“End of an Era”

Rajmata Sa for people from Jaipur and Maharani Gayatri Devi for the world - passed away this week. All of a sudden I feel that I my childhood is over. I was fortunate enough to have met her a few times very early in my life - an advantage of being a Mansinghite.

I can very vivdly recollect moments when I along with my friends would sneak into the gardens of her home to fetch our ball while playing tennis at Lilypool Garden. She always ensured that all was well with her disciplines (however outdated the word might sound). The major part of the Jaipur was developed by an active contribution from her and her husband – His Highness Maharaja Sawai Man Singh –II. She was full of energy even at an age of eighty and that too to the extent that she would leave my classmates behind while inspecting the parade during Republic Day celebrations at school.

She had an aura around her and a charm which cannot be expressed through this medium. She would come down to my school in her vintage car along with her ADC and would ensure that she leaves everyone spell-bound with her anecdotes usually talking about her brothers and family during her early days at Cooch Bihar.

At times I wonder how anyone could be nasty with a lady like her but then maybe that is the way the world is supposed to be. Indira Gandhi, whom I respect for her handling of foreign affairs and the setting up of our intelligence service – RAW, had also been nasty with Rajmata Sa. Indira Gandhi tried to clip her wings in every possible manner through making His Highness an ambassador, by putting her behind the bars, by abolishing privy purses (breaking GoI’s treaties with independent kingdoms), by playing around with the list of the electorate when she contested for the legislative assembly and by numerous other ways. It is said that at Indira Gandhi’s behest Rajmata Sa’s palaces and vaults were looted so as to reduce her financial independence. To make matters worse her own grandchildren tried to sue her for property and that too then when their father, Prince Jagat Singh had disinherited them. Rajmata Sa had opened a school in Jaga ki Bawri which was named Lalitya Kumari Bal Niketan after her grand-daughter and this very grand-daughter of her was up in arms against her. Rajmata Sa gave away all of her and her deceased son’s property to these grand-children but their conduct towards her was not appreciable.

The lady who gave her everything to her disciplines received lots of love and respect from them and I suppose that more than made up for all thge hardships that she had to face.

May Rajmata Sa’s soul rest in peace.

Pride and Prejudice

Up from the sky he saw
Upon the corporeal
He was filled with superciliousness
Of the immense power in possess
He was epicenter of supremacy
The mine-field of ascendancy
He was the blazing SUN
He was akin to none

He restricted the day
He proscribed the night
He could make all shiver when dull
He could burn alive when blistering bright
He ruled the world
He was the blazing SUN
He was akin to none

He looked down from the zenith
Overflowed with self-pride
His ascendancy getting him prejudiced
Of underestimating the other
Stagnation with smugness
Had made him forget how to flutter
He was the blazing SUN
He was akin to none

Out of nowhere came his insignificant foe
The minuscule rival called himself CLOUD
Blithely he covered the scorching sun
The incontestable authority was on a down-run
The minutest of all
Had dwarfed the tallest among the tall
He was still the blazing sun
But no more was he the HUN

- Saurabh Bajaj

Do we need annual Republic Day parade? - Coomi Kapoor

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/do-we-need-annual-republic-day-parade/415724/

I am almost a quarter century old and the first memory that I have of reading the paper is some 15 years old, when as a school kid I used to read Coomi's column every Sunday in which she used to write short stories. Since then I've always identified sensible and true journalism with her. Even now she is thinking out of the box but sadly for the first time I do not buy her view-point.

Doing SWOT analysis and DCF analysis of everything is not a sensible activity especially if we do not consider the intangibles. Making the Republic Day a biyearly event will not lead to any solution, such cost-cutting might not be of much help. Moreover the confidence or otherwise that such an activity shall create in the minds of the public, especially in such turbulent times is something beyond comprehension. The basic fallacy in Coomi's argument is that she has totally ignored the importance of tradition and the reasons which led to the start of the celebration.

As far as the idea of introducing movie-stars to make the parade more interesting is concerned it is as ludicrous as introducing porn stars to attract adolescents to temples...

