IN REVERSE GEAR

A whole new life!!

2011-03-05T12:52:00.001-08:00

Whats happening in my life? A lot!!

I have been living in a whole new world the past one year. This one year has made me miss every phase of my life I went through - my carefree childhood phase to my first independent adulthood phase. How has my life changed? Here it goes:

1. I am living in a hostel (a co-ed one;) ) for the first time in life. I finally have my own awesome room with no one to interfere. This is the life I always wanted considering the kind of anti-social person I am.

2. There is always something to study at any point in a term. Your sleep hours become so calculated that one wasted hour of sleeping can make you feel guilty for the rest of the day. Trust me it does.

3. I have become philosophical after coming here. I am still an atheist but I am exploring nonetheless. I don't know how much of those philosophical stuff is true but it does help you deal with tough situations.

4. I have realized that the cut throat competition can be killing only if you want it to be. But no matter how much you know about the truth, you will still go to bed everyday worrying about the competition.

5. There is no right time to do things here. I can now take bath at 11 at night, eat Maggi at 4 in the morning, wash my clothes at 5 in the morning, play tennis at 2 in the morning, take a nap at 7 in the evening or rather any point in a day.

6. I get to meet big celebrities throughout the year. From the smallest Vega Tamotia to Gul Panag to Shobha de to Rajat Sharma to the biggest Arun Shourie. I got to watch the Indian Ocean Concert which was at distance of around 10 mtrs from my balcony.

7. My To-do list will always have at least 5 things yet to be done at any point of time.

8. I easily lose track of days in a week. Somehow weekends don't feel any different from weekdays no matter how desperately I want them to be. There are quizzes and exams even on Sunday evenings.

9. I spend not more than 5 hours at a max per month outside the campus. Rest of the time you don't even get to see or hear anything from the outside world.

10. Watching a movie or reading a novel or even writing a blog is a luxury which you have to fight for by compromising something else for it.

Despite all these... I am absolutely loving it ;)

Yet another phase of life ends

2010-06-18T23:52:00.000-07:00

Independent life..... Pune..... first job...... first salary...... learning how to do the job which had no relation to what I learned for 4 years..... projects...... meetings in swanky rooms...... talking to firangis...... deciding which tag to put the bank code in and acting as if that might resolve the Israel-Palestinian issue....... professional clothes....... going back to jeans and flip flops after a month...... free tea and coffee and soup and hot chocolate....... chatting more on Sametime than working....... annual appraisals...... gossip...... bitching about managers ........ getting frustrated.......... "Thats it, I am done. I am getting a new job" .......... back to counting the number of days left for the long service award.......... staying away from parents........ paying rents......... paying electricity bill for the first time in life....... Room mates......... laughing over really stupid jokes.......... trying first with just a bottle of breezer......... feeling nothing but still laughing as if we drank a bottle of vodka......... sharing.......... learning to cook.......... giving up after few days........ getting used to unhygienic food......... surviving on Maggi........ coming home late at night without the phone ringing every 30 min starting 830......... expensive salons....... dinner at posh expensive restaurants....... cocktails.......... screwdriver....... long island iced tea...... going to malls.......... finally not window shopping....... still waiting for end of season sales........ late night parties......... studying just to get out of IT...... cluesless about life....... long trips to beaches on bikes and cars......... grass..... cocaine...... shots......

Ok.. I was kidding about the last three again. But I have noticed that the level of things I kid about every time gets higher and higher. The three things I joked about in the end of the post I wrote about college life, two out of those three have been checked. So I cant guarantee about the current last three things too. ;)

My life so far (An autobiography poem)

2010-06-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

In the international year of peace, 1986
along the Coromandel Coast in the tropics
in a small town with nuclear power plants
when the morning was way beyond dawn
as dark as the dusk, I was born

I grew up a shy kid, always alone
and lazy, but very active in my fantasy zone
sticking only to my imaginary friends
My parents tried hard to change me, only vainly
when I cried my way out of Lower KG

My giving up the next year made my parents glad
and I realized that real friends werent all that bad
The school let me directly go for Upper KG
even though I was as dumb as a donkey
never could I figure out why 4 25 paise coins made 1 rupee

I changed from a donkey to well.. not a donkey
As my grades started improving slowly
My parents then thought me fit for other parts
put me in dancing and music for the starts
even then my heart went out only for arts

After continuously dreaming of becoming a doctor
I went for Comps after the biology terms made me shudder
C++ and VB were something I adored
My love for coding was why my marks soared
and made me the college topper in HSC board

Why I took telecomm later, still escapes me
While designing filters, I could feel myself choking
The microelectronics diode would get me gasping
With the equations of EM wave from an optical fiber
I could feel my brain cells committing suicide

The superhero IT came to my rescue as well
Taught me Cobol, Db2, Cics, Vsam and Jcl
In the beginning coding for a bank did seem cool
but something felt amiss which I had to retool
I knew the only place where I could do that was a B-School

From not knowing how 4 25 paise coins made 1 rupee
to wanting to take decisions affecting the economy
only the next few years can tell,
If I can make this world a better place to live in
For both you and me

I guess you can clearly see my desperate attempts to make the lines rhyme and also that I had given up in the last stanza. ;). Making the lines rhyme in a poem is just not my thing.

Smoke 'em out

2010-05-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

Now that I have resigned from my job, I feel as if I can interchange the number of hours I work and the number of hours I spend on breaks. These days I just get up and go out with anyone for a break. A few days back I went out with a colleague of mine (who smokes like 8 cigarettes a day and also looks like one) to the most happening place around my office i.e the Tapri. Tapri is a small shop placed at a point outside the office which sells Tea, Biscuits and Cigarettes. The shop usually consists of only a small table with all the above stuff and a small chair for the shopkeeper to sit and a huge umbrella to provide shade depending on the climate and the shopkeeper here normally ends up earning much more than the professionals who go there to smoke. You will find more number of people standing around the tapri than in a CCD or a McDs. I really wouldnt be surprised to see those tapris listed in NSE (Ramesh Tea stall (RMTS ^ 230.34)). Anyway, I digress. At any point of time during office hours you can find atleast 10-15 people standing around the table, smoking. Though this is a sad plight, there is nothing that can be done (or should be done) to stop these people from smoking their lungs away. Why? We'll come to that later in some other post.

If the government really intended to reduce tobacco consumption in India, then it could have simply banned all tobacco products the way its with drugs like cocaine. But yes, it wouldnt do that. There are around 120 million smokers in India and is home to 12% of the world’s smokers. As of 2006 India earned Rs 1,362 crore as foreign exchange and Rs 7,200 crore as excise revenue through tobacco. Exports have risen by about 67 per cent in rupee terms to Rs 3,383 crore in 2008-09. The tobacco industry provides employment to 4.5 million people. Why would the govt ban it completely? But then why doesnt the govt do the following too?:

1. Increase tobacco taxation - Studies suggest that Raising cigarette taxes to Rs 3691 from existing Rs 659 per 1000 sticks would increase tax revenues by over Rs 146 billion and prevent 3.4 million deaths in current and future cigarette smokers. Raising bidi taxes to Rs 98 per 1000 sticks would raise over Rs 36.9 billion in tax revenues and prevent 15.5 million deaths in current and future bidi smokers. When I told my colleague about this, he said he wouldnt stop smoking even if the price increased but he would start working harder to earn more money to be able to afford the dearer cigarettes. Calculations show that even very substantial cigarette tax increases will still reduce consumption and increase tax revenues. This is in part because the proportionate reduction in demand does not match the proportionate size of the tax increase, since addicted consumers respond relatively slowly to price rises. This is good in both ways because people who quit, quit for the better and those who dont, just end up working harder in turn generating more GDP for our country. The only concern would be of the low income groups (who form the highest percentage in tobacco consumers) resorting to illegal ways like robbery or smuggling to get their share of dope.

2. Lift FDI Ban on Cigarette manufacturing - “Manufacturing of cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes, of tobacco or of tobacco substitutes” have been put under the list of sectors where FDI is prohibited. Agreed this is a good measure to curtail smoking but why let go of the benefits of FDI (hence more revenue and more employment) in our country when you can limit the cigarettes manufactured by them to be sold only outside India. Not worrying about the health of others outside India is not morally right but we have bigger issues here.

3. Improve the conditions of rural workers - It has been found that the tobacco industry exploits its workers by not paying them minimum wages and employing children among its labour force. Bidi companies pay very low wages, as low as Rs.23 per 1,000 bidis rolled, in certain parts of India. Hence, this work is mostly done by women and children. The govt should step in and ban them from hiring children and divert the work to other rural villages and ensure they get more wages and improve their standard of living.

4. Take advantage of Tapris outside companies - Considering there are 120 million smokers in India and considering each smoke atleast 5 in a day and knowing for a fact that the tapri guys earn more than the professionals who come to smoke, we can allow one "tapri" to be legally setup by an unemployed person (as the investment required for setting it up is negligible) for every 120 people who smoke, we can create some source of livelihood for around 1 million people.

Sorry for acting so MBA-ish. Now that I have gotten into a B-school, feels good to act as if I am trying to make this world a better place to live in. :)

I'm Back

2010-02-15T10:28:00.001-08:00

I'M BACK. Back after an year. But back from what? Back from spending the life of a hermit in the himalayas? Back from spending an year working for the destitute all around the world? Back from spending an year in the hospital after imitating the Thumbs up ad stunts done by Akshay kumar? Back from spending an year locked inside my room to find the solution to 'what happened before Big bang'?

Oh no. I am back from none of those. If there is anything I can say I am back from, then it would be trying to make my life in IT a bit more interesting than the "life of a corpse living in a graveyard." Well.. the following things are the best that happened with me in the last one year but the last thing beats the crap out of everything.

Sometime around July last year I went on a "Moonlight trek". Basically it was supposed to be a 5-6 hours trek on the mountains in Sinhagad, Pune on a Full moon night. Athletically, I have an high opinion of myself For eg. I can somehow picturize myself running continuously for an hour or so but in reality I dont think I can do it for even 5 min at a stretch. Similarly I thought the trek would be a piece of cake for me but it turned out to be a 'night'-mare. The trek started at 7 pm. I was half dead by 9 pm. Once into the mountains there was no turning back and there was no possibility of calling a helicopter. There were 11 mountains in series and the last one had a tower with a red blinking light on top of it. We had to go up and down all the mountain and had to reach that tower (exactly the way Frodo Baggins had to reach the eyeball of fire). The tower somehow looked so close and I kept hoping for the trek to get over in another hour. I just ended up hoping and cursing and climbing and falling and climbing and hoping again for the next 9.5 hours. The trek ended at 630 am next day. There was not an inch in my body which did not ache and it was so bad that I had to resort to illegal drugs to get rid of the pain.

3 months later after another trek, I went down with severe jaundice and I was hospitalized for the first time in my life. I was excited for exactly 3 hours after which it started getting boring as hell. Hospitals should install Wifi so that patients can access internet from their beds while the intravenous drips irritates the crap out of them. Anyway Jaundice made me realize how tough it is to stay at home jobless. I wasnt jobless obviously but I had to skip office for around 2 months and I totally hated staying at home.

Things have been eventful on the office front for the past few months. I finally got Production defects, first time in 3 years, that too with a bang. Four of them in a week all from the same project. I am now so well versed with that program that everyone in my team thinks of me the moment they come across that program. Despite that, they offered me London onsite.

And finally the last and the probably the best thing I did in last 3 years is refusing London onsite and quitting my job on a monday morning. YAY!!

Atheism defined

2009-02-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

Heres an excellent piece on Atheism by Amit Varma. Obviously nothing new but it couldn't have been put in better words. He writes:

Some people think that atheism means believing that there is no God. This is a flawed perception. The primary meaning of atheism that most dictionaries will give you, though there are secondary meanings that have evolved from bad usage, is of “disbelief” in God or a deity. That means that atheists are not people who believe that there is no God, but people who do not believe that there is God. The difference is huge.

The conviction that there is no God is irrational because one cannot prove a negative. (How do you prove that something does not exist?) However, it is entirely rational to not believe in something whose existence has not been demonstrated. I don’t believe in dragons or fairies because no one has yet proved to me that they exist. Ditto God. I am not asserting that God does not exist, but simply saying that I don’t believe in the existence of God because I see no evidence of Him (or Her, or It). This is not a dogmatic position: if you can prove to me tomorrow that God or dragons exist, I will start to believe in them. Until then, I remain in disbelief. That’s atheism.....

....I may not believe in God, but I have no doubt that belief in God serves a purpose for many people. In primitive times, before we understood what the sun was or why there were eclipses and storms, the world must have appeared a terrifying, bewildering place. Religion offered an explanation for everything, and made us believe that we weren’t as small and insignificant as, well, as we are. Besides rendering the world explicable, it made mortality bearable. When someone close to us died, we could tell ourselves that they were in a better place.
As science has gradually filled up the gaps in our knowledge, the God of the Gaps has shrunk, almost becoming redundant. And while the consolations of belief are useful, I would rather reject those false certainties and look for consolation in smaller, surer things....

I had gone to Bangalore and Chennai last week and every time me and mom decided to go out, as always the first thing that came to her mind was a temple. "Kabaleashwar Kovillkku polaa, vaa (Lets go to Kabaleashwar temple), Its in Mylapore, very beautiful", and "Theres a big Maruti temple in Jayanagar near Naveen's house, Varriyaa? (Coming?)" were the first two sentences I heard after I landed in Chennai and Bangalore respectively. And as always I couldn't muster enough courage to tell her that the idols mean nothing to me. Explaining to a pious person about your Atheist status without bringing god to a derogatory position has always been tough. I seriously don't want to hurt her and get her wondering where she went wrong in bringing us up.

There is certainly nothing wrong in believing in things that do not exist "scientifically" yet but what is wrong, is forcing the same beliefs on others. Its your choice if you want to use god as a medium to feel secure or get some peace of mind or use it to prove things which cannot be proven scientifically but that doesn't mean everyone should do the same. Also what I find very disturbing is people get so deep into the religious thing that they lose all sense of practicality. Theres a small temple in front of our house in Bangalore. I noticed that they pour milk, honey and some other stuff on the idols as part of the rituals everyday. There is a global food crisis out there, for heavens sake. India has more people suffering hunger - a figure above 200 million, than any other country in the world. Isn't there an obvious better use, all the milk can be put for?

George Bernard Shaw puts it perfectly: "The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one". The problem with religious people is that they never come out of the drunken state.

