Tour de Paris

Paris was blessed to have seven young guys from India visit her during the first weekend of September’06. Well, at least special for us ;-).

To start with, let me introduce you to the seven Indians I am talking of:

Rahul Pal (my twin brother), Me, Zubin (Dude), Narsi (Saanp), Pranav (Buddha), Aveek (Penguin) and Louis (Louis)

After the dismal results of the Brussels visit (all but me :) ), the guys planned a “planned” visit to Paris and decided to keep me out of the planning. Well, it worked out well for them and me too!

We reached Paris early on Saturday morning and after a few but very important exercises (:-P), we headed for the Metro. First of all, let me express my admiration for the Paris Metro.

The Paris Metro was a very welcome change from the suffocating and swaying Netherlands trams. One can get a weekend pass for 13 Euros and I am confident that an average-brained man with just a Metro map in hand can travel in Paris without anyone’s help. The rail system is very extensive. Additionally, the stations are beautiful; each station has a different design in terms of wall structures, chairs’ design & color and even the way names are written. The only common part was frequent, punctual trains and the indicators on stations – they don’t leave a single stone unturned when it comes to directing you to another platform, a tourist spot or just the exit. I am really in love with the Paris Metro!

The first location was Notre Dame, a famous cathedral. Even before reaching there, we had understood from the old beautiful buildings, the bridge and the river just outside the Metro station that Paris has something really good in store for us. And Notre Dame proved that we have started right with our expectations.

The instant I saw the cathedral, I started clapping hands in excitement and applause, and stopped when I realized that it was Europe and not India. The cathedral visit started with photos.

Inside it was much quieter than the one in Brussels but not as beautiful. However, the sculptures were very good – different poses with weapons & armor. There was a new thing I observed there. In a few pictures/sculptures that depicted crucifixion of Christ, there were 2 other men who were shown crucified on either side of Christ. I didn't know who they were at that time but later, I came to find that these were two thieves and were hanged on either sides of Jesus Christ so as to signify that Christ, like them was an enemy of the state and the society.

Similar to the Brussels’ cathedral, there were a lot of donation boxes and sculptures of faintly dressed men – it always surprises me how all the sculptures manage to hide “the thing that should not be named”. It appears that the sculptors of those times were very careful while sculpting the male form, because they left no stone unturned in exposing women. Anyway, I bought a pencil painting of the cathedral in a shop outside and then we started for Montparnasse.

On our way, Narsi was able to capture the best of the dude twins:

Montparnasse is the tallest building in Paris. Clad fully in black glass, the building seems to climb into the sky when seen from ground and in fact, contrasts well with the sky. One can go to the top and get a full view of the city. We, however cancelled the plan as we had Eiffel Tower in our itinerary.

The next location was Assemble Nationale. Though I am not sure, I guess this is some sort of Parliament for France. We got down at the nearest Metro station but before we could go there, nature intervened.

Back at the Assemble Nationale, we headed towards a nearby museum (Musee d’ Orsay) where we hoped to find such a place. We reached the museum and I (the victim of nature) went inside without a ticket (it was expensive!), followed the command and stealthily returned. I can’t deny that I was afraid of being caught but as we say, all is well if it ends well. I had a look at the museum during this short visit and I liked it. But, we decided against going inside. We clicked a few snaps outside and then we moved towards Assemble Nationale.

We were not allowed to go inside and anyways, it looked like just another old heritage stuff. But the day view of Paris from this place was just amazing. On our left, we could see Eiffel Tower rising out of the greenery:

Straight ahead of us was a beautiful bridge, with four gold (or gold-plated) statues on four pillars at the beginning and end of the bridge, leading towards another prominent building:


Towards the north-east was Arc de Triomphe and at our right, we saw a flat and tall pencil-shaped structure (Obelisk of Luxor) and a beautiful fountain. Later, I d that the square is one of the most famous squares of France and is called as Place da la Concorde. This was truly the first moment of realization of the beauty Paris holds:

We went to a garden nearby, had some food and sat idly for sometime. A mild cold breeze was blowing and at times, it brought showers from the fountain on our face, further refreshing us. From here, we moved towards our youth hostel. On our way, we also saw Queen Diana’s Memorial – and would you believe it – we were on the same highway where a few years earlier, her car crashed into a wall at high speed while she was being followed by the paparazzi?

We managed to find a Pakistani restaurant near our hostel and had some good desi food there. Finding an eating-place that serves food native to your country in a foreign land has always been a very satisfying feeling, especially when the food is good. The same was the case here. I would also like to highlight the good treatment we received from many Pakistanis here, be it the chef in the Shell EP building, taxi driver, just a neighbor on a restaurant table or the restaurant owner in this case. I think that being away from home in a western country where we can at least find commonalities of region and history brings this harmony despite the tension that prevails at home on the political front.

After a nap, we started for Basilisk Montmarte. I don’t remember much about it except the things it had in common with the cathedrals of Brussels and Notre Dame. I also bought a few cards here. I am not really sure why I’m purchasing all this stuff, because I’m not much of an art or showpiece freak. May be I’ll distribute it among friends and relatives. But it always feels good to buy some souvenir when you visit a tourist spot.

Other than being a Basilisk, it also provides tourists with a breathtaking view of Paris from the top. All but me went to the top (well, it was expensive and we were anyway going to see the Eiffel Tower):

I went down, had a very refreshing Cappuccino, and bought few more paintings, calendar of all hot spots and gifts for folks at home. And then we started for the Wonder!

I’d seen Eiffel Tower from different parts of the city and it really didn’t look that great from a distance. It was just another tower – may be very high and very large but more rusted than others too. But my impressions changed as I arrived closer. We first reached a park in front of the tower and sat there for some time. We had some good photo sessions as well. I thought of calling people just to express the joy. I started with the fair crowd but finally had to stay happy talking to Mayank (well, he is very fair at least!):

2 of us decided to go to the top by lift whereas the remaining 5, including me, chose the option of using stairs for the first 2 floors and then the lift. I think the latter was a very good option since it didn’t just save on money but also gave us an opportunity to read many interesting facts related to the tower. For example – When skating was started on 1^st floor, it was a bear from Moscow circus to first skate or about a guy who first used the stilts to climb up to the first floor or about how a solider climbed the tower against German Army during the 2^nd world war and hosted the French flag. The view from the first and second floors was completely amazing, but the best was yet to come.

It was dark by the time we reached the top. The view of Paris from the top of Eiffel Tower can be described as out of the world. Be it Montparnasse, or Arc de Triomphe or Montmarte, the whole of Paris can be viewed from the top. And then you also see couples hugging and kissing and you realize what you miss there! It is really a very romantic place with the cool breeze and the entire view. Nevertheless, we still managed to enjoy without the missing ones - theoretically or practically:

It was around 9:45pm when we realized that there was a light show between 10:00-10:10pm and we took the lift for the second floor. We reached there by 9:54pm and there were only 6 minutes left for the light show. And then we ran! I know that if any senior Shell employee comes to know of it, he’ll give us a stern talk but honestly, we ran while holding the handrails (thus keeping it safe!). Still, I know it was a little dangerous but we literally managed to reach down in 6 minutes. I think that was the best part of the Paris trip! And I came 1^st in the race (proud blushes) :-P.

