To stop train, pull the chain!

Today was a saturday. I realised that coz we had Pav-bhaji for dinner (yes, I by-heart the Mess Menu Time-table). Another thing I realised...the Ganpati fest is still on! So much for getting senti last week and pouring my heart out over the last post.

Where did the week go? Isn't second year supposed to mucho relaxed? Didn't our seniors laugh at us mockingly last year when we raced for classes? I had avenged to do the same to my junees next year. Then why am I sitting next to this junee in the library when have I should been watching movies and making merry? Why do I see the whole 'academic riguer' (yes ChaCha did exactly what he meant!) giving me rigor mortis?

The 'To do' list is now running into pages...so outrageous that its almost funny.
Not that I had been only slogging my ass off all the time..I did play basketball once this week and ended up breaking my specs :| The next day was fun too...heavenly infact! Played badminton is rains for almost 2 hours. (Plastic shuttle folks!!)

But then why do I feel life is slipping away super fast?
Remember how it feels while traveling in a long-distance train? You want to read the names of those tiny hamlets that pass by..but you just cant. Its that feeling! And some higher intelligence tells me that this train shall never stop! :(

Is it so bad or am I simply cribbing too much? :|

Amchya gharcha Ganpati

My dissertation research proposal looks back at me. I haven't typed a single word for the last 30 mins. I simply stare blankly...the mind clearly lost in a myriad of thoughts. Of some place else...

Kai challa asel aata tithe? Babdu office madhun aala asel...Baba, Kaka hi aale astil. Jevana zali astil..rather urakanyat aali astil. Murti kitpat tayar zali he baghnyat Shashi kaka dang astil. Dar varshi pramane ajun chehra, dole, shela ani dhotaracha painting urlela ashnaar. Mag Shashi Kaka damdaati karun tya JJ chya artist la pakdun basavnaar...pandhra dhotar ani tyavar silver-green ashi patent border. Shela matra gulabi ani soneri border. Shindenchya murtichya hya goshtinvar compromise karna shakyach nahi!! Dole kadhnyat matra tya artist cha talent panala lagta..aaju-bajuchyanni bolaycha hi naahi..fakt thakk houn baghat basaycha ani zala ki tya mhatarya artistcha chehryavarcha anand baghaycha! Hey sagla Shashi Kakanchya able guidance khali..afterall in-house artist tech. Tashi majhi aai hi artist..magchya varshi Ganpati che dole ani moracha pisara tinech paint kela hota!! (Pose hoti : Moravarcha Ganpati)

Shashi Kaka murtiche incharge tarr..Baba ani Sharad Kaka decoration incharge. Varchya maalyavarcha (attic) toh lokhandi trunk khaali aanlyashivay decoration chi survatach hou shakat nahi. Tya pitaaryat kai kai nahi asa vicharu naka...Ganpati che vastra, bhandi, lightings, ekda chukun aanlele ani kadhich na vaparlele disco bulbs, devache daagine, plastic chi phula-veli, kadhikali vaparlele thermocol che blocks, 5 varshanpurvi decoration la vaparlela velvet ani moon paper ani lahan mulanchya crafts chya kit madhye saptil tya rangi-berangi tiklya, mani, khade, laces ani metallic borders!! Darr varshi tyat navin navin goshti sapadtat..almost like a Pandora's box!

So Sharad Kakanni toh jad (almost 20 kilo) pitaara malyavarun khali kadayla Babdu la sangitla asnaar jo tyane soyiskar ritya Kaustubh var dhakalla asel. Kaustubh hi shevti Babdu Shethchach bhau...tyane te Sai var paas on kela asnaar!! Shevti Kakancha patience sampnaar...ani High Command chidlele baghun doghahi Kaustubh-Babdu maalyavar chadun toh trunk mukatyane khaali kadhtil!

Mag decoration kai karaycha hya var ek kautumbik discussion-cum-debate hoil. Baba mhantil - "Hya varshi kahi tari saadhach karuya" Tyavar Kaki ani Aai hi duzora detil "Ho, ho..aata vay zala aapla..nahi jhepat aata..barrich varsha kela khoop..." Babdu-Kaustubh faar kahi bolnar nahit..tyanna mahitiye..hey dar-varshi che dialogues ahet...kiti hi saadha mhantla tari tya doghanna akkhi ratra sagle jagavnaar ani nahi nahi mhanta..decoration "saadhach aapla kahitari" chya definition chya well beyond janaar.

