Home September 28, 2006
Posted by silentEcho in moron's Diary.add a comment
“All of life is a coming home. Salesmen, secretaries, coal miners, beekeepers, sword swallowers, all of us. All the restless hearts of the world, all trying to find a way home.”
These are the starting lines of the movie Patch Adams which, although largely slapstick in terms of humor by itself, triggered a concept in hindi cinema. We know that concept by the name Munnabhai. Anyway, this post is certainly not relared to Munna. I saw this movie long ago and was captured by the first lines. Robin Williams says these lines in the movie. He plays Patch.
How true! I mean fine, not everybody may want to go home but look at it in terms of defining home. Everyone needs a break once a while and that break is what home is. Elsewhere ( actually just a few lines after ) Patch says:
“Home. The dictionary defines it as both a place of origin and a goal or destination.”
That’s what I intend to say. In the workplace there might be times when you think you are reaching out somewhere only to realise later that you’re walking in circles. The mind becomes highly fucked up in such situations. Home, home helps. It might be a very good idea to find home in that case. Here at my place I usually go off to places that I call Solace Points. Places where I can think about myself and come to terms with myself.
Fine! But as far as Home physically is concerned, there’s nothing like it. With midsem recess just a day away, the very feeling of going back is so soothing. Every time I go back home, something happens. Something wwith the element of adventure in it ( let’s leave my grandfather’s demise from this ). For example last time it was car driving, chapati making and videography. This time I can’t imagine what sorts of things we will do together. In my first vacations I had landed in kitchen to try making some tea. I had ended up putting salt in the tea and some fire on the hair at the back of my hand. If that’s not enough, last time during videography I had an ordeal with my old friends: monkeys!
I wonder why I didn’t put these things up on the blog. So next up on this space might be my special recipe for Tea or 101 ways to find 1 way for escaping monkeys.
Off to my assignment now. Have a Senate meeting tonite. So more mosquitoes. But that’s no reason not to go to the conference room brawl.
Will be back sooner than the nonexistent reader expects,
moron
दर्द September 27, 2006
Posted by silentEcho in Rhyme junction.2 comments
Wrote a poem after a long long time. This one’s inspired from this poem. Best viewed in IE 4 and above OR Opera.
अश्क़ झिलमिलाते हैं मेरे लबों पर,
तिरा अक्स दिखता है अक्स में मेरे।
तू कहाँ ये नहीं पता मुझे पर,
सिरहाने ही रहते है अब ख़्वाब तेरे।
इक पल मे ज़िन्दगी जी लेते हैं अब,
हर पल मरते हैं इंतज़ार में तेरे।
कुछ सुरूर है इस दर्द में ‘गाफ़िल’
अब मदहोश ही रहते हैं होश मेरे।
Hmm…
In search of the Lotus September 27, 2006
Posted by silentEcho in Emotions, People, moron's Diary.add a comment
Where did the Lotus go? It was there when HE entered this creme ale college somewhere in the upper reaches of the country. But then, somehow the lotus was lost. Where is it now? Amidst all these trials for living, the lotus was lost. But where did it go? Did HE leave it in Hall 2? Or in the LHC? Lib? MT? Hall 1? IITD? Labs or Fac-B? Where!!?
They say HE changed, changed a lot. Some say that they are still trying to understand HIM. HE says the same thing now. They say HE is unfathomable, complex, made up of so many facets that when a new one is revealed, everyone is surprised. And after HE zings, he singes in the fire of it. Burning in Hell. But before that HE knew HIMSELF. He had the Lotus. His parents still hold fast to the belief that HE has the Lotus. No matter how many times he cries and tells them that the Lotus is gone for good, they still believe. They say that it’s not lost. It’s somewhere within. But what’s within? Darkness! Murk! Slime! Mud!
That, I say, is a perfect place for a Lotus to grow…I told HIM to dive inside. HE is still learning how to hold breath in a dive. Someday, I am sure, as sure as HIS parents are, HE will find the Lotus. Someday HE will be simple, as simple as a boy who was photographed with a bindi and a shawl on his head some eighteen years ago.
Cya later, alligator.
Wisemoron
The adventures of Kanha September 26, 2006
Posted by silentEcho in People, moron's Diary.1 comment so far
Back again!
Rendezvous 2006 is over. I didn’t particpate because of some commitments here. Naah don’t get wrong ideas. However IITK contingent went and won some prizes. Hindi team chaapufied. It got some cool prizes and more importantly, the team had a lot of fun. Kanha told me about the adventures he had there. He probably got the same shock I got last year and became madder than he usually is.
