A Very Subjective Piece

I went for a prayer-meet for a friend's brother who died of cancer. The cancer was detected at it's last stage. Leukemia. Within two months the cancer had spread all over his body. There was clotting in his brain and he was paralyzed from his left side. 

He loved his hair. My friend addressing the prayer meet said that he collected his hair in a box and stored it. He stored is hair in a box and made a list of things. There were six things on the list. After 60 days into the disease he could not speak, he spoke words but no one could recognize what he said. "I want coffee" became "coffee" and eventually "mug"

He went to the library to read Shakespeare. After a while his knees grew weak. He was a student of English Literature. His friends made a card for him and lit candles as I helplessly sat in a room staring at his sister's face. His sister was an incredibly strong woman who spoke at length about losing her brother to a disease that crushed him, physically but not mentally.

His friend recited a poem for him. And then began to cry.

The girls and boys around me started to talk about their life. I stared into the white floor in front.

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

BHOPAL, MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA

Often while flipping through television news channels one might hear the lovely or annoying sound (depending on the perspective of the listener) of the advertisement by Government of Madhya Pradesh advocating “Hindustan ka Dil Dikho.” See the heart of India.

The reason I love Bhopal is because it's a little city which is beautiful and mysterious. It's pretty and it doesn't make a big deal out of itself. Like Delhi, or Mumbai or Bangalore. The metropolitans are in-your-face. The little quiet ones, that don't make a big deal of themselves require a blogpost.

Bhopal is the capital of Madhya Pradesh, located in the heart of India. Bhopal is famous for its lakes and is often called as the “City of Lakes”. It has artificial as well as natural lakes. They are colloquially called as “Bada Talaab” “Chhota Talaab” etc. Since it is located on the Malwa plateau it is higher than the north Indian plains and the land rises towards the Vindhya range to the south.

One travels not because it is luxurious and comfortable to travel but because of “value additions” to an individual. These ‘value additions’ include broadening of perspectives, rediscovering yourself, acknowledging the presence of the unfamiliar and adapting to new environments. I visited Bhopal every year from 1994 till 2009 during the summer months. I would definitely endorse the following activities-

• ·         Boating in paddle-boats in the Upper Lake
• ·         Driving on the beautiful V.I.P. road during the night, when the yellow lights of the road create postcard-like perfectness
• ·         Having tea in Jehan Numa Palace (this is one place where one can really spoil themselves).
• ·         A stroll in Van Vihar National Park- The speciality and uniqueness of this park lies in the fact that this national park has very few “caged sanctuaries”. Occasionally one might find deers standing 5 feet away crossing the street (!).
• ·         Old Bhopal – because old things have a story. You’ll find monuments- vast & splendid in the backdrop of random people heckling and commuting to/fro work. It’s beautiful like the way Old Delhhi/Chandini Chowk is. Post Script- Try a Faluda Challenge. I think the unbeatable record is 8. We once tried it and couldn’t go beyond the second, it’s a very mean cup. Very very mean.
• ·         Have an ice-cream at ‘Top and Town’ for Rs. 20/- at New Market and thank the lord for inflation can’t burn your pocket.... yet.

 Old Bhopal - Sepia

Old Bhopal

Upper Lake, as the sun sets

VIP Road during the night-time with the neon lights

Faluda !

A busy centre in the Road that leads right to Old Bhopal and left towards VIP road

A tribute to Holden

"For our friends we do Justice, to our enemies we apply the Law." - Brazilian Proverb

Except what do you do when you have no friends?

I have been reading the catcher in the rye and am genuinely curious about JD Salinger. His character sketch of Holden fascinates and perturbs me at the same time- partially because I see a bit of my impolite self in him. Especially when he has meaningless, polite conversations with everyone around him and his mind keeps saying "Phony."

Although Holden is definitely in need of guidance one cannot deny the wit he carries under that ridiculous hat of his ("I am illiterate but I read a lot"). What particularly describes Holden is his remembrance of odd things past- like how that girl always kept her king's in the back row (Chess). The sensitivity he carries is definitely embodied in the death of his cousin and the curiosity with the ducks in Central Park ("When the lagoon is frozen where do the ducks go? I mean does a truck come and pick em up?").

