Tell me SIr....

Can you tell me Sir why do we not play everyday anymore like the good old days when at the stroke of 5, after the last half an hour of perfunctory studies, books were packed in a frantic hurry, bats were wielded like maces and a determination to be that evening's hero in the match prevailed? Can you tell me Sir why half an hour of Disney Hour on TV was much more fun than hours of TV and computer now? Tell me this also why kites no longer catch the eye, no longer the desire to fly them? The fun at school, teasing boys on girls and girls on boys. Why don't I understand how the fun of one samosa eaten in the school canteen refuses to be downplayed by the myriad succulent dishes tasted later? Those races with stick-beating the tires and running after them. Those pantomimes with cycles as buses and us donning the roles of conductors. Tell me sir where is the shine of the eye when not knowing what to do never irked the mind? Nor did the spectre of the future bear down upon? Why does that uncanny knack of being contented not present itself anymore? Tell me Sir, was it just a case of 'ignorance is bliss'? Sir, tell me, will you?

I Am Expecting......

"Expectations are an obstacle in the path of happiness", let lose some venerable XYZ. I cannot agree more. There dawns this crushing reality that almost all of the sadness is the off-shoot of expectations. As I start pondering, a tumultuous number of scenario flood my mind.

I got 80%, but alas I expected to get 85. I thought that such an arduous trek might lead us to a better scenery, not just some trees and bushes. Oh my, I thought that the class will get canceled. I guessed that this sport might be more fun but alas....and so go on many stories. As human beings we can never cleanse ourselves of expectations.

As opposed to this is the unparalleled, pure bliss of getting something unexpected. A class getting canceled when you have least expected it is like a gift from the God himself. A surprise party when you've never thought of it might just be the reason to cheer you up. The element of a pleasant surprise always takes an upper hand. It only takes a bit of restraint in expecting things to allow ourselves to be pleasantly surprised. Of course this again diverges to the debate of not expecting any fruit and keep on working.

Why are children almost always so happy ? Their mind is not cluttered with the myriad desires and experiences that adults have. Every experience is a new one for them. There is no benchmark to compare or weigh one result against another. You don't compare a sweet with another. A sweet is a sweet to be enjoyed in isolation.

But of course, an axiom single handedly never dictated life. Not expecting anything at all will take away the magnetic power of the goal that keeps us working. Mitigation of motivation will result in lower levels of enthusiasm. However we can enjoy small moments of life without expecting hills out of small events. Just get yourself pleasantly surprised on every turn of the way.

In a lighter vein, some circumstances can make even the most expecting hero starts wavering.

Nagalapuram Trek : Day-1

Went on a 2 day trek with the Chennai Tekking Club to Nagalapuram in Andhra Pradesh. The trek promised to be a larger and more difficult version of Tada. Taking a break from the normal route, this time the trek was planned from the western side of the mountain. The trail was supposed to be dry and all of us were advised to carry 4 liters of water. If only we knew that even 4 liters would prove less.

We left on Friday night at around 9. I was in Peter's (the head of CTC) Scorpio. The ride was quite good. Scorpio is quite a car when it comes to comfort and handling. After stopping in between for an hour and then resuming, we reached the base village at around 2.15 am. After getting a few hours' sleep in the school – premises, we started off at around 6.30 am with bags full of stuff. We reached the ever elusive base of the mountain after around an hour's walk. And then started the climb. The climb was quite easy in the beginning and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. We had breakfast at around 8.30 am and again started off with periodic stops for drinking water and glucose. As the time passed people started getting tired and the gap between the fit and the unfit people began to widen. Soon people were divided in batches with the first batch including Peter far ahead of us. After walking through the jungle for some time, we reached a dry stream and started following it which was monotonous and tiring because of the uneven land. After following a series of stream trails we hit upon quite a steep climb with barely any trees for hold. My 4 liters of water had got over by then. The steep climb was somehow completed after a series of rests. I guess we rested more than we trekked. Finally we got down the second hill and started following a river which was supposed to lead to a flowing stream. It was at this point that I started getting all weak and shaky. I was constantly loosing my balance and patience. After being helped by the cores at a point and after a 3 km climb, we sighted a stream. And what a feeling that was! All we could think about was drinking the flowing water. We followed upstream, climbed over a hill to avoid swimming and reached the 'rugby' pool at around 5.30 pm. Ah, what relief! After around 11 hrs of trekking we had reached the pool. The pool was awesome; calm and deep. No sooner had I reached the pool, I changed and dived in over-looking my exhaustion. After a meal of delicious Maggi and soup, we crashed nearby the stream. And what a sleep that was ! The sound of the insects, the flowing water could only add to the depth of the sleep. That was the end of the grueling first day. Will upload the photos soon.

