It takes all sorts

17th July 2004
Time : 1100 hrs

"We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own; disagreement can cause stress and inhibit learning."
Almost 2 years back, fresh out of college, I had written an essay on the above topic, which stated that we can learn from both types.That was more on instinct and less on experience, cause the majority of people I interacted with had similar(rather, not vastly different) perspectives on things that mattered(or so we thought).Now, ofcourse, well into my second job and having worked with as varied a set of people as possible,I can quite safely say that my instincts were most certainly right.
Here's the essay that I'm talking about :
With the dawn of the 21st century,we find ourselves in a much smaller world.The revolutionary internet is now changing society norms and we find ourselves interacting with a variety of people and we can learn a lot from those not only whom we agree with but also from those whose views we find contradictory.
It is necessary to have friends with like minded views in our company, not only because it makes interaction much easier but also because agreement is basis on which companies, industries and societies are built.It is often found that the sacred institution of marriage is strengthened and successful,if the two people involved share similar views and although opposites attract, like adhere. History stands witness to the fact, that when individuals with similar ideas and ideals meet an event or invention isn’t faraway. Like minded people are a constant source of encouragement and support. Be it in the fields of entertainment or science and technology we find that when similar minded people come together the unseemingly impossible can be obtained.
Like minded people are a quite simply a necessity. Without whose interaction we would find ourselves quite alone and lost.
On the other hand, the society of *only* like minded people would not only hinder a person’s progress but also in turn affect the progress of a community. If we were to interact with only those with whom our thoughts converge we will begin to believe that we alone are right and infallible. For e.g., till until the last century most of the prominent scientists of that time believed that the earth was flat , had it not been for the contradictory views we would be still under that(what now seems like a)ludicrous fallacy. Contradiction is a key component necessary for the smooth functioning of society. It leads to introspection , rethinking and reevaluation of issues which in turn triggers a chain reaction, the end result of which is ( more often than not) a deeper understanding of the situation.
Hence, disagreement is very often the secret ingredient for the successful recipe of life.
Growth is a thus, a process, for the persistence of which , a symbiotic relationship between the individuals whose views we share and don’t, is an essential .This is a fact of paramount importance which should in no eventuality be ignored. Thus, evolution dictates that a balance be struck, so that the like and dissimilar minded people can harmoniously exist leading to mutual growth.

About the days gone by

30th May 2004
Time : 2000 hrs

Yes, I do. Have an excellent reason for my prolonged absence from my blog,that is.My comp crashed and it took a while for its resurrection.Now,what have I been upto? Well, here's what:
Saw:On the big screen:
Main hoon Na Funny.
Especially the parts between SRK & Sush.Am not gonna say much more, cause I'd just be echoing the TOI review.By the way, don't miss Tabu doing a la kajol, by appearing for a split second in the flick.
The Passion of Christ
Like its been said , very violent. Depicts the happenings during the last 12 hours of Christ's life. Though I'm not really the squeamish type, even I shut my eyes during the lashing scene, it was that brutal. Gibson seems to have a penchant for violence or rather survival of the human spirit in the face of it. Btw, loved the performances, especially that of Mary.Don't miss the final scene when Jesus is crucified and is looking heavenward, it looks like scenestraight out of a painting.
Yuva
Loved the characterization. The story revolves around 3 different kinds of youth from three sections of society. Abhishek represent the lowest rung, Ajay the politically informed hero and Vivek the 'I-don't-give-a-damn' guy. Aby was so convincing as the villain , that by the end of the flick I hated him.Loved Ajay's character, thought it was beyond brilliant.Vivek, well, I really think that he along with Kareena and Esha should just quit the movies, ultra-sad performances.Overall, good movie with amazing characterization, the strongest I've seen to date.
VCD:
Lord of the rings: The return of the king
Having missed the final part of the trilogy when it came to theatre's , I finally decided to get the vcd and watch it. Well, I really didn't like it - that much. It lacked the beauty of the first and the energy of the second. Watch it only if you've seen the first two.
Lilo & stitch
Well, I was bored.
Read:
The Brethren
T'was by Grisham, hence good. Its about a group of inmates who are runninga mail scam and ensnare the wrong victim.Like most(all?) his books this one too has an open ending. & a couple more stories of Wodehouse. Went: Out of station to this place called Javagal. Its a holy place where a famous seer lives.Why? Well, I needed to pray for my selves.
Right, so that was all(almost) that elapsed.Now my system is back, God is in is heaven and everything is just Fine.

