[OFF] Essex Team Blitz and Lightning 2024

It was the 31st of June, 2024, the last day before the first half of the year is officially over. It was a Sunday and was remarkably sunny, in what is supposed to be the wettest summer in over a century in England.

For those of you who are aware of my shudderingly preposterous skills in chess, let me warn you that this post is about a chess tournament titled "Essex Team Blitz and Lightning 2024" which was hosted by the Ilford Chess Club which has unwittingly accepted me as a player over the past couple of years, during my stay, here in Essex, England.

This year the event had a with a time-control of 7 minutes per-player with no increments, I'm not sure about it's past but in 2023 it had the same time controls as well. It has been organised since 1993 and we are in the 28th edition (there we no events in 2020-2022) in 2024. The winners list (pre-COVID) can be found here: https://www.essexchess.org.uk/archive/team-blitz/ and the winners in 2023 were "Barking A", referenced from "https://www.essexchess.org.uk/activities-archive/activities-2022-23/essex-team-blitz-2023/".

Barking A won it this time around too, but it was a close fight between them and Wanstead Dynamos with tie-breaks deciding the championship. The team standings for this year follows.

[OFF] Settling down in the UK (England) from India

It was quite a whirlwind ride for me to get settled finally in the UK after being offered to do so around in late November 2021. My employer, Apple, helped me a lot and frankly it has been so smooth for me so far since the 4 months that I landed here. The VISA process took around 1 month and after coming here I was able to get a rented apartment, bought a car on finance, got a credit card, setup my apartment and got my booster COVID-19 shot!

Some of the absolute essentials that folks who have moved to the UK with a job must have and are different from how it works in India -

1. Renting an apartment. The process of renting here is very transparent and the deposit is held with a Deposit Protection Service, so it's never a unilateral decision of not paying back the deposit held. I'm looking at you Bangalore land-lords!

2. SIM card - Of course, one of the first things you need to survive in the UK is phone number. You can get one from the airport, unlike in India, you don't need to provide your Adhaar or Voter ID card for this (or any form of ID, you can get it in a vending machine)! Any provider is fine, do check if they have 5G.

[OFF] 2022 - for good or for worse

It's 2022, two years since the outbreak of COVID-19 global pandemic, which has now subsided into an endemic in various countries.

There is a lot that happened in the last 2 years that hasn't happened in a 100 years, and there's something else that we thought would never happen in a long long time, especially after World War II and the massive repercussion that had on the world. Well, Russia, one of the super-powers of the world, invaded Ukraine - a neighbouring country that was created after USSR was broken down in 1991. The term that Russia uses as a replacement of invasion is "Military Operation".

Amidst all of the terrible news going around the world, 2021 / 2022 hasn't been too bad for me personally. After a brief period of joblessness post COVID in 2020 I got a job with an US based startup, ClearedIn, such that I was able to work from home for the next couple of years.

2020

The year 2020 is at it's mid way with today being the second week of August. There's been a lot going on this year and as a departure from the usual technical posts I decided to write something about what is going on with my life. I do that occasionally but haven't done for quite a few months now (or years?).

I'm at home, with my parents, the place of my birth, and I'm here now for around 4 good months. Since 2011, when I left home to go to NIT Durgapur, for doing my Masters in Technology after getting a disastrous score in GATE (the entrance examination), I have never spent more than 2 weeks living with them here. Here in Howrah. The twin city of Kolkata.

[off] a poetry in the lovely city of bangalore

It has been a while I have had the heart or the mind to write some rhyming lines comprising of a poem, not that I have been particularly busy but maybe I was just fighting some battles that made me feel so. Bangalore, the silicon valley of India, the Garden City as they say it, is a beautiful city. The weather pleases me like no other city of this country, it is remarkable that I have to come back to the city from where I had started my professional journey.

So on a lovely rainy night I decided to try myself and type down some words in random order. Trying to sound lyrical and, to understand the beauty in words and expression.

So here goes, a poem untitled, as below

Its 4 am and the perfect time to get lonely,
As the world sleeps it comes to me very clearly
the silence wasn't meant for the deaf
the darkness wasn't meant for the blind
it is but the feelings inside of us
that we are destined to find.
Of course does that mean we can?
Is it so easy and effortless a task,
Sometimes senses fail us, comprehension we lose
The life in our blood from the bruises ooze
drop into the darkness we cannot see
fly into the noise we cannot hear
drown into the depths we cannot swim
nobody is here nor will be, my dear.

