Sonu Nigam

I have always said "I like some of his songs, but not him". It was this mushy-mushy style of his - he gets way too romantic. As my didi says, "Lagta hai agar isko woh ladki nahin mili, to mar jaayega". You can check this out yourself - just listen to any song from his album Jaan/Yaad. Or Resham Si Hain Yeh Hawaayein Sanam (Mere Yaar Ki...), Aayi Jo Teri Yaad (Saaya), or many others. Even in the ones I like - Saathiya (Title Track), Satragni Re (Dil Se). It gets almost comical at times. See the difference between the two version of the same song O Saathiya from Saaya - first one by Udit Narayan, & the second one (Aayi jo teri yaad - sad version) by Sonu, and you'll know what I'm talking about.
But recently I've actually started liking him. No, not because of Indian Idol. It's just that he sings really well. And that what counts when you're evaluating a singer. My favorite list includes a number songs by him-
1. Saathiya
2. Satrangi Re
3. Tanhayi (DCH)
4. Sandese (Border)
5. Tumse Milke Dil Ka (MHN)
6. Mera Rang De (The Legend of Bhagat Singh)
and many more. And I really cannot hate him any more.

PS: By the way, my new Minesweeper Beginners timning - 3 seconds. :)

Veer-Zara and Swades

Veer-Zara:
I dint like it from day one. From the day I watched the promos, that is. I still kept convincing myself that coming from the Yashraj banners, it had to be something good. So we (some 20 of us) went to watch it together. I wish I hadn't wasted my bucks. Dint know what made Yash Chopra give a movie like that. The first half was absolute crap, so was the second half.. maybe to somewhat lesser extent. Shahrukh, Preity, Rani, Amitabh, Hema, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpai, Boman Irani, Late Madan Mohan, Javed Akhtar, Yash Chopra himself - it didnot lack names. But you cannot make up a story with names only. I still find a lot of people liking it, loving it, praising it no ends.. maybe I've missed something good in it. But have I missed everything that was good?

Swades:
I like it. The feel of it. Even Shahrukh's looking okay. Especially in the song 'Yeh Tara'. I absolutely love this song. And the lyrics are lovely. I wish it turns out to be a good one. All the best Ashu.

I'm really missing a good movie from bollywood - what with Murder, Julie, Shaque, Khwahish, Tezaab etc etc - they all look the same to me.

Coming home to BV

At last, I'm back after Deepawali. Home is always so much fun. Especially if you have some 100 relatives waiting back at home. It's really nice seeing them all after so long, talking nonstop about so many things, going to the same old places that we've been to a hundred times before, knowing about all the marriages fixed - relationships broken, preparing for Deepawali as if it was the first time we were celebrating it (or may be the last), cooking, not getting up in the mornings, fighting about so many things... the list continues. Who wants to come back to the hostel?
But when I come back, it doesnt look as hell like as I expected. Though there are so many assignments to be submitted, seminars to be presented, the farewell party to be arranged, things to be done & exams at a hand. Still, in a way it feels like coming back home.
Seven years in the same institute... it's bound to become your second home - first, for some. And you know you're going to miss it once you leave it.

Raat Aadhi Kheench Kar Meri Hatheli - Kavita

Found this poem by Harivanshrai Bachchan on net sometime back. It's beautiful. A different mood of Bachchan ji:

Raat aadhi kheench kar meri hatheli
Ek ungli se likha tha pyaar tumne
Faasla tha kuchh humaare bistaron mein
Aur chaaron or duniya so rahi thi
Taarikaayein hi gagan kii jaanti hain
Jo dasha dil kii tumhare ho rahi thi
Main tumhare paas hokar door tumse
Adhjaga sa aur adhsoya hua sa
Raat aadhi kheench kar meri hatheli
Ek ungli se likha tha pyaar tumne

Ek bijli si chhoo gayi sahsa jaga main
Krishnapakshi chaand nikla tha gagan mein
Is tarah karwat padi thi tum, ki ansoo
Bah rahe the is nayan se un nayan mein
Main laga doon aag is sansaar mein
Hai pyaar jismein is tarah asamarth kaayar
Jaanti ho us samay kya kar gujarne
Ke liye tha kar diya taiyaar tumne
Raat aadhi..

Praat hi ki or ko hai raat chalti
Au ujaale mein andhera doob jaata
Manch hi poora badalta kaun aisi
Khoobiyon ke saath parde ko uthaata
Ek chehra sa laga tumne liya tha
Aur maine the utaara ek chehra
Woh nisha ka swapn tha ki apne
Par gajab ka tha kiya adhikaar tumne
Raat aadhi..

Aur utne faasle par aaj tak
Sau yatan karke bhi na aaye phir kabhie hum
Phir na aaya waqt aisa, phir na mauqa us tarah ka
Phir na lauta chaand nirmam
Aur apni vedna main kya bataaun
Kya nahin yeh panktiyan khud bolti hain?
Bujh na paaya abhie tak us samay jo
Rakh diya tha haath par angaar tumne
Raat aadhi..

