Some lessons

While returning from college via the bus route, I sometimes halt before a particular street food vendor. This favorite hawker of mine sells unique "aloo" chops. Now, whether the taste of his chops are exquisite or not is a matter of dispute. But today I've learnt a lesson from this old chap. May be I've learnt the lesson much before, but he for once again he pointed it out in front of me.

Today when I asked "Kaka" to give me chops worth rs 6, Kaka told me to wait for a while. But the other people around were not his regular customers, so obviously they were a bit irritated with this delay, someone among them asked, " where's your son Kaka??" why isn't he helping you today?" Kaka replied with a calm voice, " He has his studies. and I think its better to indulge yourself in studies than to waste your time, I can do this job singlehandedly, may be that will cause some delay. But I can withstand that especially when the cost is a few study hours". Kaka taught me that even the poorest and most illiterate person really cares much about studies than we do. Probably its because our parents have never given us any chance to complain about our education. And its a well-proven fact that human beings tend to neglect what they achieve at ease. May be, the counted number of books that the poor chap managed to buy for that lad, isn't enough for his studies. That's why they put so much of stress on studies.

The point is not solely about studies. I've studied quite a few people and observed that they tend to neglect what comes at ease.

This is the incident of one day. Another day, I went to "Kaka's" stall much earlier, say at five in the afternoon or so.Kaka,then was just preparing for daily sells. That day those chops were for my parents, and it was their veggie day. So I asked Kaka, beforehand that whether his chops are purely veg or not. Now one thing I need to clarify in this context that this first sell is extremely important for hawkers. They call it " bouni" and they believe that the sell for the rest of the day hugely depends upon this first sell. And they try their level best to ensure that this first customer does not return empty handed.

So Kaka thought for a moment and then asked me, " what exactly do you mean by saying veg?"

I said, " that it mustn't contain any traces of garlic or onion".Kaka replied, " no dear!! this chops contain garlic". I returned but was awestruck. I personally do not prefer this habit of my parents and my question was just for its sake [ie just for questioning purpose], but the honesty of that poor man made me bow in front of him.

The death sentence of Kasab

To tell you the truth I don't know his full name, neither have I any interest to know that either. I don't regard him as a celebrity unlike many of the daily newspapers. Even the daily routine of Kasab is now available over the electronic media. I personally do not think him to be such an important guy first of all. But let's come back to the topic.

The greatest dispute that has arisen now, is to whether death sentences should be banned or not. Thousands of humanist organisations have joined the rally in order to cancel the death sentence of the only surviving terrorist of the Mumbai attack. I am too small a human being to judge whether death sentences should be there or not. But imagine the consequence of banning death order. Suppose I am a terrorist [say ;)] and I am planning to bomb a super mall and take thousands of lives. Now suppose I get caught. As far as I know, the maximum span of imprisonment according to Indian constitution [not sure] is 17 years. So if I get caught, at maximum I'll get imprisoned for only 17 years. Forget justice and everything. In that case, you need not be a "zihadi" to perform such an attack. Everybody with a "proper"(??!!) reason to attack someone will also join the act. Chidambaram got hit by a sandal a few days back. Now, if death sentences are cancelled, on the next occasion he'll probably get hit by a 0.5 mm . Its not that I am a great supporter of the Indian political leaders. But my hatred is not to the point of assassinating them. With the criminals being aware of the fact that they won't get killed,they will certainly spread a rampage.

I am on for Kasab's death sentence. No matter what media creates of him, a superman, a lone boy, a hernia patient or whatever. I do think that the souls that died at Mumbai need to rest in peace. And the only way to accomplish that is to prosecute their murderer in my opinion.

[this article consists solely of personal views and thoughts, and there is no intention to harm/disregard/disrespect any person/organisation/country living or dead.]

A comparison between Creed and Alterbridge

Its a comparative study between Creed and Alterbridge from an ordinary listener's point of view.For those to whom both of the names are alien words: those are in fact two alternative rock bands. The reason of this comparison being that Alterbridge was actually formed by some ex-creed members [Mark Tremonti,Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall to be specific] on 2004 after Creed got disbanded, and the lead vocal Scott Strapp chose to go for a solo career. So, its quite natural to discuss whether the effect of this disband was positive or negative.