· · · — — — · · · (S.O.S) · · · — — — · · ·

2009-01-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

I never thought this would be the first post in the year 2009. But I couldn't help. I couldn't and still can't get myself into thinking positively at this juncture of life. Things are so bad that I now see a plus sign made up of two negative signs. I couldn't stop myself from pouring out the things bothering me at this most depressing time in my life and there is no one who can really understand and help me out. I feel as if I am trapped inside a dark room. I can see the light coming in through the door which is slightly open but I cant reach it. I want to get out but something is holding me back. I don't know how the world will be outside that door but all I know is that I hate the dark room and I want to leave it.

I hate it all. I hate everything that is happening in my life right now. Every bit of it. I hate it when I wake up and open my eyes to find the same sad room I sleep in, in Pune. I hate the walk I need to take from my house to office with the din of motorcycles and the stench of pollution accompanying me. I hate to enter the posh and sophisticated 8 floors building I call office. I hate to sit at my desk with people all around me continuously blabbering crap and faking a British accent every time they are on the phone. I hate to go back to the box I live in with not an inch of privacy and roomies who are totally not my kind, they are nice.. mind you.. but not my kind. I hate to go to bed after the unpalatable dinner I have everyday. I hate my work. Somehow I don't understand why everyone around me acts as if they are writing a code which can prevent a genocide from happening. I just don't care. I don't care what goes live when. I don't care if someone else's program fails in production when I am supposed to. I don't care if a query takes 3.45 sec to finish when it can be optimized to 2.98sec. I say 'yes' to anything my TL says without actually listening to a word because everytime she speaks I just hear "blah blah blah... blah blah blah". I draw cartoons on Paper cups during team meetings. The only thing I wonder about when I see bar graphs in meetings is whether the colors used for each bar matches well with each other(not that I hate graphs, I just hate the petty things IT makes graphs for). I simply don't care and I somehow can't help it. IT is just not the right place for me. There is no one who seems to understand my problem. People seem happy here. My friends put in at least 12 hours a day in office doing this shitty work.

I now regret every decision I took in my life since childhood. I now realize what all I could have done and can't be done now because its too late for that. I blame my parents for telling me only about "IIT", MBA, MS and MBBS when I was a kid and not about other streams being interesting too. I blame myself for being indecisive when I was in 10th. I blame all Middle class families for their mentality of making their kids go for either Engg or MBBS and securing a "Safe job". No wonder our country has the highest number of IT and call-center employees. This mentality is just turning all talented people in our country into "English-speaking low-wage Software coolies".

This post is my desperate plea to all who visit my blog and those who accidently visited this blog, to help me get any job other than IT and I promise I will give you half my first month's salary (the higher the salary is, the more you get ;) can be negotiated too). An NGO with little pay or a temp IT job in Mumbai or Bangalore will also do. Atleast one of my problems (staying in Pune) will be solved. Just tell me about the vacancies. Do anything but get me out of this god-forsaken place. I am done living this "so-called" independent life.

Be the change you want to see in the world

2008-12-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

I am probably the last Indian blogger on earth who has not yet written anything on the recent Mumbai attacks. Not that I have become callously indifferent to the terror that now seems to be a part of our everyday lives but I just dont have anything to say. There is nothing I want to say to the terrorists. There is nothing that I want to say to the politicians. Telling them something and expecting it to work is like asking a donkey to solve a calculus problem and actually expecting it to get the right answer. I have something to say to the guys who went on a peace march on Dec 3rd.

I am sure you guys had a lot of fun. I can make that out from the stupid grin in your face. I can also make out that you guys are really creative. You guys are funny and write really great poems. The stanzas rhyme perfectly too. Why didnt you guys have a contest? That would have been good. You could have judged the posters on things like slogans, creativity, humour, design etc. I am sure most of you must be doing a great job as the cultural secretary of your college. In case you are not, please join the cultural committee of your college or office. I mean writing creative funny slogans even under such a serious situation is not something ordinary. Such talent should not go waste.

But I dont understand. I dont understand how this so-called "peace march" will bring back the dead. I dont understand how these posters will make the terrorists change their mind. I dont understand how these slogans will change the politicians' nature. So you think Shivraj Patil resigned because he actually took "moral responsibility for the Mumbai attacks". Moral responsibility? Really? So earlier attacks were nothing? He resigned because he had to. He resigned because Sonia Gandhi refused to back him this time because the elections are nearing and things are already worse because of the financial meltdown. I hope you guys know that you can elect our government. Well, I suppose the pain you take for voting will not bring the change this rally will bring. If you think running a country is so simple and if no one is good enough why don't you start a party and stand in the election. I hope you know the concept of "I vote nobody". In case you don't - "As per the rule in Section 49-O, a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked, and convey to the presiding election officer that he or she doesn't want to vote for anyone". I also noticed that none of the posters had even the smallest idea to fight terror. Why are we so afraid to be a part of the system that can fight terror? Why are we instead turning this nation into a land of whiners?
JFK said "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" I would like to add on: "If you cannot do anything, atleast shut the f*** up."

The wretched "Process"

2008-12-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

Do you feel yourself choking when you are asked to design an FIR filter? Do you feel numb when you are asked to write the working of a microelectronic diode? Can you feel your brain cells committing suicide when you are asked to find the equation of the EM wave that comes out of a Graded index optical fiber? Don't worry, IT will take you in after you graduate. Like 'IT' or hate 'IT', most cannot escape 'IT'. Atleast 80% of students graduating from engineering college get into the IT field. This omnipresent field opens its arms to students graduating from all possible branches in engineering. My answer to all the above questions was 'Yes' and thats why I too am in IT.

1 year into this field and I now feel that a corpse living in a graveyard probably has a much more interesting life than an IT professional has. Not that programming is dull, yes it is easy but not dull. I know probably even a 10 year old can do the programming that we do in IT. But its not all that bad. The architecture is huge and is something really worth learning. What makes IT job the dullest job in this world (I know I know.. 'the grass is always greener on the other side') is the process followed. If you were to add 1 and 1 to get 2, IT will make sure that you prepare atleast 20 documents with analysis of all the possible ways by which you can add the 1s, the effect of the addition on derivatives or probability or even global warming and how 1+1 can make this world a better place to live in. Similarly when I get a project, the tasks allocated to me in Niku looks something like:

Estimation Activities_XML_ Beneficiary Name for COS
Traceability Matrix Preparation & Updation_XML_ Beneficiary Name for COS
Configuration Management Activities_XML_ Beneficiary Name for COS
Requirements Gathering & Analysis_XML_ Beneficiary Name for COS
Requirement / Functional Specification Rework_XML_ Beneficiary Name for COS
Design(s) Preparation_XML_ Beneficiary Name for COS
User Acceptance Testing Support_BeneBankAcc.Number in Intermediary
Unit Test Case Preparation_Regression Testing Tool
Release Audit (GLT)_MT940 to XML sub field 7 standardisation
Post Implementation Support_MT940 to XML sub field 7 standardisation

I dont even know the order in which I am supposed to execute the above tasks. All I know when I get a project is : I get the requirement, I analyze, I code, I test it, I release it to Live, I support it, I take the blame if anything goes wrong with it. I dont want to make 100 documents which I am sure no one reads, I dont want a defect on my name just because I didnt follow the latest version template of some doc in which the word issues was changed to consequences, I dont want to fill up a hundred forms just to make my code go live, I dont want some tool to trace my testing, I dont want to break my head trying to follow the naming convention in thousand different folders. I just want my project to be done my way. The process and the documents are driving me mad. A fews days back they started a new template document just to put in the mistakes found in other documents. Heres one that was sent to me by my APM and I was asked to update it. I nearly killed myself that day.

Gender-based colors???

2008-10-25T03:24:00.000-07:00

Titan showroom:
me: I want a medium sized watch with date display on it.
Shopkeeper: No Ma'am, ladies watches dont come with the date display. I can show you gents watch if you want.

Bata showroom:
me: Sports shoes chahiye
Salesguy: You can check out these (pointing to a shelf with Baby pink and baby blue coloured shoes). These are new ones which have come for ladies.
me: No, I dont want pink, Do you have any with brown or army green colour?
Salesguy: Nahi, not for ladies, gents wala milega chalega?

Street vendor selling wallets:
me: Bhaiya, zara wallets dikhana
Street-vendor: Yeh dekho (showing a small ladies purse)... naya maal hai... fashion hai.. sab yahi lete hai
me: Nahi.. aisa nahi.. woh wala dikhana (pointing to a wallet)
Street-vendor: par woh gents ka hai madam

Why? Why is this travesty of nature happening? Why are even colors classified on the base of gender? Arent girls supposed to like army green colour? Arent girls supposed to know the current date? Are all girls supposed to have the same choice?

Let me start with watches. Go to a shop and ask for a ladies watch and youll be shown only the ones which have thin straps, small dial with no marking for minutes and no date or day indication on it. Okay, so girls will never have to know the exact timing. For them 8:44 or 8:46 will not make any difference?? I know I am not the CEO of an MNC that getting late by 2min will cost me 2-billion$ but yes, time does matter when my train from pune reaches mumbai at 8:25 and I run from one platform to another, punch my ticket and get into a local to vashi which leaves dot at 8:29. Now coming to shoes. Go to the ladies section and only colours youll find is Pink, Baby blue, Rin Supreme WHITE and some fluorescent colours. I tried one pair of WHITE shoes on and when I looked into the mirror, I could see only the shoes. It was as if the rest of me suddenly disappeared. They make everything else look drab. The ladies purse need the notes to be folded atleast 37 times in order to fit them in. You will hardly find girl's T-shirt with collar. These days you will only find "pencil" jeans (for guys who dont go for shopping with their gfs, pencil jeans are tapered till the ankle and can make any decent-looking girl look like a slut). 95% of handbags come with very short straps such that the bag will lie just few millimeters below your armpit and material used these days are so shiny that they can reflect light better than a mirror (I can rather eat a bowl of maggots than go out with that :-/).

I am not exactly tom-boyish but I prefer looking simple and decent like a normal human-being. I dont want to perform circus tricks wearing high heel sandals. I dont want my shoes to be visible on google earth. I dont want earrings that look like James bond's "Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator". I dont want a watch that looks like everything else but a err... a watch. I am done with the embarrassment of always checking the gent's section. I just dont want the manufacturers to assume that all girls have the same taste in things. I can understand that they are coming up with PINK mobiles and iPods to cater to the female population but seriously.. a PINK mercedes and Enzo ferrari?? Now thats crossing limits.

Feels like heaven

2008-10-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

"Where do you stay in Mumbai?", "Anushakti-Nagar" I'd answer with pride as if it were some Buckingham Palace. I moved to Anushaktinagar from Kaiga (no, its not in Mars, its a place just below Goa, in Karnataka, a place so isolated that even radio signals refuse to come in, a place where the morning newspapers reach at 4 in the eveving, a place where you need to travel 65 kms just to buy a needle, a place where there are no movie theatres, basically a place where you'll feel as if you are the only survivor of a nuclear holocaust) some 10 years back. Despite no radio and movies for 13 years, I never wanted to move out of Kaiga because I have always been this small-town nature loving girl. For me Mumbai meant tall buildings, crowded roads, huge malls, slums and too much pollution. I thought I would hate it. Surprisingly I didnt. Not because I found myself loving all the above mentioned things but because I found the same "close to nature small-town" like place right in the center of mumbai. A place where the percentage of total area covered with trees is same as that of total earth area covered with water (I know I could have just said "more than 70%" :)), a place where you can wake up in the morning hearing the birds chirping, a place where each building has its own football ground, a place where you can see atleast 10 different types of birds living in a tree just outside your bedroom window, a place where snakes cross the roads at noon, a place where you can drive with your eyes closed, a place that feels like heaven. I dont think I have loved any place I've seen on this earth as much as I love "Colony". Anyway the whole purpose of this post was to show off some pictures of colony I took a few days back using my digicam. And I wanted to try out this new widget too. You will need flash installed in your PC for this. Click on the pic to see the next one. The sad part is you cant enlarge the pics and half the total space is wasted to show the text, so the pics wont be very clear.

In the name of god

2008-09-21T23:32:00.000-07:00

When I reached my office last monday, I found my teammate's desk empty. I messaged him that instant 'Hey, bunk kyun mara aaj?' No reply. I messaged him again but never got a reply. He is not the sorts who wouldnt reply to an sms. Worried, I asked my TL if she knew anything. It was only then that I came to know of his cousin who had passed away in the recent delhi blasts. I was appalled to the core. These blasts had been just "breaking news" to me. '24 feared dead in blasts' . A little bit of discussion with my family about how no place is safe to live in these days, some repeated telecasts of the post-blast scenes on the news channels and a few articles on the newspaper on how the police, the intelligence and ATS in India are still not efficient enough to "tackle" terrorism and I would be done with it. But now when I see the look on the face of my teammate who has lost a loved one, I cant help but think how low (for lack of a 'worse' word) can the religious fundamentalists be that they can commit such a hideous act in the name of something which doesnt even exist (If god really exists, why is he/she/it not doing anything to put a stop to all this?).

"We, the INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN, ask Allah, the Almighty to accept from us these 9 explosions, which were planned to be executed in the holy month of Ramadan" was written in the email sent by them just few minutes before the bombs went off. Really?? Are they really serious or is it some kinda joke?? Those terrorists are not tribals but well-educated people. So even educated people these days believe that waging a holy war and killing innocent people is their moral obligation towards their religion. What happened to all those "Education brings awareness" kinda quotes?? I know its a banal question but the fact that people can turn into beasts over some mythological stories just escapes me. They have always shown god as compassionate and just but have also changed the 'rules and regulations' according to their comfort. A little bit of research tells me "Collective punishment and indiscriminate war were commanded or approved , especially in cases of idolatry in the Hebrew Bible which is considered sacred by all three traditions.... In spite of the Quranic statement against forcing religion on others, Muslim leaders have sometimes threatened to kill unbelievers if they did not accept Islam..... Around the ninth century, an important evolution of Christian thinking occurred, killing unbelievers was actually declared by popes Leo IV and John VIII to be spiritually beneficial for Christian soldiers."

They call themselves religious but they are nothing but full of shit. This is more than enough to prove it. "Sheikh Muhammad Munajid, a former diplomat at the Saudi embassy in Washington DC, claimed the mouse is "one of Satan's soldiers" and makes everything it touches impure. Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases." Where exactly are we going wrong? What is that one supernatural thing that needs to be done to put some brains into not only these Islamic fundamentalists but even into our own BJP, RSS and VHP enthusiasts? which I think is the only way to tackle terrorism. No amount of Police or Intelligence is going to help. Ah well! I guess this is where "god" will finally have to step in.

