A Valentine's Day Single

Another fictitious tale of a fellow who is single on Valentine's day but is in high spirits about finding his perfect mate and always wears a smile over his veil of loneliness.

Walking along the pavement he is chirpy,
By no means he is on anyone's mercy,
Frolicking into the shop to buy the chocolate,
Broken down to the details of platter and plate,

Goes out to pick up his finest suit,
Wants to make sure it looks a beaut,
To the shop for the bouquet which is fresh,
Thinks love is simpler than a game of chess,

A year ago his date didn't really show up,
But still loves being caught in the love's rut,
The spirits are not dampened by inclement weather,
Eternal optimist, the heart still lighter than a feather,

Slowly it becomes dusk of the dawn,
He sits waiting for someone just to fawn,
He moves to dinner table to place a candle,
A perfect gentleman who avoids a wrangle,

But across the table, nobody is sitting there,
Nobody to return the gaze or the sense of care,
Content with his mind, he gives the candle a snuff,
This has now become an annual February trough,

The loneliness he feels is truly unrivalled,
But hope is something which can't be bridled,
Asks no favours from Cupid or Kris Kringle,
He is proud to be the sweetest single.

                                              - Rajmohan Yadav

Fast Food Fan

This is about a fictitious consumer of food chain restaurants who revels amidst capitalism :-P

It started when he was surveying a map,
There was an offer which was up for grab,
So he took out his good old bike,
To get some delicacy at first strike,

Across the lane,the shop is in the eyes,
Housing some cuboid French Fries,
Delectable, but the destiny is further,
Wanting a piece of that green burger,

Guzzling the burger, a moral victory lies,
Having the veggies which he never tries,
Done for day, but comeback for more,
Much is left to try in the fast food lore,

Walking on the pavement, a wonder he sees,
Piazza store adding that extra layer of cheese,
Numbers on the menu do look silly,
Here he doesn't mind onion or chilly,

There is that bespoke piazza topping,
Served up, now there is no stopping,
Such is the virtue of eating to your brink,
One will always need something to drink,

The ordered coffee is shade from being frozen,
Waiting, as your schedule is ripped and broken,
All this was the fast food fan in a gist,
Pre-eminent admirer of the capitalist.

                                        - Rajmohan Yadav 

Great Stroll of India

This is the fictitious traveller who tip toes its way across India's boundaries.

I travel to north, straight to the great heights,
Home to Kashmir of the awe-inspiring sights,
Seamless and spread across the landscape,
Sleeping conveniently under the icy drape,

I turn south where the tufts where seen,
This is where the revolution was green,
A desert was sweeping, majestic and grand,
An aroma of royalty through the shifting sands,

Sauntering across my throat had parched,
To the salt land, where Gandhi had marched,
Watching the footsteps of Father of the nation,
Peace and tolerance had a shared an intimation,

Then comes the marquee of India's finance,
A city where everyone waits for their chance,
It flows along the pace and also has its own grace,
Then you turn west and find the vast sea to the face,

India is there, stretching across as millions of islands,
Scattered and much further away from the inner-lands,
Trampolining  across the ocean, following the evening star,
Here comes the pristine and wondrous Andaman and Nicobar,

I undertook my natation through the Bay of Bengal,
Landed in Kolkata, so bustling it brings you to a stall,
Standing upon the misty brow, you lose yourself in the calm,
Inseparable is the North-East alongside Assam and Mizoram,

Straddled across India and Nepal, standing as a colossus,
Himalayas are imposing for any traveller who crosses,
India is culture who borders are open to blend,
As I mark through, this journey comes to an end.

                                                         - Rajmohan Yadav

Entrenched : World War I Tribute

Adjust your wristwatches by 100 years, and we are slowly approaching the phase of World War-I when the Western front descended into a trench warfare where soldiers where mowed down for seemingly worthless swatches of land. This poem is based on World War-I.

The Archduke's driver took a wrong turn,
Shedding gun powder on the map to burn,
Bullets were embedded in the Austrian's chest,
Peace in the continent was toppled from its crest,

A cascade of furtive treaties had followed,
Within a week, all majors powers were swallowed,
The Germans were nimble and decisive in their move,
Pouring through the Flanders for their might to prove,

Their march was halted by the French and British force,
Dead level, now the war was about to take a new course,
Both the belligerents had their gains to keep,
They were tacitly willing to take a back seat,

Likewise the conditions boiled at the farther Eastern front,
It was not the only place where the Czar would bear the brunt,
You wondered how much more horrid could it get?
Troops were stretchered off by a poisonous breath,

Mowed down were brigade after brigade,
Few were spared in the ensuing enfilade,
Escalation reigned, as the methods grew efficient and cold,
Everyone forgot the hat doffing glory that they were told,

The monarchy in Russia was toppled to everyone's dread,
The Czarist calendar had the month of October painted red,
America took notice as scribing of a telegram were revealed,
Crossing Atlantic, Allied resolve had garnered much needed steel,

Final manoeuvres were made and later they came to the table,
The warring nations were crippled and the mark was indelible.

                                                                          - Rajmohan Yadav
  

Engineering Attendance

This is dedicated to all the Engineering students who are on a wild goose chase of maintaining 75 % attendance all throughout the semester.

The new semester had now started,
Ways with the vacation had been parted,
The first lectures were right from the morning,
Attendance compulsory was told as a warning,

Somehow the first lecture had gone,
With cases of having multiple yawn,
Really struggling to make any progress,
There was an urgent need to refresh,

The clock said lunch was long way away,
Three hours left, we were there to stay,
The lecturers were true to their trade,
From the subject they never strayed,

Finally, the lunch clock had petered out,
Much needed break in a drowsy drought,
Not everyone turned up after that,
Some wondered what they were at,

The days followed as the pattern repeated,
Our department felt more and more cheated,
The students throughout the week dwindled,
Few even left the attendance sheet swindled,

As expected, it didn't go down too well,
Now was the time to ring the defaulter bell,
The class had given the notice board a cram,
And everyone gave that open book exam.

