Two of our Msc teachers passed away this week - Dr. V Ramachandran and Dr. D. K. Sharma. They taught us stat mech and optics respectively. Very harmless people and very cheerful. I didnt get to interact with Dr. VR much, but Dr. DKS was around until recently. I guess since we are still in campus, and their news came just one after the other, it feels strange.
We have been here in this campus for just too long. When will my time here in campus end....
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Vivah
After braving 30 minutes of Omen, we brave souls returned to our rooms and watched Barjatya's Vivaah. This movie was like any other Barjatya movie - diabetically sweet, but it had a good ending - an ending with a message. The story goes like this - Poonam is an orphan, who grew up in her uncle's home. Her aunt doesnt like her as she is beautiful and her own daughter isnt. I personally thought her daughter had more spirit, more lively. Poonam is the shy, eyelashes batting kind of girl, very very docile. Her marriage is arranged with Prem (shahid) and they both fall in love. The day before the wedding, there is a fire in her house and she gets badly burnt. Inspite of this, Prem marries her and takes care of her. This was the good ending. There is a dialogue in the hospital where the doc says that this hospi is used to seeing brides burnt for dowry, this is the first time we see a burnt girl being made a bride.
This movie reminded me of a fire tragedy in Tamil Nadu 2-3 years back. Here the kalyana mandapam (wedding hall) caught fire while the wedding ceremony was going on. I dont remember exactly who else died, but the bride's father and the groom died in it. Bride survived. We were scared for her as belief in bad omens is very prevalent in this country of 1 billion population and god-forbid if the girl has to face any hardships because of this apart from her personal loss.
This movie also reminded me of a very romantic real-life story I heard. This guy and girl were engaged and were waiting for their wedding day. The girl was very beautiful and the first time the guy saw her (himself hidden behind a door), she was playing with her friends. Unfortunately before the wedding, the girl contracted small-pox and she had small marks on her face. Well, everyone incited the guy to break the engagement. (Society never helps make anything but they love breaking up things. So why should anyone care for them at all!! ) Anyway this guy said "If she had got the pox after marriage, then do you think I should leave her!! Its the same case now. " So they married and lived happily ever-after. You can still see the romance alive in their lives. :-D
This movie reminded me of a fire tragedy in Tamil Nadu 2-3 years back. Here the kalyana mandapam (wedding hall) caught fire while the wedding ceremony was going on. I dont remember exactly who else died, but the bride's father and the groom died in it. Bride survived. We were scared for her as belief in bad omens is very prevalent in this country of 1 billion population and god-forbid if the girl has to face any hardships because of this apart from her personal loss.
This movie also reminded me of a very romantic real-life story I heard. This guy and girl were engaged and were waiting for their wedding day. The girl was very beautiful and the first time the guy saw her (himself hidden behind a door), she was playing with her friends. Unfortunately before the wedding, the girl contracted small-pox and she had small marks on her face. Well, everyone incited the guy to break the engagement. (Society never helps make anything but they love breaking up things. So why should anyone care for them at all!! ) Anyway this guy said "If she had got the pox after marriage, then do you think I should leave her!! Its the same case now. " So they married and lived happily ever-after. You can still see the romance alive in their lives. :-D
Friday, November 24, 2006
Dare I dare the devil
Movie in OAT tomorrow is Omen-V. I am determined that I will watch at least a bit of it. I have anyway informed my friends that I might need a shelter in their rooms on saturday night :-D They are not ready to watch the movie so I should hunt for some company too.
I discovered on IMDb that the 1976 version had Gregory Peck in the lead. Woww that must have been one good movie then. I must have gushed about Gregory Peck here before. He was the proud, upright father in To kill a mocking bird ( the book by Harper Lee is also very good ) and the romantic reporter in Roman Holiday. Both the movies are a collector's piece.
Omen and Nemo (as in Finding Nemo) relate to extremely opposite characters, dont they!
Update at 3am: Im not watching Omen. By mistake, I started reading a spooky story (Fred Forsyth short story- Whispering wind), suspense kept me engrossed and I finished it at 2 am. So here I am, still wide awake and cursing my non-existent will-power, but now determined not to watch Omen. Chicken-hearted. Its 2 weeks since I ate chicken :-( Emily of Lucy Montgomery is very correct when she says that the most dismal thoughts are thought at 3 am in the night.
