I am always delighted to see any new comments in response to my posts. I just love it. The whole feeling of satisfaction one gets, knowing what he has written can actually be worth a read and also make the readers post a comment, is great. It is true that so many times I ask Mamme, Shruti, and many others to leave a comment on the blog rather than telling me what they feel on chat. I am a sort of obsessed with documentation. I find the idea of referring to stuff such as photographs, blogs, music compositions etc, later on in life, a very attractive one. I have read my own posts many a times, and best part is reading the comments.
This makes me think of a very basic human attribute. All humans are suckers for appreciation. A child is motivated when you pat his/her back after his/her performance. An employee might agree to stay late in the office, if he/she is getting due recognition for his/her work. A singer might consider staying longer on the stage in response to audience cheers, and the list goes on. It’s important to appreciate all the small and big involvements, achievements, etc. for the society to progress. Otherwise, the recession will be hard to counter.
So, I want to be thankful to my readers (who have left their mark), for having read my posts and commented on them. I would urge those who read, but don’t comment, to please do so (for reasons cited in paragraphs above). And last, but not the least, the very rare breed of Anonymous comments, which makes me puzzle who he/SHE is, to be gracious enough to leave a response, and not expecting me to even know him/HER. Please, don’t make me just wonder who you are. Even a false name would do, (in case you don’t want to disclose your identity, as the one having read the stupid text and even commented on it!)
After a lazy uneventful Sunday... I had to do something to refresh myself, and what better thing to do than recording songs.
I had this poem (by Kumar Vishwas) in mind, since a long time. I had tried a rock version, but attempts to record it were unsuccessful. Today, with a very humble apparatus (my laptop mic, audacity recording software, and an acoustic guitar) we recorded this song. After many re-takes, and a superimposition of some guitar leads, I finally converted it to mp3. On laptop speakers, it sounded pretty ordinary. But when I connected the output to my 10W amplifier, the result was amazing. Not a trace of noise, and recording was impeccable.
I have embedded the audio with this post. Comments are welcome!
Just wondering what the title "Ishqiya" actually meant!
Anyways, we watched Ishqiya today, and were pretty happy to leave the theater after a small length (by bollywood standards) entertaining film. After seeing the promos, hearing about Vidya again flaunting her great Indian body... and the cherry on the cake, both lead male actors shown to be from Bhopal (also the well carried accent), the build-up for the movie was brilliant.
Post movie, we found ourselves (me, Pingle, Rahul, Dash) sitting in Coffee Culture. Best part about watching a movie with people like Rahul (by profession a lawyer in ONGC, Pingle's cousin) is the post movie talks we have. A lot did happen over the coffee. We had an intellectually stimulating game of chess (after so long), extending for about 2 hours, paused by phone calls etc. We had a long talk about the movie and few of the things came out as a result of the discussion:
1. Kareena & Katrina are like burgers and pizzas... in the end the Indians want to taste something more earthy like Vidya Balan!
2. Vidya Balan and Arshad Warsi, beat every single bollywood kissing scene. I think Emraan Hashmi should take some lessons.
3. Where did the policemen go after the fire broke out in the final scene.
4. Vermaji must be gay (to leave Vidya for weapons!).
5. Both Arshad and Naseer approach love from different directions, the former goes from physical to emotional while later gets emotional first, then, but for the age...
6. Abhishek Chaubey is surely someone to lookout for in the future. With such a nice debut, I hope to see ever better directorial ventures from him.
I remember having read this caption on Mamme's T-shirt, hence the title. Anyways, I finished reading Che Guevara's Motorcycle Diaries yesterday. A small book to read, and rightly mentioned in the opening chapter by his daughter that knowing that this man would be a hero of the Cuban revolution a decade later, changes the way you interpret the events documented in detail, in his daily journal.
