Jo Dikhta Hai Woh Bikta Hai?

I’d like to start off with thanking those who wrote in asking me to post a post soon. To my great satisfaction, this was one absence from the blog that wasn’t caused because I ran out of ideas. It wasn’t the case of a Writer’s Block … simply a Blocked Writer. I was reading an article online where they commented on how a good blog is one that is updated daily. Which makes mine occasionally good I suppose. I see some logic in that argument. Blogging is good practice for an aspiring writer. Blogging daily would require rigor and discipline and a commitment that is hard to estimate upfront. My blog is the longest writing exercise I have certainly indulged in. If I keep at this, some day there would be enough material to cram into a book (notice how I avoid mentioning that the book actually needs to sell). Not a radical idea though. Others have done it. I saw a debate on NDTV; a program called ‘We the people’ where Barkha Dutt moderates discussion on a topic which on most occasions involve raucous adults in serious need of being taught manners in letting others talk. The topic of the debate was the state of blogging in India. One of the participants was a young girl who has a personal blog called The Compulsive Confessor. She’s single and writes on topics ranging from drinking to dating to sex and offers what can has been termed as a mild (or heavy, depending on what other blogs you have seen do this) dose of voyeuristic pleasure into the life of an urban Indian woman. There’s more to her blog but there’s a reason nothing else catches the eye. A lot of discussion went on about whether the blog was read because of the nature of the content or the quality of it. In the absence of other blogs in the same genre from the same gender and nationality, her blog definitely is its own USP. I looked up her blog online and thought it was alright. I have read several other blogs that are much higher quality in their choice of topics and execution. But the reason I bring this up here is that recently I read about her in Outlook India. She has her own book coming through. My first reaction is cynical. Would she have gotten the offer were commenting on non-controversial things? I am not so sure. I haven’t read the book obviously and I don’t think I’ll get my hands on it either. I am not shooting for a book contract so I can avoid from pouring out details of my personal life on this blog to entertain and titillate. But if that's a short cut for going onto greener pastures, isn't something amiss somewhere? It makes me wonder if Rakhi Sawant’s famous dictum: “Jo dikhta hai who bikta hai” is true. Is modern India so wrapped up with things that are bright and shallow that quality is a function of visibility? How many girls from ‘Chak De India’ went on to bigger better movies? To my knowledge, only the ones who had the glamour quotient. My commentary might be a tad too caustic and judgmental based on limited examples and I’d love to be proven otherwise. Let me know what you think.

Rukawat Ke Liye Khed Hai

Famous Doordarshan Message Translated: "Sorry for the interruption." Wanted to drop in a line about the ongoing break from blogging. Life happened. Will resume transmission shortly.

Transient

I am but
A simulacrum of self.
Slightly different
From a moment ago.

Like a whisper
Separated by decibels
From the uttered word

Like a shadow displaced
On its owner’s
Whimsical moves

Chakraview: India Quiz 2008

My quiz club, the Microsoft Redmond Quiz club is organizing Chakraview: India Quiz 2008 for AID (Association for India's Development) on August 23rd at 2 pm on Microsoft campus. I have been involved with the club from the start and this is by far our biggest event, hopefully exceeding the 70+ people who showed up on a weekday for the Bollywood Quiz I conducted. I thought I might use this forum to garner support from locals (Sridhar, that's you) and slightly remote (RTD2, that's you) for this event. We are doing a fairly good job at making sure that if you are in Seattle, you are most likely to hear about it, but it can't hurt to spread the word and extol the virtues of an event like this. Most people get intimidated by the concept of quizzing and I submit that good quizzes are where you already know the answer to the question and it isn't a test of trivia. We have strived to do that in our club and this event will be no different. Plus, it is for a good cause.

Here's the text of an e-mail I had sent out about the event: feel free to pass it around to anyone you know who might be interested in this.

What links common English words like catamaran, shampoo, bungalow, juggernaut and pajamas?
Which Indian cricketer’s restaurant serves ‘Multan Ke Sultan Ki Tikdi’, a dish priced at Rs. 309?
What Indian organization beats Chinese People's Liberation Army, Britain's National Health Service and Wal-Mart as the world's largest employer?

The answers (English words derived from Indian languages eg. catamaran from the Tamil word kattumaram, Virendra Sehwag and Indian Railways) all relate to our great country, a place Mark Twain called the ‘cradle of the human race’.

Come join us for Chakraview as we embark on a journey of rediscovery of India. From Tendulkar to Tagore, from Panipat to Pushkar, from Amitabh to Ashwathama, come test your India Quotient. This will be a fun event for one and all where you answer questions on Indian history, culture, sports, rulers, entertainment, mythology and much more.

When: 2pm, August 23, 2008
Where: Microsoft Bldg 99 (14280 NE 36th St, Redmond, WA 98052)
Open Registration -- there is no entry fee!


Visit http://seattle.aidindia.org/chakraview to register and try out some fun questions. Write to chakraview2008@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Fourier Transformed

Fourier=Four Year. You get the idea. The very same quality of bad punning maintained, its been four years to the day that I started this blog. Perhaps I should get a long service award if this lasts another year. Thanks all for being a loyal and willing audience; those that do comment regularly and those whose silent presence I feel. Onward march to the next year!

Entropy

Coffee had spilled out of one side of his cup in an orderly file, leaving a stain on the white surface of his favorite mug. He stared at this deliberate disharmony. It felt like a rebel streak against the blandness the cup lived and died by. He envied that for a moment. To rebel is to live with a cause, regardless of any phrases you may have heard to the contrary. It’s a passion discovered and pursued, even if you are a few drops of water squeezed out of beans at a very high temperature.” Passive passive”, a colleague had once described him jokingly, referring to his apparent lack of proactiveness, and surprisingly enough, reactiveness too. It’s as if nothing moved him, nothing challenged him, nothing motivated him. He was flotsam in the massive river of corporate progress. A minion among many. Destined to follow, never to be roused. And thus transfixed he spent days and weeks and months at his desk, filing his reports, doing his chores with nary a hint of zest. Now he stared at the coffee and his own inconsequence. Something within him clicked. Inspiration struck him when he least expected it. What magic a brown lining on a white cup won’t do? Twenty minutes of furious work at the keyboard and he was good to go. A quick walk to the server room, some copying of files and a forceful pressing of the enter key later, a sly grin broke out on his face. He walked out of those doors one last time. The next morning the happy lot walked to their sleeping computers only to find their data corrupted, system brought to its knees, the company wiped out and an image of a dancing clown with the message below: A Taste Of Nikhil’s Nihilism!

Sundance Festival

What do I do with sun's charity?
When it goes over the top
Scorching to bed and searing to rise
My sleep screeches to a full stop

P.S> An ode to two days of scorching summer and the red-eyes the red hot sun has given me. No one thought it to be a good idea to have air-conditioners in Seattle. Local warming anyone?

Yellow Dawn

Absolutes scared him. Finality of any sort was anathema. You could call it a commitment issue. Binding himself to half-truths was his way of life. Every morning he’d touch his tools of trade with a touch of reverence before he started. Keeping his coffee just out of arms reach, he cracked his knuckles, adjusted his glasses and pulled his chair a little further. Thus began another day at work. Sitting in front of a computer, he fired up the neurons in his brain and transported himself to a world of make-believe, a potent concoction of adventure, romance, scandal and intrigue. A world where he was God. He didn’t go there alone. Wrapped in his sub-conscious were chunks of information, names of people, and a deadline to meet. Those pieces entwined with his fertile imagination and then there was light. As if possessed, his fingers obeyed and the monitor complied as God’s words appeared: ‘Aishwarya marries a peepal tree’

P.S> I have been reading Amitabh Bachchan’s blog daily (he is far more prolific than most blogger’s I know). You may or may not agree with his ideas and clarifications, but I admire his effort. This short post was inspired by his civilized rebuttals.

P.P.S> The title is a play on Red Dawn and Yellow Journalism

Daily Dose

We live in the age of information overload. Knowledge is power but there is a fine line that you tread in terms of the time you can invest to get the data you need. What does one consume? How much does one consume? How much is relevant? How much is accurate? What do you need to retain? What can you discard? In the democratized world of the internet, knowledge is democratized too and spread far and wide. There isn't a single source of good relevant information and one needs to hunt. I wrote to a friend of mine today morning asking him suggestions on sites he visits and blogs he reads in order to stay abreast of the latest in technology news. Its a necessary skill to have. If you need to be sufficiently aware, then you need to troll in an adroit fashion as well.

