On flaws in my writing style...

Someone, after reading my blog feedbacked me to say that I had a proclivity for long and complicated sentences( pity she didn't leave a comment on my blog ..:(...), and on reflection , it's true...my sentences tend to be super complex in grammatical terms , consisting of one or two main clauses and several subsidiary dependent/independant clauses..I guess this is a reflection of the spontaneous outflow of my thoughts..not that this is strange in the blogging community..most blogs I read adopt this style, since most blogs are extemporaneous descriptions of what is known as a state of mind..although I hope that in my case, atleast, my sentences don't get as obscure as James Joyce's (IMHO tripey/trashy) literature...

Infact , if you take a look at my blog the one thing that stands out, now that it has been pointed out to me, is the singular lack of full stops delineating one sentence from the next. I infinitely prefer the pause "..."connector...

On my lack of simple sentences and inability to paragraph, one painful incident from an English class when I was a tot, comes to mind...Here was this essay "On reading books", which, was my fave pastime even then,that I particularly considered one of my literary achievements, and that I'd submitted with a lot of pride to my English teacher expecting to get the highest marks in my class for the effort, which in those days was big deal, given that there were lots of kids better at essay writing than me in my classs...I got 0/10 on the essay..the reason?-- i still remember her exact comments..." I don't believe you've heard of the concpt of paragraphs.Wherever you have condescended to break the monotous flow of sentences, I see no paragraphs only extremely long sentences masquerading as paragraphs.The essay is good, but the style leaves me no choice!"

On a parallel note, this tendency runs in my family , my dad has preserved essay notebooks from when he was a kid at Loyola's ,Pune, and similar reprimands were recieved by my not so ancient ancestor as well....

But who cares, this is the way I wrote, I write, and will continue to!...muhahahahah!!!

This just in...

Just watching the news parallelly as I check my mails and there's this snippet on NDTV India about those irritating bhajan singers, nay, tuneless non-bhajan bawlers, in Mumbai locals... these guys honestly, don't realise how much they irritate the mental composure of fellow passengers who have tired bodies, frustrating work days, seriously oxygen deprived lungs,legs that are so cramped for space that if-i-lift-one-and-then-the-other-i-needn't-worry-about-putting-them-back-down-see-mama-no-legs!,not to mention that niggling fear that one may not get down at that desired destination if one doesn't hold a PhD in crowd flow dynamics...Now with all this to distract what we really look forward to is, to be hassled by these bhajan inflicting pestilences..I mean,bhajan away all you want, at home for christ's or mohammad's or rama's or krishna's or whosoever's sake, dang it!!!!!!!

Independence Rock..and I couldn't be there!!

Independence rock is happenning at Andheri ..yesterday and today..and i won't be there...I'll have my lazy roommates and odd working hours of other friends in mumbai to blame...

Sesquicentenaries, in passing...

As a COEPian, I'm often distraught at the necessity to change the name of my alma Mater from COEP to PIET ( yes, my venerable college now goes by this moniker) but, I can see several advantages to this uncomfortable gambit( maybe not for those of us who've grown accustomed to or rather have been steeped in the history of COEP as COEP & not PIET..but for the coming gerations??...hopefully, yes...)

As our college celebrates its sesquicentennary this year, a grand set of events are planned which will shadow our usually grand annual gathering into insignificance...APJ is expected to make an appearance, and..ahem!...I had a small part to play in the invitation process...
Anyways, this reminded me of a poem I'd jotted down last year for the college magazine, as a farewell paean prior to exit..here I (re) present it:

Where do we go from here…?

Shrouded in our secluded microcosm,
Secure in the comfort of past laurels,
Clouded by the mists of complacency,
We only remain kings of a stunted domain,
Safely (?) asleep in the haven of yesterday,
We ignore the threat that is plain to see.

Those who till yesterday measured
Themselves up to us,
Have moved on, leaving us behind,
At this crossroads then, what choice do we make?
Can we afford to stand and stare?
Dare we luxuriate in our glory days past?
Live hereafter in abject denial?
Or is it our cross to bear?

Soul searching introspection, a collective questioning
Of a sesquicentennial legacy is necessary,
The hour of reckoning is near,
Surely, we stand within the bounds of redemption,
But, only, if, someone chooses to ask,
Where do we go from here…?

As we don the mantle of a new name,
Let us solemnly resolve to take it
to unreached and unparalleled heights,
Let us be second to no one, and,
May the brotherhood under the triumvirate
Of Truth, Strength and Endurance,
Reign unchallenged in this, or any, land.
For those of you whose interest in my college has been aroused, lemme add that our college is one of the oldest engineering colleges in India, probably asia, alas! as things stand today, it doesn't count among the very best (though it does come in somewhere in the top 20), but I'm hopeful that things will change for the better..

