Friday, May 29, 2009

Bhojpuri Comfortably Numb

Photu used with permission. And the protagonist was really numb at that time. I hope he won't mind it.


*This is a photo of my friend, not me;
From one of the Stanza of English version:

When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain you would not understand
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.

And now, the rough Bhojpuri translation in English script:

Jab hum tha ek bachwa, tab humko hua bukhar
hamaar haath gaye phool, jaise ki du bailoon.
ab humko hua e ehsaas ek baar aur, (par karo gaur)
hum samjha nahi sakte, aap nahi na samjhiyega
hum waise nahi hain jaise abhi hain.
ab ban gaye hain hum, aaramtalbi aur sunn.

Poem is on my state at the college days where I have become epitome of lethargy and anti-bathist. Only watching movies , bunking classes and playing AOE. I am trying to get again that feeling in the corporate world but all attempts are vain till now. This translation is dedicated to all Indian Floydians from my side. Original Material yahan se uthaya aur sanshodhit kiya hai.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Vichaar Shoonya -3

Nothing personal and original from my side. Weblinks of adapted material will be given in few days. Enjoy this compiled series.

1-Beauty is a mood of your mind that is experienced if you care to notice. Appreciate the difference because beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Are you a beautiful mind? Do you seek beauty?

2-India, democracy has not allowed the rule of the majority. issue after issue, state after state is that powerful minorities landed interests have been able to capture the political system and extract government benefits for themselves. Most people, I suspect, just want to get on with life, raising their families, doing their work, enjoying some good times between the cradle and the grave.

3- Guru, is one of the most important works of Indian cinema to emerge post economic liberalization that gives Indian entrepreneurs their due representation. In a resounding voice it proclaims a paradigm shift in the middle class morality that has made being money-minded and profit-oriented acceptable today. A well deserved farewell to left-leaning portrayal of industry and capitalism. A salute to the proletarian capitalist.

4.In Indian films the alienation of the rural poor from the urban way of life has become cliched. What we require is some kind of synthesis of the two with our past and heritage. They are, I feel working with a totally Western idiom (cinema). Using the same techniques and the same chemistry, can we evolve a new form, a new sensibility? Dance song is part of our folk culture. We blame that our society is not conductive to promote creative films. People and society were just as bad in other times also. The genuine creative people make a way around to make their point and entertain the society as well. Either in cinema or any other field, the great ones always face a hostile social order. Still they don't get in general populace and make safe and ordinary creation.

5-Let me become little autobiographic. I want to reach such stage where remains no hard feelings for anyone .Wanna be writer as Karl Marx. Marx early formative years through school were full of influence by Immanuel Kant and Voltaire. They were some of his favorite authors; a characteristic blend of German profundity and French subversive wit. No nation has produced better essayists than France, none has produced better composers than the Germans, better painters than the Italians, nor better novelists than the Russians. And the English? The English do poetry.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Earlier days of Benaras Engineering College, Banaras Hindu University

Earlier days of Benaras Engineering College, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

(Photographs-courtesy of Mahamana Malaviya Foundation Newsletter)

The Engineering College BHU started in one single shed in January, 1919. Its Power House was built, and a 20 KW Set (200 Volt DC) was installed in1921, which was augmented by a 100 KW Set in 1923. The Boiler House was erected in 1922.

Engineering College Drawing Class. The First Principal Prof. C.A. King Instructing a Student (on second table of right hand row)

The first Workshop (Carpentry Section) of the Engineering College started with Artisan-Carpentry Course in Feb. 1919

Source : ITBHU Chronicle April 2009.

Salaam IPL or Salwa Judum

Two News affected me in this 24 hour.Just want to capture the big news in summary and small news in descriptive way. Feel free to read and choose importance of them.

Deccan snatch title in tense finish.
My views: The fortunes have reversed. Desi team and videsi captain strategy works for winning this year also. Previous year 2nd last team is runner up and 1st season's last team gets championship of IPL season 2. Akon with Katrina instead of Gilly and jumbo after the match disappoint me. But the most discussed name among all of us was of fake IPL player blog. He has showed the power of blog and anonymity to the media giants in gossip/news coverage. For fun, surely KKR will be hoping to win tournament next year after this turnaround of DC. For more usual stuff, follow the grand story coverage on cricinfo.

