I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor

I recently watched 'The Great Dictator'. It is an amazing film for its time and a very strong critique of war and violence. The speech at the end has always captured my imagination and brought tears to my eyes. I only wish everyone in this world would think like this. The speech is a rousing tribute to universal brotherhood and peace. I would like you all to read it.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white.

We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness - not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls - has barricaded the world with hate - has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man - cries for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say: 'Do not despair.' The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate, only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!

Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written the kingdom of God is within man not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful - to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security.

By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason - a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us unite!

Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah. The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world - a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed and their brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow - into the light of hope, into the future, the glorious future that belongs to you, to me, and to all of us. Look up, Hannah... look up!"

Looking Back

Two years ago I had ended my first post with a question. I had asked myself whether I had the courage to face the world. The years have slid by and I still don't have an answer to that question.

A lot has taken place in these two years. Most significantly, dad passed away. In losing him, I lost my only true friend. At first the loss was unbearable but with time I have come to accept the fact and move on. I believe that death is as much a part of life as is any other facet of it. In pining for someone who is no more, we actually pity ourselves, and self pity is the worse thing that we can do to ourselves. Nowadays whenever I think of him, I think of the wonderful times that we had spent together, and it brings a smile to my face. I know that as long as I live, he will live with me in my thoughts, my actions and my memories.

The other significant change has been getting out of college and starting a career. The exciting and fun days of college life have given way to a boring, meaningless existence. I always seem to be waiting for the weekend, and when it finally arrives I don't know what to do and end up wasting time in idle pursuits.

Most of these two years, I spent in Mysore and Pune. I had a great opportunity to interact with people who are quite different from us in culture and language but somehow share the same basic values. I ended up making a lot of friends, who are from different parts of India, and indeed I am richer for it.

Yes, I have grown if experience makes a person grow. Again, in these two years I have folded back more into myself, sharing very little of my thoughts with anyone. And as far as the courage to face the world is concerned, I feel the way a person about to be executed feels. Running away is not an option, but neither can I look life in the eye and face it unwaveringly. Can I apply for a Presidential Pardon?

Back in Town

After spending nearly a year and a half, first in Mysore then in Pune, I am finally back on home turf. The process of coming back was hastened by the great blunderbuss of an IT company called Infosys.

The work allocated to me at Infosys would be a shame for any respectable engineer. All I had to do was churn documents by the dozen. All my pleas for some respectable work fell on deaf ears. The higher-ups have soared so high that they can no longer hear our mortal cries.

Finally I said, 'Enough is enough!' (and a lot more that can't be written here) and quit the job. Back in Calcutta I spent a merry month watching the World Cup and unemployed. Then I managed to convince a company to take me in. The work here seems good enough and has been satisfying till now.

PS. Not planning to leave Calcutta ever!!!

Too busy!

Sorry folks! Left with no Internet connectivity at home and a busy schedule my blog has been left high and dry. Hoping to reverse the process soon!!

Me, myself & I

Now what do I say about the person that I am always with. This guy thinks he's good at everything but that's just a dream too big to achieve. He's friendly but has a lot of enemies. He's charming, or that's what he thinks. In short he is a lot of things he isn't and he isn't a lot of things he is.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, this is the man himself, gaming when he's supposed to be studying. But then Counter Strike is much more attractive than Optical Fibre Communication. He is in his soon to be vacated hostel room posing for this picture ....... conceited as ever!

He is currently completing his graduation in engineering, in the field of Electronics and Communication. He will graduate soon. He studies in this little known college known as Institute of Technology nd Marine Engineering. He has big dreams of making it big as a scientist and someday and winning the Nobel Prize. But somewhere in the corner of his heart he knows that this is never to be, but whats life without a dream? It's like a bottle without the wine.

The picture above is that of the entrance to his beloved college. He'll say he loves his college and is sad at having to leave it but deep inside him somewhere is a feeling of relief at finally being out of a place full of strife and animosity, a place where very few people really understood him. The world outside is tough but he has the courage to face it (really?!?).