Kopenhaven!!!

Copenhagen, after Genva, Paris, Rome and New Delhi was the fifth capital city that I visited.
Capital cities, the microcosm of a country and thumping with power and money, have always fascinated me.
I would rather spend a week in a capital trying to assimilate the excitement than loiter around
in some obscure village or dart across the country from one end to other.

But even among the capital cities, Copenhagen stands out as the the most cool and picturesque city that I have ever visited.
There is a touch of class in the city, and that too unaccompanied by the aura of exclusivity
reserved for a select few in cities like New Delhi and Paris. Even the queen's palace is so accessible,
who wouldnot feel like a king in such a place!

We started the day with a climb to the top of the Church of Our Saviour , sat by the harbour ,
gazed at the clear
blue sea and windmills at a distance.

we strutted along stroget, wistfully glancing at hugo boss and the amani showrooms, and had lunch at burger king.
we cheered the participants on a marathon and Gosh! it seemed that entire denmark was out here to run.
We cautiously walked upto Christiania and soon came back.

It was a cool, serene day in a very beautiful city.

test

as life tests me, it tastes uncanny.

I crave for His shadow
I want to be in His lap
Everything I want to forget
I want to flow in life like a rivulet
Everything comes to a pass
Time heals the scars
In sands of time nothing is mine
After all, a dime isn’t worth more than a dime.

The leap to the Corporate Lap

This write up comes as a sequel to the 5 point something which I wrote after the first year.Urged not by rave reviews of the first but by the sheer habit of punditry which I just cant resist I thought of penning a view suggestions for my juniors who, just like I was are always eyes and ears when anything remotely similar to an algorithm with the output either job, intern or gf comes up.

Every one comes to iit driven by passion and thirst, no. not by thirst for knowledge but rather thirst for money power and prestige. The passion is fuelled by a mirage which allures many an innocent chap into believing that exit would be as glorious and venerated as the entrance, however, here comes the reality check. As in the last 2 years I realize, the navigating the labyrinth of iit life is easier said than done. And many stalwarts who arrived here with chest pumped up and larger than life statures seems to be painfully unconfident and tottering when the parting bells toll. They despair at the glories of those who nudged their way past into the velvet cushioned and Prada donned lap of the beckoning corporate world in contrast to the relegation of most to simply fresh graduates or engineers from an engineering college sans the haloes which we so easily get used to. It is true the crying baby gets the milk and along with it the mothers lap, but neither we are babies nor something as petty as milk are we talking about. Surely, a lot more than crying is required. Sucking up to seniors may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but seniors are where the bounty of power flows at iit , something of which I was clueless of . Though I was raving about my success combating ragging in my post after the first year, it has turned to be my Achilles heel. Convincing the seniors about ones leadership skills all the while being their toady is the only way to ensure one has something to make eyes wobble when corporate leaders ponder if you are fit to join their league.

The other big thing in iit is of course the exchange program. I nudged my way into the short list and finally gave a very honest interview which the professors liked. Writing a true and cogent Statement Of Purpose and regularly participating in QC and EDLC events ensured I was more than a push over.

In IIT, everything is numbered, from the rasgulas to the girls. However there is number which stands out and it is the CGPA. It is like the RBC in our body , higher the count, healthier are ones chances, otherwise, one may just brace up for lots of blues at the end.



Prodded by my didactic juices, I was urged to pen down a long long essay starting from how to make that priceless Rendezvous pass in the first year count to never falling asleep after having put up a difficult question to the professor in class earlier when I thought let me cut down everything which is irrelevant to how to get a great job after passing out. I feel a sense of incapability and humility writing this extremely proud and bombastic post, because, I haven’t been able to follow what I am preaching. I hope my ignorance, my attempts in vain and a partial success condone me from hypocrisy.
I know it is too late to correct a few mistakes which I did and I hope I wont be punished for them Philanthropy scores over my apprehension of ridicule as I end up belaboring a few ideas in a domain which I have only seen and been a part of , and utterly lack the experience of a person on the other side of the river.

good is not cool

In childhood what does one have to do to be good?
He has to fit into the norm, has to maneuver himself into that tiny space of being the “good” child. It might mean being deaf dumb and bind…deaf to the mouthfuls of expletives that one gets to hear daily , dumb to all the hissing and swishing that goes behind the back in school, and blind to any beauty that God has endowed which Is not masculine. Goaded by the heaps of praise from the family members especially from the aunts, and driven by the urge to be recognized as nothing but of flawless character, he has to shroud the colorful part of his character in sacred veils of duty, ethics and self discipline. He has to perform daily work in a clockwork precision and be oblivious to everything in the world apart from the common good.

