Genius left unnoticed

No words to fill the space.... just tears.

- Diwakar

A tribute to one of my sweetest friends

Never thought this is how my bloggin' would end.... Always wanted to write this piece about all my friends (had promised Hari I would).. Am writing one about this guy...
He would be embarassed (or pretend to be so at least) if he ever read this...

All the names we've called each other, my affectionate reference to him as "weirdo", "fake eccentric", "fake psycho".... Never thought he was psycho... man! he was focused as hell... he knew where he wanted to go.. one of the most brilliant fellows I've come across... his knowledge on every single thing under the sun used to baffle me so much that I would be forced to change the topic and bring the conversation back to a level which befit me....

My fondest memories have been those of sittin in his room, lettin my eyes caress those shelves full of books, lookin at them and askin him "hey, have u really read ALL these?".... I remember once we had this discussion on speed reading, which is when I discovered that this dude was a real genius....I mean, his style of readin was different... which is what enabled him to read soo many books in such short spans of time..

It has been a bad day today... it took time for the news to sink in... but thats when I realised what a friend this guy was...I am thankful for one thing though, I have always told him what I thought about him and I know for sure that he knew what my opinion of him was...I've called him names, but more than that have also told him that he means a lot to me (at which he would blush and sweep the words under the carpet)... And I dont have that regret now...
A truly genuine person, genuine affection for all his friends.... and would NEVER think of harming anyone.... these are cliched phrases.... but are used without meaning by every one....Hari is an exception on whom these phrases can actually be used....

This is a tribute to OUR HARI..... sweet phony.... still cannot believe this is true.... wish it weren't... what would happen to the loads of stuff you were planning to write about.. the amazin enthu you had for life.... the spirit to live....... I could have written something on your scrap book.. didn't feel like... am writing this piece... my last blog ever.... every time I want to write a blog now, I would be reminded of you, man! This fellow had this brilliant idea of sharing a blog site... knowing lazy me, he just said, "write what you want and mail it to me, I'll put it up".... After this will I even feel like gettin on 'blogspot.com'??

I remember that day he tried to psyche me out when I was sitting in his room, saying "what if I were a bloodthirsty creature.." or some shit like that...and it was the least bit scary.. but Hari thought he was freakin the shit outta me...
His true indignation at readin my 'Pro Reservation article' - "are you nuts?".. that was his reaction...
Suddenly one day noticing that I had placed a bindi on my forehead "man, you are actually a girl?? You do all this stuff? Disgusting" :).... those are fond memories.....
He always used to call.... and he was persistent... after going to Bombay I became a bit busy and combined with bad signal over here I would always end up missing his calls... and when the missed call message came it would read "Missed 5 calls"... The guy would have consistently tried 5-6 times before giving up.....
I still remember him and his cycle and the crazy state in which he came to my home one day and I caught him right there and he asked "how'd you know?"... like it was a big secret!!!
How he announced to many ppl that I had watched some stupid scene from some equally stupid third grade film with him... he used to gossip a little bit :)
Even the last convo I had with him, we were cribbing, bitching about Sathyabama, that useless hell hole, the faculty... I took a look at his fore-arm tatoo which he insisted on sending a pic of.. and ragged him a bit about it....
Every other conversation of his used to carry a mention of the late Jain Tibu Victor.... Another dear friend of Hari's whose death 'fake psycho' always used to lament about....So true was his love for his friends that even four years after Jain's death Hari would still miss the guy....
The books I've borrowed from Hari.. the books he has borrowed and never returned... his books that are still with me.....those I will keep safely.... in fond memory of my true friend Hari.....

