Hope is a good thing !

“Hope is a good thing perhaps the best of all good things and no good thing ever dies”. This monologue from the great ’94 scene of Shawshank Redemption symbolizes more than just an ideology. It gives a concept to live with a hope, a reason that the future awaits you in a pleasant mood and promises more than what you could ever expect.

But the movie fails when it comes to the Indian minds, the story of a prison-break might not be so appealing to the local audience here, still we live with a hope and of course the credit must go to our greatest religion, the one we all follow without any barriers of caste, creed, religion or race, CRICKET. To those who disagree, mind you Cricket more than just a sport, it’s the harbinger of cheers and hope in a dull and gloomy ambience when the path looks tough and victory doesn’t seem to be in light, it’s the game of cricket that teaches you something deeper, the hope is left till the eleventh man rather the last ball.

The victory against Zimbabwe in ’83 world cup teaches you the reason to hope. When you have lost half of your side with less than 20 runs on the board, obviously it doesn’t look good. But this gentleman (Kapil Dev) goes out and plays his greatest innings, 175 not out, and finally goes on to win the cup. The first edition of T20 world championship starts on a gloomy note for the Indians. First match washed out, second bowl out and finally an all out against the proteas. But then comes up a heroic act of a 6-6-6-6-6-6 through the bats of our beloved Yuvi and we start craving for the cup and we did win again.

 Its a miraculous game and we do expect miracles. Its not about dogmatic beliefs but the faith that we have engrossed in our hearts and the respect for the game that makes us believe that even Laxmipathi Balaji can hit a Six on the last ball and win us the game. We learn to hope the strangest of things to happen and when they do, our faith wins. The 2002 natwest final stands just another example to the list of many others.

But, what makes me hope again so much for cricket. I lost all interest in the game with the diminishing form of the GOD (10dulkar) during the last few months. Still when I read about the 300 ball per hour net sessions followed by a marvelous Ranji century, my dil mange more of Sachinista effect. The upcoming Ind-Eng bout might be the last time we would ever see the legend on crease again, but the hopes are high and the GOD will deliver !

In the service of corruption

IIT kharagpur ke 58^thconvocation ki sham hai, kuch mast chahal pehal dikh rahi hai charo taraf, raat bhar daru sutta ganja marne ke baad 2.2 ki shobha badhaye hue hain. Khair wo to apne hi aadmi hain, par nazar atak jati hai kal ki mehmaan mandali dekhke, rashtrapati se leke governor tak sabhi aa rahe hain, mana kgp bada hai, par iska arth ye to nahi ki parliament ko yahi shift karne ki yojana banai jaye. Ab ye to bade vidwan logo ki batein hain hame samajh me nahi aane wali isliye iss vichaar pe comma lagake kahin aur mann lagane ka dil kiya fir ehsaas hua ki wo din door nahi jab hame bhi degree inhi mahapurusho ke hathon milegi, manan chintan me doob jane ka man karta hai ki hamne aise kya paap kiye jo itne kukhyat ucchstariya akhand bhrasht praniyon ko izazat di jaye hamari 4-5 saal ki mehnat se kamai hui degree pe stamp maarne ki. Akhir kyu?

Dil kuchh bhi kahe dimaag bada hoshiyar hai hamara, usne to seedhe seedhe bol dia bhai tu kaun sa dhoodh ka dhula hua hai, aaj yahan se degree le raha hai kal inhi me shamil hone ki poori ichcha pala hua hai, jo avsar inhe prapt hua hai param tapasya ke baad wo din dugni raat chowguni chori ka avsar hame kyu na prapt ho :P

Aur dimaag to sab janta hi hai, jin rajnetao ko aaj dil hi dil gaali di ja rahi hai, yad karo wo din jab khud raajniti khelke khud ko bada wala stud samajh rahe the, are han bhul gaye wo elections wale din, hall ke secy se leke insti ke VP tak ke chunav me jo raita failaya tha, mazza to khoob aaya tha. Mujhe ye avsar jyada mil nahi paya nahi to bhagwan se prarthana to roz sirf itni rehti hai ki kaash hame bhi kisi hall, society, fest ityadi ka Gsec type bana dete, lakhon ka budget banake hazaron khane me burai hi kya hai, saal bhar me 1-2 I-phone aur bike ka intezaam to ho jata, arre nahi itna jyada bhagwan se mangte hue sharam bhi aati hai, par room me lagane ko 5.1 speakers aur personal printer me kya burai hai. Itni chori to chalti hai, akhir aage jake Coalgate aur CWG wale scam karne ke liye practice to abhi se chaiye, kuch hall ke happa gan to ye tak soch hi jate hain ki apna candi jitane ke liye jo masshakat ki thi gymkhana elections me, itni rashtriya star pe karte to hum khud hi parampoojya manmohan ji ki jagah baith jate, aur mujhe to vishwas hai ki apne andar ke bhrasht vanmanush ko ujagar karne ke jitney avsar yahan milenge, utne me to desh ko bechne layak ban hi jayenge.