I am reading Wind of the willows online. Nice story. The writer has given a rhythm to the words and its a delight to read :-D A sample -
zzzzzzzzzz
I discovered on IMDb that the 1976 version had Gregory Peck in the lead. Woww that must have been one good movie then. I must have gushed about Gregory Peck here before. He was the proud, upright father in To kill a mocking bird ( the book by Harper Lee is also very good ) and the romantic reporter in Roman Holiday. Both the movies are a collector's piece.
Omen and Nemo (as in Finding Nemo) relate to extremely opposite characters, dont they!
Update at 3am: Im not watching Omen. By mistake, I started reading a spooky story (Fred Forsyth short story- Whispering wind), suspense kept me engrossed and I finished it at 2 am. So here I am, still wide awake and cursing my non-existent will-power, but now determined not to watch Omen. Chicken-hearted. Its 2 weeks since I ate chicken :-( Emily of Lucy Montgomery is very correct when she says that the most dismal thoughts are thought at 3 am in the night.
I am reading Wind of the willows online. Nice story. The writer has given a rhythm to the words and its a delight to read :-D A sample -
So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged again and scrabbled and scratched and scraped,....I agreed totally when he says that the best part of a hol is not resting for days but knowing that everyone else is at work when you are relaxing. Thats so true sometimes :-D
zzzzzzzzzz
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Liked this..
Main ajab ye rasm dekhi k baroz-e-id-e-kurbaan
wohi zibah bhi kare hai wohi le sawaab ulta
-Mussafi
Crudely translated as
I witnessed this strange custom on the day of sacrifice
that she is the one doing the killing and yet gets the blessings.
wohi zibah bhi kare hai wohi le sawaab ulta
-Mussafi
Crudely translated as
I witnessed this strange custom on the day of sacrifice
that she is the one doing the killing and yet gets the blessings.
Lost in the jungle
Hi Im back :) I have been busy with reports, writing, assessments and the sad part is that its not over yet. Anyway, they say persistence pays and Im following this motto these days. Lage Raho :-D And here is a list of movies I watched and books I read in this period. I watched --
-> Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna : People said I must be a die hard ShahRukh fan to like this movie and I did, but not as much for SRK as for the whole story. I felt that this movie was sensitively taken. But I also noticed that all my friends who were engaged or newly married absolutely hated this movie :-D I was thrilled when John Abraham made a guest appearance in a song. I didnt know this before.
-> Lage Raho Munnabhai : Hilarious, good timepass and thats it. My expectations were too high I guess. Didnt touch a chord.
-> Dor : A very sweet movie, sweetest cos the girl gets her freedom towards the end. Shreyas, the guy in Iqbal, was too good as the behrupiya but Ayesha was the best part of the movie. Refreshing, sweet, innocent. I had raved about her movie Socha Na Tha too. Endearing.
-> Khosla ka Ghosla : A good movie. A con-for-con story set up in a very real family background. With Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and few other known faces, this movie lingers on your mind. Do watch this too. Maybe such movies would not have succeeded if the multiplex culture had not set in.
-> Dumm Dumm Dumm : A tamil movie with Madhavan and Jyothika in the leads. I watched it for the 3rd time. Very sweet and romantic and very watchable. Good music too.
Im looking for a good book to read. The books I have been reading are nice to read and are forgettable. I want to read something moving like Gone with the wind or entertaining like the bartimeus trilogy. Any suggestions?
-> Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna : People said I must be a die hard ShahRukh fan to like this movie and I did, but not as much for SRK as for the whole story. I felt that this movie was sensitively taken. But I also noticed that all my friends who were engaged or newly married absolutely hated this movie :-D I was thrilled when John Abraham made a guest appearance in a song. I didnt know this before.
-> Lage Raho Munnabhai : Hilarious, good timepass and thats it. My expectations were too high I guess. Didnt touch a chord.
-> Dor : A very sweet movie, sweetest cos the girl gets her freedom towards the end. Shreyas, the guy in Iqbal, was too good as the behrupiya but Ayesha was the best part of the movie. Refreshing, sweet, innocent. I had raved about her movie Socha Na Tha too. Endearing.
-> Khosla ka Ghosla : A good movie. A con-for-con story set up in a very real family background. With Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and few other known faces, this movie lingers on your mind. Do watch this too. Maybe such movies would not have succeeded if the multiplex culture had not set in.
