Farenheit 9/11, Really?

He didn’t write anything. He couldn’t. He just stared at the proof in front of him. This was past ridicule. He couldn’t believe it.

Each paper lyin g on that table seemed to shout, ‘America is dumb. We have George W. Bush, we have him as our President.’

And then he laughed. For all those trampled sons of b******, for all those who cared enough about their motherland – the US of A and for those who laid down their lives for the 2001 version of “War of freedom”.

Fahrenheit 9/11, a documentary that stirred that little something in me; it made me think.

Is the pen mightier than the sword? Does that nib overpower the President? It didn’t. Not completely so. He was afterall, elected a second time round.

But then, there is that small question in my head, was he even a legitimate President? Did he win the first election? Was he the War President he openly claimed to be?

Cynical and quizzical, that was what this (had) made me. There wasn’t much humor involved – not the slapstick kind. There wasn’t much shooting – maybe around some 20%. But then, there was a lot of editing.

What was Micheal Moore, the acclaimed director wondering at this point of time?

What was he thinking of?

Was he thinking of how to arrange every little bit of ‘information’?

Was he filling in his own mental gaps?

Was he putting a point across?

Or was it just plain old monopoly?

Could have been either. But then it was honest. Really. It was an honest attempt at conveying his thought process. He was afterall, not against the Republicans. He just for casualty’s sake supported the left.

The new Tom Paine, indeed.

He casually went through that entire list of ‘martyrs’. The name of his friend at the bottom right corner disgusted him. He couldn’t bear it. He couldn’t afford to show these emotions on camera. Not on film. Not to any person. He was the closest to me, and me alone; at least in death.

He turned around. Lying there, was a box of another bunch of tapes. This time round it was the American troops deployed to Iraq. He hadn’t seen or heard an entire A/V. He couldn’t really bear the talks.

There was so much to explore. There was so much to tell.

He got back to work.

He had another long night of editing in front of him.

His pack of cigarettes waited beside the counter to be lit.

Particularly, the near about one hour of footage had no source. There was one accredited guy in the credits. There was no mention of any network channel in the documentary by itself, other than maybe the FOX Network.

Why should I believe that the dumbest President that has ever walked the planet was told in a kindergarten school of the bombing of the World Trade Centers?

Why would I believe that Bush really does believe that traveling in USA is okay while Rumsfield tells us about the war troops in Afghanistan on the other channel?

`Why is there no reference to the collective database?

What relevance does this masterpiece have in our world 10 years after the 9/11 attacks?

Why is a Democrat in place now? Why was John McCain shown the ‘L’ sign in his speech by the same director that openly supports peace?

Why was he against the one who was against the War for Freedom? Why did he support the black head who represented that all is fine in America – “I support the Iraq war guy”?

Are his objectives questionable?

Are his achievements questionable?

Are his ethics questionable?

Is anything he did justifiable?

In the name of the Lord our God, rest in peace forever.

His objectives, his achievements; all of them are not questionable. For, he had a right. He exercised it. George W. Bush had rights (and responsibilities) he exercised them (and forgot the other, invariably so).

We never will know how Moore directed the film. We will never know if he staged a part of it. We will never know if he was right. We will never know if he did shed a tear. We will never know if he was dumbfounded by any of the information he saw.

All we have are our perceptions. And all he did was project his – only on a larger basis that you or I might ever do.

I have a mind.

All humans have a mind.

It can be termed a monkey brain or the brain of a genius – it still remains.

But Forgive me dear Lord, for I have sinned. For I have thought it out this time.

For I have tried to put across the truth. Or not?

--
Akanksha Arya

Nestea Neil

Neil. I don't know what to make of your pictures. But, you sure look good in them! ;)

THE CALL OF THE WILD

You're waiting for the elevator to reach ZERO while hoping against hope that you're not locked out of the first class up on 601.