[OFF] The Universe Conspiracy and how Paolo Coelho tricked us

Paolo Coelho, in alchemist talked about the greatness of man and his will power. The fact that the whole Universe somehow takes on a supernatural role in fulfilling ones' wishes, if the person tried hard enough, if the person was willing enough. This was like saying that God helps those who help themselves. However, let me make it clear, I am an atheist and have no illusion of "God" or you may call me a non-believer.

However, the fact still remains for many of us out there, who have the will power and the motivation to get something done, still face failure. Sometimes no matter how hard we try, the Universe keeps conspiring against us.

There is no easy way to digest this fact that our failures are a part of our lives, we keep hoping we won't though just for our heart's sake. Be it a failed job interview, a failed attempt at hailing a taxi in the busy streets of Calcutta, failing in the exams or a lost lover, failures are a part and parcel of our lives. No matter how much we deny this, it still comes back to haunt us. The failures keep occurring.

I used to agree with Sir Paolo on the regard that maybe somehow we are not trying hard enough, maybe something still remained to be done. However, sometimes time makes me wonder if he was indeed right. What about the not so intelligent person who is trying to make a living playing chess? Maybe he loves to play the game, but is just not good enough at it. Others are blessed with something which he does not have, yet he still loves playing the game. Did he not try hard enough?

Take for example, your local slum-boy. He was unprivileged. Maybe he tried. Maybe he tried so much that it would make you wonder what would have happened to you, if you had tried so hard. Let me site the example of our beloved Prime Minister, who was a "Chai-Wala". He made it. However, for the majority of the people, the universe does the exact opposite.

Probably it is just human nature to look at the positive side of things, to feed our brain with "hope" in-spite of all odds. We would like to be hopeful even when we know it might not be useful. Probably that is why people believe Sir Paolo when he said that the Universe will help you. I am not sure they would have done the same, if he would have said, it won't.

Okay, on a more practical note, I would like it as well. I would like to be hopeful.

[OFF] One Night in Bangkok

It was the last day of my travel when I was alone in Bangkok, my friends having left the city the night before my flight was scheduled to take me back to my city, Mumbai.

My friends just left for Kolkata, I was sitting in my hotel room next to a Bangladeshi restaurant. I was searching for a cheap hotel to stay in as I was almost broke by now. The first hotel I was referred to by a member of the Bangladeshi hotel offered me a dorm room for 400 baht with a common bath. I decided to look elsewhere.

The next hotel I went to, a Thai woman referred me to "Mike's" hotel nearby as I told them I was searching for a cheap hotel to stay in. Being unaware, I went to "Mike's" hotel that looked pretty expensive and I was expecting a rub-down as I asked the reception if they have any cheap rooms in store. The manager, probably an American, told me that this is an expensive hotel and I should try another hotel nearby (The same hotel the Bangladeshis had referred to me). No rub-down from him. I could see the smirks on the Thai hotel attendants nearby.

As I came back to the hotel I was told that the dorm room was booked already. All this in a span of around 20-30 minutes. He seemed disinterested to entertain me at all. I decided to book the 'expensive' room (600 baht) with double bed room and an attached bath. I was pretty exhausted and decided to look no further and book this room instead. Being expected to the kind of hospitality we had in the past few days, I was, to say the least, surprised. However the attitude of the Thai-people did cause a bit of a deja-vu.

On our first night in Bangkok we visited "Soi-Cowboy", the almost too well known and infamous street in Bangkok. On our way back, we decided to try some local cuisine from what we call a Box-Shop (Baksho Dokan in bangla). They had some sort of noodle soup with chicken legs and pieces. We decided to try one bowl first. The three of us decided to share this Thai road-side delicacy. I found it pretty good! The three of us decided having various opinions about the food we were having. All of a sudden, a middle aged local approached us and suggested in some broken English that he could buy us a meal and flashed some cash at us. I was surprised but then realised his tone of sarcasm and contempt. I could see the others smirking close by. This guy told us, he could buy us some more food and was taunting us. I was a bit out of place when I suggested, "Yeah, sure, why not!"

