Welcoming the Nouvel An

Fellow homo sapiens! We have almost completed yet another revolution around the Superstar. :) Cheers to this world which has rubbished predictions of destruction on Dec 18th- 3 years and 3 days ahead of the D-day pronounced by the Mayan calendar- incidentally the day that brought 'Vettaikaran' to the theatres. :-p
2009..
Far better than 2008 to me, personally. I made a lot of new friends, within college and outside. Lost my 10 pointer status (I hated being called a nerd because of it!). Had a lot of those cherished 'getting-scolded-while-suppressing-sniggers' moments. Wrote a decent poem (RoadSpeak). Travelled alone by air for the first time. Progressed from "mujhe hindi malum nahin" to "mujhe hindi thoda thoda malum". Got an idea of what corporate life is. Organized and went on a girls-only PV (I've proudly described the excursion in a previous post). Did a couple of mini-projects (they are not too great, by the way)...
India in 2009-
She completed 62 years of independence. The Hand that ruled was allowed to hold office here for yet another half decade, after witnessing some really pathetic and hopeless election-time party switches, coalitions, hate speeches, confessions, ignorance-claimings and so on.. A lot of old dust was raked up- Kandahar, Tytler, Masjid, Sikhs, PoTA, 26/11- the mud slinging and the resulting stench nauseated the citizens. Finally, King Cong was chosen by the rational common man.
Chandrayaan-I failed prematurely, though it had fulfilled most of its requirements by then. A Nobel prize to an Indian-born mind. Several Indian-borns attacked by racists abroad.
On the terror front, we have put up a strong defence against external anti-social forces this year, but the Home Ministry is still struggling against the internal threat posed by the naxalites and the pro-Telengana and pro-Gorkhaland activists. India is in need of a stronger Hand in these areas.
In the field of entertainment, India took a giant leap when ARR and Resul Pookutty did us all proud by bagging Oscars. Michael Jackson's drug-induced death shortly before he was scheduled to start a musical tour, sent shock waves throughout the world. To the contrary, Indian Doyennes of music- D.K.Pattammal (Carnatic) and Gangubhai Hanghal(Ghazal) passed away peacefully.
In the field of sports, we saw Sachin completing 20 successful years at the pitch and Federer completing his career Grand Slam. There were also the negative phases. Michael Phelps had to apologise for his Marijuana intake. More seriously, Andre Agassi admitted to having taken stimulant drugs during his successful come-back tournament in 1997 and having lied to the authorities about it. If that was not bad enough, another poster boy for sports, Tiger Woods has lost his reputation due to allegations of infidelity.
The Copenhagen summit failed to produce fruitful results and we are still discussing on how to save the environments while concrete jungles are replacing the actual forests and the dark clouds over the earth are indicators of not just the coming rainfall but also of our downfall due to increasing pollution.
Hope- the one white insect from Pandora's box that helps us survive till date. I do hope for a lot of things to happen in 2010- among them is the wish for the world to not come apart in 2010 or later...
Happy New Year, folks!

Ups and Downs

Almost a year.. Few improvements, remarkable regressions and mostly the constant state of ignorance (which is bliss only as long as you are ignorant of the ignorance itself).

