We four of us were like. what? Lemme think of a metaphor! Oh yeah.. were we not like passengers who arrived from different destinations, sharing a single railway platform and were heading towards different paths again? It was all so momentary meeting, so busy with our own lives and plans. Somehow we got held for a moment, a common cause or a common trouble, and then each of us were woven into the comfortable "WE"- we are now not individuals, but a group called friends. How we met holds such li'l importance, when actually realize how beautifully did we tread this path.
First Impressions:
Raghava was for me, "the Ctrl C+ Ctrl V" guy for me, in the nine months that we got along.
Vicki was always the gaming guy for me, so keen in mobile gaming, always associated with Priyanka.
Santosh, I' not sure if I really knew before actually getting along. But I know, you still remember me as the anti-killer instinct agent! :-)
The Start of Our Journey:
The first 6 months never gave us any opportunity to mingle and we would have remained so, if things have worked smoothly for us. It was not that the sky was coming down on us, but true: we did worry / fumble / ran around wondering where we were heading towards. It was as if we were standing on a hill-top on a foggy night that we couldn't see our own near feature. We were blinded in most senses, in knowing what we are landing on. And the common pain, held us together. Well, should I call it pain still?
Inspirations:
"Blinded" reminds me something of Vicki.. his philosophy was best suited for darkness. (Right? Vicki). "cheekaTlo baanaM" or the "andheri mein teer" or "shoot in the darkness" attitude, which may not allow you plan and execute perfectly, still makes sure you atleast give a try with bare minimum inputs. Thanks for the input, Vicki! It does help, at times.
Then we came together for a common cause, we wanted to take care of our own destinies though we were flunking despite trying best. Remember Raghava, the guy who asked you to pay to work for him? Santosh, you're struggling to get into what you like? You and vicki, in that company? Haa.. that makes some interesting part of a story.. right?
It's WE:
Don't know if you remember this story of Pankaj Sir: "Once in a meeting, the chairperson announced "So, here we have 30 years of experience over here" and everyone looked startled as the most experienced among them was only with the industry for 10 yrs. The chairperson calmly continued, I'm talking as a group, aren't we 30 together!" That holds true for us as well. Three years together, each of us had a unique journey, very special in most senses, yet we are for each other. What amazes me is "your experience" has been "our experience" for each one of us!
Friends are so important in our lives, but yet they are so limited; limited by time, by space, by ambitions, by plans. What enthralls me is not that we have got together, but how we remain together challenging the limitations. How much do we long to see each other, talk to each other and how we convert every single chance into a possible chat / talk / meet. That amazes me and all of a sudden I feel I'm lucky!
Raghava, you asked me to put us in words. And I've decided, lemme be very straight with it.. like an open talk. Still there is so much to talk about, so much to linger upon, many a moments to cherish. Those waits in the classes, those "working without work" days, those talks, those funny moments, those drooping shoulders, those subtle fears, those yahoo conferences, those attempts to combinely do something, those steps of idealabs, where we hang around.. those good old days.
Actually those good old days are inspring me to live this moment, at its best and giving a hope that everything that's coming our way is just better! (Santosh.. your funda, in my words! :-))
Wish my words had the same magic, as we had togther - the magic life brought us and the magic we bestowed on life. Have a blast.. life's waiting for us.
(I'm waiting to see a response from you guys, make some time for it :-))
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Best Images of Saurav Ganguly - 1
I believe this should be an interesting excercise. To track down the memory lane and search for the images of the man, I suppose had a huge influence on me. Saurav did inspire me to the core and here's an attempt to recollect how it happened.
First Image:
This should be more than a decade back, I just have returned from school in the afternoon finishing that day's exam Tuned into the TV just for a while and saw him clad in the white clothes with a thoroughly black background and saying "Everybody else walk out for tea, I would take a break for Tata Tea!" and the my immediate response was "Wow... Handsome!" Hardly did I know, that he was Saurav Ganguly playing his first test for India.
Somehow, I really can't get to the moment that I took him to the idol. May be there is no one such moment, probably it was a gradual process.
The Kochi Image:
He was out of the Kochi one dayer against Aussies, as he was penalized for denying the umpire with the ease he usually does. He was in the commentary box for a while and talked a bit, quite well. The one incident that he narrated which I still precisely remember, talking about the hawk-eyes of cameras on the ground.
"During a test match, the square leg was yawning uncontrollably and at the same moment the camera was focused on him. Realizing it the umpire got back to business, but I started giggling over it. In no time, I was the prey for the camera!"
