#FailedEconomistMusings (and I-Day Rant to go)

Let’s begin by ranting about how awful it is to travel on the Bypass to and fro five times a week. That’s about 10-15 hours, about one-and-a-half-workday every week spent travelling on “roads” in steel cages that pass for “vehicles”. It hardly needs mentioning that the end of such a pilgrimage leaves one in quite the rant-friendly state-of-mind.

It was on one such night that a quick look at my social media feed revealed a nation revelling in the elevation of a certain Sundar Pichai to the post of Google CEO. Now, I had been following Pichai’s rapid growth up the corporate structure at Google for a few years now, especially since he moved from managing the team in charge of Google Chrome to managing the development of Android.

Disclaimer:  I am a major time fan of Android, especially the vanilla version that Google releases as an open-source OS to be made amazing by the likes of Cyanogen or Motorola, or to be made unusable by the likes of Samsung.

Although most of my experiments with Android involved taking low-end devices running Froyo and Gingerbread and pushing them to run the likes of Jellybean and KitKat, the development the OS underwent under Pichai to the grown-up version of Lollipop was incredible. No wonder he was appointed CEO.

Which was not the reason why the entire nation was crazy for him. They were simply crazy because he was an Indian, had been at IIT Kharagpur for a while, and had now really gone places. It also helped that he had replied to a tweet from nationalistic fan No. 1, our esteemed PM, saying that he looked forward to meeting him soon. You know what happens when bhakts go on overdrive. Things start trending.

Frustrated Ramblings (Means Exactly That, and is not a Fancy Title)

It’s been a few days (a little more than three to be precise) that that little piece of information was revealed that was to decide my city of residence and study for the next two years. Dialed in a few numbers, pat came the reply. Status quo, it said. Large and clear. Well, not literally. In reality, it said “Not Selected” but well that’s what it implied.

Status quo is a difficult concept to understand. It probably means that things remain as they are. But do they? Or does lack of change necessarily imply degeneration? I don’t know. Maybe if I did, I wouldn’t be writing about the frustrations of the day. Maybe one of my few readers can answer.

I have never been a sore loser. Not a particularly sporting one, but not sore. Enough to accept the occasional failures. I wonder why this time bugs me so much.

Calcutta- A Culinary Experience

Even today, before I leave home to return to Calcutta, my mother will ask me what food I will carry with me to eat on the train. I wouldn’t dare compare her culinary skills with that of those who serve plastic-ky somethings on India’s trains. But then every time this exchange takes place between mother and son, I am reminded of the relatively regal days at home that are to last no more. Alas! No more ready-made breakfast, no more nagging to eat lunch, and no unlimited snacks in the evening to go with a mug of coffee. Leaving home is depressing indeed!

I want to warn those who might be reading this that being a personal note and me not being much of a socialite, my experiences are mostly limited to the areas around where I’ve stayed and as a hosteler, highly constrained by finances.

I remember the desperation and purposelessness of the early days at Hindu Hostel, when every morning and every day would bring with it the renewed realisation of my distance from those I know and love. Despite the high of staying alone, I was the outsider among familiars, and the outsider among outsiders. I have vague remembrances of those days, and nothing exceptional. Every two weeks, my pockets would have enough for a meal at The Royal Indian Hotel on Rabindra Sarani. The menu card informed me the first time I went there regarding the history of the biryani.

Kuchh Khayaal Aise

Khwahishein kiye the kitni

aur kab tha socha ki munasib

samjhi jayegi woh aarzoo

aur na bhi yeh

ke aahista se pal guzrenge

aur mukammal hogi woh justuju.