The "Soft" Power

A party that swept the polls with a vast majority just half a year back now faces deposition from its very own stronghold of votes. Parties today seem to be making a habit of buckling under pressure from regional elements. Be it the BJP which gave in to the demand of the Reddy brothers, albeit not wholeheartedly, or the ruling Congress which has lost its sheen after declaring that a separate Telangana state would be formed, money, power and influence are ruling over rationalism, secularism and unity of the nation as a whole. If the nation is secular, inclusive and does not tolerate regional/caste-based politics, the Shiv Sena should have been banned long ago and the MNS should have been nipped at the bud by a strong ban after the outrageous attack on innocent Railway Employment Applicants.
India is not as strong as she should be. A soft power, it sure is. Quoting Mr. Shashi Tharoor's wonderful speech at TED'09, India as a soft power can attract other nations with its values, ethics and technologically strong youth power. But it is too soft for its own well being. The vibrations of Mr.Chidambaram's microphone (after his declaration of the intention of forming a separate Telengana region) would have hardly died down before the Gorkhas started demanding a separate Gorkhaland. If this is satisfied too, then our Marathi Manoos will start fasting-unto-death. Then maybe Mr. Karunanidhi will fast (with three air-coolers focussed on him, lying in a comfortable bed, in a shaded spot) approximately between breakfast and lunch times one fine day, asking for a Tamil State where only Tamil is taught to all the commoners' children(while the children from rich and powerful families are sent abroad to study at Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard or Yale).
And here comes the worst part of this separation fiasco. The kids will then have a lot more states with their capitals to be remembered, their climatic variations and agricultural patterns to be studied in detail, in Geography! I pity my one-year old nephew who is happily dismantling things and uttering nonsensical words without any clue as to how these images he sees in the TV are going to make him carry a heavier Geography book in future.

The Perfect Government- Non-Existent.

It has been 17 years since the Babri Masjid demolition and we now know for sure what we knew already, thanks to Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan. The key leaders of the BJP and RSS have been indicted for inciting the flame of communal violence which then spread throughout the nation which, according to the Constitution and our school Civics textbooks, is secular. We cringe when we think back to the time when the persons, who face criminal charges now, had been elected by us to rule the country for 5 years at the Centre. We are happy that the BJP was not able to win the latest Lok Sabha elections.
While all this is true, also equally veracious is the fact that the party which is ruling the nation currently is nowhere near being described as honest and righteous. A quarter of a century ago, the nation witnessed the largest ever Genocide since Independence. The assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards (who were allegedly enraged at her having triggered a rampage at their holy shrine), did not in any way call for a massacre of all Sikhs in India. The incident is and will for ever be a horrible scar on any secular face that the Congress tries to put up. Jagdish Tytler may have been barred from contesting the polls and a Sikh may have been appointed the Prime Minister, but these will do nothing to replace the lost loved ones from the many Sikh families, run and brought up by a single parent (mother), if any, in most cases.
This brings to mind the discussion of the possible stability and goodness of a government that could probably have been formed by the recently created (and soon disoriented) Third Front. That event can only be described by a Poisson Distribution of probability, for it was known to be very much impossible right from the very beginning. Well, assuming that the impossible had somehow occurred, there would have been a certain consequence- the rapid breaking up of the disparate parties in the coalition.
I don't even want to discuss the comical "Fourth Front" formed by Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan! Another Poisson must be born to invent a probability distribution for such an occurrence!
So, this brings me to the title of this post- a perfect government. Does such a thing ever exist?
Mani Ratnam may have portrayed youth entering the Parliament to bring in reforms and a breath of fresh air in 'Ayutha Ezhuthu'/'Yuva'. But I feel that there is a significance in the movie ending even as the young guys enter the Parliament after being elected. There is no assurance of a honest government even then. After all, human beings do tend to get corrupted by the attraction of money and power. Even if one single person tries to be proper, the environment simply doesn't let him/her to be so. Movies like 'Mudhalvan' can only be movies. Not reality.
Asking for an impeccable governance and honest rulers (though this might not be a valid generalization, I take the liberty of considering a majority who are not) or claiming to be able to provide one is pure Hypocrisy! Let's avoid it and try to be pragmatic and elect whichever government provides us an optimum amount of benefits, after all the trade-offs involved.

The fog has cleared!

All other options have been positively ruled out. Belling the CAT will be my first and foremost goal.

While I had realized that I am no scientist-material after attending a workshop on Research last weekend, a sudden clarity of thought came about two days ago in a post-lunch DSP class and that was when it dawned upon me that I had fallen for a managing-related career somewhere along the tumultuous path of frustrating indecision that I had been traversing, for the past several months. Now that I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I must make out my path (which by the way is pretty tortuous and not as straight as it seems) to reach it, overcoming distracting obstacles and learning (by practice) the art of multi-tasking.

