RIP Smooth Criminal ....

When the news poured in I couldn't believe that Michael Jackson was no more ...

The man who taught the world to 'Moonwalk', the man who could confidently call himself 'The King of Pop' and get people to respect this self-bestowed crown, the man who could 'Heal the World', the man who got over two dozen artists to collaborate for the legendary aid album for Africa, the immortal 'Thriller' -- the man behind all of these ... no more

You may not have gone with the sun shining on you, but you have left a legend behind you -- something that has been nothing short of history

RIP Smooth Criminal

G-Talk (read 'Green Talk') ...

I was walking down North Gate here, and I realized that there was this tall guy walking slowly towards me. He was wearing a T-shirt from an environment-support organization, and I immediately had a feeling that I should be walking past without even giving him a minuscule amount of attention -- but, I always do that, and this time around I actually felt slightly bad for walking away. You see, there's so much of environment talk doing the rounds, and I am a concerned denizen -- so...'let's hear him out' I said. This was kind-of the conversation between this guy and me --

Guy -- Hey, wassup man, how's it goin'?

Me -- Hey ... nothing much .. 'sup ?

Guy -- Do you have a minute for our environment, man ?

Me -- Well, let's hear it ... (dude, I stopped despite noticing your T-shirt ... you bet I have a minute indeed!!)

Guy -- Alrite man!! I am XYZ ... (shakes hand)

Me -- Debanjan ... nice to meet you

Guy -- So have you heard about us ?? (doesn't stop for me to say anything) We are a global organization, fighting for our environment. I am not here today to sign you up or make you our member or something. I just want to tell you about some of the work we do ... we are non profit , and we work with donations by our members. We have chapters in Berkeley and also all throughout US (I thought that was what Global meant anyways, but yeah ...) ... and ....

Me -- (fitting in small stretches of 'Nice!', 'That's cool!', 'Interesting!' in between the long speech)

Guy -- ... and, the agenda of our work has been so far well implemented at many locations .. and ... and ... (comes to a sudden awkward pause, and looks at the papers in his hand)

Me -- (looking at him with questioning eyes)

Guy -- (sudden blurt) So, do you believe in People Power??

Me -- (hainh !!!!) Ummm ... well okay ...

Guy -- Then let's get you signed up man !! Every minute we waste, we are throwing 'n' acres of land into disaster. We can't waste any time in getting you signed up ... here's ... (starts taking out a set of forms)

Me -- (really now !!! I thought you were not signing members here ... what happened midway, am I that eligible a candidate for being a member!!) Well, actually, can I have a look at the form, and then let you guys know in a day or two. Do you have online membership forms?

Guy -- Online forms ?? Er ... yeah, we do have online forms ... they can be filled online ...

Me -- Cool!! Then I will fill it up online. Thanks a lot dude, for introducing me to your organization, was a pleasure ..

Guy -- (now recovered fully ... gets himself back) Thanks for your time man!!

P.S: Though the above post might seem biased, but I have NOTHING against environmental organizations -- in fact, I think they are doing a good job of keeping people aware and getting something done. It's only that sometimes you wish people approached the task of presenting these organizations to the masses in a more serious and proper manner.

Mobile Photuzz :D

I hadn't transferred the files on my phone to my computer ... and after a long day's work, when I was left with nothing much to do, I suddenly decided to transfer the contents from my phone. I actually thought that I did not have any stuff on my phone -- but I was in for quite a surprise as I saw that I had quite a few pics on my card. Some of them are in fact quite interesting, so I thought maybe I can share them here. So, here we go:

(This is the famous Campanile of UC Berkeley. I guess it is the most 'clicked' UCB campus-unit by far)

(Just when we thought our days down in the lab are not eventful by any means -- our building caught a fire !! It was a very small sporadic burst though, lasted about 10 - 15 mins)

(Of course, we do work in our labs ... quite a bit of it. And the white board has seen some looong meetings in front of it ... quite a feat!!)

(Of course, we have gardens on campus, where we specify what the garden is for. This one is in front of the Math & Stats Dept building -- so all specifications have been detailed, no 'uncertainties')

(and just when you thought disposal of stuff was beginning to be a problem -- Berkeley has a new and radical solution for you to be implemented. The pilot plant that you see here works fine so far, and can be launched for other disposed products as well)

Well, what do you know, Mobile-cam Photography can be fun too !! :D

Aik Alif -- Baba Bulle Shah

Jo Na Jaane Haq Ki Taakat

Rab Na Dewe Usko Himmat

Hum Man Ke Dariya Me Doobein

Kaisi Naiya, Kya Majdhaar 

An attempt at translating the above:

When you don't realize the strength of what you are

God will not provide you with much help

You will be drowning in the turmoils of your own mind

Even more than a struggling boat in the midst of a tempest. 

Its been quite a while since I was so overwhelmed by a single piece of musical performance. Coke Studio is by far one of the most brilliant and stupendous initiatives in the world of 'sub-continental Music' that I have ever seen. It does a phenomenal job of portraying the amazing strength and variety that Pakistani Music has to offer to the world -- my heartfelt thanks to all the performers for putting up such absolute gems of performances.  

P.S: The song 'Aik Alif' based on Bulle Shah's kalaam can be heard here

Finally ... My Own Complete Guitar Rig ... yeah !! :D

Yeah ... as the title says ... I finally managed to get my own guitar rig completed. Got the guitar -- an Epiphone SG Special from a senior here. It came with the amp -- a Marshall MG 10CD, and a cable and some other accesories. This was last semester though -- saved up some cash, and finally a few weeks ago, got a multi-effects processor -- DigiTech RP150, and a guitar stand. And there it was ... my own guitar rig -- nothing high quality, or exorbitant, simple stuff ... but stuff that will probably keep my music enthu from fading away. 

