India Then and Now

A country all would talk about, a land of tigers and snakes

They would say, of yogis and jungles all around,

Of strange practices and colourful lore

A place where kings majestic and people one...

A country which revolutionised mathematics and had the brains,

Men and women of different stature lived, harmony big and trouble small,

A centre of trade, of architecture, of uniqueness and splendor,

A country of the mighty and the brave and the forever legends...

The British began exploration, of worthy colonies to own,

They found India, the jewel on the crown,

400 years they stayed on here,

They divided a country into two clear...

We fought them away, not as hindu, muslim, sikh or christian,

But as Indian for Bharat, for it was ours from all time.

We sent all invaders, the Portugese, the Mughals and others away

Our country was ours, it was our India, we were independent...

More or less so...

Now I grew up to be 22 this year and never before did I understand all this clear,

It was so shocking to hear, so hard to trust,

So difficult to see, so sad to feel,

What had happened? Why did it happen?

Let's have an eye for an eye, the people say,

Let's have a nation of the type we want in to stay,

Let's divide and rule on religion and way,

Its justice, thats how we'll make them pay,

Its wrong, its wrong, these thoughts so lame,

Why do they think its all a game?

Of chicken, of blame and tempers giving way to a flame,

Eating up all who form part of the play

You don't know enough to judge the method,

You don't care enough to judge the law,

You don't want enough to bring peace,

You just bring shame to a name

And think its all righteous in the way you wash the minds

On a situation and give birth to a crisis

And worst of all, you use the word, a sacred word of purpose

A word you havent at all kept in anything

You call yourself a "Patriot"...

Alone

I just want to walk for hours without talking
I just want the wind to be my only companion
The road my only guide
No destination, no mission,
No one to meet, no one to see
Just me with the elements of nature

No promises to keep, a life of solidarity I seek
For no reason at all, for no reason whatsoever
I do not fear the world or its people
I do not fear what destiny holds for me
For I do not believe in destiny
I believe in choice
Those that have been made, are being made
Will be made...

This feeling is real, an explanation not warranted ..

Controversial Kashmir

The sweet nothingness in the sound, I hear,
The calm hesitant demure in children, I see,
The masked difference, I feel among the people,
The land I know as Kashmir...

Questions on answers and undeterminable thoughts,
Cutting across doubtful consolation,
Heaven on earth run by the devil,
Paradise unscathed but scarred...

Friends as one person they greet always,
In a group, the "altruists" meet,
Setting thoughts so whorish in innocent sights,
All they think of, is to fight...

Fight to justice, Fight to judge,
Fight to destroy, Fight to kill...
The kids so innocent, still will,
Believe what they say to them, Believe what they're 'shown',

The belief is fanaticism... Cant they understand,
Mohammed doesnt love your children more than ours,
He doesnt love YOU more than us, He loves all, all but ONLY those,
He doesnt love, only those he is not in favour of...

The ones who use his name to 'cleanse' the world.

