Fresher's party

We had a fresher’s party day before, finally. There was a lot of hue and cry about fund raising for the event. While the donators doubted credibility of the organizers, the organizers retorted saying the senior batch (i.e. my batch) is either too ‘kanjus’ to part with the money or they had a ‘jaani-dushmani’ with the juniors.
Anyways, the party took place, thanks to the organizers whose untiring efforts paid off.
The list of programs included
• Drinks (Both hard and soft)
• DJ

WTF !!!!!!!!!!

My earlier perception about a fresher party was that there are certain events (could be game show, live performance..etc), followed by food, drinks, dj and stuff like that. Basically it provides a platform where seniors and juniors interact.

Coming back to the topic, I don’t know whether this ‘fresher’s’ party did perform the basic function of interaction. But what I certainly do know is that this isn’t something we should be proud off and this isn’t something our juniors are going to remember. Yes, for some time to come they will remember the 10-12 pegs they downed or the no. of times they vomited or the way they were carried off to rooms.

Not only fresher’s, whenever there is any sort of program this institute seems to be following the 2D model i.e. daru and dj….be it annual fest, senior’s farewell or whatever it is. People drink like fish, dance through the night to the tunes of some cheap Hindi music and attend next day’s lecture with a bad headache.

Ok..I might have started to sound like the good old grandfather. So let me make myself clear that I am not averse to either of drinking or dancing. It is definitely an integral part of events like fresher’s, farewell etc. But I just cannot come to terms with the idea of daru and dj being the sole components of a program.

You could also say that since 80% of the people are enjoying then what’s wrong in that?!

This isn’t a question of right or wrong. This is an issue of real distortion of concept of merry-making. This is about degradation of one’s own independent thought processes. Just because you are at a place where drinking and dancing is deemed hip and cool is it really necessary to be part of the process???

Also all day long we talk about innovation, creativity etc. Then why are we still following the model of partying framed by the devilish mind of some ‘vella’ people, year after year. Can’t we have something that is more suited to an educational institute.

Again you will change only when you feel the need to change. And we don’t have time to stop, think and understand. So it goes on… :-)

Movie Review : Madly Bangalee

The story revolves around members of a Bangali Rock band named'Madly Bangalee',ex-Bassist turned car mechanic Bobby Uncle and his foreign return friend San who also was a musician.The first 45 minutes was free flowing and gripping enough.It showed the inner conflicts of the band and how San,in spite of earning wrath of the band members in their first meet,become their manager.But after that the story loses plot and meanders into the problems of their families.

The best part of the movie was its cinematography.The views of early morning mist,the Ganges were simply breathtaking.The next best thing for the movie will easily be Chandan Sen playing Baburam.He provided comic relief for an otherwise drab script.

Best Quotes of the movie :
"Amar kaaj holo pode cellotape lagano"-Baburam
"Amai 1ta dishi phone dite paro ? Amarta ekhane kaaj kore na"-San

Music of the movie is average with songs like'Ke acho kothai' standing out.

The worst part of the movie was Pishima.Her narration of the chronicles of her youth to San wasn't at all in good taste.The movie dealt more with the family problems than music.Overall a very average movie.

It was around 11 at night.We were coming back to hostel and after a sumptuous dinner at Karims we all were in high spirits.Suddenly we heard a lady screaming at the top of her voice.We slowed down the car only to see an young lady riding an Activa shouting at us and asking us to stop the car.She was accusing us of dropping a bottle on the road!! I was so sure of not having done any such thing that I asked her to shut up and get going.But soon after we realized that one of our friends has really dropped a thing.And on an highway it really can be dangerous considering the number of two wheelers plying.She was only trying to make that point.After that we were prompt enough to slow down,accept our mistake and say sorry.But the point here is that the young lady was right.And while few other women riding alone at the middle of night would dare to confront six youngsters,this lady was gutsy enough to come up and make us realize our mistake.This really was heartening to see and a pleasant change from what I have seen in Kolkata a few days back.

The Kolkata incident :

It was a day after Aila had hit Kolkata.Other than the usual flooding of roads hundreds of trees were uprooted,power cables snapped and a large part of the city were left in the dark .The next day I went to Birati.While on my way back my bus stopped near Kakurgachi.I peeped outside to see around 15-20 people blocking the road.They were demanding quick retrieval of power to their homes.Valid demand! We waited a while hoping they would move away and let us go.An ambulance got stuck and they wouldn't even let that go.The ambulance driver tried to plead with them but he was literally manhandled as a few hundreds looked on.And the best thing the hundreds of people,who were also stuck up in that blockade,could do,was to murmur a few slangs at those blockaders,curse the government and wait for some more time.And on top of it all,as I and my friend tried to get down to stand with the driver,some tried to dissuade us advising against getting into such things!!Anyways,we got down and though we thought of talking to the blockaders,in the end we decided against it.Because after what happened to the driver we knew that nobody is going to come to our aid in case some untoward incident occur.As we started walking towards Ultadanga,I was left wondering over a few things.

