Free Radical: The Journey

For you, my new love: Free Radical Issue #6.




Nandu, Deepak, Shaswat, Rohit, Shashank, Yash, Nitish, Shaurya, Gargi, and Etika, Great work guys!! Not only did you manage to pull it off but also made everyone very proud!

My thoughts go back to the time when we (Sridhar, Saurabh, Sid and I) were trying to figure out how to start a magazine. This is how I recall it:
The Mission
We wanted to give JSSites a platform where they could freely express themselves, read quality articles and improve upon their English. It had to be a free magazine-- completely 'of, by and for' the students plus free of charge.
Initially it was slated to be a Lingua Franca thing. Also, we didn't know how frequently we could manage to publish it. Sridhar wanted a weekly or at least a monthly thing while I thought just an annual almanac would be possible. Finally we decided that a semester-wise issue would be most practical.
The Name
Some of the few names that were finalized were: '"Le Parlons" or Let's Speak in French (by Sridhar), "Chaitanya" meaning knowledge in Sanskrit (given by me, also a friend's name) and "Free Radical" given by Sid.
We had mulled on a couple of names, I remember I had a list of 15 odd names sans "Free Radical" and still none of them quite captured the spirit, the zeal that we wanted to present. Then one day Sid uttered 'Free Radical' and immediately we took a liking to it. We knew at that very moment that it was The name. Now, all we had to do was to go and convince the Humanities department that this name wasn't a scary rebellion-stirring name it seemed to be. Sridhar and I walked into the staff room and began the war. We knew we had to stick to our guns for the teachers would pressurize us to leave a name so unconventional. We had more than an hour long argument and came out victorious! Sid and Saurabh waited outside and we recounted the encounter with burst of giggles.
Another funny moment was when a guy from college associated “Free Radical” with something that’s "free of cost".
Red Tape, Volgan Style
Then we had to deal with the faculty, the staff, the printer and everyone else in between. Leave red-tape, it was a red-wall that stood between us and the shiny pages. There was an extraordinary need to get everything authorized, signed, labelled, doubly checked, confirmed, re-checked and applications to sign and get signed. We waited patiently for heads to nod.
The Clueless Struggle
There we were, a bunch of second year kids, trying to figure out how one finds sponsorship, collects articles and gets them printed. After getting the approvalssss, a major task was to get the money. Fortunately Sridhar got one from Pepsi. A decent ad with Sharukh reaching out for a bottle with the caption "Yeh Dil Mannge More". The beuracrate wanted Sharukh smaller. (it had to be decent!). Next, we needed students' contributions to be printed. There was another society that had thought of printing a college magazine right when we were going to. Unfortunately they steered a few articles to themselves which never got printed.
The Birth
The first issue took nine months. So it was in every sense of the word "our baby". When we held it in our hands it felt like God's gift from heaven for we knew how many sleepless nights were spent on it. The cover page had the College's photo and the tagline "speak your mind" in an oval. It was the most beautiful magazine in the world.
There was a grand event for the launch. We invited the Principal, Advisor, CAO and the entire faculty, staff and students. The advisor said, "This should not be the only issue. I hope many will follow". We sure lived up to that, and so did you guys. We were sceptical at first as to how we would get more sponsors, whether the administration would remain benevolent.
The Journey
All the issues remain close to our hearts. They have been read a million times by each one of us. Each page reminds me of the work that was put in it even though I didn't go to the printer's office very often (Sorry guys), cause the location freaked me (Isn't fit for my royal ass, as one had put it). The criticism and appreciation that came, the joy of seeing seeds of imagination inked...everything...everything that came with it is etched in heart and mind.

'Make Politicians Work' Campaign

The public servant is ruling us like a king. It is high time that we make our politicians work for the cause we voted them for.

After the Mumbai terror attacks, the common man has lost his patience. We need to do something and not feel so helpless.

We shall make them accountable. Let’s put them to public service.

Employees are made to work, irrespective of their character. So why can’t we make our politicians work?

We have the power. File RTI against corrupt MLAs and MPs. Have a review and follow up the work done by them. Make it visible. Collaborate news papers and channels to organize such events.

Let us spread this message by the medium of internet. Forward this message to all your friends, government offices and news agencies.
Let them know. Let them hear the voice of a Billion people!

Yeh hai Mumbai, yeh hai Mumbai, yeh hai Mumbai meri jaan

I have this song on my lips since morning. And we know what kind of morning the people of the city woke up to. As I write this article, the horrors are still unfolding. No amount of praying has been able to stop it.
Praying? Like that helps, but isn’t that all we can do? After all we are so.. so helpless. All we can do is feel the enormous scare, make frantic calls to loved ones and try not to talk about it later. Try to forget, because life must go on, because.. because we are so helpless.

Life must go on? Yeah right, only for those who didn’t lose anyone, for others life is over. While they grieve we must collectively mourn. Because they are so helpless. And as they drown in misery we must find people to blame and combust our anger. Hate breeds hate. We wait till someone comes and takes us out of our misery. It burns, the city and with it burns the basic human need of security.

Why do we accept this?

Saare jaahan se accha, hindusitan humara, hum bulbule hain isski, yeh gulsita humara humara.

Who me, Katrina?

It's my cousin's wedding on 7th December and all that I can think is "i hafta get meself a pretty picture".