Philosophical crap

2008-09-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

"...If all is in truth Sachchidananda, death, suffering, evil, limitation can only be the creations, positive in practical effect, negative in essence, of a distorting consciousness which has fallen from the total and unifying knowledge of itself into some error of division and partial experience... ...The Life Divine justifies how the discordant elements can be reconciled into the image of the divine Unity. Actually what happens is something more than mere reconciliation, for the discordant elements are transfigured into higher terms through a process of transcendence, prior to reconciliation.... ...Transcendence transfigures; it does not reconcile, but rather transmutes opposites into something surpassing them that effaces their oppositions.... "

"...If one distills the essence of all established approaches to realization, then this is all they boil down to. Anything else that I attempt to do would be a movement within consciousness and as long as my center is exclusively within consciousness- i.e within a subject object relationship -I remain vulnerable to sufferring. Doing this sadhana amounts to the wiping away of all frames of reference, which is my only salvation, for every frame of reference, however elevated or exalted, brings about dualism..."

"....The essence of Modernism lies, as I see it, in the use of characteristic methods of a discipline to criticize the discipline itself, not in order to subvert it but in order to entrench it more firmly in its area of competence. Kant used logic to establish the limits of logic, and while he withdrew much from its old jurisdiction, logic was left all the more secure in what there remained to it..."

These are excerpts from just few of the passages which come for Reading comprehension in the verbal section. Trust me, everytime I read any article like the ones given above, I feel like strangling myself to make the pain that starts erupting in my pea-sized brain feel less life-threatening. I dont understand why people try to complicate the already complicated thing called life and to make it worse use really tough words which probably come in these books before they come in the oxford dictionary. Instead of mulling over topics like life and art, I think the authors of these kinda books should just sit at home, drink chilled beer and watch Steven Spielberg movies. That way their brains will be busy trying to make some sense out of the movie. And if they really want to flaunt their vocabulary skills, they can always participate in the International 'scrabble' or 'crossword' tournament. There are people who claim that books like 'The alchemist' (which is one of the two philosophical books I've read and I am grateful to god I am still alive to tell the tale) and 'The secret' have changed their lives. I just fail to understand how a shitty story where the "soul of the caravan speaks to the soul of the desert" can change someone's life. I tried reading "One" by Richard bach but stopped at the 30th page or something just when my brain was about to explode. I could finish "Johnathan livingston seagull" because it was not even 20 pages long, so the threshold was never reached. When I say I finished, I mean I read every word of it, without being able to comprehend even a single sentence. And this is exactly how I solve RCs in the verbal section and unsurprisingly all of them go wrong. Maybe I should wear a blindfold and mark the answers. The chances of getting a right answer would probably be much higher.

6 MORE things I wanna do before I die...

2008-08-30T23:26:00.000-07:00

These are No. 11 to 16 in my list of "things to do before I die" . To see my first ten, go here... The first one as usual involves a car :)...

11. Drive the Bugatti Veyron Car atleast once in my lifetime. For those who dont know the Bugatti here are the details: Produced by Volkswagen, second fastest production car in the world (the first one being SSC Ultimate Aero TT with 256 mph), W16 engine, 1001 hp, 253 mph(406 km/h). Oh man!! anything for that speed.

12. Learn to play atleast one musical instrument. I have made it my mission to play Hotel Carlifornia and I am putting it in this list because trust me playing an instrument is not as simple as it may seem. I've been trying to play "Nothing else matters" on my guitar for so long and all I can play right now is Twinkle Twinkle and Godfather theme song (which is very simple btw). Trust me, it takes a lot more Patience and hardwork than you would think.

13. Fire a sniper rifle. I have a played a couple of shooting computer games like Counter-strike and I cannot explain the pleasure I derive out of shooting an enemy with a sniper rifle. If thats how it is in PC, just imagine how it would be in real life. Not that I want to kill anyone in real life. Well... not yet, but you never know ;) .

14. Skydive atleast once in my life. If Skydiving is only for professionals or something then atleast experience the largest bungee jump in the world. Basically I want to experience the feeling of flying in the first case and the feeling of free falling at g=9.8m/s2 in the second case.

15. Hack. This is same as the 8th point in my previous list but just more specific. Of all the illegal stuff I wanna do, hacking tops the list. I dont think I need to explain the feeling you get when you get access to something which is highly confidential, illegally. Not that I am a hardcore techie or anything. I cannot even format the text in MS word the way I want, let alone "hacking". But the feeling of getting unauthorized access to confidential data, even if accidently, is just too good.

16. Live the life of a farm girl in some far-off grassland for a month or so. I want to take a break from the traffic noise, pollution, tall congested buildings, my professional life and experience pure nature. I want to wake up in the morning with the sound of birds chirping, take a nap in the afternoon under the shade of a tree and lie flat on the ground and admire the beauty of stars in the sky.

"Its time we started looking..."

2008-08-16T05:07:00.000-07:00

"Its time we started looking..." I heard my Mom say as we(me, mom and dad) were sitting in the drawing room doing our daily morning ritual of reading newspapers. I looked up from my paper and waited for her to finish her sentence. Its time we started looking for what? a new place to live in? a new flat? a good car? What??
"You know its not so easy to find one". I thought she was reffering to some job she expected me to find so that I can get out of Pune. Considering that I am pretty dumb to get a job off-campus, the "not so easy to find one" phrase seemed quite plausible.
"and finding a vegetarian one is going to be tougher". There you go again. These parents and their love for beating around the bush I tell ya. Now only after her 3rd hint did I realize what they wanted to look for. For a minute I tried to make sure that I wasnt dreaming and when I was sure I wasnt, I thought of suing my parents for child marriage.

"You are kidding.. you do know I am 22 right??" I tried to fight.
"No one is going to get you married off at this age. You dont realize how tough it is find a perfect match. Plus I want a vegetarian guy from our caste. I am telling you, a vegetarian in our caste is very rare. I bet it will take more than 3-4 years to find one" She tried to fight back.
"I dont care if I find one in 3 years or 30 years.. I hate to shop for my own clothes...how did you even get the idea that I would be ok with shopping for guys" Well.. the whole concept of arranged marriage is very similar to shopping, isnt it! similar?.. I should have said exactly the same..
"Okay... then tell me if you like somebody already?" she shocked me with that question. Wow I couldnt believe my mom, who for the past 22 years had been in the we-hate-love-marriages league, said this. I even thought she secretly joined the sainiks in vandalizing the greeting cards shops on Valentine's day. May be she was ready with a gun or something so that she could shoot me at the slightest sound of 'yes'. I took this chance to portray myself as the "good-homely-girl" and said "How did you even think that I could be roaming out with a so-called boyfriend behind your backs"
I decided to end the topic then and there and said firmly "I dont want anyone taking this topic out from now on. One more word and I am never coming back to this house" I am very good at throwing such dialogues dramatically I tell ya.

Man!! It is as if just yesterday I said to myself "Thank god I still have many years left before I can get married" and even before I know it I am already in my "marriagable age" as people call it. Just the thought of forcibly staying with some stranger and compromising half the things in your life and cooking and taking care of the house is so scary. I dont understand why people get married to strangers and to make it worse spend all their life's savings on it too. I can rather buy two Honda city ZXs with that money and save myself all that trouble at the same time. I dont fear staying single for the rest of my life coz somehow I am pretty sure that the 'love bug' will never bite me. If you want "Companionship" just get a dog and if you want a kid you can always adopt one. Keeping a dog is 100 times better than keeping a husband. I dont think I need to explain why. I will live my life my way and not go with the flow where people get married just bcoz they think they have to within that age. I will continue saying "I still have many years left before I get married".

Something I made...

2008-03-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

I made this last weekend when I was forced to stay back in pune for some stupid work. I took the picture from this month's DNA magazine's cover page. I somehow just loved the snap and couldnt resist making a sketch of it.

I am not sure if I can call it a sketch. I mean I have used color pencils and not just a single pencil. It cannot be a painting as I did not really paint (or did I?). Does coloring using pencils come under painting?? I have no clue, havent been to any art class and I dont really care. It just helps me take my mind off other mundane things.

My so-called independent life

2008-02-03T05:09:00.000-08:00

I had opened my blogger dashboard to update my other blog when my eyes fell on:

CONFESSIONS OF A NOT-SO-DANGERO... MIND

43 Posts, last published on Jul 4, 2007
I guess its high time I updated this blog. Exactly 10 days from July 4th I had left Mumbai for Pune to join the software company i got recruited into during my college placements. First time away from home, I was kinda apprehensive but at the same time very excited to live the "independent life". Let me tell you how my life has changed since then.

1. First of all I am earning, not high enough to buy myself a car but high enough to survive on my own, buy stuff using the debt card, buy expensive gifts and treat friends in classy restaurants. well...you can never flaunt your parent's money the way you can flaunt your own "hard-earned" cash.
2. I get to reach office 1 hour late and still not worry about the defaulter's list.
3. I get to sit for meetings in swanky meeting rooms and act as if I am trying to "make this world a better place to live in".
4. I am calling people 20-30 years elder to me by their first names. This is not that big a problem but calling a 50 year old guy- 'Gajanan' (thats my senior project manager) tends to get a bit awkward.
5. I eat bread for breakfast, cow-dung for lunch in office, and dal (read water) with chapati and rice for dinner. Maggi has become my survival kit and tastes better than anything else here.
6. I stay up till 2 in the night to wash my clothes. During day time I rejoice when my program runs successfully and at night I rejoice when I manage to remove the stains off my clothes.
7. Life without TV suddenly doesnt seem impossible.
8. I can now differentiate between a good branded cigarrette and a local one just by the smell. No please, I dont smoke. Its just that 8 out of 10 people in pune smoke . I get into the lift after lunch and I have no choice but to bear the stench of smoke till it reaches the 7th floor. I didnt know so many people in this world wanted to kill themselves.
9. I get to come home smelling like beer. Oh no again, I dont drink. Once in our office party some drunk idiots ended up spraying beer all over the dance floor. May be next time my company should think twice before giving out beer bottles for free on parties.
10. I have not seen a single crow in pune. A place in India without crows!! Not that it has anything to do with my life but still....weird I tell you.

Well... If you dont have a boyfriend, dont drink or smoke, dont take drugs, hate shopping, hate partying till late night, then this so-called Independent life isnt gonna be any different than the normal one.

Oh... did I mention 'reading novels'..

2007-07-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

I have never been as jobless and topicless as I am this instant, thanks to the one month vacation and intense heat in chennai which made me change my decision and stay at home. Being at home 24-7 is not that bad after all. I mean when and where else can you keep yourself busy trying to keep yourself busy. Nothing can be more heavenly than waking up without letting the alarm ringtone kill your blissful dream, spending more than an hour taking bath without worrying about getting late to college, reading novels, having breakfast in the morning time and not during the lunchtime, reading novels, watching a relaxing movie on the TV, reading novels, playing solitaire on a high speed PC, oh... did I mention reading novels? Undoubtedly 'reading novels' tops any person's "Things to do this vacation" list. Well it did top my "Things to do during my last sem of college" list. Some of the ones I managed to read last sem were...

1. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts- The much hyped very greatly written 933-page novel. An amazing start, engrossing storyline, in-depth description, thought-provoking philosophical one liners but sadly a very hindi-movie-ish, cliched and over-stretched ending.
2. The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur- This book is anything but inscrutable. Trackless, cliched, unrealistic and filled with PJs.
3. Uncle Fred in the springtime by PGWodehouse- Partly amusing but couldnt make me laugh out loud. You can easily visualize it as a classic comedy. Not really my kinda comedy though.
4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho- Plain Philosophical crap. I dont care if the "soul of the caravan can speak to the soul of the desert" or if "the horse knows the language of life".
5. To kill a mocking bird by Harper Lee- A simple story of a simple family which describes the complicated nature of human behaviour. It teaches the important lessons of life in a very beautiful way. Indeed a masterpiece of American literature.
6. One night at the call center by Chetan Bhaghat- Blech!! Warning:Donot read this book if you donot want to puke. They should put a "For children under 5 years of age" tag on the book.
7. The Kite runner by Khaled Hosseini- An epic of fathers and sons, of friendship and brotherhood, of faith and betrayal, of sins and atonement. One of the best books I've read. Unputdownable and undoubtedly a must read.
8. Acts of faith by Erich segal- Another favourite of mine. This book is about religion, hope and faith and how they can greatly influence one's life. A must read for today's stereotyped youth.
9. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller- Amazing 'Laugh out loud' PJs but sadly no storyline.

Visitors to this blog, please suggest some good books. You must have guessed that I usually like no-nonsense book with a deep thought-provoking story. Philoshopical books are a sure no. I have never read a romance novel but would like to read one. Meanwhile Ill continue playing solitaire to pass my time :-) .

"You've been tagged"

2007-05-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

I turn on my computer, I wait impatiently as it boots up. I go on line, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: "You've been tagged."...lol just kidding... was watching the movie "You've got mail". What a lovely movie. Anyway I dont wait impatiently to hear that I've been tagged. Actually this is the first time.

I've been tagged by humbl devil

Honestly speaking I had no idea about this tagging business. The phrase "You've been tagged" sounded something like "You've been caught red-handed". A Ctrl+Alt+W for 'Tagged' gave me nothing new "Adj : Bearing or marked with a label or tag". Didnt really help me. A google search on "You've been tagged" took me to many odd blogs with such tagging posts. After a lot of research I finally found out the meaning to this phrase. Here I go now.

One of your scars, how did you get it??? On my left eyebrow, fell down the stairs... no matter what my eyebrows never match...
What do you want more than anything right now??? An SUV
What is your favorite smell??? smell of nature
Do you get scared in the dark??? never... I love wandering off in dark
Coffee or energy drinks??? energy drinks.. coffee sucks big time.. and even it fails to keep me awake.
If you could eat anything right now, what would it be??? a large cake (provided my mom makes it and provided I dont gain even an ounce of weight)
Who is the last person who made you mad??? Mr. Ogden Nash (name changed to avoid another violence)
What is the best way to tell someone how much they mean to you??? hugging
What is the one number you call often??? I am too stingy to call someone and too lazy to give missed calls
What do get complimented about the most??? Lemme see.... well ironically I get complimented for all the bad habits I have
Where were you born??? Inside a hospital...
What do you want for your birthday??? Please refer question no. 2
What would you do if alcohol became illegal??? would drink it even if I were a non-drinker.. feels just so good to break the law...
Which is your favourite finger??? Ring finger... I love wearing rings...
Do you like your handwriting??? No... but surprisingly others do...
What is your favorite lunch meal??? dal-rice and Thayeer sadam( curd rice)... Indian food rocks
If you were another person, would you be friends with you??? no..:-)
Where is your second home??? there can be only one home
Do you trust others easily??? I dont even go anywhere close to trust
What was your favorite toy as a child??? my green teddy
Do you un-tie your shoes when you take them off??? yes.. how will they come off then?
Thing you ate??? food :-)
Are you too shy to ask someone out??? no... I just say "please go out"

Saying "I dont know" helps

2007-04-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

My vivas got over today, it was the last viva of my engineering career. Man, what a joke it is. Its the same thing every year. The college gets over a few days before the vivas. Students buy books, get mass-xeroxs on the last day of college and start studying one day before the viva. They flood the corridor outisde the viva lab and wait for the first batch of students to come out after their viva and ask for reviews. The reviews range from "Arey external sahi cool banda hai" to "Abbe sala kholke maar raha hai".