Ratri 11 vajta finally decoration chi theme tharel.. Hya varshi chya Ganpati chi pose : Shri Krishna chya avtaratla Ganpati! "Ubhi murti..mhanje side la jaast decoration hava..maage kami..kimaan 5 ft che pillars tari have bajula..Garden scene karuya...Pillars varun hirvya veli soduya..samor ek fence karuya...sawdust la green colour deuya ani suklyavar gavat mhanun vapruya....ki khara gavat ugvaycha?? ani ceiling varun ek laaman diva soduya. Bhinti var curtains chya magun dhaga paint karuya...nahitar sandhyakal cha effect dakhvayla dark navy blue cha background ani tyavar chandane...ani 3 varshan purvi vaparlela card board cha chandra aselach na? Kai?? Tutla? Thike...punha banvu..ani tyanchyavar white paint maarun silver colour chi chamki takuya!!" Sarvanumate finally decoration chi theme tharel!

Thermocol
Cardboard
Plywood
Velvet papers
Paint
Silver glitter
Golden glitter
Sawdust
Curtains
Khoti phula
Khotya veli
Khari phula
Laaman diva

Ashi checklist tayar hoil...kaam delegate karnyat yeil. Aai aavdine pillars la grey colour marayla basel. Sai ugaach madhye madhye karayla yeil. "Mala yeta na painting, mala karu de! Mi elementary chi exam pan pass zale na" vagaire ugaach justifications deil..bakiche sagle tila major ignore martil :P Tichyavar avishwas mhanun nahi..mhanje toh aahe! pan mostly konalahi aapla kaam sodaycha nahiye...Kaahich kaam naslelyanna saglyat tukkar kaama miltat he anubhavane mahitiye - "Jaa thanda panyachi bottle gheun ye", "He khali padlele khile uchal" , kinva "Fevicol madhye pani taakun dilute kar" vagaire vagaire...

12-1 vajta Utpal Kaki ani Mothi Aai (Aaji)chi wicket padel...sakali laukar uthun naivedya karaychay mhanun tya zopayla jaanar...Magchya varshi saarkhi agdich crisis situation asel tar matra Utpal Kaki madatila thambel..nahitar ticha baakichyanvar major confidence asto! Neeta Kaki entertainment quotient sathi thambel ani 'olya chandanyanvar chamki taak' - ashi Sai-level chi kama karel :P

Ratri 3 vajta Aai chi wicket padel ani ti zopayla jaeel..Kaka ani Babancha to paryant teesra chaha zalela asnaar. Suddenly realise hoil ki thermocol kinva paper samplay...pahate 3 vajta mag Kaustubh Sheth gadi kaadhtil ani drive cum shopping saathi baher padtil. (Ganpatichya aadlya ratri Dadar-Lalbaug chi decorations-viknaari dukana suru astat). Ratrabhar kaam chalel ani pahate kadhitari Shashi kakancha murti tayaar aslyacha nirop yeil.

Murti aanayla jaane ha ek major thrilling experience asto. Pahate-pahate tar ultimate majja yete! Murti gharat yei paryant baki tayari zaleli aste - mhanje kasa-basa to paryant sagla neet aavarlela asta. Murti baghun sagle as usual ultimate khush hotat ani Mothi aai che dole panavtat.

Sakal hoil ani decoration la finishing touches lagayla lagtil..."Almost done" he vakya kiman 15-20 vela mhanun zalya nantar Ganpati stthanapanna hoil ani puja suru hoil...aarti hoil, naivedya vadhnyat yeil. Ani mag amche Babdu sheth, Kaustubh sheth dharadhurr zopayla jaatil. Baba tarihi davakhanyat jaatil ani donhi kaka aaplya factory madhye.

He sagla chitra dolyasamuran jatay..geli 22 varsha tya chitraat mi hi hote...madhye madhye ludbudat..ratrabhar jaagat..majhya so-called exemplary creative ani imaginative skills display karat...ani Ganpatit 11 divas ka hoina 'Joint Family' cha anand ghet. Aaplyavar aalela kaam dusryavar dhakalne..airvi 4 pan aata eka velis 12 jevanachya patravalya vadhat, ani 12 mansaat ek toilet-bathroom share karat (!!!) he divas ayushyacha ek immemorable part zale..

Aaj ratri kharach Cost Management kinva Dissertation proposal honaar nahiye majhya kadun! Mi ithe ka aahe...hech kalat nahiye mala :( Deva saathi nahi tar ghara saathi tari aaj mala ghari asayla hava hota asa saarkha vattay..Aai ugaach 2 vela call karun senti suddha karun geli. Hmph!

Pan 'It sux' chya palikade kharach kahi uttar nahiye..
Udya sakali laukar uthun, zara traditionally dress up honyache nakhare karnare..
Campus mandiratlya pujela hi jaeen...pan gharchi majja nahi.
Aso.
So finally, jithe asal tithe..."Ganpati Bappa Morya" ani "Pudhchya varshi Ganpati barobar tumhi hi ghari (me suddha) ya!!" :)

Chandni Raatein!