You’re not alone. nearly your entire batch is there, calming your senses, the former doing so with warm bodies pressing against warm bodies trying to be one the first to get into the lift.
The latter have never been so sharp.
you're somehow one of the first ones to get into the lift and you squeeze against the glass as more and more bodies come tumbling in all the time wondering which idiot thought having a metal rod in front of it helped anybody at all. Maybe they thought there would space enough in the lift all the time for a quick ballet practice before reaching class.
You get out and you're gasping in breath and running up the stairs because nobody had bothered to press the button for the sixth floor thinking about the poor people on the ground floor who'd be waiting helplessly for it...
the bell rings and you're in on time. The professor hasn't arrived yet and you grab one of the last benches, while you ease into the dull chatter of people who've woken up just minutes back. It was going to take some time before the usual loud professor-theory-defying voices would be heard. right now you're just trying to get behind the big guy so you can doodle in the notebook and if in the very unrare case of no possession of a notebook, on the already beyond recognisable vandalised desk of unidentifiable scribbles.
The professor walks in and your mind is slowly floating away...
finally, excitement.
adrenalin soaring, feet thumping into the unstained ground, their bags weighing their shoulders down, Eisenstein creased brows and fingers worn to the bone from too much camera-clicking, the roar of the arrival of the veterans of war is dismissed by their lowly newcomer counterparts as they yawn their professor's lecture away.
The veterans lumber into their classes defeated. They then carry on the legacy of vandalism.
The next class is with a lion.
The lion in the jungle moves with the grace and pride unemulatable by any animal not on top of the natural hierarchy. It’s only the natural order of things.
The lion glides into the classroom and purrs. Everyone shuts up to stare at it.
It passes along the attendance sheet and fiddles around with the technical equipment. It then starts to teach a bunch of terrified rabbits by growling softly and making expressive movements with his large retractable clawed paws.
The rabbits listen with their utmost attention. They remember the claws are only protractile till he wants them to be and the roar soft only to hide his sabre teeth.
The rabbits are fed knowledge from the fearsome predator. After they're fattened up can only he feed upon them.
His feeding hour is up. He glances around; he's never seen such thin rabbits. Even their tail puffs seem wilted. He growls under his breath as he collects the attendance sheet and glides out of the classroom. Maybe next time.
The bunny rabbits are visibly shaken. They do only what they know what to do best: they start to burrow into the ground.
They burrow till they reach the basement and they discover mess food, which is very unexplainably even worse than carrots.
They eat till they feel strong enough to peep out over the top of their burrows.
They can't stay in there forever.
Even if they try.

- Akanksha Srivastava

The Circle within a Circle

“He said a quick hi to her and moved on, not once looking back and failing to see the disappointment on her face. She had hoped to sit with him, for awhile if not too long, and talk at length about life, love and random things here and there. But he had many friends, many hi’s to say, quite a few commitments to keep. ”

You come to college with this thought that you have to make many friends- some contacts, some really close friends; basically you have to stay popular. I came to college with pretty much the same ideas. And to be honest, I have made a lot of friends, acquaintances, contacts whatever you call them. And it feels nice, being brutally honest, to have so many people who know you.

But somewhere in the myriad of friends I have lost and gotten lost!

There have been so many occasions that I walk along with a group of friends and suddenly switch off, feel completely distant… alone!

One could very well say that it is my fault but I would question that! They would say that you should make an effort to join the conversation, but that seems a tough ask since I have little clue of what they are talking about in the first place!

So many times it has happened that I go out with someone for the sole reason that I get the feeling that I belong!

I am part of a circle of friends- these friends of mine are a part of another circle of friends, whom then I also get related to and it goes on and on and on like this.

At times it gets so frustrating that I feel I am just there for the heck of being there, I can’t really connect with anyone.

It feels like a burden.

I am the burden.

Essentially I am a part of a circle within a circle, and with too many circles the whole idea of friendship goes for a toss. It becomes hard to maintain a proper relationship even the closest of your friends.

This is true with everyone, not just me; spending time with one friend will often make you think about the other person who does not get the opportunity of spending some time with you. You are always in a dilemma and that feeling sucks.