Over the past four years Ive learnt that there are three kinds of people. Firstly there are people who are god-sent techies, true engineers. Second come those who are not techies but somehow manage to read 5 reference books inside out and say things like "Arey that answer is in the 3rd para of page 384 of that ref book". Thirdly we have people who dont study a thing and dont give a damn too. The external can also be of two types: one who asks direct questions from the book and second who asks random "general" questions which you will never find in the books you read. These 5 types of students and profs can make some interesting combinations. If the prof is asking direct questions, the first and the second kinds get away while the third gets screwed. If the prof asks "general questions" only the first kind (sometimes even the third) survives.

I certainly dont come under the first category. I am partly second(say 40%) partly third(60%). If the prof asks very direct basic questions i am saved but if high funda techinal ones are asked I am screwed. One bad thing about me, I never say "I dont know". Ill put in my maximum creativity and come up with my own invented answer. This can be good or bad depending on the prof. Some profs appreciate your creativity but some "jealous ones" dont.

Recently I tried creating my own solution for a link breakage problem in a ring topology network in an IEEE 802.5 LAN and the external says with a smirk on her face "you are just throwing things, its a technical subject, dont guess". I felt like throwing things at her..literally. Why dont they encourage creativity? So what if the answer is absurd. Every scientist's first try was absurd. This way I end up getting less than my partner who never opens his mouth. I guess someone has truly said: "Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish". From now on ill try my best to say "I dont know" rather than babbling some stuff and save my creativity for other things like painting or this blog. Now I ask myself the question "Will I stop babbling crap?" I would say "I dont know":) (I do learn but dont change so easily)

P.S
May 17th, 1310 hours;

I just finished studying that chapter of LANs from two different reference books and I found out that my "creative" answer to that linkage problem is very much possible (acc to the book Leon Garcia). And all I get for this creativity is some stupid criticism.. #$%£$*

Just another furore

2007-04-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

This is probably the 4th or the 5th time I am writing a post criticising India for raising public furore for silly matters. Burning effigies and shouting slogans have become everyday news here in India. The furore over India losing the world cup has not yet got over that poeple are out with a new one. Sometimes I wonder if there are people employed just for such protests. I think there are. Dont people have better things to do? dont they have a job? Dont they have other things to worry about?

India seemed to have made just another public national enemy. An Indian court has issued arrest warrants for Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty after he kissed her on the cheek at a public event to promote Aids awareness. This incident has now been termed as “highly sexually erotic” and “transgressed all limits of vulgarity”. If people here care so much about our Indian culture why do we celebrate Valentines day when it has nothing to do with our tradition. If this incident can be termed as vulgar you should probably take a stroll around Marine drive and Band stand in Mumbai. You should also see all those stupid lip-munching scenes in our hindi movies. You can get a better meaning for the word vulgar.

Richard Gere is now condemned to death. So much for getting involved with charities which look after HIV-infected people and orphans as well as other AIDS prevention groups in the country. According to me the actor certainly shouldnt have done any of that 'kissing' but creating such protests over that seem very silly speacially after he apologised. Our Indian lady didnt seem to have any problem with that too. And the media too should concentrate more on the actual news rather than spreading grapevines (My god I dont know what the news channels turned into during the abhi-ash wedding).

college in one post

2007-04-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Out of heaven a.k.a colony .....travelling .......'399'.....Bhakti bhavan......."Wheres the entrance to the college?"...... no more uniforms..........trying to look my best the first day.......just to find boys shake hands with babes wearing low-waist jeans:)........fifth floor.......... lift not
allowed for students.........Chalega, excercise ho jayega (thinking-What the "$#£).........lectures (read sleeptime).......... aiming the 8:20 bus........... catching the 8:55 bus instead.........reaching just in time for the second lecture (sometimes the third)..........defaulter .........assignments..........'chapofying' some random text written in timbuktu...........practicals ............ bathroo
m sized labs ..........losing new pens............stealing other's new pens .........term tests......."What!!we have a test today??" .......friends.........timepass .........PJs (poor jokes)........10:30 break....... tiffin boxes........ hundreds of 'em......... ambrosia .........canteen .......endless laughter ......birthdays .......... contri gifts .......treat ..........travelling 3 hours for a 1 hour treat..........realizing how much I hated
travelling ........ 26th july........5 hours walk in rain through floods.........trekking..........yogi hills........ matheran ........overnight stay....... night outs .........mobile phones...... sms forwards ..........non-veg(not food) ........finding that one special friend finallly........talking for hours on the phone .......on topics ranging from Iraq war to alien invasion........ online chatting........
birthday again......in search of a perfect gift ........calls at 3am on the day of exam........really great time....... some stupid misunderstandings....... crap.........killing the friendship in the process.........'moving on'.........orkut........ vivas........"I am not very sure sir" ........ still getting 20 out of 25....... final
exams........classes notes mass xerox ....... phekhna..........rumours of exams results already out.........fests........CAT........ flash cards.........only 5 boxes ........presentations ...........on the spot preparation .........impromtu speech....... project ........project group's day out.......... a great team ........ some ups.......lots downs .......lots more lessons learnt ........vodka......late night parties........ cocaine...... :)jus kidding

WHERE ELSE BUT COLLEGE... Do I have to say I am gonna miss it...

(the last three... Even I AM not into those things:) )

Fans or Fanatics???

2007-04-06T01:31:00.000-07:00

I am not much into cricket but I am certainly aware of the drama that plays around it. SriLanka thrashed India down by 69 runs and knocked it out of the World cup tournament in the first stage itself. Our dependence on Bermuda for getting a back door entry to the second stage just tells us how hopeless our team's performance has become. This has turned the lives of our players upside down. Earlier, they were the super heros; now they are looked upon as criminals. Earlier, they were busy going around endorsing all types of products; now they dread to step into their own country. Earlier, policemen were deployed outside the homes of players to keep the adoring fans out; now, the policemen are there to protect the players from violent attacks by those same fans.

When a small kid can underperform in his final exams because of the pressure put on him by his parents, how can you expect our players to perform well in the matches with the whole of nation continously looking over them with highly expectant eyes. I dont understand why we Indians view the cricket matches as a battle between nations and not as just a sport. Why are we worried more about the world cup than the innumerable other problems we are facing as a nation?

Is it becuase we all are hopeless optimists who are just ready to mistake dreams for reality? Or may be we all are just gullible; gullible and naive enough to become prey to marketers and advertisers. You certainly know about many of Pepsi's very famous campaigns like 'The Blue Billion', 'Oooh Aaah India, Aaah Yaa India' and 'Men In Blue'. This hopeless optimism is nothing but the creation of advertisers who well took advantage of our gullibility to promote their products even those as small as biscuits and hairoils. I totally fail to understand why someone would buy a certain hairoil just because shewag endorsed it even with almost no hair in his head. And whats with this whole "Buy this shampoo and go on a date with John abraham" thingy? Why would I want to have a dinner with a total stranger?

I guess our players deserve this humiliation for trying to earn some quick bucks by endorsing so many products and appearing in so many ads promising the dream of world cup even after knowing that they are just average players. Sadly Consumers are stupid enough to buy products endorsed by sportstars and filmstars. Our Indian cricket team may have failed the worldcup but we Indians failed as a nation by being so naive ,petty minded and childish.

no point doing...

2007-03-17T23:45:00.000-07:00

Things I see no point doing and wonder why the others do it...

1. Travelling all the way from one country to another just to get baked under the sun in a cricket stadium from where the players dont look any better than a bunch of ants, when you can sit in your house coolly and watch the match with your friends and family on a big flat screen TV getting to see the slow-motions from all possible angles.

2. Driving all the way to and from your gym when jogging that same way to and from your gym might help you burn more calories than you would inside the gym.

3. Working out (jogging or walking) on a treadmill for 1 hour when you can always jog or walk around your neighbourhood for free for any amount of time. I've always wondered...Why do people make use of electricity to rotate the belt in the treadmill for burning calories when they can instead burn those same calories to rotate the belt and generate electricity?

4. Travelling from your place to a big temple in another state and standing in an endless queue just to get a glimpse of the god's idol when god is everywhere (even inside you) and all you need is some peace of mind and a pure heart with strong conviction to pray.

5. Going to a music concert and standing 4 km away from the stage not even getting enough area of ground to stand on and enough volume of air to breathe when you can rather throw a party with loudspeakers blaring those same songs on your backyard and dance your heart out.

6. Buying a music cd of 10 songs costing more than 300 bucks when you can download those same 10 songs from the internet and burn it into a cd and print out the front and back covers and add it to your music collection.

7. Buying a 200-page book for 500 bucks from crossword when you can get the same book from the streets of VT for less than 70 bucks. (Who gives a damn about piracy..)

8. Going to Essel world and sitting on the most chilling roller coaster ride when you can sit on the back-seat of a rickety public transportation bus and ride through the roads of Mumbai.

The Painting...

2007-02-18T01:10:00.000-08:00

Finally a painting after such a long time. This vacation while I was rummaging through my study table, I found my water-color cakes I won as a prize when I was 8 years old. I couldnt resist giving my painting skills a try. I was painting again after 6 years. Well... The painting of the boy isnt entirely mine. I took the picture from one of my childhood's short-stories book. The rest is photoshop. The poem on the right is the one I wrote a long time back called "Is there a way out?" and the pictures on the left were taken from the net.

I would like to thank my neighbour aunty for lending me her painitng brush (she let me keep it too). I would also like to thank a very good friend of mine Mayuresh for scanning the picture for me. :)
(Click on the pic to enlarge it)

The Racism Within

2007-02-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Celebrity Big Brother moved from being a just another TV entertainment to an international race debate. Indian actress Shilpa Shetty won the British reality TV show after enduring alleged racial bullying that sparked off a nation-wide furore. Ever since that she has been branded as an international anti-rascism icon. Apparently this is not something new. You probably know about the recent Arcelor-Mittal merger, where the very idea of racism aroused a strong feeling of hatred and anger towards the West. Undoubtedly we Indians are the biggest targets of racism in the world. For a country that lived through more than a 100 years under the "White's rule", we have always considered ourselves as victims. However, when it comes to racial discrimination, knowingly or unknowingly we Indians are big hypocrites.

Our idea of racism is a well defined color code. White is superior and beautiful while Black is inferior and not even close to beautiful hence undesirable. Just look at our fairness creams ads and matrimonial ads in our newspaper and youll know just how obssessed we are with the skin color. Dont stay black or else youll remain unmarried and jobless, instead use our whitening cream, turn fair in a week and boys and jobs both will come begging to you, so claims our fairness products' ads. Try spotting one famous black model or actress in India and see how terribly you fail. Recent reports that immigrants from Africa were being denied housing clearly shows our attitude towards color.

Color apart, racism in India can also be discussed in the context of caste discrimination. Caste discrimination is very much alive even so many years after its abolition. The many recent horrifying stories on the injustices done to the dalits across the country by the so-called upper class people justifies the point. Not to forget the religion and language barrier. The Madrasis dont get along with the Punjabis and a hindu getting into a mosque or a church is considered as a blasphemy. Its even more shocking to see young people, the so-called future generation of India practice racism and castism. Its really disheartening to see some of my own friends join online communities like the brahmin community or the mullus or gujjus community.

Why dare to stand up as one nation when we cant see our own compatriots with equal eyes? Why is it that we are developing on all grounds but yet refusing to grow out of underlying social malpractices? Are we really developing without morality?

Race against time

2007-01-30T00:36:00.000-08:00

Clockstoppers, Back to the future, Star trek, Kate and Leopold, Minority Report, The Terminator. The idea of travelling forward into the future or back into the past has always fascinated science fiction writers. It certainly had fascinated me when I read the novel "The Time machine" a very long time back. Who wouldnt get fascinated? Wouldnt it be cool to be able to go back to the past and prevent some terrible mistake from happenning and also be able to travel to the future and see whether you really succeed in winning the person you had a crush on (Instead of depending on crystal balls or tarot cards)? Time travelling is still an unsolved problem in physics. But amazingly, some weirdness of the quantum world now suggest that time travel is possible - at least in theory.

People have been suggesting ideas for time travel since centuries, but it was Albert Einsten who laid the foundation for the theoretical possibility of time travel with his theory of Special relativity. But first lets define "Time". There is no particular defination for time (you'll probably just look at your watch when someone says 'time') but Time has been designated as the fourth dimension of our universe, the first three being length, breadth and height (space that is). According to Einstein's theory of special relativity, time slows as an object approaches the speed of light. This has been observed in real life too. A high precision watch was sent on a space shuttle and when it came back it was back by fraction of a second. if one were to move away from the Earth at really very high velocities and return, more time would have passed on Earth than for the traveler. In this sense it is accepted that relativity allows "travel into the future". But the problem lies here. It is almost impossible to travel at a speed anywhere even close to the speed of light.

Lets consider you are in a race. During the race you discover a hidden shortcut. You take the shortcut without anyone noticing it. so you reach the finish line earlier than the others but because the others dont know about it, you win. Similarly there has to be a way to fool the universe, some kind of a shortcut to make you look as if you are travelling really fast. Physicist Kip Thorne believes that there could be some type of tunnel-like structure existing in the universe that could be used as a time travel portal. This tunnel-like structure is called a wormhole.
You know what a Black-hole is. Black holes have a huge gravitational pull that nothing can escape from them, not even light. The centre of a black hole is an infinitely dense point, called a singularity, where the laws of Physics no longer apply. Einstein's equations prove that such a singularity doesn't just end in a single point, but creates a tunnel that goes right through and opens out on the other side. Now this other side is somewhere else in spacetime, either in the future or in the past. Such a tunnel is called a wormhole. Unfortunately these things are still a hypothesis and there is absolutely no evidence. But you never know.

No matter what, problems will continue to exist like the very famous 'grandfather paradox'. What if you went back in time and prevented your grandfather from meeting your grandmother so that your mother was never born? Then you would never have been born... and so on. And also the 'Parallel universe' paradox. How can see yourself in the future or past when you are travelling? How can you split yourself? You cannot travel and not travel at the same time. But like I said you never know. Man has been able to invent things which once could be seen only on Dexter's Labroratory. Man has been able to prove my most favourite law of Physics - "Matter can neither be created nor destroyed" wrong (You probably know about Anti-matter). Anyway, Ladies and Gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts, I bet we are not far from days where we would enter into a Time-machine or a Teleportation-machine (Desperately waiting for this one. Eh! how much I hate travelling).