This is what happens if Goons are Elected into the Assembly.

Awesome!!

The genius behind the work, Pranav Mistry, is an Indian who did his schooling in Gujarati Medium!
Proud of my fellow Indian!

The Festival of Sound and Smoke...

Here they come- again.

To these I’m used.

Acts of ingratitude-

May I call them?

I shower them

With the purest of waters;

Choking smoke they return.

My children they are!

My duty it is- to cover them,

To protect them and

Not expect returns.

But, warn them, I must,

For my tunic won’t last long

Over their smug heads.

Wear and tear- have reached

This poor old covering-

The only one I have and offer-

They call it Ozone.

Time is running out.

Celebrating their way

To the End,

Some reach early via

The gruesome route of mishaps;

The rest take the slow route.

Will realization dawn soon?

Where are We?

A sadhu immolates himself to attain eternal bliss or some such thing in the hands of the Holy Lord.. A group of Indian Policemen, the so-called Government Servants and Commoners' Friends, sit with folded hands and piously watch the gross act!! One policeman even takes a pic of the burnt body like one would take the pic of an unforgettable treasured scene with his mobile.. A boy who looked like he should have been in school studying or playing with friends vigorously plays the drum-like instrument after the sadhu's death..
And we call ourselves A Developing Nation!
Kudos to the MP Police force for making our country "Proud"!!!

What Matters and What Doesn't...

Mount Everest can be put to shame easily by the heights reached by the peaks created out of wayward issues by the very respectable Indian Media. There seems to be no limit on what they conduct debates on - "What's your take on Tharoor's tweet?" is the current topper, with all channels flashing ads asking people to voice their opinions on the issue. Then there is this bunch of people clad in formals, with some title or the other attached to their names discussing the issue with such fervency that it seems like no other work can go on in the nation unless a solution is found. Political debates should be responsibly based on issues that actually affect the countrymen and should aim at finding sensible solutions to them. Whether Tharoor has called the commoners "cattle" (which by the way, he did not mean to) or not is not going to affect us in any way. When there are so many pressing problems all around us, why waste valuable time blowing up trivial issues. Infact there was even one channel flashing "Are we making a big issue of of this?" and making a big issue out of even that. Come such an occasion and the leaders from the opposition parties are ready to come out with wonderful statements affirming their purity and describing how uncouth the ruling party is.
Visual media is undoubtedly the most effective means of reaching out to the people- a fact that was proved recently by the shock-induced deaths of commoners after viewing news reports of YSR's tragic death. The people who wield such a great influence on the masses should be more responsible about how they use the power.
Forget tweets. Think development and progress. Show us how efficient the policies of the government are. Point out the loop-holes. Expose corruption. Be the media for the masses to know and to be known and heard.

ON CLOUD NINE.. LITERALLY!!!

