kal, aj aur kal

Its abt 1 at nite. I cant sleep so I decide 2 rite anothr post.
No, i m not sitting wide awake and staring into my laptop. i m very much in bed, typing furiously wth my thumb into my new nokia 6681. I wl then post ths directly via GPRS 2 blogger.
I bought ths neat little nok last sunday. It cost me a bomb. Bt it lets me do so many thngs i hve alwaz wantd 2 do. Like blog anytime anywhere anythng.

Yes. We r a crazy generation. We do thngs tht evn 5 yrs bak wud b considerd outrageous.

Whn I was buying ths set I cudnt help thnkng bak 2 a day 4m my childhud when i had gone wth my mom and dad 2 a special winter fair for quilts. We must hve been havng a really hard time bak then, 4 i dstinctly remembr ma and pa buyng 2 lal imli dhariwal quilts after much deliberation, on emi. (dont remember ths part very clearly though). Thre was quite a crowd at the fair I remembr. For yrs aetrwards, those 2 quilts remained our prizd wintertime assets.

I knw it sounds very bizarre, ths post on nokia and quilt. Bt those of u who have made a connection, let me jst close ths wth one last statement.
Its nt about jst me and my family. Its abt an entire nation moving from kal into kal via aj. ;)
u get me?

Bikes bikes everywhere, not an inch to move...

If they wanted to make another "Deep Impact", they could just come to Pune for the shooting. No hassles with creating artificial traffic jam or road block sets.

And this was 10 AM on saturday - on Fergusson square. So you dont even have to wait for a weekday for the shooting. :)

Come here, have a cofee at savera, pan camera once or twice - and bingo, you have shot that would look like the whole city is in panic and is trying to escape an impending meteorite strike.

We probably hold the record for the highest density of vehicles per squarefeet of metalled road, in the country. A zillion bikes and still counting...Way to go Pune!

Mahashivaratri

Who said God doesnt exist? Who said God doesnt do anything?

In a state battling with severe power crisis and regular scheduled power cuts, God can ensure a day sans load shedding and complete license for electric thirsty zillion megawatt loud speakers.

Yes. Mahashivaratri meant that we had no 8 to 10:30 powercut. Infact thats how I realised it was mahashivaratri today - when the light didnt go, and a nearby temple loudspeaker blared bhajans.

Then ma called. It reminded me of my childhood. Mahashivaratri meant a holiday - usually in the middle of final exams. A trip to the local shiv mandir with ma was a welcome break from the prison of books. I used to readily accompany her.

I was still not the atheist that I am now. I would do whatever ma instructed me. Collect wildflowers for the pooja, carry the pooja thali, pour milk on the shivaling and do the seven rounds of the linga. It was all fun and the longer it lasted the better it was - because back at home were waiting the textbooks and notes for next days exam. :)

Savera days

So one day they decided to pull her down and bring up a big red and blue steel structure. That was the day they killed the spirit of pune – or at least one part of it.

But then that’s how all things are – mortal, transient. When such is the lot of earth itself, then what is savera? When such is the fate of earth her.


Lazy savera Sundays

Sat here all day. 11 to 2 and then 3 to 7. that’s like most of the day I guess. And watched people. About 20 pairs of different shaded denim clad legs. Denims rule this generation. Nothing new with that – but its amazing if you think of it. An entire generation clad in a single type of clothing. Like about 100 years back our forefathers clad in white dhotis.

A low cleavage t-shirt wearing girl is crossing the road from the Fergusson College side. I can see her cleavage from across the road, where she is standing near the divider.

Makes me think – things that mark this generation – less clothing on women, denim, cell phones and internet centered, money frenzied life styles.

I read somewhere some article on how the hemlines of women’s skirts move up or down with the economy. Don’t remember much about it right now, but I think there definitely is a relation between women’s clothing and the state of a society’s economic prosperity.

Generally speaking a strong economy means more women wearing less clothes and vice versa. Think about it. A strong economy means general prosperity, lower crime rates, lesser frustration or pent up desires, lesser chances of men behaving like animals etc etc.

Notes on India and her world - preface

What is a historian? Who is a historian? What propels men to be one? To observe, record and preserve - what is there motivation. Perhaps there is none. Except an inner desire to immortality the times that one has lived in. A desire to beat time in her game and last long after dying. For if a man rights about himself it does not matter much. But if a man rights about mankind - that is what becomes history.

And so, from these desires and some others, I start this document. Not with any grand intentions. My bits and pieces of text, notes, blog entries and smsed thoughts may never amount to much. Long ages hence, a bored granddaughter somewhere may read this. That alone would be my claim to immortality.

Kings and prime ministers I will leave worthier heads than mine to document. I shall document the simple people around me. And the simple events in my immediate surroundings - intercoursed with mega events in the world at large. With my intended audience a grand daughter many ages hence.

But before I begin - a few lines to what made me start - howsoever unrelated or trivial it may sound. Rang De Basanti - watched it twice. And ofcourse as an Indian I felt all the things that other good countrymen of my age and mental disposition felt. But I felt something more. Something that escapes expression in words. Something that I will try to hint at time and again as I keep recording. But I am not sure I will be successful.

so my reaction to Rang De Basanti are these pages - my notes on India and her world