(This post was written a month back but forgot to publish. It's an insane one, mind you - one of my random moods when the lukkhi in me had taken charge. I still don't believe I am about to publish this.)

No, I am not into corny blue films, as yet! It was either this or 'O meri Chandni'. You take the pick!

So finally landed at my latest haven - Room # 16, Hostel - Chandni, MICA, yesterday. I loved my earlier room a lot - everything was just perfect about # 5, Parijat...the location, the view, the furniture arrangement, the storage space, even the position of the electric switch.

This new place is amazing as well. My own room! No one to share it with..ALL MINE :D :D :D Okay enough gloating . No wait, did I mention it is the biggest room on the floor! Just my luck :) The room is spacious to say the least..not like those crammed hostels in the otherwise thik-thak college in Mumbai I once visited to meet a friend..what was that again? IID..no wait IIT, I think. Wateverr :D

Its a first floor corner room - the door well hidden behind the pillar. Privacy you see. You open the door and a neat and tidy room greets you warmly. The colour scheme is yellow-green-orange with a touch of purple.

Books (by the virtue of being seldom handled) are arranged neatly on a black rack and a green-yellow dari (carpet) on the floor reminding me of home.


To add just the right touch, a yellow sitting cushion!...for those idle mornings and lazy afternoon reading sessions.


For the more demanding times (say one night before the exam) there is this study table with just the right number of table-top show pieces - 3. A clock, a mug for stationery and one Ganpati bappa (He had to come along...exams jo paas karni hai).


And then there is this one piece of furniture where I shall be spending 91.472% of my non-lecture time - the bed! With a green-n-yellow bedsheet with yellow-n-white cushions. Call me crazy, but I brought along all 'wonly yellow-worange' bedsheets with me!! O wait! The bestest part...my oh-so-lovely curtains! Green..very chic and soothing.


There is this huge tree just outside my window (all 11th/12th botany gone waste..i failed to identify the damn tree!) and a path that leads to the mess on one hand (how strategic) and the classrooms (tragically, how strategic again) on the other.

So what do you think? Kya meri room aapki room say behtar hai? Just say so darlings and be my life-long friend (Did that just sound very cheap?)

So let me end this really insane post on a slightly senti note (blog ke TRPs* badhane ke liye kya kya karna padta hai!!). An ode to #16, Chandni - for the great times we shall share!

For the times we spend, in the times to come
Moments that are happy and sad are some
This heart and mind may wander and roam
When comes the night, it will find a way home
So cheers to you and a cheers to me
My heart will always be where you shall be :)

Aah! Enuff said..the bed looks gloomy, I think its yearning for my company ;)
Tada!!

1. * @ aagau Media majors at MICA, mala mahitiye blog la TRPs*** nastat, ugaach akaleche taare todu naka**
2. ** - Mala mahitiye ha Dighe madam cha dialogue aahe. Mi ithe tyala credit detey. Sue karaycha vichar tala.
3. *** BTW, fyi, Blog la Page Views and Unique Users astat - Sessions ani Time spent per session pan astat^
4. ^ - Hyala VDCP mhantat, VDCP = Virtual DCP^^
5. ^^ - Aata hey atti hotay. Somebody stop me :D

Religion is flawed only because man is flawed.

I spent two of my best hours today watching 'Angels & Demons' ...the experience still giving me goose bumps as I write this...



The age-old debate of Science vs. Religion.

How do you explain the existence of one to another?

How to explain the co-existence of both? And for how long ??

As the mysteries of one century become the logic of the next - one may say it’s a losing battle for Religion but then look around you...the faith in the Faith is stronger than ever!!

Karl Marx wondered (and wondered aloud) if religion was opium of the masses...which may have led few of us to question the need for religion. Isn't the world a much simpler place to live? When all the phenomena stand perfectly rationalized? When the miracles of old world are nothing but scientific wonders waiting to be discovered? And then why do we need the religion to sedate us, delude us providing illusions of an existence that life certainly isn't! Isn't science just the perfect answer for the rationalists amongst us? Almost like an antidote for religion, isn't it?



But then how do you explain the faith? ..the belief that ran across the world for centuries in one form or other. Yes, blaming the Pope and his Vatican running like a smoothly functioning corporation selling us hope, faith, peace and respect towards that one Big Guy sitting up there; is a very tempting option. But then is religion nothing more than the biggest con job that mankind ever faced?



In the closing scene of ‘Angels & Demons’, Cardinal Saverio Mortati says something so profound that it almost explains the age-old fallacies of religion. Almost. He says, 'Religion is flawed only because man is flawed.'

