During the summer of ’06, our last semester at NIT, Bhopal, two lazy-creative souls came out of their shells. On a creative-high, they ended up creating the above tshirt design for the 2002-06 batch of Computer Science of Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal (aka NITB, MANIT, MACT). This became a hugely popular concept and its now a trend, and you can catch most of the final year students donning their batch tees during the last few weeks of the golden-years.

And for those who can’t decipher what’s written -

• Line 1 – “Computer Science & Engineering rules at NIT, Bhopal”
  • Yes, we had our spies and bullies all over the place
• Line 2 – “Computer is the religion..”
  • scary.. eh? We even got a few unsuspecting professors converted!
    
• Line 3 – “You can not Escape! You can not Undo! You can not Exit!”
  • muhahahahahaha… mujajajaja.. out with the truth…. suckers!
• Line 4 – “You have to E N T E R”
  • See the geeky “Enter” sign in the design, wow, the height of sneaky subliminal advertising!

I still have got mine, errr, somewhere

Lyrics of the song “Dock of the Bay” by Pearl Jam (originally by “Otis Redding”, but I never heard the original version). Suits me well, especially when am headed for ‘Frisco myself.. and the time just seems to be passing me by. I wish I could somehow stop time and remain in this state of eternal bliss. This song makes me strangely nostalgic, sentimental and romantic… strangely.

Sittin’ in the mornin’ sun, I’ll be sittin’ till the evening’s done
Watchin’ the ships roll in, then I watch ‘em roll away again
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watchin’ the tide roll away
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay wastin’ time…

I left my home in Georgia, headed for the ‘Frisco Bay
I’ve got nothin’ to live for, looks like nothing’s gonna come my way, yeah…
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watchin’ the tide roll away
Sittin on the dock of the bay wastin’ time…

Looks like nothing’s ever gonna change, everything still remains the same
I can’t do what ten people want me to, so I guess I’ll remain the same
Oh, sittin’ on a roll in my bones, this loneliness won’t leave me alone
Two thousand miles I’ve roamed, just to make this dock my home, yeah…
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watchin’ the tide roll away
Sittin on the dock of the bay wastin’ time…

I left my home in Georgia, headed for the ‘Frisco Bay
Sittin’ here restin’ my bones, this loneliness won’t leave me alone, yeah…
Two thousand miles I’ve roamed, just to make this dock my home, yeah…
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watchin’ the tide roll away
Sittin on the dock of the bay wastin’ time…

psst, that’s my baby, Majbur Zindagiyan!

Off the record:
It took total 2 days to make, including conceptualization, interviewing some poor souls and the post-production. I remember my friends dozing off and me working on editing, through the night, ofcourse, hurling curses at them at every possible instance. Creating this movie has been one of the best experiences of my life, and winning that prize, one of the fondest memory of achievement. I miss you guys, my loved majboor fukeers.

Officially:
A documentary about the children and elderly of the city Bhopal (capital of Madhya Pradesh, India) who are forced into a life of misery and hardships because of their poverty. Stood first in a national level movie-making competition held at NIT, Bhopal (Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology aka MANIT and MACT) in ’06.

• Explore – More original shayari by the original shayar Prakash here – “Thought-String“

Sometimes, words really do weave magic and are enough to transform how you were feeling upto a point completely. Here’s a sweet romantic Urdu poem (Gazhal) by Jan Nissar Akhtar -

Mauj-e-gul, mauj-e-sabaa, mauj-e-sahar lagti hai
sar se paoon tak vo samaan hai ki nazar lagti hai

Humne har ghum sajdon e jalaaye hain chiraag
ab teri rehguzaar rehguzaar lagti hai

Lamhe lamhe mein basi hai teri yaadon ki mahak,
Aaj ki raat to khushbu ka safar lagti hai…

Jal gaya apna nasheman to koi baat nahi
dekhanaa yeh hai ki ab aag kidhar lagti hai

Saari duniyaa mein Garibon ka lahu bahataa hai
har zamin mujhko mere Khuun se tar lagti hai

Vaqyaa shehar mein kal to koi aisa na hua
yeh to “Akhtar” ke daftar ki Khabar lagti hai

Thanks to this particularly romantic & nostalgic entry “Yaad” on Rachna’s blog Bitter Chocolate for pointing out the above beautiful gazhal.

Explore (especially the forums) -

• Urdu Poet – www.urdupoet.net
• Shayri – www.shayri.com

I have recently started reading good poetry, partly because I was searching for something good to write in my farewell letter, and partly because of some other reasons. So, I came across this beautiful poem recently, and I can only wish that someday I will be able to write something even remotely as good as this -

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

Want more ? Here ya go -

• Top 50 Poems – Famous Poets & Poems
• Top Favorite Poems List
• Plagiarist.com’s Top 50 Most Viewed Poems
• Top 40 Poems at American Poems

I plan to post more of my favourite poems here, so keep watching!