Melancholic Ecstacy

The Indian Ocean track

Realised two things over the last two weeks. Two days passed by without spending much time with anyone. For two hours I listened to 'Sound of Silence' and wrote this in two minutes.

1.In the final months of final year,if you are not in the habit of enjoying something burning close to your lips,you lose 50% of your 'friends' whom you could hangout with.

2.Funnily enough,if you are not a nature lover,don't like things green,say grass, you are in for some more time alone.You lose 30% of 'friends' to hang out or pass time.

And things get worse when the remaining 20% are not too enthusiastic about what you are interested in. Then the true meaning of 'bore' dawns on you.( For 9 hours,you sit in front of the comp to do something which people won't appreciate anyway, and then when you no one to talk to or go with for a cup of a coffee,it is sad)

Call this a whine,a rant,a crib, it doesn't matter.Yes, I'm like that little kid crying for a chocolate. But who'll get me the chocolate?!

And during one of those boring hours, I wrote this poem. It's after a long time that I'm trying this stunt. My earlier attempts at this form of literature were meant to be funny and time-pass types. This one I believe, is a serious attempt. What's your take?!

Conversation with cloud#9

I'm not sure if it was day or night.
But I saw a magnificient light in full might.
There we were, 3267 metres high,
When I met cloud number nine.

Asked him,"What keeps you so happy,Nine?"
Said he,"The key lies in always being high"
But then I come from a dry land,
How to be always high, I don't understand?.

He smiled and said,"Make one thing clear,
If your land is dry,how come I see you here?!
I see you have no fear,
Arrange for 'stuff' without shedding a tear"

I said-"Your words are very true,
But it's difficult to get good brew.
It comes at a costly price,
If caught,have to pay a heavy price"

He said,"Come meet this guy.He's new here,
Hasn't even tasted beer.
Hails from a place where 'it' flows like a river.
To 'that', he hasn't even gone near.

Between you and the world, going on is an eternal strife.
I know you need means to relax and fly.
Leave aside those means for a while
And try getting high on life."

Less boring and more interesting news coming up in the next post.

Question!

(Title from the System Of a Down song)

These days I've stopped living and have taken to quizzing full time!I'm currently preparing questions for a quiz that I'll be doing for our canteen quiz club-Su Chhe.Questions should be up on this blog in a day or two.But Wikipedia and IMDB are
the second best things to have happened to mankind since the computer!

This one for the time being-

This word originally meant "placed on the knees." In Ancient Rome, a father legally claimed his newborn child by sitting in front of his family and placing his child on his knee.Which word in English lexicon?

'Nobody's Fault But Mine' and 'Suicide Solution' and 'Dazed and Confused'

Nobody's Fault But Mine

I'm still clueless about two things.

1.With what face does Mr.Devegowda still plead innocence for the perfect drama orchestrated at his behest.Bang-galore?!!!

2.Why have I not suffered a nervous breakdown?.Seriously,when I look back at the traveling and the taxes that my mind has paid over the last one month, it makes me wonder as to how I'm still in one piece!All this traveling has no doubt left my frail body in a much better condition. But my mind is on the verge of a breakdown wondering how the hell could I take all this and still remain sane. Three thoughts of commiting suicide were nipped in the bud by friend dearest Bharath.Just hope that tolerating me hasn't made him develop thoughts on suicide!!

Here's the flashback

Jan 7-8 Mumbai

Jan 14-15 Mumbai

Jan 20-22 Fashion Show,Surat(I anchored it alright.Don't ever imagine me walking on
the ramp!)

Jan 27-30 IIM-A Chaos trip

Feb 3 Surat-Mindbend Quiz(2nd place)
First Suicide Thought
The quiz got over at 2.We boarded the train to Ahmedabad at 5.

Feb 4 Ahmedabad-The IMS quiz(The day we came on top!)

Feb 10-11 Ahmedabad,Delhi,Ahmedabad The IMS quiz National Finals
Second Suicide Thought

Feb 16 Ahmedabad -TATA Crucible
Third Suicide Thought


Suicide Solution

Why the three suicidal thoughts?!

1.Feb 3 Mindbend Mega Quiz

During one of the rounds in the quiz,we had to choose a particular state in India and Parnab would ask us a question about that state.Me and Harsha pride ourselves on having decent knowledge about our state and hence chose Karnataka,but were unable to answer a question on
him.