The themes of isolation, alienation, hatred/anger towards the adult hypocritical world are prominent.

"How marvelous to see you!" old Lillian Simmons said.

Strictly a Phony.

- Holden, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Model UN Peak

I have quit my most favorite activity : Model United Nations (Model UN/ MUN)

Let's start at the beginning.

When you see something, learn from it, it has a use-value. When I started MUN-ing (for lack of a better word) I began to appreciate the world system, international relations, power politics, regionalism, military and economic issues that confront the world today.

I learnt knowledge and I got rewarded for it! It was great! But then it reached a stage (after about 17 MUN's) - where it's 'use-value' began to decrease. So in economics, there is a concept called Marginal Utility. It states that as more and more units of a 'product' is consumed its MU (marginal utility) falls down/decreases. So basically, in simple language, if you eat your first ice cream your MU will be the highest, but by the time you eat your 10th ice-cream your MU will be falling or negative.

The marginal utility curve is a upside-down 'U' curve. It increases, reaches a 'peak' and then rapidly falls down reaching zero and then becomes negative. And for me, my MUN curve is negative now...

I became so good at MUN-ing that I would walk in a committee and win an award on the third day. It was addictive, the reasons were intelligent and the applause later was a morale booster. But then I started asking, how much is too much? When is enough really enough?

And it hit me.

I did MUN-ing because-

(1) It was a source of knowledge.

(2) I got rewarded for it. (bonus)

(3) Not everyone was good at it, not everyone could understand the concept (double bonus)

I now have a wonderful bunch of friends and memories I have made in my last 4 years of MUN-ing life.

But the reasons I am stopping is because-

(1) I do not gain any knowledge from it... (I think once you spend more than 700+ hours, you become an expert in that specific area and the ability of the brain to 'receive' information drops)

(2) It is unfair to keep continuing in an activity where you'll keep accumulating rewards, MOVE ON and LET NEW KIDS COME IN 

(3)Dear friends, after all, it is model un. 

Au Revoir MUN! You were sweet and some memories were made.

I feel a sense of satisfaction as I type in this pseudo-resignation letter... 

Dear Model UN,

I resign.

Have some places to travel, some languages to learn.

Yours lovingly,

Sameera

Pictures That Speak To Me

Have you ever look at something and thought to yourself " I must take a picture of that. "
It's not a person, not a monument, nothing famous. Something very ordinary.
Those times when you look at an image and say "this picture speaks to me"
Well here are a few ordinary pictures that are extraordinary to me.

 Haus Khas fort, Delhi

 Diggi Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan

 Chauki  Dhaani, a village recreation, Jaipur, Rajasthan

 Norah Jones at sirifort live :) Something so magical about the picture

 Ingravings in the arabic script at the qutub minar area, Delhi

 These are 12-13th century graves of mughal emperors

 That's a 10 year old girl with enrique iglesias. It's an adorable picture :) - Gurgaon, India

 That's the depiction of India in Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai, UAE

 

 That's my kid cousin sis playing the violin ! The low-quality camera doesn't do justice to it though

 This reminds me of Paheli (the SRK movie, lol) - Desert safari Dubai

 Bangles, Delhi Haat

 LSR College lawns, the picture cannot define the amount of love these lawns radiate. Always brimming with students, books, political scientists, economists ha :)

 Lamps

 In ode to LSR Nescafe :)

 That's a fort in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. It's reinnovated into a hotel now :(

These little pots are the toughest to make, so tiny so perfect!

History and Marxism

"How is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?"

This has become my all time favorite quote. I remember the first time I noticed it. Watching 'Motorcycle Diaries' in spanish with english subtitles, around 3 am in the night almost a week before my History exam.

Now, this was around 2 years ago, in class 11th, when I was seventeen (ha) and I still managed to get a 91/100 ... because the movie was a repetition of history itself (onscreen) and I have a strange way of linking two things together which seem to have no correlation whatsoever.  