Then I realised, this was not funny, and he was taunting us (for what, it eludes me totally, maybe because he felt we are too poor to afford ourselves a meal, I kind of agree with the poor part though). Some other locals stepped in with big grins on their faces and moved him away. We went on with our meal and we ordered one more. The stares however haunted us, as perhaps the sight of seeing three Indians sharing a meal reminded them of how impoverished and malnourished our country is. I kind of enjoyed the stares, made me feel famous for some time. *wink*

The next experience that I will remember was in Koh Lanta, an island in south Krabi. We had rented a scooter and a bicycle from this restaurant "Sugar and Spice" which was run by a local woman. We returned the scooter and were waiting for one of my friends who was riding the bicycle. As he returned, we wanted to take a tuk-tuk (a localised auto-rickshaw) back to our hotel. The woman offered to drop us back for a subsidised rate in her scooters. She had been hesitant earlier when we had asked if we could ride three of us on a bike but now she said, she could do it. We started talking. She said about how bad the season is in Krabi and it becomes hard for them to make a living. The economy there was based on tourism and in the seasons when the rush is low, they are forced to do odd jobs, just like this one. As we almost agreed on her proposal, a tuk-tuk appeared and she suggested we take that instead as that would be good for us. It cost us just the same. We said our goodbyes and went back.

There is so much more I wish I could talk about the next experience we had in Pattaya. Hear me out. We were returning to our hotel room from the very glamorous and glitzy, Walking Street. Our hotel room was next to Patong Beach and I had taken note of the street name where our hotel was located. The three of us, we booked a taxi-van for 100 baht to leave us at  our hotel at Soi 4, Patong Beach. From what the hotel guys told us, this is already a rip-off.

A taxi-van is van with two long seats at the back with the back open from entry and exit of passengers. The driver and her assistant, who were both women, sat in front. They stopped near the Sleeping Market of Patong Beach indicating we had reached the place. I then realised there were probably 2 instances of that name "Soi 4" and then an argument ensued. A policeman intervened and we agreed on paying extra (150 baht in total now) for reaching our hotel room, now that she was clarified about the location.

She stopped about a kilo-meter from the hotel room claiming she cannot go further as there was a roadblock. Normally, taxi-vans take an U-Turn from a bend about half a kilo-metre on that road which we suggested to her. Now she started arguing that she will not be going any further. We decided to persist and stay in the van. She got agitated and came out. She started saying things in Thai with broken English in parts. What I could make out from that was, "This is Thailand". We did not budge. Then she went back in front and came back with what looked like a clever machete inside a cover, standing right out side the exit of the taxi-van. Aggressively gesturing at us to get down and pay up. She was almost screaming at the same time. "This is Thailand", she repeated. Then she went on speaking up some more Thai and then "Pay" is what we understood. One of my friends tried calling up the police right at that instant. She got inside and waved the machete right at him. We were pretty scared now. I told her, we will pay but once we get down from the vehicle. She understood. I could see the other woman hiding in just behind us, enjoying the action probably. She got down blurting out in Thai, things we did not understand. We got down, paid the money and quietly everyone noted the taxi number in their heads.

As the Taxi-sped off, we decided to call the authorities. To our surprise, my friend was told to speak in Thai else they cannot register a complaint. I tried now. The operator told me we would have to call back between 8 am and 10 pm. I wonder why they called the police, an emergency service.

The next day, the day we were to leave Pattaya was another experience altogether. We were going for Para-Sailing and had to keep our bags somewhere on the beach. We kept them at an umbrella spot which had some reclining beach seats. As we were about to leave, we bargained a bit for the beers and beach seat charges. The vendor, a woman, was friendly and we had a chat brewing up. I told her, Thailand is a beautiful place with beautiful women. She replied that "they" find foreigners more beautiful and handsome because of the shape of their noses! She heard a lot about India and gestured about something they put in their eyes. Kajal, I told her. She nodded, even though she knew nothing about it. I told her about "Mehendi" as she was saying something about tattoos and hands. She said she would like to have them. I said, the next time, I would bring them for her.

I am not sure if there would be a "next-time" but for sure if there is I would like to come back to meet the people I had met.

(To be continued...)

[OFF] The Campus experience from the other side

"The grass is always greener on the other side"

A lot of thoughts cropped up on my mind, the day I was knowing for sure I was to visit NIT, Durgapur, the college from where I completed my post-graduation studies and got recruited to Directi, for recruiting students as part of Directi's panel. The roles had reversed.

