Jab about BPEL..

“If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it’s another nonconformist who doesn’t conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.”
- Bill Vaughan

“I always believed there were two kinds of movies. The ones which met their end
happily and others which met their ends with a sad note. And
then I saw the third kind.”

Yes for me it was an encounter with the third kind, for others it was ‘Rang de Basanti‘ (RDB).

Last night was the eve of India’s 57Th republic day and last night RDB became an instant classic for me. But I think that happens with every other ‘all-in-all’ average movie I watch on big screen, except that not all of them leave me with a hard pressed hangover to write about them. That this time I didn’t need a hangover to pen down on it, is a good enough reason in support of my claim. I would agree for my predilection for the patriotic movies which makes me biased, but then I am still calculating if I can call RDB a full fledged patriotic movie anywhere near to the likes of ‘Tiranga’ , ‘Sarfarosh’ and others.

So I quote what Youth Curry aptly decribed this flick in one line as :
If Dil Chahta Hai redefined ‘youth’ films, Rang de Basanti takes the theme to the next level. Much has already been said in detail in this blog with a beautiful insight to this new turn of bollywood, as it marks the oncoming of a completely new face of Indian mainstream cinema.

People might and I know will argue that this is yet another run-of-the-mill patriotic flick, in the league of Yuva, Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi and Swades, and does not call for such an attention. But then that’s a completely subjective opinion, and I rest my case on it. Besides, I don’t like to compare bollywood movies, because there is something so strongly and centrally common amongst them, that it takes away their right to be compared at all. I am talking about the ‘Bollywood Stamp’ which I think snaps away as its cost, the possibility of these movies being impeccable in any manner. I don’t have any personal scores against that stamp, its just out of what I have observed while growing up watching the records of idiocy being broken, with each new release out of the factory named ‘bollywood’.

Exception however is a one word oxymoron, that takes its toll on its own definition by making its appearance everywhere, and delivers its responsiblities in the form of the movies of the sort Rang de Basanti. RDB was in fact more than a content meal for my starving appetite for the patriotic movies which otherwise for the past 10-15 years was being fed insipidly with the likes of ‘Tiranga’, ‘Krantiveer’ etc etc.

RDB has in my view spurred a whole new class of movies, which aim to pass on a message that is obvious to our open eyes yet too obscured when looked from within. Am not purporting RDB as the founder of such message movies, but certainly it can be without a glitch looked upon as the role model for our future movies, which our country needs at this hour. And the end would not be apporopriate without these lines I loved to borrow from one of the song’s of the movie flavoured with AR Rehman’s music.

DHUAN CHHATAA, KHULA GAGAN MERA
NAYI DAGAR, NAYA SAFAR MERA
JO BAN SAKE TU HUMSAFAR MERA
NAZAR MILA ZARA !!

It was during my spare office time which as a matter of coincidence can be aliased as my office hours, that I thought of putting those free flowing hours to use, and at least give a name to those passing moments to which I might look back at some point in time and be happy about them thinking that – not all of it was waste !

Certainly a much needed passion that was missing, kept building itself insidiously all the time while I read others’ blog, which were amusing, conptemplative and exemplary, and finally pushed me into the world of blogging, acting as the primary force . And most of the time after that kickoff , I managed to write, I managed to steal thoughts, words and ideas, from any and all sources I could possibly devour. Having passion for something is I guess the most healthiest way to reach successfully towards that objective and in my case it has proved its worth.

But we all know how easily can one’s passion take a grandeur transformation and turn into an obsession. And then it can become one of the most unhealthy preoccupations that can be attributed for an objective thereby making it completely obsolete. Obsession can be killing, and it is one’s most fearful enemy which appears disguised in the form of a most solemnest friend called passion. Thankfully, I am still far off from letting that happen to me. Though occasionally I do feel that painless guilt of not being a regular, when it comes to my postings, but then it reminds me of never being a regular all my life on any subject. What a consolation, huh !!

