ME @ FE.com

                        I was on a self imposed sabbatical so no posts for February but after the break I am back with a post which I enjoyed the most to write as it made me recollect the best years of my life. As I come to the end of the four most wonderful years of my academic life I thought it was fitting for me to recount all those experiences throughout my engineering with my college friends. These are fond memories which I cherish some good some bad… and if anyone has a problem with what I have written then it’s their problem…..juss kidding….yeah but no harm meant to anyone here….

                        It was the first day of college and I hated the thought of entering college gates as it was not my first choice college and I never wanted to join a college without any campus…so the negative vibes started at the gates itself… a sea of unknown faces surrounded me and it felt as if this is not the place I was destined to be… So somehow the first week just drifted by and the defining moment as we all vividly remember was when we (being around 20-25 of us) asked Varun Harwani to treat us for his birthday that day and he politely obliged. Shameless that we were we all went – a clear case of “Jaan na pehchaan main tera mehmaan” and that is when the group actually happened.. People came to know each other by names for the first time even the birthday boy for that matter and it was when Tejasvi had asked Varun when was his birthday – she was clearly oblivious why he was throwing us a treat.

                        First semester were the days when everyone was afraid of a monstrous subject named Mechanics and everyone around me used to take tuitions whereas I trusted my instincts of IIT entrance exam and opted against it. It was easy to take the call not to take tuitions but study definitely was tough and that’s when I became friends with the scholar of our class Nihir Nemani. And so it was mechanics that helped me make my first friend in college.

                        These were the days of my wasted life where everyday we used to go to someone’s house or sit at a coffee shop or go to the beach. These were the nice days of getting to know people and making a good first impression. None of us knew what we wanted to do with life and that’s when one of us…the man who always had to do something- Harsh Parekh… came into everyone’s life with an idea. He wanted to direct a play, we had auditions and then Waisa Bhi Hota Hain happened…. A lot of practice and a lot of effort went into and we finally performed at a couple of festivals and we even won some awards. That was when I realized that even someone as obtuse as me could act…though I was not great….but I did something…

                        The first semester passed away this way and second semester started…when Mechanics was replaced by Engineering Drawing as the subject of focus (btw I just scraped through in mechanics with a measly 44 my first real insight into engineering never before had I come so close to failing). Again I didn’t take tuitions and for good reason here as I had studied the subject for a couple of years in school. Thinking about Engineering Drawing, it reminds me of the big bust up between Harsh Parekh and Arpit Gupta over a case of mass bunking practicals….where the latter wanted to and the former didn’t….just imagine the kind of issues we used to have…sounds so immature and both of them have laughed over it later…

                        Second semester was the time when I found my first love in college- flowcharts… I used to love drawing flowcharts so much that I voluntarily drew flowcharts for other people as well….Infact I was quite sincere during my first year of engineering…I actually used to create master copies of the writeups for journals and I used to enjoy doing it….It just goes to show how much I have changed since then…

After drama, Harsh and I thought of trying our hand at dancing and we joined a group in college which was performing dances of the famous Kishore Kumar and we were popularly known as the KK group. I must admit the dance was funny and we were also laughed at but I used to enjoy doing it somehow it was different than what I had done in my life till now and I enjoyed doing it…although I know for a fact that we were wonderfully pathetic at it.Again we had put together some stage performances and it was a good but fun experience. This was also the time when I made a new friend in Khyati and through her Monal. I have some very nice memories with them of this year after which Monal and I share a happy go lucky friendship still whereas Khyati and I have a very love-hate friendship.There is one month of love and one month of hate….and the cycle repeats invariably….But both remain special to me in their own respective ways….

                        Being engineers we were very intrigued by technology, especially Robotics. A couple of my friends- Nihir Nemani, Tejasvi Bongirwar, and the most vibrant of all Sagar were the first to remake a robot made by their elder siblings and we as a team took part in one of the college festivals- that was the first time we got introduced to festivals which later became a very important part of our lives. Obviously we lost, infact we didn’t even qualify for a proper timing but it was a good experience.

