FF

Just outside the prof's office:

Me: Sir, I wanted to speak to you about the CMP course grades.

Prof: Yes, yes. Ah I couldn't have passed you. Your marks were too low.

Me: Sir, but I did well in the endsem paper. I'm pretty sure I should be passing atleast.

Prof: No. You got only some 4 or 5 marks in the endsem. You wouldn't have passed in my wildest dreams!

Me: Sir 5 marks is way too low. I'm positive I have done better. Sir, could I see my endsem paper?

Prof: No, that is against institute policy.

Me: Could I atleast get my break-up of marks?

Prof: No, I can't show you that.

Me: Sir, what did you keep the passing marks at?

Prof: Sorry, but I can't tell you.

Prof: Now please, I'm a little busy with all these seminars. Perhaps you should come some other time.


What do you think?

Lament

We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.

Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try
Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too
Imagine all the people, Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

- John Lennon

-- x --

Yo some people say I'm whack, now if that's right
I'm the freshest whack MC that you ever heard, in your lifetime
My slick accapella sounds clever with the beats
Boy I'm the deepest thing since potholes to ever hit the streets

It just seems like musicians nowdays want to sell a few records and put out a perfume line, and I think it's so sad that there are so many musicians who don't want to change the world... Music has been so much more.

Only sick music makes money today.

Infected

Baccha's fallen sick. He's been infected. With mathematics!

Here's a conversation that took place over breakfast:

Me: hmm... I wonder which is the smallest prime number more than a million. Baccha is a million and one a prime number?

Baccha: What? How do you expect me to calculate that?

Amost in the same breath, less than a second later...
Baccha: No it isn't. 101 is a factor.

Me (completely befuddled): gaaa!!!

A short while later, in my room:
Baccha: SD you were born on August 14th right? Which year?

Me: Yup; '84.

Baccha: hmm... lets see... were you were born on a Tuesday?

Me: WTF? I have no idea... Why? How? Ok lemme check...

After checking the calendar...
Me: Baccha you freak!!!!! How the hell?

A person infected with mathematics remains human, but they may become very calculating.

Death Knell

It's been done. Years later (not too many, mind you) when India is once again down in the dumps, when the economy is once again in shambles and when all educated, smart and deserving are fleeing the country in hordes, people will look back and say, "That is the decision that ruined the country. The final straw."

What am in ranting on about? 50% reservations in elite institutions. That's what. The decision - it's mindless, trivial, idiotic, ludicrous, irresponsible, mindless, moronic, laughable. This law signals Death for IITs, for IIMs, for hard-working people, for the Country.

It's amazing how ministers unfailingly manage to harm the country in order to gain a small number of votes. It's amazing how no other political-party *ever* opposes such thick-headed behaviour.

Just slightly off-track: I read in today's paper that private schools might get reservations too! What next? Jobs? A conversation at Google: "Hey we need 10 PHD dudes... but 50% of them must be incompetent as per govt laws. Now we already have 5 dudes but we can't find any OBC PHDs! Does that mean we can't hire any more people?" Duh!

So once again coming back to the point I was trying to make: In IIT, many people have mixed reactions when asked whether they would like to go abroad. Many say that they would rather stay right here. Just overnight that has changed. And it's going to happen everywhere. Why would we stay here if all the govt wants to do is make life difficult for us. And then later they say that IITians are deserting the country. It never strikes them that they're actually driving us away.

And they speak in lofty terms of "lifting the backward people", about the injustice done to such people, etc etc. What about the injustice done to us? What about the injustice done to the thousands of hard-working, smart people? No talk of that ever crops up. I guess we just don't constitute a large enough vote bank.

The Lost Road

Do you want to be where I am? Many say they do.

"Do you like it here?", I ask myself. Silence. No reply returns.

Why would you like it here? Why would anyone want to be here? No sovereignty. Never a free reign. Everything is controlled. Everything is sober. Here, Freedom exists - only in a textbook.

Shall we dare the dragon?
Merciless, he's poisoning our hearts
How shall we leave the lost road?

Time's getting short so follow me
A leader's task so clearly:
To find a path out of the dark

Sometimes I wonder if there's a way out. A trivia perhaps. I have seen none so far.

Spread your wings and fly away
Fly away, far away

Pull yourself together
You know you could do better

You're a free man.

And I stop now. There's a portal here. Back to 3 years ago. Is that the right path? To some it is. To me it isin't.

But I look ahead. Far away, there's a tiny beacon of light. And in one stroke the light gets faint. It's still there but it seems farther away. I shall strive to get there. There's still 7 months to go.

That's how the world works. Punish the industrious, support the unbefitting. Go read the papers.

Pull yourself together
You know you could do better

Deja Vu

It's been 3 years in IIT and i've seen plenty of PAFs. But today was something else. It was reality. I have never seen such a performance. Everything was so perfect. The streetplay, the music, the choreo, dialogues. The whole concept.