Firstly,when will Kolkatans get to acknowledge that there are other ways of protesting than disrupting life in the city.I mean we live with these exotic thoughts of being a cultural state full of socially aware literary genius.We boast of great educational institutes where youngsters supposedly think ahead of time.(There were also a few young IT engineers in the road blockade brigade..which we could make out from the tags of reputed software firms they were carrying----they could be from one of those institutes).And the best you can come up with after you are left with no electricity for about 18 hours due to a natural calamity is to harass your fellow citizens.I might not be intelligent enough but I really fail to find any progressive thoughts here at least.Nor does it testify to the high IQ level that we boast of.Since,CESC being a profit making organization they would want to restore power as fast as possible to minimize losses.Its like when you have got nothing better to do you can always disrupt social life and it will give you a sense of achievement.People associate Bengal with strikes and blockades.As far as I am concerned it's a social stigma that we need to get rid off(though I don't see that happening in near future)

The next thing is the tremendous patience showed by the people who were stuck.It was almost 11 at night..and people traveling to far off places were really getting late.And still they would sit still and blame god & the government for every goddamn problem they face.I understand that you donot want to be the first person.But when somebody is being the first you should at least have the balls to stand beside him/her.And if you can't even muster that much courage,stop blaming others for your woes, because you deserve it and probably much more.

We need to understand that Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose is past,Rabindranath Tagore is past,Satyajit Roy is past..even Sourav Ganguly is past.These are our few prized possessions.But on this present date,we have nothing to show for as a common bunch of people sharing the common mother tongue.One of our senior professors here once said that'in Bengal,if you see the cover page of Das Capital you become half-Marxist,and if you read the introductory page then you are full Marxist'.It pains for me to hear such things,it hurts when you get to hear such things about your fellow citizens.Its high time that we try to get a bit more knowledgeable,a bit more forthcoming and act in a way a civilized society demands

Mothers Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day.The good,loving and caring kids took their mother out for a dinner or gave her some gifts to show that they care.Lesser mortals didn't give a damn and spent the day with their friends or the television set at home.I am one of those assholes who belong to that second group..people who think their life depends on a Manchester derby and people who would prefer to watch KKR lose again rather than spend time with his mom.Ohh...their should be new laws in place to teach these irresponsible,insensitive assholes a lesson !!

This is the way the world thinks.Not only Mother's day...we have Father's day,Sons and daughters day,Women's day,No Tobacco day,Eat whatever you like day etc.Soon there will be shitting day,pissing day,aunt's day,uncle's day.Anyways,coming back to Mother's day and what inspired me to write this article is a piece of news I saw on TV.The title of the program was like 'Mothers' day celebration at old age homes'.It showed children coming to old age homes to wish their mom.The television channel portrayed it like it was the noblest activity ever done...that these children who stay away from their mothers would still remember to wish Mothers' Day.So you desert you parents in the first place and make up for it by remembering them single day a year.

I would prefer being an asshole rather than such a hypocrite.I don't need to tell my mom that I care.She is not my girlfriend..she is my mom,for God's sake!!If I really do care my mom would know it before I do.

Important days:
As a kid the most important day in my life was my own birthday.On that day I would get lots of chocolates and nobody would scold me and I WOULDN'T HAVE TO STUDY.

I grew up and came to know about children's day,Gandhi birthday,independence day,republic day and Netaji's birthday.These days were special because we used to have a holiday.

In High School Valentine's day acquired prominence.It was important as I loved watching those awe-inspiring flow of emotions all round.

I passed school and moved into college...and friends' birthdays became important.And trust me,it really was a Herculean task to remember all.Also I came to know about something called Friendship day.I remember it more because it was the first time I gifted somebody something..and it was a oversized friendship band.

Nevertheless,there's nothing wrong celebrating days like Mothers day,Fathers day etc only a long as you do it in the right spirit

Missing my college days

I have grown quite fond of blogging these days.I haven't written a single thing for about a month and now I have had five blog entries over past ten days or so.With friends busy elsewhere blogging has made my 'job' of killing time a bit easy. I have been going through a phase of 'micro planning' these days.For the uninitiated its a term coined by the great Nettur.Its like,okk,so now, I have brushed my teeth what's next..okk next I need to take a bath..next I need to put on some clothes...next I have to eat lunch....and it goes on like that.

Today around 6 in the morning we were sitting there at Abbas and we saw kids going to school in some overcrowded rickshaws.These kids don't have to microplan.They wake up in the morning knowing they have to take a bath,brush teeth,have breakfast,get ready and go to school.The problem is that I have got too many options.I may or not eat,I may or may not sleep etc.So I don't know what to do next.

