COL FLASHBACK 2 : THE FUN ABODES..

It is often said that college life is another synonym for fun and I do agree with this statement after completing my 4 years degree course. When I was a school student, I had heard a lot about the college life and all the ‘masti and maza’ associated with it from my parents, relatives, my elder cousins etc. The picture of the fun places that formed in my mind after listening to the different college tales didn’t consist of classrooms or labs or libraries but all the one outside the college building like canteen, grounds and often places way outside college premises. It was only when I entered into the engineering did I realize that even lecture theatres can be a place of fun. I spent a major chunk of my college life in LT’s (most of the engineering students have to) and I do miss it. We had our share of fun in the grounds and galleries of the college (excluding canteen. What an irony that the place that rocks in most of the colleges was the most sucking at ours) but I would like to write about the places that are rather unconventional or even weird for many, but were fun abode for us.

LECTURE THEATRES are the most unconventional places to have fun and enjoyment, but believe me some of the finest memories of my college life are associated with the LTs. Almost everyday consisted of some sort of ‘tamasha’. Every class consists of a bunch of funny people who keep you engaged with their witty lines and pranks even when the lectures are downright boring. Ours was no exception. Everyday someone would become a target of their jokes and pranks (actually only a few chosen by them). Sometimes even chits would move from bench to bench consisting of some funny lines about their target without being noticed by the lecturers.

In fact, lecturers too wouldn’t be spared. A new lecture was always tested by these people. A new lecturer was often subjected to tortures like giggling, sharp but funny one liners and a request to ‘explain again’. But these folks were smart enough to sense who the right person to have fun with was and who wasn’t.

Different LABS throughout our degree course were of 2 to 3 hours. The intention of university behind providing so much time is to make sure each student gets ample time to perform his/her experiment in a proper manner. But in most of the cases the experiment is finished within an hour. Very few students cared about the intricate details of the experiments and even lesser were interested in taking multiple readings. For the rest, labe were a perfect place to chat. It wasn’t possible in LTs to roam around, but there were enough excuses to help you in moving within the lab from one person to another. The excuses included taking pens, registers etc. or to understand a certain experiment from a certain student and the weirdest of all, ‘bas yun hi’.

A large table was provided at the centre of each lab so that students could do their file work there. It served one more purpose by allowing having chatting sessions as almost whole group would sit there. Though, when the strength would be less sometimes, the labs would become almost unbearable too.

TUT ROOMS were designed to accommodate 20 students as each group consisted of maximum 20 persons only. These rooms allowed the ‘lesser talented people’ to come up and show their wittiness (I’m not that witty, but when I moved into a new group in my 3rd year, I found the class a bit dull. Then I decided to throw in sharp one liners in between to somewhat create the fun environment I was accustomed to. It was easier to do so in tut room where you had a small group and even if your jokes backfired, there won’t be that much of embarrassment.)

These rooms also allowed to freely interact with the lecturer and to know him/her more. This interaction used to be friendlier and often a lot of information would be exchanged.

CONFERENCE ROOM was the coolest place in summers (there were ACs). We were not frequent to the conference room and would be called only for special lectures or guest lectures. We would go there early and grab the seats where there was maximum coolness and we could listen and see the presentation easily. As per our Indian tradition, there was always a gap between the scheduled time of the lecture and the actual time when it would begin. By that time we would enjoy the ACs and chatter with the fellows or the other guys of different branches with whom we had less frequent interactions. Many times it would become chaotic and a faculty member had to stand up to make the students go quite.

Now I’m writing about a place which many others would found weird but for the students of our branch it is a place worth remembering. The WATERCOOLER at the end of the gallery of the first floor, that also marked the entrance to the electronics section, was the center point of our gossiping and chatting in the last two years of engineering. The last five minutes of previous lecture and first five minutes of the subsequent lecture would be spent there. Drinking water was just an excuse. Most of the times there would be small talks about the previous lecture and if anything funny happened in the class, or pulling each other’s legs. It used to be a sort of refreshment for all of us. During free periods too, we would go there and either listen to the music or do some serious (yes, sometimes) talks about our career, about many other things. Many secrets have been spilled out there, many truths have been spoken. There had been fights and the reconciliation. A place I would love to visit even after 20 years.

