Theres a common phrase ‘a solitary reaper’ and people generally attribute a negative connotation to it. I have always been a bit of a loner.I love quiet places sometimes ,to drift off on dreams ,to conjure up hypothetical situations or just laze around. Its not a real place but keeps you cocooned from it. A warm,safe haven from the rest of this mad barking world.Once in awhile reaping the bliss of solitude is good. I miss the NITK beach. It was a magical place.I come from the city of Marina hence its not the beach that attracts me in Surathkal ,its the stillness of time there. The place is so quiet that every cry of sea gulls and the roaring sound of waves crashing on the shore could be heard almost in synchronization with your heart beat. There would be times when you could just gaze at the vast ocean losing yourself in the enormity of the power of nature. In Marina its hard to do that amidst cacophony of large crowds.
The past few months I have been surrounded by people of all kinds from lab mates to friends to house mates. I have found out what it is to engage in conversation with people from different ages at IISc . Its weird sometimes, sometime fun and sometimes its a forced learning curve but life just takes you along on a juggernaut.
Its that beach I miss, a symbol of eternal passage of time yet an illusion of time standing still…
Archive for on and off
Precious moments of solitude
Shopping is always good fun
Either you love it or hate it but you never escape it,thats a very cheesy way of putting across the experience of shopping but I would take that. Shopping like all the things in life which is fun but injurious like smoking,drinking,doping and blah blah is addicting. And its a costly and a time consuming addiction. There is an art involved in it. You need to know what to buy and where,bargain the correct way,see the most susceptible face and catch hold of that shop keeper and get yourself a good deal.I always love the whole experience.I still remember the blast we had in college trying to get ourselves cocktail dresses in a boutique. We would try out all clothes and pose for pictures and the shrewd owner would pretend not to notice because she knows we would ultimately fall for one.
There have been whole set of research papers on why women like to shop and men dont. People have come up with all kinds of suppositions and theories that I would come to believe it holds a vital key to unlocking the human psychology.And i really dont give a damn. I think people should work on how to open men up to the possibility of showing an ounce of patience when on a shopping trip.that particular evolution needs to come along. I have shopped in many places but the place I loved the most so far is Goa’s flea markets. They are designed for you to sin ,literally.Its the kind of place where your bank account would always take a nosedive,so throw your cards out before you enter the shop lest you end up spending a fortune.
But theres always a moderation thats needed and its with time you learn not to buy everything you see like a kid in a supermarket.But whats most interesting while shooping is to observe the riot of colors on the streets. its always fun to shop on the streets than showrooms. You save money and you enjoy yourselves. Its often a photographer’s delight.The people crawling across,the expression on their faces ,the vivid madness of it all is always worth capturing.I find the entire experience rejunevating and why not you are after all buying yourself some good stuff and thats always fun!
Bye Nikhil,we shall always miss you!
Its a sad day for its never easy to tell an abrupt goodbye to what you thought would be a long story. Nikhil Kamath as the batch of 2005 of PSBB would remember was an exceptionally brilliant guy,an achiever in every sense of the word and who had the potential to get what he wanted. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to meet some very talented people but perhaps the class of 12B was by far the most gifted set of people I have ever been lucky enough to be associated with.Nikhil was one of the best.There was always an aura of confidence about him , a cocksure attitude about his ability and he was always on the mark.This is as I remember him from four years ago and I have met few like him since then.
I always looked at the honor board in the school with a fond memory, now I shall remember Nikhil and what could have been. In a sense his loss , its just not fair. He was exceptionally gifted and motivated and these guys dont come often.
When I look back and think of Nikhil I think of brilliance,amazing mathematical skills,an excellent quizzer,motivated,achiever and whom we all thought would really go places.It has indeed been an honor to have shared a classroom with him once.He did in a sense achieve what many dont in a long time.Its a loss that we collectively mourn. This quote from Anish best sums it up for all the people who knew him and his friends…
“I thought I had all the time in the world to catch up with him.. he was a great person and a good friend.. we’ll miss u, Nikhil!!”