I see my batch mates and somehow I feel they are here for a purpose.Even in a 'bakar' session people talk about economic recession and stuff.I am no different from them considering that our sole purpose in here is to get a good placement(though the definition of 'good' may vary}.But the matter of fact is that I miss those unending 'bhaat mara'(fruitless chatting sessions) of engineering days.I miss those numerous fights I had with friends.I miss those nights of frustration and those days of joy.I remember getting angry with people and I remember actually liking people.

Its been almost a year in here and I have never had a fight(you see we are into professional networking...whatever that shit is).I don't feel frustrated or sad any more.I felt a bit lonely over the past few days but am sure that's just temporary.May be I have become matured enough to understand certain things,to accept things as they are and go about doing things that are required of me :-)

What I make of the people around

Finally I am able to get a topic for my post :-)..I see people faking a lot..mostly not intended towards harming others.But its just that they pretend to be in a state in which they would 'like' to be.Trivial matters like putting up a busy tag on their chat window even when they are eagerly waiting for someone to ping them.Its because they want to show that they are busy.People write things in their 'about me' which even the author himself finds it difficult to comprehend.They think it adds depth to their character.Some like to be tagged confused as it gives them the excuse to do certain things.Again there are others who wears an assured look even when he is a truely confused soul.Most of these pretensions,I feel,are done subconsciously.But the point is that it makes things hell lot complicated.It would have been a lot simpler had we said what's in our mind,behaved exactly the way we feel like.Why can't we just accept the life god has given us ??You don't care about that street beggar..so be it.Why would you want to show that you care??In trying to portray ourselves as that ideal(whatever the concept of'ideal' is) man/woman we tend to mistreat our real selves.
Just two more lines off the context..we generally criticize when we see something bad.But do we praise with the same enthusiasm when we see something good ?? Everyday we get to hear things like the world has become a bad place to live in,there is too much hatred etc.I fail to agree to this notion.Nobody wants to harm others.Its just that he wants his own good.There's too much love as compared to hatred and its there for all to see.We just need to be a bit forgiving,a bit considerate and a bit more honest.:-)

My third post :P

Still not able to find a topic for my post...End of yet another dull day...or a rather bad day.Raikkonen loses out in F1,ManU loses in FA semis and KKR loses their first match of IPL2.I don't know when this mechanical problems of ferrari will be solved...after first three races of the season Raikkonen and Ferrari are yet to open their account !! I can't understand what Ferguson was thinking when he rested 8 of his first team players!! Did he think that his second string side would blow away the sixth placed team in EPL?? Or did he feel that FA cup was not worth winning! If that is the case he shouldn't have troubled himself and his players to come this far.And the less is said about KKR the better.It seems they haven't learnt anything from last year's debacle.Can somebody explain to me what is Akash Chopra doing in T20!!Agarkar still manages to find a place in the team.Since Ganguly is not at helm anymore the only person responsible for helping Agarkar find a place consistently has to be Buchanan.
Just a couple of things I want to share(or rather ask)is do people tend to get wiser at night ?? I do not know whether its true or not but it seems that I think better at night.Certain clutters in the head are removed and I am able to see things in brighter light.Could be an illusion.Or could it be like this is the only time of the day when I am far away from the mad rush.
I grew up knowing "Early to bed and early to rise,makes a person healthy,wealthy and wise".I guess as far as I am concerned it should be like"Late to bed and late to rise,makes me unhealthy,unwealthy BUT wise".Cheers :-)

My second post

Continuing with my last post, these lazy days are killing me. Barring the past week or two I had been pretty busy. I managed to stay out of certain things as I tried propel my career to greater heights. But now, as I have ample time to do all sorts of nonsense stuff, I reflect upon my past. Quite a few good and a couple of bad memories come to fore. But the disturbing thing is that both of them give me a negative feeling. I feel bad when I think those good days are over and it won’t ever be same as before. Worse still, I ponder over the bad memories and try to figure out what went wrong. And the worst part of it is that rarely I find someone else other than me to blame. I have been inconsiderate at times may be to the extent of being selfish. But the point is that I have been inconsiderate in matters where I could have ill afforded to consider. When an artist is creating a masterpiece he would care little about rest of the world. The point I am trying to make is that when you are deeply into something you tend to turn a blind eye to what other people think etc. I think something on those lines can, well not justify, but explain, why I have been inconsiderate at times. Well enough of blabbering for now. Soon I will be back with lots more of gibberish. Till then keep smiling :-)

My first post

Its been almost a month since I became a registered user of the blogging community. But a person of limited literary skills like me rarely found something, important enough, to be written about in a blog. Even today I write my first post,the reason being I am getting bored to death.For the past seven days its been only games & movies and no work for me.As the devil's workshop runs at full load I engage myself in all sorts of meaningless stuff.Its hard to understand because as a student in one of the premier B-schools,I am supposed to be up and running all the time.But over the past week or two I found plenty of time to relax.In fact its been so relaxing that I have to cut my hand and see the blood come out to know that I am still alive.Well,this is all that I can gather write now.Its just that I passed on some of my boredom to fellow bloggers. :-)