talent

Some times I think about how important it is for one to have real talent and then . All around me I see talented people achieving greater heights of success. How easy it is for them to succeed where as its a tough tough fight for me ! What good it is to just survive like a meaningless entity ? You don't matter if you are not in the reckoning. If you learn to be content and in peace with yourself then living without any talent can be easy, otherwise it becomes very difficult. Not having a talent is like God has played a trick on you. He chose not to give you any talent but he did not forget to instill you with the sense to appreciate another person's talents and then brood over not having any yourself. Some prankster he is, right ?

Some might argue that having talent is not enough it is also important to get noticed. I would like to think that even those who have not gotten noticed still must feel satisfied about possessing a talent.

Power of Words

It was in the wee hours of dawn on Sunday, the 10th of August when I was overwhelmed by a
haunting melody of Salim-Suleiman and the magic of exquisite words penned by
Mir Ali Hussain. It was an obvious situation for an emotional fool to
be moved by the power of music and poetry. I watch a lot of
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009, which is a fantastic reality show spun
around music competition; specifically competition between singers.
Its the turn of the judges to vote for two out of three competitors.
Unfortunately all three of them were my favourites and each a class
act in their own.
Due to a bad choice of a bad song, Tarun Sagar was voted out.
However he took it quite bravely and expressed some very mature
thoughts at his fate.
Anyways while he was being voted out what caught my fancy was the
exquisite song that was being played in the background.
It was sheer magic.

Yeh Hosla Kaise Juke,
Yeh Aarzoo Kaise Ruke - 2

Manzil Muskil to kya,
Bundla Sahil to kya,
Tanha Ye Dil to Kya
Ho Hooo

Raah Pe Kante Bikhre agar,
Uspe to phir bhi chalna hi hai,
Saam Chhupale Suraj magar,
Raat ko ek din Dhalana hi hai,

Rut ye tal jayegi,
Himmat rang layegi,
Subha phir aayegi
Hoooo

Yeh Hosla Kaise Juke,
Yeh Aarzoo Kaise Ruke - 2

Hogi hame to rehmat ada,
Dhup kategi saaye tale,
Apni khuda se hai ye Dua,
Manzil lagale humko gale

Zurrat so baar rahe,
Uncha Ikraar rahe,
Zinda har pyar rahe
Hoooo

Yeh Hosla Kaise Juke,
Yeh Aarzoo Kaise Ruke - 2

The music direction was superb but I think its the words which lent
the song its power.
Super job with the music direction (Salim-Suleiman), singing( Shafqat
Amanat Ali Khan) and ofcourse the magical lyrics (Mir Ali Hussain).

Hats off guys !!! What a beautiful piece of art !!!

Oh I almost forgot the song is called Hauslaa.

a reason to celebrate

Ph. D students at IIT campuses have a good reason to celebrate. Recently the Ministry of Human Resource Development has raised the monthly stipend of Ph. D. candidates to Rs. 15000. And why is that such a good news. Its primarily because of the disproportionate comparison of the salaries of guys working in IT sector and the rest of the society. The meager salary was a major deterrent to the aspiring research students of this country. This scaling will bring some satisfaction to this section of the students community and will MOST CERTAINLY motivate some others to take the risk of choosing a career in research.

Thank you MHRD !

Manorama Six Feet Under (2007)

What a fantastic adaptation of Chinatown ! I am really proud of the new wave Indian filmmakers who are making their presence felt in the world scene. The director really wows me in this one. Fantastic job with the adaptation, screenplay, art direction. Its a must watch.

Men must be fools

I was watching ``The Painted Veil" but I could not bear the fact that men are made such fools off by women. At campus here, the rooms are abuzz with tales of deceit( Thanks GS !) brought upon by women. Many of my female friends have all decieved the men in their lives and I constantly live under the fear of seeing another brother being decieved.

Sometimes I feel DKS is right. The world was never meant to be a place for equal rights of men and women, after all if we are made different then surely the same rules can't be applied to us.

