Tracks on the tracks

The last few months of local train journeys have been enjoyable. The reason: my IPod. Immersed in music, it's easy to forget the heat, sweat, smells, taunts, curses, shoves that make a typical train ride. Infact, I've got used to wanting to take the train just so that I can listen to some music. A curious incident happened in the train the other day. The man standing next to me asked me about the music player. He looked a little ragged and surely a man of less than modest means. I was concerned- he was not the kid of guy I'd usually have a chat with. I told him about the IPod and about it's memory. He wanted to listen to it as well and I couldn't say no. The first song was the Liverpool FC anthem "You'll never walk alone". He seemed to like it. We listened together as the next few songs were Talat Mahmood's classics. I hummed along as the IPOD played "Yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chandni". It must have been quite a sight because many in the compartment were staring at us. "Jalte hai kiske liye" was followed by"Shaam-e-gham ki kasam". Taking a cue from me, my fellow Talat fan sang aloud as "Itna na mujhse tu pyaar badha" played. My initial embarrassment gave way to an appreciative (of both the music and the music-lover) smile as we listened to Talat's mellifluous voice. I couldn't see the staring faces anymore, even though they might still have been there. Before I got down, the man complained softly that he did not get to hear songs often. As I took back the earphone from him to get down, we both wished this Ipod mehfil could have lasted a bit longer.

P.S. I'm going to miss the trains once I leave for Ahmedabad. Here is Abhinav's excellent piece on Mumbai's local trains.

RIP DP

It's been only a few minutes since I stopped crying. DP, my friend is no more. He died in a bike accident this night. I had known this bloke right from the first year of B.Tech. A strapping lad- smart, suave and handsome. The goalkeeper of the college football team. He had this peculiar way of laughing, where he would put his hand on his stomach and let out a staccato laugh. And people would imitate this laughter when pulling his leg. And he was laughing this evening as we chatted in the quadrangle. Feeling bored, he asked for my Ipod and listened to a couple of songs. And then we'll played basketball. Here I was, right next to him, jostling for the ball. And now he's gone. Poof! Just like that. He would get his engineering degree in a few days (posthumously now). He was placed in a good company. And so a promising young life ends.

Is this a dream or is it all a dream? This puts everything into perspective- life, existence, the fickleness of it all. At times, I used to wonder how I'd manage if my parents died someday. Terrible though the thought might have been, I would steel myself to think about such a situation. As I see it now, such pain is only another flavor of life, making it the smorgasbord it should be. I know, that a few years down the line, when I look back at these times, I'll see the laughing Daidipya Kamble. Not the pain, not the tears. Only the good times we've shared at V.J.T.I. Rest in peace buddy!

IPL- Where people kiss and make up

It was just another lazy evening as I switched to SetMax for the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. It was the pre-match show, with the studio commentators/models spouting their usual gyaan and making predictions. And then, it was time for the toss. And lo behold! At the toss was none other than Greg Chappel! Yuvraj won the toss and had a chat with Greg. But I was waiting for the mouth-watering prospect of Greg talking to Sourav. And so it began- the Guru and Dada. Sourav explained that he was looking forward to a good performance etc etc. For a moment, I thought I saw a nerve in Greg's neck twitch. That looked eerily similar to a man meeting his ex accidently. He fumbled before asking the second question "And the wicket? Do you think it's a good wicket to bat on?" The 'interview' ended with Greg wishing Sourav all the best. Quite professional I'd say- their conduct during the interview. Well, if Harbhajan Singh can claim Sreesanth is like his younger brother after slapping him, Guru Greg and Dada might as well forget their feuds in the larger spirit of the game!

Driving-Mess-Dizzy

Last week (or was it the previous one?) saw me taking the long-awaited driving test and passing with flying colors- flying colors, even though I drove at a marvelous top speed of 25kmph! I had been preparing for this ride for months. 3 months to be exact. I distinctly remember having wished the Motor Training School guide "Happy New Year". That would be my 4th training session or so. Things were going well until about the 16th session, after which I couldn't find time for the sessions. And so started a game of hide-and-seek. I changed the route I took to get home from the railway station, in order to avoid walking by the Motor Training School. I dreaded hearing the "Bhole Saheb!" that the trainer is prone to calling me. If the trainer saw me on the road I'd look the other way and pretend I had not seen him. Or maybe duck into the nearest gully. All because I hadn't a clue about how soon or how late I'd get back from college, and hence couldn't book a slot for a driving session. The biggest brat in the country couldn't avoid school the way I did.

The first week of March offered some leisure and I made up my mind to get done with it. The driving license I mean. I trundled up to my trainer with a sheepish grin on my face. The expression on my face might have been saying "Hey old boy! Is this a nice morning or what?" but his face clearly said "Oh! The crown prince is here! How wonderful!" in a sarcastic way. After 3 more evenings I was pressing all the right peddles and was up for the test. The test would be on Friday. But hold on! I was missing something. I had put off getting recommendation letters from my profs for a number of days, and Friday would be the last chance to get them, if I had to post the recos on time. The price of procrastination, one would say. But then I'm one who likes to learn things the hard way.