                        One very colourful character that got introduced in my life during this period was Henali (and the colour you must have guessed was pink)….She is a perfect uptown girl…as if a phirang entered this unknown world of backward classes and it was fun to hear her communicate in our matrubhasha Hindi as she knew very little of it. She made quite a few interesting comments but this one still rules the charts- her order in Papillon- “ Ek Nimbu pani bina ice bina masala aur bina shakkar”......She took the order quite literally as Nimbu aur pani was all that was left….

                      One of my first addictions also got introduced to me during this time….Messaging….Yes not many people remember it but I used to send a new forward almost everyday during this time…maybe that’s how I got to know everyone and everyone got to know me as my name kept popping in their inbox every morning.

                        Last but not the least comes the trip to Mahabhaleshwar which was supposed to be attended by a Mr.Karan who backed out because he had to attend Engineering Drawing tuitions- the nerd that he is…and Mr. Nihir Nemani who backed out due to I don’t know reason number 127 maybe..(as the years progressed his reasons became all the more innovative and colourful).Eventually Sumangal, Harsh,Shardul,Bandish and i went.

                        These are just a few of the good memories that I remember about my first year of engineering. But by far it was the best year as there were no quarrels no tensions people were trying to know each other and it was the best time that all of us had. We left home at eight in the morning come back at eight in the evening. Almost everyday we used to hang out go for coffee at some cafes, spend time at the beach, chill around on someone’s terrace, watch movies …while away our time just because we didn’t really know what to do with it….and trust me that was the best time I had … we had ………….

Obama and India

Barack Hussain Obama was recently appointed the President of United States of America- (a golden crown encrusted with thorns) and the entire world had its eyes glued to their television sets just to watch his speech and inhale his moves. There is some undefined charisma around this magician as the Americans and the people at large look to him as the modern day Messiah. A superhero, who, they believe will resurrect the world from this abysmal trench which The Bush administration has left the world in.

 

How ironic is it to see that you, me and the world is looking towards the same country which buried the world into this pit, to bail us out from it. Such is their grandeur its comparable to the pull of gravity in the black hole…if they get sucked in they carry the world along with them. Anyway so hoping against hope that this Revolutionary Democrat has some tricks up his sleeve and he is able to re-build the economy (which by the way is at a staggering trillion dollar debt) ‘brick by brick’ then let us analyse the implications of his ascendancy on India as a country.

 

The most outstanding aspect about Obama’s campaign is the fact that his promoters made it very clear what it is not but always left it obscure as to what it is. His trump card was to address the people …in previous decades the past presidents had campaigns of the riches by the riches for the riches, which Mr.Obama modified to a more realistic of, for, and by the people…. (Maybe because there is no one left rich in America anymore)…

 

The most controversial statement, which got India concerned, has been in the field of outsourcing. Obama proclaimed that he would safeguard the jobs of native Americans. This statement is quite an obvious politically correct statement for any politician to gain the trust of people and win elections especially in such troubling times these words are like sweet nectar for the masses. He will take measures to safeguard American jobs but that does not necessarily mean that outsourcing will be terminated as concluded by the judgemental media. The recession will also affect jobs in India but the fact remains that in India, the educated labour comes at a much cheaper cost as compared to America. In the States, people get paid on an hourly basis whereas here the job culture is such that people won’t mind putting in an extra couple of hours just to impress the boss. Thus they cannot do without customer services and shifting the entire set-up back to the states would cost them a fortune so invariably they will remain to the Indian subcontinent- its just this temporary lull which the outsourced companies have to see through and which infact everyone has to recover from.

 

Another important concern as projected by the pundits is the stand of the Obama administration on the Indo-Us nuke deal. Although Obama eventually voted for the nuke deal he had moved an amendment in the Senate which would
cap the amount of imported nuclear fuel that India could stockpile.
This leads us to believe that India will eventually be forced into signing the  Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which are two treaties India has carefully avoided giving it the freedom to be a force to reckon with in the international circle. If this right is given up then India will lose its power to take decisions on its own in the international arena and will end up becoming USA’s puppet. I am not saying that the nuke deal was a failure infact it is the best thing that happened to India in a while- the man who brought L-P-G (liberalisation-privatisation-globalisation) to India also brought power and it was much needed for the interiors of the country where they don’t have the luxuries of electricity spanning over days. At least this will make India more connected from interiors to the metros. But India will have to tread its steps carefully now so as to ensure regular supply of nuclear fuel and resources simultaneously avoiding signing those treaties for it to reap the benefits of this deal and the vision of our forefathers.