I am also disgusted by men who lose their sense under the influence of lust. The fact is that we all lose our senses in love but lust thats demeaning. I am yet to meet a real man, I mean we never grow up. Whenever I see a man I see a boy in him.

Men must be fools !!!

Speaking of movies that depict women decieving men. I equally hate those movies in which men ``steal" another man's wife. Most of those Robert Redford movies are like this. Not only can I not stand these movies I simply cannot watch them. I get enraged sometimes engaging in verbal abuse and other immature ``frustration venting acts".

I must be a fool !!!

Traffic Signal

am watching Traffic Signal now. its the latest flick from madhur bhandarkar. his last venture was Page 3 and it recived rave reviews. to be very frank i did not like Page 3. the only thing worth noticing was Konkana Sensarma's acting and thats it nothing more.

the trouble with movies of this sort if the ABSOLUTE 3rd grade acting of the junior artists. any body can make out that they are ACTING. yes we all know they are acting but those buggers act pretty badly.

ok on to my critiques for Traffic Signal.
examples of really bad acting::
1) at 15 min 30 sec the bimbo in the car. man she sucked big time. i can not tolerate any one who acts like that even though this girl was well endowed still my sympathy vote is not for her.
2) at 41:14 the gay gigolo. why the hell do the gays in hindi movies have to overdo their part.
3) 53:30 that bimbo and her no use husband and ``apparently" quarreling when suddenly the husband says "ahista bolo sabina, driver sun lega". they were SHOUTING OUT LOUD for crying out loud. the fucking director apparently does not know the difference between a muffled quarrel and a battlecry.
by the way that bimbo was over acting again.

cd2 now...

1) 12:10 why does the man stick his tounge out to lick his lips ??? apparently to show the character's lust for the breastfeeding woman... in almost all hindi movies the bad guys do this ritual to convey to the spectators of their bad intentions. does the director think that we are too dumb to make out the intention.
the kids also do the same thing to show that they are hungry. speak of overdoing and overkilling.
2) 12:44 the pack of foreigners amazed at the filthy conditions. fuck man thats overdoing and that too quite badly. when was the last time since we saw a white skin on screen portrayed properly.
14:30 why was the foreigner holding money in his hand??? apparently so that he could tip Ranvis Shuray.. how the hell did he know he would ask for 100 bucks... come on director wise up a bit will you ?

3) Babban at 16: 42 is the kind of face one sees in the so called "garib log". on the other hand the other characters are quite easily not THAT kind.
same for Paaya, Sushma(16:54)
anyways.... same c


ok movie over now.....

over all the movie is a commendable effort. why ??? its because i think that its high time indian movie makers make movies on subjects other than love and the larger than life image of "the hero". yes there have been movies of this type in the past but we like more of such stuff. efffort of this nature will not go waste in ushering bollywood into the new age of movie making.

there was not enough scope for an actor/actress to prove their potential. but i think Kunal Khemu was not bad. Ranvir Shuray was really good. and for some reason i liked Tsunami ( Chinnaswamy Vedgiri ... check out his confident smirk at 43:01 CD2 ).

my girl friend recommed the movie to me, so i watched it. i would not recommend this movie to anyone for the sake of the story or the performances in this movie. but watch it if you want something "hatke" and you won't be disappointed i think.

cold stricken and jealous of brothers from the south

i was born in east india and have lived mostly in north and east india till now. north india gets very cold during the winters and its a common knowledge that south india does not experience as much cold as north india.

here at iitk there is a sizeable south indian population and the most amazing thing is that these guys are seen in a single t-shirt most of the winters. common sense tells us that these guys must feel more cold compared to north indians but such is not the case.

we north indians or east indians can easily be identified by our double sweaters, woolen caps and gloves quite easily. i m yet to meet a single south indian here who OWNS a full sleeves sweater. my eyes open wide is dismay and disbelief if i catch a south indian sporting a winter jacket.

is it the food they eat or the different chemical constitution that causes this? god knows i have wanted to find out the reason for a pretty long time.

any suggestions ???