                                               - Rajmohan Yadav

A Lover called Government

A nation's government is much like a lover which makes promises, goes back on them and always expects you to give them one more chance. This poetry is dedicated to this quiddity of an elected government.

Five years up, they stood there outdoors,
Suddenly there were manifestos in the stores,
Ideally they should be under the rack of fiction,
It suddenly struck that it was season of election,

They trumpeted their way to the seat of power,
The promises had resembled a daunting tower,
Slowly the grains of time had started to flow,
The strains of the task had now begun to show,

My expressions changed as I was left surprised,
Some of the promises were being compromised,
Going back on their word had become a regular habit,
Every now and then they seemed to be at it,

But they also had a few tricks up their sleeve,
They skewed statistics to make you again believe,
They planned a retreat with a barrier ready to defend,
You wonder whether evading answers would ever end,

Years passed, they started again to look humble,
There was an admittance of a path with a stumble,
The talks of about not 'I' but rather a tentative 'we',
And you ask yourself how this could possibly be?

There is an earnest appeal for a second chance,
Another invitation to join and relive the old dance,
I guess the real character could finally be determined,
It is just a fickle lover which is called a government.

                                                                         - Rajmohan Yadav

A Mumbai Local Tale

This is about the travelling in the lifeline of Mumbai...the local trains...

I had never really travelled by them before,
But then long distances had come to the fore,
I got the chance to travel by Mumbai's local train,
And my friend, this is what I seem to have gain,

First I had to figure out the west,harbour and centre,
Doing that can sometimes leave your mind in a welter,
Then to buy the ticket you get into the ever burgeoning queue,
Given its nature, you begin to wonder if you are to get through,

You make your way to the station across the gate,
Almost bound to bump into someone who is getting late,
Going up the way on what looks like a steady staircase,
Whether you know or not, you are already a part of the race,

Better get down the stairs before any train arrives,
Otherwise you will be stuck and really have to strive,
On the station, stand and you better stay on your mark,
Getting through the door is well and truly not a walk in the park,

Stand, push then hold yourself and always be aware,
You get the feeling of being in a Roman Infantry square,
Mind the luggage, always stand and secure your position,
Don't forget the mark and the side of your real destination,

Time to disembark, and it is not really the difficult part,
A congested station has a go, you just melt into the flow,
Another staircase, and you see that the race is again going to be on,
You realize the pointlessness, and you wait for everyone to be gone,

                                                                     - Rajmohan Yadav

The Facebook Look

This is dedicated to the folks who spent a good lot of time to meticulously engineer their Facebook timeline including myself recently.

Waiting for the login page to load,
Sluggish internet truly gets you bored,
Finally something is up in your chrome,
Your Facebook page makes you feel home,

I was looking for a regaling status update,
Something that would be funny and great,
Then you wait for anybody offering a 'like',
None appear, you wonder if there is a strike,

There is a cover picture on your timeline,
For your wall, you think it looks fine,
Later on, it does get to manage a like or two,
For the news feed, respectably it got through,

I changed the display picture in a rush,
No likes on it, there was a unsettling hush,
Suddenly I see a display picture with likes replete,
I quietly proceeded to my timeline for a delete,

Folks jauntily update their location along with friends,
Commoners gleefully like just to show that one pretends,
People do add some events of their life,
Its a shiny world without any sort of strife,

Facebook is there to make your life look good,
It may not always show the truth that it should, 
But do carry on to login and chat away, 
It does keep you pseudo-social in a way,

                                                 - Rajmohan Yadav

Exam Hall Blues

This one is dedicated to all the folks who have been distressed in an exam hall, and that should be quite a hefty number.

The notice board uncoils and the dates are up,
You look at it and hope to rope in some luck,
You take a good look at the time-table,
To study you try to get ride of the cable,

Sheets are distributed and the bell rings,
In anticipation what the paper will bring,
You look through what questions you can solve,
It suddenly turns into a test of your resolve,

It is the end semester paper of full three hours,
Unlike cricket, you can't even hope for showers,
Given the time, you are slow to get off the blocks,
Saving your fastest and illegible writing in the stocks,

Two hours are gone, and you find yourself stuck,
Start to look around furtively for a stroke of luck,
You find the look of strife on your friends,
It kind of portends how this finally ends,

You take a break only to find 30 minutes on a drained clock,
40 marks still left, its time to give the inner engineer an unlock,
Going through the questions you are suddenly leaping,
Handwriting and ethics are taking an absolute beating,

You come out of the exam and the memory of it turns hazy,
Friends flock together to discuss solutions which sound flaky,
You do pass the exam, how? you begin to look for clues,
But all you can remember however, are the exam hall blues.

                                                                          - Rajmohan Yadav

Irate of the great (Spoof)

Rajmohan Yadav....what to do??

                 A bit of a background on what you are about to read. I have written this article as a spoof on some of the most famous quotes ever said by great luminaries over hundreds of years. So, the subtext of great quotes tend to be a message, for a person or possibly for a situation. But what if the main purpose of the 'quote' was to deride someone? So I have decided to bestow that honour upon me. Yes, I will take it on my chin as a means to create a light-hearted spoof and indulge in self-depreciation. So sit back as I play this out we a view on humour and my sarcastic self-promotion. Now we begin...apologies to all the folks who quotes have been mentioned here...no malice intended :-P 

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss about Rajmohan Yadav" - Eleanor Roosevelt 

"To be or not to be....whatever it may be...just don't be Rajmohan Yadav" - William Shakespeare

"To become truly great, one has to stand with people, and away from Rajmohan Yadav" - Charles de Montesquieu

"I am the greatest, I said that when I saw Rajmohan Yadav in the ring" - Muhammad Ali

"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished by Rajmohan Yadav" - George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

"Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things and small people talk about Rajmohan Yadav" - Fran Lebowitz

"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is lost when you hang around with Rajmohan Yadav" - Phillips Brooks

