Gulzaar

THis post is dedicated to one of the greatest song writers in Indian Cinema : Gulzaar. I was listening to the song "Dil dhoondhta hai" from the movie Mausam . The song is so beautiful. Starting with one of the she'rs of Ghalib (slightly modified from the original form), the song proceeds beautifully. The words used are so everyday that the song takes you to the setting it describes. Gulzaar's lyrics have some magic in them. The language is so good, every song flows. Be it this song from Mausam or songs from Dilse or any other song.

When I heard "Chhayya chhayya" after I had some inkling of what Urdu was all about, my eyes had almost liquified. The words are so good. Same is the case with Dil se re and Satrangi re.

I noticed that Gulzaar picks words from the neighborhood and weaves them into beautiful songs. Take "Chappa chappa" from Maachis or the song "Chhod aaye hum" from the same movie. You will see it. Also the comparisons he brings out like : "Paani me jalta charaag lagti thi" are simply great.

Anyone remembers Angoor. Yes that enaction of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. The song from this movie : "Roz roz daali daali" is too good. I mean as I am listening to his songs I just can't stop wondering about the style of his writing. Sampooran Singh Gulzaar…really the sampoorna of song writing. Tributes.

Is mod se jaati hain har ek taraf rahein,                                                                      

yeh soch ke baithe hain, ik raah to woh hogi,

tum tak jo pahuchti hai, is mod se jaati hai.

aapka, 

silentEcho 

what the fcuk

Hi,

I had another niteout on 27th. This time with Shanky. Shanky, better known here as Yaser has a very interesting history which I shall keep to myself. WE were sitting in the institute stadium discussing stuff when suddenly there came out a group of five people ( four gals and a boy ) from absolutely no where. Apparently two of them ( gals ) were our seniors while the rest were outsiders. They had been boozing somewhere in the bushes. They drove off in a car and we too decided to move away coz mosquitoes were having the better part of us there. We decided to go one of the department buildings so we could disturb one of our good friends. Unfortunately we ( or I should say I coz the sight was not so new to Yaser ) walked in to see something we should not have seen. Or put better, something that the person we walked in on would not have wanted us (me ) to see. There is no need to describe what I actually saw. But what followed somehow irritated me.The girl ( involved ) walked out some time after we went in. Me and Yaser then went to drink water when suddenly his cell rang. It was the girl’s call and surprisingly the girl wanted to talk to me. Good Heavens! I thought. Since when did the girls want to talk to me? I talked and all she could say was : ” Mumble wimble blah blah do not tease blah bang ” et cetera. (For those who didn’t get this, I must tell that BSNL has an extremely good network which seldom connects. )
I said, ” I can’t hear what you are saying. Where are you?”

“Outmimble wimble department.”
“Okay, cut the call. I am coming.”

Me and Yaser went out. We took our cycles and approached the lady. She said, ” Please don’t tease HIM ( the other person involved, unknowingly though ) about what you saw.”

And all I could think was, “Huh!! Now am I supposed to act as the lady says.”
I said, ” You need sleep. Go back to your room.”
“Yeah I know that but please.”

I didn’t reply and cycled away. She caught Yaser and started questioning him. It was, as Yaser told later, stuff like : ” What kind of a guy is he ( that’s me btw )?”

Yaser answered, ” Try asking him.”
I cycled back and she said the teasing stuff again. So I said, ” Please talk straight. “
“Okay, actually I don’t know what kind of a guy you are so I was afraid you might tease HIM about what you saw. Please don’t do it.”

Huh!! Am I even bothered what goes on between them? And what kind of a guy am I? What kind of a question is this?

“If you don’t know what kind I am, the best thing is to know me. As far as teasing him is concerned, it’s like my daily chores so that would certainly be done. But be cool coz as far as I know I am good. Don’t worry and go and sleep now.”

