Patriotism.............and me????

After Rang De Basanti, there is much talk about patriotism in the present context and the ideals of Indian youth. Some students here have even made a documentary of the subject, the details of which are available @ 10plus3i.blogspot.com

Wait, did I say patriotism???What is patriotism??? Is it the fervor with which we speak about the glorious past of our country?? Is it the respect we have for freedom fighters like Bose, Bhagat Singh, Gandhiji, etc?? Is it singing the national anthem and standing to attention on Republic Day or I-Day?? Is it cheering for Dhoni and Tendulkar, who play with such skill against Pakistan and manage to prevent the ball from hitting the stumps?? Or is it standing up for the unsung and unknown who, not far away, are striving hard to prevent the bullet from hitting their bodies??

Whatever it is, many a times, I have felt this incessant urge to do something for my motherland....Something, which will leave a mark on this world. It comes sans any hint whatsoever and by the time my neurons work in unison to arrive at the conclusion that you can do nothing at this stage, the initial vigour is hard to find. There you are, destined to be the same person who didnt care for his country......

The last time, it was different. I thought and thought and had this million dollar question in front of me : What can the elite group of students, who graduate from the premier technical institutions of the country do???

One burning isssue today is brain drain, that which deprives a country of its original potential and makes it subservient to other countries. As the future generation of this country, why cant we do something about it?? Yes, after all, we can......We can take a resolution to give back something to our country with the skill and expertise we have acquired. We should not give way to temptations: the lucrative income, better means of living and the endless other benefits that a job outside India offers.

This is what I feel patriotism is all about. Atleast, it is one part of it......Friends, if you can speak with authority and pride about being patriotic, try putting the above words into action....See the difference.....

Hail Fridays!!!

Today, I took the New Indian Express in my hands, hoping to read something interesting....and I found out that today was the 4th anneversary of "EYE", the sunday supplement. It had a whole lot of articles about Sundays, with even Preity Zinta having her say. I was dismayed! How can people like Sundays????

Let me tell you a story....Once there was this nut called Buddhuram who was better known as the fool in town....One day, he and his friends went on a little picnic...to a temple on the top of a hill...When they were going up the hill, our guy seemed very happy when the others were sweating and blaming the heat.....He was having a gay time...They somehow reached the top and after the darshan, started to descend....This time, you should have seen Buddhuram....He was sad and seemed to be coming to pieces...He looked tired and exhausted....
The curiosity got the better of one of his friends who asked him:"How could you enjoy the climb up and be tired on the way down??".....To which, our friend replied:"While going up, I was thinking of the way down...Naturally, I was elated ..... Now, I am thinking how hard it would be for someone who is going up......" Again, he became the laughing stock of the group...

Well, did you get the connection???? "TO HELL WITH SUNDAYS!!"...
Friday is the best day in the week...Oh! The sheer joy of expecting two holidays after a week of classes..... Planning the amount of hours we will be putting into that most joyous thing on earth:sleeping, Deciding the most happening place in the city for hanging out on Saturday....The Friday night premiere in the computer or the telivision....The list is endless.
Come Saturday, and we already start thinking of the next week...The never ending lists of assignments, tutorials, and God knows what!!! Saturday is sandwiched between the best and worst days of the week...which makes it a bad day indeed.........
Come Sunday, and there Monday is, with a smile in its face, beckoning you to face the harsh realities of life.....You feel like giving it a miss, but you cant....You cant stop thinking about the hard things that the week has in store for you......You cant stop thinking of the hours of sleep and joy you are gonna miss the whole week....You cant help cursing the day!!!
The fact is, I can't imagine going on when there are no more expectations. Who can dare say that at some time or other, you havent found the wait more gratifying than the real episode??? So, the next time you look forward to enjoy a Sunday, think again......Think what Buddhuram had to say....

Reservoir Dogs:You r gonna bark all day!!

Hi guys...Not been blogging for a looooooooong time.......after seeing Sidin bloggin after many days, i am inspired.....