And so the tenth boards take a bow!
Its an interesting decision. In a country obsessed with point one percentiles and ninety eight percentages its a rare occurence,this one. Its a welcome one. I am not biased against the board exams, I performed very well in both of mine,however I have never seen the point behind both the boards. A continuous assessment however is a tougher nut to crack.It demands that you be on your feet,up and going throughout the year.The change will work only if the public’s mentality changes.the obsessive competition and craze to crack the IITs , if they exist the current situation would only burden the child more.
To be frank tenth standard CBSE boards is not a very formidable task at all. Anyday I would pick the board exams as they are easy to crack.its only the pressure associated with it thats burdensome. the exams as such are not very difficult.
Here’s why..
1. Different schools have different yardsticks to measure a student’s capability.The level of toughness of exams varies. The interest of the school also varies.Some schools are very exam centric,some stress on an overall development and if the performance of the students is used as the standard to guage the school’s strength ,the latter ones would be at a disadvantage.
2.If CBSE is to introduce standardised papers throughout the nation its like repeating the board saga at multiple points in a year.
3. The syllabus is anyway not very great so a grading system would not make much of a difference in the improvement of a student’s learning.
4.the Indian school education itself is marks oriented hence this step would not lead to a coherent relationship between knowledge and evaluation.
It has a few definite advantages though
1. It removes the pressure off a 15 yr old’s back.Experts agree that by far the toughest exam for an age group is the tenth boards because of the pressure associated with it.
2.Tenth boards are not mandatory. they can be dispensed with and they have been. thats good always.
3.it can be seen as the first legitimate step towards a much needed reform of the Indian education system.
However, the Government needs to tread with caution. Review boards judging the competence of school papers is necessary.Even if that were to be the case the schools can always bypass the board by training their students suited to the questions they set.This would exacerbate the situation and remove any semblance of actual learning from schools.infact I feel the government has gone about it the wrong way.it seems to be a top-bottom approach,just like it did with the OBC reservations. A revamping of curriculum,appointment of proper faculty, reducing the work load of children,concentrating more on lab work than rote learning,a change in question pattern,diversity and flexibility in the subjects taught,encouragement of the arts and pure sciences are all mandatory steps necessary.If none of these is implemented and board exams are scrapped,it would only spell disaster.
These are interesting times nevertheless and I am so glad I got my boards behind me!
A grand daughter writes…
I have often been stumped on, for what most people would be a simple question to answer,who is your idol/inspiration in life? The reason I say stumped is because I don t have any particular source of inspiration ,i have never felt the necessity to have one. I have always set my goals and worked hard towards them.Its only lately I realised that though I may not have a single source of inspiration in life, a lot of my views on life has been significantly influenced by my grandfather.
When I used to debate,I always used to oppose the nuclear family notion because it robs a child of the love and affection a grand parent can bestow.That indulging love is different from what a parent offers and often most important to a child’s development in today’s world where both the parents work.Grandparents are often I have found the most effective shield against an angry parent.
My Grandfather was my best friend for 18 years.its not that I did not have friends.I had a lot of them from my own age but as a child I preferred reading over playing and not surprisingly talking and writing over going out. I learnt the Mahabharath,Shakespeare,Wordsworth, Sanskrit from my grand father.It would give me great delight in discussing Shylock’s legendary speech on organs,dimensions and senses.I remember the long winding discussions I used to have on the Mahabharath,Tamil Nadu politics,on Gandhi,On Sanskrit Grammar,On Kalidasa and so forth. Today I can safely say that I am well read with a decent knowledge of the general affairs of the world. Its always important for me to read the news,ponder about the right and wrong,take a stance on an issue,have my own view on a topic and these were the qualities that helped me to successfully debate or give a speech .
I also loved to go shopping with him. He would get me the latest ice creams,soft drinks,chocolates,biscuits. Those were the big moments when I was small. An evening walk I used to wait for every day.I would take him to my school canteen when he would come to pick me up from school.Those are the small precious moments I cherish.