I used to think that Creed songs are for happy souls, it "apparently" talks about the lighter sides of life. Their main theme being success, joy, love stories etc [all apparently] whereas Alterbridge songs quite clearly helps one to fight the griefs in his/her life, makes him/her realise that he/she is not the only one out in this world facing all those troubles. I personally feel that "happy souls" don't need music for their survival that much. So I used to prefer Alterbridge. Until I realized that there is a hidden message in almost all Creed songs. Say for example, "My sacrifice" apparently tells the story of a successful love where the boy is saying how much he has been obliged by the presence of his lady love. But if one listens carefully he will notice that past tense is used throughout the song. Also the significance of repeated usage of the words "my sacrifice" remains unexplained. I had to listen to the song carefully for at least 50 odd times to realize the fact that the boy is actually no more in this world. The same is true with "With arms wide open" although here the statement is a bit clearer. While stating how much he adores her, suddenly the singer shouts out, " If I get one more chance,......, I hope he's not like me, I hope he understands"... most of the Creed songs makes one to think.

While Alterbridge songs are much more straightforward I reckon. Its much easier to grasp the meaning of the sentence, " on broken wings I am flying, it wont take long"["Broken wing"] than to guess the meaning from tenses. Most of the Alterbridge songs are enriched with such easy to comprehend lyrics. Say " Metalingus"... I don't think that there's any hidden meaning. Also, I personally feel that Alterbridge dares to experiment with the music. [ the instrumentals], which is a negative side in Creed's songs according to my opinion.

I personally think that songs should be easy to comprehend [there's rocket science for complicated minds], so although I must admit that Creed songs are beautiful and some of them are among my all time favorites; my choice is Alterbridge. x)

The evolution of gaming style in JU FET TT room

[Prologue:- My semester has ended, and currently I have nothing to do other than leading a boring and monotonic life, this particular post is a result of that boredom, so excuse me...I can't help x(]

Being a third year student [soon to be a fourth year [fingers crossed]], I've witnessed a whole deal of evolution in the tt gaming style in JU FET TT room. To explain elaborately, when I was a first year student, the star players used to rely upon sheer power. Obviously I am not talking about the quotas. I have no disrespect for them but its true that much of the players of that era lacked the necessary agility and reflex to counter a powerful smash. Mainly because of that, the better ones used to rely upon forehand smash, but due to over usage of that particular shot, people realized that they'll have to become agile in order to face these players. So the age of ultra defensive choppers began. Though I personally don't prefer any of these two styles, but I must admire the style of a few among this lot. Lahirida and Sayada have given perfect examples of how to make this kinda game play into something entertaining. Meanwhile those "powerful" players left the college. So the era of these defensive players began. Gradually people realized that power is not the only thing, and they started trying top spin and other kinds of spins. A properly played top spin requires something more than just agility to counter. These days, the whole tt room is majorly divided into two kinds of players. the choppers and the top spinners. Power has lost its importance cause nobody will provide you with a high tossed loop to give you the chance to show your power. I personally feel that the competition has grown tougher these days, with players playing better than they used to.

Moreover we are seeing a whole deal of new but orthodox shots, like the drive[souravda]], the flip[ritoda], the loops [sumitavada], the jabs [siddhartha] etc and also improved backhand skills. This is a good indication indeed. :)

Am a bit surprised with the things that are going on around me. A few days back, there weren't any slightest ray of hope around. Every door was locked for us. Wherever we went, we got rejected. But things have started getting a bit brighter. But that's the problem. Probably I've turned into a maniac, who just fears the sensation of comfort.

Yeah, I've realized it long back, that "luck" aint in my side. So, when now things are getting a bit easier, a feeling of discomfort is always lingering in my mind. An apprehension, whether its the null before a storm.x(

Moreover, this feeling of "feeding on one's corpse" is eating me up from inside.

NO, EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY.