Just Bulla

A Very Arbit Post

2009-12-13T14:36:00.001-08:00

I was just sitting around and thought why not just write random words that come to my mind for the next 15 minutes. They don't mean any thing, just random words that came to my mind while sitting around for 15 minutes and than after completing the list I thought why not just post it on my blog. So here it is..

ChaapaBhasadPinkFloydGtalkFacebookDC++BakaitPhattaShawshankStarWarsMartinScorceseAkiroKurosawaPrisonBreakScofieldGuitarStevieRayVaughnMarkKnoflerSachinTendulkarAdamGilchristRickeyPontingSucksHuggaOrkutYouTubeCricinfoStatusLedZeppelinCreedenceClearWaterRevivalHighSuttaSultansofSwingAntaragniChicksTwitterBase9C++LordoftheRingsAynRandGottrifiedWilhelmLeibneizMathematicsFluidMechanicsCPICalvinandHobbesXkcdNerdsandGeeksPhDLinuxSourceCodeFirefoxMeanderNerdBoredMusicPearlJamWhiskeyintheJarBullaDabbaPulpFictionGraduateFountainheadCaptitalismPlacementsStartupsTechkritiArsenalLiverpoolBucketheadChickenSwineFluEconomyIndiaChinaZeitgiest

Zeitgeist is an apt ending I guess :). I was feeling sleepy enough by now.

Placements and other things...

2009-12-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

"Abey yaar aaj to bura waala kata"
"Hadd he kar de yaar us company ne to"
"Yaar mujhe apne MBA plans nahe batane thae us interview mein"
"Yaar usne chaap he diya aaj to"
"Launde ab to treat honee chaiye"

Few of the ubiquitous voices you hear around Hall 1 these days. Guys(other species being virtually non-existent) roaming around in the best attire they have been in last 4 years. Different from the "I don't give a shit about the world" look, instead properly shaved with a decent haircut. December is the month when people, properly dressed in tuxedos with a tense look can be found riding old bicycles.

And once you get placed there is almost nothing to do except read some unfinished books, watch movies, finish TV series. It comes back to normal. Again you start finding people who haven't shaved for more than a week. Dressed like "I didn't have anything else to wear". You start discussing things which are not related to a shortlist, companies, Pay packages, interviews etc etc. Things go back to normal like people discussing around in the canteen about arbit things (like oragnising a girl wresting match in the Hall 1 quad or Behera saying things like "okay define good and bad"). More laughs definately. Its almost a relief seeing normalcy return back to Hall 1 again which I love.

Why I worship Sachin ... ??

2009-11-15T08:27:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything for a long time now, this seemed to be apt time: endsems starting tomorrow (probably that is the time in the campus when you spend a lot a time with just yourself), Sachin completing his 20 years in cricket today. But this post is not about cricket or how great a player he is, its about how I have learnt from him in various ways.

I have grown up watching Sachin right from my childhood and even now I read up almost any article that is published on him. He is probably one of those rare players who is respected by opponents and team-mates alike. If I start recalling my life's best moments, a lot of them would be about Sachin winning matches for India. I somehow feel that the day he'll stop playing, I can define it as a phase of my life. He shows exactly how life should be lived and how to keep achieving when you have achieved so much. He has been a star since he was 16 and still it has not got into his head. The man who is worshiped all across the nation and still has his feet on the ground. Still he has not lost the passion for the game and still as curious about the game when he was 16. That's dedication for you. There might have been better or equivalent players but I guess none is as respected as he is.

This statement of his in an interview recently when asked about how has he been able to play for 20 years: ".........you need people around you to share your happiness with them and I've got more than a billion people to share that with....". That's humility for you and that's his greatness.

Answers....

2009-05-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

Within the confines of the soul,
Search for a solution within,
Questions arise out of nothing,
answers often unfolds more of them.
I promise myself I would do everything,
get the answers, to get something,
I doubt whether somebody is watching
If I don't pray, it would mean one less thing
that I am refraining from doing.
Is it about a possibility I dream,
Or an infinite illusion of mirage it may seem.
longing for the answer is now painful,
shut out the questions,
throw them out in the null,
imaginary beauty better than a real dull.