I wanted to convey this and thought it best to do the way he would have liked -openly expressed but under stated. This is to say that the grand daughter shall always remember and cherish.
Where’s the sense in the reality?
the recent furore about sach ka samna evoked some strong responses from both sections of the case. While,freedom of media should not be curbed it needs to be checked and regulated from an administrative point of view and on high moral grounds.whats so disgusting about this show or for that matter media’s coverage of the arushi murder case is that underneath all the guise of reporting there is a deliberate ploy by the channels to get the public hooked to something thats not right,not needed and morally wrong. some one asked me why not sach ka samna when people read freely about actors and public figures. in short we are a group of people who love gossip. we are interested to know if shahid kapur is dating priyanka chopra or if Mr. X across the street is cheating on his wife. But the problem here is that there is a significant difference. actors,politicians or sport stars are public people. that sets a limit to the privacy they can enjoy because they are made by audiences and followed by millions and adored by people throughout the nation and sometimes globally. Thus its necessary to know if the late michael jackson has been convicted of paedophillic charges or not,its equally important to know if gaguly was distracted because of some illicit affair during his captaincy.As a cricket fan or a music lover you are entitled to know why you are not getting your money’s worth.Gossip about actors is not necessary in the strict sense and can be avoided but there’s always a fascination amidst the public for larger than life icons.That curiosity may be bad but its present naturally and substantially.
Now,moving to Mr.X across the street ,it should be strictly none of your business whom he shares his bed with unless of course you are Mrs.X ,but even if you do gossip it should not be on a grand scale on national television. It was wrong to begin with,to aggrandize it and popularise it is profane. you are not only degrading by washing people’s dirty linen in public but you are letting those people taking part denigrade themselves. It sort of reminds me of two things1) the roman mobs that immensely enjoyed gladatorial contests where men and beasts tore at each other in all the glory of bloody brutality.This show is somewhat similar just that its more emotional while those bloody contests of yore were starkly physical.2)the movie requiem for a dream.watch it you will understand why.
As for the high court’s order on switching off your television sets, it does not make complete sense. We see it necessary to have censorship boards to monitor movies. No one told the catholic community to just not watch the Da Vinci Coide or the Hindus to simply boycott the Fire and The Water.From parental guidance to ratings we see it necessary to monitor entertainment to secure the fabric of the society.Then why not ban this show? No one told the people to just not visist that orkut community when some arbit bloke wrote some not so nice things about Mrs.Gandhi!Why? because its necessary at all times to see that a sense of decorum prevails.
Maybe one day pornography would be telecast on national television and the supreme court will just ask you to turn your sets off, by then of course the sense of reality and the sensibility behind it would have gone for a toss!
A Touch of Nerve-Roger Federer
My last post on Federer and Nadal touched quite a few nerves.Some one accused me of being biased against Roger,another stated that Nadal plays like a cow and looks like one and a lot of others merely stated well, they dont want to comment.All these guys are Federer fans believing as so many millions across the globe that their idol is perhaps the greatest of all time.Replying to those comments, yes I am biased against Federer in a way and No..Nadal does not play nor look like a cow from any visible angle .His butt picking habit not withstanding he is one of the hottest tennis stars I know. Though now of course he may come third in that current list after Djokovic and Verdasco.
The reason why I write this post is because I realised that my blog stats soared with the last one but on a more serious tone its because I felt that the last post was incomplete. 
so why am I biased against Federer? I started as a federer fan when the Swiss began his career,it was fine until the moment people started hailing him as better than Sampras.That for me was sacrilege.When I heard that, I wondered if it was true and even spent anxious moments . After Sampras had retired I had not seen the sport for 2 years.
Federer was lucky in the sense that he had Agassi in his twilight,Safin all imploded,Roddick not so talented and Hewitt – I am yet to figure out what happened, as his prime opponents.For all their ability these guys do not hold a candle to the kind of opponents that Sampras faced,taking into account of course that Andre was past his best when Federer began to ascend .Sampras is the greatest because he dominated with such imperial authority the most competitive era in men’s tennis.