Initially I was very enthusiastic but later on it faded away as thoughts of meeting a certain placement officer made me pretty uncomfortable. He was however, not present and that made this visit quite enjoyable! 

Going back to Kolkata after almost 4 months was an amazing experience. After landing at the airport, the first thing we did was head off to Park Circus and of course, Arsalan! This was one place that was on my Zomato wishlist for a long time. Biryani in stomach, now was the time for some "Mishti Doi". We headed off to NIT Durgapur stopping at Shaktigarh for some snacks. One of my Mumbai colleagues fell in love again when he had a sample of "Jhal Muri". How he blushed! We headed off again and it was pretty fun in the car, as always with fun folks like me. (That was sarcasm in case you missed it)

We reached our hotel, the Peerless Inn just next to City Residency and we were given personal rooms for each. I had another Bong for company and we calmly headed off for some local produce. The old box-store ("Baksho Dokan") from where we always bought our greens proved to be handy. Yes, I had missed the shop initially but we were pointed out to the right direction.

It was good. This was the same stuff we had in our 2 years of stay in this fine college. With it came back so many memories. Some so distant that cannot be reached by any means. Came back the years of friendship, struggle, shame, laughter, adventure and verbs that need to be reinvented, to correctly and completely define what had transpired.

We came back to the hotel and gorged on the parcel Biryani and ordered some more food. Hunger had played its part. The next day was campus placement and so we called it a night.

As I entered the main gate of the college I found nobody there. I went to the wing where the placement cell was located earlier. It looked empty, but as I entered the cabin of Mr. Laik I was greeted with a familiar face and a happy voice. He was surprised to see me and happy at the same time. It was good to see him as well. 

I called my colleagues in and we were in the cabin. The placement officer now had come. He had been replaced with someone else this time. I sighed in relief! We made our way up to the auditorium where the HR started his presentation. I was invited to give a talk. Being short of words, I tried appearing professional and saying how good the company is. After the presentations were over we started the MCQ Test. Chaos ensued, question papers were short. After a brief delay we selected 39 for the coding round. We were given lunch from Bapida's canteen and the familiar tastelessness was revisited again. After this we started the interview round.

It felt different and strange on the other side of the table. However, I realize nothing has changed. I wanted to do well in the interviews! I still have my share of good and bad. The students too have that. The guy we ended up hiring was in fact an M.Tech. student.

We had a good nights sleep. The next morning we were off to Kolkata Airport. We had overslept a bit as one of my colleagues wanted to visit Dakkhineshwar temple and it was not possible that day. Instead, we had Lyangcha at Shaktigarh and headed to the airport. While returning, Rohit raided a sweet shop. Then we were off.

While coming back, I had a strong urge, not to. It is a beautiful city, my hometown. Of all its dirt, filth, potholes, it still remains the most beautiful city on Earth. It is my hometown. Amar Sohor.

[chords] Tomaye niyei golpo hok by Anupam Roy

Initial humming:

G               C
Hmmm.... Mmmm 

G                   B
Vijche kaak, aayna thak
C                       D
Dekhuk tomay fuler dol
G                    , B
Pother baank, aante jak
C                      D
Brishti dhowa kolsi jol
G                     
Sohor toli jure golir more more
D                  C        G
Tomay niyei golpo hok

G                  ,B
Vijche kaak, aayna thak
C                       D
Dekhuk tomay fuler dol
G                     ,B
Pother baank, aante jak
C                      D
Brishti dhowa kolsi jol
G
Sohor toli jure golir more more
D                  C        G
Tomay niyei golpo hok
G       D                      C
Jaani tomar chonde ontomil nei
G
Tomar urdho gaani
D                    C                        G
Balish chera swopno dhowa urche uruk
Urche uruk

(Similar pattern for the rest)

Tomar chokh, meghla hok
Tomar kothai porche mon
Aangul chonwa mudradosh
Tomar kothar khub ojon
Haajar korotaali tomay bole khali
Tomay niyei golpo hok
Jaani tomar chonde ontomil nei
Tomar urdho gaani
Balish chera swopno dhowa urche uruk
Urche uruk
Urche uruk
Urche uruk

Jaani tomar chonde ontomil nei
Tomar urdho gaani
Balish chera swopno dhowa urche uruk
Urche uruk
Urche uruk

Please post improvements to this! Thanks!

