Does Obama deserve the Nobel Prize? YES.

The Nobel Peace Prize has a long and controversial history. Henry Kissinger, Yaseer Arafat and Jimmy Carter are but a few of the recipients who have stirred emotions in the hearts of plenty around the world with their words and acts. This year, another name was added to the list – Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.

His critics have plenty of ammunition in the war of words that surrounds the Prize. He had been in office for 11 days when the final list of nominees was prepared. The award seems to have been given on the basis of his potential, vision and hope for the future. It seems to have been given as a form of encouragement for the difficult tasks he has undertaken for himself. It also heaps a tremendous amount of pressure on a man who has raised expectations to such a high level that an above average first 10 months in office has critics baying for his blood and describing him as being ‘all hot air’.

He has raised the bar to such a high level that people don’t notice how much he has done for world peace. For the first time in a long while, the world is prepared to sit and talk about a solution to the various problems afflicting us. The focus has shifted from threats, standoffs and ultimatums to dialogue, communication and the willingness to work out a solution. All that is fine, you say, but what exactly has he DONE? Well, let’s see – entered serious negotiation with Russia, the oldest enemy, to reduce the nuclear arsenal present in the world, reverse previous decisions to set up military defence systems in Eastern Europe, which would have caused further tension, re-initiated negotiations with North Korea to shut down its nuclear weapons program instead of just pointing guns at their heads, begun negotiations with Iran about its nuclear enrichment program and extended a hand to the Muslim world in a major speech in a Muslim majority area. I’d say that doing all of that along with solving internal problems is not bad work for 10 months.

And this is the part the world refuses to understand. Obama is on the right path to world peace, but he cannot do it overnight. While world reform itself isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea, world reform in 10 months is definitely nobody’s cup of tea. Opening avenues of communication is the first and most difficult step in a long process that will make the world safer for you and me. If both parties are willing to listen, only then can there be results. Until now, the world was locked in stalemate. Things have finally begun moving and that must be appreciated for all it is worth.

Another line I’ve heard repeated countless times over the past few weeks is “Gandhi never got it. Has Obama done more than Gandhi where peace is concerned?”. The answer is no and we all know it. What everyone doesn’t know is that the Nobel Committee has admitted that ignoring the Mahatma despite his being nominated 3 times for the Prize is their single biggest mistake ever. You cannot compare Obama to the past recipients of the prize. While they include legends like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, they also include people like Wangari Maathai and Shirin Ebadi, who most people haven’t heard of. Are they the equals of Mandela and Tutu?

All in all, while it may not be the most universally appreciated Peace Prize awarded by the Committee, it is one deserved by the recipient, Barack Obama.

As A Wanderer

I'm a wanderer. I've never lived in the same city for more than 4 years at a stretch, with the result that I've covered most of the Indian metros in my fledgling life of less than 18 years. Moving every few years has become a very normal event for our family, but now I'm at college to start an altogether new life. So I've been thinking back and ended up drawing comparisons with people who've never woken up outside of their home city.

For many people, the thought of leaving 'home' is unbearable. All areas more than 30 km away from the residence are considered alien and suitable only for holiday purposes. But within that area, they can tell you everything. Right from who's going out with who's ex-girlfriends to which tree was cut down 3 years ago to which cinema has the best popcorn. You also hear the occasional rueful tone of 'How things have changed in the last (insert number) years - this place was so green and quiet and now look at it'. Complain as much as they will, you know that they love it deep within, because they've never been anyplace else.

They say familiaity breeds contempt, but I think they just tell you half the story, because after the contempt stage, there's an acceptance stage when you slowly warm up to the idea and then the 'this is what I've always wanted' stage. Personally, I've never reached the last stage, but that could be to do with the fact that I don't know what I want. However, I know people who've reached the last stage in the sense of where they stay, their way of life, their social lives - it's a level of comfort you attain.

