Invictus

Not the movie but the brilliant poem from Henley!

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Reproducing Auden

Reproducing WH Auden's work with small changes

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message She Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

She was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good

Topi Shukla

I read this brilliant book sometime back (about 4-5 months back). Might have read another 4-5 books after it but have been profoundly affected by it. I wanted to write about it just after reading it. But got distracted by the wedding etc :)

And today, I was talking to a friend of mine who is from Lucknow. And suddenly, Topi from Rahi Masoom Raza’s book quietly slipped into my consciousness. He was there and I could not ignore him. Iffan was also there of course. How can one be without the other? It is not possible to think of just the one of them. They are like the yin and the yang. Not really, they are more like two shades that go really well with each other. So much that you forget for a few seconds that other shades exist. And it is ok, because you are not missing the other shades really.

Topi Shukla, is a hindi-urdu-khichdi novella from the 50-60s. Though the context is post-partition India but the flavor is universal. It tells the story of people wherever they might be. It tells the story of who people have suffered separation/ loss due to events much larger than themselves. It tells the story of those who have loved in vain. It tells the story of innocence and realism. It tells your story and it tells mine. It does all that a good book is supposed to do.

I read the Khichdi version. Two reasons for doing so. I could just borrow the hindi version from a friend (who is coincidentally named topi as well) and throw return it if I did not like it. The other one being that I knew the language and there was no reason to read it in a foreign language. I would strongly urge you to pick up the hindi version if you can understand (not just read) the language.

Set in Aligarh, it is the story of two friends and the people around them. Raza deftly tells the tale of people who become hapless victims of history. The small ways in which partition affects conversations, silence, love, hate, friendship, daily actions, language, food and everything that might and might not matter have been superlatively captured. It did not want the book to end. In a long long time, this was a book that made me fear for its end. May be because the characters felt so close… may be because the characters felt so real…

You can read a sample of the book at Google Books

You can buy it at Rajkamal Prakashan. You can also buy the book at Rediff.com. Both Hindi and English editions available. You have the option of buying the book from Amazon/ Barnes and Nobles etc as well. But you cannot get the hindi version there.

Rubbing Hands

I have started loving the A(H1N1) paranoia. Even though we in India lose more lives to Malaria, Hygiene related infections, the entire health machinery, media and we (the aam aadmi) continue to be fascinated by Swine Flew.. Flu.

I got this from a friend. I still cannot believe it that someone somewhere thought that this absolutely needs to be posted. I love the 'Wedding Band Allowed' part the most!



Enjoy
!!!

Fruits and some veggies at work

In the aftermath of the animals post, I figured out the following fruits and veggies are colleagues as well. It seems that animals are more popular!

Grapes, Joyce
Ongkiko, Apple
Chen, Mango
Zheng, Orange
Lee, Kiwi
Peach, Liz
Durian, Marcel
Zhang, Date
Cherry, Ashlen
Berry, Adam
Lemon, Justin
Corn, Vance
Kale, Prasad
Turnip, David
Parwal, Apurva

Me and other Animals at work

Call it corporate ennui, but all of the following names are colleagues at work. My favourites being the Chimpanzee, Donkey, Doggie and the Anteryami Panda!

Enjoy!
Mink, Lisa
Pigeon, Tamara
Bullock, Liz
Ma, Pony
Seal, Tony
Fox, Ani
Li, Tiger
zheng, eagle
Hawk, Chris
Xiong, Bear
Llamas, Rosy
Puma, Terese
Zhao, Kitty
Swan, Rich
Canard, Robyn
Wang, Snake
Li, Lion
Chen, Chimpanzee
Fang, Jackal
Wolf, Dafmar
Liang, Doggie
Fish, Tim
Panda, Anteryami
Peacock, Justin
Bullock, Jeff
Yu, Dragon
Lu, Donkey
Shen, Mouse
Crow, David
Bird, Richard
Lee, Kiwi
Sparrow, Simon

Oye Amritsar

I finally took the break that I had been promising myself since a long time. For a change, I took the leave before planning what I wanted to do with it. Since a long time (after watching Rang de basanti to be precise), I have wanted to visit Amritsar. I tried conning a couple of people into doing this trip but they wanted to hang on to the sane side of life (can also be read as were under the influence of their wives) and opted out.