My mind went back to a post I had written in August of 2004. This listed my daily quota of browsing: sites that I would unerringly spend time on each morning to gather my daily dose of data. I am reproducing the list verbatim here:
-- TimesOfIndia (Yes, yes, it is a tabloid, but I have read their newspaper since I could read one)
-- Google News
-- New York Times
-- Mid-day (I need my dose of Mumbai-specific happenings)
-- Rediff (for news, movies, cricket)
-- Indiafm (my daily dose of Bollywood happenings)
-- Dilbert (daily dose of humor)
-- Slashdot (a brief glance into the geek world)
-- Cricinfo (there is always some cricket happening all around the world)

Here's the big surprise: four years hence, I still revisit the entire list still without any new additions (the only deletion is TimesOfIndia. It has sunk beyond redemption). Clearly this net I cast has withstood the test of time. The two sectors I think the above list doesn't cover too well are business and technology. I read the Economist, Newsweek, OutlookIndia off and on, and also have the Time magazine delivered to my place each week, but that is clearly not sufficient. The radio serves me well too, as I follow the NPR on a regular basis. The list of sites has served me well thus far and my obsessive need for knowing things is largely satisfied (it also stands me in good stead in my quiz club :-))However, I'd be interested in knowing how the rest of the world copes. Drop in a line. Tell me about your morning quota of browsing. Suggestions to add to my list are also welcome.

The Silver Screen

Light slashes
A cover of darkness
From far above.

Giants walk,
Fairies sing,
Miracles happen.

An alternate reality
Mesmerizes the devout
Four times a day

Chaanta Laga

The “obnoxious weed” (courtesy Matthew Hayden) is at it again. A couple of weeks into the Indian Professional League, Harbhajan has usurped the most entertaining factor in the league: the cheerleaders. Somewhere down the line after the mind-numbing display of batting over the first two weeks, the matches are beginning to be regularly lop-sided. I get it though. IPL is not about the cricket. It’s about entertainment. It’s about Shah Rukh Khan jumping in the aisles and Preity Zinta rushing to the ground to give “her” team a good old hug for finally winning a match. It is about the razzmatazz and the ability to satisfy the short attention spans of the viewing public. The format of the game is biased towards the batsmen and it takes an extraordinary bowler by McGrath to dictate terms. We’ll get to that later. The debate on the merits of this form of the game can be endless. To get back to the top selling points of IPL, the cheerleaders were heralded as the great “innovation”. Vijay Mallya brought to India the pom-pom wielding Amazons from the Washington Redskins. Their presence was warranted so much that Dravid and co. were banned from the ground while they perfected their routines. They hogged the limelight, they hogged TV time by jumping to action anytime a four or a six or a wicket came about (and there were plenty of those to come by) and the hogged the radars of the moralists who are worried about the length of their skirts upsetting the rather delicate minds of the Indians who apparently can’t keep their eye on the ball.

They had the center stage, until Harbhajan arrived. He captained his side, the Mumbai Indians, to a third successive loss in the IPL. Perhaps his patience gave way. Perhaps the culprit, the man who can single handedly bring down India’s cricketing reputation down, Shantakumar Sreesanth, needled him a wee bit too much. But it happened nonetheless. Harbhajan’s hand rose above his head where you couldn’t fault him for not bending his elbow enough, and it came down with the grip of a doosra, one that an inexperienced Sreesanth couldn’t be faulted for not anticipating. It landed on Sreesanth’s face just in the right area sending his head into a spin that he couldn’t handle. On being thus dismissed, he let his disappointment known. Tears rolled down his face uncontrollably and the rest is televised history.

Perhaps Harbhajan took his loyalty to his team too seriously. Aren’t these players a bit like hired mercernaries? Would a Pollock really care Mumbai wins or Bangalore does? What’s his loyalty to the city? As per the franchise system he might get transferred somewhere else. These matches are a bit like matches I played in our building while growing up. Two strong players would be captains and the rest be picked turn by turn. Everyone just played to get their chance to do their bit with the bat and ball. Winning would be a bonus. No teams would be the same over two days and it really was entertainment. Perhaps this simplistic view of the IPL is necessary for me. Cricket after all is my passion and I’ll love IPL, even if I end up treating it with the partiality of a step-child. While IPL doesn’t give me the satisfaction of watching cricket, the least I can derive of it is the entertainment. For that, I need to thank Harbhajan and congratulate him for topping my charts. It’s a slap in the face of the all-domineering cheerleaders.

The Interview

He treads intrepidly
Through the claustrophobic
Passages of memory.
Failure closes in
Garbed as questions;
Attempted yet Unanswered,
Much like life’s mysteries.
A circular linked list,
A binary search,
Oh, and your toughest challenge please.
He swats them aside; these thoughts
Straightens his tie
And walks right in
“Good morning”, indeed.

Dough aur Dough Paanch

The aroma of mouth-watering, spine-tingling, soul-uplifting food spreads outward from the kitchen. About fifteen feet away, I am going through my justifying a day of leisure by gorging on EPSN’s collection of twenty-five greatest cricketers. The smell makes me stop at a eulogy to Viv Richards’s legendary World Cup final performance. Even the King can’t arrest my attention any longer. There is Ambrosia in the house, and as is the norm, it hasn’t been cooked by me. I have been spoilt by riches to which I have direct access: great chefs. From my grandmother to my mother to my wife, I have had access to some terrific cooks. I can’t leave out my roommate back in Texas A&M who was the Indian Association’s chef-in-charge for our entry into the International Food Day contest. Luck by chance, I have nothing to do with it. I was blessed into a family of great cooks, and I don’t remember asking my wife how she cooked when we dated. It is in these circumstances that my inability to cook is highlighted to the extreme. Am I driven by the abject desire to cook badly so I don’t have to cook at all? Does my devious mind deliberately misunderstand the emotional reactions insufficient salt can’t bring about? No, no, absolutely not. It is said that when one of the senses if impaired, it heightens the others. Perhaps my lack of ability to judge when a vegetable has crossed over from being cooked to being burnt has helped me memorize directions better. Who knows?

I learnt to cook a few days before I left India for the US. My abilities till date had been limited to boiling milk in the kitchen that I dutifully did. With generous doses of training from my other and recipes written in my own hand-writing to avoid any contention, I headed to braver shores to try my skills. Alas, as Avinash and my other roommates would agree, the results were far from desirable. It is as if I couldn’t get it at all. The recipes might just as well have been a regional language movie I am watching. I could grasp the story but not the intricacies. The chick peas swam in a sea of excess water, the pulao often turned brown as it stuck to the bottom. The jury was out, and I was limited to cooking once a week for everyone’s benefit. Marriage didn’t change matters much, with my wife’s fabulous cooking and the wondrous division of labor that all married couples duly agree to in order to function as good roommates.

Years have passed and I have exercised my right to cook once in a while. Yet, the tag has stuck. That I am an ordinary cook has been written into my hand (metaphorically) like Vijay in Deewar. The self-deprecatory jokes (and this article) don’t help either. As is my wont, I generally go onto the internet to look for recipes for things as simple as Alu Sabzi. As an engineer, I have an analytical mind that can follow detailed instructions. I have attempted to apply these skills to cooking. But how does one contend with improper specifications: what does a ‘handful’ mean? What size of the spoon were they referring to? What is Nigella called in Gujarati? I grapple with these question and my soul searches for answers as my daal rightly falls short of salt. I may be an ordinary cook but I aspire for greatness too. Perhaps my heart will once find the right balance of spices to make Alu Gobi, or ambition will take me into making a concoction involving paneer. Till then, I struggle in the shadows and let the experts do their work. I reassure my guests at every dinner party that I had nothing to do with the food. They breathe easy. But it will change one day. A dish would be present in the mix that no one identifies as tasteless or off or difficult to eat. It will be cooked by me and no one will know the difference. That would be the ultimate compliment. Redemption will come.

Uno Momento

Each moment arrives ripe with possibility, with the promise of the unexpected. Some crystallize steady liaisons into life long affairs, others trade old romances for new ones. Some let it pass through while immersed in the silence of rippling water on a small electric water fountain; some choose to jump towards the earth, held only by a shred of plastic and a cord that absolutely must function. In some strict sense, each iota of time is the same, yet can be measured differently by the impact it has. Which makes some moments more important than the others. Each moment is hardly just that, it is a decision. An inalienable bit of truth that you can’t detach from you for the times to follow. And there are others when time stops and stretches itself, like an extended yawn on a Sunday morning. I love those moments. When you see a rain drop tear itself from the sky and watch it pass by you onto the ground as you stare out the window of your third floor office, or when you see the ball seem to slow down as it comes from the bowler’s hand, as if to give you that extra half second to play your shot.

