I Wonder

Being nostalgic makes one cheesy. So be it. Approaching a semester away from campus and then the realization of having one final semester on campus has made me ponder upon what it meant for my life to be a bitsian. Why a period of 4 years of life in a certain place has made an indelible change in my life like never before and perhaps never after.

I wonder whether anything else can be more festive in life than oasis, apogee or bosm. I wonder whether any other musical performance will be more ‘apna’ than our music night. I wonder whether lazing around anywhere else in the world be more exhilarating than in sky lawns. I wonder whether I would ever eat anything as ritually as maggi. I wonder whether I would be giving ‘doubs’ to anyone on a cycle ever again. I wonder whether I would ever grab an ice cream a day in summer. I wonder whether I would ever watch sitcoms all day and all night and all day again. I wonder whether I would ever be jobless enough to listen to “Welcome to hotel keralaphonia” over and over again till it is no longer funny. I wonder whether I would ever put a night out because of a power cut. I wonder whether I would ever run in a heavy downpour with my laptop on my back. I wonder whether I would ever sing with my friends, like retards in the middle of a street. I wonder whether I would ever be able to scare someone by telling him that I am gay. I wonder whether I would ever attend some friend’s course because the instructor was apparently funny. I wonder whether I would ever draw graffiti over my cupboard. I wonder whether I would be stinking with the smell of rotten maida, turpentine and insomnia. I wonder whether black thunder would ever haunt my morning routine. I wonder whether I would ever sleep in the middle of the road. I wonder whether I would ever dance (rather jump) like how I did when KK sang and euphoria crooned. I wonder whether I would ever be able to do anything more pointless than fighting over whether ‘A7’ has more search results than ‘C6’ on google. I wonder whether I would ever pour water over the floor to make the room cool. Oh there is so much to wonder at.

And why all this would never happen again is because we are growing old and we had our chance to live our life to the fullest. What made it an awesome experience were the people around here. A bunch of smart people with thwarted egos (failure in IIT-JEE) are an ideal kind of folks for a lifetime of memories preserved in some GBs of photographs. I can’t stop wondering though.

Kane and Abel

Disclaimer: The author of this blog considers himself a casual reader and claims to have a brain not any older than 20 and a half years. Hence the books being reviewed are done on their “value for time” criterion. There are certain handicaps about the author of the blog which the readers need to keep in mind. The writer is a mere engineering student and hasn’t read a single piece of Shakespeare in entirety, though he claims to have inherited the much needed sarcasm ( for any blog writer) from his few days in college.

KANE AND ABEL

Jeffrey Archer has produced bestsellers at an impressive rate. This particular novel was one of those which I wanted to lay my hand on since long.

BACKGROUND:

The setting for this novel is the times from early 20th century. A story of two individuals born on the same day, one( Kane) in an emerging nation called USA and the other ( Abel aka Wladek) in a less celebrated European country called Poland. The author has very gracefully stitched all the major incidents of the early 20th century and weaved the story of these two people around it. From the world wars to the great depression of 1929 and to rise of USA as a strong capitalist economy and even to the drowning of titanic, you are in for a wonderful ride of fiction in a non fictional setting.

PLOT:

Two people, born on the same day, in different parts of the world, in contrasting circumstances. One with a silver spoon stuck his throat, the other bleeding in the woods. The first half of the novel is the time before they encounter each other. One struggling from the pangs of the world war I , the other living his dream. William Kane grows up to become the chairman of one of the biggest bank of the United States, Abel Rosonovak becomes a minority stake holder in an upcoming hotel chain. Everything was going on fine till the Great Depression of 1929 hits the market and they encounter each other in an unpleasant way. What follows is a series of actions by both kane and abel to strike each other down.
The story boasts about many other characters which stay on for certain part of the story. From some generations before to some generations after, it can very well be summed up as combined biography of Kane and Abel.



WHY READ:

The novel takes you through the horrors of the world war and the heat of the boardrooms in an intriguing manner. As in his other pieces, Jeffrey Archer relies more on the twists of his story and high number of characters than over in depth description of the plot. What I likes most about this book was that it was fully in touch with the happenings of the then world. From the Nazis to the women, Wall street to gloated egos, one can relish popcorn while reading this.

WHY NOT:

One major weakness in the plot is the inadequate reason for the fight between Kane and Abel. In the middle the story goes through a point when everything is according to routine and nothing changes. Otherwise the story is pretty fast.

My RATING : 3.75/5

The scale is based on the markers given below:

0 -> My Electrical Sciences 1 text book
1 -> Read a railway notice board instead
2-> I can write better
3 -> Good
4 -> I strongly suggest you read this
5-> You are reading something in heaven.

Completing a moment

So often we miss an upbeat rythm or celtic music in the background to complete a moment. Was watching some parts of the movie metro and suddenly got into a nap of imagination.

Just imagine a band of musicians carrying mouth organ, a violin and an acoustic guitar following you everywhere waiting to complete a moment.

Imagine what if the drums start rolling and “highway to hell” starts playing in the midair as soon as we come out of our examination hall.

Or imagine the life falling into slow motion as soon as you hit a six in gully cricket.

Imagine the atmosphere change into sepia mode as soon as one starts recounting good old school days sitting with friends.

Imagine getting hold of a camera every time a kid gives a cute smile or when the sun just perfectly hides behind a cloud.

Moments come and go. Life splashes new colours almost everyday. Wish it rained whenever we felt like it, to make these colours the precise tinge of blue which makes our heart all nostalgic.