And so it comes next in the order after Passion and Obsession – Obligation, yes that’s what takes the place in the end. Looks odd ? Indeed its odd, in a narrower sense though, because its passion and obsession which seem to be pertinent here. But in a bigger picture that’s what comes off – a disgusted feeling of obligation, a sense of liability. And I have already got a venal touch of it, which at times resists me from taking the pain of writing, arguing on its demanding and consuming nature. It overshadows the element of passion and obsession, and mirrors them not as the motives but rather as inhibitors. If I would cast obsession as a monster then Obligation is no less than a devil in itself.
( Frankly speaking I don’t know which of the two – a monster or a devil – is above the other one in heirarchy, but personally I think its the devil )

Unlike those who write in a streaming, impromptu fashion and yet sustain to deliver an interesting composition every time, it takes a helluva time for me to even write a single paragraph which can tie down someone to read it completely. It takes some tens(definitely not hundreds) of revision, proof readings, corrections and a little bit of censorship, as and when required, before I finally let anything go on the net. None of my lines are ever written on their first attempt, they are bound to revisit me for that finishing touch which usually makes the whole exercise tiresome and at times obligatory.

I think I need to give a try on writing at least one blog without doing the quality assurance check and which is completely devoid of any passion, obsession or obligation and then measure its worthiness on the account of, it being read by others let alone getting any appreciation. However, I am pretty much sure that even if I do write anything of that sort, I would dare not publish it.

AICC is holding its three day long national level plenary in Hyderabad this year and guess what the whole city has been occupied literally by the AICC delegates numbering to almost 15000.
With not a single hotel(all stars), guest house or even the university hostel left with a vacancy, congress is proving its political hold, and the incumbency just trying to make its part more blatant, has left no stone unturned to do its own bit.

The roads have been widened, with proper street lights, shining dividers, and an exorbitant use of traffic police force, the state government has done all the possible pomp and show it could manage out of the public funds. Good for us anyhow , the roads are here to stay atleast !!

My previous assumptions were slammed when it finally became conspicuous that all this was being done, not out of government’s philanthropic efforts to rejuvenate the whole city, but rather with an intention of prepossessing itself in front of all those big shots of congress party, who would be gracing the city with their benign presence.

But seriously the whole issue is that why does a government need such a reason, which going by public opinion is not even a reason in the first place, to initiate the whole process of refurbishment and developement. For that matter in fact even in most of the parts of the country one can expect to get the roads reconditioned only if one of the ministers has to pass through it or they can expect a seamless electricity supply if the ministers are holding a session in their city for one or more days.

Most of the developmental activities at the municipal level in India need such a polictical incentive to begin. And once started, these so called developmental activities like a cindrella run end up tamely, without the general public even getting the benefit of it due to them. Citizens are no more a reason for the development and definitely not a cause for it. A normal person would never stand up, protesting or rebelling on the pretext of under developed localities in the city, unhygenic open air garbage dumps or whatever, and so in a way it’s good that these activities are taken up and executed for reasons such as these political sessions.

Definitely it leaves a commendable legacy for the beaurocracy to have changed the whole map of the city in a short duration, but it did cause a hell lot of trouble to each and everyone of us, who were there to witness and pay the price of this development. People had their houses bulldozed, on the sides of road, without a prior notice for the expansion of the road, the traffic became so clumsy and jam packed, leading to wastage of both time and fuel, because there were no alternatives routes provided or I should say left to move on. The over enthusiastic spree of development made it all the more difficult even for the normal proceedings. The point is that it could have been done in a more planned and phased manner, rather in such a haste and eagerness.

But then that’is the quitessential of how it all goes in here , in our country called India where still most of the well built, far-sighted, and the most useful of the infrastructure continues to be from the pre-independence era. Nothing’s better and fitting to end with this quote -

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to
teenage boys.

Not something recent, still this Honda Accord COG Commercial is worth seeing.
The height of precision and harmony, cause and effect explained much better than done in ‘Matrix’ , impossibility set off by two letters – Its a pinnacle of perfection. !! You just can’t afford to blink while watching it.
Check it out here.

More details about this ad here.

Sadly though, not for me. Not because am not an artist , not because my ancestry is completely devoid of any kind of appreciation for art and obviously not because I am technically an engineer , but because am confused. Am confused between the two schools of thought , rather two completely contrasting philosophies if I may call them so. One which says , Luck is what comes along with you i.e. its destiny which rules your life – in short – Everything in life is luck.
And the second which says that, one can make his or her own destiny through sheer hard work. Luck , fortune , destiny , fate are all coward’s recourse and the only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.