Educating the Indian Audience

Though I am drawing the inspiration for this write up from my personal experience in magic. Infact any performance artist has to face this in India. Seldom do we find that the Indian audience applauds properly. Its like its too hard to appreciate or appear to appreciate a performance. The poor M.C. has to coax and coerce the onlookers to applaud.
Our western cournter parts however are much ahead of us in this department. I have fond memories of the T.V. broadcasts of Oscars on the DoorDarshan channel. The audience will hoot and clap and in general its fun to watch the proceedings. Not the same with our home grown stock. One may mistakenly think that we have airs about appreciating the art. I am sure that is not the case, its just that we have not been trained and educated properly. Just like there are schools that teach table manners , oh well if not a school atleast one expects the MCs to raise the awareness by reminding the audience to be polite and applaud. After all the artist has put in a lot of effort to present his or her art to the public.

motivation

i am one of those bastards who will do anything to find the worst reason for not doing their job properly. i am a cry baby, crying and whining my way to the end of my miserable life.

i did start this blog with the intention of being regular with it however i always found a reason to be not. ppl like me who want to be in the spot light, ppl who want to be the centre of attraction phony ppl with no real interest in what they are saying or doing. they just do it for the sake of being noticed or because they noticed somebody else doing what they are doing now.

my current reason is GS. he was my mate at IITK during his term here as an m. tech. student. head over to his blog here and read it and comment on it.

there was a time when i used to think a lot about the problems with this society and many a times i thought i had a solution to them as well. but now i am too old to solve other problems when my life itself is the biggest problem of them all.

but writing this blog is probably the only way i have that can be called interaction with this darn world. so even if GS does not egg me on, i will try to be regular.

thanks gs for all this. thanks a lot !!!!!!!!!!!!!

unholy matrimony

i m sifting thru the profiles of many a single men while i try to find a good match for my sister. at times i look at a profile photograph and instintively decide that the candidate in question is not worth a second look. i feel sick to my bones while i exercise my discretion in rejection the recieved interests. who the hell am i to dismiss a man's suitability by the looks of him alone. how lowly is this act of discrimination, i can't even begin to compare.

dussera and pujo

vacations started today at iitk. almost all the junta has left the campus and its simply impossible to find any bengali on campus. untill and unless u have lived at kolkata during pujo u will most probably not understand the fervour and frenzy surrounding the madness that is pujor bajaar.

i have no friends now except my trusty computer and my internet account. don't know what i will do without it. the pirated movies and videos that get downloaded by the download gurus on iitk has served the great need of a friend many a times. so its ok by all standards.

love and friendship

almost throughout my post-adoloscent life i have believed and preached that the best way to enjoy and long long relationship is to have her as your best friend. we have been together since the last 7 years and we never get bored of each other and we talk and talk endlessly. we do enjoy each others company. since 2003 however we are not living in the same city and although we have seen very less of each other. harly a day has gone by when we did not speak to each other. a rather strange thought has crossed my mind and i was caught unawares. i now seem to believe that love and friendship perhaps are two different things altogether. i still will not be able to define love, not many can i think. love is to be experienced, it cannot be defined. and its quite possible to not be in love and yet believe that one is.

i am really troubled over the thought of whether i have experienced love at all. its perplexing. the trouble is i would never know nor do i know if there is a way to find out. to all intents and purposes i am in love and the world knows it. i never would have questioned it however since the thought crossed my mind i am wondering whether it is friendship or love. perhaps i am bored with life and want that excitement that loves brings with it when you first fall in love. god knows. not that its the end of the world for me, its just that i am rather puzzled over this little mystery.

time will tell i guess.....

blogs and censorship

Indian ISPs have started censoring and blocking web properties.
source. i knew such a thing was happening in china but why india i donot understand. why does the government have to be so cynical of everything.
freedom of speech is only a vague concept then.