Like most other things, it has its pros and cons. And I'm going to talk just about the pros. Most importantly, you make some deep, deep bonds - material and non-material. You grow up to love the place. The road that runs behind your house might be called a 'dark dingy street to be avoided at night' but to you, it'll always be the place for football skill showdown evenings. The dusty shop at the corner maybe perceived as shady by passersby but to you it's the source of all the chewing gum in the world. There's a personal connect with most things - you have happy memories, sad memories, funny memories, scary memories - it's a whole mix. But as time passes, you cling on to them even more - the happy ones become perfect, the sad ones get dulled by time, the funny ones become a regular part of your 'best days of my life' column and the scary ones turn out to be quite hilarious. It's all a part of the whole growing-up-in-one-place experience. Most importantly though, you make personal friendships which will last you a lifetime. When you go to the same school for 12 years, the people you meet are bound to influence your life. When you live in the same locality for so long, your neighbours are bound to impact your life. You wont meet people from everywhere or of all kinds,but chances are you'll form a close group of friends which you can always count on for anything. You'll go on holidays with them and have picnics with them. You'll tell them all about your crushes and your girlfriends, about your first kiss and the first time you got drunk. They'll know you inside out, and that always leaves one with a very warm feeling on the inside :)

What's your take on this?

College is starting, like actually!

Till last night, I was not having a great time in college. Sure it wasn't bad, often even good but never great. Going to a hostel for the first time was never going to be easy but once I got to grips with that, things eased up a little bit. My biggest problem was always when I had nothing to do. When I told people this, they were shocked - you can't have nothing to do in college, they said! But now as I reflect on the past two and a half weeks, I think I can say a lot has happened.

Classes have started full swing and as is the case with professional courses in India, they expect you to work. The hours are quite long and tedious but in a couple of courses, my teachers aren't half bad so I think I'll manage. The system here of regular testing gets to my nerves a little bit and this is not what I was expecting from college, but then I think I was naive if I thought it would be the way I pictured it in my head, based on hearsay and media impressions.

My biggest concern in the first two days here was the lack of extra curriculars. What I didn't realise is that it was the first week. Everything takes time, which I wasn't giving it. Sure, there may not be as big cultural societies here as there is in the top arts colleges, but there's ample opportunity to take part in events and activities if you're interested. The only problem is that freshers (first yearites) aren't allowed to take part in any events for the first few months and it's terribly frustrating to sit on the sidelines watching! But one thing I have realised in my limited interaction with the seniors - you can learn a lot here. Many people who come here have never taken part in any cultural events before, be it music, dance, drama or any of the other stuff, but they've come here and picked up so much that it's hard to believe they haven't been doing it all their life!

And then there was yesterday - the night of the biggest inter hostel dance event all year round - the Duo Dance. Two people from each hostel are required to put up a dance (or a series of dancing) lasting about 15 minutes in total. Since there are 11 hostels here, it's an event which runs late into the night and oh my god, you just had to see the atmosphere in that all. It was like a sauna inside, there was absolutely no place to sit and people were climbing all over each other to get a peek of the stage, but that didn't dampen any spirits! Inter-hostel rivalry is something IIT'ians are quite proud of and I saw why last night - the cheering was just jaw-dropping. The chants, the rhymes, the beats, the shouting and hooting and booing - all at mindblowingly loud volume for 3 hours straight! More than half the campus was in that hall last night and each and everyone of them lost themselves shouting out loud. Today morning, attendance was at an all-time low and sore throats at an all-time high! But this was a true expression of passion and it was very heartening to see that the image people have of IIT'ians (nerdy, geeky, math people who study, study, study and study) isn't entirely true! :)

There have been nasty moments as well though - some seniors from our hostel got into a bit of a spot on the issue of ragging because of an anonymous complaint. There was a Disciplinary Committee meeting yesterday, which is a very serious issue anytime and can impact your career a fair amount. Personally, I have suffered no ragging but this whole complaint business has really limited our interaction with the seniors. From what I've heard, the stuff that's going on elsewhere is a LOT worse, so it's all very sad. Whatever action is taken (or not taken - we tried our best yesterday) I hope it doesn't isolate our seniors from us. We've also had swine flu on our campus and for a day or two, everyone was roaming around wearing these surgical masks - it was quite funny!

Now a quick run through all the things that I'd love to write more about but don't have the time or the words for - skipping breakfast half the time, lack 0f running water in the bathrooms (:P), a brilliant talk by Tarun Tejpal (CEO, Tehelka) which made us think like mad, playing tennis daily with more than half-decent players, eating pizza at 1 in the morning and not sleeping till 3, dissing the mess food no end, going to the insti roof every few days to just take it all in, running home on the weekends to an altogether different life... Yeah, a lot has happened - good and bad - and I can't entirely describe my feelings and emotions about the place right now. The vibes so far are mixed, but you know what, I think I'll live!

