Incoherrent ramblings of an inebriated mind: April 2005

Party at Nona's place on Friday, April 22nd (L-R : Rishabh, Anant, Prashant, Nona, me)

A tribute to Prashant's photoshop skills. ( L - Rishabh, R- Prashant )

New York or aamchi Mumbai?

I just couldn't stop myself. I had to do it. Now. I just had to pick u my pen to jot down the train of thoughts in my mind....umm...well not exactly pen...my Inspiron would be more apt. Life goes on as usual in this strange land. These days, I have become so used Manhattan, nothing really amazes me. In fact, I can't help comparing it to "aamchi mumbai" at every step. Manhattan is no heaven on earth, if anybody gave you that impression you better give that person a piece of your mind the next time you bump into him. It's as filthy as Bombay...okay...maybe not exactly as filthy but if you look at the filth keeping in mind the population then Bombay would be a winner I guess. The only thing I like about Manhattan is its orderliness...you have parallel avenues running along the length of the island and streets at right angles to the avenues. You can never get lost in midtow or uptown Manhattan. Downtow Manhattan is a different story...it looks like London ( not that I have been to London, but whatever image I have of the city is from movies and Calcuta) with narrow streets criss-crossing each other. Downtown has a charm of its own, it's a lovely place to be. Sometimes I dislike the very orderliness that Manhattan so proudly displays. Everything seems so rigid...so plain. No meandering roads...no twists...no curves....straight and parallel roads. After all, the different roads and gullies give a city it's character. Maybe that is why I am so completely besotted with downtown. These days, whenever I am in midtown to see the occasional hindi movie at Loews Theatre at Times Square, i don't even glance up at the billboards. After a while, you cease to take in all the grandeur...it becomes part of your environment...you just get used to it. Yet, these were the billboards I used to gape at during my initial days in Columbia.

People tell me " Wow!!...you are in New York!! What more can you want?? You must be having a gala time!!". I wish I could smack them on their face. I am probably having the most misereable life an indian grad student in US can ever hope to have. Okay...New York does have a lot to offer...but it's so damn expensive!! I can't be going for a broadway show every weekend...nor can I go binge drinking at any of the pubs in downtown!! I'd be bankrupt in no time!! It's better to live in some small university town, which might have limited stuff to offer but which would be within means. Moreover, Columbia lacks a well knit indian grad student community. I really envy my Kaustav da, Pulkit and Nitesh for their life at College Station. Ya ya...I know what you must be thinking.."The grass is always greener on the other side of the river." To some extent, I concur, but the point I want to make here is that life in Manhattan is not a bed of roses.

Ummm....I have to get back to writing a paper for one of my subjects. Darn....anyway, before I get back to that let me tell you what I have been upto for the past few days. I saw quite a no. of movies lately. Hotel Rwanda is one of the best movies I have seen lately. It's about a genocide which happened in Rwanda in 1993-94 in which a million people were slaughtered in the animosity between the Hutus and Tutsis. Another good movie was Chinatown. Its an old movie, shot in 1970, but an excellent one nevertheless. Jack Nicholson and faye Dunaway were fab. Amon Hindi movies, I saw Lucky, My Brother Nikhil and Tango Charlie. I liked Lucky...not because of Salman or Sneha Ullal or their acting prowress but because the whole movie's shot in Russia. And, I have a long standing obsession with that country. I hope to visit Russia some day...some people who have been there say that Moscow is the most beautiful city they have ever been to. Anyway, My Brother Nikhil was also good. I don't get the time to read much but I have been reading a few translated short stories of Bankim Chatterjee from time to time. It really opened up my eyes to the prevalent society during those times. Have to read more of that stuff, it's pretty interesting to know about the society during those days. Well...that's all for now....signing off till the next time...

Good old days in VNIT. This snap was taken during our final year departmental gathering. (L-R) Gaurav, Udaykant, Sendil, me

Old friends and old times....

Last night was spent catching up on old times. Sujit was online and so was Bhopu. We chatted for a long while, ina conference mode on yahoo chat. It was fun pulling Bhopuz leg, hez really a good soul. We have spent some good times in NBH extension. Almost every other evening, after I came back to my room, Bhopu would come grumbling about the mess food. He would be scouting the whole of extension looking for company to go to Anna for his favourite Chicken Biriyani. On mondays, when we had Alu Paratha, he just could'nt take it any more. Over the last semester, even I had become very careless with money, and I would readily join him for dinner. My personal favourite was the Chicken Kolhapuri at Anna. Anyways, we were both big foodies, but we had reasons more than this for our bonding. During those days, I used to have an obsession of going to Mominpura for Roti and Keema Fry. The keema was'nt really your regular minced mutton, but was beef. Not that I really cared, all I cared was the superb muslim culinary style. The best part was that these "restaurants" were open all night. It was easy to get hold of somebody's bike at 11 in the night, get 20 bucks of petrol from the Shankar Nagar petrol pump ( thankfully, it was open till 11:30 or even midnight), and the off we went to Mominpura!! Show was also my "partner in crime" and many a time we have headed out on a spluttering Yamaha on cold wintry nights. Those were the days, my friend....those were the days. Specially, the final year in NBH extension. Bhopu was in F-23 while I was in F-25. Almost every evening, we used to sit together for a heart to heart discussion on various topics ranging from jobs, higher education to women and movies. We hardly left any topic untouched during those "adda" sessions of "shukh dukher kotha". Bhopu and Show are two guys with whom I have had a special relationship. I used to barge inside Show's room (F-21) whenever I would feel like and have disturb him. He never minded though....he had really become serious about academics in the final year while my interest in studies was fledgling. He really did well in Final Year and I am proud to have a friend like him. He is one guy who has stood by me right from the day I entered the college as a nervous 18 year old kid fresh from high school. Ahh...I'll write in detail about Show some other time....

