Down the Memory Lane - II

The Fest That Was

This saturday, I was looking at photos of Nitin's college days, with his cousin Varun. It brought back images of my own days in college, particularly those of the college fest that we organized in our final year. A number of pictures rushed through in my mind, and I was overcome with a feeling of nostalgia. I wonder at the way the mind works - the memory is no longer a movie-like continuous chain of events, but more of a slide show of pictures, like shuffling through old photos stored in a box. And a few days later, when I am writing this, trying to recall those images, they are gone - I just have a recollection that I had some recollections the other day. Nostaligia, though faded, is still there. When I try to think back, I get kind of overwhelmed. There were the things that we did, like many us cramped in the small SAC room worked for days on end, preparing the 3-D stage backdrop and thermocol logos of the sponsors. And then there was the feeling - of enthusiasm, of ownership, of camaraderie - to make the event a thing to remember for years. That feeling is what I remember with greatest fondness when I think of those days. I guess one of these days I'll drive myself to organize my memories and thoughts, and write a coherent account of the memorable fest that "we" organized.

Some time ago, I finally scanned the pic of the stage backdrop we built. And so, 12 years after writing the original post, I am adding this pic :) 

Five Factor Values Profile

I chanced upon this test while browsing on blogspot. It was fun, and so I decided to post the result (with abosulte honesty :) ).

Here is the link to the Five Factor Values Test:
http://www.blogthings.com/thefivefactorvaluestest/

And here is my profile :

Loyalty:
You value loyalty a fair amount.
You're loyal to your friends... to a point.
But if they cross you, you will reconsider your loyalties.
Staying true to others is important to you, but you also stay true to yourself.

Honesty:
You value honesty a fair amount.
You're honest when you can be, but you aren't a stickler for it.
If a little white lie will make a situation more comfortable, you'll go for it.
In the end, you mostly care about "situational integrity."

Generosity:
You value generosity a fair amount.
You are all about giving, as long as there's some give and take.
Supportive and kind, you don't mind helping out a friend in need.
But you know when you've given too much. You have no problem saying "no"!

Humility:
You value humility highly.
You have the self-confidence to be happy with who you are.
And you don't need to seek praise to make yourself feel better.
You're very modest, and you're keep the drama factor low.

Tolerance:
You value tolerance highly.
Not only do you enjoy the company of those very different from you...
You do all that you can to seek it out interesting and unique friends.
You think there are many truths in life, and you're open to many of them.

Anything For You Ma'am

I read this book over the weekend. Subtitled 'An IITian's Love Story', this book is authored by Tushar Raheja, a 4th year BTech student at IIT Delhi.
It chronicles the events that take place as Tejas Narula, a third year student at IIT, devices a plan to undertake a journey from Delhi to Chennai, to meet his girlfriend Shreya, whom he first met as a close friend of his cousin.
Being a story about an IITian, written by an IITian, comparisons with Chetan Bhagat's 'Five Point Someone' are inevitable. I loved FPS (but as a one time read); I enjoyed this one as well (perhaps because I spent some years there myself ?). In my opinion, however, there is little similarity between the two books. For one, Bhagat's book primarily traced the life of three students through their years at IIT - triumphs and mishaps (mostly the mishaps) - that they encounter on their way to achieve an engineering degree from the prestigious insti, albeit with a poor CGPA (5.something). Tushar's book is about the romantic side of a young adult - who is as normal as any other guy in this respect, even though he might be an IITian. It touches the rest of the insti environment only peripherally. Granted there is the DISCO, and the industrial tour, which are central to the plot, but these cannot be considered as exclusive IIT dominions. Secondly Bhagat's writing is more mature - the characters are much better developed, and the flow and style good. The flow and style is something that is sadly missing in Tushar's book (I dont mind about the characters too much, given the context of the story). At several places, the sentences are not well formed - appear to be broken English resulting from a literal translation from Hindi. Another drawback is the attempt to play with the chronological order of the events. I have read quite a few books that take you back and forth in time very effectively through the narrative - enhancing the interest in the story . However, this does not work well in Tushar's case. The plus point is the content - the chain of events is amusing, as are the pranks played by the protagonist. So, except at some places where the author tends to digress a little bit too much, it was fun.