I also remembering him saying that the tender coconut is called as "Tata" in bengali. Now, I can't gurantee that! This match was so special because Sachin took 5 wickets and ruined Aussies party! Jadeja scored a fitting hundred.
The Bangladesh Trophy:
It was the season of Independence trophies, on the eve of 50 years of Independence in the sub-continent. Pak's trophy was taken by South Africa I guess. India's was taken by Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan's had to give it back to India. And in the Dhaka stadium, Pakistan and India were fighting it out to claim the Bangla's trophy! 300 plus target is daunting be it any team, but Saurav played a superb centurion innings helped by the masterly Sachin and timely Robin Singh.
It is was darkening out there in the east, Dhaka stadium didn't support full-fledged flood lights then, but undaunted by all the challenges, Saurav accomplished the task. He denied (it comes natural to him) to walk off while the opponents and the umpires wanted to call off the match, due to bad light! Bravo.. Saurav!!
Walking back in Eden Gardens:
It was almost lost, only formalities left when Saurav Ganguly was returning to the pavilion on the third day of that epic Kolkata test match. I surely lost hope, just was waiting for the castle to crash into pieces. Rahul is walking to the pitch to complete what can be called as the "last recognized batting pair." Saurav on his way stops him, hand shakes and pats his back. I didn't get a clue of it. "What the hell would Rahul do now? Agreed, he's the most capable in terms of batting out sessions, but here the team is in such a deep grave, how could he pull it! At the most he can bat all the day tomorrow, but then the rest of the team should hang on. Is that possible. To bat out almost four sessions, without losing as many wickets? With what confidence did Saurav wish him?".. so were my thoughts! Later what happened, is now part of history!
To be continued.. :-)
First Image:
This should be more than a decade back, I just have returned from school in the afternoon finishing that day's exam Tuned into the TV just for a while and saw him clad in the white clothes with a thoroughly black background and saying "Everybody else walk out for tea, I would take a break for Tata Tea!" and the my immediate response was "Wow... Handsome!" Hardly did I know, that he was Saurav Ganguly playing his first test for India.
Somehow, I really can't get to the moment that I took him to the idol. May be there is no one such moment, probably it was a gradual process.
The Kochi Image:
He was out of the Kochi one dayer against Aussies, as he was penalized for denying the umpire with the ease he usually does. He was in the commentary box for a while and talked a bit, quite well. The one incident that he narrated which I still precisely remember, talking about the hawk-eyes of cameras on the ground.
"During a test match, the square leg was yawning uncontrollably and at the same moment the camera was focused on him. Realizing it the umpire got back to business, but I started giggling over it. In no time, I was the prey for the camera!"
I also remembering him saying that the tender coconut is called as "Tata" in bengali. Now, I can't gurantee that! This match was so special because Sachin took 5 wickets and ruined Aussies party! Jadeja scored a fitting hundred.
The Bangladesh Trophy:
It was the season of Independence trophies, on the eve of 50 years of Independence in the sub-continent. Pak's trophy was taken by South Africa I guess. India's was taken by Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan's had to give it back to India. And in the Dhaka stadium, Pakistan and India were fighting it out to claim the Bangla's trophy! 300 plus target is daunting be it any team, but Saurav played a superb centurion innings helped by the masterly Sachin and timely Robin Singh.
It is was darkening out there in the east, Dhaka stadium didn't support full-fledged flood lights then, but undaunted by all the challenges, Saurav accomplished the task. He denied (it comes natural to him) to walk off while the opponents and the umpires wanted to call off the match, due to bad light! Bravo.. Saurav!!
Walking back in Eden Gardens:
It was almost lost, only formalities left when Saurav Ganguly was returning to the pavilion on the third day of that epic Kolkata test match. I surely lost hope, just was waiting for the castle to crash into pieces. Rahul is walking to the pitch to complete what can be called as the "last recognized batting pair." Saurav on his way stops him, hand shakes and pats his back. I didn't get a clue of it. "What the hell would Rahul do now? Agreed, he's the most capable in terms of batting out sessions, but here the team is in such a deep grave, how could he pull it! At the most he can bat all the day tomorrow, but then the rest of the team should hang on. Is that possible. To bat out almost four sessions, without losing as many wickets? With what confidence did Saurav wish him?".. so were my thoughts! Later what happened, is now part of history!
To be continued.. :-)
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Proof to be alive!