Religion and Science. Yes, both are outcomes of Man's imagination and creativity. Both man-made; yet so different - one appeals to the heart and the other to the mind. It’s up to us to choose - heart over mind or mind over heart. Religion has made blunders in the past - the propagators of religion can almost share a bench with Hitler in hell for their atrocities and impositions. We still pay for it and would continue to do so for ages to come. But science functions no better. Its blunders are going to be the blunders of mankind in the future.



And may be..just may be..when man is tired of science one day - he will look back and seek solace in religion as we do now seeking solace in science from the misgivings of religion. Is this why they are meant to co-exist? To offer man some respite when he has had enough of the other? Well, who knows..Maybe.



When Karl Marx said, "Religion is the opium of masses," one might wonder if he was asking us wean ourselves from it. May be not! For a man who learnt from the sufferings of others - maybe he found the key to the existence and sustenance of religion. May be he found a reason for religion in man's life. In the full context his words were:

“Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.” (Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right.)

How difficult this mortal human life would be if not for the illusory happiness that Marx talks about! How would life be if all things stood perfectly well explained and rationalized! ‘The Logic’ would then be our God and we all devoid of any hope or fear. (On second thoughts – Why does mankind always need someone/something to look up to? We remove God and replace it by Logic but the truth remains we replace it. But then again, it’s a better place to be – the last time one race made the others look up to it – it nearly wiped out the ‘others’!)

So are we saying that a flawed religion is better than none at all? Of course, it would be same as a flawed science (we are moving towards it) better than none at all. And since the situation of perfect religion and perfect science (just like a perfect competition) almost never exists..man has to make do with one of them...leaving the choice either to himself or going with the flow as per the societal context of his time and place.

Phew! That’s a lot of unanswered questions! But may be the point is to question rather than a muted acceptance! And yes, like all man-made creations – religion and science included, one needs to accept their flaws instead of overlooking them.

To quote Karl Marx again – ‘Religion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand.’

Random rambling!

The room is a mess. So is the mind. I guess I will start cleaning the former.

Last page scribbling...

ज़ख्मों को कुरेदना मेरी आदत नहीं मजबूरी है
ज़िंदा होने को एहसास अब दर्द से जो होता है |

यादें अब अक्सर आँखों में नमी लाती है
पुरानी हसीं का एहसास अब आसुओं से जो होता है |

Maa kasam!

So it finally rained in the lands of Modi!
and yes, motherhood beckons!

Before you raise your hairy eyebrows..lemme explain.
At MICA, we have this tradition that the junior who occupies your 1st year's room, becomes your Room-Beta/Beti which effectively makes the senior his/her Room Baap/Maa. Its an unsaid, unspoken version of Mentor-mentee but yes, much more fun than the formal protocol.

So for every tuccha (senior) there is a faccha (junior) who is his/her baccha! :D

This new on-campus relation is very sweet. During the notorious 'culturization', Room-parents take their kiddos' unlimited case and the kiddo has to run around the campus deciphering his new-found family tree. So if I have a brother on campus he becomes the Room Mama and a boyfriend - then the Room Baap. My best friend - the torturous Room Maasi and so on and so forth...

On the surface this may seem a lil' frivolous, even childish. But it isnt either. A junie - say a fresher, first time away from home, away from friends and family in a faraway place can get easily lost in the crowds. First year brings with it a wave of insecurities and self-doubt. In such times, it feels nice to have someone keeping an eye on you. The assignments, groupisms, grade-cuts and occasional incidents of being thrown out of class can get to you. The insane company rankings (they never matter!), summer placements and wrath of professors can drive anyone to the verge of insanity. Add to this, that we stay on a campus far away from civilisation and see the same 300 people every single day!! Phew!

So you do need someone...apart from your batchmates - whom you can crib and complain about the workload, bitch about your batchmates and go running for notes one night before the exams.

My room-ma was the non-interefering kind. A sweet soul who always inquired how things were with me. I wish I had known her better but yeah, she was known to be a bit of a loner.
I hope I am good to my room beti. I have already ragged the poor thing during the 'interaction' and made her run all over the campus during the Treasure Hunt, but she took the whole thing so sportingly! It felt nice that she tagged along with me introducing me as her Room ma..it just felt so nice that Parijat Paanch is now in safe hands. I hope that place showers her with same love, warmth and homeliness that I got from it...moreso, wonderful memories to last a lifetime and a legacy to pass on to someonelse...

I cant put it any better than this - (which btw, was written on the ceiling of Chandni Chaar - my favourite senior Bhatter's room)

They were the worst of times;
They were the best of times.