EDIT 1 : Thanks for the improvement s/Bm/Bmajor :) It does sound better

[OFF] An amazing person

Yesterday, I came in touch with an amazing person. Someone who has faced a lot of hardships in their life. It was striking, as to what all that person had faced and all because of love. I write about Love a lot. I like to believe that it is the greatest feeling of all, and if I may, the sole purpose of humanity and life.

This person was a different person now. Finally this person has come to terms with the life that has been given. From now on I will refer to this person as "L". Make no mistake, this is only a pseudonym, by which I have decided to refer this person as. Making assumptions on this person's age, gender, caste or color will get you no-where! It would also be wrong to assume that this person refers to myself, i.e., the author of this page, since, let me reiterate, this is only a pseudonym.

Now, let me continue.

"L" had never thought things would be the way they are. "L" always believed no matter what had happened, Love would triumph everything. It turns out, this assumption was wrong. It so happened that this love dis-integrated and brought out the worst in "L". Days never seemed worse. Nights never seemed scarier. It was a dark time. Even the rains had shunned her. She had become a stranger to herself. It was almost as if she had lost touch with herself. The real "L".

The life she led was filled with smiles and happiness all around. She was like a desert inside in the middle of the ocean. The nights were the worst. When everything was quiet all around it would seem like her existence did not matter. It was so deathly quiet that she could hear hes own tears flow down. She could hear her heart beating very slowly. Blood oozing out of her at times. She could hear the deathly frozen feelings inside her.

What had become of "L"? All I can say now is that, "L" was sick. She is fine now. The doctors have done a great job. Inspired by a certain Mithoon Chakraborty movie, the doctors have cured this person. Maybe not as advanced as a brain transplant, but it worked.

Sometimes, it so happens that, "L" wishes to go back. To do it all over again. Surely the mistakes will not be repeated. Surely this ship would not sink all over again. Surely. Then the boulder of doubt hits her and she snaps out of this imaginary construction in her dreams. Realization dawns upon "L", that things can never be the same again. The past has, made "L" wiser and it has contributed to whatever is to become of "L".

I am so glad I met this person.

[OFF] Shingara Dadu

When I was very young, about 6 or 7 maybe, I remember having a visitor at home. A friend of my grandfather whom I referred to as "Shingara Dadu" in Bangla. Translated to English that means, well, "Shingara"-Grandfather.

What is a "Shingara" you ask?

That is a "Shingara", or samosa, when translated to Hindi.

Does that mean he had some super "Shingara" powers? Did I bite him and come to this conclusion that his skin tastes like "Shingara"?

Apart from the fact that I was not not a cannibal (and probably am not now) let me tell you in all honesty that this nomenclature was done by me on the basis of pure love.

In my home, we had a tradition that whenever a guest would come during a Puja, we would serve them "Shingara"s and "Mishti" (Sweets). Since he would come just after a Puja, these Shingaras would be given to him. However, sometimes, he would come when none of these servings would be available. All I could offer him was some imaginary "Shingaras".

Yes, imaginary. I would cook them up and serve it to him, in my imaginary yet well stocked kitchen, which he would graciously accept. He would pretend to eat them as well, praising the fine taste and cooking prowess it had required.

He carried a walking stick with him and wore black specs with thick glasses. He was lean and tall, around 5 feet 11. He would talk slowly and softly. I remember.

One day, he died.

I was pissed off. Who would eat my "Shingaras" now? I hated him so much for that.

I realised much later what that meant. It was not his fault he did not come. His time was over. My "Shingaras" had killed him. I never give my imaginary "Shingaras" to anybody else now.

I dismantled my kitchen.

PS: I only play Kitchen Scramble now.

[OFF] Valentine's Day

The worst part about Valentines day is when you see everyone partying with their special someone and oozing out love when you are alone trying to fake a smile just to show how you are happy for them. Sometimes it appears so silly what these lovebirds will do. Some play the peacock, some dance like Pelvis Grizzly, some bump into lamp-posts, and the list goes on. One often wonders if they are really in love or just in the mood to invoke some jealousy by showing off. Cause, yes, invoke they do and oh man I just want to murder them with a pump-action shotgun with blood squishing all over the floor and probably some in their lover's mouth as well.