That is the feeling that makes you go like, “Ahh, I wish all of us were together, then none of these feelings would rise anyway.”

But like everything else in the world, there is always the bad side to everything.

However much one would like everyone to be together, the law of friendship doesn’t allow that. Problems always arise, someone or the other always has a problem with someone else due to which groups break up and become sub groups, which at times, as funny as it sounds, break up even further.

I have often found myself embroiled in such situations and they have left their painful marks behind. Not being a patient person when it comes to friendships sometimes can really harm you.

Again, I talk with experience.

I anger someone or get angry with someone; I mince no words in letting that particular person know. Call it a good thing or bad this is how I am and this is how I shall stay!

People think that I am naïve if I say that it is still possible to have that one huge group that we had in the beginning of our college days.

Why can’t we?

Yes I agree that as we come to know people, we start liking or disliking them more or less but what happens to that guy who doesn’t only have friends in that one small group but the other one also which has further divided itself into factions!

Why is he deprived of enjoying the company of that one huge happy group of which he was proudly a part of?

And then group politics ruins it all even further. He doesn’t like her, and she doesn’t like that someone else from some other group.

He’s a bitch, she’s a dog! He is this, she is that….and on and on and on…

Maybe this is the “FUN” of college life- the politics, the fights, the circles within the circles…..

BUT…

What happens to that guy who still awaits that special group of friends who he still wants to sit and have coffee with- to chat, laugh and cry with?

All he wants is to belong, feel that his presence counts….let go of the feeling that leaves him empty and feeling nothing……

Monica Banerjee

I really wanna click you more often!

My Campus in

That's all for now...

Keep clicking!

NEVER ALONE

(well, this poem is in response to devangs' answer to the last blog i posted here. to you devu...)

Oh I just realised
Being lonely is just a word
‘Cuz there deep inside
There is a u with you; a me with me

You can never be lonely
As always there is sum1 with u
On your left and your right
Deep inside

Far away in nothingness
Don’t run away; don’t hide
Don’t shed your tears
Night after night

Say that it’s gonna b alright
Say it’s gonna b ok
Never don’t you leave yourself
Nah, never do that

That’s being a coward
At its highest order
Remember never do that
Just don’t

Be you yourself
Always forever
N you’ll never feel lonely
Never alone

I know that you are upset
I know that u can’t do this
But you have 2
U have 2 do it
Whatever it takes

Just look up at the star
And close your eyes
Let the tears flow
It all gets over someday

Now just search yourself
N you’ll find a happy version of your life
U won’t believe that you could be so blind
That you ignored life

Now go on
Enjoy
The ball is in your court
Swing it on.

Remember it always
You are never alone
You’re always there for yourself
Or HE is there; to take care!

Step Up!

Moving away from our comfort zone is something that we hardly do.

Why?

Insecurity, Fear, an Iota of unplanned failure!

Reasons are many but solutions are something we don't waste our time to take out!

The solution is not to move away from new vistas, but to challenge it and try your luck with it. I know we can't always succeed, but when have we ever not learned something new? I remember being afraid of the water. But last year I challenged & mixed my passion for adventure and fear of water and went for White water rafting for 4 days! It took all my fears away. In the end I realized that until and unless you don't try anything out of your comfort zone, 

HOW IN THE WORLD WILL YOU STEP UP IN LIFE?

So true was Priya Kumar...

Whose Your Daddy?

Not really!

This picture of a small baby holding a slipper in his hand and looking at an older person wearing a pair of slippers, goes to show how we look up to more matured and experienced people before treading at similar paths.