Truly quotable

30th April 2004
Time : 1840 hrs

Here's an interesting quote, by Arthur Conan Doyle:"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognises genius."

What Ho!

19th April 2004
Time : 2030 hrs

Just happens to the name of the Pelham Grenville W. novel that i just started reading. Its an omnibus with the sub-title of "Best of Wodehouse". Though i can already say(without having read much) that this isnt true,cause the book contains a mere 40 stories & unless u can bring all his works between two covers u cant really make such a claim.His without-a-shadow-of-a-doubt beyond-genuis talent lies in turning the normally nightmarish situation into a laugh out loud one. He's one of those incredibly few writers who can brighten any blighted situation & here's my proof:It was one of those typical bangalore april morning, the weather was cloudy and the air still carried the moisture from last night's rain. I, having taken a sorta soporific for my illness caused by the rhino virus , the previous night , was still extremely drowsy and had almost decided to take the day off when my boss,DU, calls up to inform me that some very sought after trouble -shooters were coming solve a certain problem & i was to report to the sub-station-asap. "Wonderful", i thought.So,despite feeling like i was stuck in a slow-motion picture,i made it in time to work. DU turns up half an later only to inform me,that the ts had cancelled and wouldn't be coming after all."Fantastic", i muttered.Now, the day in my station happened to one devoid of any trippings or other such problems and the weather seemed decent enough for my soporific to show it wasn't quite done yet.So, barely had i dozed off, when i heard voices(damn,i wondered had i forgotten to take my medication?) & i reluctantly opened my sleepy eyes to verify my suspicions, only to find my six footer boss towering over me!"Hullo" i said genially, not knowing what else to say , to which my boss enquired after my well-being,which i assumed to be of the mind, and replied "Oh super!" "Hmm" said he and walked off.& thats really how u go about tossing your job down the drain.Later on, when the evening presented itself , i sat on the terrace, with the omnibus in my lap and decided to browse through its contents. Ofcourse, once i started i was hooked. Let me now refresh your collective minds, that my state was such that i never thought my lips would curve upwards again.& guess what? i had barely read a few pages , when i found myself laughing uncontrollably.That, really, is the magic of P.G. Wodehouse.

Spy Kids

10th April 2004
Time:1000 hrs

Rite, so I went for this movie called 'Spy kids--3D Game over' on fri and what a movie it was! Now, before I tell your'll about it, let me explain the circumstances n absolute logical reasoning which led to the above event.
Circumstance :
My friend shil n I , sauntering briggs and wondering which movie to go to, an excerpt from the all-imp. conversation:
S : so which movie shall we go for?
Me : lets go for "Spy kids" (and in a voice of heightened excitation...) .."3D!!"
S(relatively unimpressed) : how about "50 first dates"?
Me(raised eyebrows n all) : That movie...??
S : yea, y not!?
Me(sputterin now...) : But spy kids is ....."3D!!!"
S:sigh!(realizing that she can't argue against my "brilliant" reasoning..) alrite...lets go for spy kids.....-3D"
& what a colossal mistake that turned out to be! The movie was more like a game being played on a low-resources system. The storyline seemed impaired , the characters under-developed and the 3D effect!?..don't even get me started on that!Let me jus say that "ridiculous" wud be praising it. And the wonderful "3-d glasses" were coloured paper stuck to a cardboard cut-out , which mite I add, we were very specifically asked "to return". Ofcourse,once the movie was over n we made our speedy exit ( I never knew I was capable of such rapid movement ), we headed to the nearest "bookstore"(yup, the jus come-in term for the roadside sellers) and picked up a wodehouse omnibus and a grisham novel(for my immediate mental replenishment)I seriously have half the mind to sue the theater for not putting up a "Strictly for Children - Below the age of 5" sign.They actually tried to emulate neo's character in the matrix of "the one " and very originally called the copy in this movie(believe or not) "the guy". Need I say more?