 

The most sticky issue which India has had to suffer over the years is the Kashmir issue. My blood boils over how our honourable next door neighbours have succeeded in making an issue out of nothing at all trying to steal from us what is rightfully ours. The cause for concern is that over the years Democratic governments are known to be less friendly to India than a Republican association.

Washington is in a big dilemma. On one hand they want to abolish all the terror camps within the Pakistani soil as one of the camps has been a cause for the bombing of one of their prominent buildings and it also brings USA in a positive light in front of the world. But if they take steps to do that then the Pakistani government has given open threat that it will withdraw its troops from the Afghan border thus annulling any strategic support given to the Americans by them. Washington does not want to lose its hold on Afghanistan a country on which it has taken a lot of time to get hold of and from where they can very easily rob oil deposits and transfer to their country free of cost. If they don’t support India the world will take note of it and if they do support India they are risking the enmity of Pakistan and its strategic partner China (who supports Pakistan by arms and ammunition just to keep a check on our country’s progress) thus they will adopt the reasonably milder path of peace talks between the two countries and the intervention of a third party into the already severed relations will re-hyphenate the Indo-Pak relations already hanging by a loose thread. If India deploys troops without America’s consent it risks the ire of the world and may lose international credibility as far as the nuke deal is concerned and the last thing that a country wants during a recession is international isolation. So it’s a wait and watch time to see how Obama and India’s incoming prime-minister handle the virus named Pakistan.

All in all India may not be at an advantage with Obama's regime but according to my understanding I don't think there is any cause of concern for India as far as Uncle Sam does not meddle his fidegety nose into India's internal matters.

The memento v/s Ghajini --- a review....

Statutory warning- Those who havent seen 'The Memento' or 'Ghajini' do not read my blog..i mean do not read itas of now...but do read it after you have seen both the movies...

The Memento-

Never have i seen a movie with directional brilliance to match the stature of The Memento enacted brilliantly by Guy Pearce - 'Leonard Shelby' - Cristopher Nolan, the director has a flair of movie telling which is proven from his history - 'The Dark Knight' and 'The Prestige'...

Coming back to the movie the marvel of the story is in the fact that it shows the climax and the beginning in two back to back scenes and the movie proceeds to the centre...with the present past in colour and the past future in black and white. in simple words it's like burning a candle from both ends...an important fact is that this low budget cult film had a very lukewarm opening and it didnt have many distributors as well but it turned out to be in the list of the top ten revenue grosser's with its major publicity being word of mouth.

                                   The Plot- 

Leonard is an insurance investigator whose memory has been damaged by a head injury he sustained after intervening on his wife's murder.His quality of life has been severly hampered after this event and he can now only live a comprehendable life by tatooing notes on himself and taking pictures with his polaroid camera. Since the incident he could not form any new memories so he arranged the jigsaw puzzle of his life through these major events but he conveniently and invariably forgot the intricate details. It's like refreshing the screen of your browser to get a fresh start every fifteen minutes.The movie is told in forward flashes of events that are to come that compensate for his unreliable memory during which he has liasons with various complex characters.The central plot circumscribes the idea that Leonard's sole aim of life is avenging his wife's death and the movie veers between these future occurances and a telephone conversation that he has in a motel room where he likens his condition to a client he claims had a similar condition to his.

                              The mysteries-

If you have watched the movie closely there are certain questions which might have arised in your mind, some of these were questions that came to my mind and i would like to provide my explainations to them.

Two most prominent questions were...did sammy jankins really exist? 

Did Leonard kill his wife himself or was she murdered in the accident ?

