aaj kal ke....

Back in my somaiya days i.e.11th-12th,when we used to daily travel in local trains(vidyavihar to thane) it used to get quite monotonous a few times(i didnt hav any portable music player back then). so while we used to discuss anything but sense,i occassionally let go of my sanity and would simply play nuts like waving out to strangers on the platform from inside the train when it just left the platform or running from one first-class coach to the next one ahead on kanjur-marg or simply staring some poor soul from time to time and pretending to make notes about him. but this one afternoon,we were accompanied by a joyous(read over-excited-to-be-in-college) group of boys and gals.they wer at the door making all sortsa noise..wt with the guys cracking silly jokes about the gals...and the gals hitting the guys..how innovative!
i then noticed that they were getting on the nerves of an elderly uncle sitting in front of me.so anyone could have guessed wt he wud hav had to say,the same old.."aaj kal ke bacche..."and so on.but then as this phrase hit me,i just turned to my friend and said loud enuff for the uncle to hear it,"kya aaj kal ke bacche bhi....humare zamaane mein hum kheti-baadi kiya karte thhey...kadakti dhoop mein khoon pasina ek karke majdoori karte thhey...aur aaj kal ke bacche...kisi bhi cheez ki keemat hi nahi...chchey..". my friend had the same confused look as that of the uncle. but the uncle probably had a thought my friend didnt for sure,"aaj kal ke bacche bhi.."

shamie,
25th jan,2007

shamanth,with any other name would stink as bad...!

"WHAT'S IN A NAME?"
-SHAKESPEARE

for starters,my name is SHAMANTH HUDDAR. ya...thats my name..notice the letters i have highlighted...ya...its important...the order IS important...if u have already guessed wher i am goin with this...then u were/are probably my classmate..and for those who havnt decoded it yet..here it goes...try to look at the highlighted letters again...isnt it visible that 'A' comes before 'N' in 'shamanth' and not otherwise...ya...u get it now dont u..? my name is NOT SHAM-NA-TH....no it's not...! so get this...this has been the most common mispronunciation of my name....till date...especially during my engineering days...!the roll-calls in the class have many times induced a round of stupid laughter in the class when my name goes ON AIR...with the mistake ofcourse...and then i hav to smile sheepishly,add a bob-o-nod and go,"sir...its SHAM-AN-TH" and yet again the prof wudnt bother to correct himself the next time. so thats th story of my name...

now as the title says...i dont care about the changes done to my name,for the sake of it...but what irritates me is the beauty of the repeatability of the same mistake being committed by different individuals at different times.co-incidence? i dont think so...! conspiracy..? well maybe not...cuz u just need a "himesh-uuunn-song-in-my face" to drive me nuts! anyway...comin back to the point...the reason is one strikingly surprising fact which is as follows...

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch dnoe at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht
the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl
mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

if u cud read the above para properly..then u may have guessed the reason why i get called sham-na-th. so turns out,i cant blame anyone.

shamie,
10th jan,2007.