Talking of details, the book is full of them. As I stand here (I am writing this post, standing in my kitchen alongside boiling eggs for breakfast), the names of many of the places, people, etc. mentioned in the book, are already hazy in my mind. Especially the unfamiliar spanish names are particularly hard to connect to. Details did make it a bit boring sometimes. But when he wrote about his insights, his feelings, it was remarkable. The way Ernesto and Alberto fought for the basic necessities of survival (food, shelter, cold) and enjoyed the most natural pleasures known to mankind, good food, a swim in river, traveling by raft, fishing etc. were a delight to read.
The last two chapters, where his journey has come to an end, and he is kind of intro and retrospecting, will be read by me a few more time, for its sheer purity and honesty.
The part where he explains the technique they use to get free food and booze form fellow travelers/natives was so humorous. Leaving out the leprosy part, which I could not relate to much, the feelings he expresses about the journey, make it a must read for avid travelers.
I left Vadodara on 20th night, to reach Anil's place on 21st morning. Had a gr8 time at his place, very near to Nariman point in South Mumbai. After reaching to elecrama in the afternoon, and meeting old friends (co-joinees at Areva), was time to get drunk in the evening, which we did with full dedication. Next day, after waking up to a hangover at Ankit's place, again I went to elecrama, only to end up in a late chinese lunch. Now, was the time to relive old memories, met Rishab, Pallav, Neha, Namita, her mom, and 2 of her friends at IIT Powai, followed by a sumptuous dinner.
Next day onwards was nothing but gr8. After reaching Chennai by flight the next afternoon, I geared up for the concert I had missed in my first year. Yes, Shankar Ehsaan Loy (SEL) were back, and I was ready. With all my friends (even Ankur and Hemant from Areva joined me), I attended one of the best shows ever in my life. Leaving Ankur and Hemant to the main gate after the show, I walked back through the campus alone... to reach just in time for P3's bday celebrations. I slept late, after waiting long enough for Doodh and Bachha to comeback from their trek.
The next day began late, and after a heavy lunch at Tandoor, almost everyone was just ready to sleep, jeopardizing the whole plan for the night. But one man rose to the occasion (he has done it far too many times now), and it was Mamme. He worked through every detail of the plan, arranged for a bus for 12 of us, arranged for booze (procured by Anna and Tattu), biryani (procured by Bachha), and cake etc. (procured by Doodh and Fkd).
With the arrangements done, 14 of us (Bhale, bachha, Mamme, Doodh, Moli, Tattu, Dilli, Danda, Shruti, Amar, Fkd, Baba, Anna, Bhondu) went to Kovalam beach (25 km from insti). On a rooftop by the beachside (we had to sweep away the dust and lay down mattresses to sit), and just one bulb lightening the surroundings, the evening was poised for some exceptional activity. We played cards, ate biryani, celebrated Bhondu's birthday, drank patiyala pegs (perfectly made by Bhondu, quite in comfort with the US timings). Almost everyone slept only for a few hours.
I took this pic by mistake, but junta seem to be more lively caught unaware
Morning time was to go to the beach. Last time I took a bath in the sea was while returning from dinner at Sreeni's place at night. It was amazing. Submitting yourself to the vastness of the sea, and experiencing the persisting force of the salt water against your body. This was something I had missed for a long time.
We came back, crashed till evening, met Rajat.... after which everything was pretty ordinary.
Now, I had expected myself to be on top of the world after all this. But today, the whole day, I was exceptionally down. Probably for reasons I know, but don't want to acknowledge. One moment, I am trying to gather all the strength to face the situation, the next, I try to evade it all. Hope to get out of it soon though!
Its been a really long time since I posted. First it was due to lot of mobility in life, and then, was just trying to get settled in Vadodara. But now, want to be more regular.
I am posting this sitting on my friend's Imac, in Mumbai.
My association with Ganga has been very emotional… well not the river though! I love my hostel in IIT Madras, which is named Ganga. But last weekend, I came to respect the legendary river too.