We live in large measures of time: hours, days, years too. Yet most of life is humdrum and just a straight line connecting the dots that are the highlights of one’s life. And by that, I don’t even mean all significant events, but simply those that stand out without warning, that approach you without announcing the unbridled special feeling they bring along, and they are rarely spectacular to others but yourself. Here’s to celebrating your own private collection of extraordinary instants. For there's a charm when a moment is passing; watching that transience take over when you’ll never be what you were and never be what you will become.

Permanent Insanity

BCCI has done it again. It has riled me enough to wake me out of my blogging slumber. For days I have been searching for something that I feel passionate enough to write about. Trust the greediest organization that exists today to do this. The IPL tamasha has been in full swing. They have put an end to the international careers of people like Shane Bond because they aren’t competing in their twenty-twenty league. Now they are nailing the coffin efficiently by shunting out test matches. I saw a news article today about how BCCI will sacrifice a test match during England’s tour of India to accommodate, hold your breath, seven one day internationals and two twenty-twenty games!!! Ostensibly, the reason being given is that England’s players want to be back by Christmas. Forget for once the fact that Indian players in the past have always had to tour around Diwali. I mean, you can’t expect the Indian board to care about that, right? However, sacrificing a test match to accommodate two or three more mind-numbing, inconsequential bouts of fifty over games is infuriating. Who the hell remembers these games? Raise your hand if you can recollect any of the matches of the seven match one day series between India and Australia last year. Now, raise your hand if you remember what happened in the test series in Australia soon after. I rest my case. I know of course that I am in a minority. I cling by the silly romance of the test match, the belief that it is a true test of skill and quality. I know that most cricket viewers today don’t have the patience to watch a day long game, and would rather be done within three hours. Watching a test match is out of the question altogether. I know of course that in the long term test matches will reduce substantially, what with BCCI in full pursuit. However, I am entitled to my frustration. Today’s cricket viewer probably deems cricket as mere entertainment, where bowlers are props and the number of boundaries and sixers is directly proportional to the amount of satisfaction a viewer ends the day with. Subtlety is a curse. Unfortunately, BCCI will speed track that argument to satisfy its thirst for money. I feel for my game, and the shabby treatment it is being meted out. I wouldn’t be surprised if the pitches for the South Africa test matches turn out to be deadpan batting tracks resulting in draws (akin to the Pakistan team’s turn) thus allowing BCCI more freedom in killing of what is obviously no golden goose for it.

Street Sell

Stained,
Chipped,
Faithful,
Honest,
Listener,
Confidant,
Heirloom,
Grandmother's
Mirror,
Priceless,
Yours ...
For a buck

Eviction

There there
Don’t believe
All you hear

There are no
Women on Mars
Or men
For that matter

We haven’t
Erred enough
To be
Banished again

P.S: Rumours of a woman spotted on Mars

Glimpses of India

As promised, here are some pictures taken from my India trip. There was not much scope to move around, so here's a little bit of what I have.

Let me start with, what else, a picture from sunset at a beach (regular readers might know of my weakness for the sea and particularly, its shores) Here's a little slice of heaven from India: Alibaug to be precise (a few hours drive from Mumbai).

I made a trip to Ahmedabad to visit family and spent a day going around. The first stop was Sabarmati Ashram, a beautifully maintained sanctum sanctorum of the Father of the nation. Particularly soothing was the wind blowing through at the bank of the river Sabarmati where the ashram is located.

This is R.K. Laxman's tribute to Gandhi, a series of cartoons drawn in his trademark style

Gandhi's working quarters during his stay at the ashram

Next up is Adalaj ni Vav a step well very close to Ahmedabad. The architecture of this place is marvelous. Enjoy the effect of what seems like a series of never ending arches.

Beauty rising out of ruins

Next stop was at the Sun Temple in Modhera, the only second one of its kind (the other more famous one is in Konark, Orissa). The highlight was the massive stepped tank in front of the temple called Surya Kund. There are 108 miniature shrines carved in between the steps. I didn't know this before the speciality of a sun temple is that the first rays of the sun fell on the image of the Sun God during equinoxes.

A section of the aforementioned tank.

Intricate carvings

The Sabha Mandap

Here's an odd picture to complete this post. Spic and span, the new shining (pun intended) India. A mall in New Bombay on a weekday.

Monkey Business

The verdict is out and Harbhajan has been cleared of the racism charge. After the extreme drama where Mike Procter handed out the initial judgement to the constant pressures applied by the BCCI, this has been the ugliest story of the cricketing season. While the suspension was pushed away until this hearing so that the tests could proceed as planned, BCCI took to extraordinary tactics to put pressure on ICC and CA (Cricket Australia). They threatened to cancel the tour, kept their players in Adelaide etc.

Predictably, the Aussie media retaliated with criticism of the reversal of the charge against Harbhajan. They all talk about how CA & ICC bent over to accomodate BCCI. However, the Australians are missing the point. There issue snowballed because (a) Ricky Ponting decided to escalate the issue despite Kumble's suggestion not to (b) the obviously biased Mike Procter gave a horrendous decision where he took one man's word over another's. That the trusted party was white does not help matter.

Australians need to understand that this isn't the first time Indians and Asians have been at the receiving end of such treatment. The Mike Deniss incident was another case in point. It is the pent up frustration of this treatment at the hands of non-Asian teams and match referrees that has led to this.

If BCCI put on pressure, its only because ICC and CA would understand only that language. The fact is that the first judgement was wrong that the only right thing was its reversal. Is it so difficult for anyone to see? In what court of law would you proceed on one man's word over the other? If it can't be proved that Harbhajan uttered the racist comments, then obviously the charge against him is without basis. I am not a big fan of BCCI. It is a powerful yet greedy organization which has never cared for the betterment of cricket. But on this issue, I support their actions. It is a matter of national pride, an assertion of identity. Non-Asian teams have rolled over the Asians for years now with the consent of the ICC. Now, there's no need to take that kind of nonsense anymore. I can clearly see how only BCCI could have achieved this. Imagine if this would have happened with a less influential cricketing board like Sri Lanka. Do you think the player would have had a second trial and be exonerated? That being said, players like Harbhajan and Sreesanth need to be told by the BCCI to conduct themselves better on the field. For all the drama, Harbhajan had a very ordinary series and I would definitely rather pick Murali Karthik for the upcoming series against the South Africans. Put your performances where your mouth is. There is a reason no one sledges Tendulkar.

London Chronicles

As promised, here are some select photos from a stop over at London. This was an absolutely touristy stop over in the city and the photos will reflect that

1. Buckingham Palace

Waited and waited for the queen to call us in for a cup of masala chai and some farsan, but that did not happen.

Instead we were greeted by the sights of a bunch of guards going in and another coming out for the routine change of guard that draws in the crowds. Guess the guards got their dose of caffeine.

2. London Eye

London ki aankh! The slowest ferris wheel I have ever been atop. For all of thirty minutes, people get into 'capsules' that take you high and above the ground allowing for really good views of the city all around.

The light had been ordinary till then, and we weren't sure how that would affect what we will get to see. Instead we got some fantastic views of the Parliament and the Big Ben with the light peeping through the clouds as shown here.

Here's another picture from a different height and angle. I love the detail that is evident in the bridge across the river.

3. Westminster Abbey

A place for a lot of famous royal ceremonies, we missed out on seeing this from the inside because of a time clash and some unexpected closures. I didn't have too many good pictures of the outside. Here's a rare one.

4. Tower Bridge

The fun part is that I always thought this was the London bridge whose fall was being reported to the fair lady. Oh, the things you find out when you step on the actual London bridge. My camera is lousy at night shots. While a little blurred, this is still a tolerable picture.

5. Lords

My personal high point of the trip. There was a one and a half hour tour, most of which was spent in the pavilion and long room as seen in this picture. There was also a museum with the original Ashes urn. I felt like an enthusiastic kid in class, shooting my hand up to answer all the trivia questions that the tour guide was asking.

Here's a view of the media center on the other side of the ground. Fairly modern structure for a ground so old. The view from the media center itself is fantastic, since it directly overlooks the pitch. The famous Lords slope is also very evident from there.

Here's a magnificient view of the ground basking in daylight. A fantastic visit overall. Of course, it helps that my wife is also an ardent cricket fan :-)

6. Sherlock Holmes Museum

A neat idea. They constructed a Victorian era house based on the description of Sherlock Holmes' house in all his stories, and better still, situated it on Baker Street. In the house, they had a bunch of wax figurines of characters from some of his stories. Shown here is the man with the twisted lip.

7. Bath

A small town an hour and a half away from London, this is from the times when London was a Roman city. The focal point, not surprisingly is a bath, a natural hot water spring which was considered a sacred healing place by Romans. The bath itself wasn't anything major to write home about, but the structures were fairly nice.

The actual bath shown below.