[ i got this news from iitk newsgroups . thanks to Anupam Gupta ]

Night on Earth

watched this fantastic movie today. its a nice movie with 5 different stories all revolving around taxi drivers in different cities of the world.

long time no p

that p in the subject stands for post ;) now u know !

well things are not moving quite well. i think i am stuck in hell for what has been the most meaningless 3 years for me :-(
back in 2003 i had a purpose in life, i was full of hopes and plans ready to be executed and then began the slow death of the active phase of my life. now i m a sloth and a "dharti kaa bojhaa"

incremental changes

The subject of this post may sound funny given its body. Wait a minute , I am not even sure what the body is going to be like. I have a vague idea that I now have to shape with words.
Back to business ... ah well !
The very reason I started this blog has more to do with this person and also because I love to be heard. But I find it hard to continually create beautiful things in words. Moreover I lack an audience too !
Well now I am really spilling words without any reason... let me now put an end to that.
To make a long story short ...
Read this. Its extremely funny !
By the way if you figure out that the subject of the post has no relation to the contents ... please don't be offended !

the art of hand cooing

Yep i like the bizarre and the cool ... look what i found on the Net !

http://www.riston.net/home/handcoo.htm

meaning less

Life must be meaningful. When you don't matter to anyone what good is being alive then. Your life is what you make of it and being young and stupid does not help making your life good. It helps if you have that all important ``guide" that helps you take the right decisions; but more useful is the ability to learn from mistakes after having made them. I don't learn from my mistakes. I always understand that I have committed a major mistake in life, I certainly suffer the consequences of having made that mistake and I psyche myself up to not commit that mistake again. But ...

endless curse of debating things

antaragini

Sometimes u feel u know the right from the wrong and yet words are splashed on ur face as if u r the single most deserving moron on the face of this earth! What do u do? U r simply pissed off. What makes me more angry is the thing that there will be some guy who will become the ``voice of reason" and try to tell u what you should be doing. ``Do the right thing Awi, this is not how u r supposed to behave".
I am of the belief that everybody , and I really really mean everybody is very much aware of the ``right things to do in life". We know one should not steal , but we do; we know that rape, but we do; we know we should not do this or that but we do. However not everybody does the same things. There is a reason and the reason is a simple one if u listen to me. Although everybody knows what the right thing to do is; they donot do it because they don't want to. To put it differently they choose not to do it. Evidently something else becomes more important to them than what is right. I donot know of a more simple reason than this to explain why ppl do what they do. And simplicity for me is the defining goal. We all want to make our lives simple. I have always maintained that we do something because it gives us pleasure. No, no. I have a better way to say the same thing. We do those things which gives us the illusion of avoiding getting hurt. I use the word ``illusion" since we cannot simply avoid getting hurt. Can we? No sir , we cannot avoid that. So what should be do? I am afraid that is quite a meaningless question. Though there are seemingly many answers to this question. None of them is right I am afraid.
I really donot know what is right from wrong. But I believe that one needs to believe that he knows so, otherwise it becomes difficult to live. Does it not? As DM says no can really teach u something, u gotta learn it for urself. And even though I know this and a lot of other things, I still cannot avoid getting hurt. And as I have told u earlier we do things which gives us the illusion of getting hurt. For me emotions are more important than intelligence. However intelligently used emotions, have a moving power that has me in its grasp. The written words in the literature and the spoken words in the movies just make so much sense to me, that to find sense in my own theories or beliefs I always get down to writing. Just as I debate with enlightened minds to better understand the basis of my beliefs, I also write to find clarity of thought and vision. I also look for appreciation and respect just like the kind I have for those who have shaped my world of beliefs thru their words and Ideas.
In the end a simple prescription to stay away from pain is to stop thinking at all. Keep urself so busy and occupied that no moment is wasted in thinking business. I feel all human minds should be labeled with the statutory warning: thinking is bad for health. But just like the smokers , I know I will keep doing it.