The dude!

How many nicknames do you have? Four, Five or maybe six!! This guy has lost count of them all! And to the guys who thought Bappi was cool, have a look at him..new clothes daily, customized jewels. The only thing he doesn’t is eat at KFC!! This dude only eats curd rice, much like me..:P.

The folklore has it that, some thousand years ago, this dude fought with his loved one and settled in this mountain called Sheshadri! But being the dude he is, could not live long without his chick! Neither could his chick..:P..Neither could his friends Brahma and Vishnu. So they hatched some plans and brought them together. Now this is what we call friendship!! So all said and done, some thousand years ago, these dude needed some crores of rupees to get ready to be married again.!! Now this is seriously romantic!! Marry once in heaven and get married again in earth….And so he borrowed the money from another dude of his time..Kubera! And supposedly, our dude is stil repaying the money back and we are “helping” him repay it..:P

Although there might be a thousand nay sayers to tell this dude and his legend his overhype, my frank opinion is a visit to his home once in lifetime is surely that everybody must think about. Yes, you will have to walk through vomit kissed floors, rub shoulders with people drenched in sweat, stay awake at odd hours and literally cross seven mountains!! All for one fleeting glance at him.

All said and done, this dude just has an alluring charisma to him which will keep pulling fans till time immemorial..Govinda Govinda!

Dear Mr. Modi and your facist brethren,

I write this letter, first, as a concerned Hindu and then an Indian. But, I am pained to say that you are the biggest enemy to my faith. Sometimes, I wonder if you are a devious design of some evil mind determined to wipe out this sacred religion from my motherland.

Probably, your knowledge of Hindu mythology is poor and so is your knowledge of world history. Revenge, as the Gita says, is the purest human emotion. The most naked of human emotions are triggered when the heart is wounded and the fire of revenge is only extinguished only after an evil of similar or greater measure is done on the forces which cradled the fire of revenge.

I do not fear the Maulanas in the far hills of Kashmir or the bearded gun trotting Muslim in the barren plains of Afghan. I fear the Zameer Khan and Shabnam Shaikh who stays next door to me. I do not fear them for the proximity but am helpless if I have to answer them. The Maulana preaches the radical version of his faith so that even the neighboring village’s Amjad Khan attends his sermon. A la Ramdev attempt at attention seeking! The gunmen in Afghan picked up the gun because he really didn’t know any better means to raise his family.

But my neighbor has seen his sister being raped by the saffron robbed warriors, His sole bread earning son being slaughtered to death. In his eyes, the tears of grief are still alive. The lump in his throat swells with every mention of his son and so does his anger with every mention of your name. Now, Jihad attracts him. The same clergy whom he found ridiculous from the last 40 years has suddenly given meaning to his life in the last 40 years. When 4 years ago, he was told there was a need for an Islamic land, he joked “Are sirf Muslim log honge, to Diwali ko phatake kaise phodenge!”. In every Hindu, he sees a Modi now.

There are so many Zameers and Shabnams in every corner of India who once were Indian muslims. As they say, adversity brings even enemies together. Your deeds brought the Arab Muslim closer to the Indian Musilm. Sir,please stop the Hinduisation of this country any further. I want my Zameer back.

A Hindu.

So near, yet so far….

On the 21^st May,2011, there was an unmistakable passion every time the crowd went wild chanting “Aaar Cee Bee!”. Although RCB ended up being second best in the tournament, RCB had won back its fans heart. The fanatic following that characterizes an RCB team was there for all to see. To me, RCB had already won it.

They say, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”. And RCB only epitomized these words. IPL IV started shakily for RCB even before the first ball was bowled. The opposition franchisees bid heavily for Karnataka’s local stars Uthappa,Dravid and Vinay Kumar and eventually RCB had to lose out on Bangalore’s favourite sons. Although it cash a shadow of self-doubt on every RCBian, the emergence of the tall and mean Sreenath Aravind under the wings of Zaheer Khan soon infused the local colour into RCB camp.Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to say Sreenath Aravind was one of the finds of the tournament.