Status Messages

Almost everyone I know of uses either Yahoo Messenger and Gtalk.
Here are a few of the intresting ones that I've read in 2008.

• I am going for an MBA - Masters in Beer Administration
• SHIT Happens!! Learn to Flush...
• 99% of MBAs are shrewd and they bring a bad name to the rest.
• I hate racists and blacks.
• I had no shoes then I heard of a man who threw his at Bush !!
• All nuts get sluts.

Shall soon append more.

Yearning to Relive Life!

One fine morning, we all reached Joka

Saw the clouds in the sky, trees around the lakes and sung together

Every now and then we drew a roadmap for ourselves

Using our own colours, we painted our own universe

We saw our little dreams of making it big here

We had our own crushes, fights and parties

It was as if time stood still for all of us

There was no reason for us to pretend

We all had so much fun together

All were young and full of life

Those two years seemed to be so long back then

And now when I look back, they were passed by even before I could blink

I often come back here to look at it

Here upon this windy old asphalt road

Still stands the jetty complementing the lake

The old class rooms, alongside the new ones

I always carry the memories of how it used to be

A constant reminder of the bonds we built

I'll never forget all that Joka taught me

And all that it made me achieve

I always hoped that one day we'll all reunite

Recollect and relive those moments. And the time has come

The above written poem has been penned by me expressing the views of an alumnus from the 1983 batch of IIM Calcutta, after interacting with him.

Just Another Poem : Suicide Note

HONEY,

You are so lovely, you are so nice
I have loved you all my life
Ur adoring smile, ur beautiful eyes
Drive me crazy through the skies
I can stare into ur eyes for hours
They outshine all the stars

You are so lovely, you are so nice
I have loved you all my life
Ur eyes used to drive me crazy
Ur mere thoughts used to make lazy
U r redder than the reddest of the cherries
Ur prettier than the mermaids and the fairies

You are so lovely, you are so nice
I have loved you all my life
Irresistible were our never-ending parleys
Throughout the nights and the days
Those long endless witty repartees
Always spread ubiquitous infectious smiles

You are so lovely, you are so nice
I have loved you all my life
U r cute, u r sweet, u r fantastic
Before em all u r selflessly altruistic
Bout u I can write at length
As ur thoughts give me immense strength

You are so lovely, you are so nice
I have loved you all my life
Mine wasn’t a mere infatution
It involved no sort of ratiocination
Forgetting u is an impossible thing
As it was not just any love fling

You are so lovely, you are so nice
I have loved you all my life
I still remember ur long and curly tresses
Ur simple yet elegant dresses
Minus u life is darker than a moonless night
With u, it could have been brighter than sun’s light

You are so lovely, you are so nice
I have loved you all my life
I wanted to make u my soul-mate
But something else was in my fate
I have loved you from head to toe nail
In this tale I have no reason to wail

In my last prayer all I am demanding is u as my wife
After reincarnation in our every life

Oceans of love and blood

PS - I wrote this poem seven years back and had forgotten about it. Today I found the note-book on which I had scribbled it, back then.

Life changes at every turn

• After having deleted one blog...I stopped blogging only to realise that I was like an alcoholic promising that I won't drink... I am back on a blog that I had made some time back...the first post of this blog is pretty depressing but all you girls reading it, u know how interesting I am. So in case u need someone to hang out with, you know who's your man.
  

• Have lost in three important competitions over the past two days. One of them was a competition that I had always aspired to win...But now when I look back I am happy that at last the pressure is gone...days before the big event the pressure had started building and it was having a toll on me...though the taunts still haunt me...
  

• Have learnt a little bit of Bengali in the past two years during my stay at Kolkotta. A friend of mine who works in a call centre once told me that Americans like to roll their tongues while pronouncing 'R's. Our Bengalis are a step ahead they roll their tongues while pronouncing every character. Kotler-do (read Kotler-da) who stays in my hostel at IIM-C told me that this is a result of the rosogollas that begalis eat. Today I tried using this new found knowledge with the taxi drivers outside my campus and realised that however hard I may try I can not say Kolkootta right.