RANDOM FACT/THOUGHT/GYAN FOR THE DAY

As I don't have much to write and I have been posting pathetically boring stuff on my blog, I am now going to start posting here whatever interesting piece of fact/thought/gyan I come across. It will be very short and won't take more than a minute to read. Needless to say, I am doing this to increase the number of hits on my blog :)

Fact for the Day: Amitabh Bachchan was originally christened as Inquilab Rai Shrivastava as he was born at the time when Quit India Movement was in full swing. Inspired by the slogan 'Inquilab Zindabad', the legendary poet, Harivansh Rai Bachchan gave him the name.

A Joke

India beat Bangladesh in its first match in T20 WC. As was expected, the news channels loyally devoted their whole day showing the highlights of the match. The footages of Yuvraj Singh hitting his sixes and Pragyan Ojha scalping 4 wickets were shown so many times that it seems as if news channels are gearing up to give Star Cricket a run for their money. After all, who else can make a superstar out of someone who played his first match and was awarded Man of the Match for the same?

On the same day, a little earlier, the doubles team of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy won the French Open Title. This was Leander Paes’ 9^th Grandslam Title. I’m afraid to say that the news channels and newspapers did not care to devote even a fifth of the time they dedicated to this cricket match. The media always blames the government for showing lack of interest in sports other than cricket. But isn’t it doing the same? The fact of the matter is that Government does not show interest in any sport. It only spoils whatever goes into its hands. The media, sadly, comes to the fore only when it finds cases which would increase the TRPs and all the blame can be put upon the government. These hypocrites dedicate a full page of newspapers to cricket, while other sports have to console themselves with a few headlines.

For me, and for probably any other sports enthusiast, the French Open title is far much bigger than a match where India beats a minnow and which is being given so much coverage as if India has won a world cup itself. Spare a thought for the likes of Leander Paes (9 Grandslams), Mahesh Bhupathy (11 Grandslams) and Vishwanathan Anand (multiple times world champion) who have brought more laurels to Indian sport than cricket. Unfortunately, Indian tennis has become synonymous with Sania Mirza, who makes more headlines because of the controversies surrounding the length of her skirts as compared to her performances. No wonder, the future of Indian tennis looks bleak once the two torchbearers (Paes & Bhupathy) of the sport retire. Government killed Hockey; media is doing the same to other sports, albeit in a different manner.

Animal Farm

I recently finished reading the book “Animal Farm” by George Orwell and it gave me some sense of satisfaction of having done something significant after finishing off with college.

Anyways, the book is excellent and it feels really good to know that one has read a book that has been highly acclaimed by critics world over (at number 31 in the Time magazine’s list of 100 best English language novels from 1923 to 2005). The book is a satire showcasing how the ideals of socialism and communism were distorted by its leaders and for this purpose the author has chosen the animals of a farm (the Animal Farm) to depict the proletariat class. A little knowledge about the rise of communism and its prevalence in USSR greatly helps. One can actually relate to the animals in a sense that how leaders (represented by pigs in the book) are corrupted by greed and power, how they manipulate public (the other animals on the farm) and how they justify all their wrongdoings by either refuting their earlier promises and ideals or by crushing any voices that are raised against them. Like Panchtantra, the book does not need a particular period of time or the race/nationality to convey its message. Probably that is what makes it stand out.

The book is very short and the vocabulary used is also very simple (two factors which greatly inspired me to read it :) ). Unlike some of my friends who over the years have given me complex over the number and the quality of books read, I am not an avid reader, neither am I able to do the analysis like they do. Wikipedia and Shelfari really help a lot in such cases and this time it was no exception either. Here's the wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_farm

The creativity of Orwell and his unique style to portray human nature make it a wonderful book to read. 

Will miss you a lot...

People without whom this journey of 4 years would not have been beautiful...

....

"Aviral!!! Aviral!!!...Baahar aaa saale.."

I woke up with a start. Varun was still sleeping on the mattress on the floor. I ran out of the room to the balcony. Rohit was calling my name, the way he always did, probably to call me for playing cricket, for going to department or for something else. My eyes searched for him. He wasn't there. His room was locked, so was everybody else's.  The lawn was empty. 

Realization dawned upon me. I myself had gone to railway station the other day to see him off.

My little sister's notebook...

We were all made to do strange things in school. Things which did not seem weird in those days but now they certainly do, especially if one is really bad at them. I always had a terrible time in the Art and Craft classes, singing, card making, getting newspaper cuttings and sticking them in a scrapbook, story writing, basically everything that has got anything to do with being creative.To make matters worse, we were also awarded grades for such stuff.

Anyways, very recently I came across something in a notebook of my younger sister. I had been using it as a rough copy since her exams got over.Rohit drew my attention to a page in the notebook on which something had been scribbled by her. This was probably some assignment given by her teacher or some essay kind of thing. What I am posting here is the rough draft which was faired out later by her.

VAMIKA THE GREAT

Vamika Shrivastava is full of wonders. No one can challenge her. She is the type of creature who is full of power. She has a faith in god. She is one of the beautiful and wonderful girl. She is full of miracle. Her goal is to attain the goal. Vamika is great that is my नारा. She only loves god, education and parents. She is full of talent and skills. But her writing is ridiculous (सुभान अल्लाह). But she is full of power and attitude. We all admire her.Because we can't live without admiring her. you don't know anything about her but the fact is that she is full of talent. have you ever seen such a wonderful girl in your life. No so you can see Vamika now. है ना अच्छी?
हिम्मत सिर्फ़ एक इन्सान के पास है। guess करो..अरे यार उसका नाम है Vamika the Great.
She is a general knowledge.You can ask any complex question and she is ready with answer. जब तक सूरज चाँद रहेगा vamika का नाम रहेगा। Be as cool as Vamika. This is also known as अपने मुंह मियां मिट्ठू बनना.

ही ही ही

she is a good joker and makes you laugh. Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

I later learned from Chachi that in this assignment one had to praise oneself in such a manner that others may laugh and she didn't disappoint.She even received a "Good" in this assignment of hers. I seriously want to go back to the days when we could have written such stuff and worse, even get it checked by the teacher without feeling embarrassed.I want to go back to my school days again.. I want to be innocent again...

PS. Please don't judge her by the post above. She is an excellent poet who writes at will and is excellent at drawing.Also special thanks to Rohit, Jubin and Puneet Pamecha.

College Farewell....

अलविदा तो अंत है...
और अंत किसने देखा...
ये विदाई तो मिलन है...
जो हमने है देखा...
हम लौट आयेंगे, तुम यूँ ही बुलाते रहना...
कभी अलविदा न कहना...
कभी अलविदा न कहना...