Physics and Economics are two subjects which are closest to mankind. While physics delves into the nature and solves its mysteries, economics deals with the monetary part of our lives. Money has become almost as essential as air and water for our survival and existence.
While understand the laws of nature (I being a science student it’s mandatory and binding on me), laws concerned with money are beyond my grasp. Being born into a Gandhabanik (a type of Bengali baniya) family, money and its side effects run in my veins. As the blog progresses, it will unfold how my inclination and expectations from money have changed as I have aged.
When I was a kid, I understood little about money. Once an uncle of mine gave a 20 Rs note and told me to share with my younger brother. I decided to tear it into 2 equal pieces as that was my idea of sharing. My mother saved the note in just at the nick of time. But as the days progressed, my fascination towards money increased. I was feeling its power and even resorted to theft to buy chocolates and ice-candies. But I was soon caught and reprimanded. That brought the Almirah to our home.
In my school days I received only 80 Rs annually, 10 Rs after finishing exams and 20 Rs on Annual Day and Result Day. This also happened after I cried and croaked for about two or three years. My father used to talk about the importance and scarcity of money. I believed it and practiced it. Once, I gave a long lecture to our hapless bus-conductor who had forgotten to buy something with a one-rupee-coin I had given. Thinking of it, I know, I had overreacted over a trivial issue that also when I was just a 12-13 year old boy.
‘A penny saved is a penny earned’. This should be the motto of every sensible individual. But when you do overdo the saving, the only word which can explain you is ‘MISER’. I became the miser of worst kind. These kinds of persons are just pain in the ass and I was nothing less. I wouldn’t spend on myself and neither would allow anyone else to do that as well. If I happened to go for shopping, I would always start with the price-tag! It’s not what my heart wanted to do, but my brain had always a strong control over my heart.
I broke all records in miserliness in my first year of graduation. Whenever my mess used to have an off day, it used to be the same for my stomach. Once, I ate only two meals in two days and ate and drank water during the rest of the time. Aunty (whose mess I used to go) scolded me and stopped giving more off days. When she had to give one off day, she will inform me beforehand so that I could go home. I always travelled in local trains to save money and have received flak from all quarters. But I was a damn determined chap! I would drop dead whenever I had to repair my cycle or buy some gifts on my friends’ birthdays or if somebody talked about going somewhere. I would start fainting even before they reached the expenditure part! On my birthdays, I straightway went home and didn’t turn up for a few days!
In 2nd year, I started teaching tuitions. Miserliness decreased a few notches. For the first time in my life, I gave a party and bought few things as well. I even started eating in roadside eateries and didn’t sleep hungry on mess holidays. But still spending money remained a nightmare.
But in the last few years, my outlook towards money has changed drastically. I have read stories and watched movies concerned with how life is affected by money. And the deadly events occurring around the globe are related to currency notes directly or indirectly. Closer home, the behaviours of my relatives and friends have called for introspection into the whole matter. My relatives remember only when they require money. My friends, whom I knew and cherished for a long period of time, after getting jobs (some even when they were doing engineering) stopped acknowledging and recognizing me even on Orkut! This made me feel disgusted about money. While many will try to accumulate more money and retain their social positions, I have decided to be not bothered by it at all. I am absolutely confident that I will be able to earn enough to support me and my family.
G.B. Shaw once said, ‘Power doesn’t corrupt Man but its Man who corrupts Power’. Money is a power as well and has a corrupting influence if not utilized properly. I have decided to indulge in activities that will provide me with Knowledge, Happiness and Peace. Money for me will just be a tool to attain a decent standard of life for me and my family. I hope God will be on my side in my endeavour. Amen!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Sachin Tendulkar: The Little Master
20 has become a very important number in contemporary cricket. Now we have T20 and IPL and not to forget 20 overs of powerplays. Hence when someone as great as the Little Master, SACHIN TENDULKAR completed his 20 years in international cricket on 15th November 2009, it was destined to be the golden day in history of Indian sports. It all started in Karachi on 15th November 1989 when he started against Pakistan in the First Test match. He started his international runs career with a 15 scored on the afternoon of 16th.
A kid, only of 16, when he made his debut, started with National Stadium Karachi having posters of him jeering him to go back and drink milk. He was even hit by a Waqar Younis bouncer and was injured. But Sachin is a gritty customer and seldom is perturbed and he showed it in the very first match and continued playing in a blood soaked shirt. He didn’t have a dream of series but in an exhibition match in Peshawar, he thrashed the great Abdul Qadir for 28 runs in an over and went to make an 18 ball 53. Sadly, he had the worst ODI debut (a duck in his first innings). But ever since then he has not looked back and now is the proud owner of 17178 runs in ODIs, 12777 runs in Tests and 10 runs in T20Is and is just 35 runs short of 30000 international runs. No player dead or alive has ever thought about these many runs even in their dreams! Add to this 45 ODI and 42 Test hundreds, 91 ODI and 53 Test Fifties. A whooping amount really! The great man has played 159 Tests 436 ODIs and one T20Is. That is 1232 days of international cricket. Add to it Ranji Trophy, English county stint with Yorkshire, IPL and other tournaments and you will have a number which nobody in this world has ever touched and I bet would never touch!