That probably cost us the first place. But more than that what led me to think about commiting suicide was that inspite of knowing everything about the person we couldnot identify it was him.(No,it wasn't a visual).Good times,Bad times.Certainly very true.
I remember writing about the elated(well,not much!) state we were in when we answered questions in this quiz.Quizzing indeed is a great leveller. And about my suicide thoughts,my belief that my knowledge about my state was 'decent' was under serious doubt.Maybe, I shouldn't take quizzing this seriously.But then, read on. The story has just begun!

2.Feb 11-IMS quiz NationalFinals

I HATE BUZZERS IN QUIZZES. I firmly believe that they go against the spirit of quizzing,where one works out the answer. Maybe I should have been born with a buzzer in my hand.Maybe then I'd have been good at buzzers in quizzes. But for my stupidity with the buzzer,we'd have finished fourth. Ultimately, we finished sixth out of eight teams.That in no way is a reflection of our performance or our abilities.Buzzers were my nemesis during University Challenge.And now they returned to haunt me during the IMS quiz. Ab Buzz,bahut ho gaya!

The Delhi trip deserves a special post, for I met some very special people there.
Handa,Karthik,Arjun and Kunal.Though I must admit I'd have loved to spend a little more 'quality time' with Kunal.But then, he was in his own world. CP was great, as were the the party and the free air trip. But what I won't forget for a long long time to come is the intellectual bakchodi I had with Handa,Kartik and Arjun following the party in the hotel room.Just wish I had some more time to spend with them.What made the whole experience of meeting all these people so special was that my percentages,my placement,my CAT score weren't the criteria on which I was judged!

3. Feb 16 TATA Crucible Ahmedabad

Damn,we didn't even qualify for the finals.And we traveled for ten hours to attend a two hour quiz.It hurts when you don't qualify.It hurts when you write three right answers,strike them off and then write the wrong answer.Getting into the finals of the TATA Crucible would have been a perfect icing on the cake for what has been a very hectic quizzing month.But then, maybe it wasn't meant to be. Made me realise that when one stays in a place like Surat you need to have that extra bit, to be able to travel for five hours starting at 5 in the morning and still be fresh enough to do well in a quiz. Surat ain't khoob-surat anymore.

Dazed and Confused
Tonight's turn of events have left me dazed,confused and more importantly,amused. Amused about life and its complications,people and their reactions.I can understand people go to a higher level when they are spirited,but I suddenly feel like a naive and ignorant child who is yet to come to terms with the realities of life. My fundas on life were somewhat shaken by people and their behaviour yesterday.Personally, I'm doing great.A caring and loving family solidly behind me,a decent career ahead of me(though not as good as I'd have wanted it to be,but my time will come). I don't have that 'girlfriend' whom I've to worry about. I actually realised today that though on the surface I might ooze oodles of sarcasm everytime I open my mouth,be unabashedly critical of things and people I don't like,but deep down I'm a very naive,unsophisticated kid. And I thought life is simple and it is left to the person living it to make it to complicated or uncomplicated to suit himself/herself. What amazes me is the extent people can make seemingly simple things so complicated things so complicated and have to go through so much trouble. And it's just not them,it also invloves a soul which has a heart(not sure about brains!) having feelings.Again,it is none of my business as to what people do with their lives,but they are people living with me and whether they know it or not,like it or not,care or don't care,they are a part of my life and my existance here. And I just can't digest when Pandit says,-'It's ok,happens'.But why put yourself through so much when I believe things can be much more simple.I might be making no sense here,I need to come down for that.Something here is not right and I'm just not able to come to terms with it.Maybe I care a bit too much for them and I hope when Jayanth said that they don't care about me anymore, he was only joking!I'm joking now,I have my support system perfectly in place.Sometimes,it's better not to 'grow up', if 'growing up' was what
happened tonight.

Checklist for further posts
1.The Delhi Trip
2.People I met-Handa,Karthik,Arjun.
3.My review of RDB.I'm closely involved with something related to RDB,hence this strong connection with RDB.Now,don't get thoughts of me working with Aamir or Rakeysh Mehra.This is something I'm doing in the college.