Bas yahin kuchh khyal the jo baar baar yaad dila rahe hain ki ae dost abhi do saal baki hain, himmat na haar mauke aur bhi aayenge cali aajmane ke J

I am not sexist !

I am a bit confused, a bit annoyed. Probably you all can help me get the answers I search for. Here’s a short story.

An adventurous man quite fun-loving once decided to visit a nearby wildlife sanctuary at night, at the gate he was warned of wild beasts inside but he ignored and went in, had a bit fun, roamed around enjoyed the sparkling moonlight waterfalls, on his way back he was attacked by a big wild devilish beast and before the officials could take situation in control, he was severely injured, down to his knees fighting his survival and he did manage to survive. Even years after this incidence, that man curses every other creature apart the homo sapiens especially the whole bunch of wild animal kingdom for his sufferings. On being asked why so, he in a frustapa mode curses every animal especially the wild ones for his miseries. He has all rights to enter the sanctuary at night and enjoy and the beast that attacked him had no right morally or ethically to sabotage him thus every beast of his kind must be punished.

Now my mind stops working, it’s full of arguing thoughts. Where is the fault in the system, was it the gatekeeper’s fault that he couldn’t stop him from entering the sanctuary at night or it was the man’s fault himself to ignore the warning. Definitely the beast deserves no mercy, it had sinned going out its limits and attacking an innocent man, but could it have been avoided, the man paid no attention to the issued warning and was victimized. And should the victim treat every other beast as a criminal or harbinger of his sorry fate?????

Now, why does an undergrad at kgp worrying so much of this story? Well, some of you might have guessed the context too ( http://shikhasinghiitkgp.blogspot.in/2012/07/to-men.html) .
 Just replace the man with a sweet girl and the wildlife sanctuary by a night bar and the beast with a heavily drunk bully of the same kind. The girl enters the bar, is issued a warning too that it’s not safe inside, still she enters not wanting to cancel her fun plans and is victimized by a misbehavior by the drunk bully. Seems a similar story, just the characters have changed. Now the girl curses the whole male community for her sorry fate that does include me too.

Wait a minute, in what universe did the billions of XY-chromosomed people declare that bully as our representative, hum maante hain ki aisa karne wala kutta hai, he behaved as a bloody motherfucker and has sinned heavily and must be punished but dear madam, where does the question of sexism rise. What the hell other billions of males have done to you, we support your cause and sympathize and if needed stand for you against that bully. But, you can’t blame me or anyone of my kind for your miseries. Yeah, I do agree, eve-teasing or other forms are shameful but common and that’s why the society on its own tries to have a control system and as a result of that, you did receive a warning too which you ignored for whatsoever reason. The beast was in the bar waiting to haunt you and succeeded thanks to your ignorance.

The first rule in driving is ‘drive slow’ although you are an expert in driving, the reason being others might not be good drivers and hit you hard really hard, it’s not your fault but you will be hurt for sure. Same principle applies here too. Follow the rules of the system. Now, some of my female friends argue that the system is sexist in itself where all the rules are favored to the male side, but it ever occur to you that the number of wild male beasts is way above the number of wild female beasts (yes, some are there), so the rules have been designed to protect our sisters and mothers.

Some black curses in the society can’t be removed at one go, that’s why we create a control system to act as a buffer while we work on eliminating those wild beasts. So, let’s work together to control it rather than fight among ourselves. And yes, this post isn’t sexist.

Masculine or the Feminine ??

A small excerpt (Pandit Vasudev to Shiva) from Amish’s ‘The Secret of the Nagas’

“Most people believe there are many hundreds of ways of life in the world; every civilization thinks it is unique in some way. But if you actually distil the way people live there are only two ways: The Masculine and The Feminine.”

And as he defines further, Masculine way is the ‘life by laws: unchangeable, rigid laws’, the life of TRUTH, DUTY and HONOUR. Feminine way is the ‘life of probabilities’, the code of success in which is unmistakably PASSION, BEAUTY and FREEDOM.

Of course the theory above is at least 4000 years old but some things never change, this concept has been here always as the concept of Yang and Yin. So let’s work out and find the muscle forces and the feminine beauty in our present. 

First of all, make it very very clear that Masculine and Feminine refer nowhere to Male and Female. So, it’s not an article committed to the BIG ‘Men v/s Women’ battle. It goes deeper.  Both forms are completely around us in each and every element. Every man has a feminine heart somewhere and definitely women do are masculine when it comes to their wrath or a strict diet schedule.