He is not used to cracking jokes, grown up listening to conversations about politicians and UTI bankruptcies. The greatest jokes have been about how happiness is inversely proportional to desires and how Unit Trust of India is UN Trust of India. In hostel gheraoes when he pops up the same jokes he is told to get banished from sight into his small confinement even which he can’t call his own.

In college and in the corporate world, he has to be when he has to do everything he has suppressed till now. Firing expletives is cool, tracing trajectories of back biting have to be mastered and opposite sex have to be kept charmed. Nascent and innocent, the good guy of childhood stumbles and falls and is laughed at and made a scape goat. He retreats to a corner, makes designs tries to carve a niche but then realized the world has moved on. He is said to be dark, boring unattractive and simply not COOL.

He has to change. The key is to change colors. It is best to smile hard when the word demands and keep quiet when the world smiles at you, only then can you spot a smile in your face when you look at the mirror.

travelogs

The weekend trips to La Rochelle and Bordeaux when nothing inexplicable happened and the trip to Marseille and Montpellier which was more creepy than thrilling I was a bit apprehensive about my weeklong trip to Paris. However the sojourn at Paris was wonderful reprieve from the life in Toulouse which now seems to be mundane.

Paris is indeed a city which captivated my imagination . I really enjoyed strolling in the street when the pace of life got my pulse racing and where the smell of money, of privilege and of a world which is class apart comes wafting out from the shop windows of Chanel .

The Eiffel rises into the city’s skyline confidently and eternally embodies the spirit of the people , the seamless confidence in which they rush into the trams and out of them into the cars and the shops. The sellers at the bottom of the Eiffel ,wearing counterfeit DKNYs and more jackets than I was wearing at that time peddling miniatures are themselves like their wares …carving out their own space and imitating the grand at the same time .

Not very far from Eiffle is The Louvre….

Louvre Museum is like the Buckingham Palace humongous and ornate. However sans Banded Ear or the Last Supper or the Van Gogh auto portrait Louvre is not much more than the Louvre Palace and the inverted pyramids. However, Mona didi did intrigue me with her smile. With our hearts glowing after having received the smile of Mona Lisa and having been a witness to the finest pieces of art created ever, next day we decided to start from the Pantheon… where the French greats rest.

The Pantheon is indeed very grand not quite reminiscent of the usual blandness of a tomb and perhaps, it brings into light the fact that death was indeed a celebration in the olden days , something which even new age Gurus like Osho advocate..are we going back as we go ahead in time??

Err…was I talking about the places of interest in Paris??

Musee d’ Orsay was a treat to the artist in me. the vivid colors of Monet, the skill and deftness of Van Gogh and the grandness of Couloir left me enthralled. Renoirs was amazing too...the list is just endless......

We scanned the other places of interest ….

The cruise on Sienne, the climb to the top of Arc de Triomphe followed by the promenade on the Champs de Elysees ,the window shopping on galleries of Laffayat,the beautiful gardens of Luxembourg and Tilluaires and the Arc de Defence, the commercial hub of Paris , a 1 day trip to the Chataeu of Versailles which is a stamp on royalty and luxury , the strut on the Pigalle and the shy smiles in front of the Moulin Rouge.

Last but not the least.....the impeccable English of a young woman whom I met in Paris is easily the best English I have heard in recent times. The combination of superb English and french looks is indeed as good as the french wine..however which one is better, I am clueless....How do I know when I have tasted neither??

We made the trip out of scratch…..a 5 day trip just for 120 euros!! With accommodation free in the hostels of my friend and transportation in Covoiturage and food from the cheapest shops and entry into the wonders negotiated successfully it has been an experience to remember.

Am I 20?

Why I feel I am 20 and Why I feel..I still ain’t….


He still calls up his parents daily to talk to them.
He doesn’t talk to them for more than 20 minutes.

He buys milk when his friends animatedly dispute which beer to be bought.
He has been to bar, disco , night club..tasted wine..

He still says what he feels and feels what he says
He keeps quite when he feels the opposition is too heavy.

He still spills food and milk and whatever is in his hands at least once a month.
He has learnt to eat with a fork and knife the French style.

He still rides cycle as a habit and not just for promotional campaigns.
He goes to promotional campaigns because he loves to see the jaws of DU chicks drop.(something which makes IIT Delhi stand out…)

He hasn’t washed a single piece of cloth till date and hasn’t cooked a single meal all by himself.
He figured out how to operate a behemoth called a washing machine fully configured in French all by himself.

He can't find his way to the stack of plates kept right in front of him and looks and seems to be all over the place.
He never had any problem in finding his way in the Paris International Airport.


He is still as obstinate about the things as he was to get the Hot wheel.

He cries and cribs and then gives up…when he realizes something is beyond his reach.(which most things these days seem to be..)

He sobs, he doesn’t weep.

He sobs when no one is watching.

He feels mothers lap is the best place in the world.
He hasn’t been in there for a month now.