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This compass doesn’t work



The Issue: Getting lost

The Soundtrack: A forest

Do you get lost often? Not the kind of getting lost when you’re told to ‘get lost’ and you disappear from the person’s view but lost as those guys before Columbus were while trying to find their ways across to us in the ‘Indies’.Well, I have the genetic equivalent of a very, very faulty GPS system. So if I want to go to Point B from Point A (which is invariably my office or my house) then, if my director (used in the truest sense of the word) is missing, I’m lost.

Last week, I had to travel by my own in my car to one of those foreign missions in Chankyapuri. If you’re a Dilliwala, you’ll know that this embassy enclave is as full of horizontal-vertical lines as there are in a Pete Mondrian painting, broken by identical circles that just want you to go round and round and round them till you’re rid of your desire to take a calculated risk and turn left. Well, I took one wrong turn left and after that a wrong turn right and the rest, as they say, is bad geography.

So what is it with us directionally challeneged? Is it really some sort of hardwiring problem we’re born with and develop skills for like mindreading and whisky-drinking? Or is it a consequence of us being totally dependent on other people knowing fully well that someone will always get us out of a jam — or in this case, out of terra incognita? The truth probably lies beyond the next gole chakkar.

But one thing I arm myself with while driving alone in the car is the Cure’s fog-enveloping masterpiece A forest . For Robert Smith singing this 1980 song, the problem is of a somewhat different nature than mine. As he sings to one of rock’s most mood-enhancing, gothic music, he follows the voice of a girl, siren-like and inviting “into the trees/into the trees”.

Which is when his and my conditions coalesce: “Suddenly I stop/but I know it’s too late/I’m lost in a forest/all alone/the girl was never there/it’s always the same/I’m running towards nothing/again and again and again.”

And no, I never made it to my Chanakyapuri destination that day.

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Posted by Indrajit Hazra on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 8:11 pm 
Filed under Music · Tagged , , , , , , ,

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Harjap-Aujla/598510664 Harjap Aujla

    “Nero was fiddling while Rome was burning” is totally true in the case of the Congress. The tide is turning against the Congress, but its leadership does not want to recognize it. The top leadership does not want to hear descent. The Congress is a victim of sycophancy. Its spokespersons are arrogant and its top leaders are ignorant about the mood of the nation. The sufferers will be the state level leaders, who will lose not due to their own follies, but due to the ills of the central leadership. Anna Hazare is riding a wave of popularity. By not confronting Anna, even Advani is likely to gain politically.

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  • Vedgautam

    Mahapatra, Are you selfless in writing this bl?g. Your one eye is on Race course road the other on Sonia’s feet.When Advani wins your same eye will be on his feet.

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  • Anonymous

    Advani’s Rathyatra is as selfless as Sonia declining PM post… :)

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  • Mukesh Bhaskar

    The actions of Mr. Advani had never been sincere or honest. Not any qualities he has ever shownat any time by witch he rose to that height. It is amazing. He always seems to have tried how to remain stick to the chair or leadership. Now he is more of person of Lamp without light. He does not seems to be understanding this. One way or the other he is trying different methods you never know what may people like again and Mr. Advani may come to the forefront. Who knows?

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  • Matelondon

    To be honest, BJP is going to another shock after this last Yatra of Advaniji..Even if he feels the people are on his side, as soon as the Yatra is over,there will be murmuring and whispering in teh party and it may even break.. What an unlucky man?????No , no chance to sit on teh top post..believe me…

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  • Pkajikumar

    Advani started the fight against corruption and black money and later hijacked by Anna & co. He realises that he has to be at the centre stage in fight against acrruption because he is the opposition leader. He is the only pan india popular leader in the country and it is his responsibility to fight corruption. So he is doing his duty.

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  • Abu Ahmed

    There’s something known as retiring gracefully; however, for a poltician of any hue, this attribute never suits. However, I admire his stamina and will to go on with a never-say-die spirit.

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  • Anonymous

    Umm… because Muslims were too busy building bombs and mosques and wasting time in madrassas and giving hate speeches?

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  • Anonymous

    Surely ‘The Two worlds’ are not that far apart, when it comes to Cuffe parade, Connaught Place, New York or London! I believe, the writer should have an opportunity to visit the remote villages of the country & gauge the difference in the two places. In the past 5 days 26 farmers in Vidarbh have committed suicide because they could not meet their daily needs.

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  • http://www.oktata.com Sameermehtani

    Ref: This Compass Doesn’t work

    You are now probably armed with Google Maps or some other map application on your Smartphone (surely you’d be using one)

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  • Ranjan Kumar

    Nice dear. Great!!! I also cycle to office daily which is 10 km away. So total of 20 km daily.

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  • Sabrina

    No where in the world do cycles co-exist with motorcars on a highway or freeway. This happened on a “highway”. Please do not mis-state that USA, Australia, Europe or Japan allows this to happen. It is totally forbidden. Besides, it is suicide. There is a minimum speed of at least around 55 MPH that a vehicle must be able to cruise to be allowed on a highway. Till this happens India will remain a third world country with third class laughable “highways”. Just building them isnt enough. Thorough planning must be done – BRT is one laughable “feat”. It has actually worsened traffic. Over 1000 trees were lost to build it. I daresay the govt will never bring out a white paper on the respiratory ailments that have increased for people along the corridor who have to inhale the muck caused by long jams. There were many other ways to well manage the Chirag Dilli crossing. BRT was not one of them. My illitrate driver used to laugh while it was being made… imagine reducing a lane for better traffic flow!!! And what were they thinking when the made the West End Flyover. Is it for coming or going? Or the Metro linkage? Are Rikshaws the solution. Does any body realise that the speed of the traffic moving on a road, depend on the slowest vehicle on the street. Thats the speed it will move at. One rickshaw causes untold national waste of Fuel!!! Does anybody think out of the box here. Yes, I would be very happy if we turned the entire city into a No-Motor Car zone. But various kinds of transport moving at widely different rates cannot co-exist on the same roads, same lanes. It is a no-brainer!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Good for them. I hope this is a victory for the entire country with all its communities

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  • momn doter

    Let me tell you why I hate Islam. Fact – “Muslim majority countries don’t develop (unless there is oil) and don’t respect minorities”. So I’m in favor of Islam free India – A country where every religion but Islam is welcome. I’m not against holy Qur’an or current Muslims. I would like new borns to be converted to any other religion, in case you are not a fan of Hinduism.

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