Witness of changing times

Some day back during the WC (when India was still in race) one of my friends asked me "Why u people don't buy TV...its really worth buying it now". And I was able to give him two reasons: it gives me an opportunity to go to my friend's sweet home and then enjoy matches together there in an envoirnment full of cricket enthusiast and if we buy TV, then after long days in office, sticking to TVs which we have seen in some cases will decrease the socialization aspect of life (with friends/roommates/others) to minimal. With few people's appreciation I felt my explanation overall made sense. And also made me write this blog about the college days.

With so many people (56, if I remember correctly) joining hostel from different parts of country, the various ways of entertainment was always high on everyone's mind. I remember with no personal computer in our hostel batch in first semester, it helped everyone a lot to interact, socialize, share, be creative and even identify each others habits very closely. With only a small computer room with about 7-8 PCs, it gave every person enough time to spend time out of their rooms. I do remember people who after 1st year were rarely found out of their rooms were never in their rooms after returning from institute for 1st two semesters. There were full bakaiti and haha hihi chaupals, bumps sessions, sports activities, visits to almost each and every 20 rooms and then these PCs started arriving which changed a lot many aspects of hostel life. One of my friends having CD player and speakers and the other having a two-in-one were the only source of music in the whole wing. That was also the time that on slightest hint everyone used to assemble for everything. I still remember a day when whole batch ran, like a 100m race, after a couple of guys to give them bumps for spreading wrong information about someone's birthday (which had resulted in that guy getting a lot of bumps with nothing ON) and then came after me because they were not able to locate them at the place told by me. Then people used to share their personal troubles, complains about the system, day happenings, plans and I believe hanging around at different places in Delhi itself with friends was much more during those days. 1st PC in the whole batch was brought in 2nd sem by my friend who used to stay in the room which was just in front of mine. And in a way his life changed-few classes(almost none), all days sleeping(this is because no one let him sleep in night for obvious reasons), full time LAN games (i still remember those AOE sound effects) and definitely his interaction level decreased.

By 2nd year most of the people got their PCs and the socialization level decreased more which can be for many reasons like exposure to many new interesting arenas, time pass activities or may be learning few more things, though this last thing must be the case with least possibilty. And with few other aspects of sincerity to improve CGPAs, political and ambition clashes, personal commitments emerging ,this got reduced to minimal level.

With the latest batch that entered hostel, while I was leaving, this thing changed very much with many guys bringing their PCs or laptops along with the basic necessity that they brought with them to live in hostel. And that left with me no surprise when I get to know few guys not remebering their batchmate's names even after a month (we used to remember them in 3 days!) because they had been too busy getting adjusted to the system or just fascinated with the kind of things that they are exposed to using the LANs(DC++ which started from IITD is a big hit in all IITs and everyone who went through the transition from IPScan and Sharescan to 0DC++ knows what kinda effect this thing had and still has) or the Internet itself or even without these things the PC itself has so many options to keep one engaged.

If I remember those days I do believe that these PCs do made a lot of changes in our hostel life and though in a sense it made many things better but in other it made many things worse. And I don't know whether this TV will have the same impact but surely it made me reminisce the dull effects that PCs brought in our happy and happening hostel life few years back.

Movies Movies and Movies

Movies Movies and Movies. This is a thing for which I have been regular since I shifted from the initial accomodation provided by my company in Bangalore and it rightly coincided with Jazz bringing his Yamaha from his hometown and HB buying his new Apache. And since then there have been movies every weekend, may be two in a week also. And most of the credit goes to HB for enthu that he kept showing to make people watch more and more movies. A big thing that changed from IIT time is that I don't watch movies on computer rather in theatres. And another change is it can be any film without any starcast or good previews, i mean if we decide we need to watch a film we go irrespective of anything and thats why list includes films like "Shiva", "Naksha"(3rd film in Bangalore), "Woh Lamhe", etc. The journey started with "Omkara"(costliest movie I ever saw); proceeded with "Lage Raho Munnabhai"(which i saw thrice in theatre) during ofice hours, on the day I was allotted my project and on the encouragement of my boss; and went on getting strengthened with all the movies that I have seen till now. We though prefer a bit cheap theatres as we are the regular guys watching almost every film in theatres, but still that is a preference and not a necessity as many films are shown only in multiplexes.

There has been gud times when we watched films in gud number but "Dhoom 2" was the one in which went in larges nos (11 if i remember correctly). It was also the first one for which we bought tickets in advance(infact we went twice),"Guru" being the the second. There are different kind of experiences associated with different films as well. "Naksha" was the one in which Sasu did not turned up(that also along with Sid'd bike) even after buying tickets which was because of the start of series of "events" that later made us associate with Sasu a lot.

"Jaan-e-man" is the only film which we watched in our group but HB was not there. This film is the one in which our intrinsic qualities of comments/cheering/anticheering etc became extrinsic to everyone as film came out to be a proper skit in first half. Omkara is the only film in which Lalit accompanied us. "Honeymoon travels Pvt Ltd" is the only film which I did not watched with the whole group. "Babul" is the film which is on the top of the films on the recieving end of HB's abuses. Though I dont remember HB abusing any other film to any extent. We have watched most of the films in Rex or Symphony with PVR fortunate enough to be our host for one or two. "Vivah" has been the one for which we travelled maximum distance to watch in GandhiNagar. The endless list also includes "Bhagam Bhag", "Saalam-e-ishq", "Nishabd", "Casino Royale", "Don", etc.