I'm still amazed at last sunday's events. It seemed implausible till the very last moment. But, there it was- our plan that worked out smoothly and took us into the clouds actually and virtually..
Well, I got up on friday, glad at having crossed the second hurdle (read internals) this semester satisfactorily and went to college. Being granted with a forenoon full of free hours, we started making plans for the weekend.. "Ninaithaaley Inikum" or "Kandasamy", "A2B" or other hotels-- the stereotyped venues for hanging out were thrown into the discussion. Then came a sudden idea. The credit goes to Veena. "Why not a one-day trip?? Ooty maybe??", she said. Initially hesitant and doubtful, our conversation gathered an enthusiastic momentum gradually and we got excited about the possible execution of the plan successfully. After a lunch-hour filled with phone calls and getting parents' permissions and arranging for the two lovely moms (of the twins and Arch) to accompany us, we went home hopefully on Friday to meet on Sunday morning.
Then came the vital part in the plan that was implemented by Kiruba- arranging the bus through her contacts. It was smoothly executed and we were provided with a new and comfortable mini-bus that was fantastically coloured in fluorescent green and pink :) Also, we had the adorable Thangaraj anna accompany us on the trip, solely due to Kiruba :) .
Saturday- a day full of plans of what lunch to take with us and what DVDs and CDs to play in the bus. There came a phone call from PR around four in the evening- There was a problem, quite a critical one- they were not given permission to go out for more than five hours!!! "Goodness Gracious!! We can only visit VOC park in that time" I thought. Then fervent alternate plans were being thought of- Aliyar Dam, Monkey Falls etc were considered. Even as I was losing any hope of the tour plan working out, there came the message- "Success." The chief warden had allowed them to come, on the pretext of going home, provided their parents called up and told the hostel authorities so. It seems the authorities had not heard of such an event at all in the past. It looked like we were the first batch of girls, going alone on such a trip. Usually girls went together to attend family functions of friends in other towns but never has any batch gone on this kind of a trip before. WOW!!! We were extremely proud and happy to know that and as expected there was an extra "O" that we dedicated to ourselves..
Sunday morning- I woke up early for the first time in more than two years on a sunday. Reached our boarding point at 6:30 a.m. The bus was delayed. We had breakfast at Cbe itself rather than waiting to go to Mettupalayam for it. The bus arrived; we got into it and......it started..... yeah :) :) there could have been nothing else to make us so happy at that instant... What we had been dreaming about, what was a plan that was formed suddenly in a Transmission Lines class, was being implemented successfully!!!
Arch's kid sis Bharathi who accompanied us, added cheer to our entire lot with her enthusiastic dancing. We danced and sang our way up the hill and then settled to watch "Villu", the ultimate comedy-killer-flop, so as to tease Dr. Vijay and irritate his only fans in our class- PR and Kir :)
Sim's Park was our first destination where we created the adage-"Wherever there is a tree, there will be our girls posing for a photo on its branches" :) Hot-steamed and buttered corn was relished and we then continued on our way to Ooty. The next stop was a view point from where several key locations on the hill station were shown to us through a telescope. Then followed lunch on a vast beautiful grassland where all the hostelers enjoyed the tasty varieties of rice brought by the day scholars. Our next stop was at Pykara falls where the girls stood on icy running water and did not pose properly for my cam :(. The long walk to and from the river made us hungry again and we gorged upon the snacks brought by the hostelers. Next followed an enjoyable boat-ride (accompanied by eating ice-creams sponsored by anna) at Pykara Lake..
We then proceeded to the Botanical Garden but had to alter our plans due to heavy rainfall.. We halted at Charring Cross for shopping and stayed there for nearly two hours! We started on our way home around 6:45 p.m. and had fun teasing each other and eating snacks (well, again!!)
As the bus descended, so did our spirits descend a wee bit due to the sudden bouts of puking among many of us. Well, that was also a part of the wholesome trip :)
Back Home- at 9:30 p.m... Inspite of the growing tiredness, I found time to brag about the day to my parents and sis before starting to sleep like a log..
Ah!!! What a wonderful trip!! How Much Fun!!! We feel like we have achieved something great!!! (which by the way happens to be somewhat true because we are GIRLS of ECE G1!!!!) All the students are simply amazed!! We shall no longer be branded as "Padips" or any other such thing :)
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!!! WE SHALL KEEP ROCKING!!

United We Worked!

Why I'm feeling grumpy...

A day so special,

Celebrated only by a half

For whom it is so!

Both halves want It-

But what makes It unreachable?

Simple Ego makes It complex.

The It is executed only

By Taunts and Jeers-

Enjoyed by one half, loathed by the other.

Less than a couple of years,

Is what is left.

Ah! Scarce is hope..

Just Hang Kasab??

As i was switching through the mountain-out-of-mole-hill-makers (read the Indian English news channels) yesterday, I came across the flashing headline with which I have titled this post. There were brief interviews of the close relatives of the slain ATS chief Mr. Karkare and the Inspector Mr. Salaskar, in which the subjects demanded for immediate imposition of the death sentence on the lone surviving accused, Ajmal Kasab, on the ground that they were simply fed up with the prolonging investigations and trials. Well, it is true that the Mumbai tragedy occurred three- quarters of an year ago and the trials are still going on with Kasab having pleaded guilty only recently. His reported actions in the court like laughing at the judge and the prosecutor and demanding for the provision of amenities like newspapers, specific brands of toothpaste and the like in the jail, have irked and frustrated every rational Indian soul, including mine.

But the demand for the immediate hanging of Kasab is an irrational one, put forth on an angry and impatient impulse. He is a source of valuable evidence against the LeT or whichever mad cult he belongs to and he can simply not be executed without exploiting his knowledge of the entire base and operations of the deadly terrorists who threaten World Peace. He may not reveal the truth at the first instance and his contradictory stories may irritate us, but ultimately he happens to be just another 20-something old lad who cannot hold back things for long and will come out with everything regarding the operation, motives and plans of action of his gang.

Mulling over the last adjective I have used for him, I happen to feel a certain sympathy for the deadly, arrogant killer. He is probably elder to me by a few years- five at the maximum. Why has this young man evolved to be this kind of a monster and not a harmless well-disposed individual like millions of people who are his age? The answer is simple. He grew up in such an environment where these terrorist activities were (and are) not considered immoral. All teenagers naturally feel the need to be recognized and popular among their peers. While we, the gifted ones, grow up in an environment that is conducive to our positive development, like the gaining of the much yearned-for popularity by excelling in academics and personality-developing co- and extra-curricular activities, all that Kasab could do to be the most popular guy in his gang was to be a part of the terrorist group which he had been taught to hold in reverence. It might not have occurred to his brainwashed self that such purported "holy cleansings" (one of the euphemisms they employ for massacre) are, in actuality, against the interests of mankind which the factions plan to then protect with the imposition of their short-sighted and murky laws opposing the march towards a liberal and developed world. His is the case of a virtually blind boy who never knew how light looked as he was born and brought up in darkness.

Still, the angry Indians will not rest until the young lad is killed, for, in his death, they will see their revenge taken upon terrorism. I would definitely not be unhappy to see the monster in him dead, but that must wait until the monster comes out with all the ugly facts of its origination and growth.

HP-6: On the First Day of Release

My friends felt apprehensive about coming to a cinema theatre with their college bags. Well, they (especially the twins) are simply too good and virtuous, I must say. But once inside, they felt comfortable, for the entire hall was filled with college students with their bags :)
A full theatre on a working day for an English movie!
That shows the wide prevalence of Potter Mania in this relatively small metro.

And I, being one of the most eager and ardent fans of the HP series, was definitely not disappointed by the 165 minute-long movie. Wonderful picturisation and graphics! The bridge collapse scene left the entire theatre "ooh"ing and gasping. As usual, Rupert Grint turned out to be my favourite star with his antics. I found the single Quidditch match in the movie more exciting than any T-20 match. The vanquishing of the Dark Mark ,by the positive lights from the wands of all at Hogwarts, is a moving scene.
Well, like all HP movies, this one too had omitted several key parts of they story, like the introduction to Marvolo Gaunt and his son, greater details about the horcruxes , the mayhem at Hogsmeade on the night of Dumbledore's death and his funeral. The climax, which left the 15- year old Shilpa crying for several hours while she read the book, merely made the 19-year old Shilpa sad for a few moments while she watched it on screen.
In a nutshell, it is a good movie to watch if you have read the book. Go to the theatre sans any expectation of watching every printed page on the screen and you will enjoy the experience.

Interest

A fickler possession,
I've never had.
Things that mattered

Are now superfluous.

Ah! The Orb has gyrated

Once around the Star,

Since that time- when

A fanatic was, where,

A placid soul is now.

The Vicissitude,

The Seasoning,

Was no merry hap.

Qualms not sated,

Queries linger-

Was the reason

Inaptness or Conspiracy?

Was the outcome truly just?

Unanswered these shall be-

For I prefer not unpleasant bonds.

A recap-

The inert soul has spurned,

Not for anything

But a shield against

Further letdown and

A tryst with a debacle.

The Failed Enchantment

NO!!! This story can't have been thought of by the same mind that gifted us the imagery-rich Midnight's Children!!!

'The Enchantress of Florence' has a lot of magic (or so he calls it) involved in the plot but it terribly fails to create the magic in the readers' minds that was created by 'Midnight's Children'. I usually consider myself unworthy of reviewing authors of the kind of Rushdie and Arundhati Roy, but the pathetic and contorted fairy tale I recently read left me too disappointed.

Compared to the adventures of Argalia the Turk, Sindbad's tales were far better and they had me awed at the age of ten. There seemed to be no logic behind the actions of King Akbar (as demonstrated), with his oscillations between fondness and anger for both his son and the foreigner with many names.

Lots of fleeting passion, very little true love (successful as well as failed), a lot more of flowing curtains in palaces of red-bricks, courtesans, pirates, Wars, Royal tents, witchcraft and a very very illogical theme : these are the ingredients for a fairy tale that children wouldn't understand and adults wouldn't appreciate.

But let me be optimistic- this book had one major advantage- the incomprehensible words (common in Rushdie's works) helped kick-off an idea for my mini-project this semester :)

Murky Mood...

Gloomy verses were never my pick,
Glad ones, to read and write, I'm quick.
But the two-sided coin of life
Tossed 'tween glee and strife
Calls to mind
The edicts that bind
This mere mortal soul
To the world as a whole.

A moment that is permanent?
Nothing is more impertinent.
Upon Bonds- I much depend,
Perhaps, my ways, I must mend.
For, this soul can bear
Neither a loss-evoked wear,
Nor the tenebrous urn
It falls in, upon spurn.

A Half-Engineer's Musings

As a half-engineer, I face the prospect of getting back to the routine from tomorrow. Images of observations, records, classrooms, the OHP, the Department corridors and the several labs cross my mind. A holiday of one and a half months (the longest hassle-free duration that a student can get, without placement worries) has made a fine indolent girl out of me.
The Gargantuan task of boarding a town bus between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m. will start my days hereforth, to be followed by classes- some interesting and many boring (these shall be made interesting too, by the likes of Michael Crichton, Mary Higgins Clark, Mario Puzo and Jeffrey Archer under the desk). Eventually we will face an inevitable impediment to our enjoyment in the name of Internals- that test the ability to learn vast portions and apply them to score a meagre total of 20 (which shall be cruelly converted to 30 by a multiplication factor that almost always seems to amplify the marks lost than those gained). Culturals and competitions are the best phases of this life, where I learn and develop myself and have fun throughout the process.

Ups and downs, fights and reconciliations, lecturers' scoldings (reasonable as well as unreasonable), photocopying notes, canteen's famous softie ice-creams, clandestine entry into the hostel and smart exit without getting caught-- all of these welcome me with open arms for another couple of years.
Bracing myself to face two of the most important years in my life, I shall now set out to take the first step of finding a couple of pens in writing order :)

Some of my recent snapshots

First Women For Women First??

These are seemingly good times for the women in India. At least for the influential ones. We have, now in power, our First Woman President and our First Woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha. There are 59 women MPs (highest since Independence) in the current Lok Sabha, among which 17 are under 40 years. The statistics make me momentarily cheer.
But then, one of the most common questions in GDs and debates comes to my mind- Are Women better Managers/Leaders than Men?
I have loathed this question ever since I heard it first because of the simple reason that neither I, nor can anyone answer it without erring at some point or the other. It is a totally subjective issue and both sides of the debate have points in abundance to discuss and they may have to end up with a no-conclusion.
The mere presence of a large number of women should not be something for us to celebrate. Their proper execution of their duty to the country should be of greater concern.