Well, as for Sujit, he is having fun in the last few days in college, after that he will be "banished" out of India for "Vanvaas" to Oman for at least one and a half years. Hez one of my best buddies from college too, very confident and happy go lucky. Always up for fun. Probably, he'll go down in history as the koolest guy to set foot in VNIT. I don't think anybody had as much fun in college as he did. I have shared a very valuable and trustworthy relationship with him. During my "vella" days in final year, when I was more interested in discovering different faces of life rather than mugging up microprocessor pneumonics, he would hang around with me. This guy has seen it all, been through it all...thick n thin and has escaped unscathed. My salute to him...

After a long chat with them, i got an IM from Emon...Emon Bhau. Well...about Emon....no no...I am not going to start rattling off about him. I have already written a lot, and to write about him would take up a good part of the day. Will write about him soon...

Recent photo of Emon, my buddy from undergrad days in Nagpur. Hez pursuing MS in CS from KTH, Stockholm.

Nothing much...

The weekend passed by without much happening. Naww.., would'nt say that exactly. New York had its weather fluctuations....as usual. it rained incessantly on Saturday and Sunday and made the barometer dip to temperatures close to freezing point. Apparently, it even snowed in upstate NY ( whoever heard of snow in April??!!!). I have basically given up cooking, does'nt make sense for a single guy in a dorm to cook, specially when you have to be struggling with assignments and deadlines all the time. Somehow, the rain outside inspired the cook in me and I cooked "khichadi" ( kedgeree for you yanks) for two days in a row..i know ..i know...it's not a gourmet dish, nor is it very difficult, but for a lazy guy like me that's quite an achievement. Back home, I mean...back home in Calcutta, we always have khichadi, fried alu, and fried fish....(jeez..i am already drooling) when it rains. Sometimes I wonder how this tradition came to be ( mind you, i am not complaining!!..its a cool tradition for all i care), and I think maybe, when it rained in the olden days, and you could'nt go the market to get anything, you would have to make do with whatever you have at home. I guess, that leaves you with nothing more than rice, dal and alu.

And, yes another "crazy" thing happened...this Sunday morning at 2 AM. US went back to the Summer time....which means we are forward by 1 hour now. That is really disgusting, coz you get one hour less to sleep on a Sunday morning!! Darn...trust the yanks to choose a "nice" day to bring these time changes. Anyway, I also watched a movie "Sins", it's produced by Yash Raj Movies. The concept of the movie is very good, along with excellent Art direction and screenplay. The letdown was the acting by the two principal characters...the Father ( enacted by the model of Peter England shirts) and the character Rosy (don't have a clue who she is ). The movie is in English ( set in 70s in Kerala ) with some dialogues in Malyalam. Its a nice movie, worth watching once. The story is about how how power corrupts everyone, not even sparing the clergy. Corruption is after all not just about bribes and money, corruption si also about moral decay and degeneration of valus. This Vicar in a church in a small village of Kerala gets obsessed with a young nurse and by virtue of his power and influence he virtually controls her life. When the girl tries to break free from the oppression, he arranges to have her killed. The whole story is in much more detail, and I am not in the mood to write a detailed synopsis ( nor do i have the time or inclination ), but its a good effort on part of the director and producers.

Hmm....back to weather. I really love it when it drizzles a little, there's a cool breeze blowing and the sky looks overcast. No, it does'nt bring out the poet in me. In fact, I sometimes regret that I don't have the patience and ability to appreciate or write poetry. In this kind of weather, I love to go on a long drive in the countryside ( alas, i have neither a car nor a lisence ). The least I would love to do is go to Riverside Park, and read a nice novel sitting by the Hudson. The park is really beautiful and serene. In fact, its so peaceful and deserted most of the time, its a good place to get mugged even during the day!! That rules out frequent visits to the park too. Hmmphhh....anyway, i rarely get the opportunity to decide what i want to do on a beautiful day, coz fate decides for me! As usual, I spent this lovely Sunday inside a crammy library doing the Security Pricing homework.

Till the next time......

A view of Downtown Manhattan from Prashant's place in Jersey City ( He claims to have taken the photo by his new SLR camera, but I think credit is due to his photoshop skills :-P)