M Back....

It's been too long since I last wrote something on my blog. I started this blog just to keep myself busy while waiting for call from TCS. And once I was in TCS, I didnt get enough time and permanent net connection to post anything. Well finally, I am back with a bang (bcoz m in BANGalore...Dasssssaaaa.) and have a lot to write about.

I have already read all the three novels (Love Story, Three Mistakes of My Life and Keep Off the Grass) I wrote about in my last post long back. So, there is no point writing about them now. Infact, after that, I have read The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari, Unaccustomed Earth, Family Matters, Anything for You Mam and a few more.

Other than that, I finally joined TCS on 25-Sept-2008 in Hyderabad. Did my 2 months training from there and then came to Bangalore on 5-Dec-2008 to stay with half of the old White House Guys (only white house people can understand this..hehe). In the meanwhile, there were many memorable incidents which you can find in my posts in a few days.

A Thousand Splendid Suns...

A Thousand Splendid Suns. Well that's the second novel of Khaled Hosseini I have recently read, the first being The Kite Runner. It's a story of family and friendship of two Afghani girls who grow up to pay the price of being women specially in the male dominated country of Afghanistan. Their friendship and love for each other giving strengh to endure fear, brutality and starvation. The rough course of their life,the harships,the sufferings and the tragedies-all unimaginable and inhumane...Loved the following two lines in the book:

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,

Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls..

Must say that both the novels are very well written with so much of thinking and effort to corelate each and every incident. And his way of linking both his novels by the means of an orphanage was just great and brought back the memories of The Kite Runner, my personal favourite. He kept the pace of the novel and never deviated even a bit describing anything irrelevent.

I personally feel a writer like him deserves awards instead of people like Arundhati Roy (A God of Small Things) who writes all crap and get awards just because of the hype and their page 3 appearences. Someone really needs to tell them that you can never like a non-fiction novel untill you can either relate to the characters or atleast imagine their lives as potrayed by the writer. Noone is interested in unnatural and out of the blue comparisons just to fill up the pages.

Beyond that I also read The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. I could relate to it only because of the ongoing agitation in Darjeeling. Otherwise its again the unnatural comparisons of people with mountains, weather and atmosphere. Not much of a story but far better than A God of Small Things (all crap from start to end).

I also watched Bhootnath. Well I guess the director was confused whether he wanted to make a horror movie or a children's movie or an emotional drama. It started off with a bit of horror-enough to scare children. Then the comedy of that small boy along with Bhootnath-aka Amitabh Bachchan (antaryami seen everywhere these days). The movie was going good untill the director felt that its time to take out some tissue papers and started with the sad story of a father being left alone by a son. The movie would have been good if he had not brought all that rona dhona. There was no need for all that if the movie was supposed to be for children. Anyways, after watching Taare Zameen Par, the writer-directors must have felt that tears might turn into money for them too....

And yeah I watched my life's first animation movie-The Finding Nemo. It was really good but I can't say I would start watching animations from now on. But definitely atleast I wont run away from them anymore. But I just can't stand that cartoon called Naruto though it has huge fan following amongst my frnds. Sorry guys - Rajat, Puneesh, Mohit, Rahul and I guess the list is too long.

There are too many movies to watch still and no time. Just reading Love Story by Eich Segal and then in line are The Three Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat and Keep Off The Grass by Karan Bajaj. So my hands are full right now and there is a lot to keep me away from boredom.

Memories!!!

His heart keept pondering
the existence of his being
The purpose of his life
the reason to strive

He wanted to cry out his heart
but his eyes had suffered a drought
He tried to shout and scream
but met resistance from within

He looked back and found none
right and left still no one
He was tired and alone
lost in world like a piece of stone

Through the storm the mountains
the pebbles and the stones
The thorns that spread all the way along
he went on and kept his heart strong

He wished his bday would never come
and people wont wish him for days to come
He wished he die a lonely death
so no one would cry on his death bed

He closed his eyes in distress
and came the dreams for his quest
The days when he lived his dream
the smiles and love all for him

The flashbacks of his happy days
he just missed them in all ways
But now he knew why to survive
to live those memories he still had alive

He started living his dream again
smiled and giggled whenever he can
He didnt let them die their death
but kept them alive in every breath

Where is the Solution???