What i could draw from the movie was that Lenny(Leonard) had a client named Sammy Jankins but he feigned the condition of short term memory loss. Leonard proved Sammy's lie and so Sammy was not granted any reimbursments, the twist arises in the fact that Sammy did not have a wife ( as stated by Teddy-his friend assuming Teddy is true) it was actually leonard's wife herself who had diabetes and she was raising those questions and she was the one who tried desperately to prove somehow that Leonard would snap out of the illness if she did the right thing. She went to extremes by testing it herself and infact it was not Sammy but Leonard who injected those insulin injections in his wife thus sending her in a state of comma. If you notice the scene where Sammy is shown in a hospital on the wheelchair, the last glimpse of that scene has Leonard on the same wheelchair in place of Sammy and if you hear the dialogues in his voiceover it will make sense that he himself was undergoing the condition which he claimed that Sammy had. Leonard's mind camouflaged his illness on Sammy's body because Sammy was a part of his memory and Lenny himself puts it as " Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record  and they're irrelevant if you have the facts.' So it proves that Lenny himself was the cause of his wife's death and it is supported in the last scene of the movie when he closes his eyes and visualises his wife, a tattoo is imprinted on his chest saying 'I have done it' as if his guilt was speaking as he did not have the tattoo earlier.

The last scene is clearly the defining scene of the movie when Lenny's character makes a strong decision- he realises he has killed his wife, he realises that he has already avenged her death but he still continues in his quest for a 'John g', because that is what his life has become all about- his life has no motto, no purpose no direction without a goal to achieve so he destroys evidence and sets up a new mystery to unfold and the movie is actually his quest to find out the latest 'john g' which ends up being his own friend 'Teddy - inspector John Gammel' beacause Lenny himself set him up by noting down his number plate as his last tattoo. It had become his obsession to solve self made mysteries as that was the only way he could believe that he was leading a normal life. 

Speaking about car licence plates, the first scene has an 'I' in the number plate and lenny's tattoo has a '1' which is a blatant error rectified by the director when the number plate incorporating a '1' instead of the 'I' on the plate in the final scene.

                              The uniqueness- 

The most enthralling part of the movie is that it forces the viewer to think, analyze and draw conclusions and then it provides chilling evidences to refute our assumptions in a bid to unfold the true story. As i mentioned earlier the brilliance of the movie lies in the way the story is narrated and the subtle hints interspaced between crude facts which when taken as a whole provides a lucid explaination of what the movie intends the target audience to conclude.

Ghajini-

Ghajini the movie having a starcast consisting of Mohit ahlawat, Asin, Aamir khan and Jiah khan and directed by A.R. Murugadoss has a rear accomplishment of keeping the name of the movie on a villian - a fact not experimented in Bollywood. I saw this movie because of the Aamir Khan- A.R.Rahman combination and the premovie frenzy generated by the media of this being loosely inspired by The Memento. This movie departs from the original based on its  destinctive narrative in reverse chronology and is laid flat out to display the revenge of a battered hero seeking revenge for the murder of his soulmate (brilliatly portrayed by Asin and she was the flair and the essence the movie required). This is intertwined with glimpses of memory loss which is not expressed very explicitly but brilliantly emoted by Aamir through his acting skills which are undoubtably remarkable as always. He quite literally ratifies the famous proverb ' Actions speak louder than words'. Jiah Khan is the director's dummy who unfolds Aamir's mystery to draw out on the storyboard, the reason behind Aamir's actions. The first part of his life- his love story with Asin is a sweet romantic comedy and has certain glimpses which teleports you into a utopian world where life is a cake and love is the icing on top.Nevertheless its fun to watch and to add to it all A.R.Rahman's music provides the cherry on top. Although unconventional, his music is pleasing to the ears. At the end, the hero gets his revenge,the villian dies and it's a happy ending - a perfect Bollywood recipe.

The comparision-

The theme of my blog was to draw a comparision between these two movies.If you have seen the movies and read my blog completely then you would have realised that the  movies are uncomparable. Except for the fact that the central characters have a short term memory loss there is nothing in common.

