I know I'm writing after a while. A _long_ while. I've spent the last few months studying,giving all sorts of exams and the long hours I put into it have finally been rewarded. I have made it to Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies!!! That was at the start of July. So why am I writing about it NOW? Well for starters, I haven't had time to catch a breath since my results came out. Managing my stuff, admissions, hostel, inductions, lectures, activities...heck..I honestly feel like my brain has completely missed some days of the last month.
Anywho, I'm gonna be making a much more sincere effort to write about my ongoing (hectic) life here. So if you have been, stay tuned.
Cheers
Varun

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For a few years now,I've been scouring the Internet,TOI and any other medium I can lay my hands on, to find proverbs,philosophical quotes,and general food for thought. Once just a source of exercise for my brain cells,this has been a full fledged hobby for a considerable amount of time.

   Although some may argue that this philosophy business,the proverbs,the quotations,and what are  generally perceived as the 'to do' and 'how to' lists of life are not something to be spoon fed,and that wisdom is best acquired through personal realization,I think the gyaan left behind by wise men of the old times is certainly something one can take along as a handy manual.

  I agree with the view that the things wise old men have said, are, at best, Utopian in today's day and age. A man of values is often a beggar while a dishonest Nizam reaps the rewards of his skulduggery.That said though, even if we practise a small fraction of these old truths,take what is relevant today, our lives would be so much better, in all respects.

  Come to think of it, even if we take it as a casual reading, there is lots to gain from these things.For me, too, it started just as a read, but the more you delve into the wisdom of people like Kautilya, Plato,Nietzsche,etc, we find that most things there,can be incorporated into our lives today.

Some of the recently read ones that I liked are as follows:

1. Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.

                                                                                                        --Friedrich Nietzsche

2. Since it is all too clear,it takes time to grasp it. When you understand that it's foolish to look for fire with fire, The meal is already cooked.

                                                                                                        --Zen Proverb

3. All men tremble at punishment, all men fear death; remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.

                                                                                                        --Dhammapada (126)

4. The Obstacle is the path

                             --Unknown


5. It is a cart if it goes well,otherwise,it is but timber
                             --Unknown



6. Justice without force is powerless,but force without justice is tyrannical.
                                                                             --Blaise Pascal

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When I thought of writing this, the title that came to my mind was 'My Musical journey'. It sounds so cheesy I discarded it the second I thought of it ;)

I believe,from personal experience,that you evolve with the music you listen to,and the music you listen to evolves with you.

Having spent a few of my starting years in a convent school,songs belonging to a faith other than my own was all that disturbed my eardrums. Even so,I was oft fascinated with the word placements,mostly because the songs in question never bothered a lot about acoustics.Thankfully,I was rescued from the place and plopped into a very 'liberal' :D school in Vikhe Patil Memorial school. (Here I say,thanks mom,thanks dad,and thanks Nikhil,mazya bhaava,naitar me modern madhe sadlo asato).



It was also around this time that my dad bought us our first Boney M tape,which was played endlessly.Prior to that, the only connection with western music was an old tape my dad possessed,with instru versions of old classics (not so old, Georgie Michael,Madonna's first songs,some springsteen)

The brief period that followed, of mindless boyband-giri of Boyzone,Backstreet boys,Five,etc,was thankfully,short lived. Again,here,was the age a factor in musical preference? I have no idea. To be fair,those times also were peppered with The Offspring,Jon Bon Jovi,etc so not a total waste.I remember when I first heard Jon sing It's my Life! I knew instantly,that this was the kind of music I wanted to hear.almost pop-Metal,with energy. (I also remember,with some glee,how our choir band 0_o was made to sing this song in the 'choir' voice 0_o  0_o in front of our principal,as an entry in a competition.What we actually did sucked.But this would have been a disaster.)

Anywho,Jon bon jovi's album then was the cusp of my musical 'journey'(?). Again,growing age possibly had a lot to do with it, but I was pulled into Hard,aggressive rock. Korn,Megadeth,metallica,Maiden,rammstein,audioslave,foo fighters,etc got me through to the end of Engineering. Saying that,softer varieties,too had their hold.Pink Floyd,the Carpenters,etc...

Over the last two years (So much has happened :) ) people say I've mellowed down a lot. As such it can be reflected my music too.I have gently shifted from the old days,towards instrumental,post rock and  to a larger extent, progressive rock,and more recently,ghazals(I know,wtf?) .So in my playlist you will find apocalyptica,65daysofstatic,muse,coldplay,porcupine tree,Robert Costlow,Arctic monkeys,etc


So my question is this.When music is such an important part of someone's life,does it make him the man he is,or does it evolve with him?


Made absolutely no sense did it? :)

PS: Feels gr8 to be back blogging.Hope I'll be able to keep this up.

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The last few months of my life have been..let's just say, up n down.Let me explain.
In my last post I had said that I was leaving for TCS training to Coimbatore.
It was an experience I will never forget in my life.Not particularly the training or the 'company' part,but the friends I made there,the time we had there..words cannot describe the great feeling of togetherness we had in our batch. If anyone of you c43 ppl are reading this : You rock! (Correction: We Rock!).

The whole experience,the appalling hotel we were kept in,the mind numbing,Hollywood style cab-ride to the centre,the ruckus we created in life skills classes, that Dehliwale ka Chaat,the Rs2 a plate idli-sambar and the mass crying festival on the day of EC results...(:D) Those were awesome times..
Then,we were randomly allocated to centres across India. I remember the (playful) fights I had with my batch-mates about them stealing my office in Pune...Ah well,I was allocated to Mumbai (Thane to be precise.)Now don't get me wrong I love the people there,but the city has always been shit to me.every single time I've been there..
Determined to change that,I reached there for another bout of training.Here too,I spent a month learning some stuff,but made lots of friends.This was nowhere near the Coimbatore batch though,not even close.Unfortunately this is where my problems resurfaced. I suffered for 2 months from serious medical issues and as such due to the circumstances,had to leave my job.

But I'm hardly fretting over it.The upside is,I'm back in my hometown which I so passionately love,the downside is my wallet's empty...I dunno what the future holds,but my only goals now are to get well as soon as possible,and then concentrate hard for a post-graduation.

Hmm,I've never been known to type this much about myself...I usually post about others..anywho..I thought the update was called for.

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