I won’t say that the light show was something really special but it was good – it looked as if stars are running at lightning speed throughout the tower:

What looked more beautiful was the closing of the light show when it returned to the yellow and black form (i.e. with normal lights turned on); it was like a flowerpot being put in water with just a difference that it was more beautiful afterwards:

With tired legs and empty bellies, we returned to the hotel and had some sort of dinner at McDonalds’ on our way. To our surprise, we could also see the Eiffel Tower from the hotel room window and the light show as well. Again, not something very wonderful but still ‘feel good’.

My friends started for Louvre the next morning whereas I left for the Ashram in Paris (I joined them later). Without much difficulty, I reached the Ashram and spent some time there after the group meditation. It is always good to meet abhyasis from the West. There is something special about them. As it has been my observation, India or East provides good ground for spirituality and its development. On the other hand, West is very different, very materialistic (not that materialism is not there in India, but not as much and people respect religion and spirituality more than in the West). I am confident that with so much materialism in terms of money, bigger buildings, higher standards of living, “rich” history, “more beautiful” chicks and “advanced versions of sex” available, it is always difficult to change orientation and move towards spirituality and continue in that direction.

After the group meditation, I went to join my friends in Louvre. For a moment, it seemed like a loss of time as I missed a few hours in group meditation, but after seeing Louvre, I realized that it wasn’t so. I know that by saying so, I may be disappointing many art freaks (or may be inviting their wrath), MonaLisa-lovers, people who have read The Da Vinci Code or those who have just heard too much of Louvre. Louvre is great. It is just that after roaming around for an hour or so, you just get too tired of all the art around. If I’ve to justify what I say, lets take the case of MonaLisa. Yes, it is world-famous and everything but how many of us can really appreciate its beauty or the secret of art or reality it holds. Hardly a few!

Not that I’m negative. I am saying it in a positive sense because everything around is just too good some way or other. It is just that it’ll take days to really consume all the stuff that is on display. A few highlights were :

Napoleon's Room (don't know how they managed to bring everything out there), which embodies the peak of luxury and ostentation. I think the King's Palace of Brussels (which was the most ostentatious palace I'd ever seen) was nothing compared to Napoleon's - and to me it makes sense. After all, Napoleon was king of the kings.

MonaLisa – just for the name

The Grand Odalisque (don’t blame me for putting it here – it is just a piece of art):

The wedding feast of Cana:

The victory of Samothrace:

Venus de Milo:

The seated scribe:

Inverse pyramid (suspected location of Holy Grail as discovered by legendary symbologist Robert Langdon :-P):

Just to make sure once again that my comments about Louvre haven’t been misinterpreted, it is really beautiful and worth many hours of inspection. Just be ready to get tired of walking and the impossible attempts to absorb the art it withholds. I purchased a MonaLisa ceramic coffee cup and a book with most famous paintings and their brief history.

We left Museu de Louvre at 3pm and started for La Defense. Just as we stepped out of the metro, the grandeur of the Grand Arch and the size and architecture of the buildings left us wide-eyed and open-mouthed. To add to the whole effect was the breeze. Sometimes it is really difficult to determine what is the best and Paris was revealing it with every new spot. Other than the Grand Arch (which was literally impossible to be captured with the simple digital cameras and amateur photographers that we had), there were some high-rise glass buildings (none higher than Montparnasse though) and the effect of reflection of buildings into one another was very beautiful.

And what to say of the breeze – such romantic and lovely breeze, and it reminded me of the Marine Drive of Mumbai. On the other side of La Defense, we could see beautiful farms with colorful interceptions followed by buildings once again.

From here, we left for Champs-Elyses and Arc de Troumph. We went to the bridge with four gold sculptures this time and tried to absorb their grandeur and beauty.

There was some other architectural work done around the bridge and it was also equally diverse and beautiful.

With legs already overworked beyond their limits and bags heavier than ever with all the purchased stuff, we started for Arc de Triomphe along Champs-Elyses. Champs-Elyses is the famous avenue, which leads us to Arc de Triomphe and it houses one of the costliest shops and the best chicks of the country.

Now that I’ve come to it, let me also write some words in praise of the fairer world of Paris. They are the best in the world – with fair faces and black hair (and what not - I am not going to mention the unmentionable). Even when we talk of figure, we observed that almost everyone here has the best of it, which is a unique feature in itself. It is further decorated with the costumes and designs of the fashion capital of the world which makes it a deadly combination. And sorry since I have no photo proof!

Arc de Triomphe was another beauty but I must admit that we were very tired when we reached there and we just lay there for a few minutes and then we left.

At this point, we experienced the saddest part of the Paris trip. We were thinking of clicking a photograph at Arc de Triomphe such that the whole avenue from Arc de Triomphe to La Defense is covered. (Would you believe it, it is a straight line avenue for many kilometers, and includes Champs-Elyses?). It would have been probably the best photo of the whole trip and at the precise moment, Mr. Murphy entered the scene and lo, the batteries were empty.

However, the Paris trip ended in a very comfortable manner with us luckily locating a South Indian Restaurant. Idli, Sambhar, Rice, Rasam and Sambhar in this far land were like heaven. We filled the empty bellies more than it was necessary and returned to the bus stand to catch our return bus. We found satisfied faces everywhere (I forgot to mention but around 20 of us in 4 groups were there in this Paris trip).

Finally, I know that this blog comes very late but then it was hard work and with my busy schedule here, it got delayed. In this one month, another group of 20 visited Paris and they mentioned a few more places, which are worth watching in Paris. We knew a few of these like Palace of Versailles and Disney Land but they didn’t fit in our tight schedule. But they mentioned a few others as well which we could have covered had we known about them. One more thing we missed was canal ride that starts from Eiffel tower and takes us around the city through 7 top spots and I’ve heard that the canal ride, especially in the evening is a great experience.

Well, I can just say that after so much travel and the satisfaction I obtained, I can see a lot of scope for exploration. Honestly, we are unsure if we can find a better place in Europe. Hopefully Italy (Rome, Vatican, Venice and what not) will try to match the standard set by Paris. Another trip is surely on the cards!

How much land does a man need?

This story is another of my father's favourites (Gosh, he deserves a lot of credit for these blogs which he isn't even aware of!). I am not really sure of the characters and their relationship with each other but that doesn't matter much since the message is very important!

Once upon a time, there was a rich man. In fact, calling him just 'rich' would underestimate his richness. He was one of the richest men of the country and a large chunk of his property was in land, which itself was a big pie of the whole country's land. But he was old and he realized that his end could come any day. And did I not mention? He had no heir for his property.

The man didn't want to just give away his property. He wanted to give the property to someone who "deserved" to own it after him. He wanted the beneficiary to win it. The rich man loved athletics and was fond of athletes. Thus he invited the fastest athlete of the country to give him a chance.

There was only one rule of the game! The athlete had to start at sunrise, finish at sunset and had to reach your starting point before sunset so that he could claim the closed area that he covers. And finally the D-day arrived.