8. St. Paul's Cathedral

One of London's most famous landmarks, this was a fantastic place to go see. Its marvelous to see such an old construction still retain its magnificience when surrounded by all things modern. The views from the top were also very nice. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed inside the cathedral.

Hindi Film Songs: Best of 2007

In continuance of an annual tradition, I am back with the fourth edition of the list of my best Hindi film songs from the year. Thanks for the clamor. It makes the effort worth it.

Reiterating the disclaimers:
1. The songs aren't listed in any particular order. I have just listed them in the order in which I came across them.
2. I try to listen to each new album that comes out at least once. However, there are simply too many new movies and too many songs to follow. It is possible that some may have been omitted. In particular, I have not followed any of the December releases well since I was on vacation. I might include them next year.
3. Some of the movies will be releasing next year (eg. My name is Anthony Gonsalves) but since their songs have released this year, I am including them. Similarly, movies that released in 2007 were covered in the 2006 list if their music was out then (eg. Guru)
4. I am going to attempt to limit the number of songs per movie to two. That does not imply that there aren’t any more on the movie’s list that I like. For eg. Saawariya has more than two songs that I enjoy. I follow that rule under most circumstances just to keep the length of the list in check.

A new feature this year has been added on request. Instead of just listing the song, I am also going to attempt to provide a direct link to the song. You can click on it and hear it out. Caution: I have noticed that musicindiaonline tends to be very flaky at times, so if the link doesn’t work, scoot over to other sites, but do listen to the songs.

I am open to suggestions on songs that you think should be on the list but are missing. I am also open to debates on my choices but as is the nature of blogging, one who owns the blog has the final say. Hope you enjoy it.

Song : Chak De India
Movie : Chak De India
Music Director : Salim-Suleiman
Singers : Marianne D'Cruz, Salim Merchant, Sukhwinder Singh
Lyricist: Jaideep Sahani
Why is it on the list? : The song that rocked the nation. Its an unconventional song for an unconventional movie sung by an unconventional singer.

Song : Aaja Nachle
Movie : Aaja Nachle
Music Director : Salim-Suleiman
Singer : Sunidhi Chauhan
Lyricist: Piyush Mishra
Why is it on the list? : The song got into an ungainly controversy around the use of the word mochi. That aside, it’s a typical Madhuri Dixit composition, if there is such a thing. What was surprising to me was the use of Sunidhi instead of Alka for this song.

Song : Ishq Hua
Movie : Aaja Nachle
Music Director : Salim-Suleiman
Singers : Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam
Lyricist: Jaideep Sahani
Why is it on the list? : Regulation romantic song with what is fast becoming a very successful combination of singers. Fine breezy composition.

Song : Apne
Movie : Apne
Music Director : Himesh Reshammiya
Singer : Sonu NigamLyricist: Sameer
Why is it on the list? : Despite their much publicized spat, Himesh-Sonu got together for this song which is excellently composed and rendered. It is also effectively used in the movie.

Song : To Phir Aao
Movie : Aawarapan
Music Director : Pritam
Singer : Mustapha Zahid
Lyricist: Sayeed Quadri
Why is it on the list? : Yet another pakistani singer with strong rendition abilities. The song is beautifully written and sung but sounds so similar to the other Pakistani group Jal. The original composition I believe is by a group named Rox3n.

Song : Bhool Bhulaiyya
Movie : Bhool Bhulaiyya
Music Director : Pritam
Singer : Neeraj Sridhar
Lyricist: Sameer
Why is it on the list? : Is it possible to not list this song this year? Another one that really caught on.

Song : Laal Laal Dikhe Hai Mujhko
Movie : Big Brother
Music Director : Anand Raaj Anand
Singers : Ustad Sultan Khan, Zubin Garg
Lyricist: Anil Pandey
Why is it on the list? : Didn’t expect to find a sufi/qawwali composition in a Sunny Deol movie. Well composed and the odd pairing of singers make it worth hearing.

Song : Baatein Hawa
Movie : Cheeni Kum
Singer : Shreya Ghoshal
Music Director : Ilaiyaraaja
Lyricist : Sameer
Why is it on the list? : Very refreshing tune refreshingly rendered by Shreya.

Song : Cheeni Kum
Movie : Cheeni Kum
Singer : Shreya Ghoshal
Music Director : Ilaiyaraaja
Lyricist : Sameer
Why is it on the list? : Old wine in new bottle still tastes as good.

Song : Bhula Diya
Movie : Dus Kahaniyan
Music Director : Anand Raj Anand
Singer : Anand Raj Anand
Lyricist: Ibrahim Ashq
Why is it on the list? : ‘Tis the year Anand Raj Anand resurfaced in a big way. Nicely composed, written and sung.

Song : Jaaniye
Movie : Dus Kahaniyan
Music Director : Gaurav Dasgupta
Singers : Sunidhi Chauhan, Aanchal Malhotra
Lyricist: Virag Mishra
Why is it on the list? : This is an odd selection. A sensuous female duet, a throwback to the days of Nadia Hassan, especially with the disco beats. This beat out some other good songs from the movie to make the cut.

Song : Roya Re
Movie Name : Dhokha
Singer : Shiraz Uppal
Music Director : MM Kareem
Lyricist : Sayeed Quadri
Why is it on the list? : Bhatts generally do better than this on music. This is the only song from the movie that registered with me. Nicely written.

Song : Kitni Der Tak
Movie Name : Delhi Heights
Singers : Rabbi Shergill, Sonu Nigam
Music Director : Rabbi Shergill
Lyricist : Rabbi Shergill
Why is it on the list? : I liked the song enough to actually blog about it during the year. Refreshing composition, very well rendered by Sonu.

Song : Tere Bin
Movie Name : Delhi Heights
Singer : Rabbi Shergill
Music Director : Rabbi Shergill
Lyricist : Rabbi Shergill
Why is it on the list? : I am still fully deciphering the Punjabi lyrics and it has been several months. Yet, that hasn’t changed the way I feel about this song.

Song : Chanda Re
Movie Name : Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Singer : Hamsika Iyer
Music Director : Shantanu Moitra
Lyricist : Swanand Kirkire
Why is it on the list? : This gem of a song stood camouflaged in a largely songless movie. This appears very briefly in the background if I remember correctly.

Song : Hey Baby
Movie Name : Hey Baby
Singers : Loy Mendonsa, Neeraj Sridhar, Pervez Quadir, Raman
Music Director : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyricist : Sameer
Why is it on the list? : Among SEL’s weakest music scores, this was the only stand out song from the movie.

Song : Sajnaji Vaari Vaari
Movie Name : Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd
Singer : Sunidhi Chauhan
Music Director : Vishal-Shekhar
Lyricist : Javed Akhtar
Why is it on the list? : Rendered with gusto by Sunidhi, this is one of the better fast numbers of the year.

Song : Yeh Ishq Hai
Movie Name : Jab We Met
Singer : Shreya Ghosal
Music Director : Pritam
Lyricist : Irshad Kamil
Why is it on the list? : I was in India the whole of December and if there was one song that I heard over and over again wherever I went, it was this. I liked it the first time I heard it because Shreya has sung it in a manner which is a departure from her usual style. The lyrics are catchy and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this song feature in the annual awards.

Song : Aaoge Jab Tum
Movie Name : Jab We Met
Singer : Ustad Rashid Khan
Music Director : Sandesh Shandilya
Lyricist : Irshad Kamil
Why is it on the list? : Here’s the googly. Off all the songs I could pick as my second song for the movie, I picked this beautifully sung number. I thought this would have been cut off in the movie, but surprisingly it was left as is. As a footnote, I didn’t escape Mauja Hi Mauja in my India trip either. Overall this soundtrack was fairly replete with good numbers.

Song : Move Your Body
Movie : Johnny Gaddar
Music Director : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Singers : Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa, Hard Kaur
Lyricist: Des-C, Hard Kaur
Why is it on the list? : One of the most well made movies of the year also got a well thought out soundtrack to go with it. Although the songs make the list, it is actually the background pieces that were absolutely brilliantly scripted and used in the movie.

Song : Johnny Gaddar
Movie Name : Johnny Gaddar
Singers : Suraj Jagan and Akriti Kakkar
Music Director : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyricist : Jaideep Sahni
Why is it on the list? : The song, especially the opening riffs build an aura of suspense that blends perfectly into the mood of the film.

Song : Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
Movie Name : Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
Singers: Kay Kay, Sukhwinder Singh, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Shankar Mahadevan
Music Director : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyricist : Gulzar
Why is it on the list? : If you have survived the movie, congratulations to you. The music was much better and much more tolerable and this song is evidence. There are multiple versions of the song for those who want to savor more.