But that's just me. And all of this is just a joke! Ha! I am a harmless man who loves joking. Bad joke you say?

"You know I actually have a book. You don't want to get on that book do you?"

Craziness apart, valentines day, I felt was always one invented by the corporates. I am talking about the Archies, Hallmark and the kind. The kind that wants feelings, to be measured by the amount of money you spend. The hype surrounding it, the demand, everything was almost artificial. To me, if you are in love, everyday should be a celebration of that love. Do something small, yet thoughtful that will help in expressing the overflowing love you have in your heart. One day is just too small a time period for that.

Running an errand, writing something, composing something, drawing something is far more romantic than some card or gift you can buy off the Internet. Just looking into the eyes of the person you love, is a lot more romantic than anything else. You don't have to kiss, you don't have to hug, you don't even have to talk. Silence is the language of love. It is but a silent understanding, that is understood in the language of the heart.

Being a computer scientist (lol!) and a logician (roflmao!), I never really believed in the concept of souls (what? am I on drugs?), and that somethings need to be felt with the heart. This was until I fell in love. It feels everything I never wanted to feel. The opposite of what I understood love stood for.

Yesterday, I missed her a lot. True story.

[OFF] Homesick

Here I am on a Saturday morning sitting on my bed in an empty room trying to do something. I think about calling her up, but she is busy now. I think about watching a movie, but I cannot make up my mind. I think about playing my guitar, or figuring out the Rubic's cube. I think about a lot of things and the last thing I think about makes me open up my blog.

What was the last thing I thought about then? Well, it was a vague little feeling mixed with laziness (the laptop is at an arms stretch), sadness (really have no clue where that came from), happiness (I am pretty rich, I should be happy right?), hunger and something I would call nostalgia. Yes, that is pretty much it.

Sometimes I have had feelings that I cannot describe myself. Sometimes I don't feel anything at all. This is one of the former times. I am not sure what I am feeling, but am definitely not feeling nothing. As I sit on my bed looking outside I can see a huge building full of little flats. I can see little children swinging on the swing. I can two others playing on a slide. I can see a bird fly by. I can see an old man sitting still near the playing children. I light a cigarette.

You see, by lighting a cigarette I am claiming I am not affected by what I see. I claim to be macho and carefree. But somewhere deep inside me, like very deep, pitch dark and not visible to the naked eye, lies a little child wanting to sob and go outside and play. Wanting to sob at all the bad things I have done and beg forgiveness from all the people I have hurt. The weakest part of me I hide so well.

The point is however, not the empowerment of women, nor the RTI, nor making silly wisecracks at my namesake, no, none of that. The point is, well, I really don;t know. I have no point to make. I am just homesick.

Just something I read the other day: "We are born alone in this world, live alone, die alone, love just creates the illusion we are not."

[OFF] Wake me up when september ends

I am sure this song is familiar to you. In fact, today being the last day of September, I decided to try out a feature of Blogger. Scheduling posts. So this post is scheduled to be posted exactly at 12.01 AM, 1st October, 2013. Just when September ends this year.

Billie Joe Armstrong is 41. It has been a while when his father passed away. It has been a long time since he had holed himself up in his room and told his mum that he was busy, and to "Wake him up when September Ends".

Little did he know, this would become an anthem of the generation. I love the song, but it has nothing to do with him, honestly! I love the song because the song is a marvellous celebration of beauty, sadness, life and death. It is one of those things we know of, but do not have a reason. It is like believing that there is someone to guide us at all times, and that someone has not left us. That someone will never leave us. We will all wake up, when September ends.

Let us grieve now, for we have hope. To resurrect ourselves, to live the amazing life circus. To live what our forefathers have dreamt of. We surely can dedicate a month for that, can't we?

Billie Joe Armstrong is 41. Yes. Reflecting on that makes me feel so old. I was brought up in this age of the internet, mobile phones, WhatsApp, WhatsNot, etc. I wonder what happened to me?

There is a song by a Bangaldeshi singer, "Topu", "Bhalobashi", that has the lines-

Eto bhebe ki hobe?
Bhebe ke koreche ki kobe?
Bhabchi na ar, ja hobar hbe.

Translated that means -

What will pass by so much thinking?
Who ever did something by just thinking?
I am not thinking any more, what is supposed to, will happen.