Well obviously, here its too literal 'looking up' here! 

yaaron, dosti badi hi hasin hai...

am just so in love with the nature, listening to yaaron by k.k... so, nothing else came in my mind at the moment other than putting up this pic of a tree i took, while on our way to panchgani, then the second one of my doggie...caeser, who still being so close to me is far, but never the less is a sweetheart, and the third being my first book i read by james patterson and since thenon he became my fav author. in actuality, nobody stays behind with us, times come, when even your best friends walk out on you, turn their back on you when you need them the most, and you are left behind, speechless, in utter disbelief as to what just happened, oh my effin god, what just DID happen...?!?
but then, if you come to think of it, there are only three things in this world which stay put with you, even in your most desperate times of need, when you need a companion, someone to share your joys and happiness, your sadness and grief...basically everything, and well those three things are:
a) nature
b) your pet doggie
c) your books and copies

teri har burai pe daante wo dost; gham ki ho dhoop to saaya bane tera wo dost...arrey yaaron dosti badi hi hasin hai, ye naa ho toh kya fir bolo ye zindagi hai...

Overheard @ SIMC

With no offence meant! :)

This is a tribute to all the legendary one-liners that we have heard in college so far. Some find place here for sheer quantity while the others are here because of their outstanding quality. However, please note that this is a list of the quotations that have been overheard by the authour which he finds funny or interesting. You may/may not connect with all of them. As it is, the author is renowned for his utter lameness and remarkably horrifying taste. Thus you are encouraged to come up with your own choices as well. Lastly, no offence intended to anyone at all in this whole concept. It is an um, ah... a labour of love.

HERE WE GO THEN! :-

“Because I am a sadist.” -ProfASer

“You will count the exact number of shots in this feature film. Not one more and not one less. And if you do so, you get a prize. You will get to survive.” – ProfASer

“You are 240 seconds late.” - Radi-yo!

“You tell me.” -PyaR

“The countdown begins” -PyaR

“There is greenery in India because Ashoka planted trees on both sides of the road. This is an example of ancient PR” -still PyaR

“See 3 idiots once again.” - RG ki baat

“OK.” -BCA

“OK” -BCA

“OK” -still BCA

“OK” -BCA forever!

“I have no more stories to tell.” (yeah right!) -Mohan Sir

REMEMBER THESE ? :-

“Im a small town boy.” -Vishal Menda

“I come from a place near Chandigarh.” -Akanksha Arya (to the big boss sitting on the podium. Who replied by asking,”Doesnt it have a name?”)

“Basicaly, my life only has shades of grey.” –Adi Akash

“Shit happens, dude. Its Pune mannn!” – Shiv

“The lift was not working. I had to take the stairs. That is why im late. Please let me in just this one time!” – Any latecomer.

“My flight landed behind schedule. That is why im late. Please let me in just this one time!” –Koshtub Vohra

“The SIMC computers show a wrong time and run behind the actual time. That is why im late. Please let me in just this one time!” –Koshtub Vohra

“I had to go to the office regarding some work. That is why im late. Please let me in just this one time!” - Guess who!

“Uffff! You are so cheap!! GO DIE!! “ -Sreyashi Dey

“Sampu rocks!!” -Dhruv Prakash (suddenly in the middle of a very soulful song he was singing at Soul Curry)

“She is one of the most good looking girls in SIMC.” -Krishanu Jha (an ardent devotee of the Goddess Lakshmi)

“Mera aur uska kuch hone wala hai. J ” - Go Krish!

“Mera aur uska kuch nahi hone wala hai. L “ -Oh Krish!

“Set your priorities straight!” -Purnima R.

“You guyss! Listen up! “ -Trisha S.

“Lets go to Faaso’s” -All smokers.

“Lets go to 204.” - Everyone who has graduted beyond that.

“Raaajeeev yaaaar! Dont play DOTA yaar!!” -Radhika G.

“Sir, facebook kyun nahin khul raha hai??” - Standard Comp Lab querry

“Sir, please see my truck.” - Standard photoshop pracs request

“Listen to this joke!” - Neil Chitnis

“Wot yaar! No re!!! I DONT talk like that yaar.” -Neha P.

“Bravo! Bravo! Well done!” –Nandan

“SIMC boys are such a dissapointment.” - (Most) SIMC girls till they get boyfriends.

“I wont be judgemental. I wont bitch. I will clear out issues with the person involved rather than making a big matter out of it. I will make my parents proud” - The Panchgani Effect.

-Neil Chitnis