The athlete saw the vast fields that constituted the land owned by the rich man. He had a whole day from sunrise to sunset to cover as big a chunk as he could. He started running and ran fast. Of course he was the best athlete in the village and this was the moment to prove his worth as well as get the whole property of the rich man.

With full confidence, he started with the ambition to cover the whole fields during the given time. He ran fast and ran without halting. When noon arrived, he realized that half of the day had passed and he hadn't been able to cover half the distance and he was already tired.

Instead of taking the straight-line path that he would possibly be able to cover before sunset, he furthered his conviction and made up his mind to get the whole land and started running even faster. With the faster pace, he started getting near to his goal. But the vast fields were indeed very fast and it would be appropriate to say that it was "so near but yet so far".

With only an hour left or so before sunset, the athlete again analysed the situation. He was already very tired and he calculated that it would be indeed very difficult to go the whole round and reach the starting point. But alas, greed overpowered wisdom. He argued with himself – Limitations are created by mind and not by body; I can do it. With his belief enhanced, he started running even faster and ran without giving any heed to the tiredness and pain growing fast in his body.

And at last, he saw the bright circle drowning into the abode of the mountains and at the same times he saw the starting point. His happiness and enthusiasm were boundless and he just ran to make sure that he makes it to the flag at the starting point before the sun fails him.

In a very Bollywood or even Hollywood fashion, he touched the starting point as the last ray disappeared. And he fell down. Forever!

How much land does a man need? 6 ft X 3 ft, gravely enough!

I am beyond that!

A story narrated to me by my father, taken from a book by Osho and one of the finest short stories I have ever heard. My guess is that it will sound best in the original tongue, i.e. Hindi but I'll try my best to translate it. I am not sure if you will enjoy it as much as I did, but if you are even slightly inclined towards spirituality, I think that you will surely like it.

Once upon a time there was a woodcutter in a village. He used to go to the forest daily, cut wood, take it to the market, sell it and bring some money back home. On some days, he would find a Sufi saint sitting on the sidewalk (Sufi saints are well known mystics and wanderers and rely on alms and donations for their minimum livelihood requirements).

One day, when he was returning from the forest with the day's wood, he found the Sufi saint sitting there. The Sufi saint asked him where he was coming from. He replied that he was a woodcutter and had been going to the nearby forest for last many years for getting wood and then sold it in the market. The saint said, "You get satisfied very early. Just beyond this forest, there is a sandalwood forest. You can go there and get sandalwood and earn more money."

The woodcutter went beyond the forest and to his astonishment, found a sandalwood forest. Happier, he started going to this forest daily and got richer. After a few months, he again found the same Sufi saint on his return way. He thanked the Sufi saint for helping him get richer with the sandalwood business. However the saint replied that he was easily satisfied and told him that beyond the sandalwood forest, there was a silver mine and he could dig silver and become more wealthy.

As you may guess, the story goes like this, the Sufi saint's advice led him further to gold and then diamond mines and made him wealthier than never before. One day, when he was returning from the diamond mine, he found the same Sufi saint at the sidewalk. The Sufi saint enquired about his whereabouts and he replied, "I am mining diamond these days and have got even richer. Thank you for all your directions".

The Sufi saint laughed and said, "You are still very complacent. If you had gone a little beyond, you would have found something even more precious." Ignorant and frustrated, he asked the Sufi saint, "What can be more precious than diamond? What is it that is more precious than diamond and beyond it?"

The Sufi saint smiled and said, "I am beyond it!"

--
Inspite of being aware of all these "materially-enriching" resources, the Sufi saint was still not running after them. Pink Floyd has very appropriately put this running after "more and more" in Breathe as:

Run, rabbit run. Dig that hole, forget the sun.

And when at last the work is done.

Don't sit down It's time to dig another one.

Rather, the Sufi saint had achieved a state of existence where he had no attachments for these material allurements (I don't advocate mendicancy, but well that was the way of living of Sufi saints in old times!). He was able to selflessly direct the woodcutter towards these sources while staying a mendicant himself and finally bring him to learn what he had learnt – I am beyond everything and if you discover that I, which in spiritual jargon is also called as the Self (so self with an upper case S), you'll reach the destination of life.

Do you remember the last scene of the movie Guide, in which Devanand says, "Mein hoon, Sirf mein hoon"? There too, mein is indicative of the Self and not the normal egoistic self. And when that is realized, I guess there will be no further need to run.

The Irony of Advising

There are many instances in life when we find friend/relative/ colleague in problem and it comes down to advising. I have carefully observed these happenings, at least in my case, both while taking and giving advice.

Advising someone on something is kind of a hobby/pastime for many of us. It really feels so good to advise someone. The good feeling is associated with it because it satisfies our ego that – I know which the other doesn’t, or I am able to think/decide, which the other isn’t. I don’t undermine the good intentions behind advising that may help the troubled, but in most of the cases, these intentions are associated with the subtle feeling – I (I, the egoistic I) am helping someone with something. Or rather, I can help and the other needs help.

And when you somehow realize this I behind the advising, it is never the same, never that easy.

The first essential of advising is that before one does so, he must make sure that he has experienced what he is advising on. It shouldn’t be based only on logic and knowledge. Experiences must assist him during the advising work.

I remember all the late night sentimental chatting with a friend at IIT. And there went discussions about love, emotions, relations and what not. Discussing issues and advising each other was an essential part of all this and I daresay that at that time, my friend was at the receiving end of all these advices. Why?

Well, very simple! His life wasn’t going as simple and easy as mine. So he needed advice and I could give advice (really???). I really thought that I could advise because I have been through such a relationship (I am getting cryptic intentionally, but I have to be). I was partly wrong because though I had been through such a relationship, I hadn’t been through the tough part of it that used to bug my friend at that time.

I realized this mistake when time became tough for me the last summer. And I had the luck to be with my friend once again and lo, this time it was my friend advising me. And one can guess by now that things were going relatively smoother in his life (and not so smooth in mine).

So that was my first learning – Don’t give advice unless you have yourself experienced or underwent the situation. But life isn’t that easy, is it?

The second major time when I faced this dilemma was while advising two friends (A&B) on the career front. I remember the tension full days of placement time and how friends (A&B and others) used to pacify my negative thoughts – Be patient! The right thing will come for you at the right time. Or things like – It’s finally good that you didn’t get this company. Or - Your career mayn’t start perfectly but things will improve with time. All true but still crap. Crap because either the advisor is speaking out of logic or knowledge but not out of experience. And even if he is, he isn’t in the trouble at this moment.

By the time sides flipped and it was my turn on advising, I had experience, but unfortunately for my friends and fortunately for me, I still couldn’t advise. I observed that though I had steered through those though times, I was doing fine now (I guess life was generous on me). Now I couldn’t really step into the shoes of the advisees. To cut the long story short, I could assess things objectively, but not subjectively.

On the other side of the argument, I really see a point in advising objectively. The fact that the advisor can’t step into the shoes of the advisee actually helps. Being away from the trouble, the advisor can actually see the situation without involving any emotion/fear/selfishness.