There are some very distinguishing facts between the two movies-

While Leonard remembered everything of his past life till the incident, Sanjay Singhania (Aamir) had to go over his notes everyday to recollect what he  was and where he stands in his present life and what is his motto of life now.It was shown to that extent that he even forgot the daily activities of brushing his teeth or shaving his face.This leads me to think that how can it be a short term memory loss and how is he able to recollect everything just by reading his notes.

A simple comparision for computer literates would be that while Leonard's memory was more of a hard-disk with no capacity ( as he remembered everything prior to the incident and could not form new memories), Aamir's was more of a RAM -( highly volatile and had to be refreshed everytime he switched on his system)

Leonard was out for revenge but his character did  not show the killer instinct to reach the murderer, it was more of a quest to solve a mystery and answer the puzzle of his life so that he would not live in guilt.

Sanjay Singhania metamorphosised into a killer with only one motto find the villian and kill him-that's the only way he could avenge her death and would get his peace of mind.

Leonard's life revolved in circles...everytime he committed a murder he relieved himself of the grief but during that time he started assembling new puzzles to solve so that he could re-embark on a journey which he had just completed. He conveniently wanted to live in his world of oblivion even though he had a chance of liberating his quest when he realized the truth from his friend Teddy.He rather found solace in living an artificial life.

Sanjay's life had a motto, once that was acheived he had come to terms with it and there were no more efforts for him to understand answers to questions which would have been posed to himself once his memory got refreshed.Lets assume that he made notes of avenging her murder and so he was haapy by dedicating the remainder of his life to children.

These contrasting styles throw light on some intiguing aspects at a global point of view-

-- Coming out of the theater i tried to answer the question raised by my mind that does Bollywood underestimate the the public of India or am i overestimating them as i found nothing new in the movie although people have given rave reviews of the movie. Clearly Ghajini's target audience was the rural India. It was not a cult film but a bollywood money churner.Ghajini as a movie is good, there are no shortcomings in the film independently, but it is nowhere close to the original and knoeing Aamir Khan and being his ardent fan i expected a lot more from it.

--Ghajini was not about short term meory loss, Murgadoss's depiction leaves this movie as the display of Aamir's overwhelming acting skills with nothing in it for the intelligentsia. It was not a movie for the classes but for the masses. A broken down simple linear story which people would understand and appreciate. It's nowhere close to an Oscar winner but will definately be a top five contender in the Best Actor award in the filmfare next year.

-- Hollywood approaches film making in a quite different manner as compared to Bollywood. The story telling, cinematography, plot and direction have high degree of contrasting styles. Take these two movies for an example it's more of a case of Brains v/s Brawns. On one hand where The Memento compels you to exercise your brain cells to understand the story Ghajini compels the central character to flex his muscles and the audience to leave thier brains aside sit back in their seats have pocorn and marvel in awe at the strength of a hero and his ever so predictable quest to overpower the villian...a perfect bollywood ending

When a common man speaks....

I sit in this Universe,in Earth,in Asia,in India,in Mumbai in the cozy confines of my home on my study table typing this blog like any other inconsequential bug amongst the zillions living and dying on this planet. How much of importance does my life hold??? Say just as a citizen of a country what value is my life?? How important am I to the country?? How important is my vote?? What worth does it hold?? With this thought in mind I went last week to create my voter id. The lack of motivation was countered by the benefit of a permanent photoid proof…that’s all the importance it had for me….

 

And my opinion was reinstated with the absence of planning and organisation at the collector’s office where hordes of people thronged the office to get their names registered…I couldn’t contemplate for what purpose..??? After all who cares why should I spoil an important day to vote for twofaced losers with disgracefully colourful ulterior motives clothed in plain khakis and camoflagued as the meesiah of the underpriviledged commonly known as the politicians of today…..

 

I want to shed light on the mumbai blasts but let me complete my assessment of so-called leaders of the democracy with one goonda,(one of the examples of why people avoid voting) with a tilak on his forehead,folded hands, specks on his eyes and clothed in white who has created a fortress and a genre of hate based politics…I think his party slogan should be “when you don’t have knowledge make use of power”. When I see his image this is what actually comes to my mind… his white clothes grey out his black techniques. his folded hands symbolizing peace hide his hideously atrocious working pattern and his spectacles which elucidate a radical thought process in his mind devoid of logic.