-> Dumm Dumm Dumm : A tamil movie with Madhavan and Jyothika in the leads. I watched it for the 3rd time. Very sweet and romantic and very watchable. Good music too.
Im looking for a good book to read. The books I have been reading are nice to read and are forgettable. I want to read something moving like Gone with the wind or entertaining like the bartimeus trilogy. Any suggestions?
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
If not waves,
... make ripples.
I got this as a greeting card message few years back :-)
Pic courtesy: Bala, an awesome photographer and a dreamer :)
I got this as a greeting card message few years back :-)
Pic courtesy: Bala, an awesome photographer and a dreamer :)
Friday, November 03, 2006
Ancient mathematics
*
I heard an interesting talk on algorithms in ancient Indian mathematics. I was amazed by the ingenuity of those days' mathematicians. And they never wrote it down in symbols!! Everything was written in Shlokas and verses. For eg. the speaker figured out for us how they expressed the concept of mods (|A-B|) in words (sanskrit) as the difference between A and B the order of A and B being immaterial. The full theorem was in 4 lines **. He spoke of so many famous mathematical theorems which were independently discovered by Indians long before the west did***. And the way they have been derived is incredible. The value of sqrt(2) and pi were known to good accuracy in those days!
And I never thought before how much astrology depends on science especially astronomy. Ok maybe now the astrologers just follow set rules and formulae and calculate planetary positions, but someone has derived all that in the first place, and for that they needed astronomy and all this was worked out!!
Someone**** in the audience said "its said that in India nothing ever dies" So maybe these sciences are worked out the Indian way even now in some place.
A very enlightening talk and well spent 2 hours.
Chennai police have been given flashy white cars NYPD style with sirens lights etc and they were seen parading up and down with loud sirens two days back. Like kids roaming with their new bikes :-D Well the sirens were louder than the ambulance sirens and thats a cause for worry too.
-------------------------------------------- *****
*back again :-D
** This reminded me of my sanskrit learning days. All I remember now is Aham gacchaami. twam gacchati/si. and kukuraha :-D He he see its very important to learn the swear words in every language. Atleast if one does get abused god forbid, one should know wat one has been called :-D
*** Why dont we lay our claim to all that? We Indians are never assertive enough or maybe sometimes we just dont care.
**** Aarghh its so difficult not mentioning names. This audience member always speaks brilliantly and I always look fwd to his insights in discussions. Im more of a listener than a speaker.
***** I love this Bartimeus style of putting thoughts as footnotes :-D
I heard an interesting talk on algorithms in ancient Indian mathematics. I was amazed by the ingenuity of those days' mathematicians. And they never wrote it down in symbols!! Everything was written in Shlokas and verses. For eg. the speaker figured out for us how they expressed the concept of mods (|A-B|) in words (sanskrit) as the difference between A and B the order of A and B being immaterial. The full theorem was in 4 lines **. He spoke of so many famous mathematical theorems which were independently discovered by Indians long before the west did***. And the way they have been derived is incredible. The value of sqrt(2) and pi were known to good accuracy in those days!
And I never thought before how much astrology depends on science especially astronomy. Ok maybe now the astrologers just follow set rules and formulae and calculate planetary positions, but someone has derived all that in the first place, and for that they needed astronomy and all this was worked out!!
Someone**** in the audience said "its said that in India nothing ever dies" So maybe these sciences are worked out the Indian way even now in some place.
A very enlightening talk and well spent 2 hours.
Chennai police have been given flashy white cars NYPD style with sirens lights etc and they were seen parading up and down with loud sirens two days back. Like kids roaming with their new bikes :-D Well the sirens were louder than the ambulance sirens and thats a cause for worry too.
-------------------------------------------- *****
*back again :-D
** This reminded me of my sanskrit learning days. All I remember now is Aham gacchaami. twam gacchati/si. and kukuraha :-D He he see its very important to learn the swear words in every language. Atleast if one does get abused god forbid, one should know wat one has been called :-D
*** Why dont we lay our claim to all that? We Indians are never assertive enough or maybe sometimes we just dont care.
**** Aarghh its so difficult not mentioning names. This audience member always speaks brilliantly and I always look fwd to his insights in discussions. Im more of a listener than a speaker.
***** I love this Bartimeus style of putting thoughts as footnotes :-D