Would you rewind it all the time?

I am in my early twenties. A little over six months ago, I stepped into the corporate wonderland. I also happen to belong to the significant segment of white-collar Indians living away from home. Naturally, I cook and wash after myself. I am also proud to declare that I am not half-bad at it. I did practice it all throughout college. All of it except the cooking part, okay!

This also happens to be my first job.
But wait, what excited this candor, you ask?
A simple Facebook post, a song and the musings of a active, albeit tired solitary mind. You see, the brilliant thing about solitude is that it lulls you into your natural state of being, while slowly increasing the importance of all that you hold dear. In that moment of immense possibilities, you feel infinite and euphoric. Or is it just me?

People are important to me and I tend to end up missing them in moments such as these. Most of them would have gone to bed by now, except for the ones in other time-zones. Maybe, it's time to give them a call? Hmm. Ah, chuck it. I'll enjoy this rare moment of peaceful solitude.

Now, while you sit back and ponder over the subject of this post, I'll disclose the beauty of a song that led me to log onto my outdated blog. Heard of Goldspot,the band?
Yes? Share other songs that you like in the comments section below.
No? Search for Rewind.
'Would you rewind it all the time?'

I recently caught the Jimmy Fallon bug. From SNL to Late Night to The Tonight Show, he's a true entertainer. Watch the Tonight Show Youtube channel if you haven't already. Special recommendation - the Thursday night Hashtag segment. It's a hoot.

And hey! Happy New Year, dear reader.

#DeadOfTheNightRamble

Quaintness

Transitions are hard. It's a time when you realize your loved ones aren't the epitome of perfection. It's when you are no longer excused for your childish inappropriateness. What is it about being grown up that demands such propriety? Historically, being prim and proper akin to a woman in the early twentieth century upper class never yielded anything apart from a magnificent portrait by a talented artist and celebrated marriages. Women are so frequently looked upon as objects of beauty and girlishness, that it doesn't seem unusual to the general multitude.
(Don't believe me? Google this up:
'Gifts for men'
And now this.
'Gifts for women'
Compare your results.
Hey, you. Women have hobbies too. I for one, appreciate gifts that are less generic and thoughtless than gender-specific gifts. I have hobbies and likes that lie beyond my looks.)

I pretend to ignore this and go about dressed up in unisex clothes. In a metro compartment reserved for ladies, I look at each face squashed in the area around me, craning my neck to look at as many faces as I can - most are pretty and maintained. A face with generously kajal-outlined eyes, long straightened black hair, slightly untidy and clothes ranging from ethnic kurtis to corporate wear, all tastefully accessorized. In the crowd that I travel with each day, individuality is lost. A few faces seem to stand out, but most seem interchangeable to me. Very rarely do I come across a face that is interesting and beckons the question - what makes it so?

My train of thought can be quaint, no?

In other news, how awesome are the remixes by Kygo?

Here's a toast to Modi

The swearing-in ceremony is in the pipeline. Manmohan Singh is the incumbent PM of India. 
We stand at the cusp of a major political transition. NDA won more than 5 times the constituencies won by  UPA. 
Amidst talks of Rahul Gandhi's incompetence and Congress's decision to make him the face of the 2014 elections, I cannot help but wonder about the wisdom and decision-making capabilities of the Congress, for the want of better word, elders. In addition to several deficiencies as a young-ish leader, the man committed one faux-pas after another. He failed to inspire confidence amongst the public. Hell, he failed to inspire the youth. Sachin Pilot would've acted as a better prime ministerial candidate. 
What were they hoping for? Nothing short of a miracle would've resulted in a UPA win. Maybe they knew but couldn't back-out gracefully. 

While Mr. Narender Modi neither excites confidence nor hope in me at present, I believe the general multitude is quite hopeful and happy with the verdict. This is understandable after the abysmal governance displayed by the UPA. All in all, I wish him well. I wish he'd be able to quieten his gainsayers with his actions and decisions and inspire his ministers to follow his lead. I hope he has a good run. I hope he makes us want to re-elect him for what he did instead of what the opposition failed to do. 

Oh, to long for a thriving nation! A corruption-free nation! A nation of jolly souls and intellectual leaders, leaders who can be admired as individuals, leaders who can be admired for their wisdom, diplomacy, oration, nature and tastes. 

Rabindranath Tagore's words spring to mind. 

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments 

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

  
In my part, I shall strive do my best work. 

Of Badminton and Marathon woes

They are playing, singing and laughing downstairs.