The Ultimate justice

2007-01-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

The year 2006 ended with a rather gruesome spectacle of Saddam's execution shown in the news almost 24-7. Saddam may have lost his life now. But he died the day he was caught (Dec 13'03) by the US forces, hiding in a small hole, dirt smeared face, umkempt hair, vulnerable like a beleaguered cat. Was this the same man who waged a decade-long war against Iran? Was this the same man who killed over 5000 Kurds using chemical weapons? Invaded Kuwait? Killed 148 Shias? Was this the same brutal dictator who once ruled the Middle east?

It all ended the day he was brought to US as a trophy of an overhasty, catastrophic and mindless war. Why the need of such a ruinous war against Iraq in the first place? According to the US it was because Saddam was an evil dictator who violated the human rights, violated UN resolutions, had weapons of mass destruction and had ties with Al Queda. True but not all. Yeah he indeed was an evil dictator, violated human rights, caused a genocide. He deserves this punishment. But If Saddam had been evil since the beginning why did the US continue supporting him, giving him intelligence information and military equipment after he used poison gas against Iraqis collaborating with Iran and hailed him as a great leader until 1990? On Nov 2002, Saddam allowed UN weapon experts back into Iraq. If Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, why hasnt the US found them yet? If he indeed had weapons why didnt he use them when he was attacked by the US? Leaving all this apart , does it make any sense to sacrifice over 3000 US soldiers and over 30000 Iraqis just to catch a single person? You dont need to be a humanitarian to say no. I now see no difference between what Saddam did and what US is doing now. Anyway, a beast is a beast and it should be brutally killed for all the brutal killings it did.

Surprisingly India condemned Saddam's execution calling it unfortunate. Unfortunate? A brutal tyrant was killed for all the atrocities he committed. I see nothing "Unfortunate" in that. But they say that it will just sharpen the already worse Shia-Sunni divide in Iraq. Theres a point. But wasnt Saddam the one who killed Shias and deepened the civil conflict between the Shias and Sunnis. Avenging him for that is kindof justified.The Vatican denounced the execution as "tragic," Kuwaitis and Iranians celebrated the death of the dictator who led wars against each of them. Reactions to Saddam's death were varied. While some strongly supported the execution, others condemned it. Some, however wished to see him brought to trial for his other actions alleged to have resulted in a much greater number of deaths than those he was convicted for. Isnt " The Ultimate justice" supposed to be "Unanimous"?

The subway guy

2006-12-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

He sits in the busiest subway in town
His fingers move incessantly over the
musical holes of his precious flute
as if they have a life of their own

I notice he is wearing a vintage coat
May be to look his most presentable
May be to protect himself from the cold breeze
He seems lost in his own world of music

The flute succumbs to his touch
The magic unfurls as the music flows
caressing and comforting our lonely hearts
opening our eyes to the love still alive

Someone drops a token of appreciation
He never asks for it though
It tries to break the musical rhythm
But yet he goes on without a falter

He acknowledges our applause
with silent words that get lost in the crowd
I walk away humming the melody played
in this orchestra by the subway guy.

bell the kitten instead

2006-11-27T03:00:00.000-08:00

Those who gave CAT this year might have understood why I used KITTEN in place of CAT. I've always had a profound respect towards the IIT and IIM entrance tests. They are among the very few exams in this world which are "tough" and which can really "filter" out the best-top-geniuses from other ordinary people. CAT is supposed to be known for its very tough Quantitative and Data Interpretation sections but this year's Quant and Reasoning were shockingly simple. Any person who has a decent IQ (and is not stupid enough to assume that CAT papers are always error-free and doesnt end up wasting time on a question with wrong options) could have cleared the cut-off. The verbal section was hard.. weird rather. Heres a question from the verbal section. We were supposed to select the most appropriate concluding sentence:

In the evolving world order, the comparative advantage of the United states lies in its military force. Diplomacy and international law have always been regarded as annoying encumbrances, unless they can be used to advantage against an enemy. Every active player in world affairs profess to seek only peace and to prefer negotiation to voilence and coercion. However,

(1)diplomacy has often been used as a mask by nations which intended to use force.
(2)when the veil is lifted, we commonly see that diplomacy is used as a disguise for the rule of force.
(3)history has shown that many of these nations do not practice what they profess.
(4)history tells us that peace is professed by those who intend to use voilence.
(5)when unmasked such nations reveal a penchant for the rule of force.

Lets analyze the options seperately. In the 2nd option its said that diplomacy is often used as a mask by nations which mean to use force. Wait a second, but isnt that the 1st option and the 5th option as well. Lets see what the top coaching classes have got to say on this. According to IMS and TIME the answer is 2. According to Career laucher its 1 and according to Career forum its 3. Only god knows what the actual answers is (and the IIM paper setters too). This time CAT is not going to select the best ones but only the good ones who also got lucky. In all it was a total disappointment.

Analyzing dreams

2006-11-12T08:53:00.001-08:00

"Dreams are but interludes that fancy makes...
Sometimes forgotten things, long cast behind
Rush forward in the brain, and come to mind."

-John Dryden

Enter the mystifying but yet fascinating world of dreams where the rules of reality do not apply. Some say dreams are just wishes our heart makes while some say dreams are postcards from our subconscious, inner self to outer self. According to Sigmund Freud dreams are an interaction between the unconscious and the conscious where the unconscious is the dominant force.

I've been a sound sleeper since my childhood and am still one. Nothing in this world can or rather has been able to (till now) affect my everyday sleep. So does that mean I am a "sound dreamer" too?. I dont know. One of the earliest memories of my dreams I have is of being chased by tigers and sharks. They werent exactly scary but trust me, you dont wanna know about it. Dreams I see now-a-days are more... say.. sensible, unrealistic yet sensible (atleast I no longer fight with sharks).

Sometimes I jump out of a tall building and start flying, gliding rather. Sometimes I fall onto the ground and actually feel the impact too. I once dreamt of myself sleeping and having a dream (weird!!).And once I was IN the game counter-strike (Ah! that was cool). 80% of the nights I dont dream at all. Actually 80% of the mornings I dont recall the dream I had the previous night. Its good in a way. Its good to wake up with a blank mind considering that you are going to spend the next 15 hours with some or the other thing invading your mind. But Sigmund Freud says otherwise. According to him dreams shouldnt be ignored, rejected or even suppressed but should be "accepted in its own right - not broken down and analysed out of existence".

Just a few weeks back I had this dream in which I was drowning. It was dark and cold. The freezing water kept pulling me inside. I was trying hard to fight against the stormy waves. I remember someone giving me a hand and pulling me out of the water. According to a dream interpreter drowning signifies being overwhelmed by emotions or repressed issues that is coming back to haunt you. ok..ya I do have issues. Small, normal, everyday issues, but they dont exactly "haunt" me. Yet this whole dream interpreting thing is worth a shot. But the more you brood over it the more complicated and philosophical it gets. I am happy with just the thrill of it (the dreams I mean). Its not everyday that you get to wake up with a chill going down your spine.

Heres a piece of information that might come helpful. According to a certain Dream Interpreter If you dream of eating frogs then you will find very little to gain in current relationships and associated love affairs. Whereever did he get the idea from??

Priceless Delights

2006-10-26T01:27:00.000-07:00

Playing your Playstation on your flatscreen TV- Rs.1,20,000
Playing Hide-and-Seek with your cousins on a sunday afternoon- Priceless

Dominos Pizza with extra cheese and topping- Rs.205
Thayeer sadam(curd rice) with Appalam made by your grandma- Priceless

Going for a new horror flick to a famous Mulitiplex- Rs.300
Listening to your friend narrating a ghost story on your night-out- Priceless

Buying an international brand T-shirt in a big shopping complex- Rs.850
Bargaining with a street vendor for a so-claimed branded T-shirt- Priceless

A box of fresh ripe alphoso Mangoes- Rs.350
Climbing the mango tree in your school playground and eating the mangoes with your friends there itself- Priceless

One full-day trip to Water-Kingdom theme park- Rs.1200
Walking in heavy rain and getting completely drenched- Priceless

Joining a sports complex for playing a game every weekend- Rs.650/month
Playing football with your friends on the neighbourhood swampy ground- Priceless

Going for trekking taking an official tour guide with you and staying in a 3-star hotel- Rs.4500
Going for a trekking unplanned, getting lost in the woods and spending the night in a remote farmhouse garage- Priceless

Indeed...
There ARE many things that money can't buy...

My Music collection

2006-10-06T00:41:00.000-07:00

First of all the statistics... My E: drive has a capacity of 17.7 GB out of with 13.9 GB (excluding the 6.2 GB songs I lost due to a malicious virus attack) is filled with music, music and only music (Courtesy - My Bro). Of the 13.9 GB, Rock Songs (Including Nu-metal, Heavy metal, alternative rock etc etc) constitutes 7.91 GB , Pop comes to 2.86 GB and Hindi and Tamil songs takes up 1.11 GB. The rest has Rap, Trance, Soundtracks and Theme songs. Thats one heck of a collection according to me. So I decided to make my own Music collection. I spent one full day sorting out the collection and burning my favourites into CDs and designing CD covers. Here are a few of the CD covers that I designed....

That's the way the cookie crumbles...

2006-08-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

I flip the faded pages of my life
I see my memories play like a film without sound
An enigmatic smile escapes my face
Yeah! Life is indeed very strange

How beautiful was the time of youth
Full of passion and desire, yet unwilling to mature
when fantasies could make me fly and
even the smallest hug could allay my fears

Evening walks, Linkin Park and topicless discussions
took over Crayon scribblings, cartoons and swings.
Desperate housewives replaced The little mermaid
and Chocolates are no longer ambrosia but poison-made

Why can't I rely on falling stars to take away my worries?
Why do I have to fret when life turns left instead of right?
Why do I have to wear a mask and hide away my pain?
Why has life become a game, where you either lose or win?

The hazy future ahead keeps daunting me
If only that same hug could drive away my fears
If only I could turn back the hands of time
I guess... Thats the way the cookie crumbles.

Friends... Till the very end

2006-08-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

At a time when I thought Mumbai was
no place for a shy girl like me
You proved it wrong by
being the nicest friend to me
I thank god for the day I met you
for I realized how lucky I got to be

When I turn back the pages
of my small book called life
I see how we enjoyed our walks in the rain
despite all that storm and strife
I see how you made my cake of life
get sweeter and sweeter slice by slice

It was the artist in you
which brought colours to my pages
It was the generous supporter in you
which gave me hope and saved me from the damages
It is the pure and tender heart in you
which I know will keep us together for ages

Thank you for teaching me
the definition of a true friend
People like you are very rare to find for
I know you are one whom only god can send
You've always been the special side of me
and will always be till the very end.

(I dedicate this poem to a very special friend of mine - Neeta)

10 things I wanna do before I die...

2006-07-30T03:57:00.000-07:00

1. Own a huge black monstrous SUV, probably a land cruiser and take it for a loooooong drive on a rainy day and also drive it inside a dense forest..( will remember to keep the money ready for the repairs.. :-))

2. Go to Europe every year for a month's vacation and visit every place from Valencia in Spain to Venice in Italy to Vienna in Austria.

3. Spend one full day lying on a deserted Hawaii beach listening to my mp3 player, reading a book and sipping wine.

4. Climb the tallest snow mountain in this world....sorry.. got too excited... a small moutain with snowy peak will do.

5. Buy original CDs of all the latest hit movie releases and watch them on my home-theatre system sitting on a Dual-Arm Dual-Incliner and never go to a cinema hall.

6. Get married the christian way.. ( I am a Hindu btw... hope my parents are not reading this..)

7. Learn the most beautiful language...French thoroughly and also buy a few fake French paintings.

8. Do something Illegally atleast once in my lifetime.. (no no.. I dont wanna go to jail... I heard they stink..)

9. Quit my job on a monday morning.. ( Assuming I have enough money to do all the above things.. yeah enough money to get myself out of jail too in case I get caught..;-).. )

10. Keep making lists of the next 10 things I would wanna do before I die...

Iron maiden - a 30 year old beast

2006-07-10T04:19:00.000-07:00

Well..I am not a great fan of Iron maiden or anything.. but I somehow feel that their lyrics are very strong and profound.. something you wont hear these days...

Iron Maiden is an English heavy metal band from London, formed in 1976 by Steve Harris. It is one of the most successful and influential bands in the heavy metal genre, selling over 70 million albums world-wide. The name of the band came to Steve Harris whilst watching a movie adaptation of "The Man in the Iron Mask", named for the medival torture device. Iron Maiden has achieved international fame with its distinctive style. Their blend of heavy metal, highly melodic riffs, and intelligent lyrics has become instantly recognizable. The band is also renowned for their down-to-earth and genuine approach towards their music, their impressive energetic stage shows and their openness with fans.

Below given is the lyrics for a song called Invader from the album 'The Number of the Beast' (1982). This album was a world-wide success providing definitive songs such as "The Number of the Beast", "Run to the Hills" and "Hallowed by thy name", considered by many to be some of the best metal songs ever written.

(Source- Wikipedia)

INVADERS

Longboats have been sighted the evidence of war has begun
Many Nordic fighting men their swords and shields all gleam in the sun
Call to arms defend yourselves get ready to stand and fight for your lives
Judgement day has come around so be prepared don't run stand your ground

They're coming in from the sea
they've come the enemy
beneath the blazing sun
the battle has to be won
Invaders ... Pillaging
Invaders ... Looting

Set ablaze the campfires alert the other men from inland
Warning must be given there's not enough men here for a stand
The Vikings are too many too powerful to take on our own
We must have reinforcements we cannot fight this battle alone

They're coming over the hill
they've come to attack
they're coming in for the kill
there's no turning back
Invaders ... Fighting
Invaders ... Marauding

Axes grind and maces clash as wounded fighters fall to the ground
Severed limbs and fatal woundings bloody corpses lay all around

The smell of death and burning flesh the battle weary light to the end

The Saxons have been overpowered victims of the mighty Norsemen

You'd better scatter and run
the battle's lost and not won
you'd better get away
to fight another day
Invaders ... Raping
Invaders ... Plundering

Reincarnation - a short story

2006-07-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

"I bet it’s a girl" Sumeet said hazily staring at the sky.
Smitha smiled as she removed the packed eatables one by one from the picnic basket.