Song : Kiss Of Love
Movie Name : Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
Singers : Vishal Dadlani, Vasundhara Das
Music Director : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyricist : Gulzar
Why is it on the list? : This might be another surprise for most, but I am hooked to this inane number. The tune gets in the head and stays put.

Song : Ram Milaye Jodi
Movie Name : Just Married
Singer : Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan
Music Director : Pritam
Lyricist : Gulzar
Why is it on the list? : This movie had an interesting combination of music director and lyricist. The results were mixed. This was probably the best of the lot, a situational song.

Song : Khoya Khoya Chand
Movie Name : Khoya Khoya Chand
Singers : Swanand Kirkire, Ajay Jhingran
Music Director : Shantanu Moitra
Lyricist : Swanand Kirkire
Why is it on the list? : The song has very good orchestration throughout and it ends especially well.

Song : O Re Paakhi
Movie Name : Khoya Khoya Chand
Singer : Sonu Nigam
Music Director : Shantanu Moitra
Lyricist : Swanand Kirkire
Why is it on the list? : A song written for Rafi that only Sonu can execute in modern day. A throwback to the songs of yore, this one is a classic that rides purely on Sonu’s voice.

Song : Its Rocking
Movie Name : Kya Love Story Hai
Singer : Alisha Chinai
Music Director : Pritam
Lyricist : Shabbir Ahmed
Why is it on the list? : An intro with ‘Ude jab jab’ seamlessly blends into the song which is refreshingly composed and sung. In a movie that sank without a trace, this song was the only redeeming factor.

Song : Laaga Chunari Mein Daag
Movie Name : Laaga Chunari Mein Daag
Singers : Shubha Mudgal, Mita Vashisht
Music Director : Shantanu Moitra
Lyricist : Swanand Kirkire
Why is it on the list? : A tour de force by Shubha Mudgal, this is a very interesting take on the Manna Dey classic with commentary by Mita Vashisht.

Song : Ehi thaiyya motiya
Movie Name : Laaga Chunari Mein Daag
Singer : Rekha Bharadwaj
Music Director : Shantanu Moitra
Lyricist : Swanand Kirkire
Why is it on the list? : My second unconventional pick from this movie. A rare thumri by the rarely heard Rekha, this is beautifully composed.

Song : In Dino
Movie Name : Life In A Metro
Singer : Soham
Music Director : Pritam Chakraborty
Lyricist : Sayeed Quadri
Why is it on the list? : Soham’s big break (he had sung unnoticed for movies like Kaal in the past). This follows the soft rock tradition combined with classical singing brought across from across the border. Nicely done.

Song : Kar Salaam
Movie Name : Life In A Metro
Singers : Pritam Chakraborty, Soham, Suhail
Music Director : Pritam Chakraborty
Lyricist : Sayeed Quadri
Why is it on the list? : A song with a lot of energy, be it the singing or the guitar pieces. The tune is reminiscent of Koli numbers in its lilt. The lyrics are good too, and aptly comes in the culmination of the movie.

Song : Tum Mile
Movie Name : My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves
Singer : Kay Kay
Music Director : Himesh Reshammiya
Lyricist : Sameer
Why is it on the list? : The tune sounds fresh and could almost have been an Anu Malik composition in the 90’s.

Song : Jab Bhi Cigarette
Movie Name : No Smoking
Singer : Adnan Sami
Music Director : Vishal Bharadwaj
Lyricist : Gulzar
Why is it on the list? : Creates the aura of jazz in a seedy bar. Gulzar had enough practice with Beedi to write authoritatively on a smoker’s mindset.

Song : Phoonk De
Movie Name : No Smoking
Singer : Sukhwinder Singh
Music Director : Vishal Bharadwaj
Lyricist : Gulzar
Why is it on the list? : More on smoking ironically from a movie which says No Smoking. Even the Rekha Bharadwaj version is good, it has a much different treatment.

Song : Main Jahaan Rahoon
Movie Name : Namaste London
Singer : Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Music Director : Himesh Reshammiya
Lyricist : Javed Akhtar
Why is it on the list? : Another excellent composition by the much vilified Himesh.

Song : Ajab Si
Movie Name : Om Shanti Om
Singer : Kay Kay
Music Director : Vishal-Shekhar
Lyricist : Javed Akhtar
Why is it on the list? : Delightful melody, though an interesting theory I heard was that Abhijeet singing this song would have turned out better. Yet, very hummable.

Song : Main Agar Kahoon
Movie Name : Om Shanti Om
Singer : Shreya Ghosal
Music Director : Vishal-Shekhar
Lyricist : Javed Akhtar
Why is it on the list? : A violin piece that sounds like a tribute to RK, a song set to the beat of waltz and that man Sonu made this my second choice for this movie. Shows my bias towards Rafi I guess. I picked this over ‘Jag Soona’ and the taxing ‘Dard-e-sabko’

Song : Soni De Nakhre
Movie Name : Partner
Singers : Labh Janjua, Sneha Pant, Wajid
Music Director : Sajid-Wajid
Why is it on the list? : Irritating yet addictive. Masala track.

Song : Thode Badmash
Movie Name : Saawariya
Singer : Shreya Ghoshal
Music Director : Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Lyricist : Nusrat Badr
Why is it on the list? : How do you pick two songs from one of the most comprehensively good soundtracks of the year? I loved the music of this movie with its emphasis on melody. Barring the Kunal Ganjawala tracks who I don’t believe has the range for these songs, all the songs are exquisitely handled. I picked this one because of Shreya’s rendition. Notice how the opening alaap is similar to ‘Dil Cheez Kya Hai’.

Song : Yoon Shabnami
Movie Name : Saawariya
Singer : Parthiv Gohil
Music Director : Monty Sharma
Lyricist : Sandeep Nath
Why is it on the list? : There are layers to this song and the tempo changes several times yet never loses hold of you. Beautifully rendered. The climax beats sound remarkably similar to those used in ‘Taal’.

Song : Aakhri Alvida
Movie Name : Shootout At Lokhandwala
Singer : Strings
Music Director : Strings
Lyricist : Anwar Maqsood
Why is it on the list? : The piano piece is a straight lift-off yet the song is done in typical Strings fashion. It grows on you.

Song : Thaare Vaaste
Movie Name : Shaka Laka Boom Boom
Singers : Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan
Music Director : Himesh Reshammiya
Lyricist : Sameer
Why is it on the list? : A movie on the music industry had surprisingly insipid music. This is the only one that stuck in my mind.

Song : Maa
Movie Name : Taare Zameen Par
Singer : Shankar Mahadevan
Music Director : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyricist : Prasoon Joshi
Why is it on the list? : A kid’s perspective written and sung sensitively by adults.

Song : Taare Zameen Par
Movie Name : Taare Zameen Par
Singer : Shankar Mahadevan
Music Director : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyricist : Prasoon Joshi
Why is it on the list? : I like the arrangement of this song. Soft yet evocative. Excellent lyrics.

Song : Beete Lamhein
Movie Name : The Train
Singer : Kay Kay
Music Director : Mithoon
Lyricist : Sayeed Qadri
Why is it on the list? : Mithoon follows up Anwar from last year with some more trademark beautiful composition. Kay Kay sings it with the right amount of pathos, and the languid pace of the song takes you in.

Song : Mausam
Movie Name : The Train
Singer : Mithoon
Music Director : Mithoon
Lyricist : Sayeed Qadri
Why is it on the list? : And he can sing too. I love the use of piano and drums in this song.

Song : Saaiyaan
Movie Name : Ta Ra Rum Pum
Singer : Vishal Dadlani
Music Director : Vishal-Shekar
Lyricist : Javed Akhtar
Why is it on the list? : Odd choice of singer but he delivers. Movie with big expectations but no music worth speaking of.

Song : Aasmani Chatri
Movie Name : The Blue Umbrella
Singer : Upagna Pandya
Music Director : Vishal Bharadwaj
Lyricist : Gulzar
Why is it on the list? : The composer and lyricist paint a vision of hills and magic and a little blue umbrella with this song.

Song : Kiya Kiya
Movie Name : Welcome
Singers : Anand Raj Anand, Shweta Pandit
Music Director : Anand Raj Anand
Lyricist : Anjaan Sagari
Why is it on the list? : Doesn’t Anand Raj Anand sound like Sukhwinder at times? One of the hits he has delivered this year.

Song : Uncha Lamba Kad
Movie Name : Welcome
Singers : Anand Raj Anand, Kalpana
Music Director : Anand Raj Anand
Lyricist : Anand Raj Anand
Why is it on the list? : Tune is good, though the lyrics are very ordinary.

Song : Cash
Movie Name : Cash
Singer : Sunidhi Chauhan
Music Director : Vishal Dadlani-Shekhar Ravjiani
Lyricist : Vishal Dadlani
Why is it on the list? : Ode to Pulp Fiction? Very catchy.