But it’s not Sachin’s numbers which made me write this blog. It’s the influence that he yields over the billions of people in this country and abroad made me write this. I have watched my entire cricket on the television. I vaguely remember that the first programme that we watched was some cricket match. I started watching cricket during 1992 World Cup (I was 6 years of age then). My father used to talk about Sachin and it was whom I watched but I don’t remember anything about it. I remember about the last over of Hero Cup Final in 1993 but not to the best of the details. I started watching and understanding cricket since the 1996 World Cup. Since then I get hooked on to a match whenever it is going on and especially if Sachin is playing. In Tumsar, we used to go to garages, paan shops and petrol pumps to watch Sachin if the bus delayed. The first question on a match day on entering home was always, “Mummy India ka score kitna hua? Aur Sachin??” My mother didn’t know an iota about cricket before but I made her an ardent cricket follower. She is also a great fan of Sachin and calls her as her son.
India always had quality players like Azhar, Jadeja, Dravid and Ganguly but it has always been Sachin who ran the show on his own. It has always been, “Sachin gaya Match gaya!”. Most Indians switch of their TV sets as soon as he gets out. I don’t do that usually but the tail has generally showed “Tu Chal Mi Yeto” tendency more than often. The recent Hyderabad match showed it again. As TOI rightly puts it, “The country stops when Sachin gets going and gets going when Sachin stops!”. I personally never want to get going as I don’t want Sachin to stop ever!
It has been said many times that Sachin plays only for his records. I find this completely untrue as I have seldom seen such a committed player in any form of team sport. Yeah he does slow down when he nears his century. But we must not forget he has the most scores in 90s and actually 3 99s. And as soon as he finishes his century we have always seen him firing all cylinders to make up for the balls he lost! Moreover what are the batsmen at the other end doing?
If cricket is a religion, Sachin is the God. I also worship him and generally don’t allow anyone to speak against him. I have been in serious arguments with many on this topic (especially Ganguly fans who are usually very argumentative). Well it’s proved beyond anything that Sachin is the greatest. All his contemporaries have faded into the twilight and he still looks strong for another decade.
Sachin the person is liked as much as Sachin the player. His “Let the Bat Talk” philosophy is my favourite. Someone has said, “Art of speaking is silver but Art of Silence is Gold!”. And Sachin’s policy is just the same. He never lashes out at his critics but scores a century to prove what he is. That’s a policy which should be taken up by everyone. It will actually bring peace and increase your zeal to perform. It gains you friends and benefactors as well. When Buchanan wrote something about Sachin in his book he didn’t object. But the whole cricketing community from Geoffrey Boycott to Adam Gilchrist protested!
The way he evolved and matured through the years and how he adjusted his shots is exemplary. As soon as any bowler gets hold of any of his weakness, he discovers a new shot! All of us remember the Giles episode. Yuvraj also told how he developed shots against Mendis after he had created havoc in Pakistan. And all these shots were designed without facing him! Due to his health problems like Tennis Elbow and Back sprain he stopped playing the lofted shots. Now with advancing age, he has stopped energy consuming shots in the latter part of his innings. He plays his upper cuts, paddle sweeps and scoops which are his new weapons. But even these constraints have not stopped him from getting his centuries! We should all take cue from him and try to solve our problems with intelligence and maturity. We should at least have Plans B & C (Sachin has A-Z) to solve our problems if Plan A backfires.
We have always seen him complementing his colleagues both inside and outside the field. He has knowledge of every aspect of the game and is always there to help the team out. He is a true Team-Man. Outside the field also his words have helped Harbhajan in Australia (Monkeygate) and senior players cause (Chappelgate). He has been comfortable with all right from 2 decades senior, Kapil Dev, to a 2 decades junior, Rohit Sharma. Off the field also he has been affable and is accessible. The air of vanity which surrounds many a greats is just not seen around the greatest.
He is one of the most patriotic fellows in modern India and as Glenn McGrath says that he is one-in-a-billion individual. He exudes patriotism and when he plays well, a sense of Indianness seeps through our hearts. The whole country looks toward him as their sole representative and he has seldom disappointed.
My role model has always been Sachin. He is committed, solid, tough both mentally and physically, composed, witty, intelligent, diligent, benevolent, matured, patriotic and what else. Yuvraj correctly points out him to be the Grandpa of Indian cricket. Sachin is more and more becoming an adjective for his aforesaid qualities. People bring a reference of Sachin to make their point of view clear. I always like to quote him.
People generally talk about people who can handle pressure situations. But seldom have we acknowledged the man who virtually lives in the pressure cooker! The expectations with him are high as Mt. Everest. A 60-70 is never a good score for Sachin. It always has to be a century or else the score will be taken as a failure! No one in contemporary cricket is subjected to such pressures. It’s like if Pele kicks it has to be goal or if Phelps jumps he should come out of the pool with a gold medal or Bolt who is expected to break his own record whenever he starts sprinting. Having survived such expectations has been a great achievement! Not many can do that. We can actually compare with players like Pele, Sampras, Jordan, Muhammad Ali and a few others.
Having said all his goodies, his insularity to social issues is then not acceptable. He does some social work through Apnalaya but he should represent more. In this country he has a stature and he should use it for the development of this country. Remember how Amitabh Bachchan’s Polio campaign increased the turnouts. Sachin enjoys the platform from which he can usher changes. When he talks people listen! He doesn’t have to necessarily join politics but can do his bit for the country. Remember how his statements hastened Greg Chappel’s exit! Another instance which pained me the most was his demand for waiver of 1.5 Crore on his Ferrari. He shouldn’t have done that. To err is human which eventually he is not!