Smitha was three-months pregnant with their baby. Sumeet had decided to take a break from his work and go for a picnic with his wife for a day or two. They chose a serene place with a river which was around 6 hour drive from their house. On a bright sunny day they packed a few stuffs hurriedly, hopped inside the car, turned on the music and drove to the place they had been planning since the past one week.

“What do you think we should name her?” Sumeet asked still staring at the sky.
“I thought about it one day. If it’s a boy, we will name him Sujit and if it’s a girl, we will name her Kiran. Sweet and simple. Isn’t it?” Smitha replied.
“I know. We will name her Nayana, meaning eyes, because she’ll have beautiful eyes like you have.” He turned sideways and looked at Smitha straight into her eyes. For a moment he felt as if he saw the whole world in her eyes.

Just before dusk, everything suddenly became dark. The sky got completely covered by black clouds. It was totally unexpected. Sumeet had checked the forecast that day. The papers had never mentioned any possible showers.
“When has the newspaper ever been right about the weather” she said with a told-you-so look on her face.
“But- But the monsoons not until 3 weeks from now. This must be one of those pre-monsoon showers as they call it.”
“I don’t know what they call it. All I know is that we now need to wind up and head back to the city.” She said as she started packing the uneaten foods back into the basket.

After they were done stuffing everything into the car, he started driving back to the city. It started raining very heavily. The wipers tried hard but couldn’t make much of a difference. The headlights were dim too. And all he could hear was the sound of trees ruffling against each other in the rain. He drove fast so that they could reach home as soon as possible. After 2 hours he felt thirsty, so he turned back to take the water-bottle from the basket.
Smitha suddenly screamed, “Sumeet, Truck..NO”.
Even before he could make some sense out of it, he heard a loud noise and a very bright flash like he had never seen or heard before. Few minutes later he was lying there on the ground trying hard to move but couldn’t. After some time he heard something which sounded like sirens. He closed his eyes and collapsed.

Sumeet opened his eyes and found himself in an emergency ward. He started recollecting everything one by one. The picnic, dark clouds, rain, a scream, bright flash. He remembered all. The doctor entered the room.
“Hello Mr.Sumeet, How are you feeling now?” The doctor enquired.
“Whereas my wife? Her names Smitha. Where is she?”
“I am really sorry Mr.Sumeet but we couldn’t save her. It was too late. I am sorry”
He lay there on his bed the same way he was lying near the river on their picnic. The only difference was he was staring at the blank ceiling this time and not the sky. Tears trickled down his cheeks.

“I am Dr.Kapil, Is there anything that I can do for you?” the doctor asked.
“I don’t want her to die, doctor”
“Mr.Sumeet..huh…But..”
“Doctor, I want to donate her eyes and other organs. Can I do that?” he said firmly.
“You surely can Mr.Sumeet” the doctor replied.

Weeks passed by and the monsoons finally arrived. Smitha was right. The newspapers were always wrong with their forecasts. One rainy day he stayed at home from work because he was down with flu. Reluctantly he got up and went to the hospital. As he waited in the hospital outside the doctor’s room, he saw a small pretty girl pass by. The girl looked at him and gave him a beatific smile. There was something in her that made Sumeet wonder. Dr. Kapil was passing by and saw Sumeet standing.
“Hello Mr.Sumeet, What brings you here?”
Kapil caught him staring at that small girl.
“Do you know her?”
Sumeet nodded.
“Well..you should, In fact you have the right to know about her. She is six years old and she was born blind. But now she can see the world through your wife’s eyes. Smitha’s eyes were given to her.”
Sumeet couldn’t believe his ears. He knew it. He knew that some part of Smitha would still be alive.

He drove back home and somehow he felt very happy that day. Next morning he took the teddy bear he had once bought for their unborn child, hopped into his car and drove to the hospital. He asked Dr.Kapil and went to that girl’s room. As he entered her room he saw her staring at the rain hitting against the window glass. Something she was seeing for the first time.
“Hi, I am Sumeet, I have a present for you”
The girl turned, “Aren’t you the uncle I saw yesterday?”
“Yes I am” and smiled.
He kept the teddy bear beside her and asked, “Whats your name dear?”
“Naina”.

Books and Life

2006-06-01T06:13:00.000-07:00

I am not a big philosophical books fan or anything. In fact i dont like anything that is philosophical. I am a typical 'sheldon' or 'grisham' type books reader. I used to think only murder and conspiracy stories make up novels.

But just a few days back an uncle of mine gave me some of his books to read. There were a couple of Massimo Manfredis (one who wrote the Alexander trilogy), a couple of Richard Bachs (totally philosophical), The present by Spencer Johnson (the author of Who moved my cheese) and another couple of Autobiographies. The first thought that came to my mind after I saw the books was-- Are these really novels?? I read a few paras from each book to get an idea of what it is. Though philosophical or historical, they did look like stories. So I decided to give it a try. I took a thinnest book of it all. That was Jonathan Livingston seagull by Richard Bach.

In that book the reader is first introduced to Jonathan Livingston Seagull, one of many gulls belonging to some kinda gull colony where the gulls spend their time fighting for scraps of food and bread. Jonathan Seagull, instead of fighting and stealing food from human boats like all the others, spends his time practicing to fly, something he is really interested in. He doesn't understand the practicality of such monotonous day-to-day activities. Rather, he attempts to perfect his flying abilities. Eventually he becomes the first gull to reach terminal velocity at 214 miles/hour. The other gulls kick him out of the colony and makes him an outcast. He still decides to live alone and go on with his dream of flying the first aerobatics of any seagull on earth.

Well.. Though different people may take different messages from this book, the story is pretty simple and clear.Here are a few lines from the book which actually made me think about my own life--

--"How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there's a reason to live! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, We can be free! We can learn to fly!"
--"You can go to any place and to any time that you wish to go," the Elder said. "I've gone everywhere and every place I can think of." He looked across the sea. "It's strange. The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly.”

Am I too not one of those ordinary seagulls which doesnt bother about flying but thinks only of food. I think I am. After all I am just one among those millions of students who go to some god-forsaken college, spend their time travelling to and from college and reading magazines during lectures, slogging one day before the exam and finally pretend to be satisfied with the marks. Thats what I've been doing since the last 17 years. And if all ends well I might just end up getting into some typical job and enter the next stage in my life filled with drudgery. I know that there are myriad other options that I can go with but I also know that I will leave all those when I get a chance. Now I have turned into one of those losers who do nothing but whine all day thinking about the way their life is going.

Well.. Having learnt a lot from this book, I was almost about to change the way I used to think about philosophical books until I read the latter half of the book. Here are some lines from it—

--"We can start working with time if you wish," Chiang said, "till you can fly the past and the future. And then you will be ready to begin the most difficult, the most powerful, the most fun of all. You will be ready to begin to fly up and know the meaning of kindness and of love."
--"I don't understand how you manage to love a mob of birds that has just tried to kill you."
"Oh, Fletch, you don't love that! You don't love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practise and see the real gull, the good in everyone of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That's what I mean by love. It's fun, when you get the knack of it.”

DUH!! What the heck was he thinking?? Well.. I take my words back. I am indeed better off with books with mysteries and conspiracies. But I now know that there is much more in a novel than just murders and detectives and beautiful heroines. I've also learnt that there is a lot to discover in both: books and life.

Temporarily unavailable...

2006-05-12T23:52:00.001-07:00

If you are a regular visitor to my blog and if you are expecting a post....Please dont.. coz My exams are just over the edge... and I am at home all day trying to make some sense of subjects like "Probability and Random Processes" and "Electronic Instrumentation"... Will be back soon.. meanwhile enjoy the cartoon strips....

( Click to enlarge )

Is there a way out???

2006-05-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

I want to cry
Cry my heart out
and shed seas of tears that are tearing me apart
I want to stand in an endless rainfall
to hide my tears, coz they refuse to dry

I want to run
Run till the end of this world
over the mountains, deserts and oceans
I want to runaway from the blitz of reality
which has ruined my fantasy world

I want to talk to myself
Talk and confide to myself
in a hallowed place within my heart
I want to ask those spiteful questions
that echo inside me, whose answers I fear

I want to listen to silence
Listen to the deafening sound of silence
that can speak volumes
I want to lock myself
within the walls of nothingness around me

I want to sleep
Sleep forever and never wake up
coz I fear the blurred vision I get up with
I want to dream under my lonely eyelids
and turn reality into just dreams

Tell me
Is there a way out???

lifes' an abyss

2006-04-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

I fall into the raging swells of the dark,
furious sea like an inept plunger
I feel freezing water enwrap me
swallowing me, drowning me, twisting me
pulling me into the fury of darkness below

I try desperately to break out of the dense swamp
I claw furiously at the heinous waves above
It impels me to the surface only to gasp a single breath
A gasp and I plummet downward into an abyss again
I feel the pain acknowledging my own panic

I work frantically against the gravity of the whirlpool
I try to see and perceive with my blinded eyes
I pray god, the silent observer, the uninvolved observer
Separated from the events but yet knowing all
Show me light, give me warmth, grant me peace

The sky lights up like an early dawn
and bestows upon me rays of hope and assurance
I break the surface, convulsing on top of the sea
I finally feel it, an object that moved with the sea, not sure though
I hold it and it drifts me to the silence of darkness...

do movies really inspire???

2006-04-06T01:48:00.000-07:00

As a child, I grew up watching all sorts of patriotic tamil and hindi movies....Well ..to say...50% of movies were usually romance movies filled with scenes of hero running around trees behind the heroine....and the remaining 50% were patriotic movies which showed how the hero saves his country from the fists of terrorists, disables a bomb and rescues his mother and lover from the villian all at the same time, thus preventing a collateral damage... Other type of patriotic movies included exposure of the corruptions dominating our country, showing the hero fighting against it asking for justice with a 'moral of the story'-like message in the end...

Every so often Bollywood produces a rare gem like Rang De Basanti, a film that broke the mould by offering something more sophisticated than the standard musical melodrama. The movie successfully weaved historical facts with contemporary themes and characters. The strong performances from the ensemble cast was brilliant, all of whom were totally convincing as disillusioned youngsters learning the importance of personal sacrifice for the country...

Now comes the big Question...Do these movies really inspire??? I didnt see any riots against the corrupt politicians after the release of the movie....Neither did I see any movement started by group of students or the so-called future citizens of India...All I see is unnecessary riots against the theme or poster or name of the movie.. and that too even before the movie is released... So what is wrong with we people??? Are we afraid to sacrifice our lives for the betterment of our nation??? Wait a second.... Before that... Are we first ready to risk our college seat or job or something even smaller for that?? let alone risking our lives....

When our college suddenly started charging exuberant fees illegally, we did try to stand against them, tried talking to the management, had meetings and everything.. but moment the college said they wouldnt let us write our exams if we went on with it...we all backed off.... No one did anything against them henceforth... Are we such cowards??? I think we are.... The government employees of Chennai backed off from their stike when they were kicked off from their jobs by their chief minister and went back begging for jobs...These are just two examples that I have come across in my life... The actual list is a mile long....

What is democracy if we cant ask for justice without the fear of a backlash? What kind of system is this where justice is punished? Its time for us to stop being scared, to stop hiding behind the walls of anonymity, to stop fearing the ramifications of our fight, to stop tolerating all the injustices happening to us and speak up if we feel we are justified....

AGAIN (a poem by Teal Henderson)

2006-03-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

If when you wake up in the morning,
And the hurting is go great,
You dont want to get out of bed
And face a world of hate.

If everything in life goes wrong
And nothing you do seems right,
You just try a little harder
And soon you'll see the light.

For every person who has put you down
And filled your life with pain,
You must strive to achieve greatness
And show them you can win.

For every disappointment,
For times you are let down,
There will be a better moment
And your life will turn around.

Because evryone feels heartache
And everyone feels pain,
But only those who have true courage
Can get up and try Again.

--- Teal Henderson

My last day as a teenager

2006-03-19T04:04:00.000-08:00

Today is my Birthday...my 20th birthday... well..all I can say is ..Life is indeed on the fast lane... I am officially an adult today... Cant believe I am out of my teenage years even before I know it... Its sunday today..and I have nowhere to go... Thought I would pen down the feelings I had during my teen-years... (Some of the phrases were stolen from the Chicken Soup book I got as a prize for coming first in 11th std.. this was the only thing I used it for :))

Have you ever felt old enough to make a choice,
Relying completely on your inner-voice,
But, still young in many other ways,
Wanting a shoulder to cry on, during your tough days?

Have you ever felt old enough to pack your bag and go,
Wanting to see the world, refusing to forgo,
But, still young to want to stay at home,
Concluding the fact that you are just frolicsome?

Have you ever felt old enough for heart-felt pain,
Trying to be matured even during enormous strain,
But, still too young to find a cure for the blight,
Crying yourself to sleep at night?

Have you ever felt old enough to fall in love,
Wondering if its pure, trying hard to prove,
But, still too young to understand,
Whether this is real or a fantasy land?

Have you ever felt old enough to strive for reality,
Wishing your dreams to be fulfilled by your ability,
But, still young to sit beneath the stars,
Hoping for Angels to wipe your tears?

And now I sit here, awkward, unsure and half-baked
Trying my way to becoming something great
On my last day as a Teenager......

In search of a perfect gift

2006-03-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

"What shall I give him?" I ponder
To make his natal day unforgettable
To see those stars dance in his eyes
"What exactly is a gift?" I now wonder

Its certainly not just sauntering into a gift shop
And walking out with a wraped parcel
Nor is it just watching them say thank you
And give a plastic smile which will ultimately stop

"What is it then?"Is it something that can make you adrift
just by hearing those thousand thank-yous
expressed by his eyes? Yes it is, it indeed is
I then start my venture, In search of a perfect gift

I try to speculate a list of those things he adores
Those he is obsessed with, those he craves for
Books, Planes, Tom clancy, Horoscopes, Souvenirs
With the list in my mind, I inspect all the nearby stores

"No not this, Please look for that particular one"
I beg the shopkeeper, forcing him to hunt all corners
He gives a disapproving nod uncooperatively
Not giving up, I move on to the next store alone

"Yep, Thats the one" My face lightens up
As my search finally comes to an end
"Gift wrap it" I say with a sense of accomplishment
I wait for the D-day as I fall onto my bed with a belly-flop

"Happy Birthday" I say as I hand him the shiny present
I see him hide his impatience and unwrap it neatly
I stand there doubting whether he will cherish my paltry parcel
Infront of his sis's four-figure gift that looked ornately brilliant

The doubt vanishes the moment he looks into my eyes
Its true, His eyes did say a thousand Thank-yous
With a rapturous smile he embraces me warmly
I pray God, not to snatch from me this moment of pure bliss

Life aint easy

2006-02-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

Gone are those days when I used to make separate notebooks for every subject I had, when I used to look at the blackboard, when I used to listen to every sentence our prof taught, when I used to take down notes...
Slowly it degraded to making one notebook for every three subjects, looking at the blackboard after every 10 minutes, listening to only those profs who were strict and demanded attention and taking down only the points written on the blackboard...
and NOW....
I make one notebook for all the subjects. I dont know where the blackboard is hung in our class... I dont understand the language spoken by our profs... and I seriously fail to understand the strange symbols written on the board.. let alone taking down notes...

