Spandan

Have you ever wondered about the puzzling relationship between music and a typical human mind? I am sure you must have because music is such an inseparable thing in a human life. At least I have; a lot.
No matter how much I try, I have not been able to figure out the answer to why almost every human being in the world loves some or the other form of music. I know you can come up with a lot of exceptions but I am pretty sure they will constitute an ignorably small percentage of music lovers.
I have not read a lot about the workings of human brain but as far as I remember there are some kind of waves (alpha, beta, gamma etc) which our brain emits or responds to. Sometimes I think there is a strong correlation between these brain waves and the waves which make music or come out of it. But I haven't found any literature on that.
Sometimes I think that it is just our environment which makes everybody interested in music. Today we can see music everywhere. A child grows up in the sea of music. There is no way he can remain unaffected by this(leave extreme cases out). So may be it is the social circumstantial conditions which make music so popular.
I can't think of any other plausible reason and I don't know if the reasons stated above are correct or not. Any suggestions??

A lot has been written and said about the ongoing reservation issue in higher education in premier institutes. I am just adding one more raised hand against quota system.
Being myself an IITian, I know the performance level of the guys who enter in the college through quotas. High CGPA is a rarity amongst them. Failing the courses is very common for them. Most of them usually take more time to pass out than the assigned term which is already relaxed for them as compared to the general category. Except some sincere guys, most of them just try to somehow get the degree without a will to learn.
And the main basis which is cited as the provenance of all this quota system, namely economic backwardness because of which they dont get enough opportunities to get proper education, to progress, itself goes down the drain when we find out that most of them own bikes and computers in college which we, general category students who are supposed to be much better than them financially, dont posses.
I really have not understood how this reservation is helping in their progress and lifting their self esteem. Even if due to this quota system these guys can get degrees from premier colleges, it does not enable them to get good private sector jobs because everything comes out in the interviews.
Only if some politician would agree to sit in a plane driven by these pilots, live in homes built by them, walk on the flyovers erected by them...
In my opinion instead of reservations, they should be provided with free basic education and strongly competitive environment so that they can justify their admissions to premier institues for higher education. They should not be treated like they are not capable of doing anything on their own and whatever they have got in life is through reservation. It is humiliating for a human being and completely deprecates their self-esteem.
I hope that these guys only will rise up against it and join the hands with all who are already fighting for it.
The whole issue so clearly reminds me of Atlas Shrugged and the theory Ayn Rand supported so vehemently. I only hope that Man never compromises on his will to excel by true, honest and hard work and refuses to live on alms.

Hum tere sanam hote!
padha tha maine teri aankhon mein, aansuon se labaalab bhare samandar ki satah par.
sah na paayee thi mera pratibimb tum, moond li thi palaken, utar aaya tha vo ashkon par.
chaaha tha sahej kar rakh loon, un motiyon par sirf mera hi to haq tha.
par tumhare chehere ko chhoo na sakta tha, vo kisi aur ka ho chuka tha.
katra-katra samandar teri aankhon se bahata raha, laal jode ko bhigo gaya.
bas karo ab aur nahin, main tumse kahata raha, vo mujhko poora dubo gaya.
donon chup the, but se, dekhate rahe, mazaal ki ek shabd bhi goonja hota.
gar ye taale pahele tod diye hote, aaj apna ye haal to na hua hota.
tum jaanati thin, main jaanta tha, kahane ki kisi mein himmat na thi.
lekin mere khuda, itne se gunaah ki, itni badi to keemat na thi.
patthar ho gaya hoon, khada hoon tere saamne, kuch nahin soojhata, bas ek khayaal hai.
tu jahan rahe khush rahe, main khush rahoonga, pata nahin, bas aakhiri ek sawaal hai.
kya ye pal aisa hi hota, agar tum mere sanam hote?

yaad mein teri sanam, hum khaak ho chale the,
ab to giriyaa pe bhi, ikhtiyaar kho chale the!
ek lamhaa raha gayaa thaa, tumne phir aawaaz di,
varnaa hum to khwaahish-e-hayaat kho chale the!!