Hari.... I had published this blog and read it and re-read it and read it and re-read it and opened it again to Edit.... I dont want to stop writing about you and what you meant to me... We might not have hung out together, not shared too many secrets or anything, but still the times I spent at your house were AMAZING....Did you know that I used to come there to unwind? I would get worked up before an exam and then pick up my Scooty and ride to your place and sit in your room and chat with you... You were my tension buster.. looking at you reading all those novels right before a semester exam would really bring me back to earth... that 'chilled out' attitude I loved! The idea of talkin about irrelevant stuff right before a nightmarish exam appealed to me...
All those random arbit discussions on arbit topics.... how you would NEVER never say anything about any other person even if they had done some 'harm' to you...I used to get so indignant when anyone said anything about you da... would ALWAYS stick up for you da... not that I got a lot of opportunity to do that.... YOU KNOW HOW POPULAR YOU WERE.... despite all those antics and all that weird stuff you used to pretend you liked to do just to freak out every 'normal' being :D
At this point I want to say, I really admired the way you chose your loyal set of friends... How could you be so insightful as to have friends to whom you really meant a lot? I guess all your other friends would have also told you at some point or the other what you meant to them.. what your useless chatter meant... your unique style of speaking... that animated expression on your face when you spoke about ANYTHING....
Do you know that you taught me the basics of F1?...I remember that Sunday I showed up at your place JUST before a race and forced you to NOT watch it and then ended up being dragged to the TV room..
Your generosity knew no bounds da...Bloody, you were the FIRST person (prob'ly ONLY) to ferret out all those books mentioned in the 'Syllabus Book' as guides, borrow them on your library card AND share it so generously with me, who would come right at the LAST minute and bug you to lend me those books for a few hours so that I can photocopy it and return it...You used to mark out pages to be read, tell me WHY I need to read whatever you were telling me to read and at the end of the day, if I scored more than you (only on account of a better handwriting and you knew that as well as I did, I guess) you would genuinely congratulate me.. Again, I am glad I thanked you (maybe not enough) for all the help you did...I thanked you first when the final results were out and you just said "What thanx"... WOW!! Will NEVER find another person like you..you knew how strong you were that you never thought you had to score over others by HIDING all those sources of knowledge...
How I laughed when I saw you sitting with the ILO published book to read up on some vague phrase mentioned in that syllabus book...
I would never say he deserved a University Gold Rank and all that shit... the Univ. DID NOT deserve such a brain...Madras University was an insult to this fellow but what can I say, (cliched as it might sound) am thankful he didnt get into IIT or anywhere else and got stuck with me in Sathyabama...
The unending debates on who is better - Shah Rukh or Kamal... Ofcourse it was Kamal... in fact they should not even be mentioned in the same breath... :-) I always supported that...Remember Shah Rukh's portrayal in Duplicate..that third rated movie in which he tried to act innocent... Guna.. Kanmani anbodu kadalan.. the discussions on the beauty of that song...

Am thinking about the last time I saw you... For the life of me I can't recall... Was it when I came home and you scared me with your long hair? I think I might have asked you to reduce weight and cut your hair and become 'decent' :) ... and u mustve retorted in your usual cussin' style :) ....
I will miss those rare phone calls, that unitelligible babbling that you used to do sometimes, the snap in my voice when I realised I couldn't follow what you were saying :-( , the scoldings I used to give you for you-know-what, the careless shrug you used to give in response, the "women are crazy" talks, the "you are a bloody feminist" accusations, the "Chauvinist", "F1 Buff" tags, blastin' some common 'dear friends' of ours......Do you even realise that you will be irreplaceable for me? Will miss you forever da....

Love u always,
Chandri

Is President Elections getting murkier?

President elections and controversies about the candidates have taken over the headlines in most of the papers of late. The sad part is that this time, the post of President have become more politically centered with controversial back stabbings and incessant personal slurs. Do these things make the president elections more murkier? Why does the election for the post of President, THE MORAL ICON OF INDIA, getting into a heated debate this year? Is it because that the candidates nominated by the Political parties are not worthy enough?

Congress upfronts Ms. Prathiba Patel, backed up with leftists (CPI). Have the congress done due diligence when they came up with the name? Many allegations have come up against her after the nominations? Furthemore, the opinions and ideas which the candidate makes about Spirituality, Pradah system, Family planning, God talking to her, etc are horrifying. Is the nation ready to project a person of this sort as a moral icon? Is congress trying to fill another post with a rubber stamp person? Is the general election that is coming not far from now has a role to play in this President election too? There seem to be a high possibility that the coming general elections end up in a hung parliament situation. Do congress upfronting a President from its side with backing ups from parties like Lefts etc is to take over the control? These questions which Congress alone have answers for remain unanswered to the public.

The foremost point that Congress brings in favour of its candidate is that, after 60 years of independence India need a Woman President. And for this foremost reason, the choice no. 7 Ms. Prathiba patel have seem to be pulled up to the first choice. And this positive point have covered most of the allegations against her family. Is India in dearth of grand ladies to nominate for the President post? Further to this, congress backs up saying that the canditate have no role to play in any illegal activities which are refuted by RBI and various parties. This extended for many unleashing comments from the opponent parties. But why does the CPI backs up a person with so many allegations? Will there be a smoke without a fire? And the fire in this case seem to be the post of Vice President. Are people made fools with these political chaos?

Banks run under the name of Patil going bankrupts after issuing loans to their own family members is not trifle thing. Further criminal allegations that seem to revolve around Ms. Patil can't be taken as trifle when she was in the responsible post to control? Further to this, havent these controversies creeped in when she became the Governor. Was it not properly brought to public in a national level?

Then comes Mr. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat upfronted by NDA. Mr. Shekhawat who was a party member until two weeks back have suddenly turned out to be a Private and an individual canditate. Is this a political trick?

Ultimately Mr. Kalam, the one considered as people's president, and his works in the noble chair is left unnoticed in this chaos.

The effective point is 'Isn't President post is above all political issues?'. Should the conventional act of Political party voting for a president prevail further? Can't this convention change and step into a new system of selecting a person without a political party tag attached? Not necessarily an academician or noble laureate should be nominated for the post. But an untainted person with a fair knowledge of legislation can be projected as a moral icon.Let us wait till the President election to know the moral image of India.

- Diwakar