Now is the time when Sachin should be awarded the Bharat Ratna or a Vishwa Ratna as Lata Mangeshkar suggests. There is no other more deserving candidate!
Long live Sachin and his memories be cherished even a million years later. Maybe a kid will listen to a bedtime story starting as, “There was a little maestro named Sachin. And he ……………….”
A kid, only of 16, when he made his debut, started with National Stadium Karachi having posters of him jeering him to go back and drink milk. He was even hit by a Waqar Younis bouncer and was injured. But Sachin is a gritty customer and seldom is perturbed and he showed it in the very first match and continued playing in a blood soaked shirt. He didn’t have a dream of series but in an exhibition match in Peshawar, he thrashed the great Abdul Qadir for 28 runs in an over and went to make an 18 ball 53. Sadly, he had the worst ODI debut (a duck in his first innings). But ever since then he has not looked back and now is the proud owner of 17178 runs in ODIs, 12777 runs in Tests and 10 runs in T20Is and is just 35 runs short of 30000 international runs. No player dead or alive has ever thought about these many runs even in their dreams! Add to this 45 ODI and 42 Test hundreds, 91 ODI and 53 Test Fifties. A whooping amount really! The great man has played 159 Tests 436 ODIs and one T20Is. That is 1232 days of international cricket. Add to it Ranji Trophy, English county stint with Yorkshire, IPL and other tournaments and you will have a number which nobody in this world has ever touched and I bet would never touch!
But it’s not Sachin’s numbers which made me write this blog. It’s the influence that he yields over the billions of people in this country and abroad made me write this. I have watched my entire cricket on the television. I vaguely remember that the first programme that we watched was some cricket match. I started watching cricket during 1992 World Cup (I was 6 years of age then). My father used to talk about Sachin and it was whom I watched but I don’t remember anything about it. I remember about the last over of Hero Cup Final in 1993 but not to the best of the details. I started watching and understanding cricket since the 1996 World Cup. Since then I get hooked on to a match whenever it is going on and especially if Sachin is playing. In Tumsar, we used to go to garages, paan shops and petrol pumps to watch Sachin if the bus delayed. The first question on a match day on entering home was always, “Mummy India ka score kitna hua? Aur Sachin??” My mother didn’t know an iota about cricket before but I made her an ardent cricket follower. She is also a great fan of Sachin and calls her as her son.
India always had quality players like Azhar, Jadeja, Dravid and Ganguly but it has always been Sachin who ran the show on his own. It has always been, “Sachin gaya Match gaya!”. Most Indians switch of their TV sets as soon as he gets out. I don’t do that usually but the tail has generally showed “Tu Chal Mi Yeto” tendency more than often. The recent Hyderabad match showed it again. As TOI rightly puts it, “The country stops when Sachin gets going and gets going when Sachin stops!”. I personally never want to get going as I don’t want Sachin to stop ever!
It has been said many times that Sachin plays only for his records. I find this completely untrue as I have seldom seen such a committed player in any form of team sport. Yeah he does slow down when he nears his century. But we must not forget he has the most scores in 90s and actually 3 99s. And as soon as he finishes his century we have always seen him firing all cylinders to make up for the balls he lost! Moreover what are the batsmen at the other end doing?
If cricket is a religion, Sachin is the God. I also worship him and generally don’t allow anyone to speak against him. I have been in serious arguments with many on this topic (especially Ganguly fans who are usually very argumentative). Well it’s proved beyond anything that Sachin is the greatest. All his contemporaries have faded into the twilight and he still looks strong for another decade.
Sachin the person is liked as much as Sachin the player. His “Let the Bat Talk” philosophy is my favourite. Someone has said, “Art of speaking is silver but Art of Silence is Gold!”. And Sachin’s policy is just the same. He never lashes out at his critics but scores a century to prove what he is. That’s a policy which should be taken up by everyone. It will actually bring peace and increase your zeal to perform. It gains you friends and benefactors as well. When Buchanan wrote something about Sachin in his book he didn’t object. But the whole cricketing community from Geoffrey Boycott to Adam Gilchrist protested!
The way he evolved and matured through the years and how he adjusted his shots is exemplary. As soon as any bowler gets hold of any of his weakness, he discovers a new shot! All of us remember the Giles episode. Yuvraj also told how he developed shots against Mendis after he had created havoc in Pakistan. And all these shots were designed without facing him! Due to his health problems like Tennis Elbow and Back sprain he stopped playing the lofted shots. Now with advancing age, he has stopped energy consuming shots in the latter part of his innings. He plays his upper cuts, paddle sweeps and scoops which are his new weapons. But even these constraints have not stopped him from getting his centuries! We should all take cue from him and try to solve our problems with intelligence and maturity. We should at least have Plans B & C (Sachin has A-Z) to solve our problems if Plan A backfires.