Carryovers from previous posts.
4. Why IITs will remain IITs and NITs NITs?(In context of Chaos and almost everything).
5. My movie plans.(Not watching, making!!!)Yes, the plans have fructified and work is on!!

P.S.And this.Will they send us home?!I hope they do!

Such a Rush

(An apt title from the Coldplay song with the same name)

Mindbend mega quiz,IMS quiz Ahmedabad.


How does one feel if he hasn't brushed for 48 hours,traveled for 12 hours in those 48, not shaved for 4 days?!And we are not even talking about bathing. Well, I did(didn't, in some cases!) all that was mentioned above.And how did I feel?Tired of course,satisfied and contended as well.

I'm a motorcycle right now.T(w)oo ti(y)red.Will write a longer post on how the last fortnight has been some quizzing,a little more quizzing and lot of quizzing.

This is just to inform that I along with Jitaditya and Dipankar won the Ahmedabad round of the IMS Quotient and will be flying to Delhi for the finals on 11th Feb. Man, I'll be flying for the first time in my life!! And it's for free. I have a huge responsibilty too. Have to perform better than the last time I was on TV quizzing on University Challenge.

Should see us very soon here

Checklist for further posts.
1.The second Ahmedabad trip travelogue
2.The second prize at the quiz conducted by Parnab Mukherjeein our college.

And carry-overs from the last post.

1. What happened on 28th and 29th ?! English JAM,Face painting, graffiti, Indian Ocean, Sivamani, Dumb Charades and the return journey.
2. People I met- Devadas,Sidin, Boka, Paro, Srijith, Nikhil Chinnappa.
3. Why IITs will remain IITs and NITs NITs?(In context of Chaos and almost everything).
4. My movie plans.(Not watching, making!!!)

The IIM-A 'chaotic' trip.

RDB, India Quiz, Birthday, Hindi JAM, Jal , Strings and the dance party.

Crossposted on my travel blog

Jan 26

1. Watched ‘Rang De Basanti’ with almost the whole of final year. People had been preparing for it for weeks. Yes, all the girls were there. Nothing happened. We went, we ate pop corn, we saw the movie, we came back. Didn’t understand what the whole hoopla over ‘Movie Day’ was, when you go with your group, sit and watch the movie with them and come back. While in the hall, everyone’s veins were brimming with patriotism with cries of ‘Bolo Bharath Mata ki jai’ and ‘Inquilab Zindabad’. And all that remained in the minds of India’s future was Aamir’s dialogue on something like ‘Past this, future that and aaj pe muuthe hain’, the firang’s curves and the sudden emergence of Soha as the latest hot girl. Will probably write about the movie in my next post.


2. Won the ‘India Quiz’ held on the eve of Republic Day. 61% of the questions were repeated and we knew 29% of those which weren’t repeated. So the quiz was only 10% interesting. Bilkul Mazaa nahin aaya. Now we don’t mind not qualifying for the finals or even losing after qualifying. We need better quality quizzes now.

3. Got kicked royally in the backside midnight. I became public a day after we celebrate our Republic Day!

Jan 27(Morning and afternoon)

1. Jan 27 was my b’day. Left for Ahmedabad at 2:00 a.m. to be in time for the
general quiz prelims at Chaos. We knew we wouldn’t qualify for the finals for any of the quizzes conducted there, but as I said earlier Quality matters now. There was a lit quiz and an entertainment quiz along with the general quiz. I found myself to be in a better position than the last time. Last time, I just couldn’t make out the head or tail of some questions. But this time, there was something I knew in each question, except the answers in some cases!!!

2. Another event I eagerly look forward to in Chaos is the word games. I still vividly remember how Shashank and I were clueless for the initial ten minutes and then answers popped out like hot pop corn out of the machine. Though we didn’t qualify for the finals, it did give me a feeling that I’m not totally worthless and the countless hours on the net haven’t gone waste. This time though, the fatigue of the journey, high difficulty level of the word games and absence of Shashank took its toll and resulted in a real below par performance.

3. What followed was my first attempt at JAMming in Hindi. JAMming ranks fourth in the order of my loves. Books, movies, music and then comes JAMming. My performance there was downright pathetic, got a chance to speak only once. The JAM master got a very bitter taste of my PJs. I objected to a late start and the JAM master didn’t concur with me. Instead he said that I could’ve objected for rambling and time-wasting tactics. And then came my master piece. I said-“Isn’t starting late a waste of time as well?!!” Had it been just the two of us there, I’d have had my throat slit.