To put it in an example, consider a man in a maze looking for a landmark that is really difficult to find because he can see things which only surround him and not otherwise. Such situations are added by complexity, frustration of being trapped and inability to come out (subjective situation). Getting out of the problem becomes primary whereas getting to the landmark may become secondary. On the other hand, a person looking the maze from above can easily guide him towards the landmark since he can see the landmark and the leading ways. Nevertheless, I would never be in favor of advising when it is not accompanied by an experience.

Another aspect of advice is its simplicity. Sometimes as an advisee, we tend to reject simple advices, because generally we know them. But it is always good to spend a minute on what the advisor is suggesting and without involving oneself (I know it is difficult), see how it applies. And I’ve generally found that it either works or at least gives us a better direction of thinking or going towards the landmark in the maze.

I would like to touch upon ‘the necessity of taking advice’. Most of the times, we are in a fix only when we are bound either by fear or temptation or emotion, all of which generally make us do things at times which we wouldn’t do if those were not there in the first place. If we can consciously observe it and try to get free of it, most of these requirements will automatically finish. And if at all, there still remains something to be advised upon, I believe we should only approach experienced people.

Finally a quote by Roman author Publilius Cyrus: Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.

I hope you’ll take advice only from one who really can give it, and if you take, you’ll also benefit from it.

Rendezvous with Jeroen van der Veer

Jeroen van der Veer is the CEO of Royal Dutch/ Shell.

After coming to The Netherlands, we have been watching bigshots coming and meeting us in welcome or drinks sessions and that gave us (the new recruits) a feel of the importance they are giving to STI (Shell Technology India - for those who don't know about it, STI has been set up recently with a vision of 'Building the Future' [that too very fast as it seems :-P] and will be third major technology centre of the Shell Group after Rijswijk/Amsterdam in The Netherlands and Houston in USA).

But there came this bouncer – invitation for a dinner with Jereon van der Veer (just for information, J is pronounce as Y in Netherlands, so it’s pronounced as Yoron with lesser stress on ‘n’. And for the first time, we got a measure of the real seriousness with which Shell executive board is taking STI. Thinking of it, I realized that there are many people in the STI’s leadership team who had never met him before (and mind you, the experience of these people range between 20-35 years) and here we are, new born kids of the Oil Kingdom and getting an opportunity to meet with the King just in our third week.

And how can I forget the eyes of disbelief from non-STI Shell employees (yes, even bigger that :-O) – Oh, you are so lucky! And yes, the day after the dinner, when this experienced guy was giving some presentation and Jereon’s name came and he just asked, “Jereon, you know him, right? He is our CEO.” And you may understand how land escaped him when he found kids’ luck.

Another bigshot present there was Linda Cook, the CEO of the Gas & Power division, head of Shell Global Solutions and In-charge of Middle East and Asia. Just 26 years (yes, it’s just in the oil industry) and what a peak she is on. The grace in her demeanor and the sincerity in her speaking were worth observing. As they say it, as you go higher up the ladder, the way you manage your relations (other than your abilities) count a lot and this was one clear example.

And what to speak of Jereon? I know it is said that top seats can’t be acquired without the effect of Power and Politics, but I think it these are “additional” to what is really there in you. His body speaks of the confidence of his experience and position. And his voice is something that always talks of depth associated with people of dominance.

Very casually, he came and shook hands with a few of us and suddenly started bombarding questions. Poor us (well many were extremely poor) - we had a long time since we prepared for campus placements and again facing the same age old question – Why Shell? Why oil industry? Well, we had to speak good and articulately and all (On a different note, I don’t find this question fitting in picture at all. I met a guy who is there in Shell for last 33 years – at some good position and when I asked him about how he came in, he told us that at that time, Shell gave house to its employees and he and her wife needed a house badly, so he joined Shell. Funny but realistic!!!).

Anyways, there he came with a bouncer and I felt it was an important one. He talked about loyalty and asked what we thought about it. I just kidded, saying that, “Seeing you, we feel like staying in Shell for life”. But I realized that the question was for set of ladies standing on his right and I really found it so horrible for them not even to reply it with a simple answer (Yes, we believe in it!), leave alone a cracker! I can say he wasn’t very happy.

We had a three-course dinner with him. I had a good chance of sitting and chatting with him but I missed it in all niceties and behavior since I already had occupied seat on a different table.

There are some things worth mentioning. He started with his speech saying it will be a 10-minute speech and he finished in 9 minutes 50 seconds. On dinner table, he talked about his experience in Shell and told how he got a jump of 3 grades within 2 years in Shell (believe me, people take 20 years for this) – really remarkable achievement. He also said that don't be too too nice to your bosses because then only they maintain their humility :-P (well, not all do!). Finally, in his speech, he talked about making a technology centre, which is INDIAN, while retaining the Shell culture. I still don’t understand how a balance can be struck – may be he said it to just make us feel good! And it did feel good :-).

Overall, it was an eventful evening, giving us a lot of inspiration and the burden of expectations Shell has from STI (yes, loads of expectations and we are the pioneer batch!). More on Shell later!

Reservations

Hehe, finally one on reservations too! Sometimes this blog idea sounds pretty fool given that the Supreme Court orders have already diminished the flames by quite a good amount (at least as of last two days). I may also be alien to many subtleties and concepts related to reservation for I don’t read newspapers much, but I think I have something to write which would be new, at least for a few.

Till I attended a course on Urban Sociology in my fourth year, I always thought that the fundamental behind Reservations is the lack of monetary capacity on the part of most people from SC and ST. But the course gave another dimension to the whole problem, which dates many centuries back.

A large part of Indian history has seen people divided into four sects: Brahmin, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Everyone had their golden times; everyone but Shudras (as my papa fondly says, today is the time of Vaishyas – everyone is a businessman and everyone except a few has eyes on money only). Oppressed and denied of education, military, business or any other form of training. Oppressed for centuries.

And this oppression and denial have created a general lack of capabilities in their posterity. No doubt that these people continued with their traditional works and mastered in those skills (say goldsmiths, blacksmiths, cobblers etc.) but society denied them other opportunities. And this has created a difference that will take generations of reservations to overcome.

Reservation according to income level doesn’t make any sense to me now. Rather, a good scholarship system can be introduced for the poor who can make it to good academic institutions. So Reservations is about giving the oppressed an opportunity to equalize with the general people. Or in the Humanities & Social Science jargon, it is about creating a level-playing field.

When India got its independence, Sardar Patel (or was it Dr. Ambedkar, not sure) was the first person to introduce this concept and that too only in Parliament on a trial basis of 10 years. But then these 10 years always extended into another 10 years and the process has established a permanent place for these people in the Parliament. In the meantime, out of the same reasoning or the ‘vote politics’, reservations permeated and made their way into other institutions too. Worse started happening with more and more castes trying to get an SC or ST status. And many a times the status was given to wrong castes and identified too. But then this is India and once given, the government can only wager elections to snatch that status back.

