The Wise one says…

Orwell says…”It does not take much time for the oppressed to rise back to power and oppress in turn..”
Well..its true. Its a Limbo nation at DCE then… with all the oppressed teachers…rediscovering their lost pride, lost confidence… they are still alive..
they look in the mirror probably…do an “evil plan laugh” while their right hand reaches for the left, palm meets palm and the fingers do a little tap dance of their own to go with their evil laugh..

The messees will become the messers..and the messers will make sure that we (the new messees) mess up bad!

Its been years,
I was in tears,
havent seen you in any lecture
oh my dear
.
Is it the detention,
or just failiure,
which instills in
you a little more fear.

Its all now clear,
I dont have to bear
this Mental agony
of teaching you here,

Its the my time and how,
now thou shall bow,
or take a vow,
to study in for days in a row.

ball is in whose court now??

With a mark of red stain,
I can insinuate a lack of brain,
give you some pain,
fail you and gain
back my pride and it shall rain
on me my lost mind that is too sane.

Ball is in my court again.
Ball is in my court again.

It was indeed. I was back home, 9 pm in my watch, tired, bored, threw my aricent bag on the bed…and it bounced like it never did. I dont do omens . But now I am certain that it was one for sure.

A friend called me …apologised for being “rude” and having to break the news that I had made it. What./???
Went hyper… called people present there but no phones would work now. 10 minutes of perspiring, moving here and there..not knowing what to be smashed…. there..got a call from placement coordinator. I was through. To add to this sweet success was the guy I had been chosen with . It actually gave a sense of accomplishment..

“Oh fudge..Oh fudge”
Have you ever seen a ballerina covering distances in leaps on a stage…well…pretty much like that…I leaped into my parent’s room….
“Ho gaya…” “Ho gaya…. cisco mein ho gaya”
Now they knew cisco was a decent company because they had seen some ads (If there are ads on tv..its a big company for sure )
We dont do jumps as a family,… but bunch of popping things that pop would best describe what we did as a family that day

Then it was a crazy period when every one you call you up…has a litle chit chat about the interview. And I would keep telling them the same things over and over again . I did what I have done in every other interview… I made them laugh

HR:”Hi Prateek..”
me: “Hi”
HR:”Tell me about yourself”
me:”Prateek, DCE, IT, 20 years of age, loves to read, loves to write, and loves to code”
HR:”Loves to code??? oh..then Sarvesh will have lots of questions for you..”
Sar:”Hi…”
me:”Hi..”
Sar:”what are AVL trees?”
me:”er.. I dont know. I mean..I have read but I forgot”
Sar:”Binary trees??”
Me:”Blah…blah….blah..root. blahen blahen node. blah blah search.”
Then we fought over this thing about sockets which he claimed that I was missing..but I humbly said…that to my recollection..this thing is managed interally…I never had to specify it.

Main guy johnson joins in:
john:Hi
I: Hi..
john: Any job offers in hand?
I: Yes…one. Aricent
john: Why not Aricent??
I: Sir, I appeared at Aricent for…lets say mental satisfaction. Nothin more to it.
John: (Laughing) So…why cisco?
I: Talk about networks..and you are not being accurate if you dont drop the word Cisco. It just has to come.
then he went for a brief period..when the HR and Sarvesh joined back in
HR:How would your friends describe you.?
I: Well..they will say that I am sincere, honest, dedicated, and fun to be around.
HR:(Smiling now) So wht do they dont like about you.
I:I would say they would love if I was more optimistic in life.
HR: So you are a pessimist?
I: Realist
HR:ANy plans for higher studies??
I:I would love to. But dont have the profile.
HR:WHy not?? you got first rank.
I: No decent university would accept me for I dont have a research profile, nor do I have an industrial experience.
HR: Kaunsi university jaan hai??
I: MIT… Stanford..
Sarvesh: giggling now
I:But madam I wont get the scholarship.
Sar: Aur admit aa jayegi
I: Ya..woh bhi nahin aayegi

Then they grilled me on hardcore networking.
I had to design a network, tell about sockets, tella bout ports, some tcp, some udp, OSPF and RIP…, my dearest Dijikstra’s algo, some C, some data structures..

and then
Johnson: Why Cisco??
I: Sir..because the work interests me.
John: Would you join cisco??
I: It doesnt get better than Cisco. Trust me
John: How long will you stay??
I: er… I dont see that much into the future. May be all my life..I dont know.
John:Move to Bangalore?? would it be an issue?
I: By decision would never be based on how far I have to go..or relocate if required. I did an internship this summer…spent hours in buses to reach there.
John: Any questions??
I: Sir..may be its a little personal. But you told in the ppt that you opted for managerial post? Was it a recurring interest, or a personal choice??
John: You saw ppt? what did you think of it?
I: It was the best I have ever seen..
John: Do you think I have people skills??
I: It shows…
John:It shows na. Then he smiled
I:Sir I asked, because I faced the similar dilemma right here in college. I abandoned my CAT prep just because I wanted to give tech a try.
John: You are not a manager…you are an engineer. Thats what you have been trained for. Government has spent on your training, you have the concepts. You can contribute the most to this world by being an engineer.
I: Yes sir. absolutely.
John: Prateek…
He got up to shake hands..I got up
John: You have brains. Now whether you make it or not..remember…work is never interesting. You have to make it interesting.
I: Thanks …it was an amazing experience.

