To Rohit ... on his B'Day

Remembering those ‘langur’ days
In half pants – flying kites;
Remembering those long addas
On the terrace on summer nights;
Remembering those mad trips
To Chandni on your scooter;
That early morning walk
When you suddenly felt the pressure;
That pandal hopping spree
Out of nowhere at mid night;
Watching cricket together
Abusing Pakis with full might.

Wonderful times … aren’t they?
They shall come back with you.
Friends are many
Friends like you are few.
By the way, am I forgetting anything?
Yeah – A Very happy Birthday to YOU !!!
Hope u have a blast with your crew.

Crazy Diamond

There may be happy days
When the grass is green,
Or difficult times
When resources are mean;
There I may stand all alone
Staring straight into the sun,
Or there I may be
Amidst a multitude – having fun;
People may love me one day
And despise me the other,
But Crazy Diamond I am-
I shall shine on forever.

Update on Current Situation

Life is beginning to get rather tough with the pressure of studies mounting. But then these times come every once in a while and there’s nothing new to it. The same guilt feeling that I wish I had been a bit more sincere previously. The same repentance for not having stuck to the somewhat ambitious time table I had chalked out a couple of months ago. And even now, here I am wasting time typing this worthless blog, instead of doing some serious work.

But life’s like that. Anyways, the situation is not that bad after all. Just one out of the four honors papers is unprepared, and I guess that can be managed easily. As for the others, an okay types preparation will suffice. But the real test lies ahead of the B.Com exams.

I have to work hard for CA Inter. It is not an easy exam and it requires a lot of effort just to pass and just passing is not my aim. I have to perform well and do justice to my caliber. I didn’t do that in Foundation and am still somewhat upset about it, though getting the certificate for the best paper in Mathematics did comfort me a bit.

Life has suddenly become a bit stagnated. It is not getting a move on. Every time I want to do something new, I realize that exams are round the corner and I must wait. Have not seen any movie for the past many days, though a couple of good movies went by, which I really did want to watch.

Joe Satrianni is performing at Salt Lake Stadium on 15th May, and just feel a bit for me, I have my Cost exam the very next day and hence I shall miss out on a rare rock concert at Kolkata. I had planned out a trek after B.Com and that also seems to be in jeopardy with Bhaiya coming right then. Not that I am not desperate to be with bhaiya, but that the timing of the trek and his homecoming is such that I shall be able to enjoy just one, and obviously you know which is the one.

I am getting itchy with all this stagnation. India’s constant defeats (in cricket) is not helping matters either. Hoping for something ‘happening’ to happen to provide some spice in life.

The string of life

Society is a constraint -
I wanna break free;
There are beautiful forests
And high mountain tops
Waiting just for me.

With passion and madness
Brimming in my heart,
I dream of a world
Where rationality departs.

The images in my mind
Are somewhat blurred;
But I can see myself dancing
With the people whom I love.

But as I open my eyes
I chance upon reality -
I am but a kite
Whose string is society.
It seems to restrict
The freedom of my thought,
But if it breaks away
I shall be lost !

Glimpses from a fleeting mind

This phase of life is a real strange bit. You seem to have an enormous amount of energy trapped inside you but no where to release it. Your mind becomes a fleeting deer that runs from one field to another in search of greener grass, but soon realises that the grass is the same in all the fields but still inside you the hope of finding that green grass is alive and you keep on trying new fields.

That is what is happening to me. Nothing seems to satisfy me. I always feel hungry ... donno for what ... and this unknown hunger tranforms into frustration.

anyways ... cutting the crap...

Where do we go from here?

You may just remember the song “Baje Sargam Bankar Desh Raag”. You may also remember a little video “ek anek” with the evergreen melody “ek chiria, anek chiria…”. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Yeah, they are golden pieces from the Doordarshan of 12-15 years ago.

As I watched the video and heard the song, I was led to think about the fall in the depth of the general mass around me. Videos such as “ek anek” go a long way to teach toddlers the basic concept of plurality as well as the strength of unity. The melodious song and the simple cartooning also make it very attractive. The problem is that nowadays television shows only what is sold. Cartoon Network and other channels offer so much crap to children that even if such videos were shown on the television, one out of a thousand would actually end up watching it.

I don’t blame the kids for this. I blame the way they are being brought up. Being forced to learn to know and recite ABCD, before they can even say “Mummy” properly, makes them anti-academic from the day their academic life begins, i.e. probably at the age of 18 months. Apart from that, the modern marketing system offers such a lot to these children, that having a material orientation becomes simply inevitable.

And why just these little kids, look at my generation. At least in the commerce section, I can say that there is absolute and complete lack of depth. The boys and girls (or should I say the ‘guys’ n ‘gals’) are just not willing to express their thoughts and opinion on any subject of intellectual importance. I can say that my friend circle consists of the cream of the commerce department. It is not possible to find a better lot of students for friends.

Yet, at times, their orientation disillusions me. Never do I find them talking about a good book they may have read, neither do they talk about any good movies. For example, they may talk at length about a rubbish movie they saw and hated, but though everyone liked the movie ‘Black’, not once did we discuss the beauty of the movie.

I must say that the environment I live in has become artificial and adulterated. People have stopped liking purity. Look at the music these days… absolutely artificial. They don’t make any sense whatsoever … no melody, no instrumental effect, and I better not speak about the lyrics.

Ask them about Pink Floyd, the reaction … “ What’s that?” I don’t have any problem if you don’t know about it. There are millions of meaningful things I don’t know of. But yes, if someone tells me about something good that I don’t know of, I make an effort to find out more about it or try it out at least and then draw an opinion about it.

The basic problem is that people are just not willing to broaden their horizons in the right direction. Materialism is distracting them and pulling them away. Creativity is being crushed under the wheels of fast moving money. The question is – Where do we go from here?

My Little Heaven

When days are heavy, tough and dry
I turn to thee - my little heaven;
Thy wealth bedazzles me
My spirit dances with glee.

Thy tender grass kissing my feet,
Sunflowers tossing their heads
in the cool summer breeze,
The birds returning home together,
The sky changing its magnificent color.

It’s then I wonder how lucky I am
To have thee so near me;
If happiness is the gift of God
You give this gift to me.

The Flickering Candle

You are a flickering candle
I’m waiting for you to extinguish
But at the same time
Fighting against all odds
My heart says you’ll burn on.

Yeah I want you to burn on
But the truth I know shall reign
'Cause flickering candles don’t give light
Fighting against the wind
All they do is to kindle the desire for light
And leave you thirsty and dry.