Just now, read a short story by Rabindranath Tagore named "Living or Dead?" They say, "Seeing is believing". No, actually we see only what we believe or want to. And for me, this is what the story hold. You got to prove, time and again to the world, according to the beliefs and senses it holds. What's living and what's dead is what is thoroughly failed to understand.
Few lines, that I loved in this story:
Love cannot prove its claim by any document which society accepts, and does not wish to prove it; it merely worships with double passion its life's uncertain treasure.
Every one knows that, even when there is no sign, life is often secretly present, and may begin again in an apparently dead body.
...in the House of Yama, where there is nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to do, only an eternal watch.
Men and ghosts dread each other, for their tribes inhabit different banks of the river of death.
...when a woman cannot understand a thing, she either destroys and forgets it, or she shapes it anew for her own use; if she fails to deal with it in one of these ways, she loses her temper with it.
By dying, Kadambini had given proof that she was not dead.
Few lines, that I loved in this story:
Love cannot prove its claim by any document which society accepts, and does not wish to prove it; it merely worships with double passion its life's uncertain treasure.
Every one knows that, even when there is no sign, life is often secretly present, and may begin again in an apparently dead body.
...in the House of Yama, where there is nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to do, only an eternal watch.
Men and ghosts dread each other, for their tribes inhabit different banks of the river of death.
...when a woman cannot understand a thing, she either destroys and forgets it, or she shapes it anew for her own use; if she fails to deal with it in one of these ways, she loses her temper with it.
By dying, Kadambini had given proof that she was not dead.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Signature!
నీ సంఘర్షణలో నా సంతకం చెరిగిపోయిందనుకున్నావు
నేను నీలోనే కలిసిపోయానని సంగతి మరిచావు
True that I'm mere impression for you, yet wonder the way you snubbed my passion.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Why Read James Joyce?
Well, I'm advised time and again to "Read him, rather than read about him!". Still, I find an unknown joy to see the greatest of men, in words. Kinda obsessed with words I guess! Anyway, here is an excerpt on Why Read James Joyce?
Joyce was a writer dedicated to recording human nature with as much authenticity as possible, with all its attendant satisfactions, hesitations, doubts, revelations, joys, delusions, and disappointments; and if that commitment lead him from the opera house to the outhouse, from the cathedral to the brothel, and from the open pub to the open grave, his pen was never reluctant to follow his instincts. But the hand that held that pen was guided by the muse of genius, and Joyce knew that he could do much more than record life, he could try his best to capture it, to pin it down to the page, heart still beating, frail wings undamaged. And if that took some radical rethinking of his instrument, then so be it: prose style, narrative technique, even language itself would all be bent to his will, and he took a fierce delight in playing with his medium – but all to a purpose; in Joyce, there is always a purpose.
So is Joyce difficult? Yes, but so is life. If Joyce's writing is dense, it is because even our most mundane thoughts are surprisingly multilayered. If it is elusive, it is because our minds do not always follow the logic of wake-a-day grammar. If it is filled with obscure allusions, it is because we first learn universal truths through their reflections in the immediate world around us. If his prose twists and turns like a maze, it is because the infinite convolutions of the human heart demand no less an honest account. To read Joyce is, as he himself put it, to read "as human a little story as paper could well carry." And, to return a last time to Shakespeare, like the Bard, Joyce's works are truly meant for everyone – not just professors; but plumbers, printers, and pubcrawlers, too. Anyone who has ever grown teary-eyed over a sad song, fought for a lost cause, or tried to capture their first kiss with a slipshoddy poem written on the back of an envelope; anyone with a desire to say yes to the great question of existence.
So why read Joyce? Because in the artful eye of his prose, in the art-full lie of his fiction, Joyce is reading us.
Joyce was a writer dedicated to recording human nature with as much authenticity as possible, with all its attendant satisfactions, hesitations, doubts, revelations, joys, delusions, and disappointments; and if that commitment lead him from the opera house to the outhouse, from the cathedral to the brothel, and from the open pub to the open grave, his pen was never reluctant to follow his instincts. But the hand that held that pen was guided by the muse of genius, and Joyce knew that he could do much more than record life, he could try his best to capture it, to pin it down to the page, heart still beating, frail wings undamaged. And if that took some radical rethinking of his instrument, then so be it: prose style, narrative technique, even language itself would all be bent to his will, and he took a fierce delight in playing with his medium – but all to a purpose; in Joyce, there is always a purpose.