Last week, I got to see the movie : "Reservoir Dogs". To put it shortly, the movie is riveting from start to finish. For the uninitiated, the movie is about a jewellery heist that goes awfully wrong....one of them is a cop....To top it all, they dont know each other except for their code names...

Directed by Quentin Tarantino, it stars, among others, Harvey Keitel, Michel Madsen and Tim Roth. The movie makes you feel that the cast couldnt have been any better....all the actors are enthralling performers. The first scene where the robbers argue over the silly matter of giving tips to waiters gives you a hint of what Tarantino has in store for you....Really, he is able to create the tension and "oh!what will happen next" situation in a matter of seconds...

The two actors who stand out are Tim Roth and Madsen. Tim Roth, as "Mr.Orange" is simply awesome... His scene in the car when he has just been shot is particulary outstanding. All his cries for help and his suffering are real...I wonder whether he has really been shot at some time in his life...

And Madsen rocks! As "Mr. Blonde", he stuns the audience in the "ear cutting" sequence...The song in the background is a beautiful one....(Stealers Wheel "Stuck in the middle with you")....

Essentially Reservoir Dog's is just a bunch of guys in a room nattering back and forth at each other, but despite it's megadose of profanity or maybe because of it, the film provides any number of great monologues and verbal sparring for it's great cast.

"Reservoir Dogs" takes old conventions and puts new spin on them. It falls into a long line of movie crime that is meant to be sensational, not realistic. Tarantino is an extraordinary filmmaker, even if he isn't exactly shooting for the stars. With this first film, he shows a raw talent and an unmistakable understanding of film lore.

Gripping and gut-wrenching, Reservoir Dogs is likely to stay with you for a long time.

To Build A Tale

This January 12 was the 130th birth anniversary of one of the greatest ever writers of America : Jack London. His novels "White Fang" and "Call of the wild" continue to inspire millions across the globe. His short story "To Build A Fire" is the best one i have ever read....
Talking of short stories, the authors that come to my mind in a jiffy are Saki, O Henry and Guy de Mauppassant..Saki is the greatest writer of short stories. The sheer beauty of his language, the irony in his words and most important of all, the unexpected twist that he gifts the reader are difficult to find elsewhere. Among his short stories, "The Open Window" and "Shredni Vashtar" stand out in my mind. If you havnt read them yet, well, you are missing something in your life....
Who can forget O Henry, the man who penned down such fabulous tales as "The gift of the Magi" and "The furnished room". You are bound to read his stories again and again for their simple but racy style. Guy's "The diamond necklace" deserves special mention for its ability to make you almost cry and wish for another climax.......But the story which truly had me in tears(no joke this) was Leo Tolstoy's "God sees the truth but waits".
Inspite of all the modern novels that I read, the short stories continue to allure me....Is it because i can finish them off in a matter of minutes??Or is it because they require less usage of the grey cells??Anyway, they have taught me a very important lesson in life: It is the simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences..

Of desperate diodes

Now, I am a proud member of the elite circle of the net freaks: "the bloggers". Unlike my friends, I didn’t have to think a lot for a name for my blog...There it was, clearly carved out in my mind. I would do justice to the name by telling you the long process which culminated in me, a desperate guy, writing a blog.
I was one among the many students who chose engineering because they didn’t give a damn about medicine. The budding electronics engineer that I am, I cannot but think about how I secured a seat in an NIT. After the tenth standard, I decided to try for engineering for the simple reason that I didn’t like biology. That is, between biology and computer, I liked computer science better. For those of you in the dark, we students had only two options: computer or biology...So, I decided I was born to be an engineer since I liked computer science better.
Now, after three semesters of the damn course, I really feel that I could have done something better.....Something which I would have liked to do more.....I can only blame myself for the sorry plight which I have managed to pull myself into.
All said, I feel that the students should be exposed to the various career options long before they finish their schooling, lest they follow the footsteps of desperate fellows like me singing Metallica's "Turn the page":

Here I am, on the road again,

there I am, up on the stage
There I go, playin' star again,
there I go, turn the page.