Being on Cloud 1556-1605 - Mughaltronics

Yesterday was one of the most rewarding days of my life. Initially, I had constructed the sentence as “one of the most rewarding days of my trivia life.” But that didn’t say much, whereas I wanted to say it all...

As a five-year-old, all that I wanted to do upon growing up was become a teacher. There was nothing particularly remarkable about that dream because almost every other five-year-old around me wanted the same thing. That dream lasted only a few years, and eventually got buried under other ambitions and plans for life. Eventually, perceptions – whether mine or of those around– convinced me that teaching was not for me. It demanded too much patience, and that was an area where I certainly lacked. Over time, I also grew interested in fitting into offices, surrounded by the paraphernalia and peculiarities of “regular, nine-to-five” jobs, and that’s what I have been doing now continuously for years.

Well, i happened to visit the Pondy University yesterday and i had a chance to get inside the History Dept. where i landed across a huge archive of historical records. Moreover, it was wonderful to get back to know history, and be in a knowledge environ again. It was like something I could get interested in and here I was.
I landed across the history of the Mughal Empire.

Now I have always maintained that no one loves the Mughals more than I do.I met a group of students.These were serious students as they knew how social sciences worked, how movements progressed, and most importantly, this was the first time in the record of this campus that a course on Mughal history was being offered. They told me that this was their first time coming across something like this, and that they hoped to do a fair job because otherwise they could potentially end up messing up their perception and understanding of a country with over a billion people. They laughed, and with that we began the whole process of understanding the Indian subcontinent and the Mughals: how Babur—the military genius—loved fruits and hated Agra, why Humayun loved opium and pursued astrology, how Akbar was both a compassionate genius as well as a sexual predator, how Jahangir was creative enough to design his own clothes yet ruthless enough to blind his own son, how Shahjahan was almost effeminate because of his love for white marble, and how Aurangzeb can be and is so easily and greatly misunderstood.

These were some new facts that i came across about the Mughal nobles. I wanted to delve more into this but as time and my job constrained me to do so, i had no other option than to go. I bid my new friends farewell and promised to share more information with them as & when i could and told them also to return the same gesture.


I'll come back with more trivia about these great grand people and more of other trivia.

Some Straight Talking

Wanted to update the blog but without much effort. So, a tag this time.

Name three most valuable assets.
Laptop, debit-credit card, cellphone. These must be on everyone's list I assume with a plus or minus.

One truth in your life that haunts you every day?
 It’s also the only “episode of regret” but over time, I have coached myself to suppress it with distractions, however less than suitable they might be.

Where is the place that you want to go the most?
Akbar’s court in Fatehpur Sikri while in session.

If you can have one dream to come true, what would it be?
Write a book.

What are you afraid to lose the most in yourself?
Stubbornness.

What would you do if you found a briefcase full of money?
Depends.

If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
 Ten years ago, yes. Today, no, I don’t have the balls anymore.

Which type of person do you dislike the most?
Whiney, self-pitying kinds.

What is your ambition?
This one’s easy...total and absolute world domination.

If you were given the chance to have one super power, what would it be and why?
The ability to read people’s minds.

For you life is?
An unpredictable bitch.

If you could do one thing different in life, what would it be?
Get a new name.

Are you a shopaholic?
Depends on the kind of shop.

One song that gives you goosebumps?
A well-rendered version of the national anthem, whether vocal or instrumental. (No, this is not some sentimental tosh I have developed.)

Do you have any plans for tomorrow?
Yes. I have to live this day, and go for sleep at night.

Questions, please. Add some of your own if you wish.

Verses

Two almost back-to-back posts! I must have rediscovered my blog!

Today's post is about two poems of Vikram Seth that I particularly like. This semester I had taken a poetry workshop, as a result, not only did I have to write twelve poems of my own, I had to read a similar number of poems of my classmates, plus nearly a hundred others.

These two have been particularly interesting, mostly because of their simplicity.
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All You who Sleep Tonight

All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right
And emptiness above -

Know that you aren't alone
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years.

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How Rarely These Few Years

How rarely these few years, as work keeps us aloof,
Or fares, or one thing or another,
Have we had days to spend under our parents’ roof:
Myself, my sister, and my brother.
All five of us will die; to reckon from the past
This flesh and blood is unforgiving.
What’s hard is that just one of us will be the last
To bear it all and go on living.