"I believe the first test of a truly great man is how de deals with the likes of Rajmohan Yadav" - John Ruskin

"If you're going through hell, and happen to run into Rajmohan Yadav, just keep going. - Winston Churchill

"Don't ask what you can do for Rajmohan Yadav,very little, ask what Rajmohan Yadav can do for you, not much either" - John.F.Kennedy

"The pen is mightier than the sword, but if Rajmohan Yadav on either, then the contest goes into balance" - Edward Bulwer-Lytton

"No culture can live if it attempts to open to Rajmohan Yadav" - Mahatma Gandhi

“To talk with Rajmohan Yadav for a meaningful conversation is the same as climbing a tree to catch a fish”- Chinese Proverb

"Never tell Rajmohan Yadav how to do things. Tell him what to do and you will be left scratching your head, thinking why you gave it to him in the first place" - George S. Patton

"Rajmohan Yadav is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one" - Albert Einstein

Battling Coding

Another one from the battling series,

I was introduced to coding in engineering,
Oblivious to what would be its future bearing,
Initially I didn't really have problems at hand,
I wrote programs like a magician with a wand,

But my bete noire finally had been found,
Its was the ultimate one of being time bound,
Somehow the clock played tricks with my solution,
Accelerating the same pattern was the real confusion,

Coding didn't feature in the intermediate semester,
By now that old wound was beginning to fester,
My first job process didn't really need to code,
The academic skills were enough to take the load,

At job my coding skills were jocund and free,
Though many could not come to terms for agree,
The point was that its essence was in the fun,
If rigorous or repetitive, then I would be obliged to run,

Then I enrolled for a masters course,
Now I was about to feel the real force,
Time drained, my coding skills were now a vestige,
It really had now taken a real beating on its prestige,

I was at it again vying for another job,
Some rejections felt like a daylight rob,
I was beginning to wonder why so bumpy was the road,
I was descending and had totally forgotten how to code.

                                                           - Rajmohan Yadav

Battling Engineering

This is a continuation of the battle hardened series in the world of academia....now with the holy grail of technical courses....engineering,

It was the month of August that it began,
For eight semesters it somehow ran,
But this poem is exclusively on semester one,
It was the most troublesome without any fun,

At first I had enrolled for a tuition class,
Slowly it was turning into a time pass,
I knew that the subjects would be tough,
Strapped in for a ride going to be rough,

There was the subject of engineering mechanics,
Filled with tons of problems on static and dynamics,
The sums had forces and directions to be resolved,
Without the approach I used to just aimlessly revolve,

Based on electronics, BEEE happened to be its abbreviation,
The flow of current and the voltage looked without justification,
The more I studied, the more the resistance kept on mounting,
Every sum was a shock and every solution looked astounding,

Then of course, there were the old foes of Physics and Chemistry,
They had made a comeback when I thought they were history,
It had all the makings of yet another very close duel,
Somehow got over the line, had just the amount of fuel,

In the end, first semester was where my aggregate was pretty low,
Had to carve my way through it so the progress was very slow,
I did understand that this result was not the finished product,
With seven semesters to go, it was time for me to get stuck.

                                                                                           - Rajmohan Yadav

Classroom Composition

So lets go about our chapter here....

                This is something which I always wanted to talk about since my college days. That is, a discourse on a place where I have been as long as I can remember, that happens to be a good part of 24 years. I wanted to write about this few years back but I left it in cold storage for too long. I am referring to the general ingredients which make up a classroom. Not the classroom in a school, but the ones which find you in higher college studies and in undergraduate courses.
           I have often observed a predictable pattern in the ingredients of any classroom at that level. So lets start-off with all the different groups and folks which we would find in any typical classroom, shall we? I will tee off from my end, the boys section. First, there is the studious group, a clique of folks which refers to the books of famous authors, solve the puzzles pertaining to the syllabus very diligently, but they don't necessarily stand first in the final results. Then there is another boys group, the one which is out and out into playing sport(mostly cricket). They turn up and then saunter off to the ground and then turn up for the evening lectures. Just behind them is another group of folks who are simply bored, all the time regardless of what is happening in the classroom or the college. There is always a bloke who always wants to sit on the first bench, for reasons best known to him(it is also a usual pattern that the isolated student tends to be a boy). There is also a group of guys who dress up like belonging to a troupe with the college looking like a stop over on a grander trip.
               Then comes the girls in the class, here too there tends to be a group engrossed in studies, they however do very well in the final results. There is also group of ladies who tend to look more fashionable than most, they also do well in studies, usually by last minute miracles which happen for them one way or the other. After that there is a mixed bag clique consisting of both boys and girls. This is a remarkable group, it usually happens to be a place of budding romance and at the same time the typical on and off spats. There is also the journeyman of the classroom. A guy who happens to be in virtually every guild in the class and still doesn't fit anywhere. These folks continue to fill the spot of 'pariah' in the class, till the final few semesters. So that is it from my end, what do you think? Did such mores exist during your college day? Feel free to comment and share your experience on this post

Battling with Chemistry

Following up with the battle with Physics, I have written this poem for battling Chemistry....

It started when I saw the periodic table,

At the time to me it looked very affable,

It was all based on the molecule and atom,

I thought I had spotted a well laid pattern,

There was sodium, potassium and phosphorous,

By now I was getting itchy with the chorus,

In my school there were minor tests and trail,

It was easy at that point, it was really docile,

At college, the theory was getting complicated,

There were no real reasons for me to feel elated,

The lab manual talked about analysis of the salt,

I happy felt when the whole thing came to a halt,

Another thing the lab used to have was the titration,

Showing a proper reading felt like a citation,

It was the same, whether practical or theory,

Studying twice to be average, was the real story,

I couldn't make sense of the reagents and solutions,

One sniff of it and I felt dizzy with mounting delusions,

Then I passed out from my class of twelfth,

I thought that this thing was finally dealt,

I came into Engineering and didn't know about the turn,

Chemistry still extant for semesters two and one?,

I made it through with bare minimum of passing mark,

After that, I was happy that our ways had finally gone apart. 