I dont know whether this is natural....but over the past few years I have learned to be an Autodidact.... and I prefer it to be that way... But life aint easy with it...

Well..it happened a couple of weeks back.... I was late to college as usual... (The college starts at 8:30 and I leave my house at 8:40).... Students who are late are made to stand outside the gate for one hour (something wierd to be done at a college level)... but I somehow managed to sneak in past the gatekeeper.... I consider that as a talent of mine...

My first lecture was TV and video engg. ...we call it TVV.. The prof was already there..obviously.... I really didnt want to go in... at the same time I didnt want my name to appear on the blacklist. So I reluctantly opened the door and asked, "May I come in, ma'am"...
She turned her head and looked at me... which made all other heads turn in my direction.... I felt awkward but stood there looking at her awaiting for a reply... She chose to let me in than to castigate infront of everyone....Good for both of us...

I walked in ignoring all that stares and searched for a seat to sit.... One bad disadvantage of being late to college is that you are left with no choice but to sit in the first bench.... It was clearly visible that only the first benches were untenanted.... Not giving up I kept looking... and noticed that there was one second bench where Vishy was sitting alone... I went and sat beside him..

I settled down...took out the only book from my bag and hunted for a pen... It was only after 2 minutes that I realised I never bring a pen to the college... Without asking for permission, I picked Vishy's pouch and took a pen from it.... I guess I was all set to write... but write what??? I looked at the board hoping to find something to copy.... All I could make out was that an alien from another planet had managed to enter our class and scribble something on the board.... I then decided to pretend to write something.... So I started drawing a scenary...

I suddenly started feeling that the time had stopped.... The hands in my watch werent moving....I took my eyes off my watch and continued with my scenary.... As I was trying to 'add life into my painting', Vishy came closer to me and whispered something into my ears... It was about the latest Eminem album 'Curtain call' . He said he had the CD... This was something worth talking about... I couldnt resist but ask him more about the songs... While the conversation was going on, our prof stopped talking and looked at us.... We quickly moved apart and contiued to pretend to write something.... She resumed her teaching... May be she again chose to keep quite and save her time than to castigate infront of everyone....

We waited till she turned back to the board... The moment she turned we resumed our talk about the best known rapper... He started telling how splendid the lyrics were and also sung a few lines... This whole thing was getting very interesting and I couldnt help but get closer and imbibe every word he was saying verbatim... We could see that she was again giving us vicious glances intermittently... We continued to pretend that we were indeed copying down everything from the board and everything that she was dictating... Least did we know that neither of us was a consummate actor...

As the talks on how the voice of Dido and that of Eminem blended in a song called 'Stan' was going on.. I heard something that made me feel as if a migraine just hit me... "I want to see both of your notebooks after this lecture" She was looking at us with those same monsterous eyes which are worse than basilisk's eyes... I looked down into my notebook and all I found was a half drawn scenary and some lyrics of Eminem's song.... I was happy to see that I had managed to copy down a few sentences she dictated but the handwriting was worse than an alien's...I started thinking of what to do next to escape from this whole thing... May be I can tear these pages off and copy down 4 pages of diagrams and notes in 5 minutes..........May be I cant... I sat there cursing every person I met that morning... Why didnt I catch fever last night?? Why didnt the gatekeeper catch me sneaking?? Why did she let me in the first place?? Why did I sit with Vishy?? and last but not the least.. Why did Eminem make such a wonderful album??... I knew that wasnt all.. I braced for another reprimand...After she was done with that day's lecture, she opened her file to take down the attendence... As she was flipping through the pages, she looked at us and said, "Its not a rule that you have to copy down everything I say, but you too have been talking continuously through out the lecture"... I gave out a sigh of relief.... atleast she wont check our notebooks...Now I can finish my scenary...sigh...
But as I said... Life aint that easy... The trouble didnt get over with that... She turned vindictive..
"Ok..tell me...Why are surrations added to vertical sync pulse?"
In english please..
Our silence exuded the fact that we had no clue about it...
"Dont know" We muttered under our breath..
"Ok..Check your notebook then.."
"I didnt bring my notebook today"..Vishy said..
"What about you?"
I hunted for a better excuse but decided to stick with the same
"I forgot to bring my notebook too" As if I had one....
I could see electric shocks coming out of her eyes... She then started taking attendence.. I was not going to leave it that way... I kept thinking for a better excuse... Something striked me... I told Vishy we could tell her that we were talking about our 4th year project and that we had problems going on with our group... He agreed..

When she left the class..we followed her and called out "ma'am"..she turned back... Vishy rambled on and on with that excuse of mine... She kept staring... It was so apparent that we were lying...I knew this canard would be useless... and she knew that... Darn..we just made things worse... Me and my ideas...
"I didnt expect this sort of behavior from you guys...If I dont see you two talking about your project during the break..I am going to punish you"
I tried to muster some words for an apology..i tried to show my feeling of penitence... but decided to stay with... "I am sorry ma'am".. How insipid....She left without saying anything.... which said everything... like "you guys are going to suffer" , "wait till I give you your termworks", "you will suffer eternal perdition" etc etc....
I turned back and started walking towards my class ... What a day.. Why dont they let us do whatever we want? It's a democratic country afterall...I was tired of Drudgery.. Life would be heaven if all lectures were self-study type especially for an autodidact like me...

A Vacation I missed

2006-01-24T05:24:00.000-08:00

Couldnt resist writing this after reading four enormous blogs written by a friend of mine about his trip to a small placid place called Kihim. (Wonderful article perfectly written with hell lotta pics and GRE words in it...:-) ) For him the vacation trip was a 'home away from home' but for me it was a 'home still in my home'.... if you didnt get any of these you need to know my story..

Its a tradition in our college to go for an industrial visit after the 5th semester exams. Not any ordinary IV but a trip which ranges from 2 days to 7 days...(mind you...its just called Industrial visit for namesake..actually its anything but an Industrial visit...)

My class started deciding for the IV ever since the beginning of that sem. We had a poll on which place to go for the IV... 95% voted for GOA.. (Goa???..Industrial visit??? Industries in Goa??? huh!!!!! ..If beaches and bars were considered as industries..Then Goa could be an ideal choice for the IV..)..The other 5% voted for places like Kerala, Bangalore and Hyderabad. But obvious GOA was made final...

Having never gone for such a trip with my friends before..I desperately wanted to go.. Getting permission from my parents was not a problem at all... Naveen took responsibility and arranged the whole trip for us.. On the last day of the sem he came to all of us individually and asked whether we were coming for the trip... I waited for my chance to say 'Yes'... but before I could do that Mehul came and told me that no one from their group (yes...we have groups in our class) would be going because they (lets name them the 'first benchers') thought they cant have fun with the p-k group (A group which stays away from our group both physically and socially) as it would be better if we plan our own trip and not go to goa with them.... I stood there speechless not knowing what to do.. I thought for a minute and actually felt that mehul was right.. I never liked that p-k group too... but wait a second... my other friends (lets name them the 'last benchers') are going too.. so what do I do???

Not knowing whether to say yes or no.. I asked Vishy.. He couldnt come up with a possible solution... I gave another thought about it and decided to say 'No'...( A decision which I still regret).. The 'last benchers' came to know about that and few of them took the pain to call me up and tried to force me to change my decision.... I didnt want them know that I wasnt coming because I would be going to some other place with the 'first benchers'..That would be pure treachery... So I lied.. I told them that I had to go to my native place with my parents ( this wasnt a complete lie..though...I indeed had such plans.. but that was way after the trip...they never coincided).. They stopped pestering me after that...

The exams started and I buried myself into big engineering books...Even after all that tension I couldnt help dreaming about the trip I would be going after the exams... ( We will do this ...We will do that...) I inserted conversations about the trip when I called up my friends on the pretext of asking doubts.. I tried giving ideas of places where we could go... This showed how excited I was... I couldnt wait for my exams to get over... Nothing could go wrong... NOTHING..

Days flew by..(not so easily though) and the last exam came... Got screwed up big time.. I made myself calm down after knowing that everyone else screwed up too... and then as usual after the last exam we went to a restaurant to eat something... The 'last benchers' went to a place called ghatkopar and the 'first benchers' went to chembur.. I decided to go with the first benchers.. On the way I got a call from Kinnar asking me to come to ghatkopar.. As usual I made up something and didnt go.. (Lying became an integral part of my life)..In the restaurant, after everyone was done with the imprecating of paper setter..we started the topic of our trip...

Aditya suddenly turned his head..looked at me and said "Hey..you cant come....Its an 'All Boys Trip'" Those three words made my heart sink...(What do you mean 'All Boys Trip'???? I didnt give up the Goa trip for nothing!!) I sat there speechless, not out of happiness but out of confusion... I didnt know what to say..I could have started an affray..an irrefragable argument... but I didnt..There was no point... Good bye..beaches..Good bye.. beach resort.. Good bye..Wine (Yes..I was planning to taste wine)...and Good bye..Vacation...

Even after that I didnt give up...(May be it was only Adi's crazy idea...may be others didnt feel the way Adi did)..I waited for someone to call me up and ask me to come to the trip with them... I ended up just waiting... and sitting at home watching everyone else go on trip to scintillating places.. And to make things worse..Kuresh and Kinnar who went to Goa kept messaging me about the marvelous time they were having there and Vishy who went to Kihim called me up one day even before I woke up and started telling me what terrific time they had the day before on the beach... I could do nothing but sit on my bed incapacitated, listening to them having the time of their life..... There was nothing I could do...NOTHING

This was indeed a vacation I missed or should I say 'messed'..
Moral of the story:- ........ (Is there one???)

Gem in Junk

2006-01-13T05:30:00.000-08:00

Most of times I ignore the numerous forwards that fill in my inbox like bullets from all directions... courtesy :- The unlimited storage space of my gmail account... But just yesterday I read this amazing forward and felt as if it was a gem in the junk..

This forward would have made Nelson Mandela proud of what he did to this world..It goes something like this...

When I am born, I am black
When I grow, I am black
When I blush, I am black
When I am cold, I am black
When I am sick, I am black
When I die, I am still black

BUT
When you are born, you are pink
When you grow, you are white
When you blush, you are red
When you are cold, you are blue
When you are sick, you are green
When you die, you are grey

AND YOU CALL ME COLOURED!!!!!

MADvertisements

2006-01-11T00:11:00.000-08:00

We all know that Advertisements have become an integral part of our lives... Listen to the radio ..you hear Ads.. Watch television..you see Ads... Go to a theatre..you see Ads.. Read a newspaper.. you see Ads.. In short their bottomline is "Wherever you go, Our Advertisements follow" (which incidently is similar to a catchline of a telecom company Ad..)

Try watching a 2 hours movie on the television and you'll end up sitting infront of the idiot box for 4 hours... courtesy:-The numerous Advertisements... Try watching a 30 min soap opera.. you will end up watching 20 min of advertisements and 10 min of program in between..

Well..Ads are meant to implement a newfangled product in the market... and to show the various uses of it... Earlier they were good and nice.. but now-a days they are...er....indiscernible.. They just dont make sense.. Consider this..

A guy goes into a company for an interview... He sits through the interview confidently.. He comes out of the room with a smirk on his face.. And in the end he finds out that the job is swept away by some other nerd who is not even qualified enough.. Totally shocked he asks the MD of the company..
"Dont you think this is unfair?? That guy is not even qualified.. I deserve this job.."
For this the MD replies.."Agreed.... you are more qualified than him... but look at his shirt.. Its white as heaven... and look at yours... did you ever wash it?"
HUH!!!!!
"Look at my shirt... Thats why I am the MD of this company"
(Thank you Mr.MD..I wont forget to bring my white kurtas instead of my certificates from next time).
They indeed try to make our life easier... If a glass of milk or food made from a particular oil can make me the topper of my class and a pinch of salt can make me a pilot.. why the heck should I break my head.......Life would be heaven then..

Some people prefer to go for far-famed personalities to be the brand ambassadors for their products.. One obvious example would be our own Mr.Big B.. He has starred in various commercials for products like Cars, Banks, Chocolates, Chavanprash, Pain relief balm, washing powders, soft drinks, hajmola and even hair oils (so desperate huh!!!) Now I know the reasons that caused his stomach infection:
Not enough Chavanprash
Too much soft drinks
Not enough Hajmola
Worms in the chocolates (Beware Mr.B)

Some commecials start with a song and end with one.. Finally you end up either wondering what the whole Ad was about or humming the tune for the rest of the day... Some commercials even has a 'To be continued..' in the end.. Some are cute and some are funny.. Our shampoo commercials have more graphics than that used for movies like "The Jurrassic Park" or "The Star Wars"..
One of my best Ads is that of 'San frasisco Jeans' where a guy refuses to go to heaven just because he didnt want to get off those jeans and wear white instead..Was kinda cool..haha...The following commercials were voted as the best Ads of the year 2005..
Toyota Innova 'Aamir Khan'
Surf Excel 'Daag achche hain'
Bajaj Avenger 'I feel Like God'
Coca Cola 'Piyo Sar Utha Ke'

Advertising has become one of the nascent industries which is becoming more and more popular day by day... May it be a piece on the radio or a full version on the TV or just a banner on the highway... each one is different and creative in its own term.. It can make you laugh, cry, relish, cogitate or just snub off..... Life without advertisements can be equally bad and good..

TELESPEAK-Help or Trouble??

2006-01-06T00:41:00.000-08:00

Just read an article on problems caused by Telespeak... Having gone through this telespeak thing for 100 times over the past few days .... I decided to write something on it...