People can be such shitbags. The first thing is, she didn’t say what she wanted to. Is she really bothered as to whether I tease HIM or not? Speak clear lady that you had this torn ass over the matter that we had seen you and all you wanted was that I don’t blurt it out to the world which I am doing right now but rest assured no details of who or what are being handled. Why do people do such stupid things in the first place if they are so bothered about who might see or what might happen? Shitbags.

What kind of a person am I? What the fcuk??

Yours,
silentEcho

finding life…

HI,
The nite out last night sucked all the energy away. Physically and emotionally. Going through old stories, I had thought that I had moved on but I feel now that I am still at the same place, the world moved on. Or may be it’s the heat of the day. It’s a dilemma. I want someone to be with me ( Kishoreda, Meesum??) and I want to be alone as well. Went to lab for the first time after arriving to campus. The work will begin on Monday.

I came back to have some noodles in Hall four. It was that time when I truly felt happy for the first time today. And the reason : I met Sumanta Sharma. We had talked earlier or I must say scrapped each other. I had heard that he was this great guy capable of driving you nuts with his wit and believe me I enjoyed the whole twenty minute or so I was with him. Great guy indeed. And then I came back, back to hell.

Not much is happening in life. Too dormant, too useless. And I am doing nothing to change it. If only there was a place where I could shelter myself…if only I had amma here, her lap would have been enough. Would go on a walk at night. Will come back by two. That would be nice. I think this is the time I should look back a little. A bit of introspection at the solace point tonite. Nobody around this time for sure.

cya laterz,
silentEcho

My first niteout with a female

It was supposed to be just me, Peelu and Bhatt or atleast this was what I thought it to be but when I reached there, I saw her and my anger knew no bound. There was some miscommunication about her being there coz if I had known I would probably have not gone to meet my friends. It is this feeling I get whenever I see her. It is mostly anger and I dunno why. I mean she is nice. She transformed from being a head scratcher to a babe in out two year stay at IITK. But mostly I get angry when I see her. I go completely berserk whenever she’s around. Anyway so we were now a group of four and we proceeded to CC Canteen talking stuff, mostly shit. And thus started my first completely Y4 niteout with a female. From there we went on to my and Bhatt’s solace point : the roof of New LHC and then we started telling stories to each other.

It surprised me that they didn’t have much to tell. Those stories were mostly incidents which had happened to us and all three of them were mostly shitting. People forget to collect memories as they move along. They forget that memories remain the eight year old kid even though time might whiten the hair.

She told her story then. About a guy she was intimate with and stuff like that. While she was telling that she said, ” I feel a bit uneasy talking because I haven’t talked much with you.” This is true. We don’t talk much. And when she said that, there was suddenly this thing, this feeling of talking to her for another hour and hour and hour. It was already 3 in the night though. I don’t know what happens to me whenever she’s around. And today , it most certainly wasn’t anger when she was telling her story. Dunno what it is exactly? DO tell me if you know.

Yours,
silentEcho

All the difference in the world.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This poem was written by Robert Frost. Taken from his collection named Mountain Interval. The poem's name is : The road not taken. Actually I read the last three lines on Pogo's blog and couldn't resist the temptation of posting the complete poem here. Robert Frost has written some of the greatest poems I have ever read ( strictly personal opinion ) which includes Stopping by the… which is commonly liked by many people. Another poem of great substance is Mending Wall. Man I still remember the intense discussion that went on in the school's english class after this poem was read.

Just read the last three lines, that makes all the difference.

Your friend,
silentEcho

The wait has ended

hi,
It was last in January I suppose when our wing’s toilets were closed for rennovation and the junta had to walk something like half a mile to do the daily chores. Given the fact that we used to take bath once every fortnight when the wing bathrooms were open, the tendency to bath died altogether when the bathrooms closed. It was such a pain in the ass ( and elsewhere ) to go to other wing’s loos for leaking that we used to go only when any further wait would have led to diastrous outbursts from various locations in the body. Some of our wingmates ( like Shezzy ) started living in the other wings to avoid problems. The problems went so high that people used to identify the junta from our wing by the characterstic G-mid ( that’s my wing ) smell. We used to curse our maintenance secretary Nishith Khantal for all this.

