one of them at MIT) because of this fidgety propensity. Our course in ninth standard contained an introduction to Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 (VB). For the uninitiated, it is a program to make programs. Actually I much rather prefer the Queen’s English spelling of programme. Anyhow, most of us didn't used to work for the computers course because it was only graded and not marked. But I fell in love with VB. I would bunk classes on the pretext of preparing for ‘extra-curricular activities’, and would sit in the comp lab for hours experimenting with this funky program. At the end of the ninth standard, I made a modest six programs, three of which were, if I may so, quite decent. One of them was a calculator. You just select the city you were in from a dropdown box, which contained a list of around 500 cities from around the globe and you would get the current time of that city. It sounds very simple. But it took six months to be finalized. Immense labour went into it - I had to key in the formula for the time difference for every city. But then, that program got lost with the formatting of my comp. There it was, I lost most interest in comps. I got bored with them. I tried learning Flash, but didn't. Now I know just enough to survive. It has happened with me often in life, that I develop an unhealthy addiction with some things, that they eventually bore me and I almost detest engaging myself in them again. The fetish kills the fondness.
Constitutional law seems to be an exception to this maxim. It never seems to bore me. I know I've already had some of my readers roll eyes and exclaim "Blah!!" and changed the URL in the address bar or clicked on the tiny cross on the *north-east* of the screen or if they are too piqued, maybe just clicked the turn off button on their comps. My sincerest apologies to them for causing such outrage. But honestly, there seems to be no end to it. I do not claim to have read too much, but I do claim to have a love for it. All that aside, I am also very fond of history. The next ten are here (yes, I have lost my seven-mania):
August 15, 1954-August 15, 1955: A plethora of legislations which would have probably pleased the great draftsman, Dr. Ambedkar, is ushered in as India promises to secure rights for women and the oppressed. Untouchability Offences Act (now Protection of Civil Rights Act), Hindu Marriage Act comes into effect. They are some of the most revolutionary pieces of legislations and mark a watershed in Indian socio-political system.
August 15, 1955-August 15, 1956: November 17, 1955: Nehru, in his inimitable style, while pouring the first bucket of concrete into the foundation (Only quoting verbatim may convey the sentiment accurately): “Probably nowhere else in the world is there a dam as high as this … As I walked round the site I thought that these days the biggest temple and mosque and gurudwara is the place where man works for the good of mankind. Which place can be greater than this, this Bhakra-Nangal?” India had fallen in love with both Nehru and concrete in 1950s – be it Hirakud or Bhakra-Nangal. The love for concrete of that decade is exemplified in the new capital of Punjab, Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh.
August 15, 1956-August 15, 1957: November 1, 1956: The first reorganization of States on linguistic basis. India is a Union of States and Union Territories, not Part A, Part B or Part C States. The date remains the Rajyotsava for most Indian states, because the later major reorganization (in 1966) took place on the same day.
April 5, 1957: The first Communist ministry is sworn in at Trivandrum headed by EMS Namboodripad. Few would have thought that the Communist rule in an Indian State would last forever.
August 15, 1957-August 15, 1958: March 26, 1958: Hollywood: Although it lost to the Italian film Nights of Cabiria, Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (or the Indian Gone With the Wind) becomes the first ever Indian film to be nominated for Oscars (in the foreign language film category).August 15, 1958-August 15, 1959: September 23, 1958: Mihir Sen, an Indian lawyer, swims the English Channel, the first Asian to do so.
March 31, 1959: His Holiness the Dalai Lama crosses the border into India after a 15-day foot journey from Lhasa. Thousands of followers follow suit. India grants them asylum, the seeds of Sino-Indian antagonism are planted.
August 15, 1959-August 15, 1960: May 1, 1960: Bombay Presidency State is split into the new linguistic states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
August 15, 1960-August 15, 1961: September 6, 1960: Rome: The barefoot Flying Sikh broke the 400 m Olympic record, but misses the bronze by a deci-second. India face another disappointment as Pakistan beat India 1-0 to end India’s Olympic streak of 28 straight wins to win the gold.
August 15, 1961-August 15, 1962: December 12-19, 1961: Operation Vijay succeeds and the territories of Goa, Daman and Diu are liberated from the Portuguese.
August 15, 1962-August 15, 1963: September 20-November 21, 1962: India faces a humiliating defeat which disintegrated national morale. Its neighbour-sugary-brother-of-Panchsheel-fame attacks at the Sela Pass (Arunachal Pradesh). Militarily, India has learnt and seen only ascent since. Nehru’s decline is kicked off. In his good friend, Mountbatten’s words: “Menon killed him (Nehru) with the disastrous Chinese war.”
August 15, 1963-August 15, 1964: May 27, 1964: I know this is the third death in this list, but I assure you it will be the last. For, although I am not a Nehru lover, his death probably marked the end of statesmanship in Indian politics, mostly to the blame of his progeny.
And yes, I am quite fond of death. (Click on this) it is dreadful as well. In the words of Rammohan Roy (quoted in The Argumentative Indian),
“Just consider how terrible the day of your death will be.
Others will go on speaking, and you will not be able to argue back.”
2 comments:
very interesting read.. didn't know you were so good at programming.
loved roy's quote on death.
and prince and brick are still amazing!
Yes, though I haven't played them in a long long time...
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