So I landed in Delhi, met the usual suspects. Did a 15km run with Benaazir and Shantanu at the Hauz Khas Deer Park/ Rose Garden. Realized that Delhi infrastructure has only improved with time. Realized that Gurgaon might be bigger Bangalore now!

Managed to avoid the gurgaon malls for two days (No mean achievement that!). Managed to check-out all the usual haunts in Delhi (No mean achievement that as well!)

I took the Swarna Shatabdi to Amritsar. The Railway staff does try and make you eat your breakfast. I would have been woken up atleast four times for Tea/ breakfast/ the likes till I gave up on sleeping and started looking at the Punjabi landscape from the window. After a journey of roughly 6 hrs, I was in Amritsar. My hotel was some 100m away from the station but even then a cycle riskshawala conned me into taking a ride with him. Arre baith jao, 4-5 rupiye jo dena hai de dena!

The first thing that struck me about Amritsar was the noisy roads, incessant honking and the unbelievably chaotic traffic. Brought back the memories of all the towns that I have lived in. Everyone on the road tries to hustle you into a trip to Wagah border. You get the feeling that there is nothing more to the town but that half-an-hr ceremony of the change of guards. But I had two places on my mind before Wagah. The Golden Temple and the Jalianwalan Bagh.

First off the list was the Golden temple, it looks good in the day but is very crowded. May be because of the tourists or may be because getting a ‘dip’ in the day is more convenient. I took a few snaps and then just moved around the place. I did not go to Hari Mandir because of the long queue.

Next on the plan was the Jalianwalan Bagh. It has a despicable entrance. But once you are inside it, you feel the presence of the 2000 martyrs at that place. The marks made by rounds fired on that day are still preserved on a few walls. Check out the white squares on the following photograph. Then there is the well, Shahidi kuan, from which 120 bodies were recovered once the shooting ended.

I had the Dudh Rabdi Sevaiyan and chintoo’s tikkis to refuel myself and then I started for Wagah. The crowd is loud and the ceremony is elaborate. You do well-up with a strong emotion of nationalism out there but was this was not much compared to what I experienced later in the night.

After coming back from Wagah, I went on my own treasure hunt. Trying to get my hands on Kesar da Dhaba’s Phirnis. After a circuitous walk through the old town and trashing the entire ‘men do not ask for directions’ stereotype multiple times, I reached Kesar’s dhaba. On the way, I had figured out that somebody in Kesar’s household was getting married and it indeed was his daughter (People on the road tell you all this along with the directions). As it should have been expected, much to my disappointment, the place was closed.

But on the way, I had learnt that there are three other places which serve as good a phirni as Kesar’s. Ahuja Sweets, ‘The Unmarked Shop’ close to Kesar and one more to which the rickshawala took me.

I was back at the Golden temple as the twilight faded and gave way to the night. The sight was beautiful and the gurbani very soothing. I think I sat in the Hari Mandir for two hours and loved the sufi tone of the bhajans. And after a long long time, an avowedly non-religious person like me was moved by a visit to a religious place. I offered the Karah Prasad at the temple and ambled through the compound. Would strongly recommend a visit to this compound in the night to everyone who decides to visit Amritsar. ‘It’ is something!

Then I embarked on a legendary evening eating out expedition. I hit the ‘Bhravaan da Dhaba’ and ordered a lassi with a thali with aplomb. Only to get the disbelieving look from the waiter. He did almost say, ‘Will you be able to eat it all?’