Being a South Indian, I can say that Hindi is not my language. But, when was the last time I JAMmed? Can’t remember. Was left wondering then, like I’ve always wondered for the last two years, why the hell can we not have more JAMs in the college? So that I’m not embarrassed when I’m at Chaos!! Sad, studying in a ‘technical’ college and have ‘wasteful’ interests like JAMming and quizzing.

4. Sapped of all my energy and due to lack of a ‘chutiya’ partner like Shashank, I let go of any thoughts of participating in the English Debate.

5. Thank God there was no earthquake that afternoon. Had there been one, I’d have been dead by now. That was such sound a sleep that no earthquake would’ve been able to wake me up. The six of us sleeping, someone’s legs over someone’s stomach, another’s hands on someone’s face and another one sandwiched somewhere in all this. Of course, all of us were fully clothed.



Jan 27 (evening)

Jal opened the evening’s show. After numerous sound-checks and the customary ‘We love Ahmedabad’, came the music. It was a bit disappointing. Was it because Atif was missing? Or because we’ve had an overdose of Jal? Or maybe because they just have very few songs? Don’t know the reason. But again, our group seemed to be the only ones around who knew all the songs. It’s a great feeling when you are at a concert and know the lyrics of the songs. It adds to the excitement when you jump, scream and dance mouthing the lyrics of the song. They played Woh Lamhe, Aankhon se, Jhollay Lal, Aadat and two more of their new unreleased compositions. These six songs were enough to get us charged up for what was to follow.

Great performers somehow establish an instant connection with the crowd. Strings did that very well. They got the crowd going even before they started to sing. They played Na jaane Kyon, Dhaani, Chhaaye Chhaaye, Sohniye, Anjaane, Sar ki yeh pahaar.

There were two surprises waiting for me. While playing Duur, Strings played ‘Where the streets have no name’. That is one of my favourite songs and I found people staring strangely at me while I was jumping like a monkey and singing the song. The feeling was something similar to the one when I spilled pop corn on my neighbours while watching RDB. Shantaram is the book which Aamir’s shown showing Sue during the song ‘Tu bin Bataaye’. Many wouldn’t have even noticed. But that feeling of familiarity and knowing something which others don’t is such a pleasant one. But hey, isn’t that too ‘trivial’?

Another surprise was being thrown high in the air while Strings performed. It was my b’day remember?!! That’ll be one moment I’ll treasure forever. Thanks Pong, Ankush, Koodi, Sandy, Vinzu, Hari, Joji, Amol, Anky,Kenny and Ashish.

Then there was supposed to be an all night movie screening. But that was called off. As the movie screening was called off, we went to the canteen for a coffee. My eardrums almost burst with the loud ‘Aah-sick banaaya aapne’. Oh, that was the dance party. With no female company, I didn’t want to dance with guys and lay the foundations of a gay movement starting at IIM-A. Was quietly observing ‘India’s future’ in real pain and trouble. Didn’t understand what/ whom they were calling out with ‘Ek baar aaja aaja’. Him-ass Spare-me-miah. You’ve made my life hell.

Then I saw Vandana. Had met her during the theatre workshop at last year’s Chaos. Danced with her friends from MSU. And I’m sure they won’t forget my attempts at dancing. All I did was just keep jumping initially and it was difficult to pick up a totally new dance step just when I thought I had got a grip over the previous one. But I’m sure they would’ve enjoyed dancing with me, not because I look like Aamir or because I dance like Hrithik. But because of my funny dance steps and awkward attempts at dancing.

Back in our room at the dorm, we had some discussion on the 'dilemmas' that Ankush’s facing and went to sleep, albeit this time in civilized and comfortable positions.

Checklist for further posting.

1. What happened on 28th and 29th ?! English JAM,Face painting, graffiti, Indian Ocean, Sivamani, Dumb Charades and the return journey.
2. People I met- Devadas,Sidin, Boka, Paro, Srijith, Nikhil Chinnappa.
3. Why IITs will remain IITs and NITs NITs?(In context of Chaos and almost everything).
4. My movie plans.(Not watching, making!!!)