Stupendously Sublime

Today in conversations with friends, ok...with friend, we spoke about the concept of LOL or HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH or HEHEHEHEHEH or ROFLMAO and other such text expressions that are used to signify gales of laughter emanating from the receiver at something extremely witty or humourous that was sent by the sender. Now, usually it is a cut and dry thing, but because of my extremely keen powers of observation I have noticed that these expressions are not usually accompanied by the laughter that is being texted back. What is really being texted back is the appropriate response to what was said and this is the common decency of texting, at least what I see in my style and those who text to me...cause let's face it, I’m not the wittiest guy in the world. But this brings me to another question, how has texting and technology changed us in general? Has it made us colder? More distant? Has it reduced our ability to make new friends? What i thought was, and i could be compl

The titile of this particular blog post is symbolic rather than about a delicious vegetarian treat, the symbolism of matar paneer is financial security and risk, but lets start at the very beginning of the thought, what is matar paneer, why is it important and why oh why do we love its taste. The answer is very simple, it starts with our society and more importantly marriage. As a modern indian man (i consider myself so) there is still a very high possibility of my marriage being arranged by my parents and their relatives and people of x,y,z standing in various friendships with my parents and their relatives, and thus is the origin of such a business deal, and lets not romanticise the indian arranged marriage, it IS a business deal where both parties negotiate and search to get the best deal for their offspring. The girl is expected to be beautiful, fair, dutiful, fair, religious, fair, loving, nurturing, fair and must have an aversion to jeans and other such western outfits and did

One thing that I was saying almost constantly towards the end of my time at MHROD was, “You can either capitalize on what we have done, or you can choose to re-invent the wheel.” Now I have little or no idea about what my dear juniors will do, but I do have some free advice, which by its nature is completely disposable, you can either keep it or you can throw it away without considering it, but I really urge you to read through it. 1.        Make them feel welcome: Welcome the new batch with open arms and make them feel welcome, one of my biggest mistakes was not making the batch feel welcome and wanted at MHROD, I considered it my overzealous work ethic, others might consider it my arrogance. Hindsight is a comfort of the future, not one of the present and we did what we thought was right, as should you. Do what you think is right for the course and not for your own reputations. Reputations are built on sand, merit on stone. 2.        Set the right expectations: There is no bi

Till now i have stopped myself from writing film reviews, with a lot of success i might add, but a few days ago i saw a movie that was so beautifully crafted, played with such nuance that it left me breathless, i won't really try to review this movie but what i will try to write about is how it impacted me, how it gave me a longing for the next part, how it suddenly increased my respect for Manoj Bajpayee, Piyush Mishra, Tigmanshu Dhulia and the other members of this fabulous cast. The first and the best part i liked about the Gangs of Wasseypur was that nothing was done in half measure, the violence was brutal, absolutely unadulterated and in your face. The humour was lewd, crass and sexual but it was also physical, impeccable and found in situations where we see the humour, it was never forced. The hatred that was portrayed was so real that i felt the characters hatred bubble up inside me. The second thing (which came very close to the first) which i loved was the reali

Exactly what i said in the title is something that i have come to believe in very strongly, life is a TV series and everyone has episodes, assuming that i'm the main protagonist of my life (this fact could still be argued), i have seen many seasons: Modern School Arc Drop Year Arc JUIT arc Post JUIT arc MHROD arc And these arcs were made of episodes, amazing, stupid, gracious, embarrassing, triumphant, destructive and many many more. What I will say here is end of a couple of episodes from the MHROD arc, and these were, lets say, season defining for me. Episode: Kava goes Dutch Circa March 2012, The first monumental episode came to an end, a recurrent theme in my life, a constant source of fun, Kava left for the netherlands and with him left my Noida destination, where i have spent the best part of my 3 years post JUIT. As i drove away from IGI that night, at 2:15, all i could think was damn, ab noida kaise jaoonga, and its true, haven't been to noida since.

It is ironical that my 49th post was about death and my 50th post would be about one of the most numbing deaths in my life. I would lie if i say i cried, i'm not that big on crying, but yes, the sadness i feel is almost indescribable, my close friends are also similarly placed. So, i shall not endeavour to describe the collective agony that we have gone through, the helplessness and unfairness that we have experienced. What I shall write about is how he shaped my life. We met: It was the july of 2005, and a few scared newly graduated kids were sent to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, JUIT. It is not clear how me and jha first met, but one of my most distinct memories is on how many levels we had connected. Both of us had dropped, practically been raised by 1 parent, had a similar taste in music and girls. I think we really became friends because of Sonal, that and the fact that he was almost fearless, nothing fazed him except the little things: tests, st

Welcome to the crossroads of existence: 4 ways converge and diverge from here, one is the path you have taken, and now that you have arrived you will have to choose one path, because not choosing is also a choice and that would mean your road ends there. This is the beauty, no matter what you do you will die. One path maybe longer than the others but in the end our destination is the same no matter where we come from or what we choose. Such a ray of sunshine ain't I. So i ask you what do you think you will die from? Listed below are character flaws (???), that all of us suffer from and one or the other will define us. Solitude Sacrifice Nihilism Despair Destruction Intoxication Insanity Greed Rage and If all of the above fail...there's always "Time" I have pondered over these for the past 4 years (on and off), and i have barely come up with an answer that would be considered comprehensive and logical. But what i have considered is that there a

Recently, very very recently i had been to the place where my long lost dream was realised. I saw a tiger, and not just a tiger i saw a tiger cub as well. Well, apart from just tigers i saw a leopard too, and that one was the most exciting, the chase the thrill the sheer victory of having seen the assassin of the jungle. What i fell is that this is bigger than just a childish whim to see an animal in the jungle, as i sit, on the eve of my departure to another tiger destination, i can't help but wonder, is this feeling more than infatuation or is it still only my childish desires driving me. I have no idea what is it that drags me again and again to this magnificent creature's abode but it makes me feel alive in ways i have never ever felt alive. Fingers have been crossed and bags i've packed, on another sojourn we embark, the end glorious or macabre i have no thought....on another sojourn we embark.

The Praetorians, an elite band of soldiers dedicated to protecting the life of the Roman emperor , the elite guard of the king, the best of the best, period. When all else fails the praetorians don't and that is what we are about. In servitutem MHROD, is our motto and our king is MHROD. we have have had shared glory, some for ourselves and some for our course, but sadness, sadly, is a 2 word sentence, we lost at Great Lakes Institute of Management, a loss that was a long time coming, because everybody loses and the law of averages has to come into play somewhere. The only regret is that we had to travel 2176 kms to experience the bitter taste of defeat. Frankly, the bitter taste lasted as long as i was in that campus after that what defined my time was a simple quote on the T-Shirt of one of the participants, it read "Excellence is a tradition" which made me ask some very difficult questions of myself. Am I a leader? Do I deserve to be a leader? What have i done to