The hall residents were close to kick the shit out of our bases when one fine day ( that was two days ago ) the bathrooms and toilets reopened. Ahh what a feeling. As I entered the bathroom and saw the brand new hangers and showers I was bound to speak what Firdaus said about Kashmir : Gar firdaus bar rue zamin ast hamin ast, hamin ast, hamin ast! (“If there is paradise on the face of the earth, it is here, it is here, it is here!”).

I am off to bathing now…in my heaven.
Till we meet again,
silentEcho

Can we have this at IITK?

I am talking about the second richest person in the world. I am talking about the ‘Einstein of the Business world’ .I am talking about Warren Buffet of the Berkshire Hathway whose companies stock is at $90,000 per share.

Recently, 50 students from IITKgp’s Vinod Gupta School Of Management ( VGSOM ) went to Nebraska to meet this man who spent half a day with them telling them about his life, talking with them like the everyday guy. I want to ask a simple question : Can we have some such thing at IITK? Some techo visit for EE junta to BOSE? Some visit for BSBE people to meet Sir John Sulston? Some trip for Physics junta to CERN ( Okay if that’s indigestible then atleast take them to TIFR or some equivalent in India? A trip for IME people to meet people like Nilekani, Premji or Buffet? And so on.

Our Diro talks about the prestige of IITK and stuff. Can we add such things to our bandwagon so that we truly know what bneing world class is?

Another thought that comes to my mind :

Here we are only living on what the past was. Is anything being done to make a bright future too? All I see, all I know is that the good practices of the past are past now and we are not adding anything. We are watching them die out. Example : Galaxy, Souvenirs, Quad Interactions, GLDC and stuff. When someone goes out to do something new : ” Nahi yaar. Risk hai. Kabhi tel ho gaya to? Yaar last year jaisa ho jai bas? ” This is shit. We leave good practices and copy the old bullshit stuff. We don’t change what must be changed but we allow changes in what should have been sacrosanct. When we go along these lines there will be an year when we will perform substandard byt he standards of the ambience that year and then we won’t be in a position to say : ” Last year jaisa ho jaye yaar. “

We are calculating machines. Parrots. I don’t see the leadership stuff. I don’t see the instinct of changing things. I see suicides. I see lack of will power and you know what: I am one of these parrots. i lack will power. You know what : I am not going to the rally. I am typing this on the comp. You know what : I could have gone to the rally. I could have added my voice to the people at AIIMS.

Sorry for a jumbled post but I speak my mind in my yard and elsewhere. But this time I am really silent.

YOurs,
silentEcho.

In the marketplace like the Budhha

Hi,
Yesterday I went shopping with my friends. Going shopping in the city here is some act of bravery to me seeing the immense traffic and the environment that Kanpur city sports. WE hired a tempo ( that hunk of junk on three wheels ) and zooooooooooom. I was feeling sleepy all along our way. One uncleji ( I mean it ) was sitting right next to me and I was bumping into him again and again. He didn’t realise it, probably he thought it was the rough road. I saw myself drooling over him in my sleep and as this thought came, I woke up. Tempo stopped and Uncleji was replaced by Auntiji so now I had to be careful about bumping as well as my nightmare in the tempo : drooling. I shifted a bit towards my frinds but my sleeping drive overcame me again and : ” Smack!!! What are you doing!!!” Hmmphhhh, I woke up like a pig stuck with lightening and to my relief I realised it was just a dream. Auntiji was replaced by another Uncleji who accompanied us to our own stop so I was relieved.

