My First Train Ride Alone

On 25^th July, 2013 I boarded a train alone for the first time, at the ripe old age of twenty-four! I was going home from XIMB, to spend the weekend after the mid-semester examinations. Yes, my stay at XIMB is the first time I am away from home, ever! All my life, my schooling, my engineering under-graduation, my job, everything was based in my home city, Kolkata. On 9^th June 2013, I boarded a train, not alone, to come to XIMB, which is my home now and will be for the better part of the next two years. Needless to say, this is the longest I've ever stayed away from home. So when the time came to go home after six weeks here, it was new experience for me. I told myself, “How hard can it be?”, and plunged into it without hesitation.

On reaching the station, I realized just how uninformed I was about travelling in trains. I did not know previously that train coach numbers came up on electronic boards on the platform. I had asked at least five different people how I would know where the compartment was where I had to get on. The waiting time was just five minutes in Bhubaneswar, so I was worried about missing the train (your regular ‘Jab We Met’ moment).

After getting on the train itself, there was another surprise waiting for me. The train was the Puri-Howrah express. So, it had already travelled one and half hours before it reached Bhubaneswar. The time when I boarded the train was just before twelve o’clock. What greeted me in the compartment was darkness! Everyone had already made their beds and fallen asleep! I don’t think I have to point out that life is in full flow at any B-School at Midnight. So, in six weeks here at XIMB, I had gotten used to that lifestyle as well. Unfortunately, I had no option but to tie up my suitcase, make my bed and pretend to fall asleep. Sometime later, a serious looking Ticket Checker turned on an overhead light and asked for my ticket. On being satisfied by what I produced, he left, leaving me, again, alone in the darkness. I knew there was no way I would fall asleep that early. So I decided to spend some time playing Blobby Volleyball on my cell phone. Eventually, the phone started making noises indicating low battery, so I had to give on that avenue as well. I resorted to looking out the window. It was raining.  I could make out that there was a strong wind blowing from the way the trees were moving. I saw some headlights but couldn’t make out if they were from a car or a tractor. Eventually, I grew tired of looking out into the darkness and decided to call it a night. The time was almost 2 a.m.

When I woke up the next morning, I had almost reached Kolkata. The weekend which followed was refreshing.  I caught a train the night of 28^th July for Bhubaneswar, my second train journey alone…

We Shall Overcome - He Did

What do you do when you have to face the pains of your past on your path to redemption? In Milkha Singh's life, the only option was to tackle it head-on and come out a stronger man.
Leading the race at the Rome Olympics, 1960, Milkha Singh made the mistake of turning back to look at his competitors. With that went his chances of winning, as he was overtaken by Otis Davis, Carl Kaufmann and Malcolm Spence. The headlines the in the newspaper the following day went something like 'Milkha Singh - The Great Indian Tragedy...' and many others. Ironically, the first four finishers all broke the World Record in that race. The movie revolves around the reasons surrounding his unexpected hesitation at the end of the race on that fateful day.
The first half of the movie is a tad slow, showcasing everything from Singh's childhood, to him as a young adult to his days in the army. Everything is inter-woven into a mesh, jumping from one part of the flashback to the next, explaining and connecting various stages of his life with each other. The camera-work and often wacky frames are a delight. The use of slow-motion, while very apt and effective for the races, becomes a bit repetitive when used for nearly all aspects of his life. His fledgling love affair with Sonam Kapoor's character, her initial distaste and eventual reciprocation are shown with just the right amount of comedy and playfulness. Unfortunately, Sonam Kapoor once again comes up short in what can be called a glorified cameo. While she looks gorgeous, smiling and blushing at the right moments, her acting and dialogue delivery remains iffy. The music for the movie is peppy and keeps the spirit up through much of it. A cameo by Loy as a singer in a night-club brings smiles.
The movie picks up steam at the end of the first-half with Milkha Singh being selected for the national team after a near-impossible fight against adversity. The scene where he returns home after selection, and the interaction with his sister, played by Divya Dutta, is one which will pull at the heart-strings. It is a shame that Divya Dutta gets cast in such bit-part roles when she is quite capable of pulling off much better roles. Infact, there are many accomplished performances in supporting roles, notably of Pawan Malhotra as Milkha's coach in the Army and Yograj Singh as his coach in the National team. A special mention for the young actor who plays Milkha as a child needs to be made here. Another touching scene is his return to his Army division after winning numerous races : he puts his medals around Pawan Malhotra's character's neck, as a gesture of thanks. Needless to say, he is the toast of the town at this point.
After this comes the disappointment of Rome. Eventually, Milkha gets his chance at redemption at the Friendship Games in Pakistan just following the 1960 Olympics. There, he finally puts his demons of the Partition in his past once and for all. Adding to that, he earns his famous nickname 'The Flying Sikh', from a comment made by General Ayub Khan, the leader of Pakistan at that time. The quote at the end of the movie is worth remembering for everyone. I will not spoil it here. Go see it for yourselves.
If there is just one reason you'd need to watch this movie, it's Farhan Akhtar all the way. The effort he put into building himself up for the role is evident. At no point in the movie would you feel that he does not belong on the track. From the peppy tracks to the emotional turmoil of a much travelled athlete, Farhan pulls off one of his best performances.
A movie definitely worth watching. Go catch it with friends :-)

