2nd Oct 2009 - The day started as any other normal working day apart from that it was a Friday. And not any TGIF. It was the day after when my bro-in-law had arrived in Adelaide. It was the day before the long weekend - a labour day long weekend - which meant 3 continuous days of celebration and seeing beautiful places in and around Adelaide.
With that anticipation, I got up at my usual time, got ready and just before heading off to work, I opened my macbook and fired off firefox to check the performance of one DOW Jones from last night. And BANG!! there in the middle of google page - my home page - appeared none other than our own Baapu or Gandhi ji or Mahatma. (and/or all of the above). Google had put this doodle on their front page.
Now, catching the bus has many benefits but I love the time it gives me to self-reflect. Today I had Gandhiji with me. While waiting for the bus, I quickly opened my mobile to check gmail and there he appeared again. One of my friends had emailed me the link to google page with subject - "Google Today" and I knew exactly what he was talking about. Bus came, I validated my ticket and took a cozy comfortable seat at the back. And then it started.
I started reminiscing about good old days of public holiday during school. I thought to myself what it would be like in India today. Mahatma's b'day will not go unnoticed if I were to be in India right now. There would be at least one channel - may be Doordarshan - showing THE movie or who knows the competition for the TRP means e'body is showing the same movie at the same time :-). One thought led to another and finally I asked myself, "If there was ever a song which explains Gandhi to my generation or today's generation for that matter, what would it be?". I started jogging my memory (I did miss my iPod then) but nothing came to forefront. I know many patriotic songs but none on Gandhi? May be there are not many/any. Obviously, there are songs like "Vaishnav Jana To.." and other usual fair but nothing which connects Gen-Y or Gen-X to him? C'mon there's got to be some song.
Then right before I got down from the bus (an easy half an hour journey) it came to me and I thought to myself - GENIUS. Nope, I'm not talking about me but the lyricist of the song - Swanand Kirkire. Obviously, the music by Shantanu Moitra is great and the rendition by Sonu is perfect but hats off to the one penned it all.
And the song I'm referring to is Bande Me Tha Dum from LRMB. What a movie but what a song I must say. I quickly logged into my computer and I had to google the song :). As I was at work, I didn't want to listen to the song online, so I thought let me check out the lyrics. And man, they are one hell of a lyrics. I was glad I did not hear but read the lyrics. After couple of repeates, there was too much of emotion building up in me - it's not funny. Now, I'm not sure if the emotion was patriotic type but who cares. I had to release this emotion otherwise I would be a mess at work. As there is no compatriot around at work to talk to, I quickly composed an email and sent the lyrics to almost e'body I know with subject line, "Mahatma - Bande Me Tha Dum". Having shared my thoughts with the people I know and I care made it lot easier and I could now concentrate on SSDD routine.
So here how I spent my 2nd Oct 2009 remembering one of the greatest man to have ever lived and thanks to Google for starting it all.
Side Note: I knew the lyrics made impact on at least one other person when I got a unexpected reply to my email from a family friend of ours. It was her first ever communication on email to me and it said, "Thanks Praveen, It is very nice. Sandhya". Thanks Sandhya ji for replying.
With that anticipation, I got up at my usual time, got ready and just before heading off to work, I opened my macbook and fired off firefox to check the performance of one DOW Jones from last night. And BANG!! there in the middle of google page - my home page - appeared none other than our own Baapu or Gandhi ji or Mahatma. (and/or all of the above). Google had put this doodle on their front page.
 | And first thing came to my mind was WOW!! that's very creative, imaginative, thoughtful and lot more. Specially, I loved the face of Gandhi - the way it's suppose to represent letter G. Then it hit me, "oh! yeah today is 2nd Oct - Gandhi Jayanthi". I quickly posted the google page link on FB and left home to catch a bus to work. |
Now, catching the bus has many benefits but I love the time it gives me to self-reflect. Today I had Gandhiji with me. While waiting for the bus, I quickly opened my mobile to check gmail and there he appeared again. One of my friends had emailed me the link to google page with subject - "Google Today" and I knew exactly what he was talking about. Bus came, I validated my ticket and took a cozy comfortable seat at the back. And then it started.
I started reminiscing about good old days of public holiday during school. I thought to myself what it would be like in India today. Mahatma's b'day will not go unnoticed if I were to be in India right now. There would be at least one channel - may be Doordarshan - showing THE movie or who knows the competition for the TRP means e'body is showing the same movie at the same time :-). One thought led to another and finally I asked myself, "If there was ever a song which explains Gandhi to my generation or today's generation for that matter, what would it be?". I started jogging my memory (I did miss my iPod then) but nothing came to forefront. I know many patriotic songs but none on Gandhi? May be there are not many/any. Obviously, there are songs like "Vaishnav Jana To.." and other usual fair but nothing which connects Gen-Y or Gen-X to him? C'mon there's got to be some song.
Then right before I got down from the bus (an easy half an hour journey) it came to me and I thought to myself - GENIUS. Nope, I'm not talking about me but the lyricist of the song - Swanand Kirkire. Obviously, the music by Shantanu Moitra is great and the rendition by Sonu is perfect but hats off to the one penned it all.
And the song I'm referring to is Bande Me Tha Dum from LRMB. What a movie but what a song I must say. I quickly logged into my computer and I had to google the song :). As I was at work, I didn't want to listen to the song online, so I thought let me check out the lyrics. And man, they are one hell of a lyrics. I was glad I did not hear but read the lyrics. After couple of repeates, there was too much of emotion building up in me - it's not funny. Now, I'm not sure if the emotion was patriotic type but who cares. I had to release this emotion otherwise I would be a mess at work. As there is no compatriot around at work to talk to, I quickly composed an email and sent the lyrics to almost e'body I know with subject line, "Mahatma - Bande Me Tha Dum". Having shared my thoughts with the people I know and I care made it lot easier and I could now concentrate on SSDD routine.
So here how I spent my 2nd Oct 2009 remembering one of the greatest man to have ever lived and thanks to Google for starting it all.
Side Note: I knew the lyrics made impact on at least one other person when I got a unexpected reply to my email from a family friend of ours. It was her first ever communication on email to me and it said, "Thanks Praveen, It is very nice. Sandhya". Thanks Sandhya ji for replying.
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2 comments:
Nice..have you heard "sabarmati ke sant tune kar diya kamal?"
and I was wondering who's this..until I read your blog entries :). Yeah have heard that song and love it but it's bit slow for today's generation. and I do not agree with the line in the song which says.."चुटकी में दुश्मनों को दिया देश से निकाल". It took a looong time and lot of hard work but that's just my opinion.
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