What its all about

05th April 2004
Time : 2200 hrs

When i started blogging, the basic idea was to share my views of things i saw n read - to convey my idea of the world. I wasnt askin how good(or bad) a writer i was , so although this particular website offers this ludricrous facility of ratings, i'd prefer it if your'll didnt avail it, it quite frankly defeatsmy purpose.Pls do continue to comment though. What i'm tryin to say is that - be a part of my world,not a judge of it.

East, West

Time:0900 hrs
02nd April 2004

Having convinced myself that to hate on the basis of heresay, is a sin, i decided to read "east,west" by rushdie simply cause the book happened to come into my possession.Now, i'm not gonna rave about the author n commend his brilliance cause i dont take too well to people disparaging what i like.However, i wud like to add that my opinion is overtly critical and wud encourage everyone to read the book and make up his/her own mind.The book is collection of stories as the name suggests of the east n west n its divided into 3 segments:east, west n east,west each containin 3 stories.The section which turned out to be the best, to my suprise, was "east".It was suprising for me cuz most indian or easternised stories tend to be soppy with an overdose of the colloquial lingo.However,these stories though simple n tinged with tragedy managed to quite capably pack a punch.The western section, i felt, was overdone n overadjectified.The 3rd section was an interesting mix, with bits of neil sedaka songs n star trek fantasies added for flavour.There's also a deceptively clever blend of absolutes n half-truths in all the stories, so when u'r reading make sure you've got u'r facts right.

The Gemini Contenders

31st March 2004
Time:1300 hrs

Just finished reading "The Gemini Contenders" by Robert ludlum, the book was good, very good actually there's absolutely no doubt that ludlum is supremely talented and can more than just spin a yarn.But what bothered me was the xtreme extent of violence in the book, which at some points veered dangerously close to being gruesome and at one point perhaps even crossed the line.What is sad is that ludlum felt the necessity to go to such lenghts to create the feelin of shock n fear. Ofcourse, that apart the book was quite the thriller, the starting was beautifully done. The story actually is about three generations of Fonti-christi's, and the actual "gemini contenders" make their appearance only after a li'l more than half of the book was over!I was very impressed with the names of the characters in the book other than being very appropriate(like, fonti-christi means fountains of christ) to the story line they were also unusual.The patriarch of the family was savarone , his son was vittorio and the gemini's were adrian n andrew. In order to give u a clue of what i'm talkin about i'll give the brief synopsis as the paperback does...."Dec 1939 and a train winds its way north throu italy bearing a cargo too precious to destroy, too terrible to reveal . On board is an iron chest full of documents . Documents potentially more lethal than the hydrogen bomb. And 14 centuries older.Responsibility for these papers rests with a family of Italian industrialists. Pain , death and deprivation is their only only reward, down to their present day. Then the twin heirs to the deadly secret confront each other across the chasm of mutual hatred. A hatred that cud plunge the world into a holy war of terror..."The "documents" which are being spoken about..contain proof which question the existence of christ.Now ,the twins (adrian n andrew)...are very different.. ideologically, adrian'z a lawyerwho believe in "words" rather than in action n ofcourse andrew..believes in the opposite, he's a soldier. It is when the confrontation begins between these two..that i enjoyed the book the most..Initially ,i supported andrew b'cuz he depicted this strenght n grit which is so lackin in so many today, look all around u n u c everyone jus "complying" with the system--even if it isn't right.We jus "go-along" with the flow, cause its so hard to fight it n perhaps somewhere along the line we even lack the conviction n courage to do so. But, andrew it seemed had that "special something" n the moment i read his character i wanted him to win.But, ludlum begins to gradually change andrew into fanatic(who obviously has to be eliminated), that was to b expected i guess,he was propagatin the "pen stronger than sword" concept, but andrew was more than jus "sword".He reminded me of a qoute which perhaps says it all "The practical man, adapts himself to the world, whereas the impractical man adapts the world to himself--hence all progress depends on the impractical man"