Let’s start with our government for example, undoubtedly dictatorship is masculinity in its purest form, strict laws, perhaps the best form till it reaches its pinnacle and tries to destroy every other format that is different form its own. On the other hand, democracy represents the feminine civilization with freedom and rights of speech, wealth and decision-making. You can’t argue if one form is better than the other. If you consider dictatorship as the wrong side, think again. Lord Ram’s Suryavanshi rule was one of the strongest preachers of such a form and it was successful for the next thousands years till the Chandravanshis fought back their way. And much before that, when the ‘Devas’ the GODs followed feminine rule against the masculine ‘Asuras’, Lord Rudra had to abolish it to restore peace.

Well, I personally believe Rashtriya Swayamsevaka Sangh, the big fat gun once RSS, represents the masculine form and the Congress tried to form a feminine govt but it failed. In the kgp context, the academicians are definitely masculine. There is a way which if followed will always ensure success but then the path is a lot more complicated than what we wish, so just the few tough ones, the maggus, actually follow it. Others like me are generous enough to be carried away by the feminine approach.

Definitely, feminine aspect makes you love, appreciate beauty and live a life of passion. But, the right balance is needed to inculcate the discipline that’s where masculinity comes in. So, its just about the right balance, nothing more nothing less.

Peejay shouts !!: The OP begins

Peejay shouts !!: The OP begins: (not to mention 'fictitious') The first week of July, no doubt my mind (a 3rd year kgpian's) is full of classical and mysterious weapons ...

The OP begins

(not to mention 'fictitious')

The first week of July, no doubt my mind (a 3rd year kgpian's) is full of classical and mysterious weapons to orient (not literally) the last year's so-called 'damaads' of the hall. Surely, I am not the only one giving time to these thoughts. We have been working on this for quite a while now devising new methods.  The scientists in some part of the world are grilled up with the Higgs' particle and bosons and all, myself more satisfied with improving the 'JUGNU dance' and the 'Frequency' concepts. They do need a change. There's no fun when all the fachchas have more funda than you, although wrong, some things are meant to be known at the right time. 

 

For the to-be sophies, don’t read this article trying to decipher anything, literally even I don’t give a damn to the ‘OP specials’ now.  But yes, after having a double thorough read ‘India After Gandhi’ by Ramchandra Guha, I have started finding the similarities in the regular ‘OP season’ and ‘India’s journey in the last 60 odd years’.  At the first sight, it does seem foolish but when I give a second thought to it, picture looks clear and gets clearer every time with more chapters added to it.

So, let me put things simpler.  India is basically a normal kgpian and the colonial days of the 200 long years under the british were exactly similar to those in Kota. Getting out of the homely comforts into some foreign hands, things being systemized and roughening you up for the big day. Freedom from the colonists did come at the right time when the whole world was gearing up and you thought you were ready, so India boarded the democratic train with an illusionary vision of where we headed to, don’t tell me you didn’t expect Kharagpur something better. 

 You came prepared for the tough times ahead aka ‘Ragging :P’ but thanks to some good past ideology ‘Fachche Insti ke damaad hote hain’ and you were spared. Similarly, the first few years of the Indian democracy were peaceful though you may argue of the glitches in constitutionary reforms, the general elections etc etc etc, but I would sum them up into academic load and the first 10 years passed and the fachcha time was over.

The fun part comes now.  Jab aapke saas-sasur apke ‘Orientation Program’  ke liye tayyari karke aaye the (me in current mode). Well, India too had to go through lots of self-improving orientation programs in the 1965-85 mode. The longest ‘20 year’ period ever it had to live. Be it the Naga trouble or the Chinese aggression, India had a tough time but unarguably , as OP is expected to, it was learning experience.  Even the 2 year emergency in ’75 brought system back to performing as per world standards, though it was completely an undemocratic time, newspapers not allowed to publish anti-govt articles in the same way a sophie kgpian isn’t allowed to update his fb offensive status. But yes, disciplined system comes back to action and that’s what happened after that emergency period.

Be it the first non-congress party rule in ’77 which dismantled within two years or the sikh riots of ’84, the constitution was just in a phase where a kgpain has to cover as much portion possible with a  single newspaper page and the first thing he covers definitely needs no mention. India also managed to protect its constitutionary laws though they were nude now.

The only thing that troubles me right now is that the India went through all the phases peacefully with a bit hiccups, be it mess OP or the wing one, but still the ‘Mass Rape’ phase which is supposed to end within a few hours for a kgpian has extended over 25 years for India. Its time to end it and get back to the reverse OP mode though the zero gravity phase is still left and all things will fall out of place.