You must remember this...

I watched Casablanca a few days back, thought it was an awesome movie. Great actors, great(if not the greatest) dialogs, a love struggle woven beautifully with the struggle of war, and some great jazz. But I don't want to talk about the movie here, it's this song "As time goes by", which I really liked, and when I searched for the original, it was even better with the complete lyrics. The lyrics are amazing and the music is all what good jazz should be made of. Am posting the lyrics here, if you can, do listen to the song....enjoy!

"This day and age we're living in
Gives cause for apprehension
With speed and new invention
And things like fourth dimension.

Yet we get a trifle weary
With Mr. Einstein's theory.
So we must get down to earth at times
Relax relieve the tension

And no matter what the progress
Or what may yet be proved
The simple facts of life are such
They cannot be removed.

You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.

And when two lovers woo
They still say, "I love you."
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by.

Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date.
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate.
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny.

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.

Oh yes, the world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by."

A mind of my own

I realized messed up priorities coupled with lack of reason can lead to so much chaos. And its not only about the chaos, the damage done can be much greater than what it seems to be on the face of it. Its funny watching people (both friends and foes) go to such great lengths for something as insignificant as power, that too power on a scale as small as a hostel or a college. Friendships are forgotten(stronger words can be used), deceit replaces honor, the line between right and wrong ceases to exist, every last bit of morality is flushed down the drains to what purpose? Have the "eternal" principles of honor and righteousness become obsolete, have they gone out of fashion these days?
I may be too much of an idealist here, and I totally agree that foresight, emotions and attachments sometimes demand things which may not qualify as "absolutely" right, but is there any limit to all this? Even if one thinks practically, is a GS post really worth giving up years of friendship, is reputation in college reason enough to kill your own conscience? Some actions may be justified on emotional grounds, sometimes helping a dear one fulfill his dream or revenge for a wronged friend is great motivation indeed, but even here the damage done to so many others by a single action goes neglected, and most do it to satisfy their own vanity anyways.
This jumbled up array of words reflects the jumbled up clot of thoughts in my mind, frankly my emotions, my anger once or twice convinced me too to leave my principles behind, but now I realize again that wrong can never be justified unless the justification itself is wrong. Right and wrong may not be as absolute as two sides of a coin, but when the time comes, it becomes clear deep in our hearts, only it is up to us whether to follow it or not.

All for one, one for all

Considering the fact that almost all religions claim that there is only one God, and assuming each of them to be correct, we are left with the single conclusion that all religions talk about the same thing or person or whatever. A funny thought came to my mind sometime back, just imagine the laugh this God guy must be having, seeing people fight and kill, with both sides fighting for the same Him(or Her,no offense to the ladies)! That makes most of the world's biggest wars fought with both sides actually on the same side!
Its really hard to believe what things people do in the name of religion and God, but I guess its not their fault most of the times, blind ignorant faith is the easiest thing to manipulate. Someone fights for Ram, other for Allah, someone else for Jesus, yet someone else for Jesus's apparently secret wife, but behind these innocent blank clueless curtains there is true unity, with a handful of people fighting together for power, wealth and all that jazz, not caring, not fearing once while stepping over their own Ram or double crossing their own Allah. Its hilarious at times, pooja water kept in vodka bottles, supposedly "daridra" priests flaunting the latest Nokia N93 handset, and countless other things people are smart enough to hide most of the times.
Why can't each of us let the other be? Why can't everyone look at everyone else just the same? How can we be so blind, so naive, so gullible, so easily manipulated?

A Silent Tear

Ever imagined talking to a tear drop? What follows as per my imagination is a chat with our very own Silent Tear (ST)! Read on....

Me : Hullo there! Long time no see, where are you putting up these days?

ST : Ya, i know, long time, hope you havent forgotton me. Thought you needed me, so came running. I see you are all crapped up right now.

Me : Hmmm. I am in a fix yaar, I have messed up big time this time, now I don't know what to do. I guess that's why you are here. Anyways, forget that, enough about me, how are you doing?

ST : Oh, I have been fine, running from one loner to other, but its fun. You should see these morons, they so crack me up. The funniest ones are those with girl trouble, I can barely stop my laughter there.

Me : Interesting, you say girl trouble. Don't girls cry when they have guy trouble?

ST : Cry? Man, we have to send an army there. I am from the SF, I work solo, I cant go in there!

Me : I see. But what exactly are you supposed to do. You seem pretty useless to me.

ST : Ignorant fool! How dare you doubt my worth! I cleanse your eyes, restore moisture, some say I am even good for the skin. And on top of that, I am fully sponsored by the management, you don't need to pay a thing. What more do you want?

Me : Arre I was not talking about that, don't you have any emotional significance or something?

ST : Ah! So you've turned into those morons afterall. There's nothing emotional about me, but for your satisfaction, I can say that I lighten the mind, lessen your sorrows, bring God and all his angels in your heart blah blah! There's more, you want to listen?