Song : Naa Puchho
Movie Name : Cash
Singer : Sunidhi Chauhan
Music Director : Vishal Dadlani-Shekhar Ravjiani
Lyricist : Vishal Dadlani
Why is it on the list? : The voice over by the male voice in parts is a fantastic improvisation.

Song : Billo Rani
Movie Name : Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal
Singers : Richa Sharma, Anand Raj Anand
Music Director : Pritam Chakraborty
Lyricist : Javed Akhtar
Why is it on the list? : Poor man’s Kajra Re, yet good enough to make it to this list.

Song : Ya Ali
Movie Name : Aap Ka Suroor
Singers : Himesh Reshammiya, Sunidhi Chauhan
Music Director : Himesh Reshammiya
Lyricist : Sameer
Why is it on the list? : Good composition and rendition in this singer centric movie. Also check out Kya Jeena from this movie.

Song : Dard-E-Disco
Movie Name : Om Shanti Om
Singers : Sukhwinder Singh
Music Director : Vishal-Shekhar
Lyricist : Javed Akhtar
Why is it on the list? : By public demand

Song : Jaagte Raho
Movie Name : Just Married
Singer : Sonu Nigam
Music Director : Pritam
Lyricist : Gulzar
Why is it on the list? : On repeated insistence and my soft spot for Gulzar sahab.

Neitherland

I am back from my fourth trip of the third world. It is heartening to see that the bridge between the third and the first world seem to have reduced, yet the distance needs to be traversed. It is as if there is a narrow suspension bridge one has to cross, and until the traversal is complete, life itself remains in suspension. It is as if one is in no man’s land. The body is neither here, nor there. I wake at three in the morning and threaten to collapse on my office desk after lunch. There is the strange experience of food not being presented to you, and the temperatures in Fahrenheit over here are remarkably close to the temperatures in Celsius in India. The sounds of silence around make me yearn for the mindless honking I had begun to anticipate. My brain is probably missing the place more than my heart is. Neither here nor there.

My mind is torn between the myriad tasks to be done. I have around eight hundred photographs to download, process, and stick to my customary routine of uploading with captions to the awaiting audience of family and friends. I am hounded by what should be a delight: multiple topics on which to post on my blog. My annual Hindi film song list, my experiences of India, photographs and stories from London. All that need to be done today, yet can’t be, since time has still continued at its usual pace. Then there’s the allegiance to the paycheck and responsibilities of the house. The state of suspension needs time to resolve. Thank you for the messages in my absence. I had the unique experiences of celebrating several new years as I flew west on the night of the 31st. Hence, I’ll accept unique wishes from you for the unique new year’s I passed. I am hoping to resume normal services soon. Till then, I’ll wait for the surreal to pass me by.

18.55N 72.54E

In honor of the feedback received on the previous post, I am titling this one by the co-ordinates of the place I will be at in a week's time. That would be the city of Mumbai. I am heading over to the land I came from after a period of two and a half years. As always, I need to reintroduce myself to the place. The gap has been long and the changes must be plenty. So back to the shores of Versova, and the rickshaw rides. Back to the visit to the in-laws across town, and time spent with the outlaws, my parents. Back to tracing the evenings on the face of that city with my wife, retracing what we drew when we were dating each other, fresh out of college into our first jobs. Back to the meetings with friends of yore, reunions that have to be diligently set up. Back to watching cricket as it happens in broad daylight, and the movies that need to be seen in theaters close by.

The trip is long overdue. The house beckons, family beckons, city beckons. In the midst of this beckoning is the challenge of adjustment, the challenge of inquiry, the challenge of attachment. I am excited by it. To add to the excitement, I'll be making a stop en route. I am going to London to see the, err, Queen's palace? This is the touristy version of the trip, and I hope to do it all, the key attraction being a trip to Lords.

The outlaws are technophobes and promptly gave away my PC when I left the building. That opens up an interesting possibility for me. No internet access on the trip. I have done this on a previous visit and it is strangely therapeutic. I'll be getting my news the old fashion way, and I'll be taking along a sheet of paper with everyone's phone numbers on it. Its charming, to me (until I lose that sheet). That will imply a vacation from blogosphere. After a few days this week, I'll be away and won't be here, or there, on your blogs. I do promise to catch up once I get back. Till then, consider me latitudinally and longitudinally relocated.

Mach 100?

Seattle to Mumbai
In two seconds flat.
I land smoothly
As skin grazes plastic.

P.S> I recently acquired a globe that sits atop my desk in my arm's reach. Geography questions anyone? Oh, and the title is not meant to be accurate; before I get riled for bad aerospace engineering skill :-)

42

I rise from the depths of my own Deep Thought. Is 42 really the answer to everything? I had mentioned once in my old posts on Tendulkar's 35th test century: "With apologies to Douglas Adams, the meaning of life is not 42. It is 35." Am I being made to eat my own words? Tendulkar has had a fantastic year in one day cricket. Over a thousand runs scored, fantastic average, and more importantly the starts that have allowed India to win matches against England, South Africa and Pakistan. The glitch? A small matter of scores in the 90s. Six of them. Three scores of 99 (no other batsman in the history of ODIs has them) and the tally of 90s now reads 16. Its heartbreaking. Tendulkar has scaled great heights as a sportsman this year for me. He has proved that he still has the sublimity of a genius, but is prepared to grind his way through like a journeyman when he needs to. He has the footwork and balance beyond mortals, yet pulls out his grit from deep within when he shows up on the job with two left feet. Eventually, it is not about the runs. It is about the one shot in the innings that might stay with you. It is that single cover drive he hits. It is as if perfection has been defined and achieved at the same time. The one shot that makes something in your mind click because you sense you have seen something special. The one shot, like a straight drive for six off Kasprovich's bowling in 1998 Sharjah, where you can sense that he had that extra second to hit that shot; like he saw it coming and time slowed down a fraction for him to execute it. Genius is a lot of things, but at the end of the day, genius is that which reveals itself to the hungry waiting mortals in a brief moment. For the longer he stays, the more he unfurls. When he does unleash his skills and go through to the 90s, the anticipation of the hundred is heart-pumping. The sight of a forty-second century celebration, helmet removed, arms raised, a look to the heaven is now a sight for the expectant eyes. The century is not for him, it is for us. Having watched him come so close six times in a row this year has been agonizing. It is a comma, followed by a semi-colon leading up to a full stop. Get it Sachin. The answer to our impatience lies in it.

Entrapment

“Come on, I am going out on a limb here”, he urged with an expression on his face which was a cross between a smile and a smirk. He had spent the better part of the evening waiting for the right moment to go talk to the lady sitting across his table by the window. She seemed like the perfect prey; an air of prosperity tinged with a hint of vulnerability, in control but just, and more importantly, alone. He could sense these things now, as if a divine eye had blessed him with an ability to see through the mask that people called a face. He had watched her intently like a hawk, staring out the window, sipping her coffee, checking her watch. Whoever it was that was supposed to have shown up hadn’t done so.

“May I?” he asked, and before she could answer, sat on the seat next to her watching her startled expression. The words followed. The gentle beseeching, the tough affirmations, the unspoken realm conjured by his moving hands. She had to fall for it. She never realized how her own expressions started to intensify the scene. The discomfort gave way to curiosity, then to apprehension, and finally terror as her fingers involuntarily reached for her cheek. In two minutes, it was over. He had her. As per plan. He stormed away from the coffee shop with a broad smile. While passing a car parked on the curb, he didn’t notice its rear view mirror. He would have seen a lady sitting by the window, alone, staring at a little white tube. Anti-aging cream.

It Just Stopped Raining

All that remain
Are a few drops on my window
Of nature’s furious dance

The grey recedes
And white emerges
In a graceful arc

I watch in glee
A giant kaleidoscope
Turn by itself

P.S> From my very same office I mentioned here. Make do with these inept descriptions till I bring my camera around.

Agony Of A Protagonist

He talks of it
As if it were
Fiction

As if my world
Never did really
Exist

And I never
Saved it in
2260

P.S> Since this poem is not intuitive, here goes. The perspective I wanted to put forth was that of a protagonist of a story. "He" refers to the author. It is a about the protagonists' belief that he is real, for to him, his world is.

A Poem A Day

In there, in that book of poetry,
Were unpredictable leaps.
To unknown sensations
And unforeseen lands.

Her fingers pry it open
With deliberate indiscrimination;
Anxious for her daily gift.

Will it be Pablo speaking off love,
Or Tennyson telling her about kings?
Or her life summed in four lines
Ironically attributed to “Anon”

Haal Kaisa Hai Janaab Ka?