So as far as I understand, Reservations is about giving them a head start, a 10m head start in the 100m race (in fact comparing the cut-offs for general and reserved castes in exams like IIT-JEE/CAT, it is a head start of 30-50m). I’ll take up some prominent issues one by one now and will try to make way to my conclusion:

1. 27% Reservations for OBC: As I already said, it is not possible for the government (or rather they won’t do it) to take back any SC or ST out of the reservation quota. OBCs, no doubt are backwards too so they too should be given an opportunity, but is it fair to give 5 people such a big head start in the race of 10? I doubt it. And even then, the start you give them is something to be decided because even Carl Lewis can’t expect to win a race against me if he were to give me a start of say 70m).

2. Purpose: It would be a cliché, but I’ll cover it nevertheless. An issue that will add good bulk of votes in the coming state elections and the next parliamentary too. And then it’s a situation of stalemate for other parties; they have to accept and sing in tune with Congress (and as my dad says, two bills always pass in the Parliament without any opposition – one is on introducing/increasing Reservation and the other is an increase in salaries of MPs).

3. Meritocracy: Many people argue that Reservations defy merit. True indeed but my dear ones, there were times when our forefathers suppressed them and it’s time they come back equal. Of course, we may logically deny taking burden of their faults, but tell me – if you were born in an OBC family, what would be your point of view. I don’t need to highlight the importance of equality and this is but an attempt to establish the same, though with vile purposes.

4. Reservations till eternity?: I always think that it will take the oppressed many generations to come to the same mental development level that the general caste people enjoy (no offense to the oppressed but I’ve seen the trend in results at IIT Bombay itself). So we have to take some burden of the mistakes of our forefathers, but we can’t expect to be oppressed throughout our lifetime. A man generally sees 3-5 generations in his lifetime and an attempt should be made so as Reservations don’t affect his observations of all these generations. Some policy has to be devised which assures this – may be no reservation for the posterity of parent(s) who already has enjoyed benefits of Reservations. May be something else if someone has better suggestions.

5. Reservations in Promotions too: Now this is height. You’ve been given an opportunity as good as a general caste person and now its high time you prove your mettle and lessen the difference marked by generations we talked above with hard work. Fundamentally too, it is unreasonable to promote a less deserving person over a more deserving one and let him boss around the latter. This is like giving a 50m head start to all 4 members of the team in a 4*100m race. You get the head all the time. Pathetic!

6. Private Organisations: They are the ones who will talk the most about meritocracy if attempts are made to enforce reservations there. And probably they are correct too because though these organizations have some responsibility towards the development and improvement of the society, they can’t afford to loose many millions and billions and many clients (including global) just for this sake.

I’ve talked about logics, profits and numbers. Finally, I would just like to consider the human side of it. Every one of us is selfish – the politicians are looking their vote interest, we are saving our ass and of course OBCs want this once it is announced. But we have to be wise, we have to be considerate. One can always deny reservation but I’ve always felt that ‘walking in other person’s shoes’ is very important. It is important because some people are in ditches and they need someone’s hand to come out. It can be a general’s, SC’s, ST’s or OBC’s but hand it has to be for the ditches are too deep in some cases. What if I or another general person were in those ditches? We would just be praying for some help as they are doing now. At the same time, I can’t pull that person out and allow him throw me into that ditch.

These matters are all subjective and some wise people can help bringing a balance for both sides, and it is possible. Only one thing is required. These people work with a purpose that is good, that is sacred, one that is good for the overall development of the nation and world as a whole. And if they work selflessly, it will just be left for the people to accept and follow rather than create more hurdles in the working of the country.

Media, Controversy and Faith

The Da Vinci Code is on its way towards Indian cinema halls. Consider these:
1. Rajasthan Patrika, a Hindi daily says that the movie is ‘about a secret code hidden in Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous painting - The Monalisa. What can I say? Dude, we know yours is a Hindi newspaper but at least take the pain of reading the novel once before printing information just by viewing the first ad of the film, which obviously was made to arouse curiosity and was not related at all.
2. Aaj Tak, the pioneer among the news channels focuses more on the fact that the book shows Jesus taking wine (and believe me, it highlights this like anything) whereas it was mentioned only once in the novel and that too as a matter-of-fact rather than any claim.

Well, the media has a knack in uprooting controversies whether the roots exist or not. The movie has been received quite critically from Christians all over the world including India. I was watching news on another channel where it was showing some Christians on a hunger strike to ban the movie to be premiered and shown in India. A priest comments, “This book is trying to go against the Church and the God which ¾th of the world’s population follow.”
My dad was sitting there and he just made an interesting remark, “Hehe … ¾th don’t follow”. And though it was spoken with humor, it is a truth indeed. To follow Christ and to be a Christian are altogether different things. I believe that more than ¾th of the elder Christian population drinks. So, do they follow Christ (who Bible proclaims didn’t drink and according to which it is a sin)? I wish to ask how many people who were sitting on that hunger strike have actually read The Da Vinci Code. I am convinced that the number of those who haven’t read it will be more than ¾th.
And even if all that is there, if your faith is strong, what is the need to worry? A weaker faith will fail anyway in time of difficulties (or rather at the time of test). I was really surprised to see even Pope commenting and condemning it directly. And to me, Langdon’s words in the book seem so appropriate to mention here - "It's important to remember that the modern Church's desire to suppress these documents comes from a sincere belief in their established view of Christ. The Vatican is made up of deeply pious men who truly believe these contrary documents could only be false testimony."
In fact I forgot to mention that Aaj Tak also highlighted that Dan Brown has claimed that Jesus was married and that the ‘Royal Bloodline’ still exists. I disagree because the book is an interwoven work of facts and fiction and the ultimate product is only a fiction and not a claim. One has to understand that whereas all documents and rituals mentioned are accurate, all clues left by Jacques Sauniere, all cryptography involved and the final disclosure of Sophie as Merovingian were all but a matter of fiction. I doubt Brown claims that the Holy Grail is there in the Louvre as is indicated in the end.
A little confusion also arises from the fact that Dan Brown gives an accurate description of the documents, rituals etc. (he has mentioned it in the very beginning) and therefore at times, I also got a doubt if it is real or fiction. For example, consider the books that Teabing shows to Sophie for explaining Holy Grail. Now, are they real or fictitious? I take them for real.
And even on the controversy over Jesus’ marriage, I understand that the priests and bishops of Church would practice celibacy but I am not sure if they teach and preach the same. Is marriage an evil for Church and if so, how do they justify creation? Should a married person divorce when he understands Bible from his heart or when he wants to become a priest and serve God? Pardon me for allowing my mind to wander so randomly but I just wish to emphasize that being a married person doesn’t make any difference in your having godly attributes and Krishna is the best example for the same.
The controversies to me are baseless. Does it really matter if any Merovingian is alive on this earth? I mean the son/daughter of a good father turns out bad in this world. Here, we have a span of more than 20 generations. How does it matter even if the Priory of Sion is trying to protect them and why should the Church be bothered about them? You’ve to see where you stand, what you want to believe in and just do it!
I believe that Dan Brown has indeed created a work which shacks your faith but at the same time it is a good thing to understand another perspective. Does it really matter if Jesus Christ was ‘Son of God’ or a mere human being who achieved apotheosis in his lifetime? He had inspired many during his lifetime anyways and His life and actions are still worth emulating.