Me : Ok, Ok. I get your point. Its you good you came when I was alone, this conversation would have caused me so much embarrasment in public. Your timing is perfect everytime, I must give that too you.

ST : Why thank you! I know you don't like people to know we are friends. I understand.

Me : Chalo then, nice talking to you. I hope the only time I need you again is while chopping onions, but who am I kidding, its life, you are bound to come sometime or the other. Just come as silently as you always do, and i'll be fine. Cya

ST : Cya, keep scrapping!tc,gn,sd,gb,abcdefg123...

Me : Ok,Ok, enough, dont get carried away, you too tc, bye

ST : Bye 8-)

Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire

Just now saw the movie Shindler's list, and am still feeling its awe. Makes one realise how special each life is. Funny how life can never be measured by numbers, or by goodness or badness or usefulness or worthlessness. No mathematics applies to human life, you can't add two people, and say their value is double now. No science can tell you that mr. xyz's existence is more valuable than mr. abc's.
Imagine a war going on in a far off land,say country Warland. Millions died in the war, and here you are, sitting comfortable in your old sofa, watching BBC, the new correspondent tells you how this army massacred that village, you get bored, ah!What the heck, you change the channel, start watching India vs Australia cricket instead. Lets be honest, this is what usually happens, this is what happened while Afghanistan was bombarded, while Iraq was raided.
Now imagine the person you love in this world the most to be gone to Warland on a holiday, I am not asking you to get sentimental or something, just observe how suddenly the war becomes a zillion times more important than India winning or play being abandoned due to bad lights. When a millions people were dying, what mattered more was whether Dravid was fit to play, but now suddenly this one person is put into picture, and the whole painting changes. All mathematics fails here, the value of that one life for you surpasses the value of all others by far.As if each life has an infinite value by itself, nothing determinate, but very much there, and able to assume all possible greatest or smallest numbers(if numbers at all). The ring gifted by the jews to Shindler says so aptly "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire".
How people can easily kill each other, how men have in history murdered brutally, and how some lives are completely changed by the demise of one, and how others remain unaffacted even by a million of deaths. It is strange business indeed, weird ways in which life works. The more one thinks about it,the stranger it seems. Its always better not to think, everything appears so perfect behind the rosy shades of stupidity, of ignorance; its best kept that way.

wax on,wax off......

Yesterday in the lecture,the prof,noticing the number of students sleeping in the class,made an interesting comparison.He compared our training to the "wax on wax off" training Mr. Miyagi,a martial arts master,gives to his pupil in the movie "the Karate kid",in which he makes his pupil wax his car everyday in a particular manner.The kid feels so frustrated and cheated,all his fascination about karate is gone,he thinks "Why the hell am i doing this?".But in the end,this and such other modes of training make him the champion and it is only then that he realises the value of it all.
Is it similar to what we have been doing?Throughout school and now college,this question "Why the hell am i doing this?" comes so often to my mind,all of it seems so boring and worthless(well,mostly),for me it is just waxing a car,nothing more,but at a deeper level,maybe all this prepares me for what i am supposed to do in life.And why only courses,doesn't it apply toh almost everything in life,most of the things i do seem so worthless,boring,of no use at all,but each one of such "useless" things changes something inside me,each time i grow bit by bit.And now that i come to think of it,look at the degree of subconciousness of it all,i myself never come to know of me changing,i can't tell how or when,i cant say"look,i changed so much on this day,in this particlar week,month or year",i seemingly stay the same everyday,and yet,i somehow manage to change over and over again,strange!(strikingly similar to the concept of integration,funny how math corelates with so many things in life)

System upgradation required!

While going through the morning newspaper today,i read this article about some muslims in UP who refused to sing Vande Mataram because according to them,it implies worshipping the nation,so it offends their religion which permits only the worship of "Allah".Now i am not going to go into the logistics of the correctness of this statement,it really doesn't matter much actually,but the reactions which followed are much more interesting.Consequently,Arjun Singh made Vande Mataram recitation a voluntary act,instantly gaining a lot of minority votes in the process,and then the BJP came into picture with its communal vote bank policy ofcourse,and started voicing slogans like "desh mein rehna hai toh vande matram bolna padega" etcetra etcetra.As i think of this incedent,more and more hindi movies come into my mind(cant help it!),and it all seems so planned,so cliched.And the more i think about it,the more i start to hate and doubt the political structure in the country.The scenario becomes so macroscopic.I dont think Arjun Singh really gives a damn to Vande Matram,maybe he does,but the fact that he does or he doesnt becomes so irrelevent,he has to follow what the party says,and i really am not able to understand who decides what the party says,much of it is guided by vote bank policies anyways.It dusnt matter much even if the politician is idealistic or morally upright,he gets a crack on the back if he dares to speak his mind out(even our previous PM was made to apologise for doing that).
Take the reservation policy incident for instance,most politcians if asked personally and completely off the records,would have agreed to some extent atleast that increase in reservation quota in colleges was not the best solution to the problem,but no party is so stupid so as to lose large section of voters for "merely" doing what is right,it instead follows the "philosophy of the party",and sits comfortably on the votes it has gained by doing so.
Ideally this vote bank policy should have actually worked fine,afterall it simply means doing what the people want.How public opinion has drifted away from the voters' opinion is a complex question,this very question demands a change in the whole structure itself i guess.