                                                                                                          - Rajmohan Yadav

Battling with Physics

I was an odd student as I was competent at Mathematics but totally awful at Physics. So I decided to address that here,

They say Physics is the study of nature,

My understanding of it just gets taper,

Never fathomed some its laws,

Forget wins, here I am content with draws,

Newton's equations were difficult to grasp,

I had to be fully up to my task,

Didn't know what he brewed up on his desk,

I tried the same but lacked some zest,

Einstein's theory were tough to relate,

It left me in a confused state,

'E' he says was MC square,

It led to...well, who knows where,

I read something on Maxwell,

Can't recall it, so anyway cannot tell,

There is guy called Faraday,

I read on him but lost my way,

There were sums on speed,time and distance,

The solution striking me....tends to be a rare instance,
During experiments I made up random reading,
My examiner wondered whether I was sleeping 

There was calculation with Pascal and Joule,
Toiling away with the wrong answer made me look like a fool,

On a graph, all results were to be plotted,

After that, my mind ends up being clotted.

                                                                                                 - Rajmohan Yadav

....She carried a tennis racquet

Based on a fictional tale...all right all right...partly based on a true story

It was early on a sunny Friday,

A heartache was about to come to stay,

I was merely one caught in the rush,

Like every other day, without a fuss,

I saw her in a red attire,

It resembled both ice and fire,

It was first time to her, I had seen,

I asked myself 'where had you been?'

I didn't speak a word, neither did she,

I had a sense of impending glee,

In a week, I saw her only twice or trice,

Often wondering where she lies,

I had conjured up an introduction,

With the hope of a hearty conversation,

I last saw her on a Wednesday,

Where she went? I couldn't really say

I wonder where she had disappeared,

The illusion in my mind had finally cleared,

For me she will always remain in that mystery bracket,

All I know about her is that she carried a tennis racquet.

                                                                                                                  - Rajmohan Yadav

Breaking the Brain Barrier

Human Brain...everyone has one...that is what is believed 

          Switch off your brain...I know that is involuntary for many people, including me, but still give it a try. Try to see things in a mannerism which you, at least the conscious 'you', have never conceived. So, how do we begin? First of all I think our topic here is the stuff of dreams, I intend to mean that literally. My goal of writing this article is to expound how do you subconsciously drift into your own world when your eyes are shut and your vision is clear.
               Have you ever tried to get out of your body? In a sense where you close your eyes, just lie down and imagine that you are going out of your body and rising up with the altitude. Sounds fun? well, the next thing you do is to conjure up your ambience in a likewise manner. You realize where you are headed? you are like a bird going up the lane. So, was it fun? for that you would have to stop reading this and try it our yourself (I am the author here, so I suggest you continue reading). You broke a barrier, a barrier of vision and position. You could take any spot, any environment, and do it all over again. If you are able to vision yourself, by morphing your ambience and your view, you can imagine being in any place. Needless, to say this a kind of topic which has got an ample scope of disappearing in the yonder.
               So, I have another proposition for you. Do you think dreams come true? Not, in the figurative sense, but in the literally sense. I once heard that dreams that are 'hypnopompic' in nature have a sense of reality embedded in them. Let me repeat that, 'hypnopompic', in the field of psychology, stands for the state of mind immediately preceding your waking up. There have been a few incidents in my life when I have had a sense of deja vu, where I feel that , "wait, why is this happening again?". Only to realize that it is actually happening for the first time. Then you suddenly realize that betimes morning where it all happened in your mind. Its a lot like looking at someone and noticing that you have seen him/her before and you are awestruck to find their photograph already in your pocket. The photograph in this case, is your own vision. Some might dismiss this as coincidence, but the truth is when a anomaly occurs too often, it loses its status of being an 'anomaly'. I wonder if science has an answer for something like this. 

Vulture Culture

This is dedicated to the some of pathetic news making attempts by our dear friends in the eminent news network studios these days.

In your living room, setting your goals,

Drums roll, sweeping away the polls,

The channel threatens to turn the tide,

You find that your eyes are open wide,

Great reports they do compile,

Good part of it tends to be vile,

They claimed work without any bias,

Makes the resident trickster look pious

Its their right to chide,

But they start taking sides,

They say that their news is breaking,

It tends to just descend into muckraking.

They keep their shows in suspense,

I wish dropped the thriller pretence,

On the placards they tell you their opinion,

Even though they seldom know of the dominion,

I write this as I am depressed,

Democracy is truly blessed

The new insignia of the modern culture,

Seeming to be swanning around like a vulture,

All they needed was a microphone,

Its media, each to its own.

                                                                                                                -Rajmohan Yadav

Job in Microsoft?..(Spoiler Alert)

          Who? Me? You have a terrible sense of humour I must say. I am as likely to get in Microsoft as Marie Antoinette birthday's is to being celebrated for world charity day. So why did I put up this title, is because I, well, needed your attention and then share some of my experience regarding trying your luck in similar companies. Mark that word, 'Luck', it pretty much sums it up. So how to do actually get into one these 'Big 5 or 6' companies? I will start (and end) from (and at) the basics.
            Are you Scientific Smart? Yes?No? That is it, thats your answer. Now, studies cannot make a person smart. A smart person will be good at studies, because he/she is smart, they are not smart because they study, get the point? You cannot grow a brain, once you have grown up. So, how smart are you? You can answer that question yourself. Nobody can become smarter, it is either 1 or 0, nothing in between.  Don't you get better with age? That is experience. We will come to that. You will be far better off trying to make bucks from your skills and propensities than doing scientific smart work, if you possess the aptitude for the same. Your skills, your knack, you can get better at that with age as well.
           When you experience the ups and downs of the any discipline, you learn from it, you don't become smarter, you just get more comfortable. So, it is up to you to use that experience to its best. You become more mature for greater good. The other aspect to overcoming the lack of your cerebral gifts of course, is your bloody-mindedness to succeed. A sight in competitive sports is often seen where less talented players make up for the former by grit, determination and also desperation. I guess people can take a cue from it that it is important to hold the fort even when you may feel that you do not belong there in the first place.
            So the point of all this is that you possess intelligence, it also up to you to recognize what is the precise faculty which you possess. Your smartness needs to be leveraged in the best of ways. So, if you are sending out the right kind of signals, then you are bound to find your place. Also, needless to say if you have what it takes in computer science, and coding especially underscored. Then give it a genuine try, Microsoft, or any 'Big five' or 'Big Six' will be proud to hire you.
         