Ladies and Gentlemen aamchya mumbaikar- raj thackerey

 

I do not want to indulge into his cowardliness not to act when it matters or even the intricacies of the massacre in Mumbai it’s there on every nook and cranny of every website…what inspires me is the level of planning and co-ordination that these bunch of militants exemplied. It was an operation of unimaginable perfectness. Right from their mode of transportation, time of landing, resources required, manpower required, their strategic positioning in such a way that a couple inside could withstand hundreds outside. Consider half a score of young brains like you and me, out with a purpose not to attack the world but to spread a message, to instill a fear, to instigate a hatred, to arouse a rebellion and exhibiting the gumption and conviction to achieve their targets. (well not pricesly…thanks to our commendable commandos…any praise in words is just to short….militants were out there to murder 5grand but our gurads could keep the casualty under 500)

 

Anywazs before you jump to conclusions let me clarify I am not commemorating the atrocities and brutality of the militia….their act should be condemned and there are innumerable intellectuals in every news channel suggesting precisely the same- burn them alive, go to war against Pakistan…..but I am not concerned by that cause I am not the one who will be asked if india goes to war or if the captured terrorist is inflicted with a punitive sentence of “hang to death”. I have confidence in the system of this democracy and moreover on the almighty that somehow or the other justice will be granted.

 

But I am concerned that how as an individual, as a tiny insect in this universe can I be a change…I started out saying that I am worthless…but look at those dozen who infiltrated our country they had a dream they had a vision and they accomplished it. If they can accomplish it although their’s was a negative purpose then definitely I can as an individual have a positive impact. Moreover I would like to draw inpiration from our ancestors who have alwazs preached that “always follow of truth because eventually good superceeds all evil”. It’s just that evil is like the chocolate icecream that we obese citizens invariably gulp although we are provided with the bitter option of karela juice in the form of good….bitter it may be but it’s the right way to go.small term benefits are so glamorous that we lose focus and diverge our aim and associate in wrong shortcuts provided by life.

 

People around me are saying…why should I vote whom should I vote for I would rather not vote….there is no promising candidate to vote for…. I condemn their line of thought… When you are provided with the power to elect your leader, when you are given the sword to fight although we as voters have a different battlefield but that’s when we sit behind our armours inside the confines of our bunkers stating that I am better of defending than attacking. Are we so weak that we lose hope and just sit saying that we don’t have any obama to vote for so we wont vote….why cant you be the obama….why cant I be the obama…..make yourself count when it matters and this is coming from the keyboard of a lazy young and directionless individual who till last week didn’t even have a voter’s id….If  such an incident cant change you then you are so thickskinned then nothing ever will…if you are literate enough to read and understand my blog then you will very well understand that you will live and die the life of a perfect illiterate who studied so much that he reserved his knowledge only for criticism , to despise the type of candidates available at our disposal to vote for, only to crib about the state of the state…only a voice among the zillion…..

 

I believe that just like that terrorist if I plan, if I have a direction if I have the platform then I will make my existence count atleast when it matters….my vote wont count among a zillion but when hundreds or thousands like me decide to vote then it will count, we will make it count. And I am not preaching that vote to be an alert citizen…you,me everyone is alert,aware, sensible and prudent there is no lacking this aspect in a metro like mumbai but I am saying vote so that 5 years later you do not live to see and regret another 26/11 blaming the government that they cannot provide you security..if you don’t vote then you don’t have any right to blame anyone cause you not only shrugged off the responisiblity of an aware citizen but you renounced the sole right you had being in a democracy like us.

 

Remember they can destroy property,they can demolish infrastructure....but they cant touch us...they cant touch our spirit...immedately a day later like a wounded tiger Mumbai resusciates, with a renewed vigour....to punce on its prey rather than being the victim and this time with a spirit a unified voice...not to wait for the change but be the change....Dont lose hope mumbai....its our campaign against world terrorism...we raise our heads and proclaim resoundingly "YES WE CAN"