SG OwnBlog

Mumbai, around Midnight  I usually talk to my mother every day for about half an hour on the phone. It is not we have a lot of things to talk about. But still, we continue. The usual discussions revolve around dogs and cats in our neighborhood back home, how folks back there are doing, the importance of by brother’s future choices, my provident fund and so on. Last night my mother experienced something interesting. This was about a man who lived in our neighborhood. She was in our ruby red Swift car and while returning home she saw the man in gloves feeding a few street dogs with his own bare hands. I mean he was literally putting morsels of food in the little mouths of the dogs. Our whole family loves dogs and this generosity touched my mother and she remembered it well enough to tell it to me. It was actually nice. We do see people dropping food off on the streets for street dogs to lick them clean. That is considerate enough. So what this man did was indeed special. My mot...

It is about 2 km from our hostel to our Lecture Hall Complex. The Lecture Hall Complex was the place where our classes were held. I mean, that’s what happened usually. At times we had to go to the respective departments to attend, but they were really rare. Anyway, this is about the 2km road from Hostel 12 to the LHC. If you have been there you would know how big tall trees stand on either side of the road. They were so tall and dense that it would be dark on a sunny day. There were birds, monkeys and squirrels who would play on them. It was indeed fun to watch. There was one problem. Almost all the trees looked alike and distinguishing one from another was difficult. So we called them Hostel 7 tree. Hostel 9 tree and the all time favorites - Hostel 11 trees. Then one day while taking the regular bus service that took us from our hostel to the academic section, I noticed a huge tree that looked totally different from any other. There is a road that bends to the left when you driv...

It used to rain very heavily in Mumbai during the monsoon. It still does. But this is from the time I was undergoing my grad studies. From my window in the ground floor of the hostel that I lived in, I could see a couple of tents with dish antennas attached to them. There was a saffron flag that flew defiantly atop a mast on the roof of a single story building. I always wondered if the simple houses and the people hid something mysterious. One day, I got my rain boots, torch and decided to look what was in there. The tents were totally deserted, except for a boy in shorts playing with a football. I moved towards the well that I could see from my hostel window. As I approached it, the boy disappeared in the alley before me. The well was strange. It had no water. I flashed my torch and found a flight of stairs going down after about a meter of nothing. I looked around. No one was there. Holding my torch I sat over the well and positioned myself such that I could land on the stairs safel...

The most favorite of all technology is the personal computer. It is the single most taken for granted piece of tech that drives all our lives. From the registration of our birth, the education we receive, he games we play, the taxes we pay, our medical and marriage records, we rely on the PC for them all. It is for this reason alone that I salute the silent but omnipresent little personal computer. Considering how little we appreciate these things, I have decided to write at least one post about them. It makes sense and irony that I am using a tablet to write it while I usually use my laptop. But nevertheless here I am. 

Wednesday is a day of freedom for us. There is only one real class and that too is rather light. After that we have a seminar on a few days in the late afternoon. This time we had an associate professor of the prestigious Lund University by the name of Jagtosh Santap. I will be writing live, while attending the seminar itself. Method of presenting is very traditional. Very much of a monologue though well researched. He takes great pains to go into substantial detail but fails to make it clear why it is important for him to speak in front of us. That I believe is the primary goal of a speaker. One needs to sell his point of view. He shows us what he does, but not why he does it. Very soon the audience is busy dozing off and wishing the seminar to be over as soon as possible. This is very expected if the speaker does not engage the audience or simply refuses to feel the pulse of the people he is speaking to. I also notice the colors used in the slides are also like the speech itself. Bla...

This was a difficult decision. Coming back to Mumbai was easy. But getting back to an academic schedule was and is tough. The adjusting is not done yet and I face problems regularly. But that is kinda obvious and I remain rather undaunted by this. As time progresses, I am sure I will fit right in. Unfortunately the rains are not doing me any good. The excess incessant rainfall dampens my spirit. Whenever I look at the sky, I find no trace of the Sun. During the day of course. Anyway, this situation will last till my mid semesters, after things are going to improve rapidly. There will be Durga Puja, my mother may come and so on. So yeah, things will look up from here.

The life as I knew it is about to end in a couple of days.  The time for procastrination is over. I can't pretend to be not afraid. Truth be told, I'm scared like hell but at the same time I am hopeful. In a way I am also certain that the days ahead are going to be fruitful and full of happiness and most importantly ...satisfaction. My packing is yet to be done. I intended to make a thorough job of it. But I am yet to really get things done as they should be. I have certain vague plans about what to do and what not do while leaving Bangalore for good. But I haven't yet made any real progress on this front. Actually, as I write this, the urgency of the matter impresses upon me. May be I should write more. Self introspection helps. Wait, that's ridiculous. Introspection is by itself ...self. Anyway, so my this time next week I will be home. For a period of two weeks at most. Then my classes will begin. Best wishes to me, I guess.