             

MS Dhoni, the self-taught technician

MS Dhoni.....respect.

              MS Dhoni, a name synonymous with the act of dispatching cliffhangers with ease. He is renowned in India for the aforementioned acts, something which seems to be a commonplace in the fifty-over arena. He has left his erstwhile image of the flamboyant cricketer in terms of captaincy. Captaincy of course is the discipline where Dhoni's idea and tactics often are rebuffed by the well established practitioners. He is indeed bizarre in that regard, Defensive? Yep, maybe you can conclude as well. Nimble wicket-keeper against the spinners, not so much against the pacers. So, you might be wondering why have i mentioned all these? Well, just to show that Dhoni's presence on the international is chequered to a certain degree. However, there is one aspect of his game which i find superb, his batting.
          He swats the white ball like flies, especially in the 'death overs' of the fifty-over game, where he averages 50+ comfortably which also includes being a full time wicket keeper and captain. But its not this format that makes him noteworthy for me. Its the five-day game,test cricket which draws the light. His average in test cricket is around that 38 mark. Given his iffy technique, his ability to mount last-man stands recently is quite remarkable. He has played nearly 90 tests, far more talented and technically gifted players have played far lesser than the number mentioned. So what make MS different?, its his tenacity and the inner street-fighter which he channelled during the last trip to England. Dhoni, more so in the recent past, has turned into a more doughty character, i guess the constant upbraid from the Indian media doesn't really affect him now.
          He not an engineer of hundreds like his more illustrious compatriots of the recent past. He is the resident technician, someone who does dirty work when things turn horrid, more often of late. He stands his ground, he lets the red cricket ball crash into his elbow and still looks stoic. He takes the rising delivery on the chest. He waits for his time, when he eyes a window, he latches and then subsequently dispatches the cricket ball. His bespoke technique is admirable, after all, it is self-taught. He has his own technique, unlikely to found through a cricket manual no matter hard you pore over it. Dhoni filled the ullage in his container of talent, with the grains of grit. Knowing your limitations can go a long way to mastering your own expectations, he is one of the prime examples in that regard. MS Dhoni, Respect. 

The Line beneath my Mind

This is about my innate habit of not following the norms or de rigueur, More a case of non-conformist pouring his heart out.

Its not about being right or wrong,

Leave the question of weak and strong,

I stop and wait to see my stance,

It simply couldn't be by just chance,

I can't fit myself into a structure,

Been left often on a tricky juncture,

I can't get the directions straight,

Too arduous to stop,think and wait,

I always felt like taking a break,

The drudging tasks begin to grate,

A line does exists in my mind,

The one which refuses to get bind,

Non-conformist tends to ponder about gift or a curse,

Am i better this way, or this could have been worse?

Everyone has a role to play,

You are your own masterpiece, just knead your own clay

                                                                                                    

                                                                                                         - Rajmohan Yadav

Black Money? Looking for a plan...

An ingress to the bank..nope..it ain't radioactive.

         A lot has been said lately about whether the Indian government possesses the wherewithal to bring the disputed amount of Black money that has been stashed away in the Swiss banks. Something has happened in the northern section of the county that  might suffice to the need of the hour. The robbers had seemingly tunnelled their way through scores of feet under the sod to gain an ingress   straight-away  into  the   bank locker.

        Now, the 'perpetrators' of this act may have been gained buoyancy at the right time. I suggest we rescind the rewards on their names, and rather elevate them to work for 'greater good'. Now, what would it take to tunnel your way through the Swiss alps and doing the same in the seemingly imperious Swiss bank locker. Tough nut eh?, leave it to the professionals...shall we?. Now, how difficult, or how feasible, this job is?. Well, the job is not as tough as it may look, our protagonists may actually get help form an unexpected sources as well.

CERN has dug tunnels here....hmmm..

        CERN, the lot concerned with particle collision have actually hewed through the alps and have already to build up their accelerators. I wonder whether commandeering these tunnels would be out of question. I suggest our folks take the detour through the CERN tunnels and then show their adeptness with some digging of their own. A campaign like this would be sharp and swift. More importantly it would lend a helping hand to get the 1.5 million Rupees which were promised to the average voter(Yep, world's largest democracy had a campaign slogan). So, what do you think? Should this errand be undertaken? My blog will soon feature a poll on this subject. After all, just a eensy-weensy heist to bring about a little progress in the country (as it was being implied for the past few months)...won't probably be that bad. Will it? ;-)

Blog Poetry-I, Tribute to John Keats

Couple of days back,31st of October, was the birthday of the renowned English Romantic Poet John Keats, so as a tribute, I will post my first ever poetry written in the vein of directionless affection.

*This is the first time that i am posting a poetry to my blog :)

I hardly know where to begin,

Didn't really foresee an end,

She has dainty eyes to greet,

I was swept off my feet,

Her beauty is ineffable,

I just sit motionless on my table,

Her talks have a touch of brevity,

I have discovered something stronger than gravity,

I didn't know her name,

Oh well, what a shame!

I talked to her once,what jubilations!

finally i could hear her intonations,

my affection seemed more like a fad,

she seemed more intrigued by the riff-raff,

Didn't know how to get her attention,

I never seemed to possess the intention,

Events run their own course,

For some reason, destiny's hand cannot be forced,

This poem was about me pouring my heart out,

where passion met a snag of doubt,

Where?What?How?

