Ajit - My first Google Video

This is in reference to my earlier post on Calcutta
Late December 2005 - Walking in the vicinity of Park Street – on some innocuous street in Calcutta – I see this dude sitting on the pavement with a bunch of painted greeting cards by him – reminiscent of the “painting-on-a-leaf” greeting cards that are sold on the streets of VT (wish I had one of them right now!) – anyways ... Curious as ever I asked him if he painted those cards. He replied with a sense of pride that he not only painted those cards by hand but he actually used his “hands” for painting them – no brushes used here! I asked him how long it took him to paint one and he replied without a pause – “three minutes”!
Next - we crowded around him to watch him in action and sure enough, our jaws were on the pavement a couple of minutes later. Heck – he was almost half done by the time I pulled out my camera and started recording! And I don’t take too much time to do that! Take a lookie here – my first google video upload – superb stuff!
Asked him to sign on the card – Ajit – amazing Ajit!
Sure enough we bought most of his cards on display – at an unbelievable price of Rs.10 each!!!
Hmmm … art is soooooooooooooooooo cheap in India! I can not even imagine how much Ajit could make if he commercialized his works … food for the MBA thought!









and pls ignore the glitchy scans.
The Man - Ajit -

And thank you Brij for these 2 pics ...

A Cruise with a View

After listening to the details and reading Arvind's posts and viewing most of his pictures on his (?) Mac - made mental note that we need to be on a cruise sometime. And wham appears Tony O' Driscoll describing his cruise - sweet timing!
Why not go on a cruise with some live music on it as well ... even Dave Matthews Band live would do! Yes - this is definitely on the radar now :)

Funny would be putting it very seriously!

Lots and lots of things happening in the past few days - have been unable to post something sensible amidst all the activity and all the questions (read buying decisions) ... more on that later before I digress.
Thank You Brij (again) for pointing this one out.
This post has to definitely be the funniest post I have ever read - had me laughing off my chair - almost a Calvin effect! And his latest post is funny as hell - couldn't control my laughter (loud) reading him describe Venkatesh Prasad! ROTFL!
Way to go Sidin ... you're as funny (or more) as Douglas Adams ... nice.
and the dude has quit his job to pursue a writing career - now that is something - will watch out for his book.

Paritrana

(from the official web-site)

PARITRANA
the Political party for the Bharat of the 21st century.

The meaning of PARITRANA:
(Trana) means the act of relieving a conscious entity from the state of distress or pain. However, this relief may not be of permanent nature. (Paritrana) is the complete relief implying the end of the very cause of distress.

Thank You Pu for pointing this out. In the recent wake of discussions on Rang De Basanti and awakenings - this has provided a whole new sense of pride ... with a turbo-boost!
Paritrana - as Pu puts it are the Yuva in real life - hats off to them.
Having people with such prolific academic backgrounds from prestigious IIT's and the likes, risking their "assured high-flying careers" to take up the challenge facing us all is worth more than a mention and a few thoughts.
Intersting article here
Paritrana's official website.

I'm a mixed bag of overwhelming feelings right now ... more on this later!

Wild-Life

Casual chat with a dear friend – wandered off into the days when she used to work for wildlife preservation and she snapped back saying that she was actually working for us! How very true! How easily we forget that by saving our ecosystem we are essentially saving our sorry butts!

Which got me thinking – we’ve got it all wrong! “We” are the wild-life on this planet – Mankind (women included!) is the wildest species on the planet … destroying or gobbling up everything in sight! And the audacity – to call the civic (for lack of a better word) and balanced creatures as “wild-life” – huh!

Arrogant, pompous, conceited bastards – that’s what we are – wild-life!

Karsh Kale - Broken English

Karsh Kale is releasing his 3rd album titled Broken English on March 21 2006.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
the countdown has begun - I can feel the excitement in the air ...
as the master gets ready to deliver his third installment after Realize and Liberation.
And Thank God (and everyone else) that I am in the US - no mind-numbing 60-day agonizing waits for it to hit the local Planet M's!
And there's that reviewing community which gets the sneak previews of all this wonderful stuff - dang! someday ...
but for now -
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
Now where's that pre-order button ...

Yukon Ho!

A calviN and HobbEs database exists! The ultimate transmogrifier - suuuuuuperb stuff!
Thank You Sibin (again) for the rays of light!

Roobaroo Translation

In reference to my earlier post here, I finally moved my butt and took a shot at translating this wonderful song. Warning - this is a "prose" translation, not a poetry translation (D's working on that) - a lot of nuances of the song/poetry are lost in translation - but hey ...

aye saala
Dude ...

abhi abhi huaa yaqeen ki aag hai mujh mein kahi
hui subaah main jal gaya
suraj ko main nigal gaya
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2
I just realized that I have a fire inside me somewhere
Its a new morning and I am aflame
I overpowered the sun
I'm face to face with light


jo gumshuda-sa khwaab tha voh mil gaya voh khil gaya
who loha thaa pighal gaya kichhaa kichhaa machal gaya
sitaar mein badal gaya
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy
I have found my lost dream and it had started to blossom
It was a block of iron before but now it has melted, stretched
And has transformed into the melodious strings of the sitar
I'm face to face with light

(dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara) - 2
The fog clears and I can now see my open blue skies
I can see new paths and journeys ahead of me
If you could be my traveling companion
Match your stride with mine …

aandhiyon se jaghad rahi hai lau meri
ab mashaalon si bhad rahi hai lau meri
naamo nishaan rahe na rahe
ye kaaravaan rahe na rahe
ujaale mein pee gaya
roshan huaa jee gaya
kyon sehte rahe
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy – 2
My ardent desires fight with hurricanes
My ardent desires burn bright like torches
I don't care if I disappear without a trace
I care not if these caravans no longer exist
I soak in the sunlight
I am radiant and alive
Why keep suffering?
I'm face to face with light.

dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy – 2
The fog clears and I can now see my open blue skies
I can see new paths and journeys ahead of me
If you could be my traveling companion
Match your stride with mine…
I'm face to face with light.



Roobaroo Chords
The Chords for this song are extremely simple - A Repeating pattern of A,D throughout the song, except for A,E in the "dhuaan chata ..." part. The strumming is a lil tricky though - am working on that!

Update (2/17/2006)
Thank You Brij for pointing out the mistake in the lyrics. Have corrected it and also adding the "official" lyrics from the CD sleeve. Also including Khoon Chala which deserves a separate post for itself. Pssst - I'm headed to the cinema for my second helping tonight.

Malgudi Days

The Malgudi Days website for the fans :)
Thank You Sibin for pointing this out - and all the Malgudi Days links on your post.
I guess its time to e-mail those folks @padamrag asking for the Malgudi Days DVD set!

pondering on Rang De Basanti ...

Still unable to take the movie out of my mind – D and I keep discussing on how we as individuals can really help the cause in India which is nothing short of a freedom struggle. An excellent post by RonitaDutta on Rang De Basanti resonated with our thoughts. Like Ron says, the generation Y effort should not become another Naxal Bari movement which more or less failed due to the inability of translating ideals to practical goals.
I myself do not know too much about the Naxal Bari movement but the point resonates … and very loudly – we need to convert ideals to practical goals – tangible goals which can be achieved and/or measured.
With that perspective, D and I seem to be on opposite corners of essentially the same bench, admittedly a confused one! There doesn’t seem to be much clarity on the issue – do you become radical and put *everything* at stake or do you play tactically – do your bit in your community, in your organization and your immediate circle of influence?
Tough answer – very very tough. Which side do you take? You do love your family – your job, your wants, your desires – face it – we *are* human! The classic dilemma of "I want to help but I don’t want to be a Bhagat Singh or a DJ and I don’t know what to do!"
My two cents say that we need all the help we can find – but only difference is that this can not be a uncoordinated effort – it has to be a multi-pronged attack and there has to be a tangible solution – solutions could be as simple as – the police station in my locality will be responsible enough to provide the proverbial “bang-for-the-buck”!, or that the school in my backyard will treat all students equally – race or creed! ... ... ...
This is a situation where everythingness is one – small pieces will have to be tied on to form larger pieces!
Yes there would have to be a radical wing – the Bhagat Singh’s and DJ’s which will provide the wake-up call when needed – but running shoulder to shoulder with them would be the tactical wing – the young entrepreneurs, the money-makers who shall strive to gain access within the trenches of political powers – the power-makers who would strive to provide stability to the youth by means of education (education and not literacy!), jobs and direction – the thinkers who would try and mould the minds of future on what lies ahead and what needs to be done – on the benefits of being honest! Maybe Karan and Aslam could have stayed away from the radio-station … to stay alive and harness the rage of the population into a revolution – maybe using Karan’s dad’s wealth as a useful tool – who knows … like I said there is no single solution …