It's been long since I last played badminton. Too long.
It's been long since I last ran more than a few kilometers.
It's been long since I last read a book from cover to cover in one sitting, notwithstanding breaks for abulations.
It's been long since I last went for a swim.
It's been long since I danced in a devil-may-care manner.
It's been so so long since I last got completely drenched in the rain.
It's been long since I last played football.
It's been long since I last went out for a lovely meal.
It's been long since I last had a cup of really good coffee. The Amazing Coffee of Last September is what I want.
It's been long since I had a long laugh.


Meanwhile, I have been listening to some songs. They help me stay sane but I need a physical exercise!
They are good. Don't believe me? Listen to these tracks(in no particular order):
Your Winter by Sister Hazel
Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd
Into My Arms by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Let's look up 'normal', please.

The Delhi High Court's ruling that decriminalized Section 377 of the Indian Penal Court was usurped by Supreme Court early today. First things first, let's give the SC a huge applause. Marital rape is still natural enough to not be criminalized.

In my opinion, sex between consenting adults of the same gender is as unnatural as air travel before the Wright Brothers came along. (This is of course, disregarding Da Vinci's exploits in this domain). Back then, it was natural to label people as heretic, if they dared to express their *abnormality*. The SC's act is nothing short of labeling people who have expressed their sexual orientation to be different from the 'normal rule of nature' as heretic and worthy of punishment.  

I voluntarily got roped in a conversation debating the unnatural-ness of the law and a couple of people expressed joy in the final ruling of the SC. Their absolutely preposterous argument being that 'there might come a day when all humans turn homosexual?!'. Oh, the humanity! I weep metaphorical tears and entreat you to take a moment to contemplate the statement you just made. If ALL humans were wired to follow convention, we wouldn't be having this conversation. What is your problem with change? Why are we hell bent on labeling everything as natural? Why are we so determined to abandon our ability to think and reason? Without a moment's contemplation, we dive into the debate and are soon arguing over the probability of all humans being attracted to people of the same gender. 

The SC's ruling has brought into effect a penal provision against homosexual relations. So, please! Beware of the consequences before you realize you are gay. If it seems natural for you, fight against it. You won't be the first hypocrite in a 1 meter radius. 


'Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the Spider is chaos for the Fly.'  - Charles Addams on Morticia Addams.

Shine On, You Crazy Diamond

Run, work, stretch, read, play, love, dance and write.
Sing, shout and stay up all day and night.

Shine on, you crazy diamond. 

Doing what you love and loving what you do, shine on. 

Musical Musings

Disclaimer: If the title alone stirred your interest in the following post, desist from reading further. Musical Musings did inspire this post, but then I digressed astronomically.

After nearly 2 years of complaining about insufficient co-curricular activities to complement the coursework at our college, we can finally see clubs sprouting here and there like mushrooms and grass in this delightful rainy weather. 

The best part being that they show signs of a wee-bit of growth and the potential to become associations in themselves- something that will not end with the most enthusiastic founder members passing out. They display the potential of blossoming into active communities. 

To name a few clubs in alphabetical order: 

The Anime Club: They meet regularly every Tuesday. Well, most Tuesdays. A large population at IIIT-Delhi used to watch Anime as it is. Now they have an official platform for heated discussions with people across all batches. A great future(for the club) can be seen in the twinkling eyes of every avid anime viewer.

Astronuts:The astronomy club has met just once so far, granted. But that one meeting sure was informative, not to mention, magical. We saw the following heavenly bodies before the poor skies forced us inside -
Jupiter along with Ganymede, Lo, Europa and Callisto.

Kartikeya Nakshatra(alternatively known as M45) 

Gemini, Taurus, Libra Constellations

Orion along with four stars in the Orion Nebula

The main driving force for this club is the founder, who's been practicing amateur astronomy for the past 5 years and is unlikely to give up such a long-time hobby. Plus she's a first year and can help strengthen the foundations of the club before she passes out. Her interest will benefit the rest of us less knowledgeable folks( strictly w.r.t. astronomy). Moreover, her plans for future meetings are quite interesting.

Audio Bytes: They don't have an official structure which assures training for the truly passionate. But then, if you are into music enough to really want to learn it, you don't need anything except maybe a sound-proof room and the right instruments. Currently, we have a decent set of equipment for the all the drummers, guitarists and pianists out there. Moreover, it will take more than the lack of equipment to kill genuine interest in Music. On this note, I digress for a moment to pave way for the latest discovery - the ShrutiBox, a  collection of songs by the music composer and clarinetist, Shankar Tucker. The Hindustani and Carnatic vocalists provide a distinctive flavor to some previously known songs. I find a few more likable than their original versions. And then there is the main man- Tucker, who as their official webpage claims plays most of the instruments in these compositions. Modern Classical music- a great revival technique.