Oh my friend, where art thou?

- Rajmohan Yadav

When Commonsense was found dead

Dear departed Mr.Commonsense

           An investigation team recently found Mr.Commonsense dead in his apartment, raising speculations about what could have caused this. It has also launched a cascade of incrimination among his acquaintances. We have launched an investigation of our own (given every tom,dick and harry news network channel does so).  Our sources, pathetic and indolent as ever have actually not come up with anything till now so i will conjure up imaginary facts about the case and the ensuing investigation.

      It has been reported that Mr.Commonsense had become increasingly disenchanted by the news networks here in India. When he switched on the television network he would see some pathetic self-titled 'special' shows at 9:30 pm. He couldn't bear the 'voice of India' et al. Even I was on odd terms with the dear departed. There hasn't been much public outrage either regarding the mournful incident as police chief explicates. "People found him very dour and so they were not interested in his skills either". Accusations have been flying around, which includes many folks on the social network platform as well, many of whom you see everyday.
    Fabian .B. Meme, hereby addressed as FB Meme, has also been a prominent suspect for the incident. It is said that his fallacy-ridden, gender biased apocryphal didn't go down well with Mr.Commonsense. However, the fame which FB Meme achieved meant that our dear Commonsense had to sit back and sulk at the prospect of been undone. It should be noted that Commonsense maintained that he had never sought fame, his rough ways meant that people didn't like him much either. He too had spurned most of his acquaintances in his final days. Our intention is to see justice get delivered so that Commonsense can finally prevail. We as a team will be covering the story relentlessly at our leisure.
    

An unassuming manual to a hefty hotel

              You know who is the protagonist, and let the locale remain disclosed. Now, lets see what the my experiential evidence helped me conclude.

1. I have often balked at the idea of ordering a starter for a lunch/dinner. After all, almost everyone leaves half of its nutritional value as it is on the platter.

Take One, get one free

2. A mysterious attribute of the tissue paper box is that when you pull one tissue out another follows closely on its heels. I don't know whether this was intended by its inventor. A more logical explanation is that i am an awful puller.

Are you ready for it?

3. What happens when a pointed force meets a rounded object? Fork vs Pea, Precision vs Tenacity, a duel played in under the roof of any hefty hotel. Table manners permitting, it is one of the most awe inspiring sights at any dinner/lunch table.

4. Lemon hand wash

Earlier, I had ordered something similar to drink

An intriguing concept, it took me a while to finger out whether I had to sup it or use it for washing my hands. Once the quandary is resolved you realize that was not worth it, as you make your way to the cleaning room to wash your hands anyway.

5. And as we are heading our way to the washroom I saw another badge of the civilized world, the ultimate hand dryer. After a warm and breezy interaction you wipe your hands anyway with your handkerchief.

6. The menu order has a direct bearing on your wallet's disorder.

Safe and Clean Diwali

Festival of Lights, not crackers

                  First and foremost I wish a very happy Diwali to all the readers on my behalf. Plus i also hope that this Diwali will be prosperous for everyone. I now move onto my earnest appeal to keep the festival of lights a tad safe and as far as possible pollution free. It is a kind of appeal which is palatable for most of the folks in hospitals and also to blokes who have some aversion to loud noises. I however had a pretty awful experience of it myself.
                    My aversion to brusque noises has had a long history and I remember on Diwali evenings during my childhood that i would simply lie down with my hands warped around my ears to form a watertight fence for any undesirable noise that had lost its way. It was an embarrassing thing to do by the looks of it but i guess it had a message concealed in it somewhere. As an upshot of such reactions, i never really engaged in any form of crackers. That is nothing compared to what happens to some senior folks who are no longer tuned to bask in such a cracker show. Recently there have been incidents where many a makeshift shops have actually caught fire and the cascade of crackers had an inevitable chain reaction. A cracker shop, is usually an invitation to a combustible complex. More so, because of the expedient nature of the shops, rather, their owners, cracker shops don't adhere to safety practices which would be a norm of any similar locale, like a Petrol station et al.
                 This adds to a lose channel of danger waiting to be opened. And then there are the animals, the stray dogs,cats and what not. They are the ones who are found under a two-wheeler or a four-wheeler, usually cowering because of the events around them. PETA's stand is noteworthy few years back and pretty much backs up what i want to express. And not to mention the cracker smoke which would beset the members of all species, animals and humans alike. So my appeal is to relish the Diwali season but at the same time be considerate of others and their comfort zone. Be joyous and don't let the festival not descend into flashes and noises of a fraught note. Diwali is the festival of lights and hopes, long it may continue like that. Be safe, Be happy.

Degree of Intelligence - II

Beethoven didn't know much about gravity..
does it matter?...He was a genius

                  Now we begin with the Part-II and the final installment of this thread. Now, I mentioned that our modern day outlook is scientific, in terms of academics i reckon that it is too scientific. That is where of course, the success of your everyday student should lie, which of course is deemed "accepted".  One thing that i have observed about most great,(okay eccentric) minds is their ability to dwell into the unknown. As sometimes i like to call, 'revel in the ridiculous'. So it would seem appropriate, let me start off with the Creme de la creme in the world of science.
                      There was nothing really which quantified the intelligence quotient of Isaac Newton, at least not until he followed his passion. At his time, he seemed to have unlocked an extra dimension of thought. Physics,Calculus and a dozen and a half more disciplines. Now, Beethoven is no less a genius. Composing the symphony which resonated with the human mind, he did the unthinkable without being about bound by the rigidity of physics or the frigidity of Maths. There are no rules, apart from breaking the one which hold the human expression back. Einstein was the quintessential  scientist, renowned  for thought experiments. What you need to put into perspective is that virtually every eminent artist or composer dwells into thought experiments in the everyday work life. A continuum of trail and error which is by no means is a lesser laboratory.
                      Michael Jackson was voted the 'most foolish American' for 4 year running, well given his hurtling downfall during the 2000s it seemed apt. But, he was a perfectionist of his art. Not a Mozart or a Beethoven, he kept a meticulous mechanism in his songs and albums which went right down to the most trivial tune. More of a manager cum performer. It took a astounding perspective to plot the most successful artist, and yes he was eccentric and later on a doleful figure. That sounds familiar, the fate that seems to come down on most fame struck folks. The crux of my argument lies in the simple conclusion that intelligence is more than science and physics. Art is also science, an unbounded science. You explore without any real rules and try to ascertain a conclusion which isn't really there. Creativity is like drawing a line when where you don't know your Point A,B....it needs intelligence, arduous given that you don't have a lab manual to follow.

