Gulzaman's Son...

I reread a poem today after a long time that was in our first year undergrad English syllabus at IIT-KGP.....and that has made me nostalgic.(....enuf to write about it actually!)
The Course was titled "English for Communication" but I think it had less real utility for communication than as an eye opener's to a lot of diverse content.....
We did Girish Karnad's play "Tughlaq", some selected poems and Did we do any short stories?....I cannot recall with certainty.I better not claim the affirmative.
The poem in question today however is "Gulzaman's Son"
As I read it, I remember having asked our english professor- There were three of them who were teaching us the course together and I kinda forget who it was exactly....was it the effeminate frail old gentleman, was it the very composed middle aged fair Lady or the Young lady professor who looked like one of us except for her erudite manners and very thick glasses(she looked attractive to a lot of us though...).....and so as I was saying I remember asking one of them...why was the composition called a poem since a) It was a Story. b) Absolutely devoid of any rhyme (to me atleast) c) More Prose like than Poetry.
I was of the opinion that calling a piece of prose,Poetry just cause we are irreverent to the appropriate punctuation or through wanton new line spacing does not make much sense.
I think I still don't get the literary way of classifying things as prose and poetry but today when I reread the "Poem" it did seem much more fluid than prose (especially since I am reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children right now!!!:))
and I can't put my finger on it but I will take my chances to claim that there is a subtle metronome which for different readers will appear different I guess.
To end this piece I would like to leave a link to another poem that we covered
"Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori"

Turtles on Caltech Campus

This week was the first week of classes for me that I am taking at Caltech.
Almost within earshot of the classes where Sergei Gukov teaches Elementary Particle theory, John Schwarz teaches String theory and Hiroshi Ooguri teaches Topological Quantum Field theory, are these :


I suspect some of the venerable ones(...the turtles I mean!!!) know more string theory than I do.Influence of all the people who must from time to time be spending time with them I guess. While Pasadena in the summer months can be sweltering, the areas to the North of the Physics department buildings have nice muddy pools shaded with a lot of shrubs and trees for them.


I have not seen them budge away from the poolside much....though with a little pull and shove they can may be make it to the campus cafe which should not be more than an hours journey (for them again...)....One reason might be the crowded foodcourt and the overpriced items, me thinks.

One thing that comes through very apparently is the unassuming air of the whole place.Obviously no effort has been made to make the place look more grandiose than it really is, or even as much as it really is....

References
1. This is here just to prove I did not forget it and serves no useful purpose.

Searching for a Roommate...

I am going to cheat today.
So instead of actually writing a blog I am going to copy-paste an email I sent out while looking for a roommate about a year back and the replies I got for the same:



Room for 1 beginning August 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008 5:07 PM
From:"siddhartha santra"
To:uschousing@yahoogroups.com

One BHK apartment at 2620 Severance Street available for One guy (in
the absence of a better alternative!) to be shared with 2 other guys.

About the apartment:
Excellent Location:tram stop right outside,within Cruiser radius,
Stores about 6-7 mins walk,10 mins walk to campus.

Preferences : Drinkers Welcome, Non Drinkers OK.
Smokers Welcome Non Smokers may be tolerated.
Veg/Non Veg all OK.....Only fooditem not yet tried Baby foetuses.
Satan Worship Encouraged but not mandatory.
Lest People with a weak mental constitution jitter and twitter:some
encouraging info:
Roommate One: VIT>>USC Comp.Sc. Masters CGPA 4.00>>Intern at Google
Roommate Two: IIT,KGP>>USC Physics, PhD CGPA 3.5>>You Know this field
is not applicable for a Physics-PhD!!
Please Mail back if interested.
Rent; 1200 a month +utils around 30 a month,Deposit 1300 to be shared by 3.
Beer Bills:Settled by mutual agreement.Nicotine and other
Healthcare Products to be self sponsored but generously shared.

How would you respond to such an Ad?
Of course it would depend on whether you believe the author to be a really cool guy (Just as I really am :)) or you find him to be a Smart Ass talking from the Nether orifice.The replies I got tend to vindicate my perception of other's perception of me:

Reply 1:

guys,
I received your ad over uschousing yahoogroups and would be interested in renting your room on Aug 1st.
I'm Austrian, 22 and work/intern at the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for one year. Beneath working I trying to finish my studies in European Ethnology with writing my master thesis.
I arrived in March of this year and have to go back to Europe on next March due to visa regualtions.
I like your ad -
so the basics :)
smoking: parttime, with a tendancy of being a nonsmoker
drinking: parttime, with a tendancy of fulltime, as long as i can wake up.
eating: Vegetarian, but not a very strict one...

Looking forward to your reply and would love to check out your place,

Lukas

Reply 2:

hey sidharth,
not interested in the accomodation but that was the first sign of intelligent life on campus...what a relief to know that usc has beyond geeks
ashwini


These are the only two replies worth sharing. The others I got were uninteresting....Not Critical....not something that would lend credence to the other possibility about the author of the original email....just uninteresting.

Just thought....would share this.....
Sorry :)

References
1. mail.yahoo.com/archives