Thus , it boils down essentially to a battle of argument between ‘hard work’ and ‘luck’, on – what supersedes what. And I have grown up swinging like a pendulum between these two definitions , a second here and a second there. Am confused because I have seen both of these theories in action , in equal proportions , in lives of others and my own , in a mutually exclusive sense with one trying to prove its own self and disprove the other. This is so baffling, so perplexing and so contentious. And every time you fail , both of these philosophies/theories whatever you want to call them , seem to be so meaningless , so superficial and of cosmetic significance that one just feels like giving up any residual faith in either of the two.

I am not advocating either of these two philosophies , because I am in between both of them, trying to figure out what works when ? Which of the two should be relied upon when setting out on a new endeavour ?Its not a million or a billion dollar question, instead a secret which only few know, those few who are the successful, invincible, complete and consistent conscientious achievers , just because they know when to rely on what.They know exactly and correctly , when the the name of the game is ‘luck’ and when ‘hard work’ – and that’s the key !!

Though in our usual day to day lives, we tend to attribute luck as an excuse for our failures and hard work for our achievements, to eschew our confrontation with the other side which we ignore out of our propensity , I think we need to recognize a more integrated approach towards such conclusions. Like Thomas Jefferson reconciled quite concisely in this quote of his – ” I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”

I dont think the question here is of believing or not believing in luck or hard work, because most of us anyhow do believe in both of them , but rather of how can these two things- one so tangible and physical in nature, while the other coming straight out from a metaphysical world , can be harmonized together and expected to work. Unfortunately , even I don’t have a very sound or convincing answer to this.

Here’s a future link to what might be a probable and fair explanation of the word ‘luck’ , based on some of my untenable hypothesis , which I hope to conceptualize some fine day. Till then keep clicking !!

Read this quote today , and nothing can be a better explanation of what’s going on in this IT/software industry.

“Programming today is a race between software engineers
striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs,
and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots.
So far, the Universe is winning.”
- Rich Cook

Though I might have some issues with the conclusion about who’s winning , but nevertheless on whole its definitely a quotable quote.

The small screen show biz of India has grown up, it has grown up beyond its own age and has outmatched the levels of maturity of an average adult.It all began with so far as I can recall back from serials of like ‘Junoon’ . Broadcasted on all but one weekday, it gave the indian audience an intial taste of the so called ’soaps’ of the future. Other productions jumped in looking for their market share in the potential profits still obscured at that time.

That gave birth to the beta versions of the ’soaps’ in the form of ‘Shanti’ and ‘Swabhimaan’ , the two eternal soaps, which would not have ended had the directors themselves not got bored of directing the same faces continously for more than half the decade. These two serials were in many ways quite significant for taking Indian small screen to this new height of insensibility at which we see it today.

For first they prepared the whole cult of ’soap’ lovers , trained the audience to bear the pain of watching same faces , same time , same channel everyday , forced them to loose their common sense to question the irrationalities and inchoherencies which they would encounter frequently while watching such kinds of ’soaps’ and above all they proved their worth by generating easy money thereby luring those high flying vultures of big screen to come down and eat their share of flesh. Thus came the run-of-the-mill – The ‘K’ series and alongwith came the downfall of the already unstable and poorly handled small screen.

Contrary to most of the coveted and fascinated lovers of these soap operas , I dont find a single reason to watch them, except for the inevtability of catching a glimpse of them, while scanning the whole series of hopeless channels which my cable operator provides, in exchange of 250 bucks a month. Unknown said “The human race is faced with a cruel choice: work or daytime television.” and I have the whole deluge of reasons which make these serials worthy of being despised to an extent of getting tagged as a ‘cruel choice’.

Starting with the most strong and most precise way to qualify these ‘K’ serials – ‘Social Poisons’. Yes that’s what they are, and I dont need to justify it at all. For those who are on my side, need not be explained, and those who aren’t , cannot be explained. These seemingly entertaining and harmless programmes, full of emotional drama, have one purpose for all – to sell crap !! Their storylines revolve incessantly around some fixed issues such as extra marital affairs, illicit children, perpetual business rivalries, family imbroglios, and the most central to all of them – love triangles, quadrangles and if the writers were a little bit more keen towards mathematics , wouldn’t have minded introducing even a fifth angle to prove their mettle.