shayad mein zindagin mein tere sang chal na paaoon,
shayad mein apne hothon ko sil hi jaaoon!
shayad mein tujhse phir kabhi mil na paaoon,
ya phir shayad mein tujh mein hi mil jaaoon!!

patjhad kaa gumaan hai, na hosh hai bahaar kaa!
jaane khatm hogaa kab silsilaa ye intezaar kaa!
ab aalam ye hai, dost rakeeb ho gaye hain,
kaun marham-e-gam banega, is dil-e-bekaraar kaa!!

agar dil ki jaanib nigaahen jhukaate,
humko na paate to phir kisko paate!
na ho payee itni si koshish bhi unse,
ek hum hain jo iljaam sar pe uthaate!!

lo aa gaye phir se vahi mausam suhaane,
dil ne phir dhoondhe tumse milne ke bahaane!
ab sochataa hoon, kaash kaha diyaa hotaa,
jis baat se tum ho ab tak anjaane!!

I couldn't control and slept off. It is really very challenging to remain awake for 15-20 minutes after the lunch when you don't have much work at your desk. I could not stand the challenge and slept off but in not a very obvious position. After approx 20 minutes, I woke up still feeling sleepy. So I thought of having a cup of coffee..went to cafeteria..bothered the coffee machine..wasted a paper cup and started sipping that tasteless coffee. After a minute, my colleague came and asked about the block I was working on,"Is Hybrid looking good?". Hybrid is an Analog block of the Ethernet systems. Please don't scratch your heads(analog designers excluded) if this doesn't sound familiar. Treat this as a black box. OK.
I answered,"Yes!". He got excited with positive answer and asked again,"Is it really looking beautiful?".
I said,"Yes! Do you want to marry Hybrid?". It was kind of an impulsive answer without really giving a thought to the meaning of what I was saying. Then suddenly another guy popped up,"Hey, how do you know the gender of your block?". And this thought occured in my mind. Do all the engineers(both sexes) know the gender of the blocks they are working on no matter whether it is VLSI design or programming or building a bridge or making a car or anything. Does anyone even think about it? I haven't till now. But from that moment I started to figure out some characteristics of Hybrid which can be helpful in determining its gender. Analysis is not finished yet...:o)
What say guys..Som, Anant, Jlal, Abhaya....

aao bachchon tumhen sunayen ek kahani,
mat poocho, ye gatha humne kaise jaani,
kitne-kitne kasht sahe hain iski khatir,
chodi humne neend ke choda khana-paani!

ek saheb the, bade josh mein vo rahate the,
kuch bhi kar sakta hoon duniya mein, kahate the,
sabko tha maloom, hai kitna hosh, josh mein,
jaan ke jwala aur bhi bhadkaate rahate the!

naya-naya ji unko phir ek shauk chadha tha,
dum na ratti bhar ka, lekin khwab bada tha,
kitna samjhaya sabne, ab bhi ruk jaao,
lekin akal pe patthar nahin pahad pada tha!

Marathon dauden, unki ichha ho aayee,
bole sab, lo uski to ab shaamat aayee,
samjhaye koi, pahale seedhe to chal len,
unke purkhon ne bhi hai kya daud lagai!

na ban paati kahavaten jo maan vo jaata,
kahane se kumhaar gadhe pe chadh na jaata?
naach na paate to, tedha na aangan hota,
bhor ka bhoola, saanjh dhale ghar aa na paata!

phir unki aukaat kisi ne jab dikhlayee,
jaise-taise baat unhen phir samajh mein aayee,
ghabraye phir taanon se duniya ke kyonki,
bol chuke the 'pran jayee par bachan na jayee!

jab unko haalaat samajh mein aaye asli,
gayee shaan gaddhe mein, aur hui haalat patli,
koshish karte the chalne ki taan ke seena,
lekin lagata tha ke nikli bas ab nikli!

aakhir vo phir sah na paaye bhaar ye bhari,
utri sar se phir hoke laachaar khumari,
Marathon vaale din ghar se nikal na paaye,
kyonki shauchalaya mein saari raat guzari!

utar gayee saari izzat aur hui burai,
pakade donon kaan, baat ye samajh mein aayee,
kaha loki kaviraay, ki bolo soch sahajh kar,
varna pachtaoge, hogi jagat hansai!