I still wonder why the media switches its claims so easily.Agassi had called Sampras the best when he lost to him, he later bestowed it on Federer when he lost to him,the same goes for Henman and a host of others who extolled Roger and are now questioning if he will ever win Nadal again.Even Sampras when asked to name his potential successor at the time of his retirement had said it would take the game of Safin and the mental strength of hewitt to dominate as he did.He did not name Roger Federer then.
I am not trying to belittle Federer, I am a fan of the sport and any fan worth his salt will know that Federer is gifted with the most talented all court game that ever was.Better than Nadal? Definitely yes.Better than Sampras? Also a yes.I am only suggesting that he is not the best player at the moment nor is he the best in history.By player here , I mean his ability to win.Talent need not translate into success always.Ask Uncle Toni.
Nothing is wrong with Federer’s game, its the same. There is no perceptible change to it before and after the arrival of a man called Nadal.If Federer could be called GOAT then he must be now too.His game is the same.The only hitch is that Federer is all elegant and grace when he is not challenged,when he is, it falls apart.He has made the same uncharacteristic errors against not only Nadal but also against Murray and Djokovic.
He reminds me of the other supremely talented Swiss ,Martina Hingis.It was painful seeing her come apart against the powerful ground strokes of the Williams,Capritati and Davenport.Her game was Swiss perfection too except her serve that is.But elegance and talent did not withstand the power and athleticism of the Williams.
If you are to go on and call Federer GOAT then it would put us in a quandary with Nadal .What would you call this guy who so thoroughly dominates Federer?
Federer lacks perhaps the one important weapon in his arsenal-the Champion’s Mind.Genius can be outdone by hardwork and dedication.For being focused single mindedly on a goal is genius in itself.Thats why the day Federer stops thinking of everything else apart from winning Nadal, he will do it not once but quite a few times.
St Mary’s Island
St Mary’s island half an hour away by a ferry ride from Malpe harbor is breathtakingly beautiful and a photographer’s delight.Its calm serene and almost other wordly.The beach and sea at this small island is the most splendid i have seen in this region.as some one put it Vijay Malya must shoot his calendar here first.If you visit Udupi do not miss it for its like Seychelles locally at seventy rupees.
A day in the life of a blogger-con&porn and a bit more.
Yesterday was one of those days when you had a lot to tell but was lazy enough not to do so.Apart from the fact that i came down with a bad cold and sore throat and my laptop is teetering over the edge with a con virus , it was a pretty uneventful day. The virus in my laptop is a porn watcher’s delight. It made me give 2 significant frustrated outbursts.One was about how i dont even watch porn and yet the virus , ppl found that funny. So funny that every person who has so far promised to set my laptop right has laughed at me, my comp or in the case of shiny ended up watching movies on it.This led to the other outburst- more a cry that went ‘ i dont want windows’…you see with Windows its like the ants in the basement story. There are ants all over the place in the room next to yours. yet you believe it wont be your room next.It takes a good few bites to realize and go and get a lakshman rekha.This moral holds ofcourse for the average laptotting ,non-open crazy ,non-geeky,non-Gates basher whose ultimete utilisation of the comp is watching movies,like me.
Then there was this speech in the afternoon organized by SPICMACAY. I dont even remember the guy’s name. He was ok, conservative,praising the media and believing in Utopian ideals .The worst part was that heair gave the sppech in Kannada. Now thats discriminatory in a national institute of technology.
Back in school i used to have this wonderful long discussions on a lot of topics. We fought, badgered but always discussed. It mattered to argue whether reservations are right or not,about dvaita and advaita, open relationships,whats diff btw american girls and indian ones,that Scarlett O Haara was perfectly justifiable or the run of the mill Tamilnadu politics. It did nothing but to increase phone bills, reduce the concentration in class hours and lead to small phases of ‘i wont talk with you’.
