Days of "Ullas"

Days of Joy, "Ullas", the "I give a damn-f***" times....It was quite nice when i sneak peeked into Partho's album (Top row, 3rd from Right)..Two things which struck me a.) I was really slim at IIT, even though the buggers told me i was quite "healthy". b.) the sheer of exuberance of achievement without a money value attached.
To all those who has just bumped in the work that is going on is for ILLU, a competition that IIT Kgp hosts and possibly the one which is unique at this institution, where hard work, imagination , aesthiticity, knowledge, team work are tested all at the same time. And all for a tempo shout " Patel ka tempo High Hai" [ there is a certain of speaking that too] and a pitcher of Rasogollas [ provided by the Gymkhana] . Caring two hoots for capitalism and loosing 0.25 CGPA's on an average [mine went down a by solid 1.0] for the semester, at least 10 days of night outs by around 50 folks, bunking classes and working on the elixir mixture of palm oil+ mustard oil [ it was really a tough ask, for those folks who care less, there would be significant experimentation for the right mix, atleast 60-70 tests were done to characterize every mixture for brightness/lack of soot in the flame/flame length/ and ease of lighting up and cost, and all in a earthen pot called "Diya", no candles please and no lighters]. Someday i possibly would write all the details that i know of, but couple of points about it. There are no written rules of how to tie the diyas to the chatai's [for those who dont understand this, may care less about it], but we did tie them in possibly only one way @ Patel Hall, Nehru had a different style and so did RK and RP and LLR, it it one of the perfect example of Guru-Shishya where Final Year/3rd year students teach their juniors of how to do the perfect bend, let them know the quirks of Patel Halls gallery, and why B-Top needs only a plain lighting, and why the library needs to be accounted for. There is also no written rules as to who would participate, and on a random group, we would end up with 20-30 regulars, while the entire hall participates for the final day [ and thats a 100% , no labs, no assignments, no staying in the room's, no chats, no girlfriends, things may have changed now but as late as 2001 that was the custom] . No artificial stuff is allowed and only bio-degradable things which are ethnic, were used for, Bamboos/iron wires, clay pots.
No central leadership but group leadership was the order of the day, people believed in who worked the most. Simple, leadership by example, though there was meritocracy, but peer review was the order of the day. There were folks who were creative and thought differently and then there were those who were day-labourers like many of us [ i cant a draw a straight line without a scale and bullock carts always had goat like bullocks in-front of them]. More later....

Am leaving for Kolkata to tie the knot!!

So it has arrived, the last week for the D-day and i have "dont-know-what" feeling. I squarely blame Yash Chopra for raising expectation so much that i sincerely feel, that i need to do more than shahrukh khan can do with all the help and financial power. Now all may say you know it's all a mental feeling, Love is not materialistic and stuff, but i think everybody is mistaken. DeBeer's has cracked the puzzle of the woman. Never thought coal's brother can fetch so much, and what brand building of a rock for 100 years and controlled greed can do wonders for any business.
But then i am digressing, i am here to write about my impending marriage. it's nice and a great feeling. Going throught the rigours, understanding the meanings of stuff, having learning lessons from recently married, and not so recent ones. Everybody seems to be clueless about the ways of the thing. They just rumble around, expectation management, homlogation period and stuff...but i think it is quite a unique experience to know of things, when everything gets multplied 2X, from fares to hopes to happiness. I hope for the best and may be it's the way my life can go from here on "Until death do us apart"

Quite scento, ehh, but yeah am trying to get that feeling a bit, cause i believe i have been treating it a bit too mindlessly and not trying to think about it.

The namesake-revisited

The namesake dircted by Mira Nair, is poetry in motion though with couple of jig jags. The story as all of you must have read is of an immigrant named Ashok Ganguly , a 70's import to america. The movie is a panorama of cultural shifts which the protagonists undergo as well as his family members. Drama an attribute of modern day cinema with hystronics is conspicuously missing in the enitre movie. Nothing dramatic ever happens nor any of the emotions displayed ever betray your thoughts. There is a post mortem thought of "Nothing achieved" but during the movie you are quite engrossed in matching the sequences which you think, to the screen in front of you. The background score is good but silence has not been used in the best possible way.
Quite a number of loose ends like it was never explained why Ashok ( at the age of 52(?)) would leave Ashima for a sabbatical to ohio, a vague after thought from Ashima on how Ashok wanted to teach her to "live alone" doesnot justify Ashok repeated requests to Ashima of moving along with him and also no strong reason was provided as to why Ashima wanted to stay back.
The characters have been subdued and though the director had the luxuary of very few characters , there was not attempt made of actually going strong on the same. Changes in Gogol's outlook, attitude didnt make any sense, as the criteria for which he chose Moushumi were i beleive laid on fair skin and suitble nocturnal expertise. Gogol's confusion which is the central theme of the book is somehow not reflected at all. What did he understoond from his dad, and why suddenly he becomes an inspiration was not very clear to me. There are few shots of the father and son, and too much is left to the viewers to decipher which is definitely not possible when you watch a movie but is possible when you read a book, and after thoughts on the reasons leave you high and dry for the answers. I though do beleive that this is a good way to increase enthusiasm for the book and am sure, the sales will pick up definitely precisely for the fact that viewers need answers.

Finally am getting out of the stock market and is signing up on Life Insuarance.

Assured Returns, No adventures...thats marriage is all about, and supposedly it's a state am gonna attain in a week...After years of my adventurous life, and the myriad ways i have executed in blowing away my money, with the recent one as late as last month( who would have thought that the so called strong Indian Stock market, does not wear any underwear).
I think it's a nice time chronicle the last week of this monumental shift to something which is strange, and has a "I dont know a thing about it" feeling .
I have been leading a pretty reckless life from the 16th year of my birth until now, and no am not too old. It has been fun, quite so, good money, always flowing out.Never ever saved a penny, somehow i never could. Always thought of paying back those ever mounting credit card bills.
I had been sloppy, to the dead end of it, i believe i have paid almost a quarter of my salary to the CC companies.
But yeah it has been fun..
Chased women, quite a lot, never ever been significantly lucky, but yeah things have not been bad either. But like every 1.1* 0.57 B indian male's never ever lost hope. Chased the next one, and one more..
Alcohol, aww yeah, that was fun i would say, almost sold off MG road, with a couple of buddies of mine. Got a bangalore police dude to serve us chai, and always dreamt of buying purple haze most days, i went there...last count had almost 500 gallons and counting, but expect it to come down significantly and i would have to barter my mojito with a Pina Colada..

Smoke yeah, lots of it, global warming guys have been after my back for the most part, and i think i have provided ITC with atleast quarter million rupees of revenue ( though the stock never budges), been thinking of going green for a while, but now it's a mandate, and no u dont get Carbon Credits for stopping it...

hmmm what else, lemme see, will write about it most days from now until the d-day...when i change status in my passport, stop writing my mom's name in all insurance papers ( some would still carry that), and would have to fill up one more column in most forms....

"C'mmon Alexander!! come back , it's time u take the Trash out"