The First Week

This seems alien to me now. The last time I blogged was 7th March (which isn't so long ago, to be honest) but it seems like an eternity. What happened in between? For starters, I graduated from school. Then I wrote a whole lot of entrance exams. After having a total party for the next 3 months (including a trip to Europe, the mother of all continents!) here I am, posting again from IIT Delhi. For those of you who don't know, that's Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Transition periods are always difficult. They say that change is the only constant, so a shift from school to college shouldn't be a big deal. But they're wrong! I've been here a week and the change has been far from seamless. Coming from Bombay, the shift to Delhi has been a major culture shock. People did warn me about it, and I thought I was prepared for anything that came my way, but humans tend to overestimate their mental strength very often.

Life here will take getting used to - more than IIT, it's the fact that this is the first time I move into a hostel room, it's the first time I'm entirely responsible for my life, it's the first time I'm going to be living away from home and it's the first time I realise I'm not a kid anymore.

The change shall be tough, but I shall overcome. Eventually. I'm going to go celebrate the rebirth of my blog now.

Cheers,
Trooper.

Light

This is a poem which is sorta inspired by the 26/11 blasts, but isn't exactly based on them. There are a few similarities though (especially if you think about Nariman House) and a lot of the seemingly non-sensical lines are allusions/references to something.

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Light

The warm sun shone upon her smiling face
The cool breeze flowed softly through her hair
Is it now time for a dirty trick?
Is it time to face the dark side of the sun?

The kid can't sleep, the kid can't weep
All she sees is the man in black
Her mind is blank but she thinks very deep
When twilight approaches, will he be back?

Two shining lights extinguished in one blow
Two pillars collapse together beneath her feet
Her eyes to the world now look down below
Her ears to the sounds now hear no beat

Each day brings with it dark light
Ironic that it was bright at night
A fire we could do without
A fire we could do nothing about

The scars shall serve as a reminder
To the past - we will once more meet
My life crashed when I was blinded
With the same joy you shall I greet

The lack of light now shows me the way
Some echoes just don't fade away
Your destiny was sealed that very day
You let me live, now you shall pay

Driving Away

I was driving through the fields
They stretched green far as I could see
Delightful was the sight to the mind's eye
Those were the times I felt free

I was driving down Ocean Avenue
The wind whispering softly in my ear
The blue waters sparkled to the horizon
Those are the times I hold dear

I was driving up to the peaks
Some tuneful melodies warmed me up
Perfect seemed the shimmering white snow
When did I give those times up?

Now I'm driving around in my head
Life's got me down, life's got me drained
The choices aren't mine to make anymore
My dreams seem - oh so naive!

I don't want to be like ol' Fred
I don't want to be big-brained
I don't want to be part of folk lore
I just want one last drive...

The Night is Alive

Definitely not my best work, but do give me honest feedback
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The setting sun should have closed the door
But I stuck a foot in, peered through to see more
Where the world saw black, I saw light
What the world saw dead, I saw alive

The air was silent, as calm as can be
And as the clock ticked, my fears left me
I reached out,I crossed the line
Left the land for one without time

Trampling through the bushes
Swimming down the streams
Scraping against brushes
It was better than the dreams

Small and timid in the vast ocean of trees
We shone like the stars, we rode like the breeze
Keen eyes saw nothing but a silver spark
The magic comes alive well after dark

I'd never been so close to the Lake itself
It was said to be there from the time of the Elf
The purity of its waters was reflected in her eyes
The spring in her step an ironic surprise

The surface glistened in what they call moonlight
My body shuddered with a streak of fright
In the days gone by there'd been nothing like this
It was among the few things I knew I'd miss

My life flashed by
As we took to the air
They were no myths
I could feel the glare
Of the horn so bright
And the silver mane 
As we flew through the night
Now there was no pain

And so it all ended under clear skies
Real peace at last, this was no fake
We plunged unnoticed, to what lay beyond
An era was over, down at Unicorn Lake.

Fantasy Literature

I enjoy reading. There's something about a good book that's very comforting. Books spawn over many different genres, and I have only had the chance to experience a few. Crime, mystery, adventure - these are the more common themes for writers, and usually these are the more prolific writers. However off late, I have been going through a phase of fantasy literature.