My rating : 8/10

The CAT, the Bell and the X

It all started almost exactly a year ago, when I started preparing for MBA entrance exams. Initially, there was no intention of joining a B-school in 2013. "My target is to join one in 2014", I used to say to people, "This year is just for practice". As the days progressed, with a lot of encouragement from a certain special someone, I started making good progress, and somewhere along the journey, I said to myself, "What the heck, I should just give it my best shot". On the day of the exam, I was astonishingly calm, composed and too early to the exam center(:-P). That shows some nerves, doesn't it? The exam went surprisingly well, but I didn't get my hopes up so early. I mean come on, studying just 4 months for CAT and cracking, you have got to be kidding me. Well the day of the results came, and I was as surprised as the rest of my family, 94.48, not too bad. Still, I kept my excitement to a bare minimum. Then the call for IIM Shillong came in, and I said to myself, "Hang on, this could really work out." The call from X came in as well, with me just clearing all cut-offs marginally(phew!). The GD and interviews went like a blur. I came out satisfied, but still not convinced. Finally, on the day of the results, there came great Hope, 'Wait-listed for PGDM, ND-76'. 'Pagalguy' had told me this should easily clear. And it did, eventually. The final call came on Friday, 24th May. I resigned the following Monday after much negotiations with my manager. Packed and caught a train on 9th June. Reached here on 10th morning.

My Hostel at X

So here I was, my first time away from home. My first would-be experience in a hostel. Meeting new people, making new friends, getting to know them, all seemed a part of this new journey. And then there was the campus - expansive, green and full of life. The first week flew past before I even realized it. There were welcomings, faculty interactions, do's and don'ts, group activities, interactive sessions and a some things more. Classes have already started...

Our Pledge

I've played more sports here in the past 2 weeks than I'd done in the past 2 years, met more people and made more friends in the past 2 weeks than the past 2 years, gotten used to a new way of life in 2 weeks which I'd never been accustomed to before. Another thing, scored my first goal playing football in X yesterday, cheers to that...

Second Hand

A long time ago, a certain Ayn Rand wrote an in-your-face, blatantly honest, thought provoking novel by the name of 'The Fountainhead'. In it, the protagonist, a self-proclaimed egotist, lives his life and works his profession in the only way he knew how, in his own terms. He is not open to borrowing ideas, not keen on accepting changes to his plans, and in general not in favour of most of the compromises people make to 'gel' with society. He says that every person has a brain of his own, to use on his own. A group can come up with a joint solution, but each person comes up with their own idea, using their own thought process, from which a decision is made. He says further that everyone who has ever made a great discovery or invention has not done it for others, but to get an end result to his own creative thought. From collegiate life to professional life, he is generally hated for his lack of social ethos. Infact, people are afraid of him. People are afraid of him succeeding. They are perhaps afraid that their otherwise slovenly world would suddenly have meaning, make sense. This fear can be attributed to man's general intolerance towards change. 'Let things be as they are...' is much easier to say and to do than 'Let me try something new today...' or asking the simple question 'Why?'. 'Why does it happen this way? Is this the only possible solution? Can't I come up with something better?'. When was the last time you asked those questions?
Though Ayn Rand wrote this book almost three quarters of a century ago, it is more than relevant today. If somebody at office tells you,"There is no need to think about the way you do your programs, just follow the way it's been done in the existing ones. There is a shortage of time and we can't afford experiments. There is no need for you to put new inputs into this." And to top it off, this was supposed to be my 'learning' for that day! Whatever Miss Rand wrote all those years ago, I could hear them resonating in my head that day. There is a serious shortage of independent thinking. The worse part is I'm starting to fear that I'd lose that ability myself trying to be professional. There are very few corporate organisations who give independent thinking a fair chance. Everyone else is just running the rat-race. Onward Ho!!