That’s enough in today’s college flashback. See you soon. Bye.

BEING SMALL TOWN PARENTS...

Last week I visited one of my friend’s home who has joined an MBA institute in Pune about a fortnight back. I could sense that his parents were missing him badly already. His mother summed up her feelings when she said,”khana banane ki icha hi nahi hoti?” My friend’s sister got married in January and now his parents are alone at home.

One of my other friend could only manage a little smile when his mother posed him a very simple question, “can’t you find a suitable job of your field here itself?’ The very painful thought that their children are going to leave their homes for their career is in the mind of many parents; only few though are able to express their feelings. Which parent would like to become a hindrance in the career of his or her children?

Glamorous jobs with fat packages always belonged to metros and other big cities. Although smaller cities and towns are creating more jobs than before but for the professions like engineering, management and accountancy, metropolitans are the ultimate destinations. A surge in our economy has created a lot more job opportunities in these fields and so the employable work force is being looked for, beyond the cities in the smaller towns and cities. As a result, small town youth is getting more opportunities to go into these fields and they are moving towards big cities like never before.

But is it a new phenomenon? Not really. This has been going on since independence. People used to move out of their towns and villages to bigger cities in hope to make it big there. Many of them aspired to become big business man. Others just wanted to get suitable employment and earn money. But the whole scenario was different then, economically as well as socially. First of all, that period belonged to joint families. Many times the migration to the big cities was more an inner urge to do something beyond convention rather than the need. If they didn’t succeed in their endeavor, they would return to their homes, to their families.

But today, in the present era of nuclear families living on the concept of ‘hum do hamare do’, this migration has a lot more effect on the social life than ever. If a family consists of two children, a boy and a girl then the things become more complicated when the girl is married off and the son goes to big cities for job hunt. It results in a creation of void for the parents. More often the job scenario is such that it takes a person around 4-5 years before he attains some stability. By that time he often has to wander from one city to another city due to the job. After that only he can ask his parents to come and stay with him. In few cases parents too don’t want to leave the place where they have lived for so long, the place they know and where they have relatives and friends.

Let’s talk about girls now. Though parents are more forward now, they still hesitate in sending their daughters alone to big cities far away. A sense of insecurity coupled with a certain reservations in their minds leads to forbidding their girls to pursue their dream jobs. More often than not they end up as lecturers in colleges or are married off. They don’t get much opportunity to plan their careers their way. But are the parents really to be blamed? I don’t think so. It is really very difficult to imagine what is going on in your parents’ mind until you yourself become one.

As I was writing this post, I came to know about the ahemadabad blasts. The first thought that came into my mind was about the increasing woes of the small town parents. As the terrorism is becoming a part of day to day life of the people of metros, the small town parents too would have to learn to live in this manner. As my friend commented after the bangluru blasts, "the most difficult thing for me when I will leave my home will be to make a promise to return soon. "

Is sach ko magar...

Har saher khud se tujhe bhool jaane ka wada kiya karta hun
magar dil hi dil me to tere laut aane ki dua kiya karta hun
Yun to chhod gayi teri kashti mera saahil kab ka
hawao se main phir bhi use mod lane ki umeed kiya karta hun

Tera saaya ban manzil tak saath chalne ki khwahish thi meri
waqt ki lehron  se bas itni si hi gujarish thi meri
aaj magar jab juda ho gaye hain hamare raaste is tarah
tere aks ko dil me basaye main din raat safar kiya karta hun

Wo haseen lamhe aaj bhi meri yaadon me chhaye hain
teri ek jhalak ko ab bhi dhundhti meri ye nigahen hain
Dariya ban tum to kab ki behkar ja chuki ho
Main to talab ka pani ban phir bhi tera intezar kiya karta hun

Aakhir kyun yun basant ke baad patjhar ka aana hota hai
kyun achanak khwabon ka tut kar bikhar jaana hota hai
jaanta hun ye ki har hasrat haqeeqat nahi ban pati
is sach ko magar roz jhuthlane ki koshish kiya karta hun...