All my life I have had a Banshee's voice and Medusa's hairstyle but this time I hope to bring the lady out of the circus. I never took grooming seriously and was once proud of it. In the past you would find me hanging from a tree branch declaring that all I ever put was vaseline and that too for flattening the snakes on my mane. Boy, I was mighty proud to be a no-sissy, no girly-girl and picked fights with guys. I was at my craziest best when in middle-school and got sent to the principal office. One could find a bit of Georgina (@The Famous Five), Idgie Threadgood (Fried Green Tomatoes) and Pink (The Singer) in me, or so I like to believe.

Living in the outskirts of Banglore was massive fun. I lived in a beautiful colony with wide open green spaces, tall trees, railway tracks and beyond that a mini-forest with ancient trees. I can describe it forever but shall spare thou.

So yeah, you can imagine that I got the culture-shock of my life when I came to Delhi. I was a wild monkey midst of all these supposedly hip girls who thought I came from another planet. Well somethings never change, haha. So over the years I have tried to change, just for the sake of change, I still don't dress up often though I don't think there is anything wrong with it. I like to once in a while wear a pretty dress and shock/surprise people. I had once worn salwar-suit to college and I swear many people didn't recognize me! That was fun.

Finally coming back to my-cousin's-wedding part, I have big plans, I want to get rid of my glasses, straighten the rug on me head, and a few other things. Hopefully the enthusiasm won't flag. Sometimes I feel it to be a waste of time and money and have to fight with my 'inner nonsense'.

If it doesn't turn out to be horrible, I will upload my pic.

Random jabberritty

Oh I admit it, I too desperately want to become a blogger, straight dive into this insane world of reverse-voyerism! Whoooossh!...ooops somebody flushed...
heeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllpppppppppppppppppp

Yay! I was Tagged!

I was tagged by Garima (thanks!)


Here it goes--


3 names I go by:

1. Goddess of Whine
2. Vrrooni
3. Many other mutilated versions


3 things that scare me:

1. Dogs
2. Ghosts
3. Normal People


3 people who make me laugh:

1. My friends , oh they are f-u-n-n-y
2. My Dad
3. George W. Bush

3 things I love:

1. Planet Earth
2. Science
3. Newton


3 things I hate:

1. Polluters
2. Regional and hate Politics
3. Turai ki Sabzi..eeeyuukk


3 things I don't understand:


1. Social norms
2. Reason of our existence
3. Why cows don't bite people

3 things on my desk:

1. Silly Putty

2. A few books

3. A picture of Nadal

3 things I'm doing right now:

1. Dreaming about delicious food

2. Eating Carrots instead

3. Thinking about how many people will ever read this

3 things I want to do before I die:

1. Save the world

2. Travel the world while saving it

3. Find someone who can dance like me

3 things I can't do:

1. Dance (thts why..)

2. Sing

3. Eat as much as I want :(

3 things I think you should listen to:

1. Me, especially when you owe me money.

2. My friend Garima, most spontaneuosly witty of the lot.

3. Red Hot Chilli Peppers

3 shows I watched as a kid:

1. Popular Mechanics for Kids

2. Everything on Cartoon Network

3. Crystal Maze, BQC, Small Wonder, Aladin, etc etc..basically I was hooked to T.V.

3 things I want in a relationship:

1. Someone who I would look up to

2. Comittment

3. Fun

3 physical things about the opposite sex that appeal to me:

1. Smile

2. Symmetry

3. Athletic build

3 of my favourite hobbies :

1. Painting

2. Reading

3. Playing out-door games

3 beverages I drink regularly :

1. Thumbs up

2. Water

3. Sweet Lime Juice

3 things I like about myself:

1. I can make some people laugh some of the times :D

2. I don't have a weight problem

3. I am unusually honest :P

3 things I hate about myself:

1. Too lazy for my own good.

2. Absolutey panicy

3. Can be easily caught when lying (that explains the honesty bit)

3 of my everyday essentials:

1. Cracking a bad joke

2. Irritating someone outta his skin

3. Making fun of my bro.

3 things I am wearing right now:

1. Two full sleeved Tees coz it's getting cold

2. Blue pajamas

3. My mettalic blue glasses

2 truths and a lie:

1. I got 99 percentile in CAT

2. I secretly like some pop bands

3. I love lizards

3 people I want to tag:

1. Anchit

2. Sridhar

3. Nandita

Sid-aaloo

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Let's begin with the ugly:
He finds my jokes funny!!.......................................!
If you know me, I hope your insides are inside. If you don't know me, well...umm God has been kind. Anyways, this whole blah is for you to digest:-
Now I present to you the lovely:
The kid is talented u know:
1. A decorated style, dancing flair for writing
2. A delicious skin tone (dark temptation?)
3. Original sense of humor that's actually funny (I know how hard that it)
4. Mr. Know-it-All, Jack of all trades ka baap
5. Blogmaster
6. Married to creativity
Pretty ladies may note that he is a gentleman who proficient in losing their i-pods, but still manages to siddoos them.
Other than that, his profile on main-abhi-tak-kuwara-hoon.com
exposes the following facts----
$~~uttam varg ka baniya ladka~~$
$~~kamao hai~~$
$~~sehat acchi khasi hai~~$
Agar aap ek acchi gharelu moti ladki hain, jiski nakk kam behati hain, toh apna bio-data comment mein chod de.
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