WE went to parade and paraded into this clothes store called Vishal. I have never gone shopping on myself except for books so it was a new experience for me. I didn’t buy anything but we traded with the sales junta there suggesting my friends on color choices and things when I realised something : this is not my stuff. Shopping for clothes. I have always worn what my Ma chose for me and in the future this thing will be done by the other female around me. It’s one good thing i remember out of many things my Uncle told me : Wear clothes of the choice of other people but eat the stuff of your choice.

So from the shop we went to Derby : a restaurant near Parade. I felt like entering a funeral ceremony. Nobody was around except the waiters but this was good for us as we were already late. We ordered the stuff and started discussing our very own Professor S.P. Rath when suddenly the high command called ( that’s my Ma btw ). And then started the 10 minute long drill : “It’s late! Are you alone? Take care, call me if you can when you reach back.” Am I a sisi?
Anyway, our stomachs and the waiter’s pocket filled, we left for the campus. I came back to my room and crashed.

This trip to city was good for me though. I go out of the campus just once every semester and that’s when I am leaving for home ( Okay, I have been to some places but for the last three semesters the storyhas been this ). So it was a bit different. Still, I don’t know why, but I hate the idea of leaving the campus and going out. It’s good in the campus. I know this is not good spirit because veryone has to move out someday. I am talking in the bigger sense. A change is always good, better than stagnancy.

Till then,
silentEcho

Semester Summary

Hi,
Another semester gone and with it another year gone. It seems as if it was yesterday when I had secretly cried at my JEE rank, or that I had stepped in IITK, or that it was the end of first semester and so on. Time seems to be large before passing. Once it does…it looks like a speck. This semester was as eventful as the last one. It started off well with me ( with my friend Anurag Bhatt ) winning prizes at Mood Indigo.

ACADEMICS
Academics went on well till I attended lectures. It’s amazing how can one repeat the ‘apne pair par kulhadi marna’ thing again and again. Still, I am expecting a 9.6 or 9.2 this sem. Not bad seeing that I got 8.5 last semster ( it is academically unfit to get confused about love and stuff ). Had a great professor as tutor for Mechanics Of Solid: Professor A.K.Mallik ex-Director IITK and a great teacher. Fortunately for us he is taking another course ( this time as Instructor ) next sem : Theory Of Machines. I had some interesting encounters with Professor Mallik which I will post later on this blog. All in all, this sem was a lot better compared to last sem.

Xtra-CURRICULAR
Was Assisstant Coordinator of Hospitality Cell in Techkriti 2006. It turned out to be a very good experience. I worked with a very good person ( he is our President now ), cool, calm, composed, committed. Mazaa hi aa gaya tha Hospi mein to. Roz treat hoti thi. Got some positive feedbacks.
Techkriti could have been a lot better. Everything was hodge podge, I didn’t like the last minute things as far as professionalism is concerned. As far as challenges are concerned…hoo hooba.

POLITICS
Tried my hands here. I contested for the post of Senator in Gymkhana Elections. Guess what!!! I won with the largest number of votes. I got some votes from GH ( that’s Girl’s Hostel btw ) as well. Who would have expected that? Gymkhana elections were a case study by themselves. I got to learn so many things, saw many types of people and the games people play. Anyway Now I am a senator

WORK AHEAD
So now I am :

1. Senator
2. Convener, COSHA ( Council Of Students’ Hall Affairs )
3. Member, COW ( Council Of Wardens )
4. Editor, Meander
5. Coordinator, India Inspired ( Antaragni 2006 )

Am working on the marketing as well as main brochure of Antaragni 2006. Looks like I will have to plan my stuff or the Acads will go to neverland. Meander needs lot of work. It didn’t get published last year so we will have to bring up a new team, ressurrect the whole concept. We will do it. I am hopeful.

Next sem will be good. I have a feeling. All good courses with great Instructors. And with any luck, I hope to get what I have craved for since October last year and since my first sem. Good times ahead.

Your Friend,
silentEcho