Speaking of the common women, it must be said that they have started coming out of their self-cum-society-imposed cocoon of the so-called modesty and staying behind the veil and under a man's protection. But "have started" implies that "have achieved liberty" is still a far cry.
Even in the purported Fashion+Finance Capital of India, Mumbai, where I saw women being more outgoing and free-minded, there always lurked a sense of fear at the very bottom of each of their hearts. The reason can be found by skimming the "Times Of India" on any day. There can almost never fail to be a report of some case of kidnapping or harassment or even murder of members of the fairer sex, followed by an account of how the police nabbed the culprit successfully. Nabbing the culprits and bringing them to justice is another case. Preventing the crimes is far more important. A jail term awarded to an offender will not undo the wrong done to the hapless victims.
Awareness and Prevention is definitely on the agenda of grown-up women, for many of them have learnt self-protection techniques to avoid harm. But what about the children?? In the past one month that I spent there, I came across reports of several minor girls being attacked and one 8 year old kid was even found murdered. These incidents are those that wrung my heart.
A million "Slum Dog Millionaire"s may reveal the dirty underbelly of India. We will react strongly to each of them, defending our Mother Land. But what happens after the noise dies down? The lives of almost all Indians goes on unchanged and the only probable people to come across positive changes are the ones who got to play themselves on screen.

India is not a discriminative country. It is the mindset of a percentage of the population that is to be changed. With all these "First Woman" someones in the fore, all we can do is to hope that they change the bigger picture while we the commoners, should try to be the change we desire to see and spread courage and determination in the minds of the small circle of the girls and the women we know.

VERSUS

Nothing can equal the joy of reading a good book- not even its visual adaptation as a movie. With the exception of "Gone With the Wind" (which lasted about 5 hrs), no movie that I have seen could bring me the pleasure that its paper and print version brought.
"Angels and Demons" was one such disappointment. But looking at things from a broader perspective, I realized that I must simply convince myself with what was shown. The makers of the film would have met with several restrictions. After all, in today's world where a single word which may not necessarily have been meant to be offensive can easily affect the religious sentiments and result in violent reactions, handling such a tender subject as the pope's liking for the biological science and his not sticking to chastity on the screen would be a serious issue. Theatres might have even refused to screen the film. Also, the palaces in Vatican City could not have been shot easily without several permits and papers involved. There was also the time restriction the makers felt that they must stick to. No longer do people want to watch long movies like "Gone With the Wind".
The reason for the pope's murder will be a puzzle to the viewers who have not read the book. There have been many unnecessary omissions in the storyline like CERN Director's character, Langdon's visit to CERN, the drag theory (that reduces the impact of fall) that I was very much interested in while reading the book and Langdon's use of the theory to save his life shortly before the climax.
Still, I would not consider this film as a waste of two hours. Whatever was shown, was shot and shown well.
Bottomline: Pen is mightier than not only the sword, but also the screen.

Some more of the woRld seen by the dwarf...

A lick of the cream-
The not so tasty cream-
She has had.
Lick, perhaps, a misnomer;
Look, would be ideal.

The cream, not a dessert,
Is the meal-
A meal made of sweat and slog,
Seasoned with feuds cold,
Bound with practised tact.

Hunger and thirst she saw
In the diners' faces.
The cream they ate
Sated their hungry wallets.
Skinny men sported obese pockets.

The bland cream will be eaten,
In place of the spicy meal
Of zealous work using talent,
As long as there exists the
Malicious craving for mere paper.

Road Speak

A nigger of sorts,
Made of tar,
I lie everywhere,
Witness to the life that
Bustles on me- and
Occasionally ends on me.

