2012 :The Indian Connection

Since watching the trailer of 2012:Doomsday a couple of months ago I had this fervent desire to watch it.I had watched 'The Day After Tomorrow' from director Roland Emmerich and quite appreciated it; particularly the director's ability to create an apocalyptic scenario.So there was no way I was going to miss this one even more so because it was billed to be even bigger and better than the former.

And the film did not disappoint at all.Kudos to the director for depicting the apocalypse in such a realistic way.Only Hollywood and no other could have done that.Critics have said that the movie is marred by poor acting skills but with such mind -blowing graphics and CGI(Computer Generated Imagery) who could have noticed.It was worth every moment(not money) I wasted.

A common trait that I noticed in the above mentioned movies is that the movies opening scenes are in India.Furthermore the Indian connection in the second movie is greater than in the first.After all it is an Indian astrophysicist who informs one of the protagonists that the apocalypse was more imminent than world leaders and scientists previously thought it was.Initially I thought perhaps this is a manifestation of the west's growing realisation of India's coming of age and I was filled with a sense of pride and self satisfaction.But my joy was short-lived.The latter stages of the movie deflated the balloon of pride that was swelling inside me.Why?Didn't u notice that the 21st century Noah's ark did not contain any Indian . Correct me if I am wrong.Imagine a gene pool of 1 billion people completely lost.Or maybe the Indian genes are not so worthy to be saved.Whatever the case I just pray that real life does not imitate reel if such a catastrophe ever hits the earth.

Signing off.

Of girls,love,frustration etc.

This is completely uncharted, virgin territory for me.Still have tried to make a decent analysis of a subject that encompasses us all unless you are homosexual.It does not help either when you have so little friends of the opposite sex that you can count on your finger tips and minimum interaction with the fairer gender.

Guys in our hostel can be divided into two categories-'the haves' and the 'have nots'.Does the classification ring a bell??No,it's not about financial condition that I am talking about.This classification is based on the wealth of love and not on the wealth of materialistic possessions.So the 'haves' are those who have girl -friends,keep a lot of female company and are blessed with this eternal gift called 'love' although for most of them love is not about eternity or spirituality but a mere tool to keep themselves busy and physically satiated.The 'have-nots' on the other hand are the exact opposite or the alter-ego of the 'haves'.It is not that they do not crave for female company but a combination of different factors say pride,shyness,inferiority complex etc. keeps them away from the females.As to me, I swear my allegiance to the 'have nots'.

These two categories,as is natural, have completely different ideological viewpoints a la the communists and the capitalists.Different viewpoints lead to different perceptions which has made these two completely antagonistic to each other.Obviously they do not voice their differences face to face but there is too much mud slinging in the shy.The 'haves' think that the 'have nots' are fools not to enjoy the fruits of life read female company.Their assessment of the 'have-nots' is nothing short of contempt and also pity perhaps.'Have-nots',on the contradictory,consider the 'haves' as being the greater fools for their liasions with the opposite sex and for wasting money,energy and time on them.But maybe it is hypocrisy on the part of the 'have nots' to have such a view.I think it is a perfect case of grapes going sour.Afterall who does not want to be surrounded by beautiful girls except maybe the gays.

If you think otherwise please post your comments.

Reminiscences of Childhood

It's 2:30 am in the morning and am tossing and turning in bed.These self-imposed Diwali holidays have instilled in me this awful habit of keeping awake till the wee hours of the morning.Thought I would break this habit today and got to bed early.But I have altered my biological clock to such an extent that Lady Sleep was miles away from me.When you are in bed and you don't fall asleep your mind drifts away to far away places,lost memories and days gone by.Mine went too-to those nostalgic days of childhood innocence , hearty laughter and endless frolic.

I sigh regretfully as the images of yesteryears sweep past me and a deep sense of nostalgia grips me.I come from a very humble background-the village I reside is very small and inhabited by people who are simple in heart and honest in dealings.Education standards were quite low then(it's improving by leaps and bounds now)and I was fortunate enough to attend an English medium school.I thank the Christian missionaries for opening a Don Bosco school nearby my place.Our family was quite well-off as compared to others in the village-thanks to my late father and grandpa.The only positive thing of our village is that it is situated adjacent to the highway.

