A superb exchange of words from Mirza Ghalib

"Ghalib: Aapne humaare bartan kya alahida kar liye hain


Ghalib's wife: Nahi, humne apne bartan alahida kar liye hain.... Bura na maaniyega, apne imaan ke liye darti hoon.


G: Haan Begum, darta wahi hai jiske paas poonji ho. Tumhaare paas imaan hai, isliye darti ho. Humaare paas to bas ye imaan waali hai :D


GW: Aap khuda ki zaat se is tarah munkir kyun hain


G: Tauba karo, khuda se munkir kahaan... fark sirf itna hai, ki main uske saamne do-zaano ho kar gidgidaata nahi.. bachchon ko ma-baap se is tarah gidgida kar bheekh maangte dekha hai, jaise tum maangti ho? Mere taalluqaat khuda ke saath tum se zyaada betaqalluf hain.


GW: Isiliye wo aapki sunte nahi hain.


G: Shaayari nahi samajhte honge. Wo bhi meri :D"


Glad to know that at least someone has a similar opinion. :)

It seems a little funny to teach a class of 20 final year bachelor students in CS (in one of the best univs around) of which not one can compute the sum of the geometric series 1/4 + 1/16 + 1/64 ...

And the students are in general not dumb... it is just that the education leaves out strange voids..

No matter how much ridiculous JEE gets, it seems like having such an exam before you begin college is necessary to build a decent foundation..

PS: If only they'd eliminate chemistry, it'd be perfect :P

...

I dreamt tonight of visiting the hometown of a friend who recently left this country and returned to India for good. I can' remember the context, but I remember this remark he made, "Badi sasti jagah hai ye, insaan ki rooh bhi yahaan das rupaye kilo bikti hai"

Quite a strange statement, isn't it? Any interpretations, anyone?

Indifference(?)

Safar to kat jaayega yun hi chalte chalte, 

Manzil tak kisi yaar ka saath ho ki na ho

Mauka mile to kar sheh, aur dekh tamasha

Zara dil to dehel jaaye dushman ka, maat ho ki na ho

Sookhe mein baadal ko dekh zara khush to ho le

Kaun jaane phir barsaat ho ki na ho

Jab bhi mile, tujhe waqt hi ki fiqr thi

Kabhi to be-parwaah mil, raat ho ki na ho

Afsaane ban hi jaayenge, khwaab saj hi jaayenge

Haqeeqat mein mulaqaat ho ki na ho

Yaad use bhi kabhi kabhi to aati hogi meri

Uske dil mein mujh se jazbaat hon ki na hon

Safar to kat jaayega yun hi chalte chalte, 

Manzil tak kisi yaar ka saath ho ki na ho

-An attempt at random tukbandi

Thought of the day..

Can abundance of anything (time, money, or even love) be anywhere close to being as romantic as the scarcity of it..?

A follow-up to this post by vibhav..

:D

Received this message just now, by a friend.

Sounds like you!!

 

 

 

 

friend high

via Urban Word of the Day on 4/20/11

The pleasant "high" feeling one acquires around close friends, often compared to being on some sort of drug. Accompanied by lots of laughing, stupidity, excitement, good conversation, and loud obnoxiousness, ie the act of getting "high" off another's good friendship vibes.

Often considered a replacement for drugs and alcohol, though not heavily supported.
1. "Let's hotbox this room with our friendship!"
2. "Watch the dosage on THAT friendship, Carlos..."
3. "Lets get friend high tonight"

Feels good :)

Moving On...

 याद हैं मुझे वो गुज़रा ज़माना

रोज़ तेरी ज़रा ज़रा सी बात याद किया करते थे,
और मुस्कुरा देते थे, 

ज़रा ज़रा संभल संभल के मोहब्बत की थी, 

तेरी हर भूल को सही साबित करने को 

कोई वजह ढूंढ लिया करते थे..

झूठ खुद से जाने कितनी बार कहा था, मगर..

जिस झूठ से कुछ भला हो वो कहाँ बुरा है,

यही सोच के खुद को समझाया करते थे | 

कुछ जोश था, कुछ तड़प, कुछ बेचैनी थी उन मासूम पलों में 

मज़े में थी, मगर फिर भी, ज़िन्दगी मुश्किल हो चली थी 

पिछले कुछ दिनों में,

रोज़ तुझे ज़रा ज़रा सा भुलाया है,
ज़रा ज़रा सी तुझ से नफरत की है
तुझे हर कदम पे इलज़ाम देने को
कुछ न कुछ वजह ढूंढ ली है
जानते हैं की ये नफरत, ये इलज़ाम सब झूठ ही है, मगर
वो झूठ जिस से कुछ भला हो, वो कहाँ बुरा है
यही सोच के खुद को तसल्ली दी है |
नजाने कैसी अजब सी शान्ति है, इस झूठे खेल में
मज़े में हो न हो, ज़िन्दगी मगर अब आसान हो चली है |

किसी को पीछे छोड़ना, कहीं से आगे बढ़ना, शायद अब आसान हो चला है....