Now a days 95% of all helplines and customer care services start with a computerised voice.. "To continue with english please dial 1..Hindi ke liye do dabaye (for hindi dial 2)" Certainly nice to know that they are trying to break the language barrier here... Then comes a few more options and finally you to get to hear "To speak to the customer care executive please dial 9" and then the ringing starts.. you heave a sigh of relief...Instead of hearing a person's voice you hear "You are in the queue position 14.. Your call is important to us... please be on a hold"..Oh my gosh ..
Was that the executive?? Since when did the executive turn into a computer...lol...and if our call was so important they must have installed more number of phones to avoid the so called 'Queues'... They play one of their advertisements to hmmm..entertain us..Am I getting entertained??..I dont think so.. The Queue position goes on decreasing as you desperately wait for the executive to speak up 12..10..9..8.........4..2.....tring ..tring..."Hello...This is the blah blah helpline center..may I help you?"
..Duh..I know its the blah blah helpline centre..Thats precisely why I called you... So can you tell me _____________? You wont believe I waited for so long just to hear.."I am sorry ma'am..I am quite not familiar with that offer...Please leave your phone number..I'll get to you as soon as I get the details..Thank you for calling and have a nice day"...#"£$%^&#..I just wasted my precious 10minutes of my life..and you expect me to have a nice day..lol..(But to be honest..this has just happened once..I usually get the answers I am looking for)

Leaving all this apart.. at some point in your life you should feel thankful that these computers have replaced those office secretaries..Try calling someone in a company... Obviously you first need to cross the hurdle of the secretaries to reach him..

About nine of every ten secretaries will repond "Sorry, he is not in his seat "
Well..Where is he then? under the table? Inside the closet? behind the couch? Where???

Another option for the earlier one is more dramatic.."He's gone"
Oh my god....Its terrible..When did this happen? and HOW? You almost feel like sending a condolence message and as you begin to commiserate you realise he has only gone out of the office...Duh!!!!

Another favourite is "He has left"
I am so sorry to hear that..What happened??? An affray with his boss???
'Left' can mean left for lunch, left for the day, left the company, left the country....Take your pick???

A very common telespeak torture is from the office operator who moves you directly from the ringing to music..tring tring....hmmmmmmm..la la la trum ra ra rum...and finally you get a hello just before you dose off to sleep..
Yeah..is this the blah blah company?
"Yes"
Ok...er..Can I speak to the MD?
"Hold"
(Hold What?? lady)
Back comes the music ..followed by a second voice "Hello!!"
Is that the MD's office?
Yes
Well..Can I speak to him?
"He's out"
Out?? Out of what..money?, patience? or just the office..lol

hehe Trust me.....These things can be funny, confusing and troublesome all at the same time..

KING SIZE-II

2005-12-29T01:25:00.000-08:00

" Amazing.... Never thought It would be so good.... Trust me...Its not any other Marvel-Comic-ish movie like spiderman and others....Its so realistic that I wouldnt mind watching it for another 10 times over and over...Wanna come??? " a friend of mine couldnt resist calling me up and give an instant review about the movie the moment he stepped out of the theatre.. A smile and a nodd...This was all I could give at the other end of the phone...

Having watched the trailor of the movie KING KONG on the TV..I kind of couldnt agree with the word 'Realistic' he gave... It just reminded me of any other hollywood movie which enlarges the size of a real creature and feature it in the movie..

The first one of that kind I saw was ANACONDA... Though the size of the anaconda was normal..but because I was a small girl..I saw it as an enlarged snake.. The movie was about a group of people who go to a forest hunting for an anaconda..Least did they know that they were the ones being hunted...Though the movie was not scary or anything.. the scene where the snake swallows a man completly and then spits him out was kind of scary and funny at the same time..
There are other movies like EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS where the spiders were made 1000 times bigger... and human beings looked like insects instead...One with an enlarged crocodile was LAKE PLACID...There was one more in which all the small creatures available on planet were made bigger than human beings.. couldnt watch it with all those cockroaches in it...eeeww.. they are just so irritating...

Then there are movies in which these animals are shown as the hero of the movie rather than the beast which is ready to pounce on people. KING KONG is one such movie... Another was MIGHTY JOE YOUNG which was similar to KING KONG....

Its interesting to see these animals as hero (or villian ) and do stunts too.. gives you a break from those typical hindi movies where people are given fixed roles ( a hero always remains a hero and so does a villian ).. But if you notice one thing.. these animals are more intelligent than you can think of... they stalk people better than our hindi movie villians, they know how to turn the knob and open the door decently.. and last but not the least they can play hide and seek...

Even after these movies are so unrealistic and exagerated.. I should agree with the fact that the graphics are mind blowing and watching them in a theatre does send a chill down through your spine and makes you grasp your seat with fear...It will indeed be worth the money you spend on it.

PANI PURI- The pride of Mumbai

2005-12-26T00:25:00.000-08:00

Well... Long time..no blogs... I am this weird creature who doesnt write blogs when free and writes one when busy with exams... lol... Basically I was out of topics... But just yeasterday a very special friend of mine said, "Even your craziest topics turns out to be a very creative blog"...( If he says so..) So here I go with another crazy topic... PANI PURI....

For those who dont know what pani puri is ..Pani puri is an Indian dish basically originated from Mumbai which is spicy, hot, sweet and crispy all at the same time.. Fried puri forms the crispy part... sweet chutney forms the sweet part.. lol..obviously.. thats why its called sweet chutney.. it is made from dates, tamarind etc etc..(cant give you the recipe..I just know how to eat ..cant COOK)..the dal and the so called pani forms the spicy part of it... its called pani because its made in a watery form using pudina and god knows what all...

After making all these its still not over... Its a very complicated algorithm to assemble all these stuff into one piece and then eat it... the algorithm flows something like this..
Step1: Take the puri and make a small hole (approx 2cm dia) on top of it.
Step2: Take little bit of channa (which can be replaced by either potato or moong dal) in a spoon and fill it inside the puri.
Warning: dont fill the whole puri with it.
Step3: Take one tablespoon of sweet chutney and put it inside the puri.
Step4: Take 3 to 4 tablespoons of pani and fill the remaining space in puri with it. (If you want to eat it the Indian way..just take the puri in your hands and dip the whole puri inside the container containing the pani)

Phew... wasnt that tiresome... Trust me the pani puri wallahs do more work than the waiters in a five star hotel and deserve more tips for their service..

Now unlike every other dish in this world the problem doesnt get over with the cooking part.. eating it needs more skill than cooking... trust me eating a pani puri is tougher than eating any dish in this world with a fork and a knife.. After you assemble the pani puri using the above mentioned algorithm.. just dont think about anything and stuff the puri inside your mouth (and dont look into the mirror after you stuff your face). and remember to be quick.. Coz the pani will be dripping out of the puri and its a long journey from the plate to your mouth.. so see to it that there atleast some pani left in it.. and after you stuff it into your mouth the pani will be dripping out from your mouth.. so be ready with a napkin..(Dont ever think of biting the puri into half and eating decently... those things never work with pani puri).

Well....thats about it... those who havent tried out the pani puri thing yet...please go out and have one... No one can afford to miss this..

NUMBERS

2005-12-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

NUMBERS

Let me first ask you a question.....
Six guinea pigs injected with 0.5mg of a medication took an average 15.4 secs to fall asleep with an unbiased standard deviation 2.2 secs, while six other guinea pigs injected with 1.5mg of the medication took on an average 11.2 secs to fall asleep with an unbiased standard deviation 2.6 secs. Use 5% level of significance to test the null hypothesis that the difference in dosage has no effect.

This aint any timbuktu lingua..(How I wish it was....) but a sum which is included in the Applied maths subject of semester 5 in our university...
Well....The subject is called Applied mathematics....hmmm..... does that mean maths that can be applied?? ( To find out wether those unfortunate six guinea pigs can fall asleep with a slight change in medication??? lol.... duh!! I think i have better things to do in life)

Basically i am trying to vent out all my anger on today's maths paper which was horribly set... could attempt only about 50% of the paper... totally sucked... i guess the paper setter tried to vent out all his anger on the paper... Personally I think the paper setters and the checkers must be made to go on a lovely beautiful vacation before they do their job...

But other than finding out the effects of a medication on guinea pigs... mathematics can be applied to much much much more interesting fields in our life... I saw a brand new series in AXN called 'NUMBERS'( based on a true story ) where theres this guy who can solve a case (even a case like murder mystery) just by making use of maths.. wow....incredible.. mind blowing... how can one possibly do that!!!!.. Never knew Applied maths had such interesting applications...

I bet we students will love to solve problems involving murbers and thefts rather than to find out what happens to guinea pigs if they were given a little less medication.....

UnTiTlEd...(I rather not name it)

2005-11-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

Well....When I first thought of creating a blog page of my own..I decided to write down everything that I think, everything that is present in my mind.....so here I go again....

Did you know that the width of one word used in IAS computer system is 40 bits wide...it supporta single address system( I am sorry but this is exactly what is there in my mind at a time like this).....MIPS RX000 is a RISC (Reduced instruction set computer) whose instruction formats are of constant length ..may be 32 bits long..(who cares anyways....I dont) where as Motorola 680X0 is a CISC (Complex instruction set computer) whose instruction format's length varies from 16 bits to 80 bits.....

And did you know that there are two types of control units -- Hardwired control unit and micro-programmed control unit... In Hardwired control unit a finite state machine is used to get the instructions, check the status signal and give out control signals accordingly..whereas in the microprogrammed control unit (Also called as Wilke's control unit. Wilke like every other scientist named his invention after him..duh....havent they ever heard of shakespeare say "What's in a name? " btw..even shakespeare himself wrote down his name below that quote of his....huh) makes use of micro-intsruction stored in control memory to give out control signals...

And did you know that bus arbitration can be done in three ways namely daisy chain method, polling and indenpendent requesting.....(They do have interesting names ..dont they)

Whow.....you are still reading this??? I am impressed....For more informations refer Computer Oraganization and Architecture by John.P.Hayes.... (A big book which makes me feel proud of myself....Its not often that I take a big reference book written by a foreign author and actually study from it)

Am I mixing up something here??? Well...I think I have actually ended up writing blogs in my exams and answers in my blogs....lol....hope the checker likes my blog...lol (Phew....I do need to take a break.....desperately waiting for my exams to get over)

Is it real??? -- Part 3 (lol)

2005-11-26T20:15:00.000-08:00

Well..Continuing with evil spirits.....I am not sure wether people do get possessed by evil spirits....But I know Computers can get possessed by them.... Coz My Computer has been possessed by an evil spirit... or should I say e-evil spirit...lol

The computer originally belong to my brother who used it when he stayed in the hostel... and after his college got over , he passed on the computer to me...

In the beginning it was good but after sometime strange things started happenening...really spooky....One day suddenly the computer refused to start or should I say boot... I called a computer servicer and got it checked... he said that the SMPS wasnt working and needs to be replaced.... I then got a new SMPS and got it fixed... Really happy with myself I switched on the comp.. but the problem didnt get over here..Yeah the comp started but didnt log in to windows as it said that there were errors in the harddisks.... Why me??? That was the first thing that came to my mind... not wanting to waste more money I went and asked a computer genius friend of mine to fix the hard disk.... and he did it for me...May GOD bless him...
Again happy , I connected the harddisk and switched on the comp... The smile in my lips turned to a frown as the computer didnt start for the third time in row... WHY ME??? This time it echoed.... I couldnt help but call another servicer just to find out that my 256 MB RAM blew up and needs to be replaced..... One fine day I got the RAM replaced and my computer started working perfectly like before..

But it wasnt that happy ending moment like they show it in movies... Yeah I got the Hardware problems fixed but the evil spirit got into the software and is still troubling me... The Windows 98 OS doesnt work because some files are supposedly missing... My computer has a virus when I never downloaded anything from the net.. the Yahoo messenger just refuses to let me chat with others.. as it even that doesnt work.... i dont have the strength to understand the errors it shows...and Now the evil has got into the Printer...If I try to print some document .. it does print but instead of the document it prints something with strange symbols and everything... May be the evil spirit is trying to communicate with me... But because of my Exams I couldnt decode the symbols... will try to do it later....

After all this I think I shouldnt have called all those computer servicers and wasted my money.. I should have rather called a witch docter...

And now i know I am possessed Oh..sorry..obssessed with evil spirits.....lol

Is it real??? -- Part 2

2005-11-24T04:21:00.000-08:00

My first blog was about evil spirits.. dont you think another obvious question arises... DO YOU BELEIVE IN GOD??? After all god is just a good version of evil.. Ask me that question and I would say...Hmm...Er...Well..ookkk...Well....hehe..this is enough to prove that i am skeptic about god too... but if its a straight yes or no question. I would say...YES, I BELEIVE IN GOD... But on second thoughts I should say I am Agnostic too...(Shhh....Hope my parents dont read this by any chance... being born into a religious south indian family I dare not say such a thing) But yeah..I am agnostic...Like I said its in the psychology of a person.. When a person keeps faith in god he gets a feeling that there is someone above him who is there to protect him, someone who is there to help him out during his difficult times.. this feeling gives him a sense of security which keeps him confident and less stressful.. So when you can get good feelings by keeping faith on someone why say no.... I have faith in god and it gives me confidence to face the world.. which makes me say ... YES, I BELEIVE IN GOD.................

Is it real???

2005-11-24T02:56:00.000-08:00

Well...This is my first ever blog.. Since I am completely topicless.. i have decided to write something about this TV show I saw yesterday.. I have this habit of watching the idiot box everyday while i am having my dinner.. I usually watch some cartoons or english movies at that time but yesterday I decided to see something different and jumped into NAT GEO.. They were showing a program called IS IT REAL?? where they investigate on some mysterious topic.. The topic that day was about Evil spirits.. many people actually claimed that they were possessed by evil spirits atleast once in their life.. and there was this another guy who claims that he can get rid of those evil spirits.. He showed how he did that.. the people he was working on made strange noises, talked rubbish and did various other weird things.. but ultimately got cured by his spells or watever he was saying.. It was indeed good to see but does make you think twice or thrice or even more...

Well..If you ask me wether I believe in evil spirits..I would say..I certainly dont... Basically I am very skeptic about everything.. I just dont go around believing everything that people say or everything that I watch in TV.. For me even seeing is not believing because what you may see infront of you can always be deceiving..it can be a trick, a prank or anything scientific... For example, we now have something called an invisibility cloak.. (as in if you wear it you'll go invisible ).. Something which was there only in fairy tales and cartoons is now there in reality... Thats why I dont believe everything I see... So unless and until i am completely convinced that the thing going on infront of my eyes is not a trick i am not going to believe it...... Infact I have seen such cases but because of me being very skeptic about everything..i am still looking for more proofs.....

Personally..I think it the psychological problem of the person which makes him think that he has been possessed by an evil spirit.. its the person himself who creates such a feeling inside himself.. so its in his psycology and there is no such thing as evil spirits..

When asked WHY PSYCHOLOGY?? I heard this somewhere on the TV that few weeks after the movie THE EXORCIST was released many people started getting possessed by evil spirits.. If evil spirits were real why did they wait till the movie was released??? So what could have happened was people who saw that horror movie must have got scared and must have started imagining and hallucinating things...... Its completely natural.. I still remember... the first time I saw a horror movie I fell ill... So evil spirits are just hallucinations created by our own mind and nothing else.....