OR

Supreme Court grants bail to Binayak Sen:
It took just 30 seconds. And five words: “Bail is granted on personal bond.” But these numbers pale when confronted with another, 24 — the number of months for which Binayak Sen was in jail, before the Supreme Court granted him bail on Monday. The initial charges against Sen were weak and prime witnesses turned hostile during the trial. Yet Binayak Sen remained in jail for over two years. Even convicted criminals got bail faster. Curious about Dr Binayek Sen, know about his identity on wikipedia only.
From the rediff reporting 3 paragraphs:

"The Binayak Sen case is primarily about the rotten state of affairs in the rural hinterland. It's about higher poverty levels; shortage of food and lack of nutritional planning for the chronically undernourished; it's about missing healthcare; lack of protection for the vulnerable; it's about rampant exploitation of the forest dweller and tribal peoples. The districts where Maoists or Naxalites [Images] are active, and it's true of not just Chhattisgarh, as we all know have the worst social infrastructure, and thus offer the best breeding ground for extremism and violent conflict.

The case is also about one vision of development colliding with another that is backed by the might of the state. Bastar and adjoining districts of Chhattisgarh are home to the highest concentration of mineral rich deposits in the country and is one of the reasons why these areas have become high-intensity conflict zones. Is resistance to land acquisition by industrialists a major contributory factor to the violence in the state? Few are aware of the extent of the problem in Chhattisgarh. Thousands of tribal people have been uprooted from their forest habitations -- close to 650 villages in the forest areas are reported to have been cleared in an operation reminiscent of the ways wars were fought in Southeast Asia -- and have been housed for the past five years in refugee camps that are run by trigger-happy and lawless elements who are supposed to be fighting the Maoists.

If this is how democratic states function surely we need a reform of India's democracy? But these and related issues are seldom raised in the general clamour for reforms that have picked up in crescendo post the election verdict. One and all, media pundits who have been setting the reform agenda for the new government are screaming for reforms that are focused exclusively -- and predictably -- on financial sector liberalisation."

Still want to know about hidden reality of Salwa Judum movement, for the seekers of truth: The Inconvenient Truth -- the real face of Corporate governance.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Calvin & Hobbes Super-Stupendous Guide to Design

Even if the only thing you’ve ever designed is a mashed potato volcano with gravy lava, you’re a designer. We all design in some way or other. The best of us get paychecks for their designs. The worst of us have to appreciate our elegant disasters for free. The best designs reach out and pull us in with their creativity, wit, and ingenuity. From the cardboard box of Calvin & Hobbes’ wisdom, five ways to better your designs:

1. Learn to see things differently:

One of Calvin’s most powerful traits is his childlike ability to see things differently than the grown-ups around him. Where they see mundane reality, Calvin sees the fantastic, the monstrous, and occasionally, the downright weird.

Like Calvin, designers must also learn to see things differently. Where others see text, designers see a typographical baseline. Where others see a photo, designers see the golden ratio. In everything, we should learn to see the underlying beauty that holds it all together.

2. Take time to educate yourself:

While anyone can learn to see things differently, designers can’t just depend on their vision to get by. They also need to be able to explain that vision to others. And for that you need the proper background and vocabulary.

That doesn’t necessarily mean going to an art school and majoring in design. There are some fabulous resources available to those who are willing to take a little time to teach themselves.

3. Originality isn’t everything:

In the world of art and design, originality is highly prized, but sometimes the emphasis is a bit too strong. The point of design isn’t to be original, but to speak a message effectively.

If a highly original design does it, so much the better. But sometimes the traditional is all you need.

4. Pay attention to the details:

One crucial part of learning to see differently is the importance of details. A great designer has the ability to recognize when changing things “just so” will take a design from good to brilliant.

5. Keep exploring:

In the end, a designer always needs to keep exploring, to learn new things, to learn new ways of seeing, or to relearn old ways. Exploring is what keeps things feeling new, regardless of how many times you’ve layed out a page or designed a logo. What are you waiting for? Go explore something!

#All images excerpted from It’s a Magical World by Bill Watterson.

Source:Even if creativity is all about hiding your resources, I am giving you source of the adapted post: The Calvin & Hobbes Super-Stupendous Guide to Design By Joshua. I like this article because of its originality and a keen emphasis on explaining the design as child's play. From now on, Bill Watterson (the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes ) is god to me and Calvin & Hobbes as will form holy trinity with him. Thanks to Nimmy for providing link to such a simple and beautiful article.I have also experimented with blog and make it colourful.