Here's a link to my college's website...Link

Comments Invited

Hmmm.... I was on the verge of suicidal tendencies on account of not having even a single comment posted by "friends" who "claimed" they visited my blog and tried to post comments but "failed".... Apparently the "...double quotes..." are unnecessary, my comments settings were horribly wrong as i subsequently found out..now anyone can comment on my blog and hopefully they will, the number of comments on my blog reads (til date) 1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0...etc. and that 1 was a comment posted by yours truly himself...

Read this cool comment-lamment a la Leigh Hunt.... by one of my fave bloggers...HERE ...pity Satyen hasn't found time to update his blog in almost a year!!..:)
Apparently, if thing continue as they are, I'll have generated the number Googol on my hundred and first post!!!

India's olympic Gold....

No... before you descend into raptures of orgasmic pleasure, or spasms of intense disbelief...let me state categorically THAT WE HAVEN"T WON EVEN A SINGLE GOLD YET AT ATHENS 2004..in fact 1980, Los angeles (?) was our last gold in hockey (sigh!!).....when will we, like China and US boast of a haul of 20s and 30s of gold in a single olympic?????(?!)!!!!! ...*Anticipatory ecstatic sigh*


P.S: the central parenthesis contains...?!.. this combination, also known as an INTERROBANG ( which incidentally is also a blog on quizzing in general and Pune quizzing in particular maintained by my friend JR Ramanand , who among other small achievements in his life happens to be Mastermind 2003 winner!)

Chiaroscuro

to You I have to ask,
Was light and shade both your task?
Could it perhaps have been but light?
No?...like a blinding aspect of the sun,
You're saying it would be darker than the night
Then,pray tell,why not shade only?
Again, I sense your inward smile,
Comprehension befuddles on thoughts of gloom,
leads not to the One, but merely makes lonely
Onliness!...then, to your Chiaroscuro
I say,if so be it, it be so!!

On Genius & humility,Empty TV and ageless love

The true essence of a genius is accepting lack of knowledge, accurately defining the boundary of one's world view, and trying to expand the perimeter of that boundary; which implies an innate willingness to learn...Or as one student of mine put it when I asked the batch if he/she/they thought they were (a) genius(es), said, " Yes!!..I'm a genius because whatever i do ,I do with a lot of Passion!'..well said buddy!!

This last few weeks has been one long string of Auto/Biographies..I think they've become my favourite genre of literature. Greats whose lives are more familiar to me now include-- Gauss,Einstein,Lincoln,Hawking,Schrodinger,Swami Paramahansa Yogananda,Isaac Asimov,John Nash & a host of other mathematicians involved in the evolution of the prime number theory ( do read "The music of the primes" by Marcus Du Sautoy..good boook!), Russell and its mind blowing to see that i share so much in common with them..If so then I'm hopeful that I share their genius... and if I can one day, do one tithe of what any of these men has done..I'll die a glad soul!!

MTV hasn't gotten back to me ..i mean select me for crying out loud!!.. you won't get a better choice for your show..If its only the driving license funda that prevents them, then I can only say, "KIYA YAAR!!!..I DON'T think their parents have taught them anything!!""...( rotflmao at memories of my ex-roomie sagar..dude was a major pain..wish him luck tough coz he'll need truckloads of it to get through life with his sour-ass attitude)

My grandparents,Dadu & thamoni celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on the 15th of this month, I'd popped down to pune this weekend for my Dada's "operation". How patriotically romantic!!..they got married on the very first anniversary of our Independence..Hmm, ageless love aside ,I wonder if they sometimes regret having surrendered their freedom on the very day that symbolizes hope for a billion Indians..:)

Congrats to Dorli,Kates,and Ankoos Boy..

Dorli, got thru to PUMBA and is probably eyeing the IIMs later this year, well byesht luck!!..so with KT and Ankush I guess, they're headed to Sydenham & Welingkar respectively...I'm at Bandra at Ankush's place about to launch into a booze party and missing the presence of KT..BTW Bhau Rao Shinde, a.k.a Thote Bhau has also graced this auspicious occasion with his presence..Daru zindabad, hakkka noodle zindabad,bindaas party, uske baad mai vomit maarti!!( he he he..sorry for the pathetic PJ:D)

INNNJoy!!!

On MTV and their roadies too!

Was at the MTV roadies 2 audition in mumbai yesterday... VJ sophie and last year's roadie dude RannVijay were there...Sophie kept asking the crowd "hai dum??" and people were shouting yes like crazy, and then the noise wud die down and I'd screan "nahi hai dum!!" in my not quite so non-stentorious voice..caused some titters in the audience...sang a love song for Sophie onstage and won some stuff..had fun..think i might make it to the show..that would be cool , not bcoz i want to be on the show but bcoz i get a cool 5 lacs plus a bike plus a 41 day paid vacation!!..Was shorlisted and am on my way to the final interview today..will keep you posted on whether i make it or not..although if i do you'll probably catch me on MTV anyway...dont ENJOY!!..:)