Another month has passed, or rather, will pass when this is posted. I think I will side with Topu.

Billie Joe Armstrong is 41. For those who wonder if he was some relative of Niel Armstrong, the first man on the moon, I say, yes he was. He made us all go to the moon. I mean, rock meant Green Day once upon a time in our life (with out any disrespect to Linkin Park or all other amazing ones) and in probably many other peoples lives as well. What this song reeks of is utter respect.

So yes, not further diverging from the topic. Like I said, this post was meant to test a feature of Blogger. Lets see if this will work.

[OFF] The Old Bearded Barber

I have meaning to write about this seemingly common incident that happened last weekend for a long time. So finally, I see I have been able to gather wits together.

It was an idle Saturday afternoon in Mumbai, contrary to what you might say, the place where I live is a rather calm and serene area with not an iota of chaos that one would normally associate with the city. I woke up at around 12.30 enjoying more than a night's sleep to my delight as Kavita Bai had  switched off the fan. If she hadn't done that, I was up to break the Guiness Records for sleeping for sure!

Now, the story is not only about me and my laziness, which on the contrary would make an amazing story as well! (I would creep you out with that later, sometime) The story is of an old bearded barber. Now you would say, what is so special about an old bearded barber? Nothing. Just the way I looked at that entire encounter of around 25 minutes maybe.

[OFF] A random poem I wrote

Being a poet is what I suck best at, here's one of more of my absolute classics that will make you contemplate the meaning of life. Make you think twice before reading the utter crap that I write in the name of poetry. This one is supposed to be a romantic poem in case you feel it is a poem about potatoes (or rhinoceroses).

The Princess of Mystery

Tired is my mind,

Solace seems so distant.

I have tread on a long road,

Just to be closer.

[OFF] Love in the times of rains

It's been such a rainy morning. No sign of the sun anywhere on the sky. Clouds all around threatening to unleash their watery fury at any time they wish. It has been a time when the trees enjoy merrily. The earth can bathe in the purest form of water Nature can give.

It's been watter-logged here near my house. The late morning rains accompanied by a powerful wind woke me up today. The wind was cold. It touched my soul and wanted me to love. It wanted me to love the rains. I wonder, why does the rain want my love, when it has so many lovers already? So many poets line up expressing their love to this wonderful outburst of Nature! Probably, I am the person she chose to love among all them people. Probably, I am the one, the clouds chose to offer their unbridled love!

Nah, too mushy.

[Chords] Adbhut Mughdhota by Anupam Roy

This is my first chord post on my blog. Anupam Roy's Adbhut Mughdhota / Advut Mughdota from his album Dwitiyo Purush.

Taken from the man his facebook page!


Enjoy!

G                        Bm 
Kato kato din, kabyohin.
C                    G
Theke jaay, dimer shaaday.

[OFF] Life as a PostGrad student

Got my first chance here... after a long time I guess!

After coming here I realized, there was a lot more to life and what I had missed. It wasn't such a bad decision to ditch Cognizant and Infosys after all! (On the hindsight, that would have been so much easier).

[OFF] An old poetry unearthed

Here's something I found unearthed beneath years of e-mails in my very old inbox! One of my first attempts at being a poet, thought I'd post it on somewhere more close to my heart. 


Here it is:

 FIND

And on that monsoon evening when
the sun was about to set,
When the moonlight just creeps in-
Under the orange sky, the road was wet.

On that dim, slippery, pitched  road
as if on her black night he rode,
Where nature stole the night in envy-
and glistened with stars at her abode.

He did fall in her velvet lakes
that her eyes were, he was drenched,
in the tiny, meaningless concrete room,
he was all dry, all sound.

Slowly closer they came ,the sun set
and moonlight between their termbling lips,
could no longer pass through-
time slowed down, the moon peeps.

                                                                                                        -rahul ghose

When ever anyone asks me what happened next I tell them,
look up in the night sky and if u see the moon peeping then it is still offering you hope to find the one u love,
& say by any chance u don't see the sun at all then take my advice:
Try to see it the next evening.
You will find the moon waiting for u...

Every one has a destinantion to reach, a love to find, do not remain the one peeping- like the moon,
for the moon may be beautiful but it keeps on moving and searching...

for LOVE.

This was something I wrote around 7 years ago. Just the way I wrote it. Makes me nostalgic.