We have always seen him complementing his colleagues both inside and outside the field. He has knowledge of every aspect of the game and is always there to help the team out. He is a true Team-Man. Outside the field also his words have helped Harbhajan in Australia (Monkeygate) and senior players cause (Chappelgate). He has been comfortable with all right from 2 decades senior, Kapil Dev, to a 2 decades junior, Rohit Sharma. Off the field also he has been affable and is accessible. The air of vanity which surrounds many a greats is just not seen around the greatest.
He is one of the most patriotic fellows in modern India and as Glenn McGrath says that he is one-in-a-billion individual. He exudes patriotism and when he plays well, a sense of Indianness seeps through our hearts. The whole country looks toward him as their sole representative and he has seldom disappointed.
My role model has always been Sachin. He is committed, solid, tough both mentally and physically, composed, witty, intelligent, diligent, benevolent, matured, patriotic and what else. Yuvraj correctly points out him to be the Grandpa of Indian cricket. Sachin is more and more becoming an adjective for his aforesaid qualities. People bring a reference of Sachin to make their point of view clear. I always like to quote him.
People generally talk about people who can handle pressure situations. But seldom have we acknowledged the man who virtually lives in the pressure cooker! The expectations with him are high as Mt. Everest. A 60-70 is never a good score for Sachin. It always has to be a century or else the score will be taken as a failure! No one in contemporary cricket is subjected to such pressures. It’s like if Pele kicks it has to be goal or if Phelps jumps he should come out of the pool with a gold medal or Bolt who is expected to break his own record whenever he starts sprinting. Having survived such expectations has been a great achievement! Not many can do that. We can actually compare with players like Pele, Sampras, Jordan, Muhammad Ali and a few others.
Having said all his goodies, his insularity to social issues is then not acceptable. He does some social work through Apnalaya but he should represent more. In this country he has a stature and he should use it for the development of this country. Remember how Amitabh Bachchan’s Polio campaign increased the turnouts. Sachin enjoys the platform from which he can usher changes. When he talks people listen! He doesn’t have to necessarily join politics but can do his bit for the country. Remember how his statements hastened Greg Chappel’s exit! Another instance which pained me the most was his demand for waiver of 1.5 Crore on his Ferrari. He shouldn’t have done that. To err is human which eventually he is not!
Now is the time when Sachin should be awarded the Bharat Ratna or a Vishwa Ratna as Lata Mangeshkar suggests. There is no other more deserving candidate!
Long live Sachin and his memories be cherished even a million years later. Maybe a kid will listen to a bedtime story starting as, “There was a little maestro named Sachin. And he ……………….”
Friday, November 13, 2009
Books: My Eternal Friends
It’s said that books are the best friends of a man. I know it’s not true for most of us but its 100% correct in my case. I learnt to read at an early age of three even before I heard about schools. Soon there was an urge to apply the newly gained knowledge. So, everything from biscuit wrappers, newspaper cuttings, milk powder cans became my first books. My father was in a habit of going to the Paan shop every evening. I generally used to accompany him (So that my mother could get some respite from my mischievousness). But it came abruptly to an end when I started the kattha stained paper cuttings that were thrown by the customers.
My mother taught me to read Bengali. I read the whole “Barnaparichay” and “Dharapat” and actually learnt them by heart. Unfortunately, I couldn’t learn to write and still can’t write those jukto-akkhors. So, it didn’t surprise anyone when I got 100% marks in all subjects in KG-II.
After joining SNS, my friendships with boys of my colony slowly ended. I had friends in school and in the school-bus but none at home except my mother and my brother. Then television meant Doordarshan and it was dull as it is now. We watched selected serials. But I needed something else as well. Our principal, Gill Madam, always used to prod us to read. I yielded and took my steps inside the library. I think I was in Class-III when I took my first book. I remember being scolded by the bus conductor for delaying the bus’s departure. But when I told him the reason the whole bus was actually awed. The book was in discussion was “Man and the Monk”. Sadly, though I don’t remember the story.
Our library was very big and had a variety of books. I had made it a point to read only English books (Silly and proud decision). The second book that I took was “Man on the Moon”. Since then I have been interested in astronomy. Once I read a book called “Kaziranga Trail”. It had nice story based upon poaching of rhinos in Kaziranga. Few days later I saw another Kaziranga Trail. It was fatter and I thought that the last one I read was abridged. I issued this fatty and when I went home I found it to have only a fat hardbound cover on the same book!
I generally used to read books of one type at one time. I would finish the whole set and then move to something new. The books I read in my early teenage were mainly Quiz books, abridged English classics (Jaico), Folk tales of India and South East Asia, short biographies (Glo-bee publications) and few Indian fictions. When in 9th, my brother once brought a Hardy Boys. I read it and was hooked to it. I found there were a number of them in the library. For all my remaining 9th and 10th, I read only 22 Hardy Boys, 10 Three Investigators, 10 Nancy Drew, 10 Famous Five, few other Enid Blyton Series and 1 Super Sleuth. I was so obsessed with Hardy Boys that I had given my friends, names from the characters of Hardy Boys. I was Frank, Harish was Joe and Amoni was Chet! I always had a book in my trouser’s pocket. I even started thinking myself as a hardy! When one of my friends lost a digital diary I started pondering how a hardy would have solved it! My teachers and friends were concerned about my results. I even gained a -0.25 spectacles. My librarian stopped issuing me more than one book per week and wouldn’t give me a book 2 weeks before any exam! I used to get one from my brother. But only two books couldn’t satisfy my hunger. I therefore bartered my class notes for Hardy Boys with my friends! I kept notes of all the books that I read. I read huge amount of comics especially Chacha Choudhary, Nagraj, Dhruv, Doda during these days. Apart from these Chandamama, Champak and Lotpot were my favourites. I can devour them even now!