To Mr. Alexander Graham Bell

This is one letter which i wanted to write to Mr.Alexander Graham Bell, on attaining my first cell

Dear Mr. Bell
Thank you for your contribution in my life. After a gap of one year, I have recently become the proud owner of one of your inventions. It’s serving me very well. Making plans, keeping commitments, and maintaining relationships is so much easier now. Thank you!

Hope afterlife is treating you well.
Best regards,
Jino..

Killing Time

Time is a rare commodity you say? And I am supposed to believe you? Come on!
In spite of the following two items I read on Times of India.com from the previous links?

First, the council of ministers in Uttar Pradesh is going to run a probe on Orkut because some communities and individuals have been disrespectful towards the chief minister. 

Second, the eight constables who shook hands with Sanjay Dutt outside the Yervada Jail in Pune are in big trouble. There will be an inquiry run on them. The ninth constable who hugged Dutt has already been suspended. 

Now, here's your chance. Beat the examples I have given here. Tell me the most entertaining piece of news you have read recently. This free and fair contest is open to all and the winner will be announced a week from today.

One, Two, Three, Four

There were twenty questions, I skipped five to bring it down to fifteen. As with tags I have done before, answer at least one question here too. All the best!

1.Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it?
A spot on my left cheek thanks to chicken pox at the age of nineteen.

2. What used to be on the walls in your room?
Posters of cars and cars..... and a couple of fancy writings.

3. What does your phone look like?
The same as it used to in Udaipur. Difference being that then it worked and now it overworks.

4. What music do you listen to?
Will listen to almost everything at least once. Currently, I am listening to a lot of South Indian Classical music.

5. What is your current desktop picture?
A National Geographic photograph of the Savannah.

6. What do you want more than anything right now?
A ticket to France, and the next Harry Potter movie.

7. What time were you born?
Around 4 am I am told.

8. What are you listening to right now?
Office sounds.

9. What’s something people may not know about you?
That I recover my temper faster than I lose it.

10. The last person to make you cry?
Someone who reads this blog.

11. What is your favorite perfume?
Anything lemony.

12. What is your favorite pizza topping?
Paneer and pineapple.

13. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?
My mother’s aloo parantha..

14. Who was the last person you made mad?
My colleague, because I insisted this morning that Aishwarya Rai is beautiful and Abhishek Bachhan married right.

15. Is anyone in love with you right now?
That’s really not for me to answer, is it?

Tied to the Tricolor

There are days when my patriotism threatens to overwhelm me. I am just so proud of being an Indian that I want to scream from the rooftops. Case in point, today. When I woke up in the morning, made some coffee, sat down with a bunch of old newspapers just to sell them to the Raddiwala, I started going through an old article published an year and a half back and came across the detailed reporting in both Indian as well as international media about how the rich culture of the land has been offended by the fact that Richard Gere kissed Shilpa Shetty in an AIDS awareness function in NEW DELHI, the CAPITAL CITY of India. So much so that there had been protests from all over the country, including equally or more emancipated cities such as Mumbai. Americans were, thankfully enough and unlike most Indians, extremely demonstrative with their affection, as we learn everyday. But that was not the point. The point was that something as trivial as this made people sacrifice their time and energy over things such as burning effigies of both the people in question, of asking them to apologize, and telling the non Indian to leave India and go back to his home. Of course kissing is not part of Indian culture! It’s such a sexual activity! Any kiss any where means getting undressed and jumping into bed! And we of course don’t know anything about those things because in our country, the second most populated country in the world by the way, children are born just by men and women looking into each other’s eyes. There is really no other activity involved! And all this when the same day’s news also included the nexus between Dadua, the dreaded gangster from Uttar Pradesh, and Mulayam Singh Yadav, one of the most prominent politicians of the country. And the conversion of a thousand Hindus in Orissa to Buddhism because in spite of being Hindus they were denied access to temples in their own region owing to the fact that they were from lower castes.
Uff! My pride in my country knows no bounds today. I might as well tie the tricolor on my head and walk about anywhere.
But then again, given today's events in the US when criminals involved in the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal in the 80's were bailed out by them, there are several things to be grateful for in India.