And you know what? - I can actually connect with the theme. The entire audience could connect with the theme. There's no doubt that inspite of everything, inspite of being "The cream of the nation", we IITians are in a sorry state.

We despise our classes. We dislike oue professors. We barely take part in anything. The only thing we have going for us are our friends. And thanks to IM, online forums and video-games, that may be gone soon too!

It's not difficult to see that something is seriously wrong. It's only recently that I've stopped watching movies, stopped playing video-games and actually gone out and done something. I hope today PAF was an eye-opener for atleast a few people.

The only creative or worthwhile thing I've done in IIT is Mood Indigo, for which I recieved a Special Mention tonite at the awards ceremony. But none of us, nor Neha, nor Abir, nor I went up to recieve. It was a protest. A silent protest against the fact that undeserving candidates have been awarded Institute Colours and a silent process against the entire selection procedure. Will people ever wake up? Will they ever dare to take some action against the politicization of every little thing in insti?

Which again brings me back to PAF. People keep saying that PAF is a waste of time and effort. They keep saying that we are no good at putting up a show, that the whole concept is flawed, that people are unhappy working for it.

Screw all those people who say that it's a waste of effort. It's not. It's a chance for an entire hostel to come together, for many hostels to come together, and prove that we are good at something. To show that there's still some spirit left in us. Let the barking dogs be - it makes little difference. We know that PAFs are worthwhile, that it is unique to IIT and that everyone who works in it is, at the end of a performance, overjoyed and previliged to have been a part of it. Kudos to Hostels 1, 4, 9 and 11. Hats off to Anshul Singhal. It was a great show. Even after putting so much into our own PAF, which was critically acclaimed as one of the best ever, we are not sad to take in second place. This one was that good.

And the best of all? - It carried a clear message. Even if it inspires some people to wake up, to do something, it'll be enough. It's stirred me up, that's for sure.

Kharaashein

Kharaashein. A production by Hostels 6, 10 and 13. The best PAF i've ever seen. It was amazing. Over 150 people on stage, 15+ voiceovers, and an effort by more than 300 students! It felt great to be part of something so good. Ofcourse, the music team didn't do anything great, but we did support the PAF in the end with some nice background scores.

The chawl is nearly complete. Just a few hours to go!


Prod work in progress: Making the chawl!


Fine Arts: The finishing touches on a backdrop


Matkifod during the final performance


Figuring out the music


The Peacock Dance: Vibrant Colours


Firedance - The last choreo


Post PAF Celebrations


It was an amazing experience. A great show to everybody who took part. Hope we win!

Cricket

"I just wanted to find out who we were playing."
~ Warwick Armstrong, Austrailan Test captain, seen reading a newspaper while fielding in the deep.

Cricket is India's National Timewasting Activity. And, man, is it good at wasting time or what? No other activity (with the exception of sewing) comes even close. And while fanatics and zealots claim otherwise, it remains true that - "Cricket is a game, which the British, not being spiritual people, had to to invent in order to have some concept of eternity." (A wise man indeed said this!)

Just the other day, a friend of mine went to watch the India vs England match, An English batsman hit the ball very hard indeed. Up and up the ball went, and then at the top it seemed to hang motionless in the air, poised like a hawk, fighting, it seemed, a heroic but fruitless battle against the chief invention of Sir Isaac Newton. Finally it landed right into his sleepy palms. He was ecstatic! Now why anyone would spend an entire day, shouting themselves hoarse, in the sweltering heat, watching ants move around and getting dehydrated in the process is beyond me. And to celebrate after going through all that? That's just plain loony!

What is cricket? Organised loafing. That's what it is.

A century? Yeah.. that's the length of a test match.

As for me, I do not play cricket because it requires me to assume such indecent postures.

PS: Don't kill me Kris!

War

Forever have I been here,
Forever have I looked out from behind these Cold Eyes.
I protect your way of life, Your culture;
The very things You find "most important".

Not benevolent; like a God of Old, I demand Sacrifice
Both sides must praise, Both sides must give;
Both sides will praise, Both sides will give;
You will die so that I may live.

Many times have they tried:
To declare me dead and bury me,
But I adamantly refuse --
Nothing lives forever; Except I.

Thinking about moving...

An oft heard conversation goes something like this:

"Hey SD... you've mis-spelt the URL of your blog. It's 'available'."

And then, I'm forced to explain: It's not a mistake. It's deliberate. What happened was that I was trying to find an address but every one I tried was taken already. Frustrated, I typed 'nothingsavailable' into the little box. But as luck would have it, some minstrel already hath registered it! Now I was peeved. In irritation, I mis-typed 'nothingsavaliable' as an indication to the world that, really, there are too few words around here.

But I now grow tired of going over the same long-winded story over and over again; So just today when someone "politely" pointed out the same, I drew upon my vast knowledge of the English language, and said nothing.

I think it's time to move to another blogspace.