We are ready to lead once more-Barack Obama

As I sat in the TV room of my hostel with 10 other guys on the 20th of January,2009,2200hrs IST, I realized I was one of the millions from across the world, from the biggest metros to the smallest villages, witnessing an incident that will be written down in the pages of world history in bold words with an indelible ink. It was the day Abraham Lincoln had dreamed for and Martin Luther King Jr. had fought for. The first African-American President of the United States was about to be sworn in. Like over a million of others gathered in front of the Capitol building, I was waiting for the swearing in ceremony to start. It felt as if something important was about to happen as soon as Barack Obama was sworn in as the President.

The atmosphere in my hostel was festive with people drifting in and out of the room and cracking jokes on the celebrities gathered for the ceremony. And I was sitting there staring intently at the TV screen, trying to tune out the noise surrounding me. BBC was doing a live coverage of the ceremony. After half hour of TV-staring I started to feel bored. As if on cue, Michelle Obama and her daughters arrived, to keep me hooked on. The TV was showing anybody who is or was associated with the White House or the Capitol. Then there was George W. Bush serenely walking towards the stage oblivious to the enormity of the damage he was leaving behind or indifferent to it.

Finally the protagonist of the show arrived amidst roars and applauses. The day he had been dreaming and campaigning and waiting for had dawned and he looked as ready as he can ever be to shoulder the huge responsibility awaiting him. The aura surrounding the man was almost tangible. As if you could cut through it with a scissor. Finally when it was time to take the oath Obama stumbled and faltered before swearing to “protect, preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States”.

What followed next was one of the grandest speeches I have ever had the chance to listen to and it was delivered such charisma and zeal that it overlooked the previous slip in repeating the oath. It was filled with hope, optimism, determination, conviction and similar adjectives. He started off by thanking George Bush for his sacrifice for the nation and his generosity and co-operation. Whether it was sincere or sarcastic is known only to Obama. He sounded sincere when he said the challenges facing America will be met. He pointed out how America is now and how it will come out of the predicament. He spoke about the past in which people had travelled across the oceans and toiled in the sun till their hands went raw so that their children and grandchildren and grand grand children would have a better life.

By and large, it was a very inspiring speech; for those who wanted to be inspired. Jon Favreau, Obama’s Chief speech writer had made sure of that. For the rest of the cynics, like me it was just a beautiful speech prepared for a special occasion; a speech into which much thought was put in to make it appealing to those who voted for him and make them think they have made the right decision. Now this observation of mine would raise a few eyebrows. The reason why I think so is because, with due respect to him, Obama could not have chosen a worse time to become the President of the largest economy of the world; an economy which has crumbled within the blink of an eye and taken many economies down along with it, a time when the country is looking at the worst economic crisis and the unemployment rate has leaped to a 16-year high of 7.2%. The markets are battered and so is the hope and belief of the people.

How successful will Obama be in restoring America’s past glory and its people’s confidence? Will the country have “A New Birth of Freedom”? Will Obama be the change the country is desperately hoping for? History will answer these questions for us. Meanwhile, all we can do is nothing but keep our fingers crossed, hoping that this man can work miracles.

The Act of Blogging

As I was sitting jobless today, suddenly it occurred to me that I haven’t posted anything here in more than a month. And I was wondering what could be the reason. I mean, there are people who post every single day. But here I am with just 5 posts to my credit in 3 months. It’s not like am very busy to write a few lines. God knows how I while away my time with nothing to do. The hardest work which I do would be downloading a movie through LimeWire. And the second hardest thing is watching all those downloaded movies. Whoever said B-school life is busy?

Well, coming back to the topic of discussion, an introspection into my daily routine and the resultant analysis was a shocking revelation. My schedule goes like this- wake up, get ready, eat, go to class, surf the internet there (this includes googling, orkutting, mailing, g talking, etc.), lunch, again class and internet, tea/coffee, chat, loiter, dinner, movie+chat, late night go to sleep. Then why does my blog remains so inactive? Well, there could be several reasons for this.

1.Plain bone-deep laziness
2.Extreme absent-mindedness (I forget I own a blog)
3.Too much of watching movies
4.Day dreaming in the remaining time
5.Hang out with friends doing nothing
6.And rarely loss of coherent thinking to put my ideas together.

Is this the same way for others or am I the only one feeling this way?
BTW, is this a dumb topic? :O

In Memory Of Those Who Died Waiting For The Classes To End..