And the one powerful tool that we yield today is the power of information – and we have to leverage this as much as possible - we have be like an army of ants with the difference that each of us ants will be able to communicate to any other ant instantaneously – with the power of broadcast of course! If there is one thing that will shape the future of the world, it will be the ease of sharing and broadcasting information – revolutions are going to get smaller and more ferocious! Of course that also means that there has be a sense of urgency and a lot of co-ordination … nobody said that this is going to be easier!

Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi

A movie I've been wanting to write about for a long long really long time now, but I need not now - coz Sarat does justice (and more) in his latest blog entry - here - thank you dude!

Official site of the movie.
IMDB Review

I really don't like these posters, except for the Red&Black backgrounds in each of them - I fail to comprehend why the posters are so so so unlike the movie!

Sarat moves over

before hell froze over :)
Yep - Sarat is blogging now - http://saratm.blogspot.com/
His old stuff has not moved to his blog - but its still there.

I guess marriage does bring about a new(er) perspective to things!

SuperBowl 40

My first superbowl!
Yaaay! Not really! My first superbowl was not quite what I expected – maybe it was all the hype or maybe it was the sagging Rolling Stones on stage at half-time – dunno! Never did like that band … even when they were young – which must have been a hundred and sixty twelve years ago! But I digress …
Seattle Seahawks vs. the Pittsburg Steelers – not a big American Football fan, I was naturally inclined towards the Seattle Seahawks – besides, Seattle I could identify with, Pittsburgh … naaah! The game was quite interesting although the feeling in my gut told me that it was rigged! OMG – I said it! That’s right – sue me!
All the referee calls for the SeaHawks were wrong and the Steelers had a “hand of god” kind of touchdown which never really was a touchdown! But then I’m a novice in American Football – so who am I to comment!
But the whole event was not-at-all-impressive – it seemed very plastic and commercial and fake. I had more fun watching the superbowl commercials on google video today than I had watching the event! Maybe it’s the skeptic in me … or that I’m biased … or maybe I’m just bloody right!
And for the uninitiated - SuperBowl is the biggest American Football "world" championship (played only in the US!), and not a giant Bowling Competition ... altho it might very well be!

The Da Vinci Code

25 January 2006 - Not the movie - the day I completed reading the book! Yes ... a book! Its been years (almost 10) since I picked up a book (without pictures) and read it end to end. It feels great to be reading again - and it does bring back the sweet and painful patience game, while you wait for the next page/chapter!
As much as I enjoyed reading, I think I shall postpone picking up another book (a big one i.e.) for a few months - till at least I am out of school! The Reading Bug is around me - I can feel it - its just a matter of time ... I'm excited :)
Oh, the book - awesome - Can not wait to go to Paris now :) I know some of the purists out there (that includes you Sarat :P) may say that the book is crap and lacks depth, but hey - its good fun! No wonder its being made into a movie ...
For now I guess its going to be my Nat Geo's and my ever faithful Comics :)

What's the Good Word

24 Jan 2006 - Its 7pm - I’m sitting in class – listening to the answer I just blurted out and how the professor rehashed the same answer in his words or rather in *a* word
Its one thing to be succinct and another to be able to summarize it in one word! And I personally believe that Americans are quite adept at that – naturally. They are able to come out with superb solid words for even mediocre things!
A classic example is the kind of names they give their abysmal cars – you don’t see a Honda, Toyota or even a BMW come up with names like Firebird, Trailblazer, Thunderbird, Mustang and the likes – now those are super solid names for fast cars … unlike City, Camry, Z3 – they seem more like flowers or science experiments! Leaving aside the Ferrari and Lamborghini, thanks to their animated logos, I struggle to think of a single superb name for a fast car from outside of the US! Eclipse, Celica … probably not!

This guy is seriously funny!

No I'm not talking about President Bush or his State of the Union!
I'm talking about Jeremy Clarkson. His comments on parkering (which incidentally is a car review) had me almost falling out of my seat in class ... laughing!
Brij calls him the king of sarcasm, but I think he is beyond that - he's quite articulate with his words ... and funny as hell! Seriously!