Mohammad-bin-tughlaq and first theatricals

Over the week end, had a chance of using HBad's local rails.
Just for the heck of it got down at the HI-TEX station. Both the things,
the local as well as the station is BIG. Part of the majestic vision Naidu had.
Either it was an effort to start the city on the right footing to be the next
IT hub, steal and surpass the grandeur of Bangalore, a dream about a world-class
metropolis equal to the Londons and Parises and Tokyos; Or it was just
extravagance of NTR. Only extended in a totally different direction: from the
grassroots poor to the middle-middle and upper-middle classes.

There can only be a direct comparison with mohommad-bin-Tughlaq. The sprawling parking lot and the station at the HI-TEX in the eerie wilderness of the rocks of the deccan plateau look very much similar to the ruins of Daulatabad.

Tughlaq dreamt completely different strategies: introducing common currency (copper instead of god+silver), move to the center of the kingdom (From Delhi to Daulatabad near Aurangabad). While these strategies were a master stroke in the respective domains of state finance and state safety + administration, they were way before their times, too revolutionary; hence total failures.

Now I see the parking-lot and the station and I am distinctly reminded of the scene where Tughlaq is looking at his precious rose-garden destroyed by the copper coins he tried to introduce and had to take back.

May be I am wrong, may be the future will need this infrastructure and it will remain un-vandalized till then.

Like everybody else, I was introduced to Tughlaq by the play by Girish Karnad.

Speaking of theatre, I had my first tiff with the theatre at HBad this week end.
There was some dance-drama performance in Shilpa-Kala-wedike (Another example of the grandiose vision: a sprawling complex, enough to seat ~2000 people OR more, huge stage, fantastic acoustics). The performance was “Stories from Panch-Tantra”.

The execution was fantastic. The sets were designed intelligently and the dances were breath taking.

The theatre (I would rather call it a stadium) was full. We(7 of us: me, wifey,cousin, in laws, sis and her hubby) made it without even buying a single ticket. Will tell more about the entry sometime later.
As as old-timers may remember, if I gatecrash any party, it is always a tremendous success (Remember the cricket-match) ….

Worthy father to an enchanting baby ...

Wifey comes back tomorrow ...

This is the first time she has gone away. For just over a week to visit her parents. The separation, though small, really has added something more to us. Now I really know she is the most inseparable part of my life.

Really need to have a count on the hours we spend fighting. Somehow the love shows more when we fight. Lack of fights for a couple of days brings the fears of the fires burning down soon.
A nice good quarrel early in the morning and the full day nicely falls in a rhythm.

Don't know how it affects the baby though. She also must be understanding the force of love behind all this. Or she will already be understanding and forgiving her father. She must be right now slapping her forehead with her hand and think : "Dad, why are you like this??"

Boy! what a pair of daughter(son??)-father we are going to make!!

She will have all the care, poise and understanding (enough to be blamed as diplomacy) of her mother. But just to balance it out, she will also have my high-headedness, recklessness and moodiness.

But to get her, we need to wait for six more months. It is going to be a thrilling wait.
I am definitely going to make a really bad father: but I am going to fight like hell to be a good one. Only time will prove. All I can do is wait.

Wait for six months.
Hmmm right now wait for twenty-four hours for her mother to come back to me ;)

whiewww ... beginning of the ...

So,
Years after being a start-stop diary writer, my tryst with blogging.
Let's see how long it lasts.

The dust has yet to settle down. you have to go to a totally new city and stay there by yourselves just to understand what it means. My response to this situation is what my response generally to everything is : I am right now pretty numb about it ;)
That's why Arthur Dent is the fictional character I relate to the most. Tells a lot, doesn't it?

I think I need to settle down completely before I really feel nostalgic about the past, about Bangalore and friends and stuff. Right now Hyderabad is all rosy and cool (despite all the confusion.) I have got a bi-cycle for myself. And riding it to office is real helpful in making me feel a part.

Right now looks like I am the only one riding a bike to the office. I am allocated a cubicle and
all my paraphernalia of talismans are in their place. It now includes two deers, one elephant (made of copper) and a cycle rider (new addition: wipro gang gave me this).

I am going through a lot of code at the office. Reading-understanding code and cycling are the things binding me to the old-me. Otherwise everything is so different.