Ek Kavita : for my Grandma..

There is a gap of 3-4 days between this post and my last post.Well there were a no. of reasons behind it, one of them being my monitor creating a problem and secondly a bit of laziness on my part. But I'm back now. This particular post is dedicated to my GrandMa whom I lost sometime back. I'm expressing my feelings through a Hindi kavita.

Beetey Lamho ko yaad kar main yun hi muskura deta hun
inhi palon ke sahare to main aapko phir se paa leta hun

Darwazo ke kinare kabhi-2 mujhe aapka aks nazar aa jata hai
ye waham bhi mere dil ko magar kitna sukoon de jaata hai

Aapse kuch sun na tha, kai baatein mujhe kehni thi
kya khabar thi ki zindagi yun hi yahan se chal deni thi

Kaash ye waqt yun is qadar beraham na hota
ek bar peechey mud jaane ka chhota mauka to deta

Zindagi ke safar ka shayad yehi aakhiri fasana hai
insan ko bas ek tasveer me simat ke reh jaana hai

Main magar zinda rakhe hun aapko meri yaadon me
aapke kisse kahaniyo me, aapki bholi baaton me

Magar har saher mujhe jab neend se jagati hai
meri palken aansuo se phir bhi bheeg jaati hain

Hai ehsas ki ab raah me aapka saaya saath na hoga
magar mere dil ka jahan to aapki yaadon se aabad hoga..

Few gems of unconventional nature...

A couple of days back I watched one of the most critically acclaimed bollywood movie of this year ‘Aamir’. The movie was no doubt superb in terms of script, pace, cinematography and acting. But one thing that blew me away was the music which ably supported the movie in every frame. The lyrics of the songs are in perfect synchronization with the situations depicted in the film. I hadn’t heard the songs of this movie before, so when I was listening to them a thought came into my mind which has culminated into this post.

In the modern music world driven by the aggressive marketing strategies, where most of the songs have a very little shelf life, we often miss out small gems. There may be a no. of reasons behind it like the music not being promoted properly (it often happens with small budget films) or a song which has been overshadowed by the other chartbusters of the same film. One of the primary reasons though has been the ‘unconventional nature’ of these songs which limited their reach to a small no. of people. I have compiled a list of 10 such songs since 2005.

1. Aashayein(Iqbal) :- A gem of a song with a composition by Salim-Sulieman and voice of KK. The lyricist is Irfan Siddique. The song is about hope , determination and aspirations. Songs with such positive elements have been penned very few times before and this makes the song more special. KK has sung it marvellously.

2. Apni julfen(Tajmahal:An eternal love story) :-The movie was a crap, but that can’t be said about the music. This was the last film of legendary composer Naushad. The music is no way near to his old classics but it is better than many other films releasing now and then. This particular ghazal is the best composition of the film. I never liked Hariharan’s ghazals from his private albums but this time he has delievered. Naqsh layallpuri has written the lyrics of this ghazal.

3. Naam Ada Likhna( Yahaan) :- Yahaan was a small movie that went away without a whimper. The music had a similar reception. It was composed by shantanu moitra and consisted of some beautiful songs but this was the best. Shreya ghoshal is in full form and is ably supported by Shaan. The lyrics of Gulzar provide the finishing touches, capturing the essence of this movie set in Kashmir.

4. Yeh haunsla(Dor) :- Another Nagesh kukkunor film, another Salim Suleiman composition , another song with positive vibes and another winner. The lyrics this time though are by Mir ali hussain and the vocals have been provided by Shafaqat amanat ali, this song is in complete contrast to his earlier hit ‘mitwa’ but ali has done full justice with the song. Unfortunately, the song had similar fate as the songs mentioned above.