Sarcasm

It seems ages ago when i didn’t have anything sarcastic to say. Sarcasm has got woven into my system. When a simplest innocent statement like “hey look the stars are so bright”, would force me to say “Obviously, why else do u think celebrities are called stars”.

I don’t know what has caused this change. Whether it is the unending desire to make oneself above all worldly desires or a total monotony which has plagued my life. Dont know whether it really matters to me at all. The creative satisfaction in dismissing anything and everything said by anybody has made me numb. Feel like telling myself “ hey you forgot to add ‘comfortably’ before numb”.

Election junk - Night at the museum1

Never underestimate the entertainment production capabilities of politics – this is one thing which i learnt lately. After seeing last year’s run up to the elections and the result and how randomness crept into the most methodical elections ever possible, this year was bit of a disappointment till a few days back. But that was before the night of 26 august.

Lets name the characters involved. We are talking about two “sets” of people. Set 1 is P having elements {a,b} ( not using {S,M} instead... don’t know when i might cross one of the countless rules made by uncle and his gang). Set2 has been the one which has taken the hit. Initially {w,x,y,z}εG but then it was not to be.

It all started with rumours that the night had gone crazy. Some supporter of ‘x’ got beaten up. Some said the attackers were drunk, some others said it was staged. To heat up the matters and give the rumours more weight sarvi was brought in. I slept off early.

On waking up there were some fresh, blood rushing rumours coming from some of the movers and shakers of politics here. It was said that set P has been cut short to just one element and even set G has been cut short to three. It was like déjà vu. P having just one element is scary coz last time we had φ kumar singh who won all the laurels.

Morning time mess trip was a grapevine convention. The dumbest rumour i heard was “Hey now it seems a girl is going to stand”. Notice boards looked too uneventful for comfort. The gang was playing wait and watch game. In the meanwhile rumours caught more air. Supporters of ‘x’ were keeping quiet on what happened that night. Anti – “Anti-campaigning” is one weapon of the gang which has invoked havoc in the lives of all elements of P and G. ‘x’ people were scared of that.

Night time mess trip was again a disappointment. I searched all the nook n corner of the mess entrance to trace the gang’s verdict, but all in vain.

At night 8 30 the verdict came. One of the elements from G was shown the door. The aristocratic language used by the gang in explaining the termination was above my perceptive skills. It was devoid of words like violence, sarvi, anc, blood, alcohol etc.

Its fun to observe the most systematic polls possible in our country, brushing itself with anarchy so often. Two more days to go and i am eagerly waiting.

“ The fear of freedom is strong in us. We call it chaos or anarchy, and the words are threatening. We live in a true chaos of contradicting authorities, an age of conformism without community, of proximity without communication. We could only fear chaos if we imagined that it was unknown to us, but in fact we know it very well.”

Election junk

This post is inspired from one of the coolest bitsian blog post which i read last year which was instrumental in pushing me into this time killing tirade of blogging, a cynical post on last year’s election by atin bhattacharya http://atinbhattacharya.blogspot.com/2008/08/why-so-serious-son.html.

This post is a combined effort (sounds like we are launching a satellite) of Prashanth aka pomp aka skyindian aka abhinav aka ramesh aka etc... and me.

The following are the points that we agree deliver if by some stroke of luck, anarchy or because of some cosmic catastrophe one of us is made prez.

1. Candle bulk booking – in the wake of this power crisis, let’s all burn candles, the ghoting season is coming soon(having A7 and A3 people in the same mess can’t make me think of anything else other than acads). Bulk bookings of candles and hand held fans will be carried out by SU. We are in contact with major candle makers who have agreed to supply candles of all sizes, colours, aroma, low on carbon emissions etc.

2. Super thrust nuclear powered flushes – we promise to have this new technology installed in all hostel bogs. Dirty bogs has given me nightmares after waking up in the morning. “Black Thunder” is also in fray so can’t take a risk.

3. Ghot Bunkers – these bunkers will be created for all the gaming addict CDC students who want to ghot but cant live without the deafening voices of bullets and fellow humans.

These bunkers will have all the audio (from canon’s bursting... to “Go!!!Go!!! Go!!!”) to keep the addicts sane while they try to study. In case of overwhelming urge to kill other souls, there will be baskets full of LGMF provided in the bunker.

4. Chewing gum defaulters – this point has been a matter of havoc for my co-author who has spent sleepless nights figuring out ways to punish the defaulters. An excerpt from his dormant domer blog

“Chewing Gum on Chairs...Yuck!!!

If you have been a victim of this form of terrorism....Welcome to the club. We shall strongly comdemn these actions. These are acts of cowardice and the perpetrators shall be...er...ok..ok.

If you have done this blasphemy, be warned...the Mafia never forgets....one day your laptop keypad will be smeared with chewed gum ( only Center Fresh allowed ).”

5. Camels – it was great disappointment for most of the people who came from different parts of the country to study in the state of rajasthan and to find themselves bereft of camel rides. So camels will be available as a mode of transport in the campus. It will be available for sale in nutan market soon. Once everyone on the campus has a camel each, the next years freshers can buy the camels from psenti semites. They will be called camel pops.

6. Illumination- As the swine flu and rakhi sawant’s swayamvar has caused the nation huge emotional and mental loss respectively, we would like to conduct musical chair, tambola, rock-paper-scissors etc along with the few elite enlightened souls on campus who had set gym-g on fire last year.

Last but not the least (the original cliché) “this is a dictatorship, defaulters will be shot dead”