In class 11th, I almost read nothing. Once, during a holiday break in 11th, I and Arijit obtained permission to read in our school library (Silly school! Never heard such crap anywhere else!). We read books for a few days. But such Red-Tape was unbearable and we stopped going there. In 12th, Ratnesh, a junior, showed Arijit and me two books. He was a rich fellow who bought books for just showing his rich tastes! Arijit picked “Discovery of India” and I took “Tell me your dreams” by Sidney Sheldon. I wanted the former but luckily I got the latter. I read it in 3 hours flat. Arijit got bored and read this one instead. We were just cupid struck with the books. The books were all about powerful ladies who overcame all deficiencies to become stalwarts. The books also had mild doses of sex which was a matter of everyday discussion in our lives then. In and all we fell in love with the books. Most of the books that I read were supplied by Ratnesh and some were brought by Arijit. Arijit was instrumental in my acquaintance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes as well (I have mentioned it in an earlier blog). I remember when we were watching Deewangee (Ajay Devgan was the hero), I and Arijit always knew what will happen next as it was based upon Tell me your dreams. But the end was changed by the director and we were foxed. But to tell the truth I like the book’s ending more than that of the film. Even though Arijit and me were really good friends, the books bonded us more. When I came to Nagpur, Sidney Sheldons were provided by Kaustubh.
As you would have observed that I never mention a book that I bought. The true fact is that I never bought because I generally finish a Long-Story in 2-3 hours and a novel in 4-5 hours. I do a re-reading again and then the story is printed in my brain or I sometimes keep small notes. Thus it seemed unworthy to spend money in buying a book. The other books that I read were Da Vinci Code, Angels and Daemons, Five point Someone, One Night at a Call-Centre, a book by Ken Follet (I remember the story but not the title!). Almost all these books came from Kaustubh.
My Bengali reading was limited to all that I could read when I went to my uncle’s home in the summers. My uncle once gifted me the entire collection of Sukumar Ray (Illustrious father of equally great Satyajit Ray. Sadly he died at a very early age). I read the whole book and still have it though it’s torn in some places now. I am not a great fan of poems, philosophy and books on character building. My favourite poem is “Jhansi Ki Rani” by Subhadrakumari Chauhan. I have not even read Shiv Kheda’s “You can Win” as I think that no book can teach how you lead your life. But after coming to Pune, I picked up Bengali reading again. Anandaloks and Unish Kudis helped in bringing Bangla alive in my heart. All these books were there courtesy my friends Saurabh Maity and Sayan Mondal. And since January 2007, when I bought my laptop, Bengali reading has not been a trouble at all thanks to the www. I started going to IUCAA for my Astrophysics classes in my 2nd year MSc. The library over there is just a marvel. Although we had our books on the left side, it was the right side that attracted me the most. I generally call this section as the Jayant Narlikar section as most books are donated by him and his father, Late V. V. Narlikar. I started reading more and more here. I read those awesome big atlases which have to be balanced to see properly. I also read the biography of Rajiv and biographies of eminent physicists from Galileo to Yukawa. I also read about World History and even books on Calcutta and American Cinema.
Of late I have started buying some books, all non-fictions and comparatively cheaper. But I am still averse to buy fictions. The old ones I get from the internet and the new ones do always happen to fall into my lap! I like to read but have failed to influence my near ones. My closest friends are still shy of books! Let’s hope this change. I pray to God that I never get weary of reading books.
My mother taught me to read Bengali. I read the whole “Barnaparichay” and “Dharapat” and actually learnt them by heart. Unfortunately, I couldn’t learn to write and still can’t write those jukto-akkhors. So, it didn’t surprise anyone when I got 100% marks in all subjects in KG-II.
After joining SNS, my friendships with boys of my colony slowly ended. I had friends in school and in the school-bus but none at home except my mother and my brother. Then television meant Doordarshan and it was dull as it is now. We watched selected serials. But I needed something else as well. Our principal, Gill Madam, always used to prod us to read. I yielded and took my steps inside the library. I think I was in Class-III when I took my first book. I remember being scolded by the bus conductor for delaying the bus’s departure. But when I told him the reason the whole bus was actually awed. The book was in discussion was “Man and the Monk”. Sadly, though I don’t remember the story.
Our library was very big and had a variety of books. I had made it a point to read only English books (Silly and proud decision). The second book that I took was “Man on the Moon”. Since then I have been interested in astronomy. Once I read a book called “Kaziranga Trail”. It had nice story based upon poaching of rhinos in Kaziranga. Few days later I saw another Kaziranga Trail. It was fatter and I thought that the last one I read was abridged. I issued this fatty and when I went home I found it to have only a fat hardbound cover on the same book!
