Last Few Days

Huh!! Seems like it has been ages since I posted here. It has been a very busy week:

* Last Sunday, I wrote the last of the "Closed Book" exams for my MS. They went fine but not that great (how could they when I got only 8 hours to study for two papers). Anyways I am happy that finally after 3.5 years of sheer pain it is getting over.
* I am finally done with my iPhone app demo at my office. It generated a lot of buzz and I hope will generate some funds. I desperately need a device and another macbook to work on.
* Debu, Ankit and I met yesterday and finalized on the new project we are taking up.

Life has started to settle down after a week of frenzied activities and now I am feeling both exhausted and aimless. I need to take up more challenges to keep myself motivated. I am thinking of starting a new blog about the technical aspects of my life. Will let you guys know when I actually do it. Till then Adios!

आरम्भ है प्रचंड - A soul invigorating song

What would you say about a song which reminds you of the poetry of Maithili Sharan Gupt and Mahadevi Verma? I say AWESOME!!

Thanks to Anurag Kashyap and Piyush Mishra we have an album of brilliant songs who reinvent the meaning of good poetry. A tribute to Sahir Ludhiyanwi and Majrooh Sultanpuri, the music and lyrics of the movie Gulaal is simply put in a word 'AWESOME'.

The song which really touched me though is "आरम्भ है प्रचंड". The song reaches deep within your heart and brings out the 'ओज' and 'वीरता' inside it.

The first time I heard the song I was like shocked. How can such good songs even come out in these days of blatant remixes and 'Desi Girls'. It was like getting transported to the good old college days with 'Nukkad Nataks' playing in the lawns. I knew I HAD to write about it.


You can listen to a part of it here :



Here is the lyrics for the song. Enjoy!!

आरम्भ है प्रचंड
बोले मस्तकों के झूंड;
आज जंग की घड़ी की तुम गुहार दो।
आन, बान, शान या की जान का हो दान,
आज इक धनुष के बाण पे उतार दो।

आरम्भ है प्रचंड...

मन करे सो प्राण दे,
जो मन करे सो प्राण ले,
वही तो एक सर्वशक्तिमान है।
कृष्ण की पुकार है,
ये भागवत का सार है,
की युद्ध ही तो वीर का प्रमाण है।।

कौरवों की भीड़ हो या,
पांडवों का नीड़ हो,
जो लड़ सका है वो ही तो महान है।
जीत की हवस नहीं,
किसी पे कोई वश नहीं,
क्या जिंदगी है ठोकरों पे मार दो।।

मौत अंत है नहीं,
तो मौत से भी क्यूँ डरे,
ये जाके आसमान में दहाड़ दो॥

आरम्भ है प्रचंड ...

हो दया का भाव,
या की शौर्य का चुनाव,
या की हार का वो भाव,
तुम ये सोच लो।
या की पूरे भाल पर,
जला रहे विजय का लाल,
लाल ये गुलाल,
तुम ये सोच लो।।

रंग केसरी हो या
मृदंग केसरी हो या
की केसरी हो ताल
तुम ये सोच लो।

जिस कवि की कल्पना में,
ज़िन्दगी हो प्रेम गीत,
उस कवि को आज तुम नकार दो।
भीगती नसोंं में आज,
फूलती रगों में आज,
आग की लपट का तुम बघार दो॥

कुछ पंक्तियाँ...

मैं तुम्हें छूकर ज़रा सा छेड़ देता हूँ
और गीली पंखुडी से ओस झडती है।
तुम कोई झील हो, मैं एक नौका
इस तरह की कल्पना मन में उभरती है।

माथे पे रखकर हाथ बहुत सोचते हो तुम;
खुदा कसम हमें बताओ क्या है माज़रा
लम्बी सुरंग सी है तेरी ज़िन्दगी तो बोल
मैं जिस जगह खड़ा हूँ, वहां है क्या कोई सिरा।

अफवाह है या सच - ये कोई नही बोला
पर मैंने भी सुना है जाएगा तेरा डोला।
मेरे गीत तुम्हारे पास सहारा पाने आयेंगे,
मेरे बाद तुम्हें मेरी याद दिलाने आयेंगे।

[ये पंक्तियाँ मैंने कॉलेज में लिखे थे... पता नही कितनी अच्छी हैं पर मेरे जीवन का हिस्सा हैं ये।]

भिखारन

एक पतले से चादर में वो
लिपटी थी, सहमी सी - सकुचाई सी
आज भी याद है मुझे पूस की वो रात
मिली थी जब वो सिमटी सी - शरमाई सी।

ट्रेन से उतर मैं उस ओर जा रहा ही था
की अचानक नज़र पड़ गई उस पर
न जाने क्या हो गया मुझे-
जाने क्या खिंचाव था उसमे - मैं उस ओर चलता चला गया।