5. Neele neele( Holiday) :- This movie was one big flop but the music by Ranjit barot was a winner. I loved all the songs of the movie but this is my personal favourite. Shreya ghoshal produces magic yet again. The lyrics by Neelesh mishra are simple and beautiful.

6. Jaane kya chahe ( Pyaar ke side effects) :-This song was a pleasant surprise for me as rest of the songs of this multiplex movie are fast paced hip-hop and bhangra numbers. After a song with high notes‘ya ali’ Zubin makes a transition to semi-classical and comes out with flying colours. Mayur puri has written the lyrics and Pritam is the composer. Alas! The song was overshadowed by other big hits of this film.

7. Halke-halke( Honeymoon travels pvt. limited) :- Neeraj shridhar got a perfect song from Vishal-Shekhar to show his verstality and he doesn’t disappoints. And when you have lyricist like Javed akhtar, the final outcome is bound to be an absolute delight for the listeners.

8. Kasak( Chhodo na yaar) :-Music director Anand raj anand is the single creative force behind this song, penning lyrics as well as providing vocals. The song is a semi-classical and different from the beats-oriented songs for which anand is famous. It is an instant relief to the ears. If only the movie would have been as good.

9. Aaoge jab tum(Jab we met) :- This song was a minor hit but it deserved more. When you have such youth oriented tracks like 'mauja hi mauja' and 'yeh ishq hai', a song with classical touch was bound to be overshadowed. Ustad Rashid khan’s voice is mesmerizing. Irshad kamil’s lyrics provide the necessary feelings of longing for a loved one.

10. Ya rehem( Aamir):-Finally the song which prompted me to write this post. The whole creative bunch behind this qawalli is comparatively new to the film industry but they have done a superb job. Amit trivedi and Amitabh have performed a dual job of singing & composing and singing & writing respectively, but none of them disaapoint. The third singer is Murtja-qadir.

This list is my personal favourite. I might have missed out a few other songs, but would be very happy if the readers are able to mention few more. See u soon with my new post.

The Poems

SAAYE ME DHOOP

kahaan to tay thaa charaagaa har ek ghar ke liye
kahaan charaag mayassar nahii shahar ke liye

yahaan darakhton ke saaye me dhuup lagatii hai
chalo yahaan se chale aur umr bhar ke liye

na ho qamiiz to ghutano se pet Dhak lenge
ye log kitane munaasib hain is safar ke liye

Khudaa nahiin na sahii aadamii kaa Khvaab sahii
koi hasiin nazaaraa to hai nazar ke liye

vo mutama_in hain ki patthar pighal nahiin sakataa
main beqaraar huun aavaaz me asar ke liye

jiyen to apane bagiiche mein gulmohar ke liye
maren to Gair kii galiyon mein gulmohar ke liye

STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

ROBERT FROST AND DUSHYANT KUMAR : PART 2

‘Stopping by woods on a snowy evening’ by Robert frost was one of the three English poems in our course book, but only this poem attracted me. Leaving the simplicity of the language apart, the relevance of the poem to my (and many others) life at that particular time drew me towards it. The 12th standard is a crucial juncture in a student’s life. The final step before a person takes a plunge into waters of college life which eventually decide his /her future course. This poem reflects a student’s thoughts at that point where he makes up his mind ‘to walk many a miles before stopping’ I was no exception. The last 4 lines of the poem sum up the motto of life- ‘go on and on’. This poem still encourages me whenever I feel down and out. Many of you would have already observed that I derived my blog’s name from this poem’s last line only.

