Look what war has done!!!

These tears tell most of the story! When this sister weeps for his brother who was killed in Israeli air strike in Central Gaza strip, there isn't much left to be argued. What has war done to them! This family is living as refugees at Maghazi refugee camp since the strike began, and even the funeral of her innocent brother is happening in midst of terror, fear and confusion with continued military attack.

Not just this family but a thousand like them are in utter confusion between Israel and Lebanon, and this isn't the first time. This Arab- Israel conflict has very deep roots indeed. Since the 1948 Israel-Arab war, dust hasn't setttled yet! Israel has launched massive air raids on Lebanon to eliminate Hezbollah militants who had been attacking Israel from Southern Lebanon. Lebanon has been ineffective in curbing them so far!(Some doubt whether the cause for which Hezbollah militants are fighting is really invalid or not!). One thing which stupefies is the ineffectiveness of the negotiations and the sudden crisis in which not many nations are willing to interfere.

Whatever may be the outcome of the friction, one thing is sure that in middle-east the situation will only get worst will further alignment to two extremist blocks. One of Arab and the other of Israel.

Creative Writing

It was (if i remember correctly!) end of 2nd semester when I read the book "Lifelong Creativity" by Pradip N. Khandwalla(an IIM faculty). The book was kind of set of exercises on provocative thinking. The author had a firm belief that Creativity alone wasn't sufficient, one needed to be continuously creative over time.

Yesterday, when I was reading ET I came across an article suggesting degree courses(online, part-time and campus based) on creative writing. Most of the offering institutions were either UK or US based.(likes of De Montfort University etc). I think these courses instill more abilities and confidence along with crucial encouragement that makes it worth doing courses like these. One who is serious about writing can benefit himself a lot from these courses.

I dream further down the line, when I'm 3-4 years deep into my professional career I'll love to undergo one of these courses.(if by that time my priorities haven't undergone a drastic change!). One thing I know for sure is that I don't want to be just a technical professional or anything likewise. I've got to add some more dimensions to myself!

These lines make perfect sense to me:
"There is a part of me that wants to write, a part that wants to theorise, a part that wants to sculpt, a part that wants to reach beyond. To force myself into a single role, to decide to be just one thing in life, would kill off large parts of me..."

Heavy Metal- A Headbanger's Journey!!!!!

I just watched this documentary made by Sam Dunn who is a die-hard metal fan and also happens to be an anthropologist. So he set out on a journey to explore the history of hard metal and to defend it against accusations of provoking voilence, nudity and suicides. His journey is not only unique but also a thought provoking one.
He explores metal right from the start when "Black Sabbath" first played the devil's tritone to the modern monsters of satanist rock. And his entire journey is not just a single sided perspective(in spite of my firm belief that anthropologists are biggest fact twisters!), but it allows one to see flip side as well through which a non-die-hard fan can explore. One can learn to appreciate a die hard rocker's perspective. He can explore new horizons that redefine masculinity and also help himself dispel the inbuilt reservations regarding the satanist or devil's music.
He explores some of the most controversial bands like twisted sister and the black metal bands of Norway.(who have even gone to the extent of burning churches!). He even differentiates the halloween bands like Venom from the different genre of satanic ones and traces their genealogy and inspirations behind them.
This documentary surely is capable of turning even non-believers to die hard heavy metal fans.

Biggest quality of heavy metal is that(as one metal fan in the documentary says),"It's a music that doesn't judges me, doesn't criticizes me. It's just always there for me!".
Heavy metal empowers. So I guess that it's time for getting more empowered and here I go searching for more heavy metal records....!

Awaazon ke bazaron mein khamoshi pehchane kaun?

I just re-discovered this song by Jagjit Singh. It used to be the theme song for one of those good 'ol vintage serials of Doordarshan,"Neem Ka Ped".In my school days I used to love this serial and more than that, this song which piloted it. The lethargic and nostalgic face of Pankaj Kapur still shrouds me when I hear these lyrics.
The lyrics of this song strikes a very special chord wrapping my silence into words. It's kind of ironic. But it happens all the time. Whatever we ourselves can't express into words, when gets told by someone else to a very precise degree is bound to be appreciated by us. It relates to us and kind of introduces a sense of deja-vu.

Oh! I'm getting too much nostalgic now, so I guess I won't expand more on this blog or else the closely packed box of nostalgia will loose open!

What I'm gonna do!

It's been a dilemma from long, regarding what I'm to do after Btech and what should I try to add on to myself while I'm here in the college. One thing I know for sure, that I don't want to be an IT professional who just sits in front of a system and does coding and application designing. I demand more out of my life, but then I'm stuck with the options I have. And deciding which one I should choose is a question I don't have answers for convincing myself.

The first and foremost option is to prepare for CAT and decide on for a management degree from a decent B-School. I might actually go for it, but the prospects of trying for further studies at foreign universities also seem to be promising. Preparing for GRE might not be a big hurdle but my GPA which I've messed up in last two sems would certainly punch holes in my sail.
And the third option is to straight head for jobs in IT industry for which I'd need to focus more on Software projects and hone my programming skills. I'm least interested in this but this is most feasible and entirely within my reach.

Preparing for CAT translates to a surmountable amount of hardwork, communication skills and cut-throat competition. GRE preparation, though not that difficult is still not an easy task and would require increasing my GPA by enormous amount. Adding to that are VISA woes and complexities of the admission procedure.

The quandary continues but one thing I'd definetly like to get as much exposure as possible via internships, projects and if possible doing an internship in UK/US.
:)