The Swish and FLICK

No this is not a blog on Harry Potter. This is a blog on a person who wielded the cricket willow as if it was a magic wand. The first time we see the Potter clan perform a spell at school, they are taught to move their wands in such a way that it performs, first a swish and then a flick. Watching this person bat, we also saw the 'swish' of his uncannily short back-lift and the majestically brilliant 'flick' of the stumps, between mid-wicket and mid-on, leaving the fielders as mere spectators as the ball raced to the boundary.The person being spoken about here is special, very very special. In short he is VVS, VVS Laxman. And when he batted, we were left spellbound.
Vengipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman, or VVS Laxman, as we all know him, announced his retirement on Saturday, bringing to an end a glorious 16 year long career. From the very beginning, he had to struggle to make his place in the national team, having been dropped and recalled on several occasions. His 167 against Australia at Sydney proved a point to the selectors, cementing his place in the side. And then came that fateful test match at the Eden Gardens in 2001. Faced with the might of the Aussies, who were on a 16 test match winning streak, no less, faced with the improbable task of rescuing the Test match after being forced to follow-on, he produced probably the most beautiful innings in Indian cricket history. His 281in that innings still stands as the milestone around which Indian cricket turned the corner into big game players. Two full days he reigned on that hallowed turf. Two full days of spectacular stroke play, epitomised by the flick off the stumps through mid-on, to the boundary, led to an innings which could only be described as magical. He tormented Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and the likes. And in true fairy-tale fashion, India went on to beat Australia in that match, with 7 wickets falling in the final session of play. And I was THERE. I watched the magician bat through day 3, dismissing every bowler who came in his way with sheer non-chalance of champion. The Australians came up another name for him. For them VVS stood for Very Very Special, and on this I agree with them whole-heartedly.
As his career progressed, he went on to become a third and fourth innings specialist, anchoring the innings on countless occasions. At a point it seemed almost inevitable that while wickets tumbled all around him, one could count on VVS to come up with a innings which would save and often lead us to victory. The wristy, stylish batsman lead India to numerous wins, with his capability to produce the goods overseas being his biggest asset.

The way this special player bid goodbye is another example of how icons are forgotten once they grow 'old'. Perhaps ours is the only nation where there is a retirement age in sports! This is the sad reality and this mindset doesn't seem like changing any time soon. Yes he seemed to be fading away at the end of his career. But at the end of the day, we will always remember his career as one which brought us immense joy. He was a part of the famous quartet of Indian cricket which led us to become world beaters. He is the third pillar of the four to bow out, in his own terms. He was a part of the generation which made us world beaters. Very Very Special indeed....

India celebrates it's 65th Birthday...Troubled and Hopeful

A bit delayed, but I'm here once again with this 'Freedom' special blog post...
We are 65 years old now. Modern India that is. India as a civilisation is almost 6500 years old. Yet we can only celebrate being 65! 65 years since that fateful morning when the British left our glorious land after almost two centuries of plunder and debilitating rule. 65 years since that fateful day when the foreign scourge were driven away by the tremendous efforts of our freedom fighters. And yet, today, 65 years on, the foreign scourge seem to have an indigenous counterpart. The past couple of weeks have seen brutal, almost inhuman, fighting in Assam, leading to military intervention. Irony of all ironies, it spread over the entire period where we were supposed to be celebrating being 'free'. Messages of backlash against people of Northeastern descent have been circulating throughout the country, leading to an exodus of these communities from the Southern and Western parts of the country. And now, to further cast a dubious shadow over the entire sense of 'freedom', the government has regulated that people would not be able to send more than 5 text and multimedia messages a day for the next 15 days, as they believe this has been a medium for spreading rumours regarding the riots. Further, there was violence in Mumbai when an anti-Assam protest turned violent, catching an ill prepared police force off guard. Scores dead, numerous injured and endless questions to the government are all we are left with. This is probably not the kind of Birthday celebration our nation was hoping for.
Last weekend also saw the biggest sporting spectacle in the world come to a close. And yes, we performed the best that we ever have at the Olympics. 2 silver and 4 bronze medals, 6 in all, made this the best haul India has ever achieved at the Games. A slight disappointment remained because of the inability of any of the athletes to clinch a gold medal. But things do look up. A few big guns delivering, a couple of unexpected successes and a few heartbreaks later, we returned home a triumphant bunch. In the process, Sushil Kumar became India's most successful individual Olympian ever, winning a silver medal to add to his bronze at Beijing in Wrestling. The entire medal tally of the Indian contingent is given in the following table.