Disclaimer: The above post is not an effort to disregard Bible, Christianity or its practices. I am just trying to emphasize that one should try to penetrate the surface and get the essence rather than just allowing oneself to get entangled in the spider’s web. When we understand the true inner meaning/essence, we really follow and don’t remain as mere followers.

The Da Vinci Code

I was a little apprehensive about posting this entry, given the fact that I am possibly the last person on the earth (at least among the visitors of this blog) to read this novel. For long, I was trying to get my hands on it and considering its popularity, I finally decided to spend some bucks on it. And the book was worth the money, or rather much more than that!
Angels & Demons (A&D) is another Dan Brown’s that I had read before (a good one) and I found The Da Vinci Code similar to it in terms of the plot, characters and even the sequence. But there was so much more to it that never made me feel that the repetition made it boring.
Actually, the anagrams, cryptography, the whole Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, Sangreal and Holy Grail affairs were far more interesting and deeper than the ambigrams and running around across the Vatican in A&D.
In fact, the only thing where it lagged A&D was the suspense. Here, it was far too obvious, considering the knowledge and power that ‘The Teacher’ wielded and the fact that not another character developed till last few chapters seemed suspicious (except Bezu Fache and the clouds of suspicion created over him in the middle were actually a beauty to see). The ending too was a little disappointing – I mean Holy Grail wasn’t expected to be found but the way speed and excitement were built in the middle was something Brown couldn’t continue till the end (personal opinion).
I would like to shift the focus on the peak part of the novel (the purpose for which I wrote this blog regardless of the apprehension). And that is – the Holy Grail. Personally, I didn’t know much anything about it or related stuff and I doubt if anyone other than Christians (I doubt many of them would know much about it) or Christianity historians and symbologists would know much about it, but in this sense, it was a great eye opener.
The few pages in middle where Langdon and Teabing disclose fundaes about Holy Grail and Mary Magdalene were awesome. The sequences and secrets were quite convoluted but yet well-woven with documents, cryptology and etymology – especially when all were directly or indirectly, but in a simple way, related to the ‘sacred feminine’.
On the issue of Jesus Christ, I, in fact never knew that Bible proclaimed Him as ‘Son of God’ and always considered Him to be a member of the rare group of people who had achieved apotheosis in their lifetime. I don’t deny the possibility of him coming as an Avataar. If the Church deliberately changed the reality, I doubt that there was a good reason to do so because whatsoever was the case, I doubt it changes the basis of following Him. In that sense – “The divinity of Jesus was decided by the Council of Nicaea” as the book mentions invites intrigue, pity and humor. I also loved Napoleon’s quote – “What is history but a fable agreed upon?” and we are literally observing this in the history class books of Rajasthan where a lot of condemnation of Christianity and their practices have been introduced after the BJP Government came into power.
Cryptography & Sacred Feminine, Opus Dei & Corporal Mortification, Priory of Sion & Issac Newton as grandfather, Knights Templar & Sangreal, Merovingian and Holy Grail, Jesus Christ & Mary Magdalene – just too much! I am not much of a reader but I find that the book is a thriller beyond match, especially because it creates the fiction around facts and that too something that hits directly in the head. Hail Brown!

PS: Anyone who knows about some good source for related reading may let me know.

PPS: There is an illustrated version of the book available for around 600 bucks. A little hefty for us poor but a really good one with more than 150 pictures placed at relevant positions. It’s worth buying for those who can manage. I’ll just borrow ;-)

PPPS: I had seen the movie trailers before reading the book and I just thought that the movie will be a great piece as the novel is so popular. Mayank told me at that time that it is not necessary but I didn’t get it. Now, even I doubt that it would be easy to fill up this much information in a 2-3 hr movie. But the cinematography looks great prima facie, after all the locations too are mostly real. I’m going to watch it anyway!

The Pyramids are beautiful, aren't they?

This thought struck me an hour or so after my final presentation May 2. When I started thinking over it, I realized how this applies so beautifully in our context too.

Even after studying Chemical Engineering for the last four years, I daresay I'm fully confident even in a single topic and I am very sure that many of my batch mates would agree with me on this (I hope ;-) ). Mostly, it is about mugging before the exams and really not about learning. To reinforce my claim, most of us are out with a non-technical job.

For an average and sincere student, I think no one enjoys the engineering student life more than an IITian and when I say it, I literally mean it. I have seen people from other engineering colleges fighting real hard with labs, assignments and projects whereas most of us in IIT peacefully manage all these and yet again when I say "manage", most of the times, it is through faulty and dubious means.

I really feel that the real fight is in clearing the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) and once we are done with it, not much is left to do. I mean it depends on what your aspirations are but the fact remains that you can get away without doing much. The placement results are too evidence to the above claim.

Having said all this, the life still remains busy for those who involve themselves into other activities, whether with a sense of aspiration or ambition. There is a lot of running around and time-management involved in all these activities. Albeit I haven't been a major success on the academic or non-academic front, I sure have done a lot of running around. And I really feel it helps. Because considering the academic scenario of IITB that I've presented above, I question myself if I have learnt anything in the past four years?

The answer is yes because o/w this post wouldn't have come. And to mention the two most important of them, they are 'common sense' and 'how to deal with people'. Not that I didn't had common sense when I came here and that I just 'deal' with people now. The 'common sense' here is used in a broader and holistic sense and it has surely developed over the last four years. When it comes to 'dealing with people', it is essentially about coordinating and developing this ability to work with them rather than the usual meaning of 'taking work out of them'.

Developing these two take time and more so experience and that's why I said that one needs to involve himself/herself into many things which give opportunities to experience. And as I said, a lot of running around is required. There was a very common observation across most of the final year students in the last few days – all of us were just feeling like running away from this place. I see it as the result of tiredness of all this running around and now that there was a window to escape, we were all going restless.

Like Santiago of 'The Alchemist', I felt like asking the old sorcerer about all these efforts and that were they really required. But I knew that the answer I ought to get was the same that Santiago got - "If I had told you, you wouldn't have seen the Pyramids. They're beautiful, aren't they?" The efforts and patience anticipated for these small but highly important learning is a lot and only when they are spent, we get to see Pyramids at times too. And the Pyramids are really beautiful too :-).

Have I stopped blogging?

Not really! I know that it is more than a month that I posted but these were the final days at IITB – full of treats and lukkha interspersed with things like exams, CD writing, late night chats etc. The life literally had become so frivolous that you couldn’t expect good ideas or happenings to originate (especially purposeful). Actually a few ideas struck, but then I was too lazy and "busy" to ponder and write on them.
Thankfully, I have written down some of the titles which I can expand upon even now and I’ll try to do so. It also came to my mind that I can post some fillers (some things which aren’t my original but are worth sharing and expanding upon in the blog) but again the laziness factor crept into the picture.
I hope that after writing all this, I’d be able to continue with the blogging at least for the coming two months when I am free and I am home.

Farewell Begins: H13

Well, it started with H8, but I'll be reporting a few special cases, the profiles of which were at my mercy (of course as a part of the profile writing group) and a few which just stand out.