The IPL think tank proved that it was strategically the best in the tournament. Virat Kohli, widely tipped as future Indian captain was the only retained player in the side and at the end of the tournament the gentlemen in RCB would have patted themselves. The youngster not only provided stability to the middle order but also showed glimpses of Jonty Rhodes with his exceptional fielding. And to cap it, he led the side admirably in the absence of RCB’s regular captain, Daniel Vettori who Is one of the finest captains in the cricketing world.

After a lot of talk off the field, finally when the action back it was disaster at the start for RCB. Back to back defeats, must win situation to stay afloat in the competition, questions raised about the team’s composition, fitness of players, the board’s commitment and a serious injury to one of RCB’s strike bowler Dirk Nannes. And so often than not, this was the moment to spur RCB. And in walked a dark burly man from Jamaica, Christopher Gayle. Was he ego hurt for not being picked during the auctions? What did he want to prove the world? What did Dr. Vijay Mallya offer him? Nobody knows! But seldom has the world witnessed imposing himself on a tournament of this stature as Gayle had on IPL IV. Every time the ball kissed Gayle’s brandishing blade, the clouds trembled with the fear of getting hurt. A certain Parameshwaran certainly has tale to tell his grandchildren.

Slowly but surely, the RCB juggernaut fell in place and a beautiful run of 7 victories on a trot which not only is an IPL record also ensured that RCB topped the league table. The manner in which RCB vanquished an MI side which comprised of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar,Keiron Pollard is something every RCB fan will treasure for a long time.Just when dreams of bringing the IPL trophy to namma Bengaluru began to look real, RCB fell short to a much stronger CSK side. Although, RCB was clearly disadvantaged given that it was playing its second high intensity match within 48 hours, staying true to RCB tradition the team and fans accepted it gracefully.

Sure, we didn’t get the trophy but we didn’t hurt our pride either and chant “Aaar Cee Bee” another day..

Twelve to Eighteen

Mom comes back home after paying fees at NMIT and exclaims excitedy,”Rahul..sappadu(lunch in Tamil) costs only 12 rupees in your college. Now am relieved of packing lunch boxes for you!” Little, did I know what was in store? Hate it or love it, the modest lunch still continues to be the block buster in our canteen and I have filled my stomachs innumerable afternoons with the Nitte “delicacies”. Although of late I have shifted my allegiance to the lighter and spicier chats, on 22^nd May,2011 for one last time had lunch. And that’s when I realized, I had to shell out 18 rupees, 6 rupees more than what I did 4 yours ago.Yes, Nitte has indeed come a long way.

Although change is inevitable in any living institution, seldom would any organization have witnessed a change of such humongous propositions as Nitte has and change in a span of 4 years is dramatic to say the least. 17 buses have become 22. 120 hostel rooms have become 160! The two storeyed building has become three! A separate dining hall for hostellers! The one building Nitte now will become a 2 building campus. And the grapevine has that an NRI canteen is under construction and the more interesting news is that a co-ed NRI hostel coming up in namma Nitte! 4 disciplines of engineering which was offered have now grown to 6! A research lab, a satellite tracking centre,innumerable clubs on entrepreneurship, various technical,cultural,extracurricular, cocurricular. You name it… have mushroomed. Some alive, some dead! Lecturers have started coming from IITs and IIScs! How Did I forget THE VTU demon is slayed, for good or bad, I don’t know..

Yet, all these changes are more cosmetic in nature. The biggest change to me is the psyche of the average Nitteite. And the contrast is striking when I compare some of my passed out seniors and the freshers in the college. Nitte’s fabled strikes have become a thing of the past. And the last real “strike” was when I was in first year, i.e. 2007 and from what I recollect, the seniors told me it was a meek replicas of some of the earlier ones. Think of a strike now!

Another thing strikingly absent in present day Nitte day is energy. Anaadyanta ’08….Dancers like Mahesh and Salmaan really got the crowd going. And the crowd came for the fest. Cut to the current fest, the only people glued to the stage were the alumnus. Most of the current students absent or were busy with their “present” other halves..;)

While once, classes were a part of college life, now classes have become college life. The autonomous rules made sure even the baddest boys of Nitte had an attendance of more than 75%. Well, do we have bad boys in Nitte any more?;)

While, most of us may go gaga over Nitte’s satellites, patents,researches,hacks,projects to me, we have lost the Nitte in us.