I wrote this piece while travelling to Jammu a week back. :)

अनकही

2009-04-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

दरिया के दो किनारों की तरह हम,
साथ साथ चलते कभी ना मिलते,
ख्वाहिश है उफ़ाक़ के उस पार मिलने की,
अल्फ़ाज़ भी ज़ुबा तक आके ठहेर जाते हैं |

हसरत है दिल में कुछ अनकही सी,
सागर की लहरों की तरह मचलती हुई सी,
बसंत की सरसों की तरह हँसती हुई सी,
आरज़ू है दिल में कुछ दबी हुई सी |

उफ़ाक़ = horizon

My first ever attempt at hindi/urdu poetry :)

Certainly ....

2009-03-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

During a weird chain of thoughts, I was wondering whether life could be defined as a set of mathematical equations. Chuck it. I almost want life to be defined by a set of mathematical equations. I wish there was a certainty to every action we take. The problems would be, if we had a mathematical function through which we could define the life lived till now, same function could be extrapolated in the time domain and thus we could know the future (and certainly change it), which gives us a paradox. So we cannot define life through a set of mathematical functions.

Then suddenly another thought came, what if we could define it through probabilistic equations, very similar to Schrodinger's Equation (you cannot exactly calculate an electron's position and velocity at the same time). Through probabilistic functions we could know what actions will have what effect (probably). This won't make life certain but definitely reduce the uncertainty factor of our actions.

But isn't that a rational person does, taking action based on logic & reason. So I guess it boils down to being rational in our every action. That's the way to go I guess. I wish I could take each and every decision rationally (I do most of the time, but I would like to make it 100%).

PS: This chain of thought actually got me interested in neuroscience [:D] !!! Wonder how our brain processes this information....

Dev D ...

2009-02-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

" What a movie ... man !! "

That was the remark from all 6 of us who went to see this movie. The best part of the movie is that the director Anurag Kashyap doesn't leave it to audience to infer the meaning, he says it very clearly "in your face". One can observe creativity oozing out of the movie. Direction of a genius, brilliant camerawork, amazing editing, bizzare and fitting music this movie has it all. And it does take real guts to make a movie like that, especially in a country like India where the supposed protectors of our supposedly superior culture (read Ram Sena etc etc.. ) are likely to have a violent response to the movie.

Movie highlights narcissism at its best. The film is supposed to be the modern take on the classic Devdas, also seems inspired by the MMS scandal which caused huge amount of controversy throught the country. The movie is not lenient anywhere, uses the same crude language fairly common in nothern part of India. Another highlight of the movie is Abhay Deol, that guy is getting better and better with each movie. So called Badshahs of Bollywood should give it a thought to sign up for his lessons on acting. Signs of a brilliant director are evident in the guy.

If you still haven't seen the movie ... Do yourself a favor .. go watch it ..

11.2 Million % !!!

2008-09-18T05:38:00.000-07:00

I am talking about inflation in Zimbabwe which touched a figure of 11.2 million %, compare it to the situation in India where it is around 12% and there is a lot of hue and cry over it.

With the nation's inflation rate the highest in the world, the Zimbabwean government continues to print ever larger denomination notes to keep up. You can just about buy a loaf of bread for Z$1,000. And if you want a few bananas, you need to pay a bagful of cash.

With money continuously losing its value there hunger, poverty and unemployment have become the constant companion for the people over there. It has been a decade now that Zimbabwe has been a state of constant economic recession and war dominating the scene. What makes it worse that the so called "Mugabe" government has imposed a complete ban on relief efforts by foreign NGOs. Although he claims that isolation by the world (Read Europe and US) is responsible for the current situation.

With all the economic activities on a complete halt there seems to be no ray of hope for the people. Although elections happened but they were of no use as "Robert Mugabe" was the only contestant. LETS HOPE FOR A MIRACLE !!!!!!

Belling the CAT !!!

2008-09-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I came back to my hostel room already pissed off over something I don't remember now. I found this note stuck at my door.

I couldn't decide whether to be angry about it or laugh at it (I would at laughed at it on a normal day). A thought came to my mind that do these guys consider my fellow batch mates so dumb and lame. I mean see the language used, "All 3rd Year IITians Do You Desire $100000 + JOB + BMW + FLAT in London, New York, Singapore ...... ", how sick can it get ?