Ind vs Pak 5th ODI, Venue:Lahore

24th March 2004

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
fa lala la lalala
Don we now our gay apparells ,
fa lala la lalala...!!"

The christmas carol mite b out of season, but definitely not out of occasion..! .. Victory tastes sooo sweet doesnt' it..!?Now that the cup is won, i think that i'm more than willin to propagate the "Jeet lo Dil" propaganda...!What a match..! well..actually...there wasnt much of a *match*...we clearly had an upper hand..n i think pretty much the whole of India knew within the first 15 overs of the 2nd half that we'd win...As for the battin, well i cant say that we xceedingly well...sehwag was once again blastin away senselessly n handed over his wicket in a platter to pak, yuvraj too didn't seem to show much grace under pressure, ganguly cud have done better and yup the wall did crumble, but hey,in his case i'll jus say that bowlers got lucky(yup, he's beyond critisism).Tendulkar..?? : No commentAs for laxman he played splendidly, he was my fav in the australian tour n his knock of 107 was jus what the doc had prescribed for the indian team....but.....MOTM, i think not. Yes, laxman was VV good , but Pathan was Brilliant.It was heart wrenchin to c the motm *not* go to him.Those early wickets, that magnificent bowlin, its not for no reason , that i'm more than willin' to allow him to share the status of Demi-God along with( who else! ) dravid!

Ind vs Pak 4th ODI, Venue:Lahore

21st March 2004
Time: 2300hrs

First n foremost..Yahoo! we won!.secondly..Phew! thank god we won...!Ofcourse, all credit goes to dravid, the chap is absolutely brilliant and totally deserves the moniker of "the wall".Kaif also played very well, though initially he did appear(to me) to be a nervous wreck ,but he went on to play a very sensible n match winning innings,as is always the case if u'r partnered with dravid n do as he says.Yuvraj,also i feel deserves a special mention for playing those beautiful strokes n his wicket was jus plain bad luck for india.Ganguly looked like he was finally gettin into form , i was hoping he'd put up a good score n lead by example ,but that wasnt to be the case. Now I know that Sehwag is overflowin with talent n energy (from overdrinking boost,perhaps) but i wish he'd calm down just a tad bit before he starts knockin the ball all over the place. He seriously needs to watch tapes of dravid playin.Dravid , talk to him , will ya?As for Tendulkar: No comments.I was thoroughly dissapointed with the man-of-the-match going to inzi,i mean c'mon, Dravid deserved it a 100 times more and no matter what they say,he really is the true MOTM for me and rite now i'm just burstin' with pride cause he belongs to the same city as I.

The beginning

It all began somewhere in mid-march 2004. The need to express or pen down(type down?) my thoughts was overwhelming and so it all began. My first blog was titled "Here I am" and well, one blog and a couple of months later, I seem to have just about made it. My first course of action is going to be updating this blog with the entries of my previous one.
Here's the one which started it all:

Here I am
Here I am - this is me
I come into this world so wild and free
Here I am - so young and strong
Right here in the place where I belong
It's a new day - in a new land
And it's waiting for me - here I am

Bryan Adam said it all, here I am & *this* is me.

Whats in a name?

The bard said "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet".I believe the man and more importantly his thought. So,after the untimely death of my former blog, i decided to create another rose, with a different name.The essence and purpose remains the same and its what we are all after - to find a Method in the Madness.