Now let’s talk about the 2nd guy, Dushyant Kumar. His ‘Saaye Me Dhoop’ is a masterpiece in itself. Apart from one or two typical words, the poem is understandable. It doesn’t match ‘Maithilisharan Gupt‘s typical Hindi poetry or Mirza Ghalib‘s heavy Urdu ‘Shero-Shayari’. But what mesmerizes you is the way simple Hindi and Urdu words have been used to create some very beautiful lines. Consider this

KAHAN TO TAY THA CHARAGAN HAR EK GHAR K LIYE
KAHAN CHIRAG MAYASSAR NAHI SHEHAR K LIYE
YAHAN DARAKHTON K SAAYE ME DHOOP LAGTI HAI
CHALO YAHAN SE CHALE AUR UMRA BHAR K LIYE

MAYASSAR: - AVAILABLE DARAKHT: - TREE

I became obsessive with the word darakht due to this poem. I use this word often in my poems and all posts in this blog are under the name ‘Darakht’.

Whenever I will get opportunity, I would discuss more about Dushyant Kumar and his ‘Ghazals’ as well as one more poem by Robert Frost. So , this tale about two different poems and their effect on my life comes to an end. See you soon with my new post. Till then enjoy both of these poems.

Robert Frost and Dushyant Kumar : Part 1

Though I’m fond of reading, poetry never appealed me. There are a number of reasons behind it. When I was a school student, stories were a big source of entertainment (no PC’s and few homes with cable TV that time) for me as well as many of other children of my age. Our course books featured some of the very fine English as well as Hindi stories. Though, what I observed later, the quality of poems and kavita too was superb. But at that tender age, the poetry served only one purpose: in earning some easy marks in recitation.

As I moved into secondary and senior secondary classes, English poems almost disappeared from the books, while Hindi poetry became almost unbearable. The Hindi ‘Padhya Sangrah ‘consisted of some of the fabulous ‘dohas’, and 'kavita' of poets ranging from pre mughal era to that of post independence era. But again, instead of enjoying them, we got engaged in only doing ‘sarlarth’ and ‘bhavarth’ of the poems without delving into their souls, thanks to our present educational system. ( Sarlarth is somewhat analogous to the decoding process that I encountered in my engineering. The difference lies in the fact that when you decode something, you get the correct information or the wrong one. In case of sarlarth, you are always partially correct and the degree of correctness depends upon how much is your answer in tuning with the person correcting your copies. I guess I was unlucky both times.)

I was in class 12th when 2 different poems, one that from the English text book and the other that from Hindi drew my attention. What was appealing about them was their simple language and the message delivered. It was something that I hadn’t seen before. The Hindi kavita was more special because it consisted of Hindi-Urdu words in a manner we actually speak and can relate to and understand easily. I got interested in that poet and looked for his most acclaimed work. That poem doesn’t carry any specific message and you can make a lot of inferences from it. What struck me though was again the use of simple words by the poet to express himself. His poems aren’t hard core Hindi or Urdu, but a healthy combination of both that a person with a little bit of knowledge about these languages can easily understand. It was his ‘ghazals’ which inspired me to write poetry.

COL FLASHBACK 1 : DIL TOTE TOTE HO GAYA...

I made my decision quickly. Already I was so nervous and had also seen a fellow computer science guy messing up everything. The moment I climbed the stairs I nodded my head. To my surprise, they understood instantly. I was relieved and begin my performance. I was halfway, when suddenly one of the judges (who was a faculty member at the college that time) raised his hand and asked (ordered is a more appropriate word) me to stop. My heart skipped a beat and the first thought that came to my mind was ‘why in the world did I come here?’

I’m not a fantastic singer, neither it’s my hobby. But somehow singing refreshes me. I can make a journey of many hours alone by only humming to myself. Does that mean that I was ready to participate in a singing competition? Nah! But it is so difficult to dissuade your friends who believe that your voice has a quality to face a competition. Finally I gave in.

The toughest part was to choose a song. I kept hopping from one song to another finally settling on ‘Woh pehli bar’ by Shaan barely an hour before the competition. To my relief the auditorium didn’t have that much audience. I took my seat somewhere at the back and kept humming my song in an attempt to make sure that I don't forget it. By the time my name was announced, the audience had enjoyed singing of few and bore most of them. Many of the participants had been not able to synchronize with the musicians properly. So I decided to sing without music and had barely sung a few lines when I was interrupted.