Degree of Intelligence - I

Don't get it?...don't worry you can still be deemed intelligent

            I have often thought that the appellation of 'genius' has been stored for the folks which belong to the scientific field. Well, this is what the notion of intelligence states, at least in the conventional manner. But I think that intelligence is a spectrum whose certain shades seem to glimmer more than the others, as they are closer to you. However, doesn't mean that rest of the bands lack lustre of any sort. So, that brings me to the topic under consideration. Are you intelligent? How good is your IQ? Is the IQ itself flawed? I may be the right person to answer these question, at least my IQ doesn't suggest so.
           So where can I begin, lets pick up from the last paragraph. I am asking a question about IQ (if you find it absurd enough then you can blame me for the same thing). I have seen IQ tests trying to gauge your analytic and mathematical skills,  but never seen one where you have to write a poetry or come up or paint a canvas of imagination. Can an IQ test actually do this? After all these entities cannot be quantified. It leaves that X-factor of the human mind and tries to mould solid statistics to draw conclusions. Perfectly right in its regard, but i guess that leaves a lot to imagination(pun intended). Now, I do think that there is merit in the number under consideration. You can analyze and calculate faster than others, that is impressive. Emotional intelligence of course, is more about your poise and soundness of mind.
          I do have a half-decent IQ,around 128, in case you were thinking about sour grapes. What really got me writing this post was the perception of the word 'genius'. You, apparently could do or think about something which a good number of others couldn't. That, seems to be the prevailing thought. But i reckon that there has been a kind of bias in the recognition,rather reception, of intelligence through the ages. And nope, i don't mean the dark ages, but our own modern age. Our modern age is scientific, How scientific? we will discuss that later. The preceding paragraph was the kind of preview which I wanted to give, later I give some illustrations about how the all time genius may not necessarily be the same person that you and I know. This was the part-I in this two part series, kind of curtain raiser. In part-II we will see why exploring the unknown should needs to be put into context of a person't true potential.
         
           

Oddities : Women in Men's shaving ads and much more

Thin end of the razor/wedge, as we dwell into female objectification

             A bloke cleans his chin clean and in the very next instant, a seemingly attractive lady walks up to caress the cheek of the person in consideration. None of the aforementioned things have happened to me, well not yet. So i wrote this piece as i was puzzled about the popular adverts of men's shaving razors. Its no secret that women feature far more in adverts than men.
              It doesn't come as a surprise that men don't feature in adverts of female cosmetics, so i find it quite unusual when it happens the other way around. So, why does it happen? I guess it is the way the popular television works. But it doesn't end there, if you tune into many of the perfume commercials it is more of the same and even in the liquor ads. As if the makers of the product want to overtly state that their products entail female affection. Even if there is no need to slot in any character, leave alone the gender, there seems to be some feminine presence. And then comes the holy grail of all that and more, Bollywood, the movie industry of India.
             A few days back i  read an article which made an astute observation on Bollywood movies. I swear i have forgotten the source of it so apologies for that. What the crux of it was that if you pore over the background characters in any Bollywood movie, whether home shot or away, you will notice that most of the people are women and only women who would deemed "attractive". You never notice the everyday women in any of the movie backgrounds. I guess this explains where it all emanates from, but i guess it tells us more about the audience and the viewers as well.
           So i thought is there any change coming or is it possible to change anything? Well, I didn't want to broach this subject actually. As we know, judgement come down to 'to each their own' and whats ethical and whats not, after all, it is a question of principle. Plus, the media industry pans out based on the people itself like i mentioned before. Since people don't seek much logic and perspective in their views, the showbiz folks are willing to prescind those lines of thinking. So i guess that things are unlikely to change. Now then, next time i see an advert or a movie passage objectifying women, i will just sulk and thank the laws of evolution in the media industry.

When Kim-Jong-un broke Lioned Messi's Record

          For the uninitiated audiences Lionel Messi's heroics could be a part of history now, as FIFA grapples with the idea that the Argentinian's record may have been eclipsed in the Asian backyard.

Messi's first reaction when the news broke out.

        Our sources have reported that the North Korean great successor Kim Jong-un has broken the Argentinian wizards's record by a fair distance. Playing for the Pyongyang Great Leader's XI the 'dear leader' is claimed to have scored a gawking 142 goals in one calendar year. The team has finished at top of the table with a comfortable cushion of 37 points(it was reported that they got an extra 15 points because Kim-Jong-Un was playing for them). Kim-Jong is also reported to have cleared prevailing inclement weather into a sunny day for many of his team's matches to commence and even officiated in some of the matches and took infallible line-out calls as well even while his head was turned.
          KCNA, the North Korean state owned media center had earlier stated in the week that "Dear Leader had worked very hard for the team and fully deserved his record". So sublime was his form during the season that the goalkeepers were transfixed by his aura as he entered the penalty box.  Further adding to it they claimed that "European imperialism in Football will not be tolerated, let this be a slap for the unchecked imperialist expansion of the United States and Japan". Sources in the country have said that has been the reason for the absence of the dear leader,"He was exhausted after the season" .
        FIFA has taken an official stand over the event, one of their spokesperson seemed to have claimed that "level of competition cannot be established in the North Korean league". Since no official members are in North Korea, FIFA has no way to validate the record. However Pyongyang has responded to FIFA's stand "Most of our players are very fit as their diet is controlled by the democratic republic's manual, which has been a marvellous health-care initiative by the Dear Leader himself". Another intriguing feature was the well known trait of the Kim-Jong family that played a handy part as KCNA further explained "As our dear leaders don't urinate and defaecate, the half-time break gave him an extra 15 minutes to plot the downfall of the opposition defense while the rest of the team was supping health drinks and discharging the same". Plus they added that "Dear Leader's actions cannot be impugned, questioning Kim-Jong-Un's integrity is like questioning Kim-Ii-Sung's integrity". Messi hasn't reacted yet, but  his manager has said that "Its unfair, but he is undaunted by the aura of the dear leader and will work 200% in the training"                                                          
       

