independence day?

this post is long overdue...a lot of thoughts came into my mind as i watched while india celebrated her 58th independence day...there was a special irony in the celebrations in my own institute...the cadets of ncc from the 1st and 2nd years were there for a parade, students who had to take nss becuase its a part of their course requirements were there, senior professors were there because the director was there, lots of schoolchildren were there along with their teachers to perform skits, dances and the like...apart from tht- me and my girlfrend coz we had some time to while away and nothing better to do, a local crowd who don't get to come inside the institute on normal days, the vp of the students' body and...nobody else! what does this tell us? i'll tell you what...the ncc and nss people were there for better grades in courses they had to pass for their degrees...the profs were there because they had to put in a good impression with the director...the director was there because he had to be there as the head of an "institute of national importance"...the schoolchildren were there because their teachers told them so...the teachers were there beacuse it is a time honored tradition and a prestigious thing to perform in the IIT...
this brings me to an important question...what was being celebrated there? independence? liberty? freedom?...who came there of his or her own free will to celebrate our independence?...are we really free?

tagged...?

first things first...to handa:saw this on ur blog...thot i'll try it out...so here goes...

Three names I go by: bhaatu, anantzing, ganju (thnx to my propensity to shave off my head at the drop of a hat, pun intended)
Three screen names: infinity, infinityants, freedom2b (lifted str8 frm the pepsi ads)
Three things I like about myself: 3 is a small number, can't be listed ;)
Three things I don't like about myself: 3 is a small number, can't be listed :D
Three things that scare me: too much light, angry profs(i have a lot of those), myself
Three essentials: sutta, daru and chicken
Three things I like in the opposite sex: just three????????
Three things I want to do badly now: smoke, booze and eat...:D
Three careers I am considering right now: Technocrat(sounds impressive, but really boring), Actor, Writer
Three places I want to go on vacation: Paris(not Hilton), Rome, southern France
Three kid's names : cheeku...bunty aur babli...:)
Three things to do before dying: watch Metallica live, write a novel, win Nobel peace prize...(hazaaron khwahishein aisi ki har khwahish pe dam nikle...)

catcher in the rye...

as another session starts i have a foreboding that this is the beginning of the end...most of my batchmates will graduate at the end of this year while i, fortunately or unfortunately, will stay back for one more year...the fact that soon it will be time for me to graduate and go on to doing a run-of-the-mill boring job really frustates me...on the other hand i might get into a b-school and defer it for 2 more years, but i'll still be sitting behind a desk doing a boring job(maybe with a bigger salary and bigger headaches but it's still boring) 4 years hence...economic constraints will most definitely stop me from doing what i really want to do...i am nearing the precipice at the end of the rye field, and there is no one to catch me...

movie mania 8

kingdom of heaven- this is one hell of a movie to watch!a nice reinterpretation of history which shows the muslim conqueror of jerusalem in a new light...hitherto, salahuddin, more commonly known in the west as saladin had been painted as a villain in history, even to the extent of calling him the antichrist, but this movie shows him as a kind, tolerant and intelligent ruler and general...also has some pretty nice views on god and holiness...must watch...
bunty aur bubli- new concept for indian cinema...should do well on that basis and for the fact that it pits together the amazing father and son duo of amitabh and abhishake bachchan...the movie is entertaining and good timepass...the song kajrare is a fun song with aish makin a special appearance and big and small b dancing away to glory together...
naina- nicely made movie...but somehow it fails to scare you despite the visuals and sounds...maybe there is too less of thrills in the movie and perhaps the ending is too hackneyed...
thats all for now...more later...

religion of the civilised world...

"When we hear the ancient bells growling on a Sunday morning we ask ourselves: Is it really possible! This, for a jew, crucified two thousand years ago, who said he was God's son? The proof of such a claim is lacking. Certainly the Christian religion is an antiquity projected into our times from remote prehistory; and the fact that the claim is believed - whereas one is otherwise so strict in examining pretensions - is perhaps the most ancient piece of this heritage. A god who begets children with a mortal woman; a sage who bids men work no more, have no more courts, but look for the signs of the impending end of the world; a justice that accepts the innocent as a vicarious sacrifice; someone who orders his disciples to drink his blood; prayers for miraculous interventions; sins perpetrated against a god, atoned for by a god; fear of a beyond to which death is the portal; the form of the cross as a symbol in a time that no longer knows the function and ignominy of the cross -- how ghoulishly all this touches us, as if from the tomb of a primeval past! Can one believe that such things are still believed?"

Nietzsche, 'Human,All too Human'