May be its a weekend effect or something else but it surely drives us (atleast HB and me) to watch films. This may be just for time pass or may be bacause of habit of watching films or being movie buff or may be there is no concern now for the money that I spend on these films or just to carry up the image that I have build over the days by watching new films in hall or may be to have break from the very scheduled monotonous life(though this has also started to become monotonous) or may be a mix of all; but this has now been regular with me for past 6 moths.

After the rent that I pay for my sweet home, I believe movie tickets are the thing that comes second on my monthly expenditure (not considering food as it is essential). But what I can say surely about this habit is it definitely gives me a break from everything and this is the time during which there are no concerns, no thoughts, no tension about anything because apart from enjoying film, my film making and dramatics pursuit make me take interest in cinematogaraphy, camera angles, overall directions, predictions of the film without thinking for other considerations. Though I try not discuss these anymore with people out here as I have been on recieving end for few times on starting the discussion.

Ans I believe this is not going to stop in near future with a long queue of films (includes everykind) awaiting for we people to watch them with "not getting bored" spirit.

Fever is back

The fever is back and yes its back with a bang! I am talking about the fever which will be gripping atleast 8 countries in the world for next about one and half months. And for India this will be like a full envoirnment, ambience, enthusiasm, passion, influence, integrity, emotions, etc of a big festival which will there for so long, atleast till the INDIAN team is performing according to their hopes. This World Cup will be largest in terms of teams(16) participating but actually the cup will start once the fight between top 8 teams begins. I have not seen anything in this country with so much diversity uniting people to such an extent. This is one thing which brings people from all regions, customs, languages, beliefs(including superstitious beliefs), religions, economic class to cheer for the same cause and even if their personal concerns and loyalties comes up, the final hope is all the same.

On the personal front WC generated very good memories each time it arrived. In fact its the 1992 WC that i can remember as the one which made me mad about watching cricket and this madness only grew up with the time. India winning against Pakistan and Javed Miandad's frog jumps may be the moments which will remain fresh for almost everyone who watched the WC. Otherwise India losing few close encounters with against Australia in particular(I remember people shouting out six and then watching Raju getting run out) and the rain rule ruining SA party was the most worse in terms of emotions.

1996 was the one which helped Sachin start his world record breaking streak. And for sure Ajay Jadeja's blast against Waqar will be there in Indian cricket history for many years to come. But the semifinal will remain buried sadly in many people's heart. 1999 was the one successfull for many on personal fronts(Rahul,Saurav) but yeah India won the little battle "thrice" in a row.

2003 was a special one because that gave a chance to the present generation to watch Indian playing the final and the result was the worst one can think of. But again "Sachin is God" was proved. The six against Shoaib, Caddick and other innings are worth watching million of times. But the glory still remains unachieved. This has been the WC which I enjoyed watching most becuse of the hostel ambience and about 400 people turning hostel TV rooms into grounds with all kind of cheering and anti cheering that one would have loved to be a part of. It was an era which everyone will like to be repeated for every such occasion and I will surely miss many people and discussions around here while watching WC.

Every WC has moments which make one joyful as well as full of sorrow or anger as if it was not a game but a part of passed time of their own life. May be this WC will bring the best end to my as well as other's hopes but what I am sure is that this is going to effect normal life of many people out there with the time of matches not matching with the timing of biological life and also may be the productivity and work efficiency of the country as a whole will also suffer.

Old times ....time pass

It looks like to me, infact i have started believing it a lot, as more and more time progresses I want to be more in the past, revisiting old times again and again, imagining them, laughing at times when I cried alone or sometimes with many, becoming nostalgic for times that I spend laughing or enjoying with many(wait for those people in next blog) . It makes me think how cruel this "time" is which makes one feel presently exactly opposite of the feeling that one had at the time he is trying to reminisce. But its angel in the way that it gives you something to keep with you all throughout your life i.e. memories.

These memoirs comes out to be union of the time we enjoyed innocently in school with school friends, the time of sorrow and joy that we relished together with our college mates and then once again during those initial two months that I spend with few special people out here in my first corporate life. School times are one to which everyone wants to go back and rewrite it once again. In those days everything was like as innocent as the pitch on the first day of a test match, without any deep rooted and pre moulded thoughts about anybody. Comparing that to the present day, where one start to observe and develop thoughts about someone before even saying hello to him, makes me feel so bad and irritating but these things have settled so deep that I feel its easy to go back in past and live life once again than start thinking innocently once again.

College life is indeed the best part of life that everyone had. And its the part that one always enjoying reciting to others whenever he gets a chance and surely that does not stop after one go. The recitals may be about endless night outs; Nescafe/Canteen trips; practicing for a lot many events and waiting for the next, the day one ended; cheering and anti cheerings; bakaiti; politics and planning; judgements apart from other regular recitals(list is endless). But this was also the time that I judged a lot of people may be because once a leader always wants to be a leader or may be they made me judge them or may be jealousy made me judge them or may be I innocently judged them or may be politics made me judge them and lastly may be academics and future of theirs and as well mine made me do that. But this was the time I lost innocent thinking about anyone but started to have some deep rooted thoughts. I believe this happens with everyone and this is carried out from here for full life. And may be this blog also has this element in it. But as much I cherish the moments that I spend, I also regret missing few things and over doing few things which again may be the result of the judgement phase that I talked about. But this is the time I believe will remain the best part of life throughout my life.

The same haha hihi life continued here where I am presently. Though it became memories too early but it was the one that alteast I had not predicted. It was almost the same college life and the corporate world only started after about two months or so but these memories will remain as fresh in my life as has been the the first day I went to school.

May be thats how life will go on trying to go back few years back everytime clock clicks for the next second.