A day in the life of LIFE

I still remember the stout medium sized digest that Dad handed over to me even as I entered 2nd grade. The one thing that attracted me the most about the book was it's shimmering gold edges that looked very beautiful when the it lay closed and the pages stuck to one another.The front cover of the navy blue hard bound presented to Dad by a Sailor friend was titled "Bartholomew" and what followed in Italicised font underneath was "World Atlas".

I was too young to know who Bartholomew was then, let alone try and spell his name. It was later in life that I realized that Bartholomew Diaz (Am sure we all recall the actress by the same surname)was one of the greatest explorers the world had ever seen. But back then, the "Atlas" as I came to call it, became my prized possession, for, it captured the limitless expanse of the globe in finite sheets of glossy paper.

While the 4 color combination presented the perfect visual appeal, the illustration of some of the most unheard of places took me on a virtual tour each night as I lay awake in bed, with a mission to explore our planet. All this was special, especailly in a world devoid of the internet which is so ubiquitous these days that it has made a lot of things to be taken for granted.

Well, why am I blogging about this today? - Today was the day which provided the opportunity to revisit this childhood interest of mine. A lecture that had almost taken its toll on us owing to the relentless and hectic academic schedule, had myself and PG(who was sitting in the chair adjacent to mine) utilize the world map printed in the final pages of a complimentary diary I had received for the new year.

We took turns in providing each other with names of cities and geographical forms to be located, even as we crisscrossed one continent after another. While some were crackable, others simply had both of us at our wits end. (I must admit PG fared much better than I did)

Well, did you know that the "Naresh strait" separted Ellesmere Island from Greenland? Or that the "Barrants Sea" covered the region to the north of Finland beyond the Arctic Circle? The "World's Amazing Race" took us from Zervis to Kingalon with a pitstop at Port Morsby. And yes, we did have a brief stop over along the journey at IIM Shillong to catch a few worlds of what the lecture had in store for us.

The experience just went on to show that there is so much more to explore and unearth under the expanse of the global canvas. It was a pleasant recall of the experiences I had nearly 2 decades ago and my special thanks to PG for the same.

Now let me get back to finding "Seram" on the globe since I need to "get around the world in 8 seconds....."

Till then, Happy Navigating folks...

Pic below - The Map we used for our short but rejuvinating game....

Not often we seriously think,
As to what would happen at life’s brink;
We try and postpone things to accomplish,
Hoping for free time in which to cherish.

And as these wishes and feelings we park,
Goes on; life with its routine tasks;
We get caught in the quagmire of misery,
Caused by the permanence of unending drudgery.

We run the race to beat the competition,
We strive hard to achieve the mission;
We go that extra mile to prove we are better than the best;
And all the while we forget to pause and rest.

In the midst of finding the never ending solutions,
Overawed we are by the sea of emotions;
We missed the smile, the warmth and what not in the ongoing strife,
We failed to savor the musings of everyday life.

And then when we look back on the transience of the permanence,
We take note of the pursuit of perseverance;
But by then there’s very little left of self sustenance,
And it ends up reflecting on the epitaph of erstwhile existence.

With all this comes the importance of the present,
It’s a gift that exists which is why it’s a Present:
As we go along we choose what we make of it;
There’s no room ever for regret in life, and so my friend, “Just do it”….

It's 1 a.m. and I am currently listening to Jagjit Singh's 400 kilo "bhaari awaaz wale ghazals" which best describe the current economic downturn.

We incidentally had an inspiring session on "how to become successful entrepreneurs" by Rashmi Bansal, this evening at the campus.

Dhanda sab jagah Manda hai and the reality is closer home; even the IIMs are having a tough time this year. Talking of reality, I have been forced to think of alternative careers. As luck would have it, the cook at the IIM hostel mess finds my singing so good that he wants me to participate in the next edition of Indian Idol. He has even assured me of his sms vote to inspire me for the cause. I told this to a batchmate of mine, KAP and he was all excited about the idea.

It just goes to show that people really can get desperate in times of crisis; for, my singing is as good as A.R. Rehman's skills in playing kabaddi. But yes, I do stand a good chance if the reality show is titled "Sab Se Besura Kaun!". Cashing in on the recession, people have gone overboard in selecting themes for reality shows.

I read in the papers that there is a contest for recruiting cheerleaders for the Kolkata Knightriders. Come on! gimme a break - Are they going to judge cheer leaders by a reality show!

In fact, some of us have taken the instructions given by one of the Profs. too seriously. His point to use television talk shows as secondary sources in our case study discussions has made us watch shows like Roadies and "Dance India Dance" with renewed vigor.