This time, the organisers cancelled the Prem Patra Lekhan Competition. But being what he is, Kanha went and requested the Coordinator ( Guess who??! ) that they ( the team ) had come specially to participate in the event. So taking pity, the coordinator said that they can have the competition as a Hindi Samiti event instead of an event in Rendezvous. Now think of a competition where all the particpants are from IITK and the competition is being held outside IITK. The team went on a rampage and Kanha really chapufied. All the love letters, and I mean ALL, were addressed to the coordinator and the writer for all of them was our very own Kanha. I mean what could be more hilarious! And after the competition, this poor guy who was a secy or something came running to the coordinator informing her that all the letters were addresses to her. Big, villanious laugh followed by a wink here.
The result: “IITK waale sabhi aise hi hote hai kya?“
So much for love letters. Meanwhile, I would like to tell you that E Meander, the online version of Student’s Publications at IITK is up and running. You can visit it here.
Will cya soon,
silentEcho
Slice of life… September 14, 2006
Posted by silentEcho in IIT Kanpur, moron's Diary.7 comments
I am posting here after a break of nearly a month. The last post was my first not-so-first attempt at a song. I don’t know what that means though. So where was I during this month long vacation? I know that nobody is interested in knowing that but still I will like to tell that. There has been a lot of this-n-that in the last one and a half month. As I post this, Tendulkar has already hit a century against West Indies in the second ODI. Hatz off.
The first mid semester examinations came and went leaving me wondering whether this is the same Arvind Kothari as in his first two semester at this place? However the feeling is not new. It has been here since the last two semesters or to be more precise since September 24 last year. I don’t know what to expect at the end of this semester expect that I can do bettre than what I have done this time.
I appeared for two interviews and failed both of them, keeping my past record intact. HLL and ITC came for recruiting summer interns. I cleared the GDs but was held in the interviews and that is a separate story by itself. Would post about it sometime later.
The Antaragni brochure has been finalized and I am happier than anybody else although Mandu won’t put my name in it for writing the text. The Design people did a hell of a job. Those guys are too good although I must say they talofy the work a lot and have a flair for speaking as if it was a great ehsaan they were doing to us ( which is true in some sense, but if you look at the fact that IITK is very much their institute also, then one can say that it’s no big deal.) The brochure will be up on the Antaragni website pretty soon and I must say that the girl on the page of Ritambhara, the fashion show, is very pretty. She’s a student at the institute. So for my honchos a major motivation to go to design lab was to talk to her.
The Antaragni website is up as well but some changes are still to be done and I hope that phase would be over by the weekend. Meanwhile I added a new job to my bag: text for Techkriti marketing brochure, main brochure and website. Thankfully Nishith Khantal aka Khanti is with me so the work is shared equally. We are seriously thinking about opening a brochure design company now. Would be a great job. Naah I am not joking. A few guys from IIT Guwahati already have a similar company by the name C7U or some similar name and they design publicity material of all sorts.
The work for India Inspired is going full pace now. At one point of time I was confused as to what I should do with the dual job of brochures and the I2 cell but since the work on brochure and site is largely over, I am back to my original job. Do visit I2 on Antaragni site as well as the original I2 website. THis time the scale of event has gone up. We are having an online essay contest along with a panel discussion with eminent personalities. There will be more competitions ( hopefully ) during the Antaragni.
I convened the first COSHA meeting this Monday. Some really important issues (Hall Allocation and Minimum wages issue) were discussed and I have to put up a report in Senate meeting scheduled this Sunday. So that means another four to five hour slot will be gone this weekend.
And now the best part. The first magazine from Meander went online on September 10. You can download your copy from here . The magazine is called ENCRE: the freshers’ magazine. It was started last summer, an initiative of the then Meander team led by Atul Jain. Continuing along the same lines, we published ENCRE this year as well. MOnetary troubles and Printer’s excuses limited us to an online issue but it was nevertheless appreciated by many. I hope Meander will certainly come in hard copy.
Several other things have cropped up including two term projects, apping and a revamp of Hall events in Hall 2 where I lived for the last two years. Abhaga once said to me in one of the chats that there is nothing like cultural degradation in a setting like IITK. There is a cycle of four to five years due to which we see an enormous cultural change and renaissance every four to five years or so. IITK might just be witnessing a similar revolution. The only sad thing is that my hostel is not the leader right now but then one needs to think above that some times.
Will come back soon,
wisemoron