The blog alarm went off. I have been off blogs, both mine and others, for a while. As I sit down with my trusted cup of coffee at seven in the morning feverishly typing a few words to construct something other than poetry, some highlights come to mind worth sharing.

InQuizItive

I am sure I must have mentioned this at some point in my blogging career, but back at Texas A&M, I had started, nurtured and grown a literary club called Literati to fill the void I felt having been actively involved in lit events including quizzing, back in India. For over two years, that became an important part of my life and others who were part of it remember it fondly till date. For the past four years, no such activity had taken place here. But a seed has been planted. We have started a small quizzing club here on Redmond campus which meets biweekly. As part of that effort, I conducted a cricket quiz yesterday. That pretty much explains my absence. Setting a quality quiz takes time, setting it while you are employed (my first such experience :-)) takes a lot more out of your daily schedule. However, it was all worth it in the end. The response was terrific and it was good to see others relative amounts of craziness for the game in others as well. Hopefully this endeavor will last long.

While my guitar urgently creeps?

I am good with percussion and a sense of rhythm. My tabla learning helps me with that. However, when it comes to such concepts as pitch and notes, I fall short. I can pick things by ear up to an extent, but that extent is limited. I have always wanted to do something unto that end. I wasn't keen on learning how to sing, so an instrument always felt like a good way to go. This best laid plan was waylaid for many years. Until now. My wife gifted me a guitar for my birthday, and my lessons start next week. That should be exciting. As a side note, I have always wondered why guitarists are considered cool, especially when you are in college. Poor old tabla players have no visibility if you can't match Zakir's flowing locks. I can't remember the admiration factor being high because one played the tabla instead of the guitar. So, I suppose I am on the coolness route now, about twelve years late.

Six-pack _______

There are two distinct categories of men: one who complete the above phrase with abs and the other with beer. More likely, the twain shall never meet. SRK has defected to the former group for his new movie release OSO (Om Shanti Om for the uninitiated). Which beats me: why would an actor known for his romantic roles work so hard to reinvent himself having crossed 40? The look is alright and I am sure he had to work on getting there, so perhaps he has earned himself the witty "re-introducing Shah Rukh Khan" caption that comes on the screen in the trailor of "Dard-E-Disco". Worth the crunch? You tell me!

Parth has left the building

After working almost four and a half years in a single little building, I have now moved to another newer, nicer place on campus. It is amazing how familiarity and attachment builds up even though it is your work place, not your home. In many ways, my old building was the focal point of the campus for me. All roads led in and out of that place and everything was relative to it. Now, the co-ordinates have shifted. I am on the fourth floor with a window office that overlooks a bridge over a freeway. It is a terrific view while I can watch pedestrians cross over, traffic weaving in and out of the freeway, and the rapidity of movement on the freeway itself. To top it all, even the sunsets are great to watch. The place is nice and bright and inviting. The only thing I miss is access to a table tennis table close by. I was meaning to put some photos up, but the resolution that the camera on my phone produces is pretty ordinary. The pictures I took did not show up so well.

20/20 vision?

The madness is underway with the 20/20 world cup. It is a new form of cricket and hence will always be interesting. Peppered with interesting events like Yuvraj's six sixes and the tie between India and Pakistan (what's with the ridiculous bowl-out to settle that? ), this will satisfy the slog-hungry viewer. Someone dispute this, but isn't the big hitting numbing after a while. I feel like someone is playing out the slogout game on cricinfo. Why not just get a bowling machine and ask it to pitch deliveries? Spare the bowlers. I don't think I am bought off, but I guess people's attention spans and ability to appreciate a good game of cricket have gone down anyway. So 20/20 is here to stay.

Haiku And Mighty

It has been a long time since my only attempt at haiku on this blog. I remember a suggestion made to add titles to the haikus, but I think it takes away from the impact of the poem. I should also add that I tried to be true to the 5-7-5 syllable format of the haiku, but couldn't completely adhere. There also seems to be no consensus on whether syllables in English correspond to the sounds in Japanese on which the haikus are based, so I will use that as my leeway. Here goes. Hope you enjoy them.

Wind screams
In shrill whispers
A cracked window

Mind awakens
After the body
Hot coffee

I swing.
I miss. I sigh.
A dot ball

The journey ends
No parting sorrow
“My floor”

Blinds closed
I pull the plug
On the sun

Garage Sale

The mother puts on a bellicose facade
Forcing her son into silence, who frowns;
At the loss of all things precious

Superman’s first adventures, torn
A bicycle too small,
A shirt too tight,
A dancing monkey,
His first tennis racket,
A poster of Agassi, with flowing hair.

Fifteen years of accumulation valued
At sixty dollars and twenty square feet

Three Down, Some More To Go

Three's a charm, a lucky charm
Three's the number of years this blog exists

(sung to the tune of some part of Do Re Mi from Sound of Music)

It has been a fun ride. Thanks for the company.

HP, HR, Rajni - The Deathly Halos?

I am done with my Harry Potter book, finally. I have to admit I am a moderate level fan unlike my dear colleagues Avinash and RTD2, whose passion was evident in the way they attacked the book. I am thrilled to bits to have finished the book, not because I wanted to know the denouement of the battle between the boy with spectacles and the man without them, but because I can now surf the Internet safely, without someone screaming the outcome of the book to me. Boy O Boy, its been a struggle to keep it secret. I can resume my normal life now.

The past few months have shown the power of publicity and the evidence of hysteria. Three phenomenon in quick succession have left the world gasping. First came the movie Sivaji, and with stories of the madness that engulfed India and Indians around the world. I have resigned myself to the fact that I won't get it, but hey, each one to his own. Waiting for the movie to come on DVD to watch it and perhaps understand it. I have liked Rajni in his Hindi movie avatars, especially as the perfect second lead alongside Govinda in Hum, but attempting to watch his Muthu Maharaja (the dubbed version) with lyrics like 'Bhoomi par Atom Bomb kyon hai?' (indeed) left me strained. However, I have been informed by my Tamilian friends that his movies have a social context that is not evident to those not from that region. Point taken. Anyway, overall, it was thrilling to see an Indian movie star whip up this kind of hysteria.

Then came HP, and all the secrecy around the plot. People lining up outside the stores and buying radish earrings like Luna Lovegood. The movie coming just a week before the book definitely added to the feeling. I watched it in IMax 3D and enjoyed it for the action scenes. I like the dark, grim tones that the movie set in accordance with the books. Which makes me wonder: at what point did the Harry Potter series become a book for adults?

Finally came HR, Himesh Reshammiyya for the uninitiated. The man is unbelievable. From being a TV producer to a music director to a singing sensation to a movie star!!! In many ways, this phenomenon is also like Rajni: tough to get. Unlike Sivaji, I have actually seen his movie, which is ordinary in terms of production. But the man with the beard in the baseball cap managed to garner huge openings in India. He is the man of the masses, just like Sallu was for the most part. Popular amongst the youth. I am not completely against his music. Some of his compositions are pretty good, and most of his detractors also grudgingly accept that. I sat bemused throughout the movie wondering how this guy could be a movie star, but there you go.

Cosmic Calling

Eddies start to form,
On the surface of hearts.
Most fickle, most unsteady

The moon draws maps
Across faces already lit,
In anticipation

They unravel sky's mysteries
Using a few mirrors aligned
In a little black tube

Astronomers, Cartographers,
Pioneers, Adventurers,
Young Discoverers.

Spotting the rings of Saturn,
A find worth its weight.
Three credits on the transcript

Wassup wid u ppl?

I must have missed the evolution of the English language. Trapped in my world of puns and punctuation, grammar and tense, I must have missed the plethora of changes that have swept the language over the years. I recently joined an online group where the average age of the participants is close to 20. Besides making me feel like I am pushing the age envelope (and I am not even 30 yet), I felt like a linguistically challenged kid in a class where the language of instruction is Latin. Was it not enough that I am forced to go the 'internets' each time I come across IIRC being used in an e-mail, or wonder what GMTA stands for, that I am forced to adapt fo the next level altogether? Sample some of this:

Dont understand wht iz deir prob???.I dont fink ne1 must b hvin ne probs wid me rite other den sum ppl??.

Ya actually der waz an monkey typin 4 me.Coz u knw ppl like u can only understand monkey language see no 1 else xpect u understood d language so i m gonna give d monkey a bonus 2day tell him wht a GR8 job hez doin!!!.Thiz Language iz specially 4 all so ppl in d Comm plzz use dis Language!!!!.