It also strengthened bonds of friendship,made you understand people better,helped you to while your time in sanskrit classes and most importantly it molded me into a debator and a pretty successful one at that till i crash landed at NITK.The prob was a large number of ppl i met as a naive first year did not take such discussions in the right sense. They called it giving fundae and still do .The thing with such discussions is that they are meant ultimately to be taken in the right sense,its not about who is better its about what you think. Of course opinions vary for some wierd reason and you need to live by that.
Lastly I read IWoz and realsized that Wozniac belongs to a rare breed of ppl.If its indeed the triumph of the nerds then its the triumph of this guy more than the other for Gates is like a poisonous ivy in your backyard and a shrewd bussisnessman(at some level they mean the same
) and Jobs ofcourse is this rockstar cum politician cum visionary cum streetfighter all rolled into one. My god there is no geekiness in him, he is the larger than life CEO whose charm is at best irresistible.As for Michael Dell,packard and others we will leave it for another day.
P.S: the answer to that question abt the girls is .. mind you i quote,” To an American girl its important that you always have a boyfriend and to an Indian girl its important that you ever had one”. I dont own anypart of that statement its been copyrighted elsewhere.
As for the guys by mutual consent we came to conclude not much of a difference . afterall after a certain drop it does not matter if its left or right.
Bhojana Priyaha
Today morning I had vada at Veena stores in Malleswaram. It was to say the least as always heavenly. Their karabath and idly are good too but my favourite is the ubiquitous south indian vada. that taste is unparalled.Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside it melts in your mouth. Even home doesnt come a close second and not even when the vada is made in the grinding stone or the kalloral.i have lived in three cities the past three years and all three are a south indian gourmand’s delight. Chennai,Bangalore and Mangalore-Surathkal.Over the years I have come to have my own favourite places. Though i dont look the part, i love food when delicious. I am the kind who will walk a mile to eat vada in one place and idly in another place for the taste. Here are a few places worth going to grab a bite or just reminiscing those glorious days when they did exist.
The adyar bakeries are everywhere in Chennai like their Iyengar counterparts in Bangalore but one such adyar bakery made the best bun butter jam i have tasted.Even now most of these bakeries make good stuff; far better than the Mcrenetts anyday. While on bakeries there is one next to psbb tproad called choice bakery.An all time PSBB favourite it makes the best pizzas i have had in Chennai. Full of cheese and floating on sauce they come cheap and hot.And the small samosas and chole batturas in that tproad canteen always hold a special place.Then come the idlies and dosas and Murugan Idly kadai makes them best. Saravana Bhavan with its sambar and chutney comes a close second.The best butter masala however goes to Kamath hotel in Udupi.
I love chaats and generally try out pani puris in most shops in a locality however I am not the kind who swears by the roadside paanipuri wala.If you are in chennai have chaats in Gangotree .try their paani puri and dahi puri. they are the best i have hadtill date. The best bhelpuris i have had is from chitchat in pondy bazaar. their noodles are also the best.I do however swearby the roadside bhelpuri wala and preferthat to anyother.Sai Ram chats in bangalore did not impress me much.There is one small van which makes chineese foods by the road behind barista at 8th main and 18th cross street in malleshwaram. Their mixed noodles and spanish(act spinach) manchurian are the best. The best gobi manchurin however comes from IISC s kabini canteen at 12 rupees a plate.I dont like mangalore food much. it has too much sweet with some wierd dishes like mango curries,cashew pallya and buns.However while in the city try cheese naan at amazon in empire mall foodcourt. it puts mosts pizzas to shame. Chinese at Moti mahal and sandwiches at Crumbs. My favourite place is though Bittu’s with the best panner pepper fry i have tasted coming from there.
i must however round this piece off with desserts. Here goes ; chocolate trouffle at sweetcharriot, death by chocolate at corner house,sweets at brijwasi’s in chennai ,blackforest and kulfi at the Taj and if you ever get the chance wheat halwa from irrutu kadai in tirunelvelli.
