In search of myself...

It was a special day in the history of Indian cricket in the year 2007 after the notorious first round exit from the world cup. A team that was regarded inexperienced and unreliable pulled off an emphatic win in the miniscule version - T20. Someone had this message on Gtalk - that Dr. Kalam's foresight into India becoming a super power in 2020 had been fulfilled. How creative! The victory was not an ordinary one. It was against a team hyped up by the media and commentators as an arch rival and the Indian team was under more pressure than ever as it had to maintain its victory run against Pakistan at the world cup. A team without the three stalwarts that was not expected to win any of its matches went on to win the rubber by comprehensively defeating teams like England, South Africa, Australia and Pakistan. New Zealand was made to sweat and fortunately, Daniel Vettori was at his consistent best. All that apart, I had to watch the match at the common room of our hostel. My friends ca...

The news of late, seems to have troubled me. I can't help but express my thoughts on certain issues. One of them that has caught my attention is the controversy on the Ram Sethu (the bridge built by Lord Ram to take his army across to Lanka). 'Culture Minister', Ambika Soni has come into notorious limelight after presenting a government affidavit, which stated that there was no historical evidence to Lord Ram's existence. She is under tremendous pressure to resign as the BJP would leave no stone unturned in making this a national issue. They have in fact, vowed to make this an election slogan and have always advocated that the Congress is Anti-Hindu. Ambika Soni, on the other hand, seems to be the most noble person on earth. She says the affidavit was prepared, not by her ministry, but by the ASG (Additional Solicitor General). She also added that she would resign, if the party needed it. Pinching the baby and rocking its cradle would definitely put a lot of kids to sl...

Please bear with me. My mind is at unrest after reading this. Maybe you will face the same situation too. Thanks to NDTV for publishing this piece of utmost national importance. "NDTV Correspondent Saturday, September 15, 2007 (New Delhi) The Supreme Court on Saturday set aside a Karnataka High Court verdict, which had reduced the sentence of the accused of raping a ten-year-old girl from seven years to three and a half years. The High Court had reduced the sentence stating reasons that the accused was a young boy of 18 years belonging to the Vaddara community and illiterate. Supreme Court has held that the measure of punishment in the case of rape cannot depend upon the social status of the victim or the accused. The socio-economic status is an irrelevant consideration in the sentencing policy." "My friend slapped me the other day and I think it would be right on my part to go directly to the supreme court, as the high courts pronounce judgments based on caste." No...

I happened to visit the NDTV website and there was this eye-catching piece on the collapse of the flyover at Punjagutta, Hyderabad. This is the second tragedy after the notorious twin blasts a few days back. The article carried the statements made by a few distinguished personalities on the incident. However, reading this article angered me for reasons that a sane reader should find natural. Read and decide. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: ''I am shocked and deeply grieved by the accident in Hyderabad'' - I am shocked at your concern. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy: Expressed ''utter shock and anguish'' - What else could he express? Soon after learning about the incident, Reddy visited the spot briefly and took stock of the situation - What a responsible person! Later, he directed the officials concerned to immediately attend to the rescue of those who are still caught in the debris and trapped in vehicles - He could not have told...

I reached the lab at half past ten, hoping to get some project work going. To my surprise, there were more people in the lab this night than is usually the case. I thought there was serious research going on and I ought to work a lot harder to catch up. A closer peek at the taskbar on everyone's system said something else. They had tabs dying to be opened and blinking desperately. Those tabs opened websites most useful to research, rediff.com, scores.sify.com, ndtv.com, cricinfo.com and the like. It did not take me long to assist them in the research and I opened a page myself. Yes, undoubtedly, it was the first match of the 20-20 fantasy world cup and Chris Gayle had been tormenting the South African bowlers as if it was his birthright. And junta at the lab were lauding his exploits with comments on every ball bowled. Every hostel has a television here. Why on earth, did people have to come to the lab when the only thing they managed to do tonight was take a look at the scores?? ...

For those who are not aware, Tifanys is a restaurant inside the IIT campus where I generally end up every morning after having missed my breakfast. Well, this blog is nothing concerning the taste that you get to eat or the ambience at the place. I would like to make a mention of a waiter who seems to be an inspiration to me here at IIT for more than a year now. Why? The day of a worker at Tifanys starts at around 7 am and continues for an hour past midnight - a whopping eighteen hours of non-stop work. This waiter seems to know no fatigue. He greets customers vociferously and of course, with a broad smile anytime you step into the restaurant. An energy plot against eighteen working hours would probably be a horizontal line in his case. When I raised this point in the course of a chat with a friend, he said it was out of compulsion that he did this. I beg to differ. Going around for eighteen hours a day for six days of the week with the same enthusiasm is no joke. I have seen none work ...

Teachers' day here at IIT Madras was celebrated with a panel discussion on a topic that according to me, could never be conclusive - "The IIT Degree - A passport to material prosperity?" . The discussion was chaired by a renowned professor here who was extremely impressive with his interplay of words in English. One could possibly keep listening to that well-modulated, commanding, flawless (I've run out of adjectives) voice of the moderator all day long - something that is the monopoly of great speakers. The speakers at the discussion were five in all - three faculty members and two students. After they had voiced their opinions loud and clear, the moderator took charge yet again, enthralling listeners with his charismatic strain. A major portion of the discussion revolved around attempts to define what prosperity exactly is. Again, an unending venture that unfortunately showed up as it does consistently at such fora because every human has his/her own definitions of...

Dawned September 5 and there was an urge to jump out of bed. Something that never happens to me. What was the urge all about? It just got stronger and stronger. Yes, I woke up on Teachers' Day with a violent jolt from within. The first thing I wanted to do was to rush to every teacher's residence carrying gifts. But it obviously wasn't possible because the effort that has gone into making me as I am today was not put in by a handful, but a multitude of gurus. The least I could do was make telephone calls to a few I still remained in contact with and a few more, with whom there hadn't been any conversations in the recent past. The latter set failed to recognize me. It was but natural. They have been seeing batch after batch pass out and I was nothing more than a member of one of those batches. However, some teachers felt happy that I called and I was elated when they recognized my voice. What makes me write here??? Its a question I have been trying to answer as I type. I...