Next Objective: Recording and uploading a track here on my page. Let's see how that goes !! 

Photograph courtesy 'apne Ravi Baabu's Canon EOS Rebel XSI DSLR'. 

Random

Random updates about life in general forms a good blogging topic ... one which I hadn't used thus far. This morning, as I was sipping a cup of tea, and listening to a song on YouTube, I suddenly had a whole lot of things whooshing into my mind. So, I thought about finally trying on the random updates idea. 

In the last few days, we worked out our 'moving out' plans, and have kinda finalized stuff. It's gonna save all three of us roommates some money -- and the place looks good too. Though, now that I am in an apartment, I dunno if I can continue with my guitar experiments that freely. Which reminds me, had a get-together yesterday -- and played guitar for a long stretch after a long time. Wanted to go back to insti-days, and perform live on stage -- been quite a while since I sang whole-heartedly too. Yesterday night also was 'Poker Night' -- I realized I friggin have a 'miserably bad luck' -- kept getting the worst of all cards. Though it was all great fun. 

Fun ... hmmm, that reminds me of this conversation I had with a friend of mine -- we were discussing work satisfaction and we spoke about having some fun at your work being more important than bagging a huge salary. My friend is a brave-heart -- he went on to resign from his work in a moment's decision. I think all of us should be doing the same -- don't take shit from your workplace/authorities, they don't know your worth, and you certainly deserve better -- unless you yourself start feeling that you deserve what you are getting ... a total death of self-esteem and confidence I must say. I wish this buddy of mine gets a better workplace pretty soon. I feel fortunate to have such great buddies -- so many back home in India, and so many here in Berkeley. My insti-buddies have sort of been my support system, and I am sure they will continue to be ... eh eh .. too much senti !!

Well, yeah, so my buddies -- about a week ago I remember calling one of them up, in one of those 'weaker moments' with too much 'liquid tension' ... and absolutely opening up my heart on a long distance call. I am really really privileged to be able to do that. Friends ... 

Recently something interesting is happening to me -- I had a dream last night, it's all pretty weird. I think I should be talking about this to someone in particular, but I am not sure -- and the last time this happened, I chose not to do anything -- didn't leave me in a very well off state in the end. I dunno what ... I just hope, I get some direction. 

Too much randomness in updating ... but what the heck ... this was fun. Random updates is a pretty good blogging theme after all then !!

The Sixth Sense Device ... !!!!!

I just landed up on this site a couple of months ago, and realized it's sheer awesome-ness. However, this one video I saw today has topped it all in terms of every damn thing that I could imagine of. Pattie Maes, a professor at MIT's Media Arts and Sciences programme displays one of her Lab's projects (The Media Lab at MIT) -- a device she calls the 'Sixth Sense Device', engineered by a student of her's, Pranav Mistry. Have a look at this video, and you tell me if you are not bowled over completely too !!!

Obama's New Beginning ...

Just watched the historic speech made by Obama at Cairo University again ... I had liked it the first time when I watched it with a good friend here in my lab. This second time I had the opportunity to actually think about why I had liked it so much -- and about some of the ideas in the speech that made me go 'Okay ... now now ... '.

The speech has already received ample criticism from different countries and also from the Muslim-world to whom the speech was addressed. So, I will not even attempt to set-up something like that -- but would really want to say that it felt great to see the leader of such a powerful nation finally coming up on a public podium and being upfront and direct about so many issues. The speech did a great job of projecting Obama as a man who was willing to look at solutions and not just comment on the problems -- and as someone who is trying to be approachable by the global community, something that I can't say his predecessor succeeded much at. 

There is this YouTube video of one of McCain's campaign sessions, when an elerly woman grabs the mike and says that she really can't trust Obama -- cos she thinks he is an Arab. McCain promptly denies that, and makes it a point that such issues are not even allowed in discussions any more. Good Job McCain !! Much of the political strategy of America in the recent has been in a similar strain (or so I think) -- to get rid of these conceptions that American people, and even people around the world, happened to have grown about the relations between America and the Muslim-world. Obama's speech was a big significant step in that direction. 

I looked at the speech again, and I realized why I liked it that much in the first place though. You see, when you think about global political issues, you sometimes have some very obvious questions creeping up in your mind -- some things that you keep thinking about. As an example, you think about why America is getting involved in Iraq's state of affairs for so long -- are they gonna even help them re-organize, or are they gonna actually stake claims over their reserves and resources? How about them doing stuff in Pakistan ... you can't just pressurize them ... the roots of their issues do lie elsewhere ... how about doing something to address those issues ? 

And he spoke about these candidly (or at least as candid as he could be I guess). He mentioned about adressing Pakistan's development by helping them build their businesses and education. he mentioned about leaving Iraq quite soon, and not claiming any stakes, but help them in their development as well. His admittance of Iraq issue being dealt with in not quite the right manner, and his insistence that Israel's relations with America will be unscathed even in the face of attempts to help resolve the Palestine issue -- these are stuff that you kind of thought wouldn't be addressed that clearly. But ... he did. 

One must admit though that there is no way to be sure that he knows how to go about addressing all of these issues properly. There will still be doubts as to whether all that he said was actually 'too good to be true'. Indeed, for example, how will it work out for America to help garner funds for development of the economies of Iraq, Pakistan, and so on -- the Federal Government is in a debt of such an insane amount !!! 

You know what ... let's not forget that end-results notwithstanding, it is a great start on behalf of America -- on behalf of Obama -- to look deeper into such issues of critical importance in global politics and developmental relations. And that's what the speech was all about wasn't it ? It was all about this new start, about a 'new beginning'.