It took me one hour to come out of the hall…apparently got interviewed thrice.. within an hour. Had the biggest smile on my face.. but I was unsure because I didnt know RIP ..and apologetically said..sir padha hai but kafi pahle padha tha

Feels good when instead of a masked lunatic, you are greeted by a job instead on Firday the 13th

I woke up at 7 the next day…for apparent reason.
Smiled as I looked into the mirror….
and the lyrics came instantly…

“I wont hesitate..
no more no more…
its just our fate…
I am yours”

It is happening..the charm of an immediate audience and an instant reaction is taking away everything from my blog. Happens when I spend hours waiting for packing one good verbatim and post it on my facebook account…as a result..Lost the will to write those pages of rant in which I used to find some comfort.
Creativity is dying..
Is this what they call the writer’s block ??

Happens…when there is nothing that really happens in your life.
When monotony thickens and just so happens that you find yourself getting choked on it in the middle of the night, When you want to shoot dead all those chirpy birds that used to make your less than perfect morning. Bread is always soggy, coffee is always a little too cold, food is a little uncooked and you could always use a little more salt. These little things you do to make your mornings a little better, but of course …with little success .

Monotony is change when it begins, change when it ends..and just monotony everywhere else.

What occasion could cause the best of family friends dress up for the occasion and sit in ones drawing room drinking cola./? Well….title was give away haan??
Well this is exactly what happens at my place. Our family friends..whom if we visit otherwise..or if they happen to visit us.. there are no social protocols that we follow.
I know on which kitchen shelf they store their coffee…. and they all know where do we store ours. Which is like the highest social access you may give to people in our social circle..believe me! But there comes Diwali..and we know that they are going to be dressed in their shiniest outfits..and will be sitting in our drawing rooms pretending to be uptight classy strangers…trying to strike a conversation about my future plan (Which is a hit topic in my drawing room..)

Then it comes the difficult part, when you are expected to proxy for your parents and visit all those creepy people with their little dazzle shows they put there… (I wonder if yelling my eyes! my eyes! would be a compliment). So there were the other nigams in the colony who came in to sit and eat and admit that too…

“Your mom and dad are not here…. the best chance to sit, eat,and leave quickly..” said they..and then giggling and gorging.
Welll..I would have loved that but I am instructed to call parents up in such situations.. so I did.
Meanwhile..
“So…4th year haan..”
“Yes..”
“Job or MBA”
“Still figuring out..”

and the other thing I was still figuring out was their kid’s names. Man…am I bad with names. A wrong name could be absolutely embarassing.. (for them ofcourse ! ) Now I know they boys..and I they are two in number…

“So..how were his boards…??”
“Whose?”
“Both of them had boards..of course… yes..both of them had theirs.. How were boards for them.. now dont say Black…” Said I..giggling and sipping my coffee I did slip in sme humor..but they didnt get it I guess..
“Well..went well…”
“So have you decided upon a college yet..”
“Shubham is studying at Hansraj…”
“Ofcourse he is.. ya ..”
And then came my parents for rescue.. and I evaded what could have been a train wreck.

What is so good about diwali haan??? with all the cheap thrills you get from those bijli bombs.. or the shameless chinese wonders you plug in and flaunt at night.. Its so noisy..and my throat hurts because of all the smoke. Seriously… but there is something in the air.. and TV programming is at its best not to forget. Diwali has something for everyone..even for me

I have a paper in less then 20 hours…and here am I, making an update.

I just got over with Mamma Mia! The movie…and I am still trying to get over it. You see Meryl Streep and you put the remote away thinking that this movie just could be a marvel…but this people…is up to be the worst movie of the decade. It is so bad, and so loud and so long ..

Break into an abba number every 5 minutes, which is half baked in the movie…then that greek set up becomes so boring and flat after first 30 minutes. Streep acts old and stupid, rest are just stupid. I wonder why I even began watching it at the first place.

Haven study a bit, reading a wiki page about my new hero…Shannon..can you imagine he was the one to have suggested that we use boolean in digital circuits…How cool is that. Claude Shannon..rules.