Birth-"Nights" at BV

Birthdays in hostels for sure are different. I've heard of birthdays at boys' hostels - they are different with PARTY, booze & GPL (ofcourse). Girls have a much subtler thing- at least at BV. They'd arrange a surprise B'day party at the girl's room. (Though everyone knows there's going to be a surprise, even the bday girl- it's kinda cute). Cake kaata jayega, shor machaya jayega, gifts/cards diye jayenge (yeah, right then, at 12 o'clock), and then comes the main thing- dancing. Actually, dance is what matters for almost all the junta. Girls'd go on dancing for hours together. Those who know, those who don't - all of us. And then we depart.
Today's Shipi's Bday. Happy Birthday Shilpi! We enjoyed dancing at your room.

Current mood: Reminiscent
Current music: Silence (toofaan ke baad ki shaanti)

Midsems in BV

Those who say girls study a lot, they're right. And those who say girls mug a lot, they're also right. Proof? Come have a look at any hostel in BV during midsems. Girls studying on stairs, on beds, on tables & chairs, on the roof, in front of the PC. Girls studying in groups, girls studying alone, girls teaching each other. Girls taking a break- girls chatting, girls going to canteen, girls singing, girls listening to Swades, girls making coffee - girls continuing with their studies. Girls with doubts, girls with no doubts, girls with lots of doubts, girls with all the doubts in the world! Girls getting depressed, girls calling their boyfriends, their family, their best friends.

Banasthali is a cute place during midsems.

Minesweeper

Okay, I'm getting addicted & I know that. Everyone knows that. But so what! I'm still a beginner in the game, having best time of 7 sec. in Beginners & 162 in Intermediate. I dont play Expert because I'm too busy playing the other two.
Recently joined the Minesweeperz Aplenty community at Orkut. ( http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=9390 ) It's good. Before that, I dint ever think of playing without flags. But nowadays I hardly play with flags.
Coming to Orkut, it's the second addiction aajkal. But it's interesting. And you get to meet some nice people there, though not always.

Edit: 6 secs in Beginners
112 in Intermediate. :)

Aloo-Tikki with friends

Didn't know they've started keeping chaat (aloo-tikki) at the canteen, not till yester-evening. We went for the usual shaam-ki-chaay. And there it was, in all it's glory. The eight of us, we had only 10 rupees between us. Got two tikkis. 4 on 1.
It's much more fun this way. When you have no time, no paisa, no place to sit. But two plates of sizzling aloo-tikkis between the eight of you.

Kho-Kho girls

South-West Zone Kho-Kho Tournament. Girls from Chennai, Kota, Jabalpur are staying at our hostel. Well, they're nice. Mostly because they wont talk to you, and wont smile at you either. The atheletic type - wont bother themselves about you.
And they find time for studies - imagine coming all the way from Chennai to Jaipur to play Kho-Kho and bringing the books & copies along!
But it's still 7 days before they leave. It's not fun having to wait in queue in the mess after attending OS, Algo and SAD lectures.

The day before the OS test

(For those of you who understand hindi)

OK Kanu, so you've got to finish it off today. ANYHOW!

The day begins:
0730: Alarm (come on, you dont expect a future s/w professional to get up before THAT, do you?)
0830: "Kanu uth, 9 baje se class hai!!!"
0900: Off to department.
1200: Back
1230: Lunch
1330: Orkut (okay I dont miss out on that, even if it's just to check today's posts)
1530: Napping-time ("Wake me up at 4:00, Rashmi!")
1700: "Kanu uth! Ayu sir C++ ki sheets dikha rahe hain!!"
1800: Market (cunt have possibly delayed it longer. Toothpaste kabse nahin hai ~ Colgate, BTW)
2100: Back (I HAD to eat something. I'm not going all the way to the market just to buy a damn toothpaste)
2130: "Kanu, PADH!!!!"
2135: "Why am I feeling that we dont get enough time??"
2140: "Yaar yeh memory management poora padhna hai kya?"
"Haan"
2150: "Suna kal movie dikha rahe hain"
"Sach? Kaun si?"
"Kyun, Ho Gaya Na"
"Uff"
(Begins a long discourse about KHGN, Aishwarya, Vivek Oberoi, Amitabh, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Banasthali movie policy, blah-blah-blah. Girls are really good at things like these)
2230: "Saadhe das baj gaye!! Maine kuchh nahin padha hai :(("
(Silence)
2300: "Yeh teachers saara course class tests mein hi kyun de dete hai??"
2400: "Sona bhi hai."
("Abe kal test to shaam 7 baje hai na???? :D"
0030: Orkutting
0100: Writing this blog

(And anyways, it's only a class test)