Economics, accounts, statistics ,
Causes my head to spin.
All around me, I see a sea,
Of numbers which ignore my silent plea.

My ears are filled with a constant drone,
Creating a headache, to which I’m more prone.
My mind wanders off to distant places,
On horses and ships, into empty spaces.


An occasional glare, brings me back,
The professor's lecture, doesn’t seem to slack.
What goes into my head, only God knows,
What enters one ear, through the other it goes.

A rainy day @ IFMR

Nose Blocks and Early Mornings..

I have the peculiar habit of waking up early in the morning, stepping out of the house and taking a deep breath to fill my lungs with the fresh air. Anybody who has done it would know the joy in it. The way the ozone laden air fills the lungs. It’s a feeling that has to be experienced. Well, today as usual after much swearing at the alarm I finally got out of the bed and went out for my breathing ritual. I closed my eyes and with a tiny smile playing on my lips, breathed deeply and….. found that I couldn’t draw the air in!!!! My nose was blocked. Now to explain the feeling I would like to make a small comparison. Have you ever tried to suck air through a straw with the open end blocked? I had the same feeling. Immediately I understood that the reason for the block was a glass of lemon juice, which I had believed was quite safe. Frantically, I tried breathing again and felt one of the nostrils giving way. A rush of relief flowed through me. Pressing the free nostril with a finger, I tried breathing through the blocked one and again got the ‘stuck’ feeling. Now it was near emergency according to me. After ransacking the house to find the bottle of Tiger Balm, during which I discovered one long-lost shoe, my favorite teddy bear mug and water color set, I finally found it ensconced in the corner of the showcase. In my panic, I massaged it all over my nose. What followed a minute’s relief could only be described as inferno. A stinging started from the area around the nose and spread till my ears. Now it was a frantic run to sink and splashing my face with water and drying it vigorously. Finally when I was done and took a relieved breathe… the nose got blocked again!!

A new beginning...

Finally after much pushing and prodding from my friends, i have my own personal little space where i can chatter about anything above the earth and below the heaven. Even beyond the boundaries of both. Let me tell you, this is an exhilarating feeling. A sense of freedom... Something like getting a driving license or flying a plane... Or riding a horse with the wind whipping ur hair all over ur face at a hell-for-leather speed. So in my first post, am going to comment on the very thing which made this freedom possible. Technology. Man, can there be a world without technology? I often doubt it. I wonder how people would have toasted their breads before a toaster was discovered. Or reached a place on time before the invention of engines. A life without tooth brush, paste, vehicle, washing machine, phone, pen, spectacles(had it not been discovered a lot of people wud be half blind!!!!), etc is unimaginable. I don't say impossible because people have lived without these for more years than we have lived with these. But having that level of patience, which is equivalent to sitting and watching a sapling grow into a tree, is amazing!!

But.. That's a pretty BIG 'but'..

Friends, Humans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury technology, not to praise it;
The evil men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with technology...

When Alfred Nobel discovered dynamite, he never would have imagined it would wreck so much havoc. Almost 125 years after its discovery, dynamite still reigns!! Many a brave men have fallen prey to it and many still falling.. Technology has helped dynamite graduate from hazardous to fatal bombs, with constant updates making it powerfuler and powerfuler. Bombs have become the toys used by terrorists to instill fear and demonstrate their point. Whatever happened to peaceful talks to prove one's points? There was a time when V.K.Krishna Menon made a 8-hour-long speech in th UN defending India's actions on Kashmir, which still remains the longest ever delivered in the history of UN. A pity he didnt think of bombing a few cities to drive home his point!!
And talking about the effects of technology itself. The hole made by the latest technology in the ozone layer is big enough to let a NASA space shuttle pass through to the moon. The gap in the Antarctic ice shelf is so wide that a submarine can easily slide into the frozen waters. And the number of species getting into the extinct list is so large that it would make counting them the next time much easier.
If this is what people call 'technology-growing-at-leaps-and-bounds' .. Excuse me.. Am not the person for it. Men are so disillusioned that they think they own the world. They forget to consider the fact that they share it with millions of other creatures from microscopic amoeba to mind-boggling whales. From a tiny sand to majestic mountains. Drops of water to mighty oceans. And the concept of 'Live and let live' has been lost somewhere on the way.
It's high time we looked back at what we have left behind while on the pursuit of comfort.