If we talk of business policy now (I am doing a course on it, so it was inevitable ), this is the worst advertising policy I have seen. After seeing this ad I was sure that I won't join this organization even if I decided to prepare for CAT. How can you give these kind of ads knowing that your target customers have at least above average IQ.

But as Einstein said, "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." I finally concluded that there may be some of my fellow batchmates who would be moved by these words and ...........

60 Years of Independence !!! Where are we headed ... ???

2008-08-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

In less than 24 hours time INDIA will celebrate its 61st year of Independence. One question that inevitably comes to my mind is that "Do we even exist as a country ?". Lot has been talked about our "unity in diversity" and what not. But the fact remains that being a Punjabi, Gujrati, Tamilian, Telugu, Bengali, Maharashtrian, Bihari etc. has become(or has it always been ?) much more important than being an Indian.

Our leaders worry about the "Cash for Vote" CDs when more than half of the states in the country are troubled with some or the other issues which need immediate attention. I'll list some of them here:

* Bangalore and Ahmedabad bomb-blasts (Live bombs were being found days after the incident.)

* Jammu-Kashmir issue (Amarnath land case)

* Maharashtra-Bihar issue.

* Tamilnadu-Karnataka Water issue.

* Punjab (Dera-Saccha Sauda issue)

* Kerala (Communist problem)

* North-East States (Do we ever think about those states ?)

Reservation and Caste-ism reached to new heights after 60 years of independence. Reservations were supposed to have been ended by this time. But our Honorable HRD Minister increased to such a level that it would take decades now to get rid of it. We must be the only country in the world where a people of a particular caste destroy property worth millions and keep the largest state in India in a state of anarchy for days just to prove that they are more backward then some other caste. WHAT A SHAME !!!

We might be the second fastest growing economy in the world, but when it comes to corruption we are among the toppers(Check out annual report of transparency international). Around 89% of our growth was for 3% of the people (I read it somewhere).

Most of the states are either fighting from terrorism or parallel government of Naxalites. Every month or the other we have serial bomb-blasts in cities where nobody would even think of a bomb-blast. Every time our (respected) home minister comes up with a statement that nobody would be spared and INDIA would finally win the war against terrorism. As if this is a fucken movie which would end with a happy ending.

As we celebrate our 61st independence day tomorrow, I think we should better ponder over the reason of celebrating. Is it that we are just celebrating departure of British or Independence ? There is also a urgent need to define INDIA better.

"Clash of the TITANS"

2008-07-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today, arguably the best tennis player in history could have turned into an adjective from a noun. Yes, I am talking about Roger Federer. He just missed his sixth Wimbledon in a row. Rafael Nadal truly deserved the win. It took 4 hours 48 minutes of action to decide the new king of Wimbledon. One could not expect a better match for the finals, I mean just a look at the scores can tell you much about the match (6-4,6-4,6-7,6-7,9-7).

I really wanted Federer to win in this match but Rafa really deserved the title. Till the last moment until Federer slapped the forehand into the nets and gave up his title, I hoped that Federer will do it again. After the match I realized that even though I was cheering for Federer it didn't matter who won finally. Its the game that mesmerizes you. Thats the beauty of a sport.

Another thing I admired was the humility and respect that both of these players they have for each other. "Well, it is disappointing for me I am in the same time as the best player in history, Roger Federer," Nadal announced just after making history by winning French Open and the Wimbledon in row, only the second after Bjorn Borg to do so.

When you looked at Federer just after he lost a chance to make history, he was calm and smiling as if nothing happened. Even just after he lost the match he never even shook a fist or head in dissapointment. When asked about losing the chance to win Wimbledon six times in row, he said "I tried everything. Rafa is a deserving champion, he just played fantastic." Thats modesty for you. He took defeat like a champion.

Well, thats a week of celebration of Spain, a Spainiard has been crowned as king of Wimbledon after 1966 just after the week of Spain winning the Euro Cup after 44 years.

News Channels or Cheap Channels .. ???

