameo by Captain MS Dhoni and Morkel. Raina was particularly good smashing 3 sixes. And all that was done without Hayden (the orange cap owner) playing. KKR had started off poorly. Dada again departed early having been bowled by Murali for a mere 4 runs off 14 balls. From there McCullum took over. He smashed 81 off 24 balls studded with 11 fours and 3 sixes. He spared no bowler in his pursuit of showing everyone exactly what he and KKR batsmen were capable of. On the other side was Brad Hodge giving able company to his captain. When McCullum fell in the 13th over with the score at 124 having been bowled by Jakati, it looked like match over again for KKR. But Hodge had other ideas. He lost Hussey to a totally foolish run out but found a partner in Saha. Together they went on to put up a match winning partnership of 56 runs of 28 balls.
What struck me in both the victories was the never-say-die attitude of the KKR team. An attitude which I and all other KKR fans had been looking for from the very start of the tournament. An attitude which we thought they had forgotten having lost so many close and not so close matches. Both the above matches were chases. The first one was a big one and the second a small one. In both the cases, while chasing they were in dire straits at a point. A point where it looked as if we were going to see the now-very-familiar KKR debacle. But they had come out of the predicament. First match via Hodge and Saha and the second one via Shukla and Agarkar. Too good! This is what I had been dying to see. When KKR won the match against CSK, I was in my hotel room in Ooty with my brother. We both danced and shouted at the top of our voices. So much so that all the other boarders understood that there were KKR fans in room 101. But when they won against Rajasthan Royals, I was at home dancing alone. I had said that if Kolkata Knight Riders would go on to win the tournament, I would dance on the streets of Chowringhee with Shah Rukh Khan and the other fans to the tune of করব লরব জীতব ের (Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Re - the theme song of Kolkata Knight Riders). Well, that didn't happen. But after both the victories, somehow I could hear করব লরব জীতব ের playing in the background and I did dance to it.


Cross posted on : ,

আজ google এর transliteration labs এ এসে যখন দেখলাম যে বাংলা তেও এখন লেখা যাবে তখন আমি আর থাকেত পারলামনা. আমাকে এই post তা লিখতেই হত. আসা করছি এর পর থেকে আরো বাংলায় লিখবো.