छरहरा बदन, गोरी नही तो गेंहुमी तो जरूर होगी
मासूम चेहरा, नीची निगाहें
अपने जीवन के ताने बने को सुलझाते - सुलझाते
घिस गए थे उसके हाथ पांव।

सत्रह सावन भी शायद पार न की हो शायद
पर बिखरे हुए बाल उसकी उम्र को बढाते थे
चीथड़ों पे बैठी हुई न जाने क्या सोच रही थी वो
अपने भाग्य के विधाता को शायद कोस रही हो।

मुझसे रहा न गया तो जाकर पूछ ही लिया मैंने
"यहाँ क्यूँ बैठी है? बाप कहाँ है तेरा?"
अचानक जैसे तंद्रा भंग होने पर उसकी आँखें खुली
अपनी व्यथा भरी आंखों से उसने मुझे दो पल देखा
और बोल पड़ी "रहने दो बाबूजी - मैं भिखारन न हूँ।"

Election Circus is here

So finally Behenji has started to voice out her PM ambitions aloud. Dunno how come these people feel that the so-called "Aam-Admi" won't understand what these clowns stand for. And I also fail to understand the reasoning going in the minds of their followers. Who the hell elects them??

Schoolmates

Surprise!! Surprise!! Guess who I met yesterday? Well.. I met one of my long lost and forgotten (on second thoughts, not so forgotten thanks to Orkut) classmate from SFS. Now, its not like we were bosom buddies or anything, I hardly talked 2 or 3 times to her in all my 12 years of schooling, but still meeting her was what I would categorise as 'nice'. Meeting anyone from your school 10 years later is always 'nice'. A blast from the past!

The most embarassing part was when I met her hubby (Yes!! She is married, I am not the only one from my class to tie the knot) all I could manage was a dumb "OK! So you are the husband". Now, this guy is a very cheerful, warm and smiling person and thats why this is embarassing. Had he been some creep then I would not be writing this post, would I? Whats more funny is that standing there I felt he was the outsider, a third entity, an uncomfortable presence.

I dunno how to justify this feeling. I can only say that meeting girls, who I have seen in those red-school-uniform-skirt and red ribbons tied to their unkempt hair, with THE guy of her life is something that would take some getting used to. Maybe thats how Neha's friends feel when they meet me or my friends feel when they meet her. Its a very complex emotion, very hard to explain. Its not like we want to own the person but everyone from our schools or colleges own a part of our life - some moments when we had fought, some moments when laughed together and some moments when we didn't even notice each other.To relinquish the ownership of all these moments to someone else is difficult. Have you ever had such feelings?

And before I forget, let me wish that may God bless them both!!

When Orkut fiddled with the gender

Check this out... One of my very masculine friend Abhinav's gender was fiddled with by the mighty Orkut. Looks like there is something very stinky going on in the Google Labs, first the gmail-down-for-5-hours fiasco and now this momentous blunder!!


[Please click on the image to enlarge it]

Wonder what the Pakistani govt. has to say now

Lets see... the various options that Pakistan Govt has:-

1. Blame India for the attack and plead helplessness.

2. Blame Taliban for the attack and plead helplessness.

3. Blame the non-state actor and plead for helplessness.

4. Blame Srilankan authorities and and plead helplessness.

5. Blame US of A and and plead helplessness.

6. Blame the whole world in general and plead helplessness.....

In any case we should be prepared to know that the Pakistan govt is helpless and no one can do anything over there as President Obama has cut the multi-billion dollar aids to supposedly fight the supposed terrorist off the supposed militialised land in Pakistan.

SFS Class of 99 reunion : The first step

Looks like we are finally having a reunion, well not if for the whole class then at least for a few classmates definitely. Six of us (Pratyush, Saket, Preenon, Anup, Deepak and I) met on Saturday to discuss the plan. It was a fun filled evening, meeting after years always is.



We had lots to catch up with and tell to each other. Lots of new facts came up during the meet and there was a lot of leg-pulling. And in the end we somehow convinced Saket of sponsoring the evening's dinner (Thanks a lot dude for the awesome sawarmas and kababs!).
Anyways the best part was that we came to an understanding that:

* We were leaving on 3rd April in the evening for Goa.
* We will be there till 6th April, and leave back in the evening so that everyone can attend with their respective offices on Tuesday.
* The place of stay will be decided upon the number of participants and if it is less than 10 then we will hunt for the place after reaching there.

We also called up some guys and confirmed their availability:

1. Sougata is coming to B'lore and will join us from here.
2. Maurya will board the train in Chennai and will be meeting us on board.
3. Piyush Sinha (Pinna) will be coming in from Pune.
4. Tata will join us if his wife gets leave from her office (which most probably means we will have a new guest on board!).
5. Gaurav and Atul will be coming if he gets his leaves approved.

No news still from the girls. Lets hope for the best.