My Japan Trip

Hey everyone,
Will be out of town from 1st June to 13th June, on my trip in Japan. I am so going to practise my spoken Japanese when I get there! ... Plus, I intend to make some new friends (Japanese ones, surprise, surprise).

Am looking forward to those exquisite temples and gardens. Blowfish sushi, not so much.

A poem

Here's a poem I wrote some weeks ago. It's confused and confusing. Sorry.

Song of Planet

On salty shore of Circling Sea,
When windy waves sang loud and long,
The lustrous sun shone on the foam
And ceaseless breath blew down a song.

The rising bud discharged its seed
And threw itself onto the world;
But bleeding scar—it oozed disease—
And soaring mountain cracking, tumbled.

Gasping through the fetid weeds,
Sorrow’s song played in the caves;
Serenity broke and mists arose,
Draping War who wandering, raved.

The moon was sweeping heaven’s gate;
Lithium bloomed in acid rain, and
Half-life beams of frozen jade
Drew from loam the glowing grain.

Fading gray the frightened trees,
An eerie glow shone on the waves,
That lapped the shores of ruined realms,
And the song fled to the caves.

In Japanese

今日は、　みんなさん！　これは　シャラドの　一ばん　日本語で　コンピュータ書きです。
それでは　うれしい　気持ちです！

For those of you who have East Asian scripts loaded (shame on you if you don't), the sentences read, "Hello, everyone! This is Sharad's first Japanese language post of the computer. And it's a great feeling!" I've finally figured out how to type in Japanese. All I need now are some Japanese friends to write to! *eyes darting from side to side, looking for an unsuspecting Japanese to parasitically latch onto*

If any Japanese people are reading my blog (how likely is that?) I'm sorry if there are any mistakes. (-__-;)

Sunday afternoon

I feel so lazy.

There's a very slight breeze blowing in, and there's not a sound in the middle of the afternoon. The loudest thing is the clicking of my keyboard. I feel completely at peace. There's nothing in the world that I'd rather do today than lie on my bed and dream the day away. The curtains keep fluttering in the breeze...
Don't you love Sundays?

2nd Semester ends

So the 2nd semester is over. Personally I found it to be quite challenging, albeit very interesting. We tackled quite a few interesting topics over the last 4 months, like postcolonialism, music, theatre and films, didn’t we? Kudos to our teachers for organizing the film screenings, the play tickets, and the music sessions, although I must admit I didn’t enjoy Quadrophenia.

And talk about exams! I doubt I’ll get a first-class in Lit.+Other Arts. PoCo was okay-ish, not very confident. And why was everyone so freaked out about CCB?

And if that wasn’t tension enough, just imagine my situation now! I’ll be wondering whether I’ve chosen the right optional course or not for the next two months. I chose “Drama of Ideas”, but who knows, with Shantanu-sir in charge… Of course a lot of my friends are taking this course. *waves frantically at them …yes Shruti, this includes you*

And now, we have our summer holidays!
<(^__^<) (>^__^)> <(^__^)> ^(^__^)^
*doing a cute dance to the tune of Cliff Richards’ Summer Holiday*

I leave you with a conversation I had with three of our seniors regarding optional courses:
Sharad (aggressively): Ei, tell me about the optionals. What should I take?
Senior A: Well what do you have?
Sharad: Well I’m thinking of taking Middle English…
Senior B: Are you nuts?!?
A: Ei, tui nak golashna to! (To Sharad) I took that course last and he gave pretty okay marks.
Sharad (nodding head): Yeah, plus we have Middle English in our core courses…
B: Ami boli ki, take someone easy. Dekhi list ta dekhi…
Senior A:Well, you could take Comedy, that seems fun.
Sharad (whining): What about Middle English?
B: No no no, take it your own risk!
A (urgently): About twenty people failed in his course last year, you know that?!?
B: Drama korishna. (looking at list) Hey, Drama of Ideas looks good, plus it’s a new course.
Sharad: Really?
B: Yeah, and Shantanu Biswas gives pretty good marks…
Sharad (eyes glittering dangerously): Really?!!?
A: Yeah, I get pretty good marks in his classes.
Sharad (drooling): Let me think… yup, Drama of Ideas sounds good
Goes into AL’s office and signs up
Senior C: So what did you sign up for?
Sharad: Drama of Ideas. Can you believe I actually thought of taking Middle English?
C: You missed out. I took that course last year, and I got more that 70%.
Sharad glares at him in silence.

2008 Cyclone Nargis

As you may have heard, Cyclone Nargis was a very powerful cyclone that ripped through Burma (Myanmar) on 2nd May. Please, let us pray for the people who lost their lives, for the people who lost their living, and for those who lost their livelihood. The world shall not soon forget the ~50,000 men, women and children who died because of this storm. And this is only the beginning: famine, disease and crime are the vultures of disaster, and will be so on this occasion as well. Nargis was certainly no timid lily, but a nettle.

Nargis

It was stormy weather in Calcutta tonight,
And the seething water-claws
Scraped against the dribbling cement
Of the concrete caves,
And every flash of lightning
Looked to me a petal of a white lily,
A blooming Nargis.

Was there a boy like me, ploughing the Irrawaddy?
Did he too love the musty, dusty smell,
The love-mist of the dry earth and wet air?
I shall not know, I shall never know,
For he was drowned.
He cried and he drowned.
He cried aloud to the Lord that he knew,
He cried aloud and he drowned,
Tossed aside by the waves,
Thrust aloft by the crushing waves
Of Nargis.

And was there a little girl I shall never know?
Did she hear the sighs of her goats
When they heard the far thunder?
She did not,
She could not,
She cried and she drowned.
She cried aloud, “Oh Lord, save us!”
She cried and she gagged
When the swirl swept her little face
Into the mud of her father’s field,
And her nostrils filled with muddy darkness,
She cried and her lungs filled with the salty tears
Of Nargis.

Near the village field,
Was there an old woman?
Breasts fallen, face wrinkled,
Hips loosened by the fruit of her husband’s loins?
She felt the grip of the swell on her waist
And it lovingly embraced her, wetting her clothes
As it smashed her brain into
Her household shrine.
She cried aloud,
She wept and she cried,
To the Lord that she knew,
To her lord as it blew
Her skull into the brick wall,
Smashed among the tall
Limbs of Nargis.

What poison lily? What treacherous friend?
What vicious mercy! What catastrophic end!
What wind did blow! What storm was seen!
What hatred! What beauty!
What delusion was wend!
For it was no calm wheel of dharma,
Wheeling across the Burmese sky,
But the terribly gorgeous
Chakra of chaos!

Let us whisper in the garden…

CCB exams

I'm sorry Amlan-da, but c'mon, there is just a limit to the endless genealogies of Genesis! Furthermore, why are the English students the only ones who have to take their own E.D. exam? I protest! Thankfully, I have created this (ahem) wonderful blog to take my mind off the exam. At moments like these, you need to calm yourself down, so I'll be leaving you now with this soothing picture of Mt Fuji:

My first blog

Welcome to my first blog. I'll be doing the usual blog things, like:

1. Talking about things you probably don't care about

2. Treating you like a bosom friend even if you are (gasp!) a stranger

3. Treating your comments like manna from heaven

4. Thanking you for having read so far into my post.

So thank you. I wonder what I shall be writing about; anyway, watch this space for more snippets from the life and times of Sharad M!