It was my first stage outing as a singer and I didn'tt expect this. I was almost shaking when that faculty member said,” sing with the orchestra.” I didn’t move for a few seconds making sure what I heard was correct. Indeed it was. I had no choice but to sing with the orchestra. But what happened next was a not less than a surprise for me. I was able to synchronize the song perfectly and the high notes helped me keeping the song from drowning into the music. I found myself tapping the stage floor with the beats, along with the audience clapping and both the judges immensely enjoying. I easily made into the second round. When I returned for the second round the auditorium was packed with the students and the faculty members. The competition got tough as we had to sing two songs, one that of audience choice and another that of judges. Audience gave me another Shaan song ‘kuch to hua hai’. Judges handed me two songs, the first one which I couldn’t sing and the second one was ‘Dil tote tote ho gaya’ of which I could sing only two lines. But it didn’t matter much. I was placed 2nd along with a senior who had performed well in both the rounds. Even today I feel that my first song actually made the difference. ‘Woh pehli bar’ made the hearts of the judges go ‘Tote Tote’.

What I loved about 'Jaane Tu...'

 

For the last whole week I have been reading and listening a lot about ‘Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na. the movie has surely set the box office on fire and the fans of the movie are increasing everyday. Various snaps of Imran and Genelia are visible on orkut in different profiles. Seeing all this hype, I decided to watch ‘Jaane tu..’ very next day my exams were over.( Though it was the second movie that I watched after my exams, the first one being ‘Chronicles Of riddick’, a total crap).

So is ‘Jaane Tu…’ a great movie or a path breaking one? The answer is no. But does it matter? Not really because it is a good movie which binds you for more than 2 hours barely giving a chance to drift into the sleep, and that is what matters. This year bollywood has offered a lot of crap to us with just a handful of goodies. ‘Jaane Tu..’ is indeed a refreshing break from the ‘all stars, no story’ big budget films that fizzled out at the box office.

I’m not going to write about the movie with an eye of a reviewer. A lot has already been said about the director, script, leading pair, music etc. What I want to discuss is about the few things that I really liked about the movie. To begin with, the whole bunch of supporting actors (excluding the younger people) was a treat to watch. Most of them are polished actors but don’t make a lot of appearances on the big screen except for Rajat kapoor. Right from Ratna Pathak Shah to Jyanat Kriplani to Kittu Gidwani, all fit into their characters (even if it was small) perfectly. Two of the most accomplished actors have been given cameos, but do we complain? No. When did you watch Paresh Rawal as a crooked cop last time? It was a perfect break from his comic roles we have been watching him in since past 8 years. Also, with just a couple of appearances, Naseer is an absolute delight to watch.

The second thing that I really liked about the movie (in fact it struck an instant chord with me) was the use of word TU by the protagonists to address each other. It might sound weird, but that is the way two young people speak who have been friends for a long time. No TUM or AAP… but TU. So, there is a sense of naturalism in their chats with which young audience can identify with. Indeed a break from the cliché’ dialogues that we have been bearing for so long.

Most of the young actors are new to the movie industry but they have been given ample screen space. So, your memory cells keep an account of characters like Jiggy, Rotlu and Bombs for quite some time after you have left the theatre. This has been one of the important factors in the makeover of bollywood films in the last 2-3 years. Prateik Babbar doesn’t look like a star material but he has carried himself well in the role of Amit. It wasn’t a conventional role, so his performance matters. I’m waiting anxiously for his further roles, more than that of Imran.

I think that is enough for today. I will be back soon with my new post.

THE BEGINNING...

So, I make a foray into the world of blogs. The difficult part of it wasn’t how to write, but what to write? What should I put in? After giving a lot of futile exercise to my brain cells, I finally got the answer through one of my friends.
‘Write whatever u like to talk about in general with your parents, teachers and friends, from very small things to few important topics as well, because blog is after all just another way of expressing yourself.’
Keeping these words of my friend into my mind, I’m initiating my blog with a very simple topic: MOVIES.