All hostels in IIT Bombay have a tradition of celebrating its Valedictory Function (Valfi) for the passing out junta just before the final endsems. We have 10 UG hostels and therefore we'll be having 10 Valfis as such. At Valfi, we have hostel award ceremony, dinner and finally the profile reading. The profiles are prepared by wingmates, batchmates and close friends and all profiles have one thing in common - the whole profile but the final paragraph is pure bantering & slandering and only the final paragraph contains the goodie part about the guy. The profile reading is followed by a Q/A session and finally comes when the victim is allowed to speak his heart, popularly known as senti.

In H13, there were 5 stages set for a total of 110 'Batch of 2002' students. On each stage, it displayed photos (exquisite ones) of students whose profile would be read at that particular stage - I guess it was an innovative idea and it looked great.

Bajjy: On bottom of second column from left

I'll be covering Bajju and Jinx and this one is specially for our HLRC friends.

Bajju:

Bajju was my first friend at IIT. Our friendship grew stronger in the 2nd semester due to common thinking and common objects of criticism. I still remember the day when we returned on the first day of the third semester and we hugged like we were great childhood friends meeting after years. Over the years, our thoughts have parted ways and as he himself quoted in the senti part but then friendship seldom demands commonality in thoughts; all it asks for is acceptance and support of your friend.
Bajju's profile was mainly centered around his despogiri, chillergiri, kaminapan and his latest successes on the girl front. We were quite impressed by his openness and verity during the Q/A session where he talked openly on sex, his thinking, Bihari instincts, freebees, his girls, investment theory and its origin, the source of Bharpur and what not.

Bajjy: Standing tall!

The best part of Bajju's profile was his senti. For one, quite unlike the people who spoke before him (these four years have given me a lot, best part of my life and blah blah), he didn't sound cliched at all. He was speaking from heart and finally through eyes too. Yeah, even I couldn't believe he would do so and on top of it, he dragged Kundan too in the wet zone. He ended beautifully with Mehdi Hasan's lines:
Agar tu ittefaqan mil bhi jaye, Teri Furqat ke sadme kam na honge
(Furqat means separation; so it means that 'Even if we happen to meet again incidentally, the scars of our first separation will never heal')

Love you Bajjy!

Jinx:

This was another profile I thought I can't afford to miss. Jinx is one of the few persons in IIT who have been able to greatly impress me - his diligence, determination and strength of character all awe me. The only stain in his personality, I would say, is his above average ego, but then he expects the world to be at a much higher level compared to where it is (mainly in intellectual terms).

Jinx: The non-stop laughter!

His profile reading was simple and really lacked the masala which we had in Bajju's profile, but boss, the way he talked in the Q/A session was just too much to expect from a person like Ajinkya. Some glimpses:
1. When he came into IIT, he thought that the minimum criterion for any girl to become his girlfriend would be to be able to solve Physics problems at par with him. He found such girl in Shweta. And the best part was that he got a CC in the 1st Physics course, where Shweta I am sure would have got an AB or an AA.
2. The 2nd crush was PJ and well, after long discussions with PC about her availability and the feasibility analysis for taking any step further, it too resulted negative.
3. He and Pursha had designed a virtual feedback loop for Sneha (a painfully intelligent and diligent DASA). He had said once that he will marry Sneha, take her to Himalayas on honeymoon and will ditch her at the highest point and will come back for the good of all humanity.
4. Levels of give-up display of knowledge and brain usage by Abhinav Khare, one of the top rankers in the department.
5. The way he told Shweta (his present girlfriend) that 'Da Vinci Code' isn't available at IIT, so that he could meet her twice, first while taking and the second while returning back; his daydreams of walking from IIT to Sion and then propose her or to run after the bus she boards in and publicly propose her.
Phew! Those who were there couldn't stop laughing and this guy was speaking w/o even any further instigation. And the way he framed every case so vividly made his profile real special.

Hats off to you Jinx! Hope you get some good news soon!

Just another photo: Taken just before we departed!

Missing Daga

Deja Vu!

The last PAF of this year, undoubtedly the best PAF of the year and probably the best in IITB PAF History. The title was Deja Vu and it was probably the first PAF in the history with central theme as IIT. If I were to try and draw a good analogy, Deja Vu was to IIT as Rang De Basanti was to India. Those who have seen it would know what bullshit this blog is in front of the actual PAF. But this blog is to share the PAF with many people who visit my blog but are not a part of the present IITB fraternity.
The list includes a few who lament for not being in IIT, a few who have already passed out from this institute, some fools who missed it for something that in any case would be petty before it, some who just dabble through this litter of mine and my many friends from other IITs. A word of caution: It's going to be long but I'll try my best to make it as interesting & picturesque as possible.

Just to introduce about PAF to the ignorant souls, PAF stands for Performance Arts Festival. These are dramatic shows of huge scale and budget (not very sure but somewhere around 50k) with each PAF organised by 2-4 hostels. PAFs are seen as one of the biggest events at IITB and the hostels which lift the PAF trophy don't leave any opportunity to show their pride and abuse to the losers.
Deja Vu starts with a regular scene of how parents urge their children (in this case, a guy named Sonu) for taking JEE (IITs being one of the most promising institutes in terms of getting a good job and adding to their own reputation). Sonu works hard and faces a lot many expectations from his family, peers, girls and the old. The result finally comes negative and he finds that his parents have given up on him; he also faces insult from others. He just couldn't take it anymore and he commits suicide. The prod work is amazing with OAT (Open Air Theatre) in the centre and the IITB main road in the background.

IIT Main Road and OAT (green coloured structure) in background

The whole scene was carried out by an odd 12-15 people on a continuous and rotational basis; they served both as different characters in different scenes and as the objects of use as and when they come. Only 2 characters (Sonu and his father) were kept constant and the rest exchanged positions as friends, relatives, computer keyboard, gate, seat, questions of JEE paper and what not! The swift rotation of positions and designations was just mind-blowing and was the first hint of a great PAF in its unfolding.

First scene team

Sonu checking his result on internet

Sonu committing suicide

The second sequence is about a guy named Dumdum talking to his own self (heart/soul) about his failure at IIT (3 backlogs, lying to family, lost purpose etc.). Dumdum and Sonu are from the same town/city and it was Dumdum's father who bashes Sonu's father in the first scene when Sonu fails to clear JEE. He is one regular proud father of an IITian and as is in most of the cases, a regular mis-conceived father as well. Dumdum sees many issues with the students, their dreams & goals and thinks of making a PAF on these which his self flatly denies.

Dumdum (right) with his self

This guy is called by his BTP guide and the later sincerely tries to uncover the problems and also offers help to Dumdum for passing his course and BTP. There is a short appearance of a Cracku whom Dumdum hates/is jealous of. The scene shows so simple but so-true thoughts going on in Dumdum's mind when he talks to the Prof and when he sees Cracku. The scene was like a mirror - reflecting the self of almost everyone sitting in the audiences to some or other extent.

Dumdum with BTP Guide

A number of symbolic gyrations were fused into the middle of the PAF showing the guy unable to realize his purpose of existence - credit given to people and society who are but an obstruction in understanding the purpose of his existence and realizing it.