If d Mod doesnt hv a Prob den i dunno wassup wid d otherz.:-(

Ya i knw pri m wid u ppl hv been vry rude in dis comm

As I stared at my screen in distinct disbelief, reading through the lines multiple times, I realized that my style of communication may become anachronistic one day(if it already isn't), where a wide eyed android one hundred years from now will stumble upon this blog post and have an automated service 'translate' this into the language of the day. A hybrid between German pronounciation and English words, with the exclamation mark becoming one of the ten new alphabets with which to form new words, emoticons the new vowels and numerals substituted for every common occurence they can be used for.

Unless, I evolve, and attempt I did. For about three words I attempted to recreate the magic and mystery and essence of this confounding form of expression. And then I gave up. Here's the sad remnant of my attempt: Thiz blog rulz!

Outsourced

The sun seemed to slither away at the edge of the screen, sinking into the deep abyss of the Grand Canyon like a thief put to shame. There was none of that blazing glory Pranay was looking for. Just as much. After all, it’s a football going into a giant pothole, he grumbled irritatingly. He checked the time on his watch. The late sunsets in summer always upset his dinner schedule. The brightness of the light outside sent the wrong signals to his stomach, one accustomed to sipping tea at sunset followed by a meal cooked by his mother. He extinguished the sinking sun on his second hand TV and carried the remote with him to the kitchen. He missed his mother. More importantly, he missed her cooking. Twenty two thousand miles away from her, he stared at a can of Bush’s chick peas, his savior. His roommate would be back in a while, he thought. He’d better have his cooking turn over and done with. The punishment endured every two days, for all concerned. He spent a moment wishing he could have learnt how to cook better. But he hadn’t been prepared for it. After all, Wipro never did train him on the skills of cooking up a mean malai kofta. They packed knowledge worth terabytes into his rather untested brain and sent him off to Chicago, to work on a project involving code no one wanted to touch, and what most people wished was never written. He was serving time, away from his mother, away from his city, away from Mrudula. As he mixed the spices in the vessel less washed, he used his limited poetic license to liken Mrudula to the red pepper and himself to the chick peas. The spice in my life, he exclaimed. (At the same moment, a lyricist in a chawl in Koliwada had an epiphany about a song with the same ingredients).

In walked his roommate Bhaskar, a daily voyeur of Pranay’s reveries. What an idiot, he thought to himself. He has seen nothing but this apartment and the office, in all of three weeks. This is the land of the free, the city of the windy, where life is a breeze and you could ride the coattails of freedom. There’s strip joints and beer sold in grocery stores. There’s bowling and pool and football. There are good looking blondes on the street and everyone smiles at you because they like you so much. There is the searing effect of the wind and the dominant protrusion of the Sears tower. What’s not to like in this place? What’s there to mope about a girl who’s waiting for you back home? All I need is to do my work well, and get a job with the company. Then I don’t have to go back at all. The independence of being, and with Pranay’s departure, freedom from chick peas. What more can someone ask for in life?

The evening continued its merry ways as the two roommates entered into their daily discussion on whether or not they enjoyed life in America. Pranay’s melanchony ways were met with contempt by Bhaskar’s pragmatic arguments. They parried on till the sun sank through behind the towel Pranay was drying on the balcony and settled to eat dinner. As Bhaskar negated the taste of the chick peas with a big helping of chips, Pranay munched on the food without much concern for its taste. The evening passed the baton onto the night and the channels flipped from Lou Dobbs’s latest rancor on outsourcing to Jon Stewart’s latest joke on call centers. It seemed like the TV was speaking about them and to them. As they ended the dinner reaching for a bowl of Dreyer’s Rocky Road, the night firmly settled outside their apartment with crickets beginning their operatic solos on the trees below. Bound together by sense of origin, but separated by a sense of purpose, they sat in the balcony in quite contemplation. Bhaskar eventually looked at his watch and silently moved inside to be followed by his compatriot as both reached for their laptops. It was time to chat with their teams in India. The day had just begun, again.

P.S> I woke up this morning feeling discontent about this post. I think the characterizations are inaccurate, juvenile and shallow. Since I have typed it up, I'll leave it here.

Chupke Chupke Raat Din

The lyrics are by Hasrat Mohani and it remains till date, one of Ghulam Ali's most famous ghazals. In fact, it even made its way to the movie Nikaah. I tried to remember all the shers of the many versions I have heard of this ghazal. I think I am missing one or two. If someone remembers, do share. If you need more words explained, do let me know.

Chupke chupke raat din aansoon bahaana yaad hai
Hum ko ab tak aashiqui ka woh zamaana yaad hai

Tujh se milte hi woh kuchh bebaak ho jaana mera
Aur tera daanton mein woh ungali dabaana yaad hai
[bebaak=bold, outspoken]

Chori chori hum se tum aa kar mile the jis jagaah
Muddatein guzareen par ab tak wo thikaana yaad hai
[muddatein=length of time, guzareen=passed, thikaana=location]

Khench lenaa wo mera parde ka konaa daffatan
Aur dupatte mein tera woh munh chhupaana yaad hai
[daffatan=suddenly]

Tujh ko jab tanhaa kabhii paana to az raah-e-lihaaz
Haal-e-dil baaton hi baaton mein jataanaa yaad hai
[tanhaa=alone, paana=to find, az raah-e-lihaaz=with caution]

Aa gaya gar vasl ki shab bhi kahin zikr-e-firaaq
Woh tera ro-ro ke bhi mujhko rulaana yaad hai
[vasl=meeting, shab=night, zikr=mention, firaaq=separation]

Dopahar ki dhoop mein mere bulane ke liye
Woh tera kothe pe nangey paaon aana yaad hai
[kotha=loft]

One Day Mataram

I am getting tired of the state of one day international cricket and ICC is going all out to make sure I stop watching it. The latest World Cup was proof enough. The matches are completely listless and one-sided. The teams are unevenly matched and they play without any passion whatsoever because of the frequency with which this cash cow is milked. I can’t remember more than two or three one day games in the past year that really came across as exciting and stick in memory. The level of contest between bat and ball diminished as it is basically over-loaded in favor of the batsman. To add the final nail to the coffin, ICC has recommended that there should be a free hit (akin to 20-20) after a no-ball, and that the batting team can now choose one of the powerplays. Tell me, why would any bowler want to play anymore? To add to bowling on completely flat tracks and restrictions on bouncers and powerplays that are invitation to get whacked, now there’s the added insult of bowling a free-hit ball after a no-ball. Amidst all this, the BCCI and ICC send the players to random places of the world to play pyjama cricket. When they do play in regular hubs like Chennai in the sweltering heat of June, you wonder when a player is going to drop dead on the ground due to dehydration.

Give me test cricket anyday. I know a lot of people don’t have the patience to follow a five day game, but that works perfect for me. Therein lies the real skill, the real will, and the real battles. With Australia pushing the envelope, the scoring rates have also picked up in test matches and the tests these days are very result-oriented. A test century is worth its weight in gold, and so are twenty wickets captured with skill and patience. ICC, please cut down the games, balance the rules, else the game will just die.

Lonely Planet

A hand finds that dog-eared page,
clumsily bent at its edge.

The spectacles lodged firmly,
The cat pacified with a bowl of milk,
Mrs. Stenson continues her tour of Italy,
Twenty pages a day.

I got the inspiration for this character from that of Violet Stoneham in 36 Chowringhee Lane (the commonality being a lonely old lady with a cat). I don't like the wallowing in self-pity that loneliness is associated with. I want to view it as an independent stubborn streak.

Rarely

Rarely did he attend parties
Rarely did he speak with strangers
Rarely did he meet one he liked
Rarely did beauty affect him so
Rarely did he extend his hand
Rarely did he have a number written on it
Rarely did he walk with a spring in his step
Rarely did he not hide his smile
Rarely did he slip on the road
Rarely did his palms get wiped clean
Rarely did his luck favor him

The Land Of Miracles

'Welcome to America',
Greets the voice behind the glass.
I stare at my papers in disbelief,
At the instant fruition of fantasies

A swoosh of the pen
And I stand transformed,
Into an alien

Vestige

Does he stoop since birth?
Or is he burdened,
By a hundred failures?
Some his own
Some of his forefathers.
The inheirtance of dreams?

Stationary

The music floods the car,
"Break Away", she sings.
I move my car two feet ahead

P.S> I spend a considerable amount of time in traffic everyday with all the construction on my way to work.

Bequest

On the pages were listed
A small house in the country,
A trusty piano,
His collection of Mozart records,
A small Picasso he had splurged on,
A twenty year old car

The sons bore grave smiles
And paced nervously behind him
And wondered,
Is a father every really fair?

The lawyer put on his glasses
And laid the document in front of him,
With contained impatience.
A lunch with his estranged daughter awaited him

The signee cautiously flipped through the pages
Careful not to leave any crosses unsigned
An old habit.
The things you can’t bequeath, he pondered