Such a strange world do we live in…where apparently the kids have to protect their parents from all the vulgarity thats been shamelessly up for access on radio, TV, newspaper and every conceivable form of media.

“Sach ka samna? No mom..watch your shadi wala serial…way better”
“What?? outlook really got delivered this week?? I dont think so..”
Dont know how many times i have hidden outlook in my cupboards..whenver they do their infamous c-fore surveys.

Once I remember a school friend of mine had to stop his mother from watching this John Bipasha movie (titled Jism). Me and my sister had to stop our mom from watchin Fashion…coz you know..
It can be odd, for them to see all this weird to see them watch this pop culture.
Once my Dad caught us watching roadies , when this girl was cursing one of her fellows in the manner which could put anyone to shame, to which my dad said “See…these girls…these days”

Its getting worse I tell you,
there are no birds and bees, it happens, you see it.
It happened ,you talk about it.
It is about to happen, you see them building it all up it.
No one seems to be drawing curtains these days.

My mother couldnt possible bear the thought of letting us watch Raaz (the first one). Titanic was supposed to be an excursion, but then no one could stop kate from dropping it all..in the middle of the screen…on your face….with your mother sitting by your side. Awkward/. And that is why me and my sister have come up with this pre approved content which is approved when the sun goes down. What all your parents can watch/read/listen to.
Clearly nothing on star world, no no..no Zee cafe (Mum would freak out at the name of sex and the city), no Z studio only harmless imagine and regular stuff. So we have given the parental control a complete new twist.

Once when my mother insisted on watchin Dev D, to which my sister happend to say ” Mom…its not your type”.

One day discussing with my sister I happened to talk all the irony in our lives, I said..
“Kiddo..listen up. You cant control them. They have to face the reality some day. You cant keep them protected…all the time. They will surf the channels when you are not home… Better be at terms with it. Its their life too . Let go “

I think I am suffering from one. Dotn have much to write about, am so disinterested in everything. I just want to space out and do nothing. No thinking..no straining your eyes watching TV, no studying …nothing at all.

Opening shot and boom, the movie hits you hard with its naviete. react to its honesty, after all this life indeed is a “kutti cheez”. Loud action, over the top background music gives it a tarantino edge. First 30 minutes were boring, confusing. Bharadwaj bombards you with so many characters, and such a complicated sequence set in the hotel (which infact serves as the basis) that you are left confused. The movie paces up in the later half, gaining the momentum towards the end when evidently the director tries to explore funnier sides in the middle of a bloody gang war. Be prepared to see a prime “Heroine” use a machine gun.

As far as story is concerned, I think could have been more polished. What has not been achieved in the script is compensated for in the character detailing and casting. Yes, cast is a usp here. With Amole gupte as the marathi chauvinist and those police inspectors…expect a lot of standards when it comes to performances. Brilliant. Leads?? Shahid pulls his personal best as Charlie, and Priyanka does her act well whenever she was given some screen space.

Climax is worth a kill. And it has so many kills.. The high point for me was the grand entry of the Bangali Band with their high end precision guns…fabulous. Bharadwaj mixed some of my favourite ingredients… africans+diamonds+drugs+gangs and since I find them all towards the end…I would say that we dont have such cinema in India..until just now.

If you have not watched kaminey..you dont know what you are not talking about!! Go…catch it. Its high paced…edgy..loud and rambanctious Hindi movie!! It is after all the modern Sholay…

What if everything you believed in , is taken away from you?? What if the spider wanted its powers back from the spider man?? What if the superman had to return his cape?? what if the wind beneath your wings was to stand still some day?? Do you have something else up your sleeve?

What are we doing on this Earth. We all seek meaning in our lives, somehow,..anyhow.

Baptise anything that moves,
earn till you burn,
give into sybaritic
craving,work and flush with pride,
get married, dont think.
you might just die in a blink.
Choose your pick??
How do you want to live it.

Be an altruist…work for others…because others will not.
Be a capitalist…who needs poor?? who are these poor anyway?
Enter a nuptial. Who needs to think twice? Procreate, cook, watch tv and die.
take a job. work..drive..sleep..work.
Research. we all can use some more obfuscated perspective because you worked them out.
write a book. whose time can you waste besides your own??
sit home..watch tv….dry the retinal fluid for once and for all.
do some charity…show them how poor are they.

Told you..make a choice. No matter what you do, you dont serve anyone but please yourself…

To Live free my friend is a concept long lost. We would never know how to work our way out of this society that has been brought over us…..aged..matured…intoxicating society..makes you think strong…but is keeping you tied in real….ripping of one thin you were born with….your basic instincts. Now you know why I was talking about the superman and the cape??