What would you do to save the world

As I mentioned I read this book by Ira Trivedi, last week. It belongs to the genre popularly called as 'chick-lit' these days. One would think I would never touch this kind of book after 'Opal Mehta...' experience. I guess I didn't learn my lesson; but well, the blame is not entirely mine. A good friend of mine, who borrowed 'Opal Mehta ...' from me (against my suggestion), gave it to me "to take a revenge". Oh, no doubt her really being my friend by this act - she was the one who also gifted me 'The Kite Runner' :-).
So, this book is about a business management graduate, who has dreamed of becoming Miss Indian Beauty since her childhood. She takes a semester off during her MBA to attempt to realize her dream. The book relates her experience through the paegent.
I found the premise of the story rather strange - management studies and beauty paegents seem poles apart to me. Chosing to ignore this apparent anamoly, there is little that is new or interesting - by now, we have read and heard so much about the things that go on in the world of beauty and fashion - starvation diets, dangerously high heels, exploitatio, layers of make-up, and most of all, the superficial questions which bear no consequence, that the judges ask to assess the intellect of the contestants - such as the one this book takes its title from - what would you do to save the world. I mean, in all these years, I have seldom seen any winner of any paegent do anything to uplift the poor, help the cause of health or sports (or anything else that they so grandiously claimed to feel for, and pledged to devote their time and energy to), much less save the world!
The inside view of the goings-on behind the beauty paegants could be appreciated by quite a few people. But its not my cup of tea. I guess I am cured of this genre of literature for good. I am happier with the likes of 'Five point someone' or 'Anything for you ma'am' (which incidentally is the next one I am going to write about).

The Namesake

Last week, I read "What would you do to save the world", and "The Namesake". The first book does not inspire me to write anything about it, so I'll write down my thoughts about the second one. After that, if I still have any inclination, I might say something about the first one too.

Over the weekend, I finished reading 'The Namesake' by Jhumpa Lahiri, of the 'Interpreter of Maladies' fame.

This book is about Bengali (which can actually be generalized to Indian) immigrants, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, and their children Gogol and Sonia, who are born and brought up in USA.

It is very well written - I liked the style. There are many moments which are poignant, or which really touch the heart. And then, it is a story which most of us can understand and empathise, if not identify, with. The major downside is that it is very slow - there are extensive details which are trivial, and seem to be redundant to the story. However, description which could have explained the thought process, and therefore developed, the characters further, and which one could have done with, is missing. I was also unable to appreciate why the protagonist's being a 'namesake' of a famous Russian writer was central to the story. Even if his parents had given him a proper Bengali (Indian) name, the conflict about the ideologies that he and his parents believe in, would have been the same. These conflicts can be generalized into the ones many of us, who have moved to the metros, have with our parents, who have stayed in small towns their entire life, or even more simply to the 'generation gap'. In this book, the author has taken a close look at such differences in the context of Indian families in USA. Some of the moments catch their disconnect very subtly - like when the american salesperson snickers at parents accents, and prefers to talk to adoloscent son instead. However, it gave me a feeling of depression throughout.

I know people who just rave about this book, but I will rate this as OK. I did not like it very much, but did not dislike it either. At any rate,it is better fare than some of the chick-lit I happened to read recently.

My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky.
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.  

Well, Wordsworth is not the only one who rejoices at the sight of a rainbow. I have been fascinated by rainbows since my childhood - I feel there is something magical about the way a seven-colored arc suddenly appears in the sky, and stays for a while before fading away slowly. When I happen to see one, I keep looking at it every few moments till the time it disappears.
Why the sudden interest in rainbows ? Well, I saw one yesteray, after a long long time - a number of years, I guess. It seemed to me that I do not get to see them as often as I did when I was a child. Have they ceased to form as frequently ? Or is it our eyes that fail to see them ? Perhaps the high rise buildings in the "developing" world restrict our view of the expanse of sky. Perhaps we are too busy to watch something as immaterial as a simple play of colors (or a simple phenomenon of refraction, for the more scientifically inclined). Perhaps we are too immersed in our quest for materialistic things to admire an object of beauty which is offerd freely by the nature to everyone.

This was the best I could do with my cellphone camera.

I wonder why

We are a society obsessed with other peoples' matters. Most of us would have had been the target of rather personal questions from people we have hardly had an occasion to interact.
At the receiving end of this mindset, we are concerned more with the impression we create with "other people" rather than our own hapiness. We are perpetually bothered with "log kya kahenge" (What would people say/think). And so, we insist on following the mores of the society, doing things we do not want to do. And in this process we take for granted, and at times hurt, the people we really care about and who care for us. Why, I wonder.
Why should a person not seek his or her own happiness (as long as we are not hurting anyone, especially the people who are close to us)? I strongly believe that if one cannot keep himself or herself contented or happy, noone else is going to, or even be able to, do so.