My friends in the village were rustic village kids and although my parents tried to keep me away from them they were unsuccessful in their endeavour.So everyday after school or during holidays I would join them and off we went.We hunted birds,went fishing ,dangled from trees,swam in the village river or simply played cricket all day long.Eating mangoes,litchis and jack-fruits during the summer or berries from the trees that dotted the river bank during winter was another of our favorite pastimes.Life was all about going to school in the morning,playing cricket after school ,doing homework in the evening and answering" I want to be an engineer" with a broad grin whenever the teacher or some relative asked "What do you want to be when you grow up,beta?" and everyone was happy.

16th October,2009 I am in the 3rd year of my engineering course in a reputed institute and I doubt if I ever really wanted to be an engineer.Have enrolled myself in a coaching institute that declares it can help me to bell this CAT that everyone is so keen to.I am uncertain what really prompted me to run after this CAT-maybe I was merely following others like a sheep does or maybe I wanted something exciting and challenging to spice up my dull,listless life at MANIT or better still, maybe it was a combination of both.

Meanwhile back in the village the winds of change are blowing and they are blowing ferociously.Colour tv sets with dth,dvd , cd players,latest mobiles are a common sight now.I presume these are the fruits of the liberalization of the Indian economy in the nineties and the subsequent economic boom that India has witnessed.Education and economic soundness have empowered the village folk but these are also killing the feeling of brotherhood and bonhomie that these people exhibited in the days of yore.People still help each other and are benign but those days of solidarity they shared are gone.Children rarely go fishing or swimming or hunt for mangoes and berries.

As I conclude I really pity those children who have grown up in concrete cities without experiencing the joy and purity of life in the countryside.

Signing out for now...........

15 Days When The World Stood On The Brink Of Disaster

It's Monday morning and I am snuggled inside my warm blanket.It's raining cats and dogs outside
and this provides me the perfect excuse to miss college today.The cold weather and the sound of raindrops falling induces such deep slumber that I finally wake up at noon.It's still raining outside.I wonder if this untimely downpour is a consequence of global warming.My suspicion gains conviction when I read the headlines of TOI which carries images of the havoc caused by floodwaters in A.P. and Karnataka.I finish my morning chores(afternoon chores rather),have my lunch and am back in my room again.I decide to bunk the 2nd half too.To kill time(thats the only killing I do), decide to watch a documentary on the Cuban Missile Crisis.


To the uninitiaded let me remind you that the world most came to total annihilation in the autumn of 1962.For 15 days the world watched with bated breath a suspense drama unfold.The stage-Kremlin,White House and the small island of Cuba.The protagonists-the charismatic John F. Kennedy,the old warhorse Nikita Khruschev and the Cuban communist leader Fidel Castro.
The crisis was the product of the clash of two ideologies,the result of two superpowers trying to impose itself on the other.Like two tigers vying to rule an entire jungle,the USA and the former USSR engaged in a dangerous game to assert their supremacy.

To understand the gravity of the crisis let me remind you that the USA and the USSR had a total of more than 50000 nuclear warheads and if indeed a war broke out between them this stockpile was sufficient enough to destroy the world many times over.The crisis was triggered when a reconnaissance mission of the USAF revealed an under construction nuclear missile base.
A missile fired from this base would take less than 10 minutes to reach Washington.The establishment of this missile base was in response to the deployment of Jupiter missiles by the US in Turkey.

From Oct 13 to Oct 28,the White House and the Kremlin witnessed a buzz of activity as both sides refused to back down.The US asked the USSR to withdraw the missiles or face dire consequences.It initiated the blockade of Cuba as US warships prevented any ship from entering or leaving Cuba.This was done to prevent further transfer of technology and nuclear materials from the Soviet Union to Cuba.The Soviet Union refused to comply saying it would only withdraw the missiles if the US itself withdrew its missiles from Turkey and that the US should guarantee that it would not invade Cuba.But the hawks on either side did not want their country to balk down to the other.In the end though common sense prevailed as President Kennedy and President Khruschev reached an agreement.The USSR agreed to withdraw the missiles and the world was saved of a nuclear holocaust.


Hoping that the world one day gets rid of the menace of nuclear weapons.

The Ghost Of S.R.B.

This is an amusing and interesting incident that occurred during my days at S.R.B. hostel,Cotton College.For those of you who believe in 'tantriks' or black magic this incident would be a real eye-opener.