Ernesto che Guevara reaches Machu Pichhu and looks at the beautiful ruins of the great Incas civilization.

Standing and witnessing the beauty he sees around him, he wonders aloud- 'how can I feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?' The world he is referring to is the lost days of the Incas people (12th-13th CE) who lived in the Antilles, Barbados, Mexico, Parts of present South America & who were killed by the thousands by the spaniards and europeans who eventually won the 'survival of the fittest' in their long-term aim to settle there (in S. America). And of course, 'nostalgia' refers to a sentimental longing for the past. Now, why the hell did he feel nostalgia for them?

Explanation- A majority of the people were killed, and their ancestors (Incas) are now a minority population in south america, the true inhabitors of the region are subdued by the overwhelming european-american-mixed population residing there as locals. When 'Che' took his road trip around many countries during the 1950's he becomes extremely averse to 'Capitalism', correctly citing it as the reason behind poverty and misery of the poor people (why I agree with this viewpoint will need another entire blogpost)... What he saw around him was very similar to the south-american history- the real people of their own country lived as petty laborers doing odd-jobs to ensure a meal a day whereas the capitalists lived on these souls. He wanted to go back to the days where things were still being done in the world on the basis of justice, fairness and equality. He was feeling nostalgia for that world... a world that he never knew, because it had ceased to exist.

It is rather important to note that the Incas people where highly intelligent. They could successfully perform skull surgery, built beautiful monuments, where brilliant at mathematics and astronomy. So, why exactly did they perish? Because they were behind their spanish counterparts who knew of military tactics and gunpowder and of course, smallpox.

I have, until now been against the use of violence and killing. But my perspective is changing after reading through about Ernesto's biography. He was a marxist revolutionary. Who wanted an equal economic world order, even if this required him to take up arms. He was also involved with Fidel Castro (Cuba's President) during the cuban missile crisis- which eventually led to his death by the CIA- which was covered up for many years. He was not like Castro (by which I mean, not hungry for power), although he enjoyed political support from many countries. He believed in an ideal. An ideal world, one where capitalists where not superior to other citizens but equal.

Marxism is a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis-critique of the development of capitalism. It is an economic and socio-political worldview centred upon materialistic intrepretation of history. I have never accepted or rejected a theory whenever I've discussed it in conversations with friends and family. I do not have a grey- approach. It is more black and white (although that does have its repercussions)- If it is true for me, it is true for everyone and vice versa. So far, in debates in classrooms, in discussions with liberal capitalist friends and even with that one friend who is the socialist- I find the answers are fluid, flexible. That sometimes things are answered depending on the situation. Therefore, I have developed a coping mechanism which does not learn or look at the present or future. But rather looks at the past. The beauty and brutality of the past is the real reminder of the truth (Incas civilization for instance).

I think nothing is inexplicable. Everything can be explained. Like a process. Like maths. Like statistics. Like bar diagrams. Like language and grammar. And therein lies history, because it has lessons to offer (although it is advisable to read history for its own sake!). Right now I am reading A History of the Soviet Union from the beginning to the end by Peter Kenez. True it may not teach me how to build a car, or aerodynamic laws or human anthropology, I will go ahead and read it because I may have a chance of understanding why communism failed (although I may know this already) and also because I understand the question-

 'how is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world i never knew?'

a clip from Motorcycle diaries, 2004 academy award winning movie-

And one of the seven wonders of the world- The Incan civilization's Machu Pichhu, Peru -

The Writer's Fork- Name and Purpose

Name-

In palmistry, a drooping Head line combined with a medium sized fork on the ending is the "writers fork", indication of literary talent. I am not a firm believer in the science of palmistry. However, I have a writer's fork in both hands. On a school day, in 2010 my england return friend, told me of its presence.

Purpose-

This blog is not defined into any one category of blogs.

On a random internet search I read about the little things that touched people and who wrote about them (read-an overly enthusiastic girl's passion for beauty and architecture, who i will not name).

In some way I was inspired to start mine. This is a sincere attempt to appreciate life, 'beauty', 'art', 'travelling' 'books' 'movies' and 'theories'.