A million wheels converse
With me any day;
The contraptions they propel-
Are they dragons, I wonder-
Exhaling, not fire, but air-
Air that kills!

Fluids spring on me-
Those of beetel and of phlegm.
My counterparts abroad
Are exempted from this,
But I don't envy them,for
They are not as entertained as me.

Variety in life, I can talk about.
For I see the millionaire in his car
As well as the pavement-resident pauper.
Neither is entirely happy.
The former fears his business rivals
And relishes his six-digit profits.
The latter fears his kid starving another night
And relishes his two-digit daily wage.

Tall buildings grow on both my sides,
Stacked upto the sky, they appear!
Congested homes and work places
In these stacks exist.
I do hate these stacks, for,
They have taken away my companions-
My friendly and ever protective trees.

An onlooker of Life and Death-
I will live on, unfazed,until
The next group of men and machines
Dig me up for multifarious needs
And restitch my torn being.
A bump-filled life will then resume.

The woRld as seen by the dwarf

She is tiny. A kid- many call her. She feels so, too. Her tiny feet take their first step in the vast campus filled with giant-size buildings and busy people. She is guided well, taught the etiquette to be followed in office. Still she is not sure if she can fit in.
Her self-built confidence guides her on. She is taken through various glass doors and turnstiles that won't budge unless a valid ID is shown. She is asked what project she wants to do. She mumbles that she is still a student and wants to learn instead of work. She waits for an hour outside a cabin. She feels ignored. Restlessness, anger and impatience seep through her. She regrets having come to the big place alone. She draws a clumsy cartoon. She forces herself to keep calm and at last, her patience is awarded.
She is taken to a learning center and allotted courses to learn. In all eagerness, the little dwarf signs up even for a course that she has no idea about. But the path is made smooth for her from now. She realizes that she can make friends with strangers in a matter of minutes! She is introduced to friendly and helpful instructors.
Her classes begin. She is late by half an hour for the very first class! Her once-upon-a-time-class rep- mind cooks up a tangible excuse before entering the room. But luckily for her the class has not yet started. There is an introductory session. Then the teaching begins. She is amazed that she isn't sleepy at all during a class ( only on the first day though! ). She is eager to learn the course, which, the instructor feels, might be above her level of understanding. She makes an effort to relate the stuff with her little knowledge.
While our little dwarf works on her notes with her very basic knowledge of flip flops and registers, the rest use terms like BST BSC MSC etc. to discuss over-the-dwarf's-head-transmitted-topics!!! Well, she manages to relate to them in as clumsy a way as possible. But her instructor and co-learners are friendly and helpful to the core. At least, the dwarf is happy to see an instructor who can speak about modulation, transmission, reception etc. without having to read them out directly from a book. :p
Even as she types now, she is laden with guilt for not trying to go through the incomprehensible topics. But she is lazy. Nothing can change that. She concludes by asking the patient readers to hope that she is able to cope up and successfully finish her tiny tenure in this colossal campus (where she tends to get lost daily)!!
Some more of the dwarf's view's will be posted soon... :)

Identity Crisis Wonderfully packaged among printed alphabets

I did not have any expectations as I opened the cover to start reading it. But once started, I always expected to return to it after any break in between the reading process. Even after finishing the 290-something page novel, I kept thinking that I must get back to the book to read more of the story.
That was "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri. A simple tale, I'm tempted to write. But it's not as simple as it seems - a story of an NRI family bringing up their children born abroad - rather, the story captures the emotions of a boy, born in Boston to orthodox Bengali parents, who tries to identify himself among the society.
He outwardly feels American because of his peer group and the environment he grows up in. But the Indian emotions in him are brought to the fore under circumstances like his father's death.
The story is a beautiful portrayal of the dilemma faced by the so-called ABCDs ( American Born Confused Deshis ). It picturises the disastrous combination of an Indian heart and an American mind.
A must-read for all NRIs and their children!