I was in 12th standard that time and my roommate was Bhaskar Borah,a degree 3rd year student.Our hostel was an old,decrepit British built Assam type house that had witnessed almost a hundred summers.Unlike in MANIT ,we had a library in our hostel that was named after a deceased boarder,the Lt. Pabitra Gogoi.Just outside the library we had a 'common' landline phone that kept us in touch with our relatives.Of course the phone was meant only to receive calls and not to call.Back then the mobile density was not as high as it is now;only an elite few had cell phones.Adjacent to the phone was the window of the library whose panes were all broken, obviously the doing of a rowdy boarder.The keys of the library lie with the library in-charge who is chosen from among the students.

It was Lt.Pabitra Gogoi's death anniversary and like every other year we had organized a small
puja for the peace of his eternal soul.After the puja was over everyone retired to their respective rooms.Around midnight,Trinayan came to our room and presented his devious plan to scare Mrigen da.Bhaskar da gave his approval to the plan and it was promptly put into action.

One of us made a call to our common phone.After two or three rings one of us began yelling"Mrigen da!Your call".Mrigen da came out of his room and rceived his phoney call.He was half asleep and hardly aware of his surroundings.Meanwhile Trinayan was already inside the library.The lights inside the library had been switched off and what lay inside was impossible to determine.When Mrigen da was busy in the phone (trying to know who was on the other end)Trinayan quitely sneaked in his hand through the window touched Mrigen da on his bare windows and as quickly and quietly withdrew his hand as he had sneaked it in.This startled Mrigen da and as nobody was in the corridor(pre-planned)he made a dash to our room.You had to see his face.Fear was written all over it ; his face had become deathly pale.We asked what was the matter and pretended as if we were genuinely concerned. We gathered some other co -plotters and decided that we should check inside the library.In the meantime, Trinayan had already moved himself out of the library room and joined us.We armed ourselves with a few sticks and a torch (to appear genuine)and forced the library door open.Imagine Mrigen da's horror when we found not a soul inside.The superintendent was informed of this freak incident and it was decided that tantriks would be called the next day.


The next day the tantriks arrived and after taking a stock of the surroundings around the library declared that it was actually the spirit of Lt.Pabitra Gogoi that was roaming free and haunting us.They then recited some mantras and boastfully declared that for the next one month the spirit would not bother us.We rolled into laughter after the tantriks left.We did not reveal this secret to Mrigenda until the day of our departure.

Do u really believe in ghosts and black magic?Please post your comments.

Any SRBian if u happen to read this please put forward ur comments.


Signing off for now.

The Chinese ascent.

It's 2nd Oct. and India is celebrating Gandhi Jayanti.As I move through the headlines of major global newspapers(online editions) the only news that catches my eye is how the Chinese are celebrating their National Day. It's been almost a week since these newspapers have laid their focus on China's National Day and I wonder why it should be China and NOT India.

I have come to know that 60 years prior to this day India's per capita income was 1.5 times than that of China.Today the opposite is true.The Chinese are grabbing eyeballs everywhere be it in sports or economic power or military might and this makes me apprehensive and insecure and it's not because I have some kind of China phobia or something like that.It's just because the Chinese cannot be trusted as our past experiences reflect.Inspite of this I cannot but smile cynically at this juggernaut called China.

In India everything or anything we do invites comparisons with China.We build a dam and we are happy that it's bigger than any other in China.We build a nuclear submarine indigenously
but we are sad coz China already has seven or eight of them.Today more Indians are apprehensive about China than they are of Pakistan what with daily reportings of Chinese incursions and claims of entire Arunachal Pradesh being their territory.

Amidst all these, I fail to understand the reaction of the Indian Govt.Is it afraid of the Chinese dragon??Today there is news of the Chinese issuing separate sheets for those applying for Chinese visas from the J&K and all the govt. can do is to register a diplomatic protest.Unless the govt. talks tough the Chinese will take us for granted.

The Pakis and the Chinese are trying to push India into a corner by trying to establish friendly relations with our neighbours notably Bangladesh,Nepal and Sri Lanka.It's high time that India bolstered its defence capabilities to meet any future challenges.Enhanced military capabilities require increased expenditure which can only be achieved by rapid economic growth.
Economic growth in India as I am made to know can only be sustained through modernisation of
the country's infrastructure.

Signing off with the hope that China -India relations flourish in the future and two great,ancient civilizations again make a mark in the world.