I generally used to read books of one type at one time. I would finish the whole set and then move to something new. The books I read in my early teenage were mainly Quiz books, abridged English classics (Jaico), Folk tales of India and South East Asia, short biographies (Glo-bee publications) and few Indian fictions. When in 9th, my brother once brought a Hardy Boys. I read it and was hooked to it. I found there were a number of them in the library. For all my remaining 9th and 10th, I read only 22 Hardy Boys, 10 Three Investigators, 10 Nancy Drew, 10 Famous Five, few other Enid Blyton Series and 1 Super Sleuth. I was so obsessed with Hardy Boys that I had given my friends, names from the characters of Hardy Boys. I was Frank, Harish was Joe and Amoni was Chet! I always had a book in my trouser’s pocket. I even started thinking myself as a hardy! When one of my friends lost a digital diary I started pondering how a hardy would have solved it! My teachers and friends were concerned about my results. I even gained a -0.25 spectacles. My librarian stopped issuing me more than one book per week and wouldn’t give me a book 2 weeks before any exam! I used to get one from my brother. But only two books couldn’t satisfy my hunger. I therefore bartered my class notes for Hardy Boys with my friends! I kept notes of all the books that I read. I read huge amount of comics especially Chacha Choudhary, Nagraj, Dhruv, Doda during these days. Apart from these Chandamama, Champak and Lotpot were my favourites. I can devour them even now!
In class 11th, I almost read nothing. Once, during a holiday break in 11th, I and Arijit obtained permission to read in our school library (Silly school! Never heard such crap anywhere else!). We read books for a few days. But such Red-Tape was unbearable and we stopped going there. In 12th, Ratnesh, a junior, showed Arijit and me two books. He was a rich fellow who bought books for just showing his rich tastes! Arijit picked “Discovery of India” and I took “Tell me your dreams” by Sidney Sheldon. I wanted the former but luckily I got the latter. I read it in 3 hours flat. Arijit got bored and read this one instead. We were just cupid struck with the books. The books were all about powerful ladies who overcame all deficiencies to become stalwarts. The books also had mild doses of sex which was a matter of everyday discussion in our lives then. In and all we fell in love with the books. Most of the books that I read were supplied by Ratnesh and some were brought by Arijit. Arijit was instrumental in my acquaintance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes as well (I have mentioned it in an earlier blog). I remember when we were watching Deewangee (Ajay Devgan was the hero), I and Arijit always knew what will happen next as it was based upon Tell me your dreams. But the end was changed by the director and we were foxed. But to tell the truth I like the book’s ending more than that of the film. Even though Arijit and me were really good friends, the books bonded us more. When I came to Nagpur, Sidney Sheldons were provided by Kaustubh.
As you would have observed that I never mention a book that I bought. The true fact is that I never bought because I generally finish a Long-Story in 2-3 hours and a novel in 4-5 hours. I do a re-reading again and then the story is printed in my brain or I sometimes keep small notes. Thus it seemed unworthy to spend money in buying a book. The other books that I read were Da Vinci Code, Angels and Daemons, Five point Someone, One Night at a Call-Centre, a book by Ken Follet (I remember the story but not the title!). Almost all these books came from Kaustubh.
My Bengali reading was limited to all that I could read when I went to my uncle’s home in the summers. My uncle once gifted me the entire collection of Sukumar Ray (Illustrious father of equally great Satyajit Ray. Sadly he died at a very early age). I read the whole book and still have it though it’s torn in some places now. I am not a great fan of poems, philosophy and books on character building. My favourite poem is “Jhansi Ki Rani” by Subhadrakumari Chauhan. I have not even read Shiv Kheda’s “You can Win” as I think that no book can teach how you lead your life. But after coming to Pune, I picked up Bengali reading again. Anandaloks and Unish Kudis helped in bringing Bangla alive in my heart. All these books were there courtesy my friends Saurabh Maity and Sayan Mondal. And since January 2007, when I bought my laptop, Bengali reading has not been a trouble at all thanks to the www. I started going to IUCAA for my Astrophysics classes in my 2nd year MSc. The library over there is just a marvel. Although we had our books on the left side, it was the right side that attracted me the most. I generally call this section as the Jayant Narlikar section as most books are donated by him and his father, Late V. V. Narlikar. I started reading more and more here. I read those awesome big atlases which have to be balanced to see properly. I also read the biography of Rajiv and biographies of eminent physicists from Galileo to Yukawa. I also read about World History and even books on Calcutta and American Cinema.
Of late I have started buying some books, all non-fictions and comparatively cheaper. But I am still averse to buy fictions. The old ones I get from the internet and the new ones do always happen to fall into my lap! I like to read but have failed to influence my near ones. My closest friends are still shy of books! Let’s hope this change. I pray to God that I never get weary of reading books.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Love Marriages: Uniting Diversities
A few days back my friend, Taresh, came back from a weeklong trip to Pune. I went to meet him to know about the well-being of my friends back there. In the passing he told me that he had brought the new Chetan Bhagat book, 2 States: The story of my marriage. I immediately asked for it and he agreed. I started for my room straightaway as I wanted to start reading immediately. I like Chetan’s writing very much. 5-point someone is an all time favourite. Though the last one, 3-mistakes of my life, was not that good. I had read nice reviews about the new book in the newspapers and was longing to read it. But I could start only at midnight as something or the other delayed me.
I always start reading with the back cover. I find it quite instructive. The back cover as well as the title suggested a love story whose start and end was totally known, a boy and a girl falls in love then they are opposed and then they live happily live after, a typical Bollywood story repeated so many times. But I wanted to see how Chetan had treated the topic. I finished the book in one sitting in about 3 hours and to tell you the truth it’s a must read for all and sundry across the globe. It’s just more romantic and deeper than any SRK starrer and is more hilarious than any David Dhavan special.