Did I forget chicks?;)

Finally, its all alone….

Its hardly five hours after the premier event of our branch fest concluded “Chaddi Buddy!” and I cant believe am writing a serious post. The event promised a lot of laughs and did live upto its billing with most of the people enjoying their time. Atleast that’s what they told me…

With no net to while my time in FB, no messages in mobile all I can possibly do are muse something randomly. Unlike some of my usual posts where I touch upon something specific this post will make me type whats running through my mind right now. While it was refreshing to see so many people registering for the fact and the testimony to the fact being that we had to close registrations today even when people were pouring in to register themselves. Now when I sit and reminisce some events over the past 48 hours a deep shallowness descends over me. Its now that I feel life has to be lived alone. I really cant believe I have this thought just after I hosted an event which celebrates friendship.

While this post might hurt my friends I really do feel alone now. Sometimes seeing too much happiness around makes you pity yourself. Possibly this is a similar case. Maybe, I might wake up as the regular old Rahul. But tonight, there is a certain lump in heart..a certain sobering effect..something which makes me retreat to my shell…something which makes me think philosophy..something which makes me pity myself..And this isn’t the first time I have experienced this. And I still don’t know hot to overcome this….

Am I sad? No. Am I happy? No. What do I want to do? Nothing. What is troubling me? I don’t know..What do I want? I don’t know.

I am lonely…Waiting for sleep to give me company….

RaghulG or Raghulji……Yours forever..

I don’t remember my first meeting with her, yet she does it vividly. Her thought doesn’t pass through my mind every day, yet I can hear her silent prayer for my smile to become broader every day. If there is something called love in this world, then it has to be her sweet voice uttering, ““Rahulji, sappada varriya da..:)””.

22 years is a long time. Those shining black hair has turned grey. Those beautiful eyes cant see the far troubles though they still dance to her words. Her wrinkled skin only adds to the beautiful radiation which she possesses in abundance. Meet my patti(grandmom), 64 young who continues to inspire me like no one else, who continues to love me more than anyone else.

I know I can never express this beautiful relationship in words, but fell compelled to write just to fill the void she left in my life when she left for some other place. Separated by a generation the intricacy of the relation could be felt by her soft touch on my shoulders, the longing look on my face as the car drove her away from me, the speed of the car as I felt was faster than ordinary.

Being the eldest grandchild of an extremely huge family, I was her only cynosure for so many years till my cousins were born. Even after my cousins were born, I could see her loving each of us equally with a surgeon’s precision. The old home, the bed time stories seeped in mythology which sounded even more mythical because of her mystifying voice, the curd rice being made into morsels and placing it into each of her star’s hands, her “specials” during festival…..Wish I could rewind my life! But her virtue and experience shone the most when any of us fell ill. The relentless prayers, her untiring efforts to make us comfortable and her soothing words which I really believe was more powerful than the doctor’s cure is something I don’t think anybody can do for me ever.

As, I sit and watch the world go by, I feel blessed to be her grandchild. Infant,kid,boy,teenager..now a man, yet I know I will always be her baby, her Raghulji….:)

Am I useless?

All I see around myself now is water. And the water slowly seems getting taller than me. As I see myself drowning in the ocean of self-pity, all I want to know Is “Am I useless?”.

While I can hear the steady beat of drums surrounding the fest getting momentum, It just dawned to me that for the first time I would not have any role to play in the fest, however trivial it may be. For the first time I wouldn’t play hosts to guests coming from other places. Instead, I feel a guest in my own college fest. I realize that over the years I have earned more enemies than friends, I have probably developed an attitude which nobody likes. Today is when I realize it.

Today is the first night before a college fest that I will sleep without the nervous excitement that surrounds the fest. The first time, I don’t know who is the Chief Guest of my very own college fest for which I was so passionate about. My only dream as a bespectacled first year kid was to contribute something more meaningful when I would leave the college.

As it seems to be, I have lost my way in the sea. And the worst part of the ordeal is to see myself sinking with nothing to do. I don’t know if am correct. But I do believe I still have something to offer in spite of the countless allegations swirling against me. As I gauge, even this piece will be conveniently tagged by people as a publicity stunt.

I still want to see the fest. But the very thought of being a guest in your home advises me to stay away.