Frantic Friday : I called up dear old Srikanth. If there's someone I can trust to dig me out of a hole, it's him. Even Jeeves would approve with a "He is quite the man, sir". So, Srikanth agreed to get the letters from the profs on my behalf while I went for the driving test. My driving trainer drove 5 of us trainees to the RTO office in a place in Wadala that resembles a wasteland- the kind you see in movies, where all the bad guys get together to buy and sell hardware. I'd been here before for getting the learner's license, and was not looking forward to spending much time in this foul place. It took an hour for the driving school's agent to set up the test- the relevent papers, the policeman, the car et al. And then I took the test, with only the agent in the front seat. I changed a gear or two, and took a beautiful U-turn- I wish I could draw so well. A bit of waiting, stamping documents and thumb-impressioning later, I left the place, secure in the knowledge that the license was on its way. By 2 p.m. I was back in college, and I found that Srikanth had done some of the cumbersome work I had given him. Finding 2 of the profs turned out to be difficult and it was at 4.55 p.m. that I found myself in Dr.Daruwala's cabin, getting his reco. At the same moment, Srikanth was getting the reco from Prof.Nair, just as she was leaving. As I reached the quadrangle in a daze, I marveled at how lucky I had been. I spent the next hour with Srikanth, idling my time away in the quad , as I have lately been predisposed to doing. And I enjoyed the chocolates gifted by my juniors (I adore them all, the juniors I mean!) since it was chocolate day in college. Life couldn't be better, or what?

A Case for Piracy

I have been downloading a few classic novels from places like http://www.gutenberg.org and http://www.ebookee.com. Not surprisingly, I could not find books written in the past half a century. Putting up e-versions of these books on the net would amount to digital piracy. So, is such piracy as harmful as publishers would like us to believe? Popular writer Paulo Coelho thinks otherwise.

In 1999, after he had published "The Alchemist", Paulo Coelho was failing in Russia. That year he sold only about 1,000 books, and his Russian publisher dropped him. But after he found another, Coelho took a radical step. On his own Web site, launched in 1996, he posted a digital Russian copy of "The Alchemist."

With no additional promotion, print sales picked up immediately. Within a year he sold 10,000 copies; the next year around 100,000. By 2002 he was selling a total of a million copies of multiple titles. Today, Coelho's sales in Russian are over 10 million and growing. "I'm convinced it was putting it up for free on the Internet that made the difference," he said in an interview at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos.

Here's the full story.

A Twinge

And so I came back home feeling really good. I had done the day's worth of damage control. My mother had had a great day too. She was back from her weekly discussion (with other like-minded women, I guess) on saintly writings, where many a verse in Sanskrit are also translated and discussed. As we sat chatting, my mum quoted the subhashit which tells that contentment is man's biggest adornment. I reminisced about my 'rants' yesterday and wondered if I really want contentment. Maybe, but only a moment's contentment. I wouldn't expect myself to be content and still have the desire to live. Then came the twinge- what about those who never find contentment? Those, whose life is so full of worries that a moment's contentment is but an impossible dream- the farmer with a debt he can never repay, the refugee who doesn't know where he has to run next, the street urchin who struggles to earn his daily bread. And then I was back to the center of my world- me. I have to prepare for the mid-sems. And 'A' is waiting for me. Oh, what is life? Why do we live?

A Few Rants

The pallid gloom that had descended on my mind for the past two days culminated in a disastrous Valentine's Day. The gloom was not the effect of some loss or sadness, rather it was the vacuum in my mind. It's my biggest foe- the lack of passion, the lack of desire. My immediate concerns are:

1. The K gd/pi was not so good. I might not make it. With the A interview only 10 days away, it's time to pull up my socks.
2. Today, I lost my cellphone again or perhaps it was stolen. I'm tired of my clumsiness. I'm ashamed of losing stuff bought with my family's hard-earned money. I have to lodge a police complaint tomorrow and get a replacement SIM card soon. I know the process. Just did it last month. And a few months before that too.
3. The mid-semester test is coming up. Three days to go and I have barely started the preparations. I cannot afford to score badly this semester. And yes, there are assignments to be completed; one is to be submitted tomorrow. I'll start writing now.
4. My project guide was searching for our group today. We haven't seen her in more than 2 months. Worse, we haven't started work on the project. Shameful. We have to start in earnest now.
5. I haven't seen my driving instructor in quite a while. 6 more sessions to go, followed by the test. I wonder when I'm going to get a license.

Ah well, tough times are here again, though they are self-inflicted. I see an exciting month and a half ahead. As always, everything will fall into place. Yes, it will.