But to take it easy on the system,it does not work that bad either,the very fact that we are actually progressing in most (atleast physical) spheres is a testimony to that.But somewhere the system demands a chance,maybe not a drastic one,but still it cannot be neglected.What the change should be is way beyond my limited capabilities to analyse,but i surely can sense the need of it time and again.

Ghalib ka khat

Today i attended this program where Ghalib's diary was been read out.An interesting part was when Ghalib writes a letter to a prince(one of his patrons),whose mother has passed away,offering his condolences.It is in urdu,but the diary reader was kind enough to explain it in simpler urdu and hindi,and i can only try to describe it further in english.
Ghalib was very confused about how to write the letter.He starts the letter by apologising,saying"maaf kijiyega,itne din yehi sochta raha ki aapko khat mein kya likhoon,so khat likh na saka".
He goes on to say that condolences are expressed for three main reasons:one,to express grief,second,to tell the person to be strong and brave,and thirdly,to pray that the deceased may go to heaven(dua karne ke liye).
What Ghalib says next is so true,"gham jataana toh takkaluf-e-mahez hai,jo gham aapko hai woh kisi aur ko ho yeh toh mumkin nahi".
Then he says that to tell someone to be brave is same as telling him that something has happened for which he should be brave,and thus refreshing the painful memories for which the condolences were offered in the first place.
His reasoning against the third point is "rahi dua karne ki baat,toh kya main,aur kya meri dua".
He ends the letter by wishing the prince good health and long life.

I really am thinking whether this letter would have helped the prince in anyway......but the letter is so painfully honest......it can really make one think.

Beyond logic

Though logic works fine in most cases,many things have happened which force me to look beyond logic for an explanation,can everything have a reason,is everything accounted for by science,or is there a fundamental flaw in our reason itself,is what we call science just not scientific enough to explain everything?
My dog used to sense my dad's homecoming 5 minutes before he used to come,no matter at what what time papa used to come,he would sit beside the door and start hitting the door with his paws,how is that explained?
I usually get the minimum marks in the exams for which i study the most(i am serious),how is this explained?
Can anyone explain a mother's love to me?
Some people i like so much for no particular reason,and others i dislike equally for no reason at all,how is that explained?
Is sixth sense accounted for by science?
i wont write more,but your comments are most needed and welcomed!

Serendipity?

The other day me and one of my friends were having this discussion on who will win the champions league this year.While i strongly supported Barca,he was very quick to point out that the Gunners are destined to win.On asking further,he explained to me that everything is simply the same as it was with Liverpool and Chelsea last season,Liverpool were 5th in the table and Chelsea were 1st,just as it is with Arsenal and Barcalona.Chelsea were by far the best team atleast in the competition,just as Barcelona have proven to be this year.Last year Owen was mulling over his transfer,this year it is Vierra.He pointed out some other not so obvious details too,but the point was,he believes that Arsenal will win come what may.

I often meet such people who keep telling me that destiny cant be beaten,it cant be changed,everything is decided etcetra etcetra.This concept has always fascinated yet baffled me.I mean,if destiny is fixed...why bother to do anything at all?Pat comes the reply,i am destined to do what i do,and will be forced to do it by the circumstances.For instance,if i decide not to eat,i will be forced to eat by my hunger,eating is my destiny.Plausible i'd say,but still somehow i am not able to buy it.

Assuming that the theory is true,and we all have our lives fully sketched out and kept in some file stored in a great great drawer somewhere,shouldn't everything be perfect?If someone does write our destinies,why does he not write it perfectly so that everyone is happy.But i find a very nice answer to this question,there is an underlying perfectness is the seemingly random imperfectness around us,and it makes sense when one considers that the world is doing great since such a long time despite the imperfectness and flaws inherent in all beings and things in it.Afterall,you can't be happy unless you know what unhappiness is,isnt it?

But if my destiny is predetermined,then i fail to see the whole point in bringing me to life at all.This theory reduces life,with all its pleasures and hassles,to a mere game some guy named god is playing sitting on a giant table.How does it matter if i do anything,good or bad,great or small,it is not me who is actually doing it,its him.Now if we assume the theory of theisism to be true,then god should have all the sense of the universe,and i cant see why he would run a world just for the heck of it!

But still,i have never come across any strong evidence or even a totally convincing theory in support of or against the theory,the puzzle still remains as it,unsolved,baffling,confusing.....basically it remains the way it was since the world itself was made.While serendepitists(as i like to call them) may say that the puzzle is destined to be unsolved,others simply interpret the absence of a solution as the absence of the puzzle itself.
But heck,I still support Barca,go Ronaldihno!