So is Joyce difficult? Yes, but so is life. If Joyce's writing is dense, it is because even our most mundane thoughts are surprisingly multilayered. If it is elusive, it is because our minds do not always follow the logic of wake-a-day grammar. If it is filled with obscure allusions, it is because we first learn universal truths through their reflections in the immediate world around us. If his prose twists and turns like a maze, it is because the infinite convolutions of the human heart demand no less an honest account. To read Joyce is, as he himself put it, to read "as human a little story as paper could well carry." And, to return a last time to Shakespeare, like the Bard, Joyce's works are truly meant for everyone – not just professors; but plumbers, printers, and pubcrawlers, too. Anyone who has ever grown teary-eyed over a sad song, fought for a lost cause, or tried to capture their first kiss with a slipshoddy poem written on the back of an envelope; anyone with a desire to say yes to the great question of existence.So why read Joyce? Because in the artful eye of his prose, in the art-full lie of his fiction, Joyce is reading us.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Oh.. these farewells!
Just got started with "Catcher in the Rye" by Salinger and was pondering on the following text.
..I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse.
For the past three years, I've been so busy bidding adieus. Many walked in and walked out. I wish they just did that in and out business and never left such indelible impressions, that made farewells, a lot tougher. To reflect on the past three years and capture them in the words, would be a real tough task! Anyway, lemme keep this post about not individuals, but about the business of doing so.
Farewell, is the most inevitable, yet so tough to handle. Sometimes, I tend to feel that, let there not be any farewells at all. We never celebrate someone walking into our lives, we even don't know when they have walked and when did they become that significant for us; we never really plan and celebrate the moments we have together. It's more or less, like getting along the tide. Then why farewells?
But yeah, the above text has sense in it! Good or bad, it helps to know that you are parting away. Hopeful or hopeless about meeting again, you're sure of that this has come to an end. You most probably would meet again, and start again, but this particular thing has now no future. And having a sense of that, though awful, is a must.
PARTING AND MEETING ARE THE WAYS OF LIFE!
..I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse.
For the past three years, I've been so busy bidding adieus. Many walked in and walked out. I wish they just did that in and out business and never left such indelible impressions, that made farewells, a lot tougher. To reflect on the past three years and capture them in the words, would be a real tough task! Anyway, lemme keep this post about not individuals, but about the business of doing so.
Farewell, is the most inevitable, yet so tough to handle. Sometimes, I tend to feel that, let there not be any farewells at all. We never celebrate someone walking into our lives, we even don't know when they have walked and when did they become that significant for us; we never really plan and celebrate the moments we have together. It's more or less, like getting along the tide. Then why farewells?
But yeah, the above text has sense in it! Good or bad, it helps to know that you are parting away. Hopeful or hopeless about meeting again, you're sure of that this has come to an end. You most probably would meet again, and start again, but this particular thing has now no future. And having a sense of that, though awful, is a must.
PARTING AND MEETING ARE THE WAYS OF LIFE!
Ahem! Yet another one..
I keep denying people, but in a way or two "Yes, I'm addicted to blogging". At the same time, I can still be very sure of the fact that the association is of highest quality, especially those with the Telugu. Kinda feel that, it has given me a new sense of life in certain ways. I was under the impression that it was all about getting better at my own language, but the truth is that I gained a lot more than that.
Anyway, lemme try and answer this question, why yet another blog? As one of my friend claims, why am I so keen of eating away blogger accounts (he says so!)? This blog is nothing but a personal space for myself, just to jot down anything and everything that comes to my mind.
And how did I freeze that name for this blog? Simple again, passions and impressions actually sum me up and also I just started exploring Pablo Neruda. So.. you see!
This could be just another attempt among several others, that I could mess up with. But one of my policies these days has been, "It's okay to mess it, rather to miss it completely!"
p.s: This would be blog in all the languages I know. Very keen on including Urdu in it as well. ;-)
Anyway, lemme try and answer this question, why yet another blog? As one of my friend claims, why am I so keen of eating away blogger accounts (he says so!)? This blog is nothing but a personal space for myself, just to jot down anything and everything that comes to my mind.
And how did I freeze that name for this blog? Simple again, passions and impressions actually sum me up and also I just started exploring Pablo Neruda. So.. you see!
This could be just another attempt among several others, that I could mess up with. But one of my policies these days has been, "It's okay to mess it, rather to miss it completely!"
p.s: This would be blog in all the languages I know. Very keen on including Urdu in it as well. ;-)