Here's a sample.

Next in line is the Dance club - Madtoes, the lack of funds does not deter their enthusiasm for the art. They have taken the bold step of organizing a Dance party without free food. Hitherto, whenever someone was bold enough to so do, organizers and their most faithful friends made up the entire gathering. People never dare to organize an event without the promise of free food in boldface, for food is the adhesive force that brings us all together. Salute to the Mad(toes) organizers. Hope the event goes well.

FooBar: An institute that prides itself in its CS program, must have a strong group of coders who shine at events like CodeChef, ICPC and the rest, bringing eternal glory to the institute. FooBar, was created to serve this end. They are fairly active, considering that they just came into existence a month ago.

Lit-Soc: This hurts the most, for I helped find this one. Some meetings were held in the past 6 months, sure. But the attendance has been a monotonically decreasing curve with respect to time and unless this club is given a face-lift soon, it may become one of many pre-existing dormant clubs. The one event that had the most active participation was an Online Haiku Writing Competition. It's a little sad, even though the competition was a great success.

Quiz Club: If ever there was a more secure set of individuals, well, I shall do a jig for the entire class to watch(before the Prof. comes in). They do not care for funds or infrastructure. Mind you, the nature of this club is their main advantage. All they need are inquisitive minds with a competitive spirit. I just wish these quizzes were not just a once-during-every-college-festival affair. Still, these guys are pretty active.

Spic Macay: This is the latest addition to the list of extra-curricular activities. This doesn't really count as a club, but a IIIT-Delhi Spic Macay Chapter is just another step towards becoming a wholesome institute.

Sports: Joga Bonito-the annual intra-college football tournament, an annual Cricket Tournament and several Pool, Table Tennis and basketball enthusiasts make a strong enough case for the level of activity in this area. But the rest of the sports are seasonal. This is not a reference to Ice-Hockey or Skiing. Delhi hasn't witnessed snow in the past half-century and we do not have enough funds for creation of an artificial arena. Badminton and volleyball enthusiasts surface once every spring. The 'active' runners can be seen marking the college perimeter once every autumn. However, establishment of proper infrastructure within the next few months, will hopefully change the scene for most sports here at IIIT-Delhi.

Tasveer: A club for all those lunatics who whip out their fancy camera phones or DSLRs everytime they see anything remotely photogenic seems logical, right? Tasveer is still in its nascent stage, not unlike FooBar and Astronuts, but it has inherent potential. (Pardon the repetition, for when has potential energy ever been not inherent?!) Plus, we have some very good amateur photographers already.

So there you go. Those are the clubs that make the IIIT-D news most often.
Without further ado, I shall go back to my studies and let a English novelist and theoretical physicist conclude this post.

'One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.'  ~E.M. Forster

'I have no special talents. I am just passionately curious' ~ Albert Einstein

I shall post soon. And unlike this post, it won't be just a greeting. I will not call this a New Year's Resolution because those things have a nasty habit of never really seeing the light of the day.
Till then, listen to this - Don't dream it's over by Crowded House. Very light lyrics.

Oh and A Very Happy New Year! It's been more than 2 years now! :)

The Fun Theory

Bored?
Feel like cursing out loud?
Wish to do something constructive and fun?
Cannot recall the last time you laughed until it hurt and you couldn't breathe?

Introducing The Fun Theory ! *
'nuff said.

The deadline has passed and no more entries will be accepted. But there are ideas. Ideas, which can be realized with moderate ease and will definitely make things more interesting around here. Who knows what this might lead to? Better and bigger ideas- definitely. More fun- Obviously!


*The tone of the sentence is just for dramatic effect. I did not come up with this theory. I am just one of those people who spread the idea in the hope that more like-minded people will express support and come together to help realize the dream.

21

From a bee-sting that caused my father to be admitted into the hospital,
From the walks in the park where I would try to imitate the great man, my grandfather,
From the tales spun around lizards, monkeys and some members of the insect family( cockroaches, if memory serves me),
From the house with a grape vine and a bed of roses,
From the birth of a brother who literally, turned everything around,
From the cement table, the banyan tree and the ghostly garage that scared the bejesus out of a bunch of   8 year olds,
From the time of hide n seek, french cricket and azaadi,
From the get-togethers, pot-lucks and moon-lit dinners with people who left us for the lands beyond the sea,
From all those myriads of memories associated with every place I have lived in to the place I call home.
Two years ago, that chapter of my life ended.

And an hour from now, I shall be on the other side of one-and-twenty.