Another important feature of these stories is their inertia. In absence of any external incentives to change, the stories tend to simply ignore the aspect of time. Saurabh told me once that he and gupta could manage to consolidate the in between happenings of these serials when they went home during mid breaks and saw the serial after a break of almost 2-3 months. That proves it.

Today we have the whole bloodline of such ’soaps’ originating from this ‘K’ series . I wont oblige those by referencing there names here, but the fact that people have become so addicted to these poisons in various packings that they tend to overlook their ill effects , is a food for thought for everyone. There are still others trying to get some space in the claustrophobic environment among ‘K’s, who aim to cash on the already perturbed and delusioned minds of these ’soap’ watchers by providing relaxed,humourous, and a healthy time pass. The likes of – The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and Comedy Show , KBC, Supersale , Sarabhai vs Sarabhai ( nd others) belong to this new league.

I cannot but resent these soaps and pity those who religiously follow and make them a point of discussion in their usual gossips. I sympathize with those who still havent realized that these serials are playing with their emotions and even charging them for that. I feel for those who have already been addicted to it, and find no recourse in form of a rehabilitation center to get rid of that addiction. But I am happy that I am not alone in this war, there are others, and still many others .

And I am happy also because “I don’t mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is a language I don’t understand.”

From the show on channel V , where in the host by the name Lola Kutti asked, to seemingly educated peoples, some basic fundamental questions on general knowledge picked up from various subjects of school level physics, geography, general sciences etc, and the answers to which were quite intriguing and defintely not even close to being correct . As some of these I quote below:-
Its a series of questions and their corresponding replies given by different people.

Q: What is an orbit?
1st A: Well… ummm…orbit you see is actually a place where all the generations of planets are kept in ascending order.

My my , how can anyone make up such a hilarious yet technically ingrained reply , that too impromptu !!!

2nd A: Yes, orbit is the ………. I mean its like…….aaaa…..you know what I mean !!

Indeed we already know…..After the reply the guy was so relaxed as if he just saved the whole planet by telling where to get the answer from .

3rd A: Orbit is…. I guess it belong to the species of rabbits , maybe the kingdom ….am I right ??

Seemed that this guy was too overwhelmed with his biology classes .

Another question.

Q: What is the Newton’s First Law?
1st A: Huh , Law …. I am into engineering , besides I hate lawyers !!

Will someone go and tell him , he deserved to study neither law nor engineering.

2nd A: Newton’s ….but I read somewhere it was Ambedkar who made all those laws.

With such a reply I just can’t afford to doubt that people in India dont read newspapers and magazines.

3rd A: Pat came this reply : F = ma

Overconfidence is not a good thing !!! Incomplete knowledge leads you no where.

Yet another question:

Q: What is the full form of UNO?
1st A: I dont know !!

This guy loved rhyming things.

2nd A: United Nations……’O’ is basically silent !!!

True to some point, it doesn’t give a feel of an Organization anymore.

3rd A: UNidentified Objects , I even saw a program on it on Discovery channel !!

Yes my friend even I saw it, with the only difference that it was UFO and not UNO.

This last question was the most entertaining one.

Q: Who invented Telephone?
1stA: Was it BSNL or VSNL.

Sorry, in India we dont invent , and govt undertakings, they havent even heard the world ‘Invention’.

2nd A: Nooo…telephone was discovered.

God, atleast there is someone who can discern the meaning of two words – invent and discover – and argue their usage.

3rd A: Mr. Tele Phone. ( with an expression of wonder !!)

=)) ….

Took this quiz sometime back !! get urself quizzed here

An Idealist. Idealism centers around the belief that we are moving towards something greater. An odd mix of evolutionist and spiritualist, you see the divine within ourselves, waiting to emerge over time. Many religious traditions express how the divine spirit lost its identity, thus creating our world of turmoil, but in time it will find itself and all things will again become one. Idealist 100% Existentialist 88% Materialist 81% Cultural Creative 69% Postmodernist 63% Romanticist 50% Modernist 44% Fundamentalist 38%