Off late there seems to be a slew of fantasy novels in the market, but it isn’t a new concept. Far from it, in fact. My first introduction to different kinds of alternate worlds was way back in my early years when my mother handed me an Enid Blyton. Over the years, as the books changed, so did my impressions of elves, brownies and dragons. These so-called invincible and perenially happy creatures slowly develped their own dark sides and weaknesses. A few dimensions are added to each type of being with every book.

Now, after finishing the Lord of The Rings (LOTR) trilogy, I feel like I have arrived. J.R.R. Tolkien is several classes above any other writer in this genre and it will take a true genius to surpass his creations. LOTR is a work of beauty, and while a few of my friends claim to have gotten bored halfway through, I thoroughly loved it. There’s something intensely intriguing about Tolkien’s Middle Earth which cant be put into words. There’s a sort of thrill you get when reading his works. I could almost feel the contrasting emotions of the different characters, especially the Elves – most difficult of all to understand. If you had to set a time period on Earth when this story might be set, it would probably be the medieval period. That’s another reason Tolkien’s fantasy works so well – we all love hearing stories about great kings and their great deeds, about battles and wars, about valour and undiminished courage. It’s a way of getting out of today’s world and taking a peek into the past – when men rode on horses and the great cities had wall after wall of protection and brave soldiers marched to war with their shining shields and no fear in their hearts. I readily admit that I’m very fascinated by all these things!

Another contributing factor to my recent appreciation on Tolkien literature is Led Zeppelin. How, you ask? Well, it’s no secret that quite a few Led Zep songs have been inspired from the trilogy. Evidently, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were as inspired as me! Now if only I could some music like that..

Tolkien is a legend, of that there’s no doubt. I marvel at the way he created an entirely new world, complete with the annals of its history, the forefathers of the land and the passing of Ages. LOTR is just the tip of the iceberg, which I will uncover slowly. My journey through Middle Earth has just begun. There’s a whole series of books I have yet to get my hands on and it shall remain my lifelong ambition to understand the finer details of the history of Middle Earth.

Well then, if you’ve lasted till here, do tell me what you think of fantasy literature in general and Tolkien in particular. Waiting for your comments!

Blank?

Hey guys! I'm really really incredibly blank right now. No idea what to write on. Life's been pretty sane over the past few weeks, nothing unusual happening. So give me suggestions! I have a few dry posts lying in the drafts folder, but nothing exciting. I don't mind any kind of writing, just gimme ideas!

Hoping to see some comments..

Quantum of Solace

Hey everyone, it's been a while! Was off to Dubai for a week (there'll be a post on a lovely holiday sometime soon, bear with me) and no inspiration striking ever since. So to start things off again, I thought I'd tell you all about the latest Bond flick, Quantum of Solace.

The movie has everything you'd expect from a James Bond movie - gadgets, girls and plenty of action. It's a direct follow-up to Casino Royale, beginning barely a few hours after the last one left off and I would strongly recommend watching Casino Royale before you go to see this because the plot is very connected with what happened there. A lot of the characters are the same and while the movie will still be enjoyable, you won't get most of the intricate details if you haven't seen Casino Royale.

Daniel Craig, who isn't everyone's perfect impression of James Bond, does an outstanding job in my opinion. He has a pretty grim role in this movie, as anger sweeps over him and he kills like a man possessed. The plot moves quick and takes our friend all over the world, from the sunny beaches of Haiti to the mountains of Austria to the desert of Bolivia to the frozen enclave of Siberia. There's chases of all sorts - a car chase, an aeroplane chase, a water chase and plenty of terrestrial stuff. There is, in effect, only one Bond girl - Olga Kurylenko (thank Google for that spelling) and she's pretty sulky all the time. But she has her fair share of action and isn't a bore. I don't know how Gemma Arterton was advertised as a Bond Girl - she's in the movie for 10 minutes. A special mention must be made of M, who is the true heroine of this movie. For once, she has not been underused and the scenes with her and Bond together are great fun. 

On the whole, the movie works because it's a fast-paced, good ole Bond flick with a small difference - it's set in the modern world, which indiactes that Bond is progressing as time moves on. No longer stuck in the Cold War era, this Bond fights a different kind of enemy now. My mum found Casino Royale very boring (don't ask me how, I loved it) but even she really loved this move, so I'd say you must go see it! If you're in India, well it's better than any of the other rubbish out right now!

Rating - 4 on 5