Summer resolution

Am blogging after a long time. Had lacked both the inspiration and the time to do so.

Everyone has a new year resolution. I decided to have a resolution for the summer. This is the first time that I am staying in insti in summer, so why not make full use of it? One of my resolutions is to travel this summer as much as the body and time permits. Weekend is the ideal time for roaming around. Even after staying in Chennai for 3 years I realize that I hardly know that place. Places that I have visited this summer (mostly on weekends)

1. The City Center
2. Nagalapuram trek with CTC

Places that I plan to visit:

1. Tirupati
2. Bangalore - Mysore - Hassan
3. Periyar National part (bleak chance but worth a try)

And local areas in Chennai. Lets see how things turn out.

Band Names !

As we sat brain-storming for names for our band, the following list emerged :

1. Chaotic Order
2. Harmonic Pandemonium
3. Packname
4. Whatever
5. ..............

Finally harmonic Pandemonium was chosen

What ? Yenna ? Yenu ? Kaay ? Kya ?.....

Come Saarang, the whole institute is up and alive. There is a general aura of excited euphoria and anticipation. The peak of emotions are reached in the professional shows. Professional shows ranging from Tamil performers to Hindi singers.

I have found many a pass times in these moments where people are completely themselves,having shed the garb of pretension of being someone else. These shows bring out the true element in the students and for a neutral observer, there couldn't be a better experiment. And the conclusion that comes out is disturbing. Here's how :

It is a known fact that people react most positively to known or heard songs. This is true even if the new song is way better. Familiarity always takes a upper hand. People want something to sing by, something which they can predict. A known song offers all the experiences of singing and discovering a new change from the original song. And since familiarity is synonymous with language compatibility, people react differently to different languages. All is fine. Nothing is wrong in that. However the crux of the matter is how people react to songs of an unknown language. This scenario brings to the fore the attitudes, the notion that people harbor towards a language. And it is precisely this particular observation that is disturbing.

Having lived outside my native state all my life, I think I am qualified enough for an impartial take on this matter. There is nothing wrong in not enjoying a 'non-compatible-language' song. However in the Saarang pro-shows I have been witness to many a cases where people indulge in abusing and mockery of local languages. This raises the question of superiority of the national language. The question at hand is what is the need for a national language ? Is it something other than a common platform for interaction between various states ? (Some might argue that English does that job well)

Why this disdain for 'non-compatible' languages ? Why this unjustified intolerance in all walks of life ? Sometimes these circumstances force me into thinking that the multilingual culture of India is detrimental for national unity. Sometimes one truly craves for a single unified language. Sometimes I wish India had only one language.

Someday I hope that people will not squabble over petty things like languages like people from different countries. Someday....someday....

“ Let my country awake, Father....let my country awake...!”
_ R. Tagore

Odd Beats

Odd beats in any song are simply awesome! Sounds with beats which are multiples of 3 sound too good. Of course this is not to diminish the beauty of the simple and eternal 4 - beat genre. In fact odd beats interspersed in a song with the mundane even beats raise the melody to another euphoric level. And there is a hidden philosophical meaning in the previous statement.

A sudden spurt of odd beats makes you take notice of the song, in sharp contrast to the otherwise insignificant, ordinary pandemonium of even beats. Its after all a question of dominance of odd or even. Odd dominance is odd isn't it?