Attempts and failure in reaching the goal

In another scene, character sketches of 2 of his friends are drawn. One of them is a mediocre guy (who claims to share the dream of making big drams one day) whereas the other (Laddoo) is below-average guy (worried on the girlfriend front). The two dramatic dreamers (Dumdum and mediocre guy) have also submitted one of their works to Prithvi Theatre and are waiting for result.

Dumdum with Laddoo (left) and mediocre guy (middle)

The PAF here takes a turn with showing the making of a PAF within the PAF by 4 hostels combined - 1,4,9 & 11 (11 being the girl's hostel). Things like despogiri of an IITian male (and gleams of hope from a PAF with girl's hostel involved) and typical subjects of PAFs (freedom, riots, kingdoms or other contemporary issues) were sarcastically dealt with. And here begins the mockery of the previous PAFs of this year and of the yesteryears as well (they didn't even leave Kasturi - H4's last year's PAF which was universally criticized). Then begins the visualization and script writing of the PAF team – it is about a kingdom with all types of shady people from the king to the aam aadmi.

Conceiving PAF within the PAF

For some minutes, I couldn't understand the relevance of these scenes but later I realized it when our protagonist (Dumdum) turns up and urges these people to consider his script of a solitary & depressed IITian. This idea is unanimously rejected on the basis that who would come and see a PAF about a solitary IITian; it lacks the most important thing - masala.

At this point, I would like to mention Anshul Singhal's (I think the main person behind this PAF) studgiri. While the PAF team was visualizing the scenes of kingdom, they realize that an IITB PAF has to have choreo (dance) sequences and then they visualize having a salsa (sarcastically opposite to the kingdom PAF). A person there actually misses a step and also confuses the nearby couple and requests the sound box to replay the music. Now, I understand that a lot of effort is put into these things but asking for a replay in front of a crowd of 1000s can be nothing short of foolishness. And from nowhere, Singhal jumps into the sound box and shouts impromptu in the mike, "Band karo. Yaar, yeh choreo waale to hameshaa aise bhi puch hi maarte hain. Nikal jaao yahaan se (Stop it. The dance people always fail in performing up to the mark. Get out)." And the choreo junta walked out without it becoming a real puch. In one word, it was God-giri.

The salsa puch that was beautifully avoided

Anyways, our dejected Dumdum comes to his room just to find another source of dejection waiting for him - an XX grade, which means that he'll need to repeat the course next year. The mediocre friend who got a good job on the same day comes. He apologises for not being able to continue dreaming with him any further on the dramatics front (he is like the bakery shop guy of The Alchemist who thinks that he'll go after his dream after he has achieved and accumulated enough for a secured future). Our guy calls Prithivi Theatre to find the last ray of hope lost in the dark - a reject for their work.

Medicore guy gets a job

He pukes his anger and frustration on a freshman who isn't working for PAF as has a quiz the next day. The freshman complains the Authorities resulting in DAC (Disciplinary Action Committee) sitting on Dumdum (on a funny note, DAC is/was called as DISCO in IITD as I learnt from Five Point Someone). The DAC committees are notorious for their ways of handling such cases - the guy sitting in bulb light focus whereas the committee members in the dark (typical police station style) putting pressure on the offender from all sides by non-stop abuse. In the end, Dumdum gets an year of sit-back-at-home punishment, thus delaying his degree by one more year (a year delay already attributed to his 4 backlogs). This acts as the last straw in the camel's back and in all this depression, he decides to commit suicide.

Attempting a suicide

In an amazing turn of events, just as he was about to cut off his nerve on the right hand, his mediocre friend comes in his room and reports that Laddoo has committed suicide by jumping off from the Hostel's roof. In all these convolutions of thoughts and desperation, he continues with the suicide attempt but eventually fails. On the other hand, Laddoo succeeds (or in other words, fails his life).

Mediocre guy informs about Laddoo

Dumdum continuing with the attempt (symbolic)

The next scene is a sharp mockery on the Press who takes up an issue and use it for their own good. It also displays different attitude of people towards such a grave incident - a guy is running for getting some notes xeroxed and doesn't have time to respond, another doesn't want Press to make a story out of it, the third one doesn't know how people can get so depressed and the fourth one tries to give his expert comments as we see in the Fourth Umpire.

IIT Main Gate, Coffee Shack and the Reporter

The scene also showed some amazing Prod-shifting and revealed some mind-boggling Prod work as well. The main road of IIT is smoothly removed from both sides like curtains of a play and lo! We saw a live Coffee Shack (the most active place at IITB) - it was as if they had just removed the complete structure from the actual Coffee Shack site and put it up there at OAT for the PAF Performance.

In the next scene, our failed guy meets a psychiatrist (our Student Councilor) who tries to pacify and assure him of himself through various psychiatric techniques. But Dumdum doesn't feel what she says from within. And then enters our Cracku. Our guy is all :-O to find Cracku too coming for the psychiatrist's help who tells Dumdum that Cracku suffers from some Narcissistic Disorder. And our guy is suddenly all happy - Wow! Even Cracku has problems and even he is lost.

Dumdum with the psychiatrist

On his way back, he just thinks how amazing it would be if everyone has the red glasses similar to Mr. India's through which they can see the painful inner self of every person well-hidden into their happy exterior. The red lights are turned on and he sees pain in everyone's life; he realizes that this happiness and satisfied looks are mostly for the exterior demeanor.

Dumdum looking at "happy" people

Inner pain visible in the Red Light

In the final scene, the red lights are still kept on (meaning that the 'seeing-inside' work is still on). A lawyer puts Dumdum, his mediocre friend and his BTP guide on the vertices of a triangle and throws a number of questions before them, seeking insight into the matter. The crowd (including the real PAF judges) is both the judge and the observer of this trial. At every important point, the lawyer says to the crowd, "Point note kiya jaaye", which is received greatly by the chorus as, "Point noted". A very important point among these was giving more time to one's friends/classmates/wingmates - we crib that there is no time and there is heavy academic pressure but we always find time to see movies, play computer games etc.; there is no disagreement in the fact that these comes lower in priority than your friend's life. So both faculty and the student community should give more time to the student and that is the only way these sad incidents can be avoided.

Lawyer, Prof (left), Dumdum (back) and Mediocre Guy (right)

Just when I think how gripping the whole PAF was, I realize that it exceeded at least 15 minutes from the given time limit and not even a single guy made any disturbance - we were all stuck to our seats just waiting to see what happens next. The PAF team got a standing applause and rounds of hugs from friends and appreciators. And I can understand why it made such a deep impact - there was something for everyone, some character for everyone.

Appreciation and felicitation

The two places where I think improvements could have been made were lights (mainly the moon - I found the light people fighting hard to focus the moon and move it as characters moved; rest lighting was good) and voice overs (again perfection is difficult when you have too many characters). The one perfect in all senses was Shantimrigyam - our first year hostel PAF, but then the script was masala kingdom once again.

All said and done, it still stands as the best PAF I have seen in IITB. A formal thanks to Hostels 1, 4, 9 and 11 for giving us such a performance before we pass out of this institute - there could be no better ending to these big dramatic projects and performances as far as we are concerned.