Frustrated by spending our weekends uselessly loitering around in the malls of Delhi, I had this urge to get out of this place very desperately. And so 5 of us – me, Amal, Shahid, Gaurav, Bharadwaj - planned a trip to Rishikesh, with the sole purpose of doing rafting. We started on Friday night, after a week of boring training sessions at the company.
Excitement before Rafting
Somehow, we are finding it very hard to shed the student mentality of minimizing expenditure by cutting down the spending on luxury buses, lavish accommodation, etc. and hence we found ourselves forgoing the deluxe bus, and traveled in a rickety Sarkaari bus from ISBT in Delhi. We reached Rishikesh in the morning at 6. As advised by our friends from IITR, we went straight to the Laxman jhoola, around 6 km from the bus stand. As expected, we could find only devotees going to temples and foreigners going for early morning Yoga sessions. No shops or hotels were open. Its at a height of 1700ft, and adding to it was a slight drizzle, which made it extremely chilly in the morning. We bought ourselves raincoats (Rs10 per piece), and started off to the famous iron-rope suspension bridge Laxman Jhoola. Here we got the first glimpse of the Ganga standing over a bridge. It was majestic, to say the least.
Listening to the calmness of River at Laxman Jhoola
After talking to a couple of adventure sports companies (there are 109 companies who offer rafting, rappling, camping etc.), we finally landed to the RED CHILLY adventure. The rafting season in Rishikesh is open round the year, expect for the rain drenched months of July and August. It was only a few days ago the season had started, and because of the increased water levels, most of the companies were not offering the longer rafting packages. But Red Chilly had an offer of a 36 km trip from Kaudiyala to Ram Jhoola. We went for it and paid Rs.1300/- for the day long rafting, with transportation and lunch on the river bank included.
Jump at Shivpuri (Left to Right: Amal, Shahid, Gaurav, Arpan, photographed by Bharadwaj)
The safety equipment supplied is of excellent quality, and thus the risk associated with rafting is very less. The only thing is that one should not panic. We went through a total of 18 rapids, and each one had its name. I will list all of them here: Daniel’s deep, Sanjay, The Wall, Butterfly, Hus & Kisses, Black Money, Three Blind Mice, Crossfire, Shivpuri rapid, Return to Sander, Roller Coaster, T-off, Golf Course, Club House, Cash Flow, Initiation, Double trouble, Hilton. Out of these, some were very mild, in which we stood on the boat, or got down in the water holding the boat and enjoyed the turbulence. Some were highly violent eg. Three Blind Mice, Roller coaster, Daniel’s Deep etc. We were a good team. We were disciplined rowers, enthusiastic all through and most importantly, fearless. This helped us a lot when we had a Clean-out (when all the members fall out of the boat, but the boat does not float upside down). The key is not to panic and to follow the instructions given by your guide. We had our lunch at the scenic Shivpuri beach. There was also a cliff jump after lunch. I was reminded of Moli’s video which he made in Arunachal. All in all, it was an awesome experience. I should also mention the crew which guided us through the day, Sunil Singh Bhandari guided our boat, while Bheem Singh Chauhan took care of the other boat. Harish, Deepak and Baalam accompanied us on their kayaks for the safety of the amateur adventurers.
After the rafting, it was time to explore other things in the town. No, we did not go to the temple. One of my prime motivations in going to a new place is to taste different flavors, and Rishikesh had a lot to offer. We ate fruits like Raamfal and Nagu in the morning.
Raamfal
In the evening, we went to the Oasis restaurant and had excellent continental dishes at really low prices. They tasted delicious, thanks to the population of foreigners who come and stay here for meditation, yoga, adventure sports, doping, spiritual experiences (Beatles came here in 1968 and stayed for a long time, and composed 48 songs when they were here). Don’t miss the German Bakery situated just at the entrance of the Laxman Jhoola.
In the end of it all, I have now immense respect for the river Ganga. This was a very short, but extremely memorable trip. I had great company, great adventure, great food… what else could I ask for, a perfect escape from the monotonous life.