I have been reading 'The Inheritance of Loss' by Kiran Desai these days. The story and the characters revolve around the beautiful hills of Darjeeling-trees, snow capped mountains, rain, Indians, Americans, Nepali servants and watchmen, besides the hooligans harassing people and disrupting peace with their arms demanding a separate state for themselves.

And what a sheer coincidence??? All of a sudden, I wake up to see all the newspapers and the news channels crying hoarse over the violence and ethnic clashes spiraling out of control in Darjeeling and the nearby hilly areas. The West Bengal Govt. and the pro-Gorkhaland activists seem to have locked horns on the issue of a separate state for Nepali speaking people.

There are widespread clashes between the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha members, the party spearheading the statehood campaign and the plains people who are opposing their demand for Gorkhaland. Swords and Choppers have come out to enforce a total shutdown and a hill station that was as refreshing and beautiful just a week back is now burning and raining blood. The tourists are attacked and stranded in the place where they had come in search of peace.

And who the hell is worried other than the common people and the tourists??? The Govt. is least concerned. They do not have time for talks till 17th June, even though the whole hill station might burn to ashes till then. The leaders of local parties are there just to achieve their own personal agendas using foolish non-thinking young activists as the scapegoats.

Does anyone really care to find a solution? Is running a separate state so easy that everyone wants a separate state??? -Gorkhaland-Khalistan-Telangana and who knows how many more such statehood demands are in store...

Are these people really neglected? Isn't providing autonomy rights to Darjeeling enough for these people? Is it the real democracy where instead of peaceful protests to put forward their grievances, people resort to violence and unconstitutional manners? And are their demands even justified? Is it actually their land-just for them?

The root cause of all such agitations is political motives of the parties to achieve their vested interests. The Gujjar protest for ST status is an example of such politically influenced conspiracy. 42 poor Gujjar families lost their only earning members just to support people like Bainsla who would sit in Bayana in comfortable sheds specially made for their complete comfort and roam about in helicopters while risking the lives of illiterate people just to press the Govt. for their greedy demands disrupting normal life and depriving the country economically.

Our leaders are themselves dividing us on the basis of religion and caste by providing reservation just to turn the vote banks in thier favor. Another such example is that of 'Maharastra for Marathis' movement by Raj Thackrey. With congress in the State Govt., has he completely forgotten that his party has been rejected by the people of Maharastra and his personal sentiments do not coincide with the sentiments of the majority of the Maharastrians-marathi or non-marathi. The Govt. and the judiciary seems to be too soft on him for arousing communal violence and attacking the non-marathi community.

People like Arjun Singh and V.P Singh should also be tried in court for discrimination in the name of providing opportunities to the unprivilidged. If such politicians are so concened about the poor, why didn't even a single political party gave reservation to all, on the basis of economic status instead of caste???

And what sort of democracy is it? If the Govt. is chosen by the people, why do we elect such people against whom we have to stand with weapons in our hands. Why do we still listen to the local leaders instead of using our own brains?

When every Indian child feels proud to be democratic and secular while reading civics books, why can't we live in harmony after growing up? What do we intend to teach our younger genaration? Why do we need reservations on the basis of our caste and religion when we can't stand being called untouchable?

Well the answer to all these questions might be difficult but certainly not impossible. Its high time now we realize that before belonging to any State, Religion or Caste, we are Indians. When we all stand together side by side to cheer for Indian cricket team or to help people during bomb blasts, why do we loose all that sense of brotherhood when provoked by undemocratic elements trying hard to disrupt the peace of India?

Purpose of the Blog

What else could be the purpose other than being jobless???
Well jokes apart, I had been thinking to have a blog of my own since past two years but actually never worked on it seriously. So now when VIT and everyone and everything attached to it is left behind, I thought of starting this blog as a medium to keep all those memories alive. It was one of the most important chapters of my life full of all sorts of emotions, drama, comedy, adventure (the list is endless...) and I just wanna keep them intact in this blog of mine.

But then, its just not going to be a VIT dedicated blog. There will be everything in it that would be going on in my life. Who has the time to write diaries these days so better maintain a blog. The novels I read, the movies I like, the places I visit and everything....Anyone who reads this blog is free to give the feedbacks and suggestions about everything that you like or you dont. Though its gonna be my blog but it will have all my friends somewhere in it and their criticism and appreciation is always welcome...