As I waited for the grub, I realized that on the adjacent table a family of 3 was eating out from a single thali! And I had ordered, wait a minute, a humongous glass of lassi that had just been served to me along with that more than sumptuous thali!! But I did finish it all; much to the approval of the waiter who told me the story of two brothers who co-owned the dhaba had a spat because of the women that they were married to! And this is how 'Brothers dhaba # 1' came to being next the the legendary 'Bhravaan da Dhaba.' Got the feel of the local gossip- warts and all!

Anyway I had a wonderful trip and was all re-charged on my return to Bangalore. Would highly recommend the town to the readers of this journal!

The Ultramarathon Man

C'est Moi!

I did run (crawled would be more appropriate) the 50K trail run 0n November 16. Cramped badly at and after the 31st Km. But still I managed to run most of the time. Surprised myself, in a good way!

Now, I am waiting for the Mumbai Marathon that happens in January. This time I am running for Mumbai and am also raising funds for a Child Education NGO called Isha Vidhya. In case any of you are interested in making a contribution, let me know. You can also make a contibution online. If you decide to do so, let me know (I would just want to keep a track).

On God

It had never been done before, at least on the Indian Subcontinent. But if it had to be done, it had to be done by the God and from his own bat. In a way, it was poetic justice at its best. In 10 years (remember 1999, actually every Indian cricket follower remembers that heart breaking day), Tendulkar has given us a sweet memory that people like me will cherish for a long long time!

And as I followed the match through the meeting that I was in, I was on the edge almost all the time. I did let out a big cheer as Sachin hit that paddle sweep in his inimitable style. It was pure unadulterated joy! And I think everyone in the room realized that everyone else was following it as well! Indeed Sehwag set it up but it was Sachin who saw to it that there was no proverbial slip between the cup and the lip!

That Wednesday Night

One of the most dastardly acts of terrorism happened and it was all very surreal in a way. I think I was angry, anguished, sad, helpless and numbed by all that happened in those 60 hours.

Even as if was glued on to three different websites in office trying to figure what was happening, I was thinking of what would be the reaction to this and what should be a reaction to this. While a lot of groups have been formed on facebook/orkut and some candle-light vigils have been kept, little has happened otherwise.

That night has shattered the small cocoons that we hid ourselves in. The secure(?) apartments, the mall, the hotel or the restaurant everything seems a immensely vulnerable now. The normal Indian feels a little unsafe on the road, in the mall, in a movie theater or even while hailing a cab on the road. I think we will get over with this mass trauma(?) in some time. Don't think we have an option with this one.

Of course, we hear and make statements like 'the spirit of India is stronger that the resolve of the Terrorists.' We want action against Pakistan or against the Terror elements based out of the territories of the neighbour. We want the Indian government to beef-up the internal and the external security. We want the people responsible for this punished. We want a lot to happen!

But what can we 'make' happen? Or are we too overwhelmed to think on those lines. From my understanding of the entire episode, this was such a long and harrowing experience because of the unpreparedness, lack of resources and delay in response. I am unable to think of more than a few things to respond to this.

• Avoid being swayed away by fanatics
• Donate to the various trusts collecting funds for the victims
• Be a little vigilant and co-operate with the security people
• Mock drills in residential, commercial and industrial areas to prepare people to respond to such exigencies
• File regular RTIs with the government bodies (police, fire brigade etc) and make them work in return for our taxes. Guess, the army and the intelligence would be above the purview of the RTI act anyway

I know that the list may come across as inadequate. But still would be more constructive than forgetting the entire episode with a wave of mass amnesia!

I am hoping that we do not become paranoid as the US became after 9/11. I hope that our social fabric retains whatever little tolerance it still has. I hope that we do not view every Muslim with suspicion. I hope we do not elect the next government to govern ourselves for the wrong reasons and loud anti-terror rhetoric. I hope we do not lose our patience with anyone who tries to use the restraint word. I hope we avoid the lure of the jingoistic baiting by the media and the polity. I hope that we would be able to remain hopeful through this!