Third Year

Changing Changes


Idylo!! This is moi again, Being funny!! (wink wink)
So I wonder, I flounder, I blunder n then I. . . Uh, um, ahem forget it (grumble)
So in the recent past what I’ve noticed is a lot of change, in the way things happen. Ever since my trip home, I’ve seen so many… Haircuts, makeovers, new entrants on the (WOW! Look at her) list and its simply, cool! Looking back in the past, I’ve changed too, from a 100+ kilo weighing, inch thick moustache bearing, pain in the rear end (to some) as one ‘friend’ put it, I was the stereotype father of not 1, not 2 but 5
(that’s like bad!!). Now I’m a respectable 80+ kilos, no moustache, n bout the pain in the ass, I dono, some assume it through the network (refer highly secretive gossip or rumor network in college), some I deliberately take joy in being so. However, from a 20+ in internals I dropped to a 10+ in a few, from FCD to FCD-D=FC (I know someone who did something similar with the letters, seriously, for those in the unknown FCD=First Class With Distinction, FC=First Class)
I guess I lost the marks with my moustache. From the shy dork with the Uh, um excuse me please, may I… while conversing, especially with girls to the ‘sup? How you doin? Or the more genuine wassup? N no shyness (ya right! Whom am I kidding I still can’t ask a girl out or even just her name or be friends with a stranger, waah!! ) Ahem, ahem.. All the changes have been for the good, I’ve got new, true friends, while the old have become closer. One general change, has been that of attire from the trademark blue/gray-black uniform to the casual formals with a few jeans n tees thrown in. A day came when I guess me n my bench mates missed the uniform effect, so we all wore shades of blue! It was, quite a sight! It later went on to become the ‘IN’ thing over the next few days, with the entire 4th year ec branch following suit (none will admit to this, quite stupid if they do). Another change, a misunderstanding led to a musical evening where people would be dancing to the tunes of RHCP, Megadeth and other noted ROCK bands. Quite a forgettable evening, most would agree. I however was quite upset that I hadn’t tried out all the dishes at the ‘Cooking without Fire’ event, for reasons hmmm, unknown. With the change to casuals in third n fourth year the girls (I nurse crushes on) began to look even more gorgeous, ‘twas hard not to stare especially at S* n B* n hmmm that’s it I guess. One I can’t muster courage to talk or even try, the other I just smile n wave… The juniors are pretty too. Competition is intense…. Hmmm… ahem… ahem… (More throat clearing) I get distracted easily, sorry. Well as I was saying, the changes have been surprising too, with the MBA coming in and a life in this “censored” college. Also there have been menu changes at all the places I love to eat n I’m loving it!
All these changes, mundane as they may seem help break the monotony of, making it worthwhile to cherish all memories of life that one spent here.

Birds of a feather.....

Born we were human,

With speech, sight and sound,

With arms and hands to work

With legs to walk and pursue life.

But we remain maim, we remain deaf, blind,

We choose to be dumb To all.

Of recent expeditions that my mind takes, as it wanders through all the day's events, the words spoken, heard and understood, I choose to be puzzled by the question laid forth, when one wants to be different from the 'crowd'. There are some who have it in their genetics to stand out (or thats what we would like to assume), some try too hard, some dont care and thats when I wonder, how does one place oneself in one of these categories in the absence of a jury? how does the jury decide? What are the ground rules for defining a certain someone 'different'? A few days back, I was told by a dear friend that if I did a certain thing too often, I would be mad, so I said (refer reel dialogue) "sometimes the mad make more sense", after some more War of the Words, I was labelled "different". That word made me think and think some more and continue for some days before writing this. I mentioned earlier we see several people, some trying very hard or hardly to fit into the crowd, some trying to step out of the crowd, once again hard and hardly and of course the loners, not bothered at all. What one fails to understand is that when you try hard to be separate from the crowd, you just join another sparse one. You try to fit into a crowd, you begin to stand out and then again its hard being a loner too, you never actually are. Nature made us different at birth, the mannerisms, the sex, the race, the individual, everything is different, then why again do we try to be different when we are at the base, humans, the 'crowd'. Can it get anymore confusing! Lets see two theories that fuelled this 'study', one in Robert Ludlum's and David Morell's novels, the 'hero' of the story always chose to complete a task by being part of a multitude of people, at the scene of interest, be it for a crucial meeting (to quote the cliched "crowded cafe/joint"), an assaination attempt or 'any plot based event'. That way the person remains 'out-of-suspicion' to the eyes of the enemy, for the enemy spots nothing 'out-of-the-ordinary'. Note that though both remain oblivious to each others eyes, they are of course wary, noting, calculating, speculating the possibilities of the probabilities by observing the events occurring around, the feigned casualness, the heightened awareness or the more obvious 'trying to avoid'. Now to contradict, being in a crowd doesnt give you the necessary space required to 'break the mould', simply try something that YOU alone want. One wouldn't want to be part of the crowd then. These are rough concepts to give an idea of why being different and not being different or a loner is not good, it is not necessarily the definite 'will happen' cases. The whole idea is to choose to be different at the right moments for the right events. The lines at the begining of this passage explains it all, we have the difference but wont use it to effect, we end up choosing a path set by tradition and following the rules set by word of mouth. These I say with respect to individual development ONLY. Tradition should be chosen, to be followed, for the sole purpose of harmony within the 'crowd', most other aspects of life can withstand its absence. After rattling my brains on this, I choose to fulfill my friend's judgement of difference by trying to achieve that equilibrium between 'being different' and 'being unique' for one is different without any said uniqueness, but the converse offers no such trade off.