2008-07-02T01:38:00.001-07:00

These images tell a lot about the levels that news channels have fallen these days to increase their TRP. In this age of information overload these channels have a great responsibility towards delivering proper 'NEWS'. I mean, the media played a great role during the Kargil war by giving information at the right time and in the right proportions; they made every citizen feel as a part of the war.Nowadays ,more than 5 news channels are available even in small towns (that is,if they can be called news channels). Lets have a look what all responsibilities our so called 'NEWS CHANNELS' have taken.

In the morning when you switch on these channels for some "NEWS", you are greeted by Babas and astrologers advising you on the rest of the day and what all can go wrong. These channels are simply using sentiments and the religious feelings of people to increase their TRPs.

Most of the channels these days have also taken up the responsibility of making people laugh. They actually air comedy shows hosted by Raju Shrivastav, Sunil Pal etc . As if their repeated transmission by regular entertainment channels was not sufficient. And these so called comedy stars crack such pathetic jokes that you'll actually cry at this sad state of Indian Television Media than to laugh.

Sting Operations have become daily occurings on these channels. By some way or the other they are all related to SEX. They use words like "Havas, Vatsna etc" in big, flashing letters and repeat them at regular intervals as if writing them was not enough. I certainly feel that sometimes there is no difference between these sting operations and SEMI PORN. One channel even went to the extent of calling a sex specialist to their studio and you could call him and ask your sexual problems right there on national television.

You can switch on to these channels for "NEWS" anytime of the day and you would get all the news about the different reality shows going on different news channels. Who won on "Nach Baliye", who got eliminated on "Sare Ga Ma Pa", who cried on "Indian Idol" have become prime national issues .

Prime Time in these channels is reserved for "Crime Shows". Programmes like SANSANI, VAARDAAT etc glamorize crime and criminals in such a way that they end up promoting these criminals as some kind of real life heroes or something like that. Whole day before they advertise these shows as some kind of must watch stuff. The worst thing about these shows is their hosts. They dress up like some kind of "shehenshas" and unsuccessfully try to scare you of those criminals.

Another kind of regular shows which are regularly aired during the prime time are related to Ghosts, Bhoots etc. These shows are one of the most pathetic ones actually. The host explores some kind of mysterious building or a village and in the ends up with nothing, but the show will be full of surprises and weird sounds as if they'll show a real ghost for the first time on television.

Anything done by Rakhi Saawant or Mallika Sherawat actually finds more coverage than some important national issue. They supply you with full package of comedy, drama, sex, romance, fear, cheap thrill etc. as if everybody in this nation is dumb.

What these channels recently did in Aarooshi Murder Case, motivated me to write this post. These channels literally did character assassination of Aarooshi, her parents, her friends. Reporters from these channels became self proclaimed investigators and reported all sort of crap. And these channels aired all this under "BREAKING NEWS" section, without even a pinch of guilt. Something really needs to be done about this and these people will have to understand their responsibility towards the nation.Otherwise, the day is not far when their so called journalism will become a serious problem for the nation to contain .

Home Again

2008-06-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Finally the train halts
Sky has just a tinge of red
I see with my blurry eyes
My town has arrived .....

Nothing changes here
Same as long my memory goes
Similar sight of rickshaws clattering
Shouthing for day's first coin

I feel a kind of Deja-Vu
Home Coming again,
Ahhh .. I can see my lovely home
As though the birds saying "Welcome Home ! Welcome Home !"

Street is a lonely place
There will be children here
In a few Hour's space
Sun will shower its glaze

A iterated sight .. knock on the door
I count to 10,
soon my Mom smiling
will open the door.

I can smell the parathas
Suddenly stomach aches
Its saying "Hey I'm hungry from an age."
Weariness of the eyes vanishes.

Same old bed greets me
Says "Hi Buddy Dare not forget me."
Lay down and close my eyes
It was a wonderful 6 hour sleep

Suddenly I open my eyes
My mom stands there
Time for usual Hair massage
Pain of months seeps away

A group of friends on the door
Here we again form fantastic four
A round of laughters goes on
Reminences of months comes along

The time passes away speedily
Why the clock has to go hastily ?
Again the time to go back,
Join the race of being the best

Few weeks more to go
I'll be back again,
I tell the walls.
Its time to bid Adieu.