Charges filed against Pitbull, A Parody

        Charges have been filed against alleged rapper Pitbull, the gamut of charges that we could get our hands are are as follows:

1. Spoiling his music videos.
2. Spoiling the songs in his music videos.
3. Plummeting viewership of music channels.
4. Plummeting viewership of adult channels as they turn to music channels.
(Disproportion means that music channels are losing more viewers)
5. Wrecking the FIFA world cup opening ceremony.
6. Wrecking Brazil's campaign in the FIFA world cup.
7. Colluding with Justin Bieber to release an album titled, "Just, Bull $h!t"

        CIA man on the case,agent Johnson, who carried out the arrest at a dubious party, gave a statement to the media after going about his task, "He looked like a man resigned to his fate". Brazilian police have welcomed the move and sought extradition of Pitbull, "We wanted on him on trail for the 7-1 debacle. We paid a price for the world cup, our consolation we will to see justice get delivered". The rapper community has also welcomed the move with a view to bring back old school rap. In other news, Justin Bieber has been summoned for interrogation for his youtube views fraud, a case were Pitbull was also summoned earlier in the year.

* All characters appearing in this interview are fictitious, though any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, would be awesome!!! :-)

7 reasons to love The Netherlands

Bit Lurid, but still good? eh?

1. Netherlands is arguably the most liberal country in the world with peripheral rules on many subjects which would be painted as "taboo" in most parts of the world.

2. Windmills! , there are more than 1200 windmills as per wikipedia data. Think of a location where you want a cup of coffee (or you can pick your beverage, don't expect something exquisite of a teetotaler like me). You can always think of it as primitive, but i guess no agrarian sight is complete without one.

3. Over the last century Netherlands has almost doubled in terms of the surface area by reclaiming land from the sea with the virtue of dams and dykes. Remarkable?, given that your country has doubled its size without invading any other country.

4. Welcome the orange brigade! , during any sporting events you get to see the full colour of the Dutch fans, by far the most conspicuous as well. Perfect for any neutral looking to cheer a side.

5. Over the years the Dutch has produced many adept sportsmen and sportswomen, but i guess the non-believer would be convinced by this panoply of Dutch skill .

6. Valerie Van der Graaf.....well, she is only 22 and i'm already a fan....just appreciate, without asking how, what and why....you will always find that to be a truly beautiful moment.

7. Netherlands or Holland...Holland or Netherlands...well, who cares?(I don't), you cant pronounce England as "Nottingham" , you cant pronounce USA as "Florida", but you can pronounce Netherlands as "Holland" and still get away with it, and better, it would still make sense to most the people listening.

Software Engineer Interview - A Parody

Gibberish?....i am afraid not....

Interviewer : Whats worse than finding a bug in the code during development phase?

Interviewee : Finding 2 bugs in the code during development phase.

Interviewer : What??...never mind, which sorting technique is more efficient between selection sort and merge sort.

Interviewee : Hmmm....eh...merge sort??

Interviewer : Can you explain it?...or did you just guess the answer?

Interviewee : Well sir, who am i to comment on God's cycle of seamless coincidences...

Interviewer : So it was guess?

Interviewee : That is open for interpretation.

Interviewer : Tell me the worst case, best case and average case complexities for selection sort.

Interviewee : If i answer that then i may end-up with a closed case....

Interviewer : Its O(n^2) for average case, now tell me the worst case and best case, its simple mathematics.

Interviewee : Mathematics??....sir my math is a bit rusty...haven't used it for 24 years.

Interviewer : Argh.....out of selection sort and insertion sort, Which one will you use for sorting a linked list?...its common sense..

Interviewee : Commonsense?...sir, i don't indulge in such luxuries...

Interviewer : Thank you for your time.

Interviewee : Now where have i heard that before....

* All characters appearing in this interview are fictitious, though any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, would be awesome!!! :-)

ICC suspect actions....never mind the bowling

         I am an old school cricket lover, who can abstain  from 50 or 20 over cricket but never from test cricket. Why would i make such a point at the commencement of this article?...because  i want to make abundantly clear as to which suite of cricketing skills i love watching the most. Now, test cricket does something remarkable, it gives the bowlers the opportunity to act with impunity with respect to wides and the mentality to run-in and make the batsman work for his runs. It addresses the balance between bat and ball more than any other format. In an era where even tail-enders are undaunted and plant the front foot out to smash a quickie for a six.

       I find no whiff of blasphemy in backing Allan Donald's stand where he tried to garner support in legalizing ball-tampering. Given the widening bats, shrinking boundaries, flatter pitches and a plethora of T20 cricket, it seems that the bat has firmly ensconced itself in the driver seat in the suite of cricket. Plus, given the X-factor of the certain mystery bowlers. All spinners by the way, they add the much needed awe element at the other end of the wicket which the game doesn't seem to respect these days. But proscribing them from the game ain't gonna help matters.
      Nurturing and respecting the miscellaneous talent outside the MCC manual will go a long way towards integrating odd, but adept, folks in the hierarchy. The ICC should also try to bridle the batsmen to keep the game in the balance. That will in the interest of the fans and the game, barring ofcourse, if you wish to watch gunslinging batsmen and mudslinging officials.