In a departure from my usual dreamy posts, here's something real and contemporary (I hope you like it, Aritro;)

On Monday, the anniversary of the launch of Sputnik (the first artificial satellite) a weird looking craft called SpaceShipOne managed to win the coveted Ansari X-prize by taking a second trip into space within a span of two weeks. The conditions for the prize required a privately built craft to top the 100-km barrier twice in a fortnight (SpaceShipOne did it in a week). En passant, as it were, the craft also broke the altitude record for an airplane set by the X-15.


 

It is no accident that the craft was designed by Burt Rutan, one of the most famous Aerospace Engineers alive. Rutan is no stranger to weird looking craft; he was the chief designer for Voyager, the delicate, spidery-looking aircraft that in 1986 made the first round-the-world non-stop flight without refuelling. That odyssey, carried to a triumphant conclusion by Burt Rutan's brother Dick along with Jeanna Yeager, was chronicled in the Reader's Digest and was certainly one of the inspirations for me to try out Aerospace Engineering myself :)

 

This latest exploit, of course, appeals to the science-fiction addict in me far more than to the aerospace engineer.......and of course there is the pleasant thought that perhaps someday even a distinctly overweight guy like me might get to experience weightlessness....even if only for a few minutes! :)

~lakesidey

This started out as an attempt at translating "Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaaye hum dono" and ended as a kind of experiment in iambic pentameter. The things I get up to when sleep evades me.....:)

Let us go back, a little while before

Beloved friend, let’s be strangers once more

 

I shall not hope for what I cannot reach

You need not suspect every word I say

My love will not reflect in all my speech

And no more will your eyes your hurt betray

 

Let us go back, a little while before

Beloved friend, let’s be strangers once more

 

I know my love is unrequited, yet

Your eyes tell me I’ve also lost a friend

Let’s go back to the time before we met

Let’s change this tale before the bitter end

 

Let us go back, a little while before

Beloved friend, let’s be strangers once more

 

If love should hurt, ‘tis best we should forget

If friendship be a burden, let it go

The bond we shared can only cause regret –

If strangers we must be, then be it so!

 

My world is solely defined by your eyes

When they close, the sun seems to set

They open, and lo! once more it will rise

Those eyes spell my life - and my death.

 

They raise me when life brings me to my knees

They shine in dark times, like a fire

If they be my guide through life’s stormy seas

No more should I ever desire

 

However far away they might be

Their shadow upon my heart lies

And try as I might, I never can see

Aught but those expressive eyes….

 

 

Another of my favourite songs. The Lata Mangeshkar version of "Teri aankhon ke siva duniya mein rakha kya hai" from the film Chiraag. This is my humble attempt at a loose translation, you can find the original lyrics at  http://chandra.astro.indiana.edu/isongs/hindi/splitindex/gif/211.gif 

~lakesidey

Yesterday was a rather interesting day. There's this group called Parivaar which takes care of needy children, and some of my friends help out actively and often, taking the children out for trips and so on. Yesterday was one such trip and my friend Shashank suggested I come along too. I admit I was rather sceptical at first - I don't have much of a clue how to talk to kids :)

But it turned out to be great fun. Talking to the kids turned out to be not much of an option (they didn't know English and I didn't know Bangla:) but I think a lot got said without needing any words....they were so enthusiastic, and so genuinely glad to see us.....I managed to lose much of my usual reserve and felt the years dropping off me. Of course, half a day roaming the Alipore zoo with those bundles of enthusiasm was enough to prove to me that I wasn't *actually* getting any younger :P But the smiles of the kids more than made up for any tiredness! 




Thanks a lot, Shashank and "Rachna Didi", for convincing me to go!

~lakesidey 

A couple of days back I had gone for one of my customary night walks. As I was ambling along, I spotted a junior of mine, Aditya, standing looking down at something in the middle of the road. Joining him, I found myself staring at an intriguing mollusc; a snail with a shell over 2 inches long, crawling determinedly straight across the road. A road which, even at that late hour, bore the occasional car whizzing past. Some nerve the creature had!


 
After shepherding the chap for five minutes, during which he progressed a foot or thereabouts, our patience finally ran out. A sheet of newspaper was judiciously laid out in his path, and with philosophical nonchalance our little friend glided on to it.  It was then but the work of a moment to pick up the paper and give the little fellow his first air ride (after all, it was on a plane surface....;)

The poor chap seemed to get a bit airsick though, he withdrew into his shell for quite two minutes after being deposited gently on the far side of the road. Then, after a cautious peek to check that the "monsters" had departed, he emerged from his carapace and trundled off into the undergrowth with the same single-minded determination..... 

~lakesidey

On Tuesday, after a week of mostly sleeping, I went out for dinner. Continental fare preceded by spicy paani-puri (or in Kolkata terminology, phuchkas) Good company, good fun :) Must do this kind of thing more often.....

One of the intriguing dishes which I experienced for the first time was the Fondue. This comprises, in its bare essentials, of a bowl of cheese melting over a tiny flame. A  basket contains little chunks of bread. One gets a weird implement with a long handle, something like a two pronged skewer . The idea being that one spears a breadball, smothers it in molten cheese, and pops the resultant succulent morsel into one's mouth. The catch being, it is extremely hot....in essence it boils down to a trade-off between burning the roof of one's mouth off and watching one's table companions bolting the entire thing.

While not one of the most brilliant gustatory delights I have encountered (distinctly an acquired taste, I suspect!) the sheer novelty value made it well worth the experience. Besides, I always wanted to try fondue, having read so much about it.......It was one of the favourite foods of ancient Roman nobility (though of course they used a far bigger vat. Oh, and since it was such a messy thing to eat, it was generally consumed in the nude. Which made it a hot favourite at the Roman orgies. But I seem to be digressing again....;)



Anyway, then on Wednesday afternoon I finally settled down to read The Da Vinci Code. It's 5 a.m. Thursday morning and I'm still reading (OK I'm taking a half-hour break to type this, since my brain is, like, so much fried noodles right now:) It's certainly an enjoyable read so far, fast paced, detailed and with a wealth of interesting speculation and digression (into science, art and religion). And lots of codes, ciphers, anagrams, the kind of stuff I love. I'm feeling good, I actually managed to work out at least three of the clues instantaneously while reading :)  

Tomorrow (er today) is going to be one of those days; lectures from 9:45 (yeah, right. Like I'm gonna make it for that:P) And that's just for starters......it promises to get worse.

~lakesidey