Looking at the trend, the following could well be the next themes of reality shows:

IPL : Indian Political League - the real reality;
Kaun Banega Pradhaan Mantri - Tantri ya Mantri?
Sab se zyaada bakwaas karega kaun? - award sponsors: Aaj Tak, India TV, Star News
Agli Injury kiski - predict karo aur ban jao ranji trophy cricketer
IIM: Aana hai mushkil, nikalna almost namumkin
Slumdog Millionnaire II: kya aap hai agley Jamaal Malik?
Apne pairo pe khulaadi maaro - winner gets 2 days & 3 nights in Pakistan-the land of no return

Every reality show contestant needs to have the following pre-requisites (nothing personal but this is reality)

One has to be from a town smaller than Jhumritalaiyya
One has to have an ailment in the family (if self has it, it is more valued)
One has to breakdown atleast once in front of the camera
One has to create controversy by sledging/maligning either a co-contestant or the overall show
One has to have a huge gang of maamaas, chachas and dosts who are vela enough to send the requisite number of sms es.
One should have acted in a Bhojpuri ad atleast once - the likes of Chutki paan masala (Ok I made the last one up)

I do agree that some of these shows do assist weaker sections of the society to hope for a better life, but the hype and disappointment for all but the winner is just too much.

But as they say in the land of Utopian economics - where there is a demand, there will surely be a supply.

Jai Ho!

For the theatrically and linguistically challenged, Evam is a theatre group based out of Chennai and Ekamevam in Sanskrit means “One and Only”.

Okies. Here we go. The entire day today had yours truly enduring the pain induced by the nth root canal treatment that I’ve been undergoing (My Maker didn’t quite get my dentistry right, but nonetheless compensated with the rest..). After an overdose of the nauseating odor of Powdered Calcium (which once happened to be my tooth), Cement, Clove Oil, Anesthesia and Rubber (gloves), I decided that attending a comedy play would do good to both my pot holed jaws and my tensed soul.

Off I went to get my day’s dose of free laughter – courtesy the Bengaluru Habba’s theatrical show (which I’d incidentally attended last year as well). This time around it was the celebrated Evam, from Namma Chennai that was to present “the original spoof” of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare – the T 20 version.

The subject had me all excited. For a person who deeply appreciated his Non- Detail Text Book of class 12, Hamlet was one of those “loooooong” plays that did not form part of the syllabus. So, as I do before all plays that I attend – I got a de-brief of the plot of the original from “your friendly neighborhood Wikipedia” where names such as Ophelia seemed very familiar. Even as I sipped on some chilled apple juice – I navigated through the world wide web and had just about 5 minutes to read a two line synopsis of the play. Which I later realized was good enough.

The Chowdiah Memorial Hall – where the play was to be staged, has a special significance, for this is where I watched my first play, “Snow White” way back in class 1.

The show began with a snapshot of Evam and their work, not to mention the commemoration of over 200 performances by the group. A three person act was what it was going to be, with two of the three playing multiple roles. Owing to the fact that I am mathematically challenged, I was quite undone counting the number of roles played by the three some (the roles included those of the palace guards too – not to forget one of the members of the audience who was coaxed into playing an extempore of Ophelia!).

Even as the mood of the spoof was set by caustic comments on the Rama Sene and the Economic Slowdown, the actors with their mismatched attire and some wittily crafted dialogues (especially targeting the Shakespearean Quotient of the audience) had us guffawing away to glory.

While “unconventional” would be the best word to describe the play, within the play, within the play (those at the venue would understand that the words are not redundant), the only time where we sat silent was during the first 7 odd minutes of the second half.

The seamless role rendition that had styles from those of Rajesh Khanna to the Stiff Brit Upper Lip was indeed commendable. The one takeaway was the character of Ophelia who kept running directionless, around the stage like Jiah Khan in Ghajini.

But what I liked the most was the sequencing of the play. While what played out in the play was a T 20 version, they replayed the highlights of the play and then replayed the highlights of the played highlights and finally ended with the reverse sequencing of the entire play akin to the visuals of the song “Solace” by Enigma.

With some beautifully worded disclaimers and just the right amount of non English puns, it was a thoroughly enjoyable one. Evam indeed did justice to the spoof of “The Hamlet, the greatest work by William Shakespeare – the T 20 version”
Kudos to the entire team of , “Ekam Evam, Evam”….

P.S. – As “Luck by Chance” would have it, I incidentally bumped into two of my Class 11 buddies at the venue, which indeed was the icing on the cake....

Dev D= Daaru + Drugs + Damsels => DISASTER.

Am not wasting any time of either the reader or myself, any further.