Pitfall

"There is a pit there in front" - a friend warns you. You hesitate for a moment but then go on.. You keep moving on despite the warning calls and attempts to pull you back. Then, suddenly there is a thud, and down you fall right into the pit. With much struggle and perhaps a little help, you manage to come out and then declare with a tone of pride as if to hide your guilt, "Haan, wahaan pe khaayi thi". Typical human behaviour, right?

After having resisted on all my three previous visits to Paris, today I decided to go and see the famous Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum.. There are some things that are just destined to happen. Almost right at the entrance, and all through the museum, there are signboards with a copy/picture of the original painting and an arrow pointing to the direction where you can find it.. I followed these till I reached one where I couldn't find the arrow. And then I realized that there was not supposed to be an arrow there. Yes, this was THE painting. I couldn't believe what I saw. It is moments like these that make you realize how miraculously ordinary some things can be - You are told by reliable people that it is nothing compared to what the fuss is all about, and as a result you are not expecting anything great, but then when you actually see it, you remark, "Is that what the fuss is all about?"

What to say of the people who were taking pictures of the painting and also posing with the painting. Reminds me of the famous emperor's clothes story. I feel sorry for the other paintings in that museum, or for that matter anywhere in the world that have been made by great but maybe not so famous artists and that hardly get any attention. I guess perhaps things such as pictures too, like people, have a fortune of their own.

I am also tempted a little to actually try to read about the history to know why this particular painting by Leonardo da Vinci is so famous, when he has himself made so many others.. but then I feel like that is going to be another pitfall - so, definitely not two in a single day :)

jo bhi milta hai kuchh din hi achchha lagta hai...

"तुम क्या बिछड़े भूल गए, रिश्तों की शराफत हम
जो भी मिलता है अब कुछ दिन ही अच्छा लगता है

मिलने जुलने वालों में तो सब अपने जैसे हैं 

जिससे अब तक मिले नहीं वो अक्सर अच्छा लगता है "

"नक्षा उठा के कोई नया शहर ढूंढिए
इस शहर में तो सब से मुलाक़ात हो गयी"

 Nida Fazli beautifully expresses the unstability of life...

India are still going to win the world cup!!

Yes, I had waited for the Ind-SA match for at least a week .. Yes, I was shattered after the match and yes, I am disappointed even now but lets try to see the positives out of today's loss..

• Indian bowling and fielding was finally much better. Yes, two dropped catches and one missed run out and a bad last over, but overall it was much better.
• India now will not be regarded as favorites and will not have much pressure.
• There is a high probability of India getting complacent in the knockout stages, if they hadn't lost any match before that.. 
• Finally we know that our tremendous batting line-up can collapse too... even after a start like 267/1 after 40 overs.. perhaps the lesson learnt, as Dhoni said, is "You don't play for the crowd.. you play for the team"
• Maybe Dhoni realizes that Kohli should be brought in sooner rather than later. No matter what the situation is.
• Sachin is scoring against the biggies.. yoohoo!!

I still feel that we will lift the world cup... 

Even escapism has stopped providing the refuge it used to. 

...

You know you have spent too much time abroad when during your visit to India, you enter a restaurant and, for a moment, wonder, "wow, yahaan par to sab desi hain" before you realize, "you are in India, dude" :D

Ashamed. And a little sad.

You grow up in a protected environment with education being the only thing expected from you and then just at the moment you should be finishing college and entering "life", you escape abroad .. and on top of it you do not believe in even reading newspapers.. and yet you tend to think you know as much about the world as you "need" to know... and then there is that moment which makes you realize how unaware you are about things that you "should" know..

I am visiting Microsoft Research Bangalore for a week, and though I have heard it several times that in our country the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer each day,  I guess a week in Bangalore showed me the truth of this much more than I had ever known..

As I landed at the guest house today where I have been put up for the week, I realized I didn't have change to pay the autowalla, and he didn't have change either.. I asked the watchman of the guest house, "Bhaiya, aap ke paas paanch sau ka change hai kya?". He begins to fumble with the coins from his wallet which is all he seemed to have. I realized the mistake I had made. He had mistaken me for having asked him for a change of five rupees. I didn't know what to do and wanted to step back, but somehow, out of momentum clarified that I was asking for a change for rupees five hundred. "Humaare paas kahaan se aayenge, sir", he said. And I guess I haven't felt so ashamed in ages. I said sorry. Twice. And then he said, "sorry". I didn't have anything more to say that could make up.

In a city where you see tonnes of people squandering thousands every day, and the prices of everything adjusted according to these people, a lot of people even with a reasonable honorable job must be struggling for mere survival, leave aside the unemployed.

I don't know what can be done. I don't know if we can do something. But I still want to  try to contribute towards changing this. At the moment, I don't know how...