But it’s not the book but the repercussions that have occurred in my mind are the topic of my present blog. The book echoes life of many a people across the globe involved in cross-country love affairs. {A similar situation had been in the Adam Sandler movie, “You don’t mess with Zohan”, where a Jew boy falls in love with a Palestinian girl though there it was treated with quite a different touch.} The book shows how hollow the great Indian unity thing seems when we encounter real life situations especially love affairs and marriages. I always thought that the country upholds the concept of, ‘Unity in Diversity’. But when I had gone to Hyderabad (a few latitudes south of Pune), a few years back each Hindi question had an ‘Ille’ as the answer. During the entire one and a half day visit, I talked only with men in uniforms or men wearing skull caps and was bearded.
The book deals with resistance offered to a Punjab-Tamil union. But that’s a very big matter when you consider the resistance to love affairs between people differed only by caste or gotra or some other bull-shit nonsense. I know many people strangled by this nonsense and many eventually becoming front-page and prime-time news items.
A natural feeling as delicate as love is still a matter of grave concern in modern India. People still don’t approve love marriages and many are dead against them. Even though the marriage is a matter of two individuals it becomes a matter of prestige for the entire clan (In places like Haryana the whole village has a say!). Think what would have happened if our ancestors would have considered these constraints when they first mate! As Ananya’s father correctly points out that the community is not always the reason for the restraint. The main reason is the ego of the guardians who get pissed off as their children forget to ask their permission before falling in love! As Chetan points out correctly, it’s the nature of many a guardians to have a problem on anything from biscuit to brides if their children really want them.
Although I don’t have an affair (No chance of one either how much I desperately want to!), I sometimes tinker with mother on this topic. She tells her and I tell my ideas on the matter. The only two points where we still agree is that she should be educated and we won’t demand dowry. She is apprehensive of any girl with whom I have even a small liking and doesn’t want me to venture as well!
I think it’s time we stop glorifying our own sects, values and cultures and join the bandwagon of cross-country, cross-culture, cross-religion, cross-…… marriages. This is one way through which the country can truly unify. All unity talks and high moral ideals fizzle off when it comes to our personal affairs (e.g. as seen during Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi’s daughter’s elopement). Hence we need to imbibe the values in our personal affairs and do it for the country (again inspired from the book) if not for ourselves. What I’m saying is nothing new as even Chandragupta Maurya married Selecus’s daughter in third century B.C. to progress Indo-Greek unity. Emperor Akbar also married Jodhabai to strengthen Rajput-Mughal relations.
Until and unless Butter Chicken be cooked in coconut oil and Rasgullas become an irreplaceable sweet for the Gujaratis, we can forget all the Unity nonsense and continue to live in a country united by a name and divided by everything else! Let’s hope all this starts rolling soon and we have a truly unified country devoid of the damn barriers that we call our ethos.
P.S: I have made sure that I’m not going to marry anyone from my Gandhabanik caste (The ones I know are all money ogling under-educated). I also am apprehensive of marrying a Bengali as I want to unify at least two cultures in India. (It will at least bring diversity to my book-shelf, dining table and travelogue if not anything more!)
I always start reading with the back cover. I find it quite instructive. The back cover as well as the title suggested a love story whose start and end was totally known, a boy and a girl falls in love then they are opposed and then they live happily live after, a typical Bollywood story repeated so many times. But I wanted to see how Chetan had treated the topic. I finished the book in one sitting in about 3 hours and to tell you the truth it’s a must read for all and sundry across the globe. It’s just more romantic and deeper than any SRK starrer and is more hilarious than any David Dhavan special.
But it’s not the book but the repercussions that have occurred in my mind are the topic of my present blog. The book echoes life of many a people across the globe involved in cross-country love affairs. {A similar situation had been in the Adam Sandler movie, “You don’t mess with Zohan”, where a Jew boy falls in love with a Palestinian girl though there it was treated with quite a different touch.} The book shows how hollow the great Indian unity thing seems when we encounter real life situations especially love affairs and marriages. I always thought that the country upholds the concept of, ‘Unity in Diversity’. But when I had gone to Hyderabad (a few latitudes south of Pune), a few years back each Hindi question had an ‘Ille’ as the answer. During the entire one and a half day visit, I talked only with men in uniforms or men wearing skull caps and was bearded.
The book deals with resistance offered to a Punjab-Tamil union. But that’s a very big matter when you consider the resistance to love affairs between people differed only by caste or gotra or some other bull-shit nonsense. I know many people strangled by this nonsense and many eventually becoming front-page and prime-time news items.
A natural feeling as delicate as love is still a matter of grave concern in modern India. People still don’t approve love marriages and many are dead against them. Even though the marriage is a matter of two individuals it becomes a matter of prestige for the entire clan (In places like Haryana the whole village has a say!). Think what would have happened if our ancestors would have considered these constraints when they first mate! As Ananya’s father correctly points out that the community is not always the reason for the restraint. The main reason is the ego of the guardians who get pissed off as their children forget to ask their permission before falling in love! As Chetan points out correctly, it’s the nature of many a guardians to have a problem on anything from biscuit to brides if their children really want them.
Although I don’t have an affair (No chance of one either how much I desperately want to!), I sometimes tinker with mother on this topic. She tells her and I tell my ideas on the matter. The only two points where we still agree is that she should be educated and we won’t demand dowry. She is apprehensive of any girl with whom I have even a small liking and doesn’t want me to venture as well!
I think it’s time we stop glorifying our own sects, values and cultures and join the bandwagon of cross-country, cross-culture, cross-religion, cross-…… marriages. This is one way through which the country can truly unify. All unity talks and high moral ideals fizzle off when it comes to our personal affairs (e.g. as seen during Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi’s daughter’s elopement). Hence we need to imbibe the values in our personal affairs and do it for the country (again inspired from the book) if not for ourselves. What I’m saying is nothing new as even Chandragupta Maurya married Selecus’s daughter in third century B.C. to progress Indo-Greek unity. Emperor Akbar also married Jodhabai to strengthen Rajput-Mughal relations.
Until and unless Butter Chicken be cooked in coconut oil and Rasgullas become an irreplaceable sweet for the Gujaratis, we can forget all the Unity nonsense and continue to live in a country united by a name and divided by everything else! Let’s hope all this starts rolling soon and we have a truly unified country devoid of the damn barriers that we call our ethos.
P.S: I have made sure that I’m not going to marry anyone from my Gandhabanik caste (The ones I know are all money ogling under-educated). I also am apprehensive of marrying a Bengali as I want to unify at least two cultures in India. (It will at least bring diversity to my book-shelf, dining table and travelogue if not anything more!)
Cattle Class
A few weeks earlier when Mr. Shashi Tharoor referred to the economy class passengers as CATTLE CLASS, it created quite a furore. But he might not have ever got up in the General Sitting compartment of any long distance train in India. I suspect if he had done so what name he would have given! And it wouldn’t have created any furore as well.
I have been unfortunate enough to be in them and seen them from close quarters. Last Wednesday was one such occasion. I got into the GS compartment of 2809 Mumbai-Howrah Mail from Nagpur to Tumsar, a one hour journey which seemed like eternity to me. The bogie was full upto the brim but it swallowed more and surprisingly adjusted them in as well though with great discomfort! I had read about the poor state of Third class passengers back in early decades of the previous century in Gandhiji’s autobiography. I don’t think much has changed ever since then. The bogies are still crowded and travelling in them is equally inhuman. And it’s not only in the train I travelled but it’s the story all across the country. Railways have increased so many trains along all routes but have failed to address to the apathy of the general passengers. With such a booming population in the country, this along with the Waiting List drama is the biggest problem. Travelling in these compartments is very difficult but still there is no other way to travel across the country for the poor masses. Such crowd usually brings with it freak accidents and unsanitary conditions. The passengers are to be blamed as well as they pay very less attention to the sanitary conditions in the trains (which are bad even in the elite A/C coaches).
It’s time when Railways have to take care of the problem. The numbers of bogies in the trains have to be increased and apart from it the condition of the local trains has to be improved. It was common in India to see that the trains usually came late. Now the situation of Express trains has improved a lot (With so many Superfast trains it’s bound to be!). But the locals (Not of the Metros where they are the elite) are in a bad condition as usual. They run with erratic timings and come and go as they wish. Now if they are regulated, increased in number and made a little faster, the passengers will throng those trains as they are cheap to travel as well. This will ease the pressure on the long-distance trains and the unsatisfactory travelling can be avoided.
I know the problem cannot be removed ever with such an alarming population explosion but at least some order can be brought into the problem.
I have been unfortunate enough to be in them and seen them from close quarters. Last Wednesday was one such occasion. I got into the GS compartment of 2809 Mumbai-Howrah Mail from Nagpur to Tumsar, a one hour journey which seemed like eternity to me. The bogie was full upto the brim but it swallowed more and surprisingly adjusted them in as well though with great discomfort! I had read about the poor state of Third class passengers back in early decades of the previous century in Gandhiji’s autobiography. I don’t think much has changed ever since then. The bogies are still crowded and travelling in them is equally inhuman. And it’s not only in the train I travelled but it’s the story all across the country. Railways have increased so many trains along all routes but have failed to address to the apathy of the general passengers. With such a booming population in the country, this along with the Waiting List drama is the biggest problem. Travelling in these compartments is very difficult but still there is no other way to travel across the country for the poor masses. Such crowd usually brings with it freak accidents and unsanitary conditions. The passengers are to be blamed as well as they pay very less attention to the sanitary conditions in the trains (which are bad even in the elite A/C coaches).
It’s time when Railways have to take care of the problem. The numbers of bogies in the trains have to be increased and apart from it the condition of the local trains has to be improved. It was common in India to see that the trains usually came late. Now the situation of Express trains has improved a lot (With so many Superfast trains it’s bound to be!). But the locals (Not of the Metros where they are the elite) are in a bad condition as usual. They run with erratic timings and come and go as they wish. Now if they are regulated, increased in number and made a little faster, the passengers will throng those trains as they are cheap to travel as well. This will ease the pressure on the long-distance trains and the unsatisfactory travelling can be avoided.
I know the problem cannot be removed ever with such an alarming population explosion but at least some order can be brought into the problem.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