Event	Athlete	Medal
Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol	Vijay Kumar	Silver
Men's 66kg Freestyle Wrestling	Sushil Kumar	Silver
Women's Badminton	Saina Nehwal	Bronze
Women's 51kg Boxing	M.C. Mary Kom Hmangte	Bronze
Men's 10m Air Rifle	Gagan Narang	Bronze
Men's 60kg Freestyle Wrestling	Yogeshwar Dutt	Bronze

There is however one lingering thought on my mind. In the 116 year history of the Olympics, we, as a nation, have won just 26 medals. counting the 2 won by Norman Pritchard at the 1900 Games. In a nation having more population than almost the whole of Europe, that is a worrying figure. Even post Independence, in the 17 Olympic Games that have followed, we have managed 21 medals. There needs to be serious overhaul in the way Olympic sports are looked upon in India. The trend is changing, thanks mostly to the individuals who have brought glory to our nation. But more needs to be done in the way of sponsorship and infrastructure to get us anywhere close to what we should be achieving at the Olympics.
Sport is something which takes us away to a positive place. Achievement in sport is something everyone feels proud about, no matter how much a person claims to not be sporty. It galvanises a nation. it brings nations together. It transcends all boundaries in its true form. There have been promising signs at this Olympics for Indian sport. Rio 2016 should see further improvements. I would love see them double the medal tally again. Till then, signing off from this 'Olympic' world...

Many falls before this Rise...

Christopher Nolan has made us wait for 4 long years before he presented the last edition of his Batman trilogy to us. And not without reason too. Heath Ledger blew us away with his portrayal of 'The Joker' in the previous film, a performance that won't be forgotten anytime, even though the man himself is no longer with us. Nolan probably wanted to have enough time between the 2 movies so as to minimise any comparisons with the previous edition, no matter how difficult a task that may be.This time around, there is no singular path-breaking performance, there are no wicked smiles which attract you to the anti-hero, but the hero himself is brought to 'light' with so much darkness, that the line seems to be blurred between good and evil. The characters in the movie constantly mould and remould themselves to become a part of the circumstances surrounding them. The entire first half seemed like a giant connect-the-dots game, with hundreds of dots spread over an area not much bigger than a notebook page. It does take some concentration to connect all the pieces. And if the sound system of the theater decides to go low volume during the dialogues, then it gets quite confusing. Don't get me started there!
The movie begins with Gotham's 'White Knight', the Late Harvey Dent being remembered on the 8th year of his passing. What follows is a whirlwind of activity, where a host of new characters are introduced, old lies are exposed, old friendships are tested, a servant's love comes agonizingly to the forefront, and one man's resolve to fight a city's battles is again tested. Having given up his cape that same day 8 years ago, Bruce Wayne is once again faced with the conundrum of choosing either his well-being or his city in a time of massive crisis. No prizes for guessing which one he chooses. But even Batman himself may have bitten off more than he can chew this time around. He is faced with a brutal enemy, hardened in a torturous prison, and trained by the same man who was once Bruce Wayne's trainer. There are a lot of references to the previous two movies of the trilogy, so a little bit of a revision would do you no harm. It would probably take you the entire first half and a bit more to figure out who's who. Once that is done with, the pace really picks up in the second half as Gotham City comes under the control of Bane, Batman's nemesis in this movie. The scene in the football stadium where the attacker runs to the end-zone, all the while the entire playing surface gets blown to bits is amazing. Pity it was already shown in the trailers. For me this was probably the scene of the film.

It takes Batman more than one attempt to get the better of his nemesis this time around. Not without help though. The absolutely stunning Anne Hathaway plays a stylish and slippery Catwoman, portraying both the spoil as well as muse for Batman. She steals the show when acts the role of a helpless woman trapped in the crossfire. That happens at the beginning of the movie. By the end, she is as willing to get rid of Bane as Batman, and together they form an unlikely, but not too surprising team. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are back as Alfred and Lucius Fox. The scene where Alfred leaves Wayne mansion, bidding an emotional farewell to Bruce is touching. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a spunky, 'hotheaded' police officer, who is probably the only one in the entire movie who doesn't have any gray shades. He portrays the role well and comes off as genuine. Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon, a man saddled by the lies he is forced to keep alive about his former colleague, Harvey Dent. Marion Cotillard plays Miranda, the President of Wayne Enterprises, after Bruce's misfortune, and it is her character which will answer most of your questions. Christian Bale in the role of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, doesn't do much different from the previous movies, but doesn't do too badly either. Here in fact he is more in the spotlight than the previous movie, where The Joker stole most of the spotlight.
All in all, a compact second half makes this film worthy of a watch. It does get a bit confusing at times. A second watch would probably clear out most